The first time I read Jane Austen was when I was 12 years old. I still remember the summer so well it could have been last year. Pride and Prejudice was a part of our homeschool curriculum and I was supposed to read a bit of it every day. However, once I got just a little ways into it I started reading huge chunks of it every day until I finished it early. And then only a year later I began rereading it. What can I say, she had hooked me at an early age.

I didn't get a chance to read her other books until a few years later, when we were at a bookstore and they were on sale. For ten dollars I got Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Emma. We were on vacation at the time, and I had finished two of them by the time we got home from our weekend trip to the beach.

And then a year later I found a copy of Mansfield Park at our library and began that one as well. It was one of my later acquisitions, however, just recently received as a birthday present from a dear friend (and mother of an even dearer friend).

What is it about her books that is so addicting for me? Honestly, it is hard for me to even begin to figure the answer to that question out. But I suppose I can take a couple stabs in the dark and see where they lead me.

Austen's characters are very convincing, lifelike, and human. They are good women, kind women, sweet women, polite women, but they also have their faults and weaknesses. They are the kind of women that, despite their faults, I aspire to be like. Even in all of their varied personalities and character there is something in each of them that I long to be like, some part of their story that I aspire to incorporate into my own life story. I guess you could say that they are inspiring in all of their goodness and authenticity.

The plots in Austen's stories are real, sometimes painful, but always good stories. I know that some people hate optimism, positivity, and happily-ever-after feel-good stories, but I don't think Austen is like that. And even if she is, I find her pleasant tales refreshing. When you live in a world full of miserable endings, tragic endings, and strings of unhappy heartbreaking events, why would you want to read more of that? I personally prefer to meditate on positive stories, stories that have the real elements of heartache, loss, and tragedy, but still ultimately end well. I have noticed in my experience that people who spend time meditating on this kind of story often have this kind of life, whereas people who meditate on negative stories have negative lives. I'm not sure which causes the other to happen, but I like to think that by focusing on positive stories I am creating my own positive life story.

I greatly enjoy the exoticism of Austen's books. Perhaps it does not seem terribly exotic to you, but to a girl who lives in the present-day U.S. the Regency era of England seems pretty exotic. And there is something about reading about a world completely different than one's own that not only is a form of escape from this world, but also broadens one's mind and perspectives. It is amazing the way that simply reading a book can take one away into a whole other world, as if one was a participant in the story and not just a reader (at least this is true of truly great works of fiction). And when one feels as though one has lived through the story with the hero (or heroine) one can truly be enriched by the broadened horizons of these new experiences.

Another piece of the exoticism of Austen's books is the different English they used then. It is not quite different enough to be unintelligible, but it is different enough to be placed as being "older English" and definitely from a different era. This I find to be particularly enriching for a writer. It not only enhances one's vocabulary, but also gives a writer a wider range of style in their sentence structure and grammar usage.

But beyond everything that I can logically lay out for you in words understandable and believable, there is something else about Austen's books, something bigger than words and broader than language that just pours out of her books as I read them. This, I believe, is the mark of a truly great classic, that certain indefinable something that sets it apart from a book that just touches your brain but not your heart. Perhaps this is something that varies from person to person, as different people seem to be touched by different books, but whatever it is, it is truly there just as truly as I sit here writing these words and thinking these thoughts (but we don't need to get into what is reality, because that is a whole different subject altogether and much to big for me). Austen poured her heart into her books, and when I read them even today I can feel that, feel the blood, sweat, and tears she must have put into those books and I appreciate that as thoroughly as any human can. And that is why-at least part of why-Jane Austen is my hero(ine).

Well, since I made such a point of why I love Jane Austen, I thought I'd post a quick paragraph describing each of the stories. There are six of them in total: Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Emma.

Pride and Prejudice is probably the most well known of Austen's works. It is the story of Elizabeth Bennet and the infamously proud Mr. Darcy, but it contains a wide range of romantic relationships. From the rash, imprudent marriage of Lydia, to the dull and unromantic marriage of Charlotte Lucas, to the mostly unmarred courtship of Jane and Mr. Bingley, Jane Austen uses this book to widely critique her day's society. Even the relationship of Mr. Bingley's sister to her husband, or the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet shows the many kind of happy and less-than-satisfactory kinds of matrimonial relationships that existed, and in fact still do exist in this world.

Sense and Sensibility focuses on the Dashwoods after the death of the husband/father figure. The sensible eldest sister falls in love with a man she cannot have, while the next sister--and the more romantically-minded sister--falls in love with a man who will not have her. This is the story of their heartbreak, but also their ultimate healing and discovery of true love.

Northanger Abbey is the story of the young, rather poor Catherine Morland, who has no chance at society, save for the interest a wealthier neighbor has in Catherine's development. While enjoying her first season in Bath, Catherine falls in love with a well-to-do young man, but finds her affection courted by a less-than-savory character. Catherine eventually finds herself at odds with the father of the very man she has fallen in love with, and this turmoil leads eventually to her heartbreak and what she fears will be permanent separation from her dear Mr. Tilney. This book satirically shows the effects of novels and overactive imaginations in young ladies.

Mansfield Park, one of the messiest tales of Austen, is the story of Fanny Price, and poor young girl who is separated from her family and sent to live with her aunt and uncle at a very young age. She is raised with the family, but always with the knowledge that she is not of their class and never will be. As her cousins grow up to be very imprudent, unwise, and willful children, Fanny grows up to be humble, helpful, and a timidly obedient assistant to her two aunts. Fanny falls in love with her cousin, but is forced to watch as most of her cousins destroy their own futures due to the influence of the Crawfords. This book was certainly written as a commentary on society, especially in how it compares the "traditional" views of Mr. Bertram to the "modern" views of his children. Yet, in the end, both views lead to difficulties, leading one to wonder just where Austen stood on this issue she wrote about.

Persuasion differs from the rest of Austen's works mostly in respect to the heroine of the story, who is not such a young woman any more. Anne is a women of 28 years who is still mourning the love she lost ten years ago. By chance she meets again the man she gave up then, but is heart broken to watch his pursuit of another woman--a younger, prettier woman at that. Anne has realized how wrong she was to have been persuaded out of that engagement ten years ago, but fears she will never get a chance to undo that no. This story, like all of Austen's works, has definite elements of satirical commentary on society, especially in its description of Anne's father, sisters, and in-laws, adding to the irony and humor in the book.

Emma is the story of young Emma who fancies herself a matchmaker, especially after the success she has in marrying her former governess to a wealthy man just a couple miles from her own dear home. But this success is not to be easily repeated, as her tries lead again and again to mix-ups and strained relationships. She finally resigns herself to giving up matchmaking, but realizes she may have already ruined her one chance for happiness by accidentally encouraging her friend to fancy herself in love with the one man Emma loves. This story is almost more a comedy of errors, but still as excellent a story as the rest of Austen's works.

I hope this doesn't ruin the stories for you, but I must say that they all are rather of the happily-ever-after kind of romance story.