Following on from my last post about my current love for free Audiobooks, here are four more audiobooks I have enjoyed recently. I did not intend them to all be Jane Austen’s work, but I do not regret it one bit. She’s fantastic.
Pride and Prejudice
Honestly, this novel deserves to be Austen’s best known work. It’s so incredibly universal in its themes, still holds up to this day and will probably never go out of vogue.
Elizabeth Bennet is the type of heroine we all connect to. She has family, who though she loves them- they drive her mad. She meets a broody guy, can’t stand him and then he just falls in love with her, probably because she can’t stand him. She then has a go at him, and he actually changes (I don’t think this happens in reality) and then she actually changes (again, wow). They have conversations, make good on their words with actions, actually apologise to each other and move towards being happy.
Although this seems farfetched, it’s so cathartic to go on such a positive journey with these two characters. In the background you have Jane and Bingley who are cute. Lydia and Wickham who make you mad, and Mr Bingley’s sisters who are mean. Also the usual amounts of aunts and cousins and friends to make it all feel real.
Sense and Sensibility
Never has a novel been named so aptly since Pride and Pre- you get it.
In this novel, we follow two sisters, Marianne and Eleanor Dashwood and their trials and tribulations in society and in love. Marianne is your classic older sister, holding it together, being pragmatic and stressed on the inside only, and pining like mad on the inside only. Eleanor puts her heart on her sleeve and pays for it by pining on the outside and everyone knowing her business, they both get their hearts broken and mended throughout.
Elder daughters will see themselves in Marianne, and the more vivacious will see themselves in Eleanor, and each will look at the other and understand them more. I for one am a Marianne, and this novel made me appreciate all the Eleanor’s I know. It’s probably healthier to be in the middle, but that’s what therapy is for.
Personally, this novel is one I didn’t see myself liking. In the beginning everyone seemed to be too passive or too energetic, but as the novel went on I realised that’s what its all about. Sometimes you don’t have to be outward and passionate to get results, sometimes you do. It’s about knowing which one is needed and having some sense and sensab- you get it.
Mansfield Park
At first, I didn’t know where Mansfield Park was going. it seemed to be a cute little story about a cute little girl named Fanny Price, and how she moves in with her Uncle to have a better life. Then, things start to go absolutely wild.
Firstly, my girl Fanny does not catch a break. Almost everyone talks down to her and treats her like crap, after they take her away from her family and put her in a house where she’s basically another servant with nice clothes. Then, she falls for her cousin Edmund (girl ew) who is in love with a pretty rich girl Mary Crawford, and said pretty rich girl’s bother Henry, (after flirting with all of her cousins) decides to love Fanny.
Fanny is smart she knows Henry’s a bit crap and turns him down…like five times. But he’s got money so she’s treated like the bad guy and sent away to her poverty stricken parents to get some perspective. The second she leaves her Uncle’s house things get even worse. One of her cousins, Tom gets sick and Henry has an affair with her married cousin and somehow Fanny is blamed?
If I was her, I’d be throwing some punches. But she has more empathy than I ever will and more sense, so she minds her own business and everything turns out okay. She marries Edmund after he comes to his senses, and Fanny becomes a respected member of the family.
This is not how I saw this one going. The drama. The scandal. Yikes.
Northanger Abbey
Ms Austen knows how to write likeable lead characters, because Catherine Morland is every single bookish girl buying into any trope she sees too hard. Then growing up to realise reality and fiction are two different things. The true villains of this book however are Isabella Thorpe and her brother John, who are social climbers and seem to want to better themselves by bothering Catherine.
Catherine is also too young and naive to see behind the facades they put forward, but in one scene John Thorpe openly gaslights Catherine, who actually sticks to her guns and ensures all misunderstandings are smoothed over, and then John lies about her to others to spite her indirectly for turning him down.
Absolutely not. That is terrible behaviour and I knew it from the beginning that there was something off about them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with social climbers (especially in those days) but there’s something wrong about using others to get what you want.
P.S. A big shout out to Elizabeth Klett a badass audiobook reader who (for free might I add) has contributed to 3/4 on this list and 3/4 on the last round of books I listened to. I’m truly impressed by her hard work and even though she will probably never see this, I appreciate it!
Have you seen the film Jane Austen Wrecked My Life?? This post makes me wanna see it so bad aaaaaa
I’m actually a huge fan of Jane Austen. I heard years ago that Austen invented the technique of using a tab to indicate each new speaker. I’m also a huge fan of audiobooks, especially knowing that most libraries have great titles available for online loan. Finally, Northanger Abbey is the first novel I ever read from cover to cover all in one sitting. Thanks for sharing!