Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence

Having just finished the long, sometimes rambling length of Emma, I thought a good follow-up would be a biography of the author herself. 

Jon Spence's Becoming Jane Austen is a very eloquently written account of Jane's Austen spinster existence from childhood till her early death.  Jane's own perspective in life can be seen, somewhat easily, in her six famous novels, usually hidden in characters other than the heroine.  Though nowadays placing many aspects of an author's life into a work of literature is considered amateurish, Jane did it often, and did it well.  She frequently took names of people she knew in real life and inserted them, without much disguise, into her novels.  

Even though Jane never married, she turned down two marriage proposals in her life, choosing to be a spinster rather than marry for anything other than true love.  This is very easily mirrored in Emma Woodhouse's life, prior to her falling in love with Mr. Knightly.  Jane's continually changing views of marriage, and more importantly motherhood, reflect well in her books to the point that one can trace the order in which her books were written simply by knowing the course of Jane's life. Sense and Sensiblity and Pride and Prejudice are both love stories in the more traditional sense, reflecting a romantic image of marriage.  As Jane matures, she feels like her lack of marriage allowed her to dodge a dangerous bullet of motherhood in the 19th century.  While watching others around her die in childbirth or suffer from one pregnancy after another, Jane realized she was 'saved' from this fate by turning down two perspective husbands.  Her change from more romantic views of life towards more realistic views are very evident by the timePersuasion was written.

Austen considered Pride and Prejudice to be her best novel and I wholeheartedly agree.  I did, however, like the gothic aspects of Northhanger Abbey.
Spence's biography is the first I've ever read of Austen's, and one I liked very much.  I did feel, like life in early 19th century was romanticized by Spence, even making Austen's first heartbreak at such a young age seem more like a great story instead of even hinting at the devastation she must have felt.  As with most biographer's Spence took some liberty in reaching certain conclusions with may or may not be true.  Correlation does not equal causation.  It was a very well researched book.  

All Austen fans, add this to your list.