Lost in Literature

"I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man."

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

We all know Elizabeth Bennett very well. Or at least you should if you don't. She's exactly my type of woman. Strong, bold, challenging and yet she allows herself to be loved. She allows this man who infuriates her and whom she for most of the novel regards with a distaste like that of black licorice, to see her naked. No I don't literally mean in the nude, but more that he sees beyond her witty remarks and scowls to find that her temper and attitude are a way of protecting herself from hurt. Obviously, if you haven't read the novel I'm giving you a spoiler alert now....they end up together. But their battle for love is unlike those of the average couple. It spans over years, socioeconomic status', prides and prejudices in a time were the average person living today can't even begin to understand the meaning of such barriers. It's exquisitely written and drawing in all aspects so much so, that even for someone who is fully aware they should be studying their Anatomy rather than reading a beautiful work of literature, I couldn't pull myself away from Jane Austen's work of art.

I am not a literary snob, unlike my older sister who takes that title with a sense of pride and if she read this I'm sure she would be smiling. I just enjoy art in all forms and I don't always understand everything the way I understand literature. So if you haven't read it, check it out. It might put you to sleep or it might just blow your mind.

I also just really liked these quotes among many throughout the work, and from the author.

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

And I too shall be miserable if I someday find myself living in a home without an excellent library. =)

Always