Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Emma - Jane Austen

I'm a big fan of the movie Clueless, so ever since I realized it was based on this book, I've been meaning to read it. I snagged a copy of this book at the Borders last day sales and finally made it happen this month. While I was reading it was fun to try to identify the story elements that made it into the movie, which book character was which movie character, etc. In general, however, reading British literature from this time period just makes me think excessively about how envious I am that there used to be an entire class of people who had nothing better to do all day than take walks, visit the neighbors*, and pursue their own interests, and of course an entire class of people who had no choice but to serve the luckier class. And yes, I'm jealous of the "landed gentry" types; my dream is to be able to read and pursue my own interests all day, even as I realize that this is a gross oversimplification of how things were back then, and people were severely limited in their roles, and etc., but I can daydream :) Also, after reading books from this time period, I long to read something written in a more contemporary voice, so there will definitely be a few more recently published books on the reading horizon.

* Only the ones of the proper sort, of course!

No comments:

Post a Comment