Tips for Reading Jane Austen

[@KierTheScrivener]

I would love one for Gaskell

[@rachy5384]

Me too - please do that Katie

[@katiejlumsden]

I think Gaskell, Hardy and Trollope all have lots of votes, so I'll see what I can do this Victober!

[@tillysshelf]

I got my husband into Jane Austen by reading him Pride and Prejudice, doing impersonations of the 1996 actors, and sometimes stopping to explain why something was funny, or why it had to be done like that at the time. I think reading an edition with good notes, and checking them if things are unclear, would be one tip. Oh, and watching a lot of Jane Austen-related booktube, of course.

[@Maria_Efe]

Watching a couple of adaptations was what finally allowed me to picture Jane Austen's world and get her books, so I'd definetly recommend that (especially of you haven't watched any period drama before).

[@KierTheScrivener]

I really love Mansfield Park. I read it fifth and fell immediately in love with it.

[@HeyAllyHey]

Same ❤

[@sarahpeytonreads]

this is so helpful!!!!! thank you! 😊 i am reading emma and it’s my first jane austen but i’m so excited to dive into her work!!

[@betinaceciliafeld9854]

Happy Jane Austen July to everybody! I'm so excited for this 😁. I'd love to see a similar video on Thomas Hardy (which I haven't read yet), on Anthony Trollope or George Gissing (both of which I'm very interested in) and on Elizabeth Gaskell (my absolute favourite 😍). Thank you!

[@HamsavahiniVajraasthra]

Hi Katie😊! Amazing Tips & Tricks - I absolutely would recommend audiobooks especially the dramatized versions, it brings out the spirit and fun of the characters so well😁👍👍👍And oooh yes, would love one each for - Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Gaskell & Wilkie Collins! There's once for Antony Trollope already so I've started with those 😊! Happy Reading🥰🥰🥰

[@stephenn3727]

Yes please! Thomas Hardy is terrific as well as Jane Austen. Thank you

[@nicolaknight6953]

This and Victober are my yearly reading highlights 🎉xx

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks :)

[@spokenme08]

I got Emma for my 12th birthday and it's still a fave.I still relate to Emma a little to much.

[@kilianwinkelmann]

I still remember Gwyneth Paltrow playing that role. I really got old.

[@melb5665]

Yes please to a Tips for Reading Hardy video! I’m currently fumbling my way through my first Hardy (Far From the Madding Crowd, started reading it after watching one of your videos on Victorian lit actually), and though I understand the language, I’m just not connecting with it like I thought I would

[@Baileyhouse1]

Great tips, thank you. I’m reading Mansfield Park this JAJ as it is the only book of hers I haven’t read all through before. Interested to hear that many people struggle with this one. I have just started watching a TV adaptation to get an overview and I will probably read along to an audiobook version when I tackle the text. I’d love a tips video on Trollope and Gaskell. Love your content and enthusiasm for classic literature. Just read your novel and loved it. It had echoes from several literary classics but was entirely your own and beautifully done. 😎

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks very much :)

[@michaelmccarty]

These are very helpful, thank you! I'm hoping to read 'Emma' this month (my first Jane Austen read!). 🙂

[@a_literarylavender]

I just found your channel yesterday and, if I can say so, am obsessed. coincidentally, not knowing nothing about jane austin july, i'm in the middle of sense and sensibility with the intention of getting through all of auten's works this year (i have read and loved pride and prejudice before). anyways, this video was an absolute blessing (as are you)!😄

[@katiejlumsden]

Good timing! Thanks so much :)

[@patricialux6197]

Hi there, yes, i second the motion for Gaskell. I already love her, but would like to hear your tips anyway. This is good info for people. I might say that ...sort of inverse to #7...Some People might actually like and be smoothly introduced to JA by reading a well annotated edition. My 1st JA novel was S&S from library-- happened to be annotated and i really enjoyed the info, clarifications, etc. In my initial intro to her world. Love your videos❤

[@LedgerAndLace]

LOVED these, Katie! I agree about starting with "Pride & Prejudice." That's what made me love Jane Austen. I think what you said about her being subtle really rings true. I find that I notice new things with each re-reading. And I find her funnier and funnier as well. I also think that audio books are a great entry point if it's a bit difficult reading her, as you point out.

