After watching a film version of Mansfield Park, I decided to read the book again.
"A young woman, pretty, lively, with a harp as elegant as herself, and both placed near a window, cut down to the ground, and opening on a little lawn, surrounded by shrubs in the rich foliage of summer, was enough to catch any man's heart. The season, the scene, the air, were all favourable to tenderness and sentiment. ... it was all in harmony; and as every thing will turn to account when love is once set going, even the sandwich tray..."
- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
"I would almost cut off one of my hands if it would enable me to write like Jane Austen with the other."
- Mary Russell Mitford
I re-read some Jane Austen novels earlier in the year after watching "Love and Friendship". Northanger Abbey was my favourite this time around.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how we don't always prefer the same one, isn't it?
DeleteEvery time I read any one of Jane Austen's books I say 'This is my favourite!' Every time I read them I notice something new or see an episode in a different light. I think though, that my all-time favourite has to be Persuasion.
ReplyDeleteI love Persuasion, too. That, and S&S are my faves.
DeleteNext year my reading challenge will be to re-read books. I used to do that all the time, but these days read something once and move on. There are some I'd like to revisit. A little Jane Austen even, perhaps!
ReplyDeleteLike Clare said, there is always something new to notice or a different perspective to be had the second, third, fourth go round.
I'm with you! I recently have been re-reading the Anne books - got through four of them so far. I feel like I'm just soaking them up.
DeleteMansfield Park I only read recently, for the first time. Well, a few years ago, which is recent for me! I hadn't read an Austen novel in decades, and I was smitten by it!!
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