Jane Austen

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” - Jane Austen

A good friend of mine named Carey told me the other day, "I have a bunch of ideas for your blog. You should write one about Jane Austen." I promptly confessed that I know almost nothing about Jane Austen. I mean, I've read Pride and Prejudice, but that's it. I did see the movie too, but I don't remember it. All I remember is thinking, "Oh, hey! Keira Knightley's character is named Elizabeth here too, just like Pirates of the Caribbean!" I love Pirates of the Caribbean. It's not that I'm anti-Jane Austen or anything, I'm just a disgrace to homeschooled females. My friend who suggested this post said that maybe her love is not as universal as she thought. I told her, no, it's just me.

Here's the thing: 98.5% of homeschool speech and debate girls absolutely love Jane Austen. I can sympathize to an extent. I like the story of Pride and Prejudice a lot. That's why I have a number of Austen parodies I'd like to get around to reading, including Prom and Prejudice and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (I hear there was a duo on the zombie one, by the way).

You should know that 98.5% of homeschool speech and debate girls see themselves as Elizabeth Bennet and dream of falling for a Mr. Darcy, or see themselves as some of Miss Austen's other characters who are unknown to an uncultured swine such as myself. Hence, the girls fall in love with Jane's books. I guess I can't entirely blame them. Oh, look, someone just posted online that Pride and Prejudice makes her "completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy," which I have just determined through Google is from the movie. Sweet.

You're homeschooled, and you have pleasure in a good novel.