Northanger Abbey Readalong: Chapters 24-31 #NARead

Readalong: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Participant list and schedule can be found on this post.

So, that's it. I can't say I loved the book, but it was enjoyable and did love the experiencing it with all of the readalong participants!

Chapter 24
Catherine believe that even if she saw Mrs. Tilney's tomb, she wouldn't believe her to be dead. She's read about how easily these things can be faked.

When the general catches her poking around the Abbey, Catherine fears for her life and will only be in the general's company when there are others around.

Catherine explores alone so Miss Tilney doesn't get into trouble. She runs into Mr. Tilney, who has returned home early.

Tilney assures Catherine that his mother died of natural causes and that his father loved his mother - in his own way.

Catherine is ashamed and runs away crying.

Chapter 25
Catherine fears Tilney thinks less of her and will never be with her because of it. Henry acts like nothing happened.

Catherine is annoyed that Isabella hasn't written to her. Just then, a letter from James arrives.

James has ended things with Isabella, stating that Isabella is with Captain Tilney now.

Tilney doubts his brother intends to marry Isabella. Henry & Eleanor quickly discern that Isabella is motivated by ambition.

Chapter 26
Catherine wants Henry to tell his father about Isabella and her many faults. Henry refuses.

Catherine plans to visit Tilney's house on Wednesday, causing him to leave the Abbey early to prepare for her arrival.

While at Tilney's home, Catherine mentions liking the cottage on the property. The general says that it stays because she likes it. He tries to get her to share more thoughts on the house, but she will not.

Chapter 27
Catherine receives a letter from Isabella claiming that James is the only man she has ever loved and that there might have been a misunderstanding. She also claims to hate Captain Tilney and says she's glad he's gone. She wants Catherine to write to James for her.

Catherine sees right through Isabella's motives.

Chapter 28
The general goes away and Catherine enjoys the time without him.

Catherine becomes concerned that she has overstayed her welcome by staying for 4 weeks. She is assured by Eleanor that they hope she can stay longer.

The general returns and says they're leaving and he's sending Catherine home immediately.

Eleanor asks Catherine to write to her, but to use a fake name when she does.

Chapter 29
Catherine is sad her entire trip home.

Catherine visits the Allen's. Mrs. Allen constantly repeats that she "have not patience with the general."

Chapter 30
Catherine is noticeably depressed.

Tilney visits and explains that Catherine was sent away because the general found out she wasn't rich. Thorpe had led him to believe that she was, which is why the general wanted Tilney to pursue her.

Thorpe told the general Catherine was actually very poor because he was angry Catherine had denied him. The general told Tilney to never speak to Catherine again.

Henry rebels against his father and declares his intentions to propose to Catherine.

Chapter 31
Tilney asks for the Morland's consent and makes a clean break from his father.

Once Eleanor is married, and the general learns that Catherine isn't as poor as he thought, all is forgiven.

My overall thoughts
The characters in Northanger Abbey seem to be motivated predominately by greed (Isabella, John and General Tilney) and naivety (Catherine and James). The other characters - Eleanor and James are more dull than anything else, even though Tilney shows some spunk near the end. One wonders how Henry could care so much for Catherine when he couldn't stop mocking her throughout the book.

To sum up
Northanger Abbey will never become my favorite Jane Austen book. Catherine didn't seem to learn anything in the end. There was no romance, just Tilney declaring his intentions at the end. It seemed more like he wanted to be with Catherine because his father wouldn't like it. As a parody, I missed the humor. Read at face value, it aggravated me and not always in a good way. I'll eventually write a full review.


More Wrap Up Posts
Cat's post @ Tell Me a Story
Booksnob's post @ Book Snob
Chelle's post @ The Prairie Library

Discuss your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc in the comments. If you've written your own post, leave the link and I'll add it to this post.

Northanger Abbey Readalong: Chapters 16-23 #NARead

Readalong: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Participant list and schedule can be found on this post.

We read chapters 16 to 23 this past week.I'm amazed at how quickly these weeks are flying by. I'm also pretty amazed at how anxious I am to find out what happens and what the character's underlying motivations are.

Chapter 16
Catherine is virtually ignored by Tilney and bored by his father, the General, while dining with them.

Isabella rants against Tilney and says Tilney is unworthy of Catherine. But - John may be quite worthy of her.

Isabella is not pleased by the income offered to James after their wedding, but claims the real reason she is upset is that she has to wait 2 to 3 years before they can wed.

Chapter 17
The Allen's decide to extend their stay in Bath just as the Tilney's decide to leave.

Miss Tilney (or rather her father, really) invites Catherine to stay at Northanger Abbey - their home.

Chapter 18
Isabella tells Catherine that John is in love with her. He claims that Catherine encouraged his affection right before he left. Catherine has no memory of ever encouraging John Thorpe.

