Fellow readers of Jane Austen: have any of you read any of the completed versions of Jane Austen’s unfinished novels The Watsons and Sanditon? What would you recommend? I would love to hear anyone’s opinions on what author finished them the best.
And, here we have a new poll.
It has been my observation that there seems to be different categories of Jane Austen fans, as far as their favorite of her books go. For instance, I often see Pride and Prejudice and Emma or Sense and Sensibility as the top 2 favorites, but I have never heard of someone’s favorites being Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. So, the new poll will be: “Which are your two favorite novels by Jane Austen?” Vote on the sidebar! I think it will be interesting to see the results. (I’ll leave the poll up until there is a sufficient number of votes.)
P.S. I'd really like to know which one you vote for! If you feel inclined to tell me, please leave a comment. :)
12 comments:
I own the Sanditon finished by "Another Lady" (Marie Dobbs), I think it's the most common continuation, and actually it was first published in 1975! I actually haven't read it because I've become quite an Austen purist lately and kind of decided that I didn't want to read it and confuse in my mind Jane Austen's original story. I've read somewhere about how Jane Austen's family members said she intended to finish Sanditon and The Watsons. I would like to read 'Sanditon: A Continuation by Her Niece' by Anna Austen Lefroy, now that would be interesting because JA gave her lots of tips about writing. I'm sure it's closest to what she would have written herself, but unfortunately it seems that Anna didn't finish her continuation! You might want to check out this page at Pemberley.com for info about the various sequels and continuations: http://www.pemberley.com/sequels/sequels_02.html
What a lovely poll! You might have already guessed but I voted for Persuasion & Northanger Abbey because they are my favorites and have been my favorites for a long time! NA is my favorite and then Persuasion follows closely behind. MP and S&S follow closely behind that!
~Miss Laurie :)
Alike Miss Laurie I also own the Sanditon which was finished by Another Lady, but I have not read it. I have however read the unfinished copies of both The Watsons and Sanditon. Although it was rather a long time ago I remember I enjoyed The Watsons.
The version of Sanditon that Miss Laurie suggested above sounds quite promising. I think I might even look into that one too!
And great idea with the poll! I remember the conversation we had about this :) I actually quized a few of my family after it (mainly using the films as reference as none of them have read the novels) and it was P&P/S&S/Emma against MP/NA/Persuasion for top three in every case. Its very interesting- I can't wait to see how the results here turn out!
Ohh and although I don't really need to tell you- I did vote: Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park! SURPRISE! :)
Mel
Oh, this is hard! My THREE favourites right now are Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey, but I'm starting to like Mansfield Park more and more too. Maybe I'll just have to wait to vote.
Of her six major novels I have only read Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion. Starting tomorrow (August 1) I'll be beginning Sense and Sensibility. I have a feeling I'm going to love this. But based on what I've read so far, I'd have to say Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion are my top favourites.:)
I also have read Sanditon finished by Another Lady...probably the same one as Miss Laurie, but I don't know. It's quite good! I would recommend it. :)
I went for P&P and Emma...my all time favorite books and movies. :)
Voted for Emma & Mansfield Park. I thought Emma (the book) was interesting and not too predictable, and Fanny Price is my favorite JA heroine. :)
Miss Laurie,
Thank you! That's very useful.
Mel,
Exactly! That seems to be a usual pattern...I thought about doing top 3 favorites for the poll, but then I found out there were way too many possibilities!
Maria Elisabeth,
I'd love to know which you decide on! And if you like, I can let you know when the poll will close, if you haven't already voted by that time (I'm not sure when it will be).
Risa,
I hope you enjoy Sense and Sensibility! I really like it. It's my 3rd favorite, although very close to 2nd.
Charity,
Thank you so much for the recommendation! I think our library system might just have that one. (Hope so!) Did it have a good ending? :)
Marian,
That's one combination I've never seen! I like Fanny too. =)
Everyone,
Thanks for voting!
And I should probably say which I voted for too: Pride and Prejudice and Emma. =) (Although S&S is right up there in my top 3 favorites! And I like all of them, of course.)
P&P and Emma. ;-)
Melody, it did indeed have a good ending! :)
I own and read Sanditon by Another Lady and was impressed at the seamless manner in which Chapter 11 (Jane's last) moved into Chapter 12 and the rest of the story. I remember a number of entertaining elements in the story such as the sea bathing descriptions, the sharing of literary volumes and many exciting elements towards the end that I shant write here for fear of spoiling it for those of you who claim to own the book but haven't read it. I know there are a couple of other attempts out there but have not come across them beyond the one I've read. Do you have a list?
Joy!
Miss Kathy
Kathryn,
Thanks for yoru comment! I am glad to know that "Another Lady" can write similar to Jane Austen! I'm looking forward to reading it. That completion seems to be the most well-recognized, and in many cases that speaks for itself.
I have this list that Miss Laurie pointed out:
http://www.pemberley.com/bin/sequels/sequels.cgi?category=sanditon
(I'm not sure whether that's what you meant)
I voted for Pride and Prejudice, which is one of my all time absolute favourite books! I know it's a bit of a typical choice, but I just can't help but love it :) Also, I voted for Northanger Abbey, although it was close between that and Emma. Although I of course enjoyed Mansfield Park and Persuasion, I never really enjoyed them as much as some of Jane Austen's other novels, although now I think about it, I'm not sure why: they just never spring to mind as my favourites, but perhaps I need to read them again :) As to Sense and Sensibility, I can't decide whether I like it or not. Some parts I loved, but some parts I felt lacked, specifically some of the characters and relationships.
I know what you mean about there being different categories of Austen fans: similarly, I've always felt her books can be separated into different categories (some easier than others): some are more comical and light-hearted, while others are a little 'darker', I suppose, for lack of a better word, and deeper. I suppose you could really love perhaps 2 or 3 of Jane Austen's books but not really think much of the others, which I think is interesting. Just goes to show you can't just assume all Jane Austen fans are the same: although I think we all tend to have things in common, just by reading through the comments above you can see the different tastes of Jane Austen's readers :)
~Abby
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