Rating: 
Summary: ZZZ ZZZZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZ
Review: That's right, this book will put you to sleep. This has to be one of the most excruciating novels I have ever read. There is hardly any conflict in the plot. If you would like to read about people going to balls and other formal occasions every night, then you will like this book. ****Spoiler Ahead Don't read if you don't want to know.****** The climax of the novel is when Catherine finds out the General kicked her out of the house because she was not rich. BORING!!!!! This book is extremely overrated. The novel is also hard to follow at times since Jane Austen jumps from one time frame to another time a lot longer down the road in only one sentence. If your teacher or professor makes you read this book, then good luck. I would pass on this book if you are looking for an intellectual stimulation or just plain old good story.
Rating: 
Summary: A glance into a mind most brilliant
Review: The story of Northanger Abbey is really the story of the literary influence of fiction in Jane Austen's day. At a time when fiction was still spoken about in whispers and the subject of much debate, Ms. Austen was writing this epithet to the genre. Many believe that Northanger was the means of Austen's scorn for gothic novels. However, a closer look reveals a bold defense of the fiction writers of her day. This, alone, makes the book a treasure chest - because not only does Austen give you a picture of society's views of all things poetic, but actually lists novels that were popular in her time. Specifically, she lists novels and authors she personally enjoyed. The power that novels seem to hold over her leading lady, Catherine, was not a source of derision for the silly, flighty escapades of young ladies - but another way of Austen's showcasing the power of the written word - fictional word, that is. Here, she addresses the audience of her novel directly, and most provokingly in places - arguing those attributes of fiction novels which she believes show a greatness of mind. Because of the insecurity of fiction, she actually published her novels anonymously as did many other authors mentioned in her first novel - this one not being published until after her death. I have found great personal pleasure in seeking out and indulging myself in the many authors she lists whom she personally enjoyed and was inspired by. In reading them, I feel that I have discovered more about Ms. Austen and what made her brilliant mind tick. My imagination tells me that a glance at Catherine was a little glance at Jane.
Rating: 
Summary: Much Better Than Expected
Review: This book was a hard one for me to start. Not in the tradional sense of being a difficult begining. Truthfully I thouroughly enjoyed the book from the start. (The opening paragraph was brilliant in my opinion). No, I had done something very wrong. I watched the movie first. Not that this is always wrong,(altough should be avioded when possible), I have watched some movies that have left me looking foward to the inspiring lituarature such as PRIDE & PREJUDICE or DAVID COPPERFIELD. But this movie punched me, left me reeling, never wanting to read a book that could produce a film like this.
Flash foward a few years. My wife being an avid Austen reader was also hesitant about reading it. But she took the plunge and gave it a go. While it was not her favorite book, she enjoyed it enough to recomend it to me, saying it was almost completly different from the book.
So with a little less trepidation I eventually decided I would read it. Amazing. I really liked this book. Why had I never wanted to read this book? How could they make a movie like that from this kind of material to work with? Why don't they get the people who did the PRIDE & PREJUDICE mini-series to do this?
My only problem with it was that it ended way to fast for me. Everything seemed to be resolved and finished in the last two or three pages, with very little of how thier lives turn out in the end. But if that is the only thing you can truly critize in a book, then I think your holding an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: My 5th Austen book....lot's of fun!!
Review: This is perhaps the most childish (I mean that in a nice way) of Jane Austen's books. It's good for even teens my age to read and enjoy because it's shorter, with a more obvious side of humor to it than the other novels. (I have never minded reading classics; my friends think I'm weird but...I don't care!) Jane Austen seems to be laughing up her sleeve at her own story and its characters. It's a satire of Mrs. Radcliffe's novels and the stereotype heroes of the age and she often refers to Catherine as `a heroine' and compares her plights to those of other heroines. It's really very funny and some of the situations Kate finds herself in are highly entertaining.
Gone is the restraint and almost painfully polite atmosphere. This is really the only Austen book where you don't feel that suffocating blanket of manners and what's proper all around you. The heroine speaks pretty plainly, and the hero openly teases both her and his sister (and is very cute ^-^). The ending is pretty shocking and totally unexpected. My mom is almost psychic when it comes to guessing plots and their outcomes but even she didn't know what was coming when she read this book.
This is also the only Austen book (besides Pride and Prejudice) that got me to laugh out loud. It has a priceless section about how most heroines would never deign to touch a novel; if they picked one up by accident they would be sure to put it back down in disgust. However, Catherine is more than ready to read novels with her friend Isabella; books like The Mysteries of Udolpho, though she wouldn't like to admit it. When the hero-much to her dismay-finds out, he entirely approves. They have the cutest romance, and I really like the naïve Catherine as the heroine.
The only thing about the book I didn't like was the soppy friendship between Catherine and Isabella. When Catherine is slightly late meeting her friend, Isabella says this sickeningly sweet phrase to her, "Where have you been, darling? I have been waiting for you this past hour!" (Not an exact quotation, but something along those lines) I much prefer Henry's sister as her friend. There is actually a really god contrast between the beautiful Isabella and the quiet shy sister who turns out to be the better and more deserving friend. And Catherine is such an imaginative heroine, who reminds a bit of Anne of Green Gables with her flights of fancy that end hilariously!
I really liked this book and will probably read it again soon along with Emma and Pride and Prejudice. I'd like to see the movie also. Great book, and a great place to start reading Austen's novels. Highly recommended
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