It is a truth universally acknowledged that the best thing about finding an author whose works you love and adore is looking forward to reading every book they've ever written.
Unfortunately, the worst thing about finding an author whose works you love and adore is finishing everything they've ever written.
In one of those weird bookish paradoxes of the reading life, like the inverse relationship between how many books a reading fiend devours and how well read they feel (for more on that perverse law of nature, go here) all devout followers of a certain author must one day face the cold splash of truth -- at some point, you will reach the end of your beloved author's works and be left to wander, disconsolately, in Outer Darkness, searching for something else to fill the void.
Jane Austen is one of these authors. With a mere six completed novels to her name, Austen addicts can fly through the entire Canon in a matter of months. Multiply that over the course of a year, a decade, a lifetime, and you've got a serious literary blackhole problem. Fortunately, there is a cure for Austen Addiction: the works of a number of talented authors with the same sort of wit, social perspicacity, and graceful writing as Ms. Austen.
If you've been pining for books with that ineffable Austen touch to them, here are 10 authors whose works just may become your next literary obsession.
10 authors every Jane Austen fan should read
1. Barbara Pym
Imagine Jane Austen as a sassy, 1960s Oxford-trained single lady and you've got the most important author every Austen addict should read -- Barbara Pym. In the 1970s Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin nominated her in the Times Literary Supplement as the most underrated writer of the century, and for good reason: her writing is ironic, wittily satirical, and endlessly amusing. All 12 of her novels are small village or suburban life comedies of manners, with just a hint of sadness. The Sweet Dove Died, Jane and Prudence, and Less Than Angels are especially good.
2. Angela Thirkell
If you're in search of a detailed social comedy series that will absorb you for years -- no, decades! -- Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series could do the trick. All set within the English county of Barsetshire that Anthony Trollope created in his Chronicles of Barsetshire books, Ms. Thirkell took up the torch of family and social life in Barsetshire and ran with it for 29 books. The first of the series, High Rising, was published in 1933 and the series progresses throughout the pre-war years, World War II and beyond, into 1962. Ms. Thirkell's tone is light and humorous. These books are a joy to read. What I like best about her, however, is that she didn't even begin writing until she was in her late thirties -- there's hope for us late-blooming literary gals yet.
3. Elizabeth Gaskell
There are two books of Ms. Gaskell's that every Austen addict should cast their eye upon: Cranford and Wives and Daughters. Cranford is a gentle and very humorous look at the quiet lives in the fictional town of Cranford; Wives and Daughters is more complex, following the growing pains of a country doctor's daughter, Molly Gibson, in the 1830s. Both are outstanding books. If you've read Wives and Daughters, you'll definitely want to watch the four-part BBC miniseries of the book (the screenplay was written by Andrew Davies, who also wrote the screenplay for Pride and Prejudice).
4. Penelope Fitzgerald
Penelope Fitzgerald was another late-blooming lady writer -- she didn't publish her first book until the age of 58, though she made up for lost time by getting shortlisted for the Booker Prize three years later, then winning it the year after. Austen enthusiasts will be most interested in her 1990 novel The Gate of Angels, which is set in 1912 and follows a Cambridge University physicist as he pursues a nurse he has fallen in love with after a bicycle accident. Some of the scenes are laugh-out loud funny, and Austen-heads will appreciate Ms. Fitzgerald's deft handling of romance between the classes.
5. E.F. Benson
The first (though not the last) gentleman on our list of recommended reading for Austen addicts, Mr. Benson wrote the six-part Mapp and Lucia novels that examine a small community of 1920s and 1930s upper-middle-class British people to hilarious effect. The heart and soul of the series is the constant clash for social superiority between the different members of society, particularly between elegantly bred Lucia and the downright snarky Mapp. Mr. Benson's writing is a dream -- funny and understated.
Ready for more literary fodder, Austen-ites? Take a look at authors #6 - #10 here.
The hottest place for book lovers to have their ashes scattered: Jane Austen's house.
Comments
Nice list, and I knew exactly where you were coming from, having read all Austen's works in the same month I discovered her. Thanks!
I'm still a bit baffled as to why people love Austen so much (and not other, better authors), though I suppose a lot has to do with the romance of reading Austen, as opposed to the romance of her books... Still, I've been meaning to read Gaskell for a while now. And will it cure my nonexistent Austen Addiction?
Hey Biblio,
You know, I've never read Ms. Austen for romance (but I'm not much in the way of a romantic gal)-- I always liked how dead on funny she was portraying social situations. Ms. Gaskell is quite good. I loved Cranford a lot, but be warned -- plotwise, practically nothing happens. It's basically a series of witty observances in the lives of these women in Cranford. Wives and Daughters is romancy (though not over the top) and also great.
Now you have me really wondering -- what ARE
OK, this comment cap needs to be taken off or else I will commit suicide. Continued from below...what ARE your favorite books?
In answer to your question (and to sound as pretentious as possible, of course): "The Count of Monte Cristo" ranks up there (what with its bad-a[...]itude). "Germinal", "The Bell Jar", "The Master and Margarita" hang top as well. I try not to declare "favorites" quickly (within a year/two of reading; "Margarita" an exceptional case. And I never rank favorites, so don't hold these against me...) so most modern books aren't included. In the age appropriate field (ahh, age-deficiency...): "Thirteen Reasons Why", "The Golden Compass" and of course Harry Potter are up there as good books.
I just don't like overhypes. I like "Pride and Prejudice" quite a bit (so dryly funny) and "Sense and Sensibility" was okay, but I feel like other authors write in the same genre-ish but better ("Evelina"! Absolutely brilliant and hilarious), and receive so little attention while Austen gets published fanfic. Strange, no?
Thank you for this list. I'm forever in search of comedy of manners books to satisfy my craving for more Jane Austin.
How embarassing to have spelled Austen incorrectly in my previous comment. This is why I lurk and never comment.
Hey Danylle,
You think that's bad? Once, I spelled Pride and Prejudice wrong in the title of a post. I didn't catch it until four hours later. I was so embarrassed, I almost quit right then.
Michelle
What a great list!
Also, Melissa Nathan is quite a good author for Jane Austen novels. Her books are usually quite funny and follow the major plots of some of Austen's most notable works!
What a great list!
Also, Melissa Nathan is quite a good author for Jane Austen novels. Her books are usually quite funny and follow the major plots of some of Austen's most notable works!
Thanks for this list - I'll have to check these out. Heard of a few of them, but haven't read anything by any of the authors you suggest.
I absolutely second Barbara Pym, she's been a favorite of mine for a few years now. It was her birthday just this week!
I never used to like authors like Jane Austen, but I am so sick of having to wade through modern trash, because everything written now days has major cussing or sex, neither of which I will read. So i have started reading Jane Austen's stuff since seeing some of the movies adapted from her books. I am currently reading Persuasion, and I love her style of writing. Thanks for the list of others similar to her.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!