Jane Austen's Novels Ranked from WORST to BEST!

This is my ranking of all of Jane Austen's books--from worst to best. I would love to know how you rank all of her novels down below.
#JaneAustenJuly #ClassicsCommunity
Books I Mentioned:
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
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[@takingteawithcatherine]

I love watching rankings because they're nearly always different from mine, but every argument for their order is perfectly valid.

[@TooFondofBooksJH]

I love Emma! I agree that Emma has plenty of faults, but I don't think that she was mean. She was unkind at times but I don't think that she was at her core mean. I look at how she treated her father. She had infinite patience for him and was willing to do anything to make him comfortable. She also reacted when she recognized her faults and tried to make things right.

[@M-T-123]

Emma was my gateway to Jane Austen while in High School! Many years passed before I actually read JA entire ouvre, so I need to re read them! Thank u for a personal take ! JA it’s always personal 😍🐾☺️

[@TooFondofBooksJH]

I love the Emma Thompson adaptation of Sense and Sensibility! The acting is just amazing! A video ranking Jane Austen adaptations would be really interesting! I admire that you have a definitive ranking! I have a really hard time ranking Jane Austen. I agree wholeheartedly about Fanny Price. She is a very strong character - which is very impressive considering her influencers.

[@marlaeningles3788]

Hello Jennifer, I just love your reviews and learn so much from them. You are completely right, Emma and Mr. Knightely do come to this marriage as equals, and I may add Emma was not looking for love. I get annoyed when people just talk ill of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. I believe she is the strongest of all Jane Austen's novels. Being timid and quiet easily gets confused with weakness, such a big mistake. Fanny knows herself like no one else and Fanny is the only one who is a true outsider. She does not have this bias of inheritances or convenient marriages. She is an outsider who knew how to take advantage of her new life and does not let the emotions take over. She is kind and very inteligent and with an almost oriental-wise-patience. She is in fact my very favourite character of all Jane Austen's novels. Helloes from Mexico City !

[@naomisbookshelf]

I enjoy Pride and Prejudice but it is not my favourite of Jane’s work. I love Persuasion the most. Mansfield park is so undervalued in my opinion. It is so complex and deep. It is a masterpiece that everyone thinks is boring!

[@M-T-123]

Not me !😇🐾😇

[@rachelparradelong]

After so many reviews I was expecting not to like Mansfield Park but I really loved it so much!

[@marytumulty4257]

It’s interesting how so many of us shuffle the novels and come up with our own rankings. Up until a few days ago I didn’t realize that both Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett, behave in a somewhat similar way in relation to a close friend. Emma rather imperiously thinks she knows best as to who Harriet Smith should marry. Elizabeth Bennett has a similar view in regard to her dear friend Charlotte Lucas accepting Mr. Collins’ proposal. Each comes from a status of greater privilege and hence has more choices for their future lives.

[@doomantidote]

Fascinating! I need to reread Northanger Abbey for the opposite reason in that currently for me it ranks at the bottom but hearing lots of people say it's one of their favourites is making me question my initial reaction to it.

[@krosero]

Enjoyed your review, and I agree about Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park being the ones that most split readers. I like those two a lot, but they tend to go near the bottom for many readers, but at the top for lots of others.

[@rosea2350]

1. Northanger Abbey 2. Sense and Sensibility 3. Pride and Prejudice 4. Emma 5. Mansfield Park 6. Persuasion

[@RaineyDayReads]

Yay! I have to agree with you on Emma! I love it so much. You also makes some really awesome points on Persuasion and Mansfield Park! Hmmm now I need to think about my ranking.

[@novellenovels]

See I’m struggling with northanger abbey as I don’t understand it all. I do love the leading lady. I enjoyed Mansfield park way more than others have 😊 I need to read sense and sensibility

[@M-T-123]

There’s a beautiful annotated series by Harvard University Press that .most definitely will clarify all of JA books! They’re a bit pricey but enlightening 😊

[@latoyabolt9459]

I enjoy how you talk about books! Go you! 👏

[@CoynieReads]

Oof, I actually agree with your Sense and Sensibility ranking. It's the only Austen where I've found reading it to be actively boring (though I do quite like the movie). Though I'm certainly due an Austen reread very soon! Definitely up for the Mansfield Park defence video, I love Fanny Price, I agree she's an incredibly strong, resilient character and she does not deserve the hatred for gets.

[@Lu.G.]

My rankings of Jane Austen's books are always subject to change 😆 but here goes: 1. Mansfield Park 2. Pride and Prejudice 3. Emma 4. Sense and Sensibility 5. Persuasion 6. Northanger Abbey

[@jenniferbrooks]

Lu G yes! More love for Mansfield Park!