Isabella says she isn't mad about the John/Catherine situation, but goes one to say maybe Catherine didn't mean to lead him on - that it was an accident.

Isabella openly flirts with Tilney's older brother, the Captain, in front of Catherine.

Chapter 19
Catherine keeps an eye on Isabella as she continues to flirt with Captain Tilney.

Tilney tells Catherine that his brother is well aware of Isabella's engagement to James.

Chapter 20
On the trip to Northanger Abbey, Tilney entertains Catherine with a scary mystery story, much like her beloved Gothic novels.

Catherine finds herself a little disappointed by the modernness of the Abbey.

Chapter 21
Catherine sees a chest much like the one described in Tilney's story and can't help but check it out.

She does this again with a black cabinet, finding papers inside. Before she looks at them her candle blows out. She spends most of the night lying awake in the pitch black wondering about them.

Chapter 22
In the morning, Catherine finds the papers are nothing more than lists and receipts.

General Tilney takes a walk around the Abbey grounds with Catherine and Miss Tilney. Is he interested in Catherine or in showing off to promote his son?

As Miss Tilney mentions her mother, Catherine forms the opinion that the General was mean to his wife and didn't truly love her before she died.

Chapter 23
Catherine is taken on a tour of the inside of the house.

On again taking of the late Mrs. Tilney, Catherine jumps to the conclusion that the General could have killed her. Or even further - that Mrs. Tilney is alive and help prisoner by her husband in one of the rooms she didn't see on the tour.

She attempts to stay up late into the night to see what the General does after they go to sleep.

My overall thoughts so far
Catherine has a highly fertile imagination that could, and probably should, cause her to do something that will completely embarrass her in the eyes of the Tilneys.

Is it any surprise that Isabella has found interest in a new man now that she knows she won't become rich by marrying James? We knew she was motivated by greed in her relentless pursuit of James, but flirting with another man in front of his sister? Just wrong.

What is the deal with General Tilney? Is he just an overbearing man? Does he have interests in Catherine other than keeping her around for the company of his daughter and perhaps the potential match with is son? Does he want her for his own wife?

To sum up
I have decided that no one in Northanger Abbey deserves to be happy or get what they want. Catherine is too naive to be a heroine. John and Isabella are bad, greedy people. Tilney does nothing more than poke at Catherine's gullible nature. James should have seen this Isabella thing coming. The Captain deserves whatever he gets with Isabella and the General is kind of scary. Only Miss Tilney seems to be without obvious flaw and it appears the only thing she wants is to have had her mother alive to raise her. That ship has sailed.

More Week 3 Posts
Chelle's post @ The Prairie Library
Booksnob's post @ Book Snob

Discuss your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc in the comments. If you've written your own post, leave the link and I'll add it to this post.

Northanger Abbey Readalong: Chapters 10-15 #NARead

Readalong: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Participant list and schedule can be found on this post.

Chapters 10 to 15 continue to flow nicely, with lots of talk about books. Here are my thoughts for this week's chapters.

Chapter 10
Catherine goes to the theatre.

Isabella seems to be looking for Catherine's agreement that she and James are perfect for each other.

Catherine attempts to pump Miss Tilney for information.

A valid point is made that women dress for themselves/each other. The effect is lost on men.

Catherine is rude to John Thorpe in order to appear free for Tilney.

Tilney asks Catherine to dance and Thorpe makes a scene.

Tilney talks about the similarities between marriage and dancing.

Chapter 11
Rain ruins Catherine's plans to go for a walk with the Tilneys.

Once the rain stops, James and the Thorpes arrive, wanting Catherine to go with them to see a castle. Catherine agrees because John Thorpe says the Tilneys aren't coming.

The group passes the Tilneys on the way to the castle. They go to Catherine's but she's not home. Catherine and friends don't even visit the castle.

Chapter 12
Catherine visits Miss Tilney, is told she isn't home, but then sees her leave with her father minutes later.

Once again at the theatre, Catherine hopes to see Tilney. When he does arrive, he only nods at her which causes Catherine to fret.

It is explained that Tilney's father demanded that Catherine be told Miss Tilney wasn't home so that they could leave undetained.

Thorpe claims that Tilney's father likes Catherine.

Chapter 13
Catherine again has plans to go for a walk with Miss Tilney. James and the Thorpes again try to get her to leave and go to the castle instead.

Isabella attempts to be nice, and then mean, to get her way. James also becomes mean to get Catherine to cancel on Miss Tilney.

The trip is canceled until John Thorpe tells Miss Tilney that Catherine must reschedule.

Catherine rushes to the Tilneys to explain and make more excuses.

Mr. Allen says that it is wrong and indecent for young women to be going on rides with men they aren't related to.

Chapter 14
Catherine finally has her walk with the Tilneys.

Mr. Tilney says, "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." Thus causing me to fall a little in love with him.

