Rating: 
Summary: Commentary Regarding Quality of Book
Review: This review is regarding the quality of the 1994 hardcover edition published by Grammercy. I ordered this edition several weeks ago and was extremely disappointed to find it was poor quality. The binding is acceptable when new but after a week of light use, I already noticed deterioration on the front binding. Actually the binding is so poor that, if not careful, you could easily tear some of the front pages out. The paper quality is cheap and is the same used for mass media paperbacks expect slightly thinner. Overall, I was so dissatisfied with this edition that I returned it. However, I would also like to make a recommendation. After returning the book, I was still looking for collection of Austen's works and happened to find a 1995 hardcover edition of this exact book by Grammercy. The edition costs five dollars more but the quality is ten times better. The book has a faux leather cover with gold trimmed pages and a ribbon bookmark. The paper quality in thin but polished, smoother and more refined. The binding is very durable and I have noticed no deterioration yet after a week of use. If I had to a chance to redo my purchases, I would have skipped this edition completely and ordered the 1995 edition. If your interested in this edition, it can be found using search under ISBN # 0517147688
Rating: 
Summary: A must have in any collection, small or large!
Review: Why do people still go on reading, quoting and making films about the novels of Jane Austen, a stay at home maiden lady who wrote her books almost two hundred years ago? An easy answer might be the romance and simplicity of the Austen age, where the most important news of the day was the arrival next door of a young, eligible bachelor. It was a world in which overheard conversations at a country dance, the imprudent behavior of a girl at a picnic, or a public snub in the village square would utterly change the course of your life. But this easy answer doesn't really explain the broad appeal of Jane Austen's novels. Her world is so unlike our own, that there simply must be more to it than romance. The fact is, that in spite of her limited experience, Jane Austen writes with tremendous wit, charm and perception. She appeals to the modern reader because she never minces words. She gets right into the heart of her characters, strips away the veneer of social grace, and makes shrewd observations about love, marriage, pride, snobbery, money and manners. Her opening sentences are a key to the clean, crisp writing you can expect from Austen. Take, for example, the character description that begins EMMA: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." It is the brilliant use of the word 'seemed' that tips us off for the events that follow. In one sentence, Austen has given us a character who is spoiled, self assured and intelligent, and we can hardly wait to find out what is going to 'distress or vex her' in the following pages! Or what about the opening sentence of her most famous novel PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." What a marvelous assumption, and what delightful matchmaking schemes and foibles are about to unfold! Just picking one of Austen's novels at random gives you a wealth of charming observation. Take these thoughts on conversation, from NORTHANGER ABBEY: "He shortly found himself arrived at politics, and from politics, it was an easy step to silence." ...and from "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY "Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition." Or how about this wistful observation from PERSUASION: "One does not love a place the less because one has suffered in it." You don't have to be a scholar to understand and appreciate Austen. Her novels will surprise and win over any first time reader, and they have an amazingly good shelf life - they can be read and reread. Here, in one volume you have a portrait of missed opportunity in the provocative novel PERSUASION; matchmaking gone awry in EMMA; masterful observations of two sisters and their different approaches to love in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; snobbery and manners in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and more. In short, Austen is a writer you never tire of. This is a must have in any collection, small or large!
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