Pride and Prejudice - Finished!

Bittersweet to me, the last page has turned. This is one of those reads where I could feel myself slowing down as the pages became fewer, not wanting it to be over, reminding me of a Farewell to Arms. However, it is over and the Bennett girls are happy and mostly married so therefore I am happy too.

The chief of my happiness goes to Lizzy, for she married the richest of men, not for his riches but for his strong character and their amazing connection. Secondly, I am happy for Jane, she got what she was destined for, a man of equal manners and heart. Thirdly, I am happy for Kitty because after being removed from Lydia's company she is on the road to becoming a well rounded, proper young lady, deserving of a husband. Fourthly, Mary always had a piece of my heart because she marches to her own overly intelligent drum. I have no doubt that she will remain unmarried and quite accomplished. Lastly, I am far from being a fan of Lydia, both before and after she disgraced her family by eloping with that scoundrel Mr. Wickham. The is greedy and lazy and I have no use for her.

I love how this book brought me back in time. I was in awe of the self control (minus Lydia) that all of the young men and women displayed. It must be such a buildup for them before they even get to kiss on the lips. Nothing like it is today, everyone falling into each other, begging to feel something. I really admire their way of conducting themselves.

A couple of words I enjoyed:
ALACRITY: Noun: Brisk and cheerful readiness
OBSTINATE: Adjective: Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so.

As much as I'd love to pick another Jane Austen for my next book, I think I will wait til I lose steam for this project because I know I can rely on her beautiful words to get me back on track!

Pride and Prejudice - Volume Two

Here's to making up for lost time! The book keeps getting better and better and possesses the magical power of keeping me home on a Saturday night and up early reading on Sunday. I am getting a little bit frustrated with Lizzy not realizing that she may be in love with Darcy and upset that Darcy doesn't try just a little harder. Also, it seems like back in the day, people had much more self control over what they shared with others and the timing of it. If this story had taken place in 2011, Lizzy would have Facebooked Jane about Darcy's meddling and the tweeted about how assholes like Darcy never come out on top. I would not have been able to wait two weeks to give over any information if I had a sister, but that could just be a sign of the times.

Words that I liked the sounds of:
AVARICE: Noun: Extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
DUPLICITY: deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same matter.
I actually knew what duplicity was but have always had a hard time using it in a real life sentence.

I had some quotes marked out but accidentally pulled the sticky notes... not happy. As much as I'd like to go back and find them so that I can remember them always, I am too excited for this last volume to move backwards.

Pride and Prejudice - Volume One

Well that was a long break! I never intended to have such a long pause in this project, but things just happen. My best explanation to myself is that reading from the list began to feel more like a chore than the exciting literary adventure it had started out as. I feel like I've wasted nine months of page turners that matter but I am set on just moving forward from here. Luckily I was able to read some amazing books that are not on the list as well as finish a couple of University courses, so I suppose that saying it was time wasted is not entirely accurate.

So I reread the first of the three volumes of Pride and Prejudice and was hooked once again. I love Lizzy and aspire to be like her. As it stands, things are not looking positive for the Bennett family. So far no daughters are married and Jane looks to have lost the man she loved.

A word that caught my attention is OSTENTATIOUS meaning 'characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others'. I will make certain that I use it in the next couple of days.

Back on track!

Pride and Prejudice - Quarter way through!

It may seem like I hate this book because I haven't written in so long and now that I do I am only a quarter of the way through, but it is actually one of my favorites so far. Life is betting busier with the holiday season and there seems to be less and less time to curl up by the fire with a mug of tea and a good book.

The thing that I love so much about this book is that it is light-hearted and funny. So many of the other books on the list are so deep and take forever to be interested in. This one had my attention from the very first (and very famous) line : It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. What a loaded statement!

I liked the discussion about the difference between pride and vanity. So often those two words are used to mean the same thing when in fact they are quite different. Many times I feel like pride is a negative attribute and something that should be hidden if it be felt, however the way it is explained make me want to seek out those things that make me feel pride. Its not a pompous or boastful thing, it is something to be recognized and praised.

And of course I am enthralled by the way in which Austen writes. I am not even trying to hold back in thinking the same way she writes. Hopefully this weekend will allow for some time to be spent reading.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

This is more my speed for the month of December. I have loved Jane Austen movies since I can remember so I am assuming I will thoroughly love this book (book are always better than the movies, right??). The only downside to reading books from this era is that I start speaking like the characters and everyone I encounter thinks I'm a wacko. All worth it! Here's the summary:

Next to the exhortation at the beginning of Moby-Dick, "Call me Ishmael," the first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice must be among the most quoted in literature. And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground.

Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree.

Super excited about this one!