[@meghanthestorygirl4581]

I loved what you had to say about Fanny Price. She is an amazing character and so underrated! I would love to see that "In Defence of" video.

[@peacelilly8456]

Awesome reviews. Thanks!

[@bethieandbooks]

Ooh love these types of videos! I think my ranking is 1. Pride and Prejudice 2. Mansfield Park 3. Northanger Abbey 4. Persuasion 5. Sense and Sensibility 6. Emma. I think that I just need an introvert to relate to when I read Jane Austen 😅

[@LanaCelebic]

Oh, I love these ranking videos, especially of Jane Austen books. I'm currently reading Emma and this book is such a surprise to me. I didn't think I'd like it, mostly because of the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation that I didn't like, but I'm enjoying it immensely. So many wonderful characters, though I must say my favorite is Mr. Woodhouse. He's hillarious. My favorite Jane Austen is still Pride and Prejudice, though I'm yet to read Persuasion and Mansfield Park.

[@rachelparradelong]

Loved your book review, truly out of the box ideas

[@BeckaBella1]

Just Subscribed! Glad I found your channel! Found you through my love of reading Classics, and Jane Austen! Austen was one of the first classic authors, when I was a pre-teen, that I fell in love with! Just ordered new editions of physical copies, I did not own, and three of which, I still haven’t had a chance to read, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey, will be first reads for me, you got me excited to get started!!

[@sarahel19]

This is very interesting and I really enjoyed your reasons for ranking the novels as you did especially P&P which is so many people's favorite. I'm thinking that I may have missed something in Mansfield Park because it is definitely at the bottom of my list at the moment, together with Northanger Abbey which I'm about to reread and hoping to enjoy more than on my first read. For a long time I did not like Emma much but I reread it a couple of years ago and it really took my breath away, and is now my number one as well. I prefer the main characters in P&P (Lizzie and Darcy) and their love story to Emma and Mr Knightley but I find Emma's evolution so interesting and the story so enjoyable and funny. On the whole it has the best characters and I would say that it is her best book. As for S&S, I'm sad that it is not better liked in general because it is the story that got me into Jane Austen and it will always have a special place for me. I completely agree with you about being influenced by the adaptations. It is difficult not to think about them and about the actors portraying the characters when you read the novels. I'm looking forward to your ranking of all the adaptations you have watched.

[@SpinstersLibrary]

Not my Pride and Prejudice 😲 I maintain it is perfection in a novel. And clearly we disagree on Mansfield Park, but I understand why you love the book and its main character so much, and I'm looking forward to your video defending it! I agree with you about adaptations - I actually think the 90's Sense and Sensibility adaptation is better than the novel! Scandalous, I know 😂 You didn't quite go that far in your discussion of it, but I would argue that the wrong people got together in that novel, I'm really not a fan of the pairings. I'm also with you on Persuasion, it is the most sophisticated of the novel but lacks the humour and spirit and passion of the others. Emma is up there for me too, probably in second place after P&P. The characters in Emma really are so wonderfully written, and I find it interesting that there is no real "villain" in the book (other than Mrs E maybe), and every character's motivations just make sense. Anyway, fantastic video, I do love a good ranking. Next year I'll do mine, once I've reread every book.

[@M-T-123]

It’s bee probably a good decade since my last reread! Need to go back before I could even attempt to rank them

[@M-T-123]

Great commentary

[@SummersMovingBookshelf]

Always fun to see someone else’s rankings of Jane Austen’s works! Your list is completely different from mine, we don’t have a single one ranked in the same place. Pride and Prejudice will probably always be at the top of my list because it changed my life in a very important way when I first read it. And Mansfield Park is at the bottom of my list, but it’s not because of Fanny, although I did feel distanced during the action because she wasn’t really in the middle of it like you said. For me I think it was just too long for what it was and the social commentary was on overdrive. I also felt like the romance aspect was shoehorned in at the last second. Half of the time, Austen’s endings didn’t do it for me. Glad to see some major love for Emma, though. I get tired of seeing people hate on her character (probably because I related to her a little too much 😂).

[@castillomark]

My rankings; 1. Emma 2. Pride & Prejudice 3.Persuasion 4. Mansfield Park 5. Sense & Sensibility 6. Northanger Abbey

[@adolphsanchez1429]

I'm feeling woefully under read watching these videos. I have read two Jane Austin books: Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. I remember liking Pride and Prejudice in college, and although I probably did not care as much for Northanger Abbey which I read a few years ago, but I appreciated it greatly as a parody of the gothic romance genre. I don't think most people would appreciate Northanger Abbey without being familiar with the tropes found in gothic romances.

