Austen: Mansfield Park

Possibly one of my favorite novels, up until the last chapter, where Austen winds everything up with a direct speech from the narrator. It is all rather hurriedly wrapped up and I don't like it. But the rest of the book is excellent. The main character, Fanny Price, is a very sweet, quiet main character with a great deal of sense ( as always). The intended love is Edmund Bertram, who has been her constant companion since the Mertrams adopted her at age nine. She is, at eighteen, in love with him, but he is smitten with Mary Crawford. Fanny's two cousins Maria and Julia Bertram are not the typical sort of horrible step-sister characters, but the effect of their slight snobbery is intensified in the narrator's depictions of Fanny because she is so sensitive. These girls get some recompence when Mr. Henry Crawford, Mary's sister, is suddenly mad for Fanny after flirting with them for months. And she rejects him, of course, because his manners are unseemly, so he runs of with Mrs. Rushworth (Maria) and ruins both of them. Because of Mary's callous attitude towards his sister, Edmund decides he cannot love her (for a trait that Fanny has pointed out since day one!) and decides to marry Fanny. Yay! Other important characters are Sir Thomas, William, and Mrs. Norris, the evil aunt who always reminds Fanny how low her position is.

Austen: Sense and Sensibility

Not much to say on this one, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are the main characters, and the novel is very similar to Austen's other novels, in telling the story of women getting married despite numerous ups and downs. The main players are Willoughby, who doesn't marry either because he's a selfish stinker, and Edward Ferrar and Colonel Brandon. There is also that screwy Mrs. Jennings and Lucy Steele, who can't make up her mind to marry Edward or his brother.

Henry James: The Aspern Papers

A story about an old poet's old mistress and a cunning publisher who will stop at nothing to catch hold or their private correspondence. Main characters: Juliana Bordereau, Tita Bordereau, nameless narrator. Henry James may paint Tita as the heroine because, after her proposal to the narrator is rejected, she takes the moral high road and burns her aunt's letters.
I rate this a 5 out of 10. I didn't like it, but it was short.