Number one on my reading schedule is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, which I promptly started reading after I posted my list. I wanted to get further into the book before I talked about what my initial feelings of the book are.

First of all, I find that I do enjoy Austen’s writing style. There is something lovely and comedic about it (even when I sometimes have no idea what she’s said). I think reading Sense and Sensibility prepared me for reading through Austen’s style faster, the translation happening quicker in my mind as if I’ve learnt a new language. I didn’t think I would have much trouble with it, though, because I never had trouble with Shakespeare, but it’s the long-windedness of some of the passages that boggle my mind after a little while.

The first thing I thought was that the story isn’t going to be about Jane and Mr Bingley at all and that it’s going to be about Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, who form the cliche love of a ‘man with an arrogant/iron heart’ and a woman of ‘wit and wonder’ who enchants the otherwise disinterested man. Though, this might not have been something done back when Austen wrote the book and so I haven’t let myself grow bored of it (I don’t read romance novels, but I read a lot of romance manga and this trope has been beaten to death there). The romance has survived mostly because of my interest in Elizabeth, but this is where the similarities to Sense and Sensibility come in.

So far, these are the similarities I find:

• I don’t care about anyone except Elizabeth (I only cared about Elinor)
• I find most of the other characters horrid
• A lot of shade is thrown at the unlikeable characters
• The presence of feminism is done in a balanced way where, though it’s clear power/attention is being given to Elizabeth’s character (of course not in a social sense because back then it was all about the patriarchy), there is no clear ‘good-bad’ ratio between the genders of the characters (they’re all equally a pain in the ass)
• Again, I don’t really care about the romance, I just want to watch over Elizabeth

I’m not finding it bad that this novel feels very much the same to Sense and Sensibility, just with different characters, as it’s very much an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” case, meaning that I’m still enjoying it. If all of her novels are this similar, however, I don’t know if I’ll read them all. Although, remembering the wild ride I went on with Elinor, I may actually do that.

I don’t think I could sit down and watch the movies, I think it would be far cringier than the books and I’m content just reading the stories for now. I’m a fifth into the novel and expect to finish it in a couple of days (depending on how well I stick to my current goals and expectations). I’ve been running “quota blocks” where I have a little clothesline of “goals” on my desk that are to be completed in Pomodoro blocks, either singular or double. I’ve put writing blocks up and have found that splitting everything into small achievable goals has made me more likely to complete them.

Also, honestly thought that Jane was going to die or it would turn out she had cancer or tuberculosis or something, but she’s fine.