I recently bought Jane Austen's collected novels, and profited from the occasion to read the two I hadn't read yet, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Both have their good moments, though I can kind of understand why neither has reached the same popularity as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility or Emma.

I just now came across an article on how Austen's novels stack up against each other, which makes a few interesting points, and argues, fairly successfully I think, that Persuasion is rather overrated for various reasons. The board being as dead as it is, and since just about everybody has read at least some Austen novels (yes, do feel free to prove me wrong), I figured arguing which ones are best could make for some interesting discussion and/or be fun. Hopefully. Conveniently, the author also shared her own ranking.

I'll add some questions just for the hell of it, although experience has taught me there's some risk in that as people have a tendency of strictly replying to the questions and nothing else when I do that. Consider this an invitation to rant about whatever you like in your replies, and to ignore whichever questions aren't interesting.

1) Which is your favourite Austen novel? Why?

2) Least favourite? Why? Or just rank the lot of them if you feel like it.

3) What do you think of the immense amount of attention Austen and her novels get? Entirely deserved, wildly overrated, somewhere inbetween?

4) Favourite character? Least favourite?

5) Favourite TV or movie adaptation, besides the obvious answer (just to keep things interesting)?

6) What do you make of the recent craze involving the adaptation of Austen novels with various kinds of monsters added?

7) What do you think explains the enduring popularity of these works, when so many other 19th and 20th century writers (to say nothing of older ones) have been almost completely forgotten?

8) Do you think of Austen as a conservative and/or a prude, or do you feel that by the standards of her time she could be considered progressive? Why (not)?

9) Any other observations you'd care to make on this or any however tangentially related topic?