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks very much :)

[@JasmineReads]

Loved this Katie! I'm currently rereading NA - I've always thought of it as being my least favourite, so it's interesting revisiting it years later!

[@jonathanparks207]

The first chapter of Pride and Prejudice is hilarious. I think I laugh more the more I read it. Some of the best lines from Pride and Prejudice come out of that first chapter.

[@properlittlemadam4789]

I enjoyed this video so much and found your tips very useful, would love the same thing for Anthony Trollope. Thank you.

[@dayanafacanha5685]

I love tip number 4 😂❤

[@stevencarsley2446]

another great video i a going to start Jane Austen pride and prejudice on Audio Books

[@jacksontalley]

George Eliot! I want to read Middlemarch this year.

[@buchdrache1409]

Katie doesn't like George Eliot. I think it would be weird to get tips for reading GE's books from someone who doesn't actually like her writing.

[@katiejlumsden]

Haha yes, I would not be the person to make that video! She's not one of my favourites. If you want to know more about George Eliot, I recommend to the wonderful Kate Howe, who loves her: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKDFnpKtj8h7qdk and kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJ-uaKiFrNl1q6s

[@catherineessery9395]

Thank you Katie.

[@lindybjork2712]

Thanks, Katie. I read all of the 6 books in High School and did a reread since but it's been quite awhile since I've read any Jane Austen books. I've seen a bunch of adaptations, too, my favorite being the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. I'm hoping to read two JA books during July. Also, have you seen Sanditon, the TV series? The third and final season aired earlier this year. I'm pretty obsessed with it. 😊

[@katiejlumsden]

So, I started Sanditon, saw maybe 4/5 episodes and wasn't loving it, so gave up, but I do hear seasons 2 and 3 are actually better than season 1!

[@lindybjork2712]

@@katiejlumsden Oh, cool!! Yes, while I did love Season 1 and have watched it multiple times, Season 2 & 3 I love more, especially since S3 came out. I've seen a lot of people say S2 & S3 are a lot more austenesque, which I have to agree with. And the characters are so great.

[@darlenefarley8193]

Looking forward to reading your new book The Secrets of Hartwood Hall. Hopefully the library will send it to mine because it is kind of new and sometimes they don't want to send out the book right away.

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks so much :)

[@darlenefarley8193]

Your welcome

[@ryanwoo4347]

As long as your videos are out there, I'll keep reading JA's works❤ After finishing PP last month, I'm now halfway through SS, and it feels like a bit more dragging than PP and makes me wonder whether my expectations are wrong, maybe the romantic elements are not supposed to be regarged as significantly as in PP? And the whole SS is just a big parody of extreme romance?🤔 Anyway, I'll continue to finish it since I really appreciate the dashwood mother and her daughters as well as JA's incredible humor☺

[@katiejlumsden]

Yes, S&S is definitely less romantic than P&P. I like to focus on the sibling and pseudo-sibling relationships in that one :)

[@lizlittle1641]

That's why I love Northanger Abbey. It's not a love story. It has mystery.

[@kilianwinkelmann]

Life is a mystery. We all hang on to it , though.

[@jamesduggan7200]

The marriage plot (Whom Will She Choose?) works because it's bigger than existential crises, overblown dramas, travel, or explosive action. Of course, there is a love story, which typically includes all of the above features, that is funny to watch because people in love often are silly if not adorably cute to watch. What brings it above the others is the eternal nature for perpetuation of the species, and on a slightly less grand scale, replication of society with its positive values, like family, trust, self-sacrifice, and simple pleasures.

[@katiejlumsden]

Absolutely!

[@sandyokey1019]

Anthony Trollope please! I’m intent on reading him this Victober and I’m not sure where to even start. Thank you💕

[@lorraineevans4780]

I feel I need to attack Trollope but don't really know where to start

[@buchdrache1409]

I have read 15 Trollopes, and i think one of the best places to start would be either "The Belton Estate" or "Miss Mackenzie". Sure, you could start with one of her series (Barchester or Palliser), but i think the two aforementioned books give one a good enough idea regarding his writing style and characters. And since they aren't long, one has to invest rather less time. I think those two books are really quite fun. If you want a longer work to get started with, "He Knew He Was Right" is very good too.

