Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen · first published 1813
31% recommend63% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Funny, character-driven novel of manners that rewards rereading. It offers insight into human nature, reads easily for a classic, and has more depth than a plain romance, making it a fitting start with Austen.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners written by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. Mr. Bennet, owner of the Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire, has five daughters, but his property is entailed and can only be passed to a male heir. His wife also lacks an inheritance, so his family faces becoming very poor upon his death. Thus, it is imperative that at least one o
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I didn’t understand what ‘classic’ meant until I read Jane Austen, her stuff still feels fresh today. If you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, I highly recommend it - there’s a lot of perspective to be gained about people there that’s relevant today.
on “Wild Child: On Jane Austen” ↗…than you can possibly write and that makes me promiscuous by nature. strikes me as wrong. While you may substitute other good stuff for good stuff, you won't substitute The Duke's Boardroom Affair for Pride and Prejudice.
on “Four Open Letters To The Book Industry” ↗…the past few years I've been reading the classics I was forced to in high school and college and hated at the time, along with many "new" ones. Now books like Moby Dick, The Brothers Karamosov, and even Pride and Prejudice are oddly just as entertaining as the works of Koonts, King, etc. This might simply be because I love fiction but hardly ever read it anymore. Or maybe the relative excitement of everything simply increases…
on “Choose your reading carefully” ↗Another excellent narrator with a British accent is Karen Savage. She has read many complete works by Jane Austen and E. Nesbit, among other titles, and is as good as any professional voice actor: - 'Pride and Prejudice' (Austen) - 'Sense and Sensibility' (Austen) - 'The Story of the Treasure Seekers' (Nesbit) - 'The Railway Children' (Nesbit) - many others (says 141 total matches) http://www.karenrsavage.com/blog/
on “Free public domain audiobooks” ↗Point (4) strikes me as a bit off because Jane Austen is generally among the easiest classical authors to read. Pride and Prejudice in particular is a simple romance story that can easily be read and appreciated by almost anyone with little to no preparation. Compare this to, say, William Faulkner or James Joyce and calling Austen…
on “Mr. Darcy’s Ten Thousand a Year” ↗…Phan Thi Kim Phuc burn by napalm in Vietnam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc) "speaks volumes" as they say. As for dating, here's some good advice (assuming you're a man): grab a copy or Pride and Prejudice and read it to get a grasp of the female psyche. And if you don't read it at least carry it around where she will see.
on “The Best Books I Read in 2013” ↗Must read? 1984 and Animal Farm. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It. Emma and Pride and Prejudice. Iliad, Odyssey and first half of the Aeneid. A Room With A View and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Great Gatsby, Call of the Wild and Age of Innocence. War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Don Quixote.
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗…books that I felt weren't worth "investing time in". Books are good for you. A couple of favourites anyway: - New Grub Street, George Gissing, 1891 - Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1867 - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, 1813 - Candide, Voltaire, 1759
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗…learn how to read this stuff. The Internet has kind of forced everyone to adopt specific writing practices that suit the ephemeral nature of the medium, and that's really a shame. I remember when I read Pride and Prejudice, once I was able to get used to Austen's style, I really enjoyed it. I certainly would not have wanted to read a modern rewrite that just got to the damned point already.
on “How to Be Intoxicated” ↗…some cases they can be a little tricky to understand, but they are called "classics" for a reason... Specific suggestions (incomplete and in no particular order): Shakespeare's plays, Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", Harper Lee's "To kill a mockingbird", JM Barrie's "Peter Pan", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories...
on “Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction” ↗…what do you even consider "low stakes"? > I admit I'm limited to the sample I've experienced personally but it's over 90%. You need to read a wider selection of books, then. Try, say, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Of Mice and Men, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, The Grapes of Wrath, The Time Machine, Dune, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Foundation series, anything by Ray Bradbury... there's…
on “novelWriter – open-source plain text editor designed for writing novels” ↗Chronologically starting with children's: Swallows and Amazon series. Stranger in a Strange Land, The Man In The Maze, Tau Zero, Asimovs Foundation series. All Jane Austen's work: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northhanger Abbey.
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗Librivox seems like a great source, being public domain, though the quality is highly variable. I can recommend Elizabeth Klett as a good narrator. I've sampled her recordings of Jane Austen books Emma, pride and prejudice, and sense and sensibility.
on “WhisperSpeech – An open source text-to-speech system built by inverting Whisper” ↗"Best" is always too hard - here are a handful that I love. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susannah Clarke The Crow Road - Iain Banks Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Black Holes & Time Warps - Kip Thorne The Inventions of Daedalus - David E H Jones The Cuckoo's Egg - Cl
on “Ask HN: What are the best books you've ever read?” ↗Best novel: Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Best Scifi: The World of Null-A A. E. van Vogt Best Childrens: Swallowdale Arthur Ransome
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