Right now I'm reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park for the first time. I must say that at this point I'm very much in danger of becoming a Janeite (sp?). Which reminds me, I really need to read that work by Rudyard Kippling. So far, I'm appreciating the novel in a way I've never appreciated Austen's writing before. There are really only two admirable characters in the whole novel. Not only this, the good majority off the characters are more than off-putting. I could never suffer being in the presence of, as Jane would say, a Mrs. Norris or a Miss Bertram...but then again, we HAVE all suffered through meeting with or being around these types of people. This novel seems to be a particularly good pairing with the rest of the late 18th century literature we are studying in one of my classes. The majority of our class time is focused on Samuel Johnson, and this novel of Austen seems to be very representative of many of Johnson's deepest sentiments. Now I just need to start looking for that copy of Northanger Abbey I keep saying I'm going to buy...
