A Fan's Playground

RIGHT so October is a write-off, I didn't read a single book all month because life was too much and I couldn't handle having feelings about good books, but I still have out-of-date book thoughts to post! This is a book I read two months ago!

This is one of Austen's works of juvenilia, and it is.....PRETTY RIDICULOUS. It's clearly intended as a satire of a certain variety of popular novels of the time, though I think I'm missing some of Austen's jokes via not being quite familiar enough with the sort of literature she's satirizing.

It's overall a pretty teenaged-feeling attempt at satire, with literally nothing going on EXCEPT for the things she's poking fun at; it very much reminds me of the Mary Sue parodyfics I used to read when I was a teenager. I'm charmed by this piece of evidence that people just keep on being people.

There are some genuinely funny bits, but overall it's a quick and shallow read that is mostly only interesting to take a look at in order to see how much Austen grew as a writer over the years. People sometimes like to think sometimes that great writers are born, not made, but it clearly took Austen some practice to get as good as she did!

Sigh. It's been quite a few years since I last read this book, so I couldn't really remember my previous impressions of it. And I wanted to like it! And I mean, it's Jane Austen so it IS very well written. But...I have some issues with it.

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This has been an interesting experience, listening to the Persuasion audiobook instead of just rereading a paper copy for the umptillionth time. The thing about audio is that you can't skim through the bits that you aren't as fond of, so they have a lot more weight and presence than you may have previously realized.

Which is to say, I used to call Persuasion my favourite Austen but I'm no longer convinced that's the case.

I still absolutely adore the Anne/Frederick romance - my favourite Austen leading couple, for sure! And the Crofts remain THE BEST. And Austen is just generally good at writing. But one of the themes....

The frustrating thing about Persuasion is its preoccupation with rank, in multiple directions. ( Read more... )

osprey_archer asked:

Jane Austen! Anything about Jane Austen.

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Thing one: I always forget how dearly I adore Jane Austen. She's funny, and witty, and insightful, and does a fantastic job at sketching out characters that really feel real (no really, fantastic, I am totally in awe of her abilities in this regard and desperately wish for even a quarter of her skill), and the dynamics between all the characters are fantastic as well, and yes I am also a big fan of the romance factor. Currently I am rereading Persuasion and oh man it is totally my favourite of her books. I always forget that too; I get distracted by all the talk that Pride & Prejudice gets, and yes, it's an absolutely amazing book, but PERSUASION. SO GREAT. (I was TOTALLY cracking up with laughter on the very first page. A++ snark, Jane Austen!)

Thing two: AO3 subscriptions: MY NEW FAVOURITE THING IN LIFE. It used to be that I'd come across an awesome author and read all their fic and want to be able to keep on top of everything they'd write ever but I wouldn't want to put them on my rlist because I wasn't particularly interested in the rest of their posts, or because I didn't want my rlist to get too cluttered, or a variety of things. Now? As long as they are the sort of person who posts to AO3, I can just click "subscribe" and NEVER HAVE TO WORRY AGAIN. So great! And now I am mourning all those authors I stumbled across in the past and have since forgotten, and thus have not read their latest brilliance and perhaps never shall. Also I am mourning all the authors who do not post their fic to AO3.

(note to self: update your own AO3 account....)