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks! I'll try and make a tips for Trollope video this October. I second The Belton Estate and He Knew He Was Right great places to start, plus The Way We Live Now and Doctor Wortle's School. The Barsetshire Chronicles aren't a bad place to start, but I'd recommend not starting with the Pallisers, as there is a lot of Victorian politics, which can confuse people!

[@lizlittle1641]

Jane Austen is funny.

[@HeyAllyHey]

I have a few: DON’T expect all of Austen’s heroines to be Elizabeth Bennet or the heroes Mr. Darcy. DO try to leave your modern sensibilities and self inserts at the door when reading Austen.

[@davidleonard8547]

Welcome to Jane Austen July. This is my 2nd year participating. I cheated. I began a little early. I've finished Lady Susan, just as July was dawning, and am now into Sense and Sensibility.

[@katiejlumsden]

I fully endorse starting Jane Austen July early!

[@melaniebonello3798]

I would love a video like this for Shakespeare or a Russian author.

[@michellehyland3675]

Laurence Sterne please Katie.

[@katiejlumsden]

Not yet read anything by him!

[@bobbykeniston7240]

Okay, so I have a question. But, perhaps, a confession first: "Pride and Prejudice" was the only book assigned in high school that I disliked so much, I only skimmed the last thirty pages. Here's the thing: it wasn't because it was a classic, because I've always loved classics, it wasn't because of the love story element, as I loved the love stories in "Ethan Frome" and "Their Eyes Were Watching God", and many others. I don't know why "Pride and Prejudice" hit me the wrong way. Now, obviously, this was many years ago, and I have changed, my tastes have grown wider, and so forth. Perhaps reading "Pride and Prejudice" now, I would enjoy it, who knows? I got a kick out of the movie "Bride and Prejudice" after all, thought it was a fun time. But, I think it might be safer for me, if I am to give Jane Austen another chance (and I really feel that I should), to read something other than "Pride and Prejudice" first. Which leads to my question: What Jane Austen book would you recommend for someone who didn't really like "Pride and Prejudice"? Some people have recommended "Northanger Abbey", but I am really interested in your thoughts.

[@lorraineevans4780]

I know everyone raves about P&P but it is not my favourite. Have a go at Persuasion. Northanger Abbey is really short 🤔 so that might appeal

[@dinahpellerin1251]

I was assigned Pride and Prejudice for a book report (oral) in high school. I couldn’t get into it. On the day I stood in front of my class and hardly said a word because my teacher loved the book so much he talked on and on and I just sat down - got a good grade if I remember, this was many years ago. I eventually gave it another chance and loved it! I just needed a little maturity and I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. Please give it a try and continue on with Sense and Sensibility and the rest.

[@buchdrache1409]

Northanger Abbey is my least favourite of JA's works. Persuasion is a good one, and different enough from Pride and Prejudice whilst still being quintessential JA. Or, you could throw caution to the wind and read "Lady Susan" (an epistolary novella by JA). The vibe in this one is totally different but i adore it!

[@aleksandradavidovic2456]

I'd also recommend Persuasion!

[@katiejlumsden]

Yes, I think I'd echo the others who have recommended Persuasion. Good luck! Or maybe try Mansfield Park, which is the most different of her books, in a way - lots of people don't get on with it, so maybe that's a risk, but it might be worth a try . . .

[@buchdrache1409]

I finished "Persuasion" on day one itself and am so happy! It was a reread, but the last time i read it was like 15-17 years ago! So, it was a whole lot of fun! Lots still to read for Jane Austen-inspired July, including a Gaskell, a Fanny Burney, A Samuel Richardson, A Trollope and some poetry! 🎉I Love Jane Austen-inspired July!🎉

[@Gill12283]

I could never get on with Jane Austen. Much preferred George Elliot.