Tilney's attempts to be witty or playful occur much too often, causing him to grate on my nerves.

The Tilney's invite Catherine and the Allens to dinner.

Chapter 15
Isabella and James are engaged.

I get the feeling, in this chapter and previous ones, that Isabella and John both believe that the Morlands are extremely rich.

My overall thoughts so far
With both Isabella and John coming on so strongly, it seems like they're some sort of grifters hoping to marry and con Catherine and James out of their family fortune. I have to wonder if they would show any interest if they knew the Morlands were no better off financially that the Thorpes.

While I love that Tilney will admit to loving reading, I was annoyed that Catherine felt she didn't have to be ashamed because Tilney liked it. Really? This man you sort of know likes books, so you are now an out and proud reader? I would never have survived in this time period if I had to define my tastes by men I barely knew.

The Allens are useless as guardians/chaperones. Catherine asks for input and receives nothing. Mr. Allen only says what she's done is wrong after the fact.

Catherine needs to grow a backbone. Chose a man. Tell the other she isn't interested. This shy, gentle naivety is driving me nuts.

To sum up
I don't really see the appeal of Tilney. I still don't understand why Catherine won't firmly tell Thorpe she isn't interested. All of the characters remind me of people on a single's cruise desperate to find love before having to return home.

More week 2 posts
Booksnob's post @ Book Snob
Cat's post @ Tell Me a Story
Chelle's post @ The Prairie Library

Discuss your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc in the comments. If you've written your own post, leave the link and I'll add it to this post.

Northanger Abbey Readalong: Chapters 1-9 #NARead

Readalong: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Participant list and schedule can be found on this post.

I read chapters 1 through 9 of Northanger Abbey and my first thought was "Wow, this doesn't read like a classic." Which, to me, is a good thing. I took some notes for each chapter, which I'll share below. There won't be any spoilers beyond chapter 9, as I purposely didn't read ahead.

Chapter 1
We meet Catherine Morland and learn her background. As a child, she was a tomboy, plain looking and not very bright (or perhaps just bored.) She liked causing trouble and rebelling against the norm which sounds a lot like most modern kids.

At 15, she grew to be more feminine in both her looks and her actions. It seems as though she tried harder to become educated and conformed in order to belong.

At 17, she has never found a crush-worthy guy. She speaks a lot of heroines and their adventures. I begin to believe that perhaps she takes the books she reads a bit too seriously.

Chapter 2
Catherine seems naive to me, or at least she has lived a very sheltered life (beyond that of her peers.)

Her father allows access to unlimited amounts of money. She leaves without promising to write to her sister. Her mother worries about the trip, which seems to be the only normal thing going on in her family dynamics.

Mrs. Allen is introduced. She is described as being kind of catty. I'm don't know why that's important, but it seems to be foreshadowing.

Catherine and Mrs. Allen attend a ball. Mrs. Allen appears to be taking pleasure in Catherine's discomfort, but my view of this may be colored by the earlier description of Mrs. Allen.

Chapter 3
We meet Mr. Tilney. He seems to be flirting with Catherine. Also, it's mentioned that he is a clergyman.

Chapter 4
We meet Mrs. Thorpe and her daughters. Her son is friends with Catherine's brother.

A sudden deep friendship develops between Catherine and Mrs. Thorpe's oldest daughter Isabella.

Chapter 5
Catherine seems to be overly concerned about seeing Mr. Tilney again.

Catherine continues her friendship with Isabella.

A long portion of this chapter focus on reading novels and how women should be embarrassed to read fiction.

Chapter 6
Catherine and Isabella talk about men and about the books they read.

Chapter 7
Catherine and Isabella's brother's arrive.

John Thorpe, Isabella's brother, is obnoxious.

The rest of the chapter consists of everyone praising each other about a variety of things.

Catherine once again feels shame for reading.

Chapter 8
John Thorpe ditches Catherine at a party, so she is stuck with Mrs. Thorpe and Mrs. Allen. She feels completely humiliated.

Mr. Tilney appears with a woman assumed to be his sister.

Catherine must turn down a dance with Mr. Tilney because of Mr. Thorpe.

Catherine hangs out with Tilney's sister and seems to interact with her solely as a means to Tilney.

Chapter 9
Catherine is swept off on a carriage ride with Isabella, John Thorpe and her brother James.

John continues to be obnoxious and conceited.

Isabella ignores Catherine for most of the day in order to pay attention to James.

While with the others, Catherine misses her opportunity to see Mr. Tilney and his sister.

My overall thoughts so far
Northanger Abbey is easier to read than I had expected. It's lacks the over-description and fancily phrases that usually turn me off to older books. And of course, as a book lover, I thoroughly enjoy all the book talk.

