] First, thank you very kindly for hosting this group read. I had avoided reading NA to date, because I thought it would be juvenile from the bullet descriptions on the flap. I am actually somewhat shocked at how far that is from the truth. I think that Jane's wit and sarcasm are sharper and more evident here than in some of the later works. How silly of me to underestimate JA!

In a sense, I expected that the first time I read NA, because it seemed to be the least well known, the least "academically respected" of her novels. I was blown away by how clever it was, how very, very funny. (Maybe TOO funny for the academics, and therefore not to be taken to seriously.) When first I read it, I set out to hihglight all the funny lines. After turning a page yellow, I decided that was not a wise approach.