Happy birthday Jane Austen

I couldn't go past today without highlighting the fact that Jane Austen was born on this day - the 16th of December, 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire.  She was the 7th child of 8.  As far as I am concerned she was a most remarkable woman of her times and left us with 6 wonderful books that have been read by millions of women and watched as many different TV/movie versions have been made. 

I found a newspaper article (when I was cleaning my desk) that listed the top 20 love stories ever written.  Pride and Prejudice was number 2, Sense and Sensibility was number 14 and Persuasion was 18 - I wonder why her books are loved by so many over so many years.  She does create wonderful stories with lots of twists and turns plus has handsman men such as Mr Darcy or Captain Wentworth as the love interest. Modern romance novels tend to be trashy, poorly written with no plot following a formula and are all about sex and completely lacking in any morals! 

You may be interested to know that Wuthering Heights came in number 1 and my big favourite Jane Eyre was number 4.

What is your favourite Jane Austen book?  Mine would have to be Pride and Prejudice followed by Persuasion.  My least favourite is Northanger Abby.

PS I have watched the BBC version (6 episodes) of Pride and Prejudice so often that my sons cringe when they see me getting it out to watch again!!