Reading Jane

I’ve just finished reading all six of Jane Austen’s novels, beginning with Persuasion and ending with Northanger Abbey. These two (along with Mansfield Park) are often regarded as inferior to the big three of Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. But I must say I didn’t have that reaction: I loved them all equally, each in their different way–because the author shone through so luminously. I won’t even attempt to enumerate their virtues for fear of litotes. Indispensable reading. Enough said.