Audiobook Reviews: Jane Austen's Novels, Narrated By Juliet Stevenson

When I started listening to audiobooks, Mandee from Vegan YA Nerds put me on to Juliet Stevenson as a narrator and as usual her recommendation was spot on. Juliet is amazing! Over the last two months I've listened to all of the Austen novels she has narrated (every one but Pride and Prejudice) and I have enjoyed it immensely. I used to reread Austen's books every year or two, but since starting this blog I hadn't touched them. Listening to the audiobooks seemed like the perfect way to finally revisit them.

Juliet has a clear, engaging narration style, well-paced and just a pleasure to listen to. She is excellent at creating unique character voices - I don't think I heard the same one repeated across all five books. Each voice fit each character really well, and she switched between personas so effectively you forgot that it was only one person you were listening to. She did well with both the men and the women, and really brought them to life, making them seem like real and warm people, not distant characters in a classic.

Listening to the books also meant I got a lot more out of them than I think I have in the past. Juliet added nuance and texture to the prose that conveyed its meaning more clearly than reading it often does. It was much easier to pick up on the subtleties and Austen's wry wit with such excellent narration.There was a lot I noticed that I don't remember from previous reads. Here are some thoughts on each book:

Emma
I enjoyed this SO much more than when I was forced to read it in high school. Emma is an awful biatch for a lot of the book, but instead of finding that incredibly annoying, I actually kind of loved it. She's not perfect by any means and that is really endearing. The way her character grows makes for such an interesting arc. All the characters are delightful, and of course Mr Knightley is quite dreamy, if a little creepy with the whole "I fell in love with you when you were 13" thing. I LOVE that (spoilers but do spoilers count for a 200 year old book?) he moves in with Emma at the end rather than the other way around. Despite the age difference they have an equal partnership and I adore it.

Persuasion
This has always been my second favourite Austen book after Pride and Prejudice, but funnily enough I didn't enjoy it as much this time around. I still loved it, of course, but perhaps because I had just finished Emma, in which Knightley is a nearly constant presence, I really felt like there wasn't enough Captain Wentworth. Of course, it fits in with the story, and Anne's sense of isolation from him, but I didn't connect with him and their relationship as much as I usually do. It all felt rather rushed. I'm not sure if this was due to it being an audiobook or just me being in a different place to the last time I read it. Nevertheless, it was still a delight and oh THAT LETTER is still one of my favourite love declarations of all time.

Mansfield Park
Still my least favourite Austen. Of course, Austen at her worst is better than pretty much anyone at their best. Mansfield Park is a compelling and enjoyable story, but I just find Fanny and Edmund so frustrating. I actually liked the secondary characters so much more. They're not so perfect and prissy, and I found them much easier to sympathise with for most of the book. Plus what happens to them is so much more interesting - the scandal! The snark! It's so much fun. Fanny, meanwhile, is so weak and insipid, and Edmund is stern and completely clueless. Fanny spends the whole book mooning over him and it literally took til the last eight minutes of the audiobook before Edmund realised it or even thought about her as more than a friend (or, I should say, cousin). Definitely not my favourite romance.

Sense and Sensibility
I just adore this book. What I really appreciated this time around, which I perhaps haven't fully connected with in the past, was the beautiful family relationships presented, especially between Marianne and Elinor. I feel like the romances are almost secondary to the bond of the sisters, and I love it. Of course, I love the romances too. I really like Marianne's journey and the way her character develops around her romance plot. You can't help but feel for Elinor too. She's such a strong, great character. And putting up with Lucy, ugh - Lucy has to be one of the biggest bitches Jane Austen every wrote. Overall it's such a fantastic, interesting story with a wonderful cast of characters. I also would really like to read a prequel focused on Colonel Brandon's story now, poor guy.

Northanger Abbey
Oh, Catherine Morland. I have such an affection for the silly, melodramatic girl. I feel like she is the original fangirl. Her obsession with fictional characters and worlds causes her so much embarrassment in real life. It's really cringe-worthy but also completely endearing. I'm surprised Northanger Abbey hasn't really had a modern adaptation yet, because it lends itself to it really well. Catherine feels like a normal 17-year-old. I adore Henry Tilney too. I love his sense of humour and lively spirits. I really like how Austen satirises novels and fiction while honouring them at the same time. It's a really, really fun book - as all of Austen's are!

