New Obsession: Jane Austen

In the past 2 weeks, I read Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abby, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion (not in that order). I would've reread Pride and Prejudice, but I'm on dial-up at a hotel in Dalian, and can't download it onto my nook. P.S. If you don't own an ereader (I recommend Barnes & Noble's nook), you should get one. It's so amazing to want a book, get it, and start reading it within seconds. Plus, you can carry around hundreds of books in your purse. Back to Jane: Why didn't anyone besides teachers of questionable taste tell me how fun it is to read Jane Austen? Admittedly, my friend April (yeah you, Anderson or whatever your name is now; I should know this) has professed a passionate interest in Jane Austen, but I figured the interest was academic.

I love Jane Austen! I read Emma in school many years back, but I didn't get into it at all. I did like the movie with Gwenyth Paltrow though. It was funny to see her when I was reading the book. And remember the movie Clueless with (what's her name? - the vegan who writes cookbooks)? That movie is based on Emma too! Remember the photo in the locker... the painted portrait of... I already forgot all the character names because I read them so fast. I just downloaded and watched Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet - wicked fun! I hope there's a decent film adaptation of Persuasion. I want to watch them all.

So... I guess the fact that I recently got engaged and technically married, and my wedding ceremony is the day after tomorrow might have something to do with my heightened interest in the sweet stories Austen so brilliantly unfolds. But what I love about her is how unbrilliant her characters are. They are regular people, albeit rich and kept, doing regular things. But I feel like I know them so well (okay knew because I've forgotten them). I'm glad I forgot them because now I can read them again.

If anyone is wondering why I have had the leisure to read so much in such a short time: my students just completed 2 weeks of military training (no foreigners allowed on campus, even the foreign students), and next week is China's National Day, during which the education system and most other systems (not transportation or anything fun) shuts down for a week. And I've had a nasty cold/cough. But I'm feeling much better. Thanks =)