As many of you know, (or possibly none of you know), I have long avoided Jane Austen. I like the idea of her books, but have always been unable to commit to them due to (what I percieved as) their excessive wordiness.
I like to read books that carry you along from page to page, rather than making you backtrack and reread, because of unfamiliar words or phrasing.
However, I am trying to read the 100 greatest books ever written and Pride and Prejudice has been on that list, glaring at me for the last several years.
With determination to finish, no matter the suffering, I applied myself to reading every hour that I could over the last two days.
The first couple of chapters were sheer torture..so much dialogue and I kept getting characters confused and I would look at the page number and think "Oh my gosh, I've only read to this page?"
The next couple of chapters were a little bit better....
By midway through the book, I was hooked! I could scarcely put it down!
I wanted to know what was going to happen with Jane and Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and even Lydia and Wickham. (I could never have had Jane and Elizabeth's restraint..I would have smacked her the second she walked in the door!)
I loved the humor that Jane Austen wrote with, and how it translates through these hundreds of years. I love Elizabeth's relationship with her father, and the crazy, flighty character of her mother and her various sisters. I felt every character was relatable to someone I know in real life.
Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is amazing.
It's a little bit slow at the beginning, but keep reading, and give it a chance...you won't regret it.
Now, on to Sense and Sensibility..
(14 out of a hundred books down, 86 to go...)
Lolee
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