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

Actually, I push books

 1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's so beautiful and exquisite and wonderful and all the amazing things.

2. Anything by Melina Marchetta. She is the best.
 
3. Persuasion by Jane Austen. A lot of people have read Pride and Prejudice, but I love Persuasion almost as much and not nearly enough people have read it.

4. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I also recommend this to fans of Pride and Prejudice; it's a lot darker but has the same kind of awesomesauce hate-turned-love story and a totally swoon-worthy hero.

5. Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters. I was blown away by this biography when I read it last year so I push it on to everbody.

6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. The lame name and cover for this book really don't do its delightfulness justice (although it has had a redesign!), so I try to tell everybody how fun and non-lame it really is.

7. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. I devoured this book in a day. It's a remarkable, beautifully-crafted Australian story featuring brilliant characters.

8. Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. I read this quite recently but I've already pushed it onto several people. Such a sublime read.

9. Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. A gorgeous fairy tale adaptation/historical romance. It's pure magic.

10. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I think pretty much everyone has seen the movie (if you haven't, what are you doing with your life?!) but not a lot have read the book, which is a shame because it's wonderful.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Favourite Romances

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Need I say more? OK, I will anyway. It's Darcy and Lizzy. Two of the greatest literary characters ever, combined in the romance to end all romances. Or the romance to start all romances, rather, given the thousands of remakes, rejigs and rip-offs.

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen. Another Jane Austen, I know. But if Pride and Prejudice is the Greatest Romance of All Time (which it is), then Persuasion is a very close second. The tale of Captain Wentworth and Anne Eliot's reconnection is bittersweet and beautiful. Don't even get me started on the letter.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I adore how passionate and strong Rochester and Jane's love is, and the way they respect each other and value one another as equals.

4. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Thornton and Margaret's love reminds me a little of Darcy and Lizzy, in that they can't stand each other at first but eventually see each other in a new light. Their story is filled with a lot more heartbreak than Austen's novel, but that just makes the happier moments all the more meaningful.

5. The Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery. Anne is my hero, and I worship her almost as much as Gilbert does. The only downside of their romance is that in the later books Anne goes all wifey and motherly and forgets her own creative dreams and ambitions, which might be historically accurate but is disappointing nonetheless.

6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. An American girl falls in love with an English boy at a school in Paris. Oh, how I love everything about this book.

7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. "This is True Love. You think that happens every day?" No, Westley, no it doesn't. Which is what makes this book so special.

8. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Set in the Soviet Union during World War II, there's only one word to describe Tatiana and Alexander's love story: Epic.

9. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This book made me ugly cry for a good half an hour after I finished it. Now that is a strong romance.

10. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. This one is extremely cheesy but totally addictive. I devoured it and was left wanting so much more. Pure, trashtastic fun.

What are your fave romances?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

My Book Boyfriend: Captain Wentworth

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by The Unread Reader every Wednesday. It's all about fictional boys that make us swoon. This week, I'm swooning over Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I was initially going to go with Mr Darcy (the obvious choice, I know), but when thinking about my fave fictional moments in response to The Perpetual Page-Turner's post on fictional men the other day, Captain Wentworth was the one who sprang to mind first, and stuck there...

About Wentworth

• He falls in love with Anne Elliot at a young age. Austen describes him at that time as "a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit and brilliancy." Eight years on, when the novel is set, "he was not altered, or not for the worse... [the years] had only given him a more glowing, manly, open look."
• He starts out poor, but his confidence and ambition - and, er, broken heart - motivate him to move up the ranks in the navy, and he soon makes a fortune.
• He's one hell of a letter-writer.
• I first read Persuasion not long after my Ever After phase, so, inevitably, my Wentworth looked a lot Dougray Scott (and, come to think of it, my Anne looked pretty much like Drew Barrymore).

• In all the adaptations, only one Wentworth has made me waiver from my original picture: Rupert Penry-Jones from the 2007 BBC version. He looks totally different, but he's totally gorgeous:

Swoon-worthy quote
Two words: the letter. If nothing else, Persuasion would be worth reading for the letter alone (though as a bonus there's a lot of other awesomeness). Here are my favourite parts - warning, spoilers ahead... but they're kinda worth it.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago... I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan... I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature!"