30 Days Book Meme: Day Twenty-three

Nov 23, 2011 20:52

Day Twenty-three: A book you['ve] wanted to read for a long time but still haven't (That sentence didn't read right)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Persuasion is the Austen pick of the pops: the novel which all the long-time/serious/high-brow 'Janeites' seem to love and cherish and
call George, after graduating from Pride and Prejudice and outgrowing Emma. Well, I have tried, a couple of times, to read my really slim copy - next to Emma, Persuasion is a pamphlet - but I can't get past the first chapter. And Anne, oh my word. I really cannot hack 'worthy' heroines, who are treated like dogsbodies by everyone else, and put up with a lifetime of eccentric, selfish, hurtful crap because saints, by definition, should be able to rise above such lowly human behaviour. Or in Anne's case, because she has no choice. Give me an Emma Woodhouse, or even a Mary Crawford, anytime.

Perhaps, when I am older (another theory), my taste in Austen will reach the zenith of appreciation, and I will finish Persuasion. After all, I liked the adaptation (not the one with the fish kiss), and I can read stories 'based on' Persuasion, like Juliet Archer's modernisation Persuade Me (although I didn't really like that one, either), but the actual text itself still bores me silly. Sorry, Janeites, I'm yet to be persuaded!

jane austen, 30 days book meme, books

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