Pride and Prejudice

Yes, this is the book that I have been reading as of late! (Did you know that you can buy most of the "classics" for only $4.95 at Barnes and Noble?) I must say that it is one of the best books I have ever read (and no, I didn't read it in high school...not sure why). The character Elizabeth is just...amazing. She's one of those characters you read about and wish to be like. Jane Austen is so talented and she makes me wish I could write. I have been reading it on the bus on the way to work each day and I am finally almost through...about 10 pages to go. Elizabeth has finally confessed her love for Mr. Darcy. The great thing about this book is the eloquence of Austen's writing. There are so many amazing quotes in this book...some are just plain hilarious! Here are a few of my personal favorites!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters."

"I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."

"If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out."

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment."

"Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger."

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"

And the next two are a couple of my all time favorites!!!

"I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son, I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased."

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

So...it's a fabulous book and if there is anyone out there, like me, who hasn't read it yet...read it! You won't be disappointed!