In that quest, I had originally decided to only read 1 classic. I read 1 last year (Anna Karenina) and lets just say, I wasn't overly upset when SPOILER ALERT Anna threw herself under that train. So, since I read 6 new books last year and 1 of those was a classic, I figured that since I was going to read 12 this year, I could do 2 classics. So I did. And I decided to do them back to back, I guess to get it over with. Here are my thoughts.
The first was one was, obviously, Pride and Prejudice. I had not read any Jane Austen before this, but had read a book from the same style/time period (Jane Eyre) years ago and enjoyed it. Plus so many people I know adore P&P, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. And because when I went searching for the copy of Wuthering Heights I thought I had, I came up with this. As I'm sure many people have read P&P, or seen some cinematic version of it, I'll spare you the details and say, I really just thought this book was eh. Not terrible, but not something I was swooning over. Sure, Mr. Darcy sounded like a good catch, the handsomeness and monied aspects of him anyway. And I thought Elizabeth Bennet sounded like a pretty cool chick who was not afraid to speak her mind in an era where women were not told they had minds. But I am not one to get all gushy over spurned lovers and unrequited emotions. I'm not heartless or anything, but I'd rather have some real dialogue and story advancement than frivolous wanting and waning. I saw the ending coming a mile away and was left feeling a little unsatisfied. Oh, and I really disliked a couple characters (Mrs. Bennet, the twitty sister who married the one dude), which made it even harder for me to rave over. Am I happy I read it? Yes. Will I read it again? Probably not.
So after P&P I decided to take a break from romance and try on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court for size. I have read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, along with most of America's middle/high schoolers, and enjoyed them both a lot. But this one, another eh. It was hard at times to get into the language. The story itself was interesting, but I didn't feel like the characters were fleshed out well, and I know there are parts I just skimmed, so I didn't understand later parts. Plus I know Twain built a lot of political ideology into this book, as he did all his books, but I just wasn't feeling it. But I did enjoy the pictures (haha) and the premise behind the book was good. So there you have it, like em or leave em. Now I'm onto to another non-fiction...1776. We'll see how that goes.
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