Pride and Prejudice

So, I have to be completely honest from the outset. Despite being an English teacher and an avid reader from the time I could actually pick up a book, I have generally avoided the classics. I fell in love with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women when I was about eight or nine years old and from then on, whenever I tried to get into something of the likes of Austen or Bronte I just couldn't get excited about them. Being someone who is quite often stubborn, by the age of about twelve, I simply decided that I didn't like the classics.

While I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I kept hold of this 'prejudice', I am pleased to admit that I have now been reeducated to realize how wonderful this genre of literature really is.

Lately, I have been given an iPad to play with and as an English teacher I was desperate to see how the ereader worked. At the time, the only novel loaded was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. So, I thought I would give it another go. The result:

I have finished the book, absolutely fallen in love with the possibility of exploring further the English classics and have since gone into the Gutenberg Project and downloaded a number of other books which I will take great glee in exploring as the holidays.

Throughout Austen's novel I was blown away time and time again as to how she could invite me into the world of Lizzie Bennet and introduce me to characters that I either fell in love with or loathed. What was even more exciting was the fluidity of the plot and the fact that the more I read the more I discovered elements of the novel that I was already familiar with through other popular culture references.

Ultimately, I now desperately want to teach this novel so that I can introduce my girls to a world that I have sadly come into later than I now would have liked.