Sense & Sensibility

I'm pleased to say I am almost finished with the first of three parts. I honestly didn't know the book was split up but when I flipped to the end to see how many chapters there were, the last chapter was like, 12 or something and I was on chapter 11 ... that's like a 200 page chapter? Then I realized the section breaks.



A picture of my $2.50 book. =)



Anyway, I'm getting there! Slowly but surely! I grabbed a copy at Half Price Books the other day and have been reading in bed, reading on the couch, reading while tanning in the backyard ... the language is dense and sometimes she (Jane) tends to go off on Dickensonian rambles about what someone thought someone else said (or wore, or the shabbiness of their carriage! lol) but they really didn't say it they just heard someone else say it and were talking about it themselves and were confused ... ??? Yeah. I'm getting there. ;)

Jane Austen Confessions

I have a confession to make.
This is very bad.
I don't think I've ever really acknowledged it.

I haven't read any of Jane Austen's books. 

The stigma, of course, being that I have seen every book-turned-movie and nearly every version -- all 7 novels! American and BBC versions! -- some of them many times over and yet ... I haven't read the books that inspired them.

I grew up quoting this (oh, and recreating the dances with a group of friends like the huge nerd I was):

Then I converted to this version in 2006 (yes, there is a great debate apparently as to which version is the 'best') despite my best efforts at NOT liking it (gotta say I have not been a Keira Knightley fan):

I remember seeing this in theatres and then buying and watching it like a hundred times:

I remember LOVING this movie so much (still do) that I asked for and got the soundtrack for my (I think) 10th birthday. Yeah. nerd.

I remember seeing this lovely film and feeling so sorry for poor Anne and Wentworth and their embattled romance:

This is really, very awful. I resolved just this afternoon to set it right. I must read all of her books. I just ... have to. Actually I want to; surely it won't be a painful endeavor. I have simply told myself that it's something I must do to balance the scales.

I have read the 'Lord of the Rings' triology; heck I even read 'The Silmarillion' in all it's verbosity. I've completely earned all the 'Jane Eyre' films I've seen over the years (this topic calls for its own blog post!); I must have read that book 20 times (it is my favorite after all). I even did a character presentation about Jane Austen in costume AND British accent in middle school. Still haven't read her books. *slaps wrist*

I will read all seven of Jane Austen's novels before the end of the year.

I think I'll read them chronologically which, according to some moderate research on this website, means I'll be reading 'Sense and Sensibility' first.

That is my Four-Months-Into-The-New-Year Resolution.