Most of the women seem kind of awful. Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Thorpe spend time together, not because they like each other, but because they don't have anyone else to talk to. Isabella seems to be using Catherine as a means to James, just as Catherine appears to want to do with Tilney's sister. True friendship is definitely not a theme here.

The men aren't much better. Mr. Allen escapes as often as possible. John Thorpe is, well, atrocious and I hope he gets run over by a carriage. I can't seem to get a handle on Mr. Tilney and what his purpose is.

Catherine needs to just stop it. Seriously. She meets some guy once, he sort of flirts with her and now she's obsessed with him? So obsessed that she's willing to use his sister to get to him, just as Isabella is doing to her? But why? None of these men have done anything of remote interest since they've arrived.

To sum up: I am enjoying Northanger Abbey and reveling in hating most of the characters. I would love to see someone (anyone, really) become the victim of manslaughter via carriage.

More Week 1 Posts
Chelle's post @ The Prairie Library
Vicki's post @ The Wolf's Den
Cat's post @ Tell Me a Story
Booksnob's post @ Book Snob

Discuss your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc in the comments. If you've written your own post, leave the link and I'll add it to this post.

Random Facts about Northanger Abbey #NARead

I hope everyone has their copies, because it's time to start reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen! This week we'll be reading chapters 1 to 9 and will be discussing them on our blogs and Twitter (#NARead).

If you'd like to join the discussion, leave a comment with your name, blog url and/or Twitter username on the sign-up post and I'll be sure to add you to the list.

I thought now would be a good time to get get a little background information about Jane Austen and Northanger Abbey. If I miss any interesting information, please be sure to leave a comment. If you've written a pre-readalong post, leave the link to that as well and I'll make sure to link to it.

• Northanger Abbey was the first book Jane Austen sold, but it wasn't published until after her death.
• Northhanger Abbey has been the subject of a few television adaptions, but has never been made into a motion picture.
• Northanger Abbey contains one of the first references to baseball ever to appear in print.
• Northanger Abbey and other novels by Jane Austen are often misclassified as gothic novels when they are actually parodies of gothic novels.. Jane Austen was a writer with a keen sense of humor and she used her writing as a means to poke fun at the genre and the world as she saw it.
• Northanger Abbey was originally titled either Memorandum, Susan or Lady Susan, depending on what source you use.
• Jane Austen earned approximately 684.13 pounds sterling in her lifetime from her novels.That is 1038.37 US dollars. Calculating for inflation, that would be equal to $14,362.03 in 2009.

For more information about Northanger Abbey:

• Northanger Abbey on Wikipedia
• Northanger Abbey on SparkNotes

For more information on Jane Austen:

• Jane Austen on Wikipedia
• Jane Austen on About.com

READALONG: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen #NARead

I received a wonderful response to my Readalong Ideas post. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen was the the most mentioned by a very narrow margin.

Synopsis of Northanger Abbey
One of the first of Jane Austen's novels to be written, and one of the last to be published, Northanger Abbey is both an amusing story of how a naive girl enters society and wins the affection of a witty young clergyman, and a high-spirited parody of the lurid Gothic novels that were popular during Austen's youth. In the process it features a vivid account of social life in late eighteenth-century Bath, and Austen's famous defence of the novel as a literary form.

The readalong will begin Friday, July 16th, thereby giving everyone 2 weeks to secure their copy. The schedule will be as follows:

Week 1 (July 16 - July 22): Chapters 1-9
Week 2 (July 23 - July 29): Chapters 10-15
Week 3 (July 30 - August 5): Chapters 16-23
Week 4 (August 6 - August 12): Chapters 24-31

Each weeks reading is approximately 50 pages (in my Penguin Classics edition).

Each week participants will read the above chapters, and then can choose to comment on that week's post here at Reading with Tequila, discuss the chapters on Twitter (#NARead), post discussions on their own blogs and visit other participants blogs. Level of participation is completely up to each participant's wants and needs.

Northanger Abbey is available free as a public domain book. If you don't do ebooks, it can be found in just about every library. If you'd like to buy a copy, please consider using my Amazon affiliate link.

Leave a comment if you'd like to join in. Include your blog and/or Twitter link. I'll list the participants here so we can easily find each other and discuss.

Participants:
Jennifer | Reading with Tequila | @TequilaReader
Melissa | Must Read Faster |  @lexley
Lexie | Poisoned Rationality |  @PRationality
Jamie | Three Cheers for Literacy!! | @ 3cheers4lit
Bella | A Girl Reads a Book | @bellareads
Booksnob | Book Snob | @booksnob
Chelle | The Prairie Libray
Super | Super Librarian
Cat | Tell Me a Story 
Missie | The Unread Reader | @Missie_Bee
Vicki | The Wolf's Den
Nicole | Gotham Gal | @GothamGal 
Enbrethiliel | Shredded Cheddar 
Andrea | Illuminated in Words | @MsBeeton