The gauntlet has been thrown, book nerds.

Jane Eyre. Always.

jane eyre.

do i have to explain myself?

12th house sun. i identify with the madwoman in the attic.

plus jane sorta kicks ass.

Pride and Prejudice.

Rochester is only pitied and he strings along two women. Don't care the circumstances, that really turned me off!!

rochester? it's not about him!!! LOL. i can see this thread getting violent.

damn, the talk about these 2 books has always made me wish i was a reader

and i could get behind a fist fight over jane austin---fo sho 

(i did read george sand's 'indiana'----pretty good)

Pride & prejudice for me... jane always seemed too 'worthy'.

Jane Eyre. I named one of my daughters Jane because of her. I love P and P and Jane Austen (named my other daughter Emma) but while my daughters I love equally, I rank the Bronte sisters above Austin. just my tastes.

Pride and Prejudice.  Hands down.

I haven't made it through Jane Eyre, ever, so this may be chlorine in the data pool.

PS: Too late for a poll?  For our lurk-y peeps.  :)

I find the Brontes to be Venus Pluto with a side of Saturn and Austin to be Venus Saturn with a side of Pluto.

My advice with Jane Eyre is to skip the first 10 chapters. Maybe read the first if you're a bookish sort, it's more of a commentary on Victorian life and not what any sane person likes about the novel. Start at chapter ten, you will get through it I promise!

"I tell you I must go!" I retorted, roused to something like passion. "Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? -- a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! -- I have as much soul as you, -- and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh; -- it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal, -- as we are!"

"As we are!" repeated Mr. Rochester -- "so," he added, enclosing me in his arms. Gathering me to his breast, pressing his lips on my lips: "so, Jane!"

Might give Jane Eyre a try again, maybe I'll appreciate her more now than at 15. Read Villette thrice though Wuthering heights irritated

 *ducks under a rock*

swoon.

i'm really sorry.

but - swoon.

Pride and Prejudice!  She wasn't willing to settle for simply being married even though life for women in that time period didn't really allow her not to be.  And I give her major points for having to deal with that crazy family of hers.

@Darvaish, Wuthering Heights is my favourite book!

LOL Michele! 

Pride and Prejudice, for the reason that Stacey stated above. although I don't remember reading jane eyre.

Jane Eyre is like - I dunno. They TALK about the feelings more than having them. Same with Wuthering Heights, lol.

Haha.

Too much back and forth for me. gah.

My daughter is also named after a Jane Austen character. :D (Hint: She sucks at matchmaking! lol)

::wink::

Jane Eyre.

Austen's writing style is either almost all description or almost all conversation. I start to glaze over early on the former. So while I can watch the movies, actually READING her gets difficult for me at times.

Jane Eyre, on the other hand, has first person narration, which I almost always prefer. And Jane is quite a character!

~~~the mysterious Mr. Rochester, with his attic full of secrets~~~

(by the way, I thought Ciaran Hinds was the perfect Rochester among the film versions)

Okay, okay. I grew up like Jane Eyre but I think like Jane Bennett. Lets face it, Jane Austen was a Sag! She is so funny!

Wow egi! I would say the exact same thing about Pride & Predjuice.

good point, jenfullmoon. I can't help but skim narrative scenery; it's automatic for me... and possibly why I'm a very quick reader.

I wrote a blog from this... it includes links to charts!
http://www.elsaelsa.com/

anyone else suspicious of the birth times??

When ever I read Jane Austens novels I can't help but laugh. She is quite nasty in a well mannered way.

night owl, that's my impression as well.

Bronte has Aries Mercury while Austen has Sadge, both fiery but Austen has much more dialogue.

I'm putting Jane eyre on hold at the library.

I was planning on re-reading harry potter this Summer, but I keep getting distracted.  I need to get back to the ones I have out. I keep spending too much time here, and not enough with the books. 

Ooooh, tough choice for my 12th house Venus trine Neptune.....

Jane Eyre I think, is more my favorite just because I love all that pent up passion, and obsession, and darkness, and secrets. *shivers*

And the Jane Eyre that came before the one just recently released in theatres, and after the one with Ciaran is my absolute favorite. The scene when he's trying to convince her to stay gets my little mind going every time. Le sigh....

But Pride and Prejudice is really closely behind it. *double le sigh.....*

"He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had been looking the same length of time at him, when, turning suddenly, he caught my gaze fastened on his physiognomy.

"You examine me, Miss Eyre," said he: "do you think me handsome?"

I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware -- "No, sir."

I vote for Pride & Prejudice, although since I haven't read either since I was 17 it's possible that my impressions are not entirely accurate.

Austen made me laugh and I actually liked her characters!

Most of my time reading Jane Eyre was spent disgusted with Rochester, which made it hard to appreciate the love story.

Jane Eyre.

Here's an Orson Welles version with a latter mercury theater (MP3)

http://ia600402.us.archive.org/0/items/1946MercurySummerTheatre/460628_Jane_Eyre_64kb.mp3

P and P, hands down.  Just finished my yearly re-reading of it, actually.

Austen's wicked sense of humor gets me every time.  I am most seriously pleased.

This post is giving me a boner.

*lol @sunshine*  :D

Pride and Prejudice, no doubt there!

Pride and Prejudice. And Colin Firth!!! :-)

OK. I am ruining this thread. Turn of the Screw. Beyond both Janes.

as in try to be THAT young woman and survive.

Pride and Prejudice

How can I not have read The Turn of the Screw before!? It sounds amazing.

Pride and Prej - only for Darcy ;)