A Gothic Reading List from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

Welcome back to It's a Classical Life! Recently I read Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and loved it. I was surprised, however, to see how low it rated on many other classic-lit lovers Jane Austen lists, often trailing behind the widely popular Pride and Prejudice or Emma. The reason I loved the book so much was mostly because of the main character, Catherine Morland, a heroine in her own eyes (and in mine too!) I felt that Catherine really held her own against some of the other more dominating characters, and her love of reading was definitely a bonus for me!

Northanger Abbey has also been referred to as Austen's own tribute to books and reading, and I think the beautiful character of Catherine Morland reflects this. She is the perfect character to bring the books that she reads to life - in turn bringing Northanger Abbey to life for us. Her imagination is wondrous, and her young life allows her to experience everything through the lens of a true heroine. As October is often referred to as the "spooky stories" month, I thought it would be fun to share a spooky, Gothic reading list from Northanger Abbey with you all today. 

If you haven't read Northanger Abbey then I highly recommend you do. I love books that reference other classic novels, and Austen does this brilliantly in this book - with many of them being Gothic novels, or the "horrid" novels that Isabella Thorpe refers to with such relish in Chapter 6. I've listed them below (they are also outlined in the notes of Northanger Abbey), and I also found this link here to the Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 books) for only $2.59! This is for the Kindle App available from Amazon. 

• The Mysteries of Udolpho.  by Ann Radcliffe.  London, 1794.
• The Castle of Wolfenbach.  by Mrs. Eliza Parsons. London, 1793.
• Clermont.  by Regina Maria Roche.  London, 1798.
• The Mysterious Warning.  by Mrs. Parsons.  London, 1796.
• The Necromancer.  Translated from the German of Lawrence Flammenberg by Peter Teuthold.  London, 1794.
• The Midnight Bell.  by Francis Lathom.  London, 1798.
• The Orphan of the Rhine.  by Mrs. Sleath.  London, 1798.
• Horrid Mysteries. From the German of the Marquis of Grosse. by P. Will.  London, 1796.
• The Italian.  by Ann Ward Radcliffe.  London, 1797.

From this list I have only read The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian, both by Ann Radcliffe. I enjoyed The Mysteries more than The Italian and thought that Catherine's own review of it quite spot-on. I have, however, downloaded The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection on my Kindle and as it is a terribly windy and stormy day here today, feel that it's the perfect time to dive right it! I think I'll start with The Castle of Wolfenbach.

Have you read any of these spooky classics? Please share your favourites in the comments!

Have a wonderfully, spooky weekend all!