I am embarrassed to admit that I've never read Jane Austen.
Egad.
I don't know whether I'm shocked that you got this far in life without reading her, or whether I'm envious that you still have such an extraordinary joy to look forward to. Though re-reading Jane is equally a peasure, if not more of one.
As to which to start with, well, that's a very personal question. I would probably plump for Pride and Prejudice, because I think her humor is most compelling in it. I would put off Sense and Sensibility because I think it's the weakest of her books, though even her weakest is better than 99.9% of the drivel that's been published. Emma can be hard to get into, but is well worth it.
I think on the whole I'll decide to envy you. What a treat you still have in store.
BTW, how much Trollope have you read? He is vastly underrated by our generation, as by several generations before us, but he is in his way as wonderful, IMO, as Austen. I read an essay the other day that called him the ultimate reading-in-bed author, engaging without rousing to sleep-denying emotion. Apt, I thought. If you haven't explored him, you have another wonderful treat in store, and a lot more of it -- he wrote much more than Austen did. Start with The Warden and then Barchester Towers, and go from there. |
