I’ve just finished reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

I was never interested in these period novels as I mistakenly thought they’d only be about young women wanting to marry a rich bloke. The tediousness of reading gossip, how much the son of each family makes and who was to marry whom would have reminded me too much of the small-mindedness of conversational topics that I used to hear growing up in extended Greek families who had nothing better to talk about.

They gossiped about similar things and frankly, I had zero interest.

However it was time to change my tune. It felt like I was the only person in the world who hadn’t read Austen.

When you read literature, you need to at least have read son Austen. I had to bite the bullet.

After all, Jane Austen’s books are loved by many and who was I to miss out on reading based on assumptions only?

So I swallowed my own Pride & Prejudice and read it. Let me say, I was pleasantly surprised. I laughed out loud at some of Elizabeth Bennett’s sarcastic comments and imagined that I was actually reading Jane Austen’s real character.

What a gem!

I loved the book and the characters and it didn’t escape me that I was like the Darcy character in real life only pretending to be like Elizabeth in my head during arguments. I wish I had her scathing wit of comebacks with obnoxious people. Usually I just shut up and berate myself internally.

I found this clip on YouTube that explained this far better as to what usually goes on inside our heads in those exchanges. 🤣

I also did love Elizabeth Bennett who seemed to me to be ahead of her time despite the circumstances of her being in that family – and female.

I’m glad I finally read Pride & Prejudice because I put my own pride and prejudice of this book aside only to be found out wrong in my misjudgment of it.

Bring on more Jane Austen writing. Now, I will need to buy her entire collection and have them on my bookshelves.