[@M-T-123]

Reading is an adventure! Overall different for everyone! Keep on reading!

[@LuminousLibro]

Love to hear your thoughts about Mansfield Park! I just finished reading and reviewing it, and posted my video review the other day. I used to dislike Fanny Price, but when I reread it this time, I started to understand her better, and fell in love with her strong character!

[@jenniferbrooks]

Oh, I'll have to check out your thoughts! Mansfield Park is a really interesting one--everyone seems to feel so differently about it!

[@kdonaldson7308]

I love all of the but my rankings of Jane Austen's books are : 1. Pride and Prejudice 2. Sense and Sensibility 3. Northanger Abbey 4. Mansfield Park 5. Persuasion 6. Emma

[@staffanlindstrom576]

My ranking would be the same except that I would put Emma in rank 4.

[@user-kg6mu6zt5o]

I personally love all Austen's book but Northanger Abbey is my favorite one because of comical characters. And I don't really know where to put Mansfield Park since it's so different. For me it's a completely differently genre, it's a bildungsroman among five romances

[@apollonia6656]

😮 Shocked to the core... "Price and Prejudice" at 5 ! Well, it is all subjective. Personally, P&P is number 1 and one of my top five novels of all time . Hey ho, thank goodness for different opinions 😊 All the Best.

[@rebeccabsomanybooks3558]

I love Emma too. Great critique

[@jenniferbrooks]

Thank you!

[@izabelbrekilien9658]

I don't like Fanny Price, I think she's too prim and proper (she judges people too much) but I can understand why she is how she is : given where she comes from, did she have any choice ? However, if I can understand her, I don't like her very much, she thinks a lot of things that she doesn't speak out (does it make her a hypocrit ? But she's also physically weak, maybe it has a repercussion on her way of acting). On the other hand, I adore Emma too, not my favourite, but very close second. On top of everything you said, I liked how Knightley and her practically know what the other is thinking, they don't have to finish a sentence for the other one to understand it, it was a really cool touch :) Oh, and even if we don't agree on everything, I love to hear other people's opinions, it brings a different and much appreciated light :)

[@rexiioper6920]

I’d put MP as number one.

[@logann-mackenziefroste563]

Awesome video! I want to read the Jane Austen books but I don’t know where to begin. What do you recommend is a good starting Jane Austen book ?

[@HerHomeschoolHomestead]

Any of them are perfect. Just Persuasion first for me. It varies persons to persons.

[@misselder1]

My JA ranking: Pride & Prejudice Persuasion Sense & Sensibility Northanger Abbey Mansfield Park Emma

[@arp711]

I feel badly saying it because it's your number 1, but......Emma is my least favorite. As you say, all of her books are good, I don't think of any of them as "bad" books, but Emma just didn't draw me in much and I feel like it was way too long for the story she was telling. My order from bottom to top is: Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey (glad to see you put that one at number 2!)

[@rexiioper6920]

What happened to the rest of the Italy vlogs? Also r u still doing clear braces?

[@SlightlySusan]

If the characters in the adaptation differ from how Jane Austen wrote them, is she created people to be a certain way. A film -- whether theatrical or television -- takes that same character and puts it in the hands of the script writer, the director and the actor playing the character. Lots of input!

[@barbaramanickas6580]

❤

[@BookZealots]

I'm a newbie to Jane Austen's books. I'm thoroughly enjoying Emma though and really like Knightley's character. I'm pleasantly surprised, because I really didn't like the Paltrow version of Emma. =)

[@staffanlindstrom576]

The Kate Beckinsale version is the one to go for.

[@BookZealots]

@Staffan Lindström lol thank you that's probably who I meant because I'm not a big fan of Knightley in P&P. I agree with you on Paltrow as well

[@staffanlindstrom576]

@@BookZealots Mark Strong is a terrific Mr. Knightley in the Beckinsale version.

[@BookZealots]

@@staffanlindstrom576 Thank you. I'll look into getting a copy of that version. I sure do appreciate you letting me know. 👍

[@staffanlindstrom576]

@@BookZealots I´m sure you´ll like it. The actors are so good.

[@tom7979]

For me, Jane Austen’s novels come in pairs: two lacklustre novels, two great novels and two masterpieces. Pride and Prejudice comes so low for me because I almost feel like I’m just sick of hearing about it, especially when it isn’t one of her most interesting works. I’m due for a reread but my eyes just roll every time I hear the title haha. My ranking is: 1. Emma 2. Persuasion 3. Mansfield Park (on a reread this could go from a 4 star to a 5 star read) 4. Pride and Prejudice 5. Sense and Sensibility 6. Northanger Abbey