Thoughts 
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, Naxos Audio 2007 (orig 1814), 16 hours 49 minutes
Narrated by the incomparable professional Juliet Stevenson.
| “I fancy Miss Price has been more used to deserve praise than to hear it.” |
This is the most fun book full of love-to-loath characters! Had a grand time with Jane and her character descriptions of the “too good” (Fanny Price) and deliciously bad (Auntie Mrs. Norris). I even started to admire Lady Bertram at one point. Of course, Edmund was only slightly less annoying than Fanny and the Crawfords! OH YES! Miss Mary and her darling flirtatious conniving brother Henry!!! Such fun. Could NOT understand how Edmund put up with Mary… She was so insulting and it would go right over his head; he thought her heavenly and sweet. (She certainly was neither.)
Jane Austen’s ability to be cool and snide is beyond compare.
Rating: 
READ for CITY category for the What’s In a Name Challenge. My SECOND entry. Mansfield is a town in Massachusetts.
READ for CLASSICS CLUB 50 and VERY LONG category of the Classics Challenge.
Care's Books and Pie 
Snide. Yes, Jane was at one of her peaks of snideness with this novel!
It’s a great word, snide.
I LIKE HENRY CRAWFORD, and I think Jane Austen just slipped in the running away with Maria thing at the end to make the reader okay with Fanny not marrying him. I thought he was nice and funny, and Fanny’s moral standards are insanely high, so THERE, Jane Austen. :p
I rather liked Henry, too. The ending felt incredibly rushed but it needed to be wrapped up so I really wasn’t that upset.
Juliet Stevenson is the best! I’m not a huge fan of Mansfield Park, but when I’m ready to reread it will definitely be on audio.
Mansfield Park was the first Jane Austen book I ever read. I thought it was interesting and I agree with your observations about the characters. It was a fun book to read, not my favorite of Austen’s so far, but it was still fun.
I can’t get into Austen. I’ve tried so many times, too.
Not even the movies?
Reading a book of Austen’s early writings right now and you can see her already sharpening her claws in her teens just for her big girl books. She really was brilliant!
I hadn’t (usually don’t) even think about what order her books were written in. Huh. Yes, I agree to her brilliance.