Jane Austen is the most skilful observer and documented of human foible that I have encountered. She is wickedly funny in her satire on contemporary literature (most particularly in my favourite of her works, Northanger Abbey but also throughout her writings). She has the unique ability to fashion an immersive reality in which her characters behave exactly as they would in real life but are indulged with the happy ending that literature can provide. There is a mundanity about her writing that departs from many of the trends she would have observed in the novels that she read, but which has its own charm, it is possible to identify with her characters because they are normal, recognisable people.
I think Jane would have been an interesting person to spend time with, a dreamer, an observer, intelligent, funny and creative. She would have been the person you would hope to sit next to at the dinner table, because she would be making witty remarks under her breath about the other guests.