England | Tom Dye's Blog

For over 150 years, Pride And Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen herself called this brilliant work her “own darling child.” Pride And Prejudice, the story of Mrs. Bennett’s attempts to marry off her five daughters is one of the best-loved and most enduring classics in English literature.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

So begins Pride and Prejudice, a witty comedy of manners that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues.

I gave this classic 4 Stars because — I Really Liked It! I’m proud of myself for becoming a reader. Think what you will, but this was the very first classic that I’d read in my entire life, and one of the first books of any genre. It came free on my Kindle, so I only had to invest a casual effort and give it some time.

Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.

I remember reading this book, thinking to myself, how I’d missed out on this incredible experience my whole life. The experience of being able to pick up a book and to propel myself into late eighteenth-century England. I had never experienced anything like it before.

Since reading Pride and Prejudice, my first classic, I’ve been to the future, I’ve been to the past, and my next trip could very well take me all the way to another world. I have found much adventure and comfort in books. I’ve wept, I’ve chortled. I’ve found a new passion.