Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

What took me so long? People around me have been loving Jane Austen for a very long time and I still held on to my 'classic are boring' frame of mind. I've been making such an effort to read more classics in the past few years and I'm happy with how I'm doing - but I was still wary of Jane Austen. How can a love story set 'back then' be of any interest? How can it compare with today's chick lit books? I won't be able to relate!

So. Not. True.

I absolutely loved Pride and Prejudice when I read it in December. I loved Lizzie and her defiance and her softness. I loved Jane and her calmness and wisdom. I loved their father and the way he looked at a life he wasn't entirely happy with. I loved Darcy. The mom and some of the sisters got on my nerves at times, but it wouldn't have been a very good story without them.

I felt so much while I was reading this. The emotion is incredible. And Austen's humor, wit, sarcasm were all completely, utterly unexpected. Pride and Prejudice was a real pleasure to read and I can't wait to read another Austen.

I ordered the BBC adaptation from Amazon. And in the meantime watched Bridget Jones, she has a Darcy too, right? :-)

TV shows I love

I've seen many, many posts about TV shows around the blogosphere and have been wanting to do a TV post of my own for ages.

I love TV. Intelligent TV, escapist TV, funny TV. Joe and I spend our evenings watching series on DVD and we feel only slightly guilty about it. We've discovered loads of shows that we both like so we have many choices and we keep discovering more.

Last night, we watched the first couple of episodes of Season One of Glee and the first episode of Season One of Mad Men. All were FANTASTIC and I think I can honestly say that both shows will be up there with our favorites - Buffy, Angel, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Outnumbered, Arrested Development.

A word on Glee - oh my Gods, can a show be any more perfect? All that beautiful singing, all that great choreography and all set in a high school, which is my preferred fun setting! The script is great - funny, quirky and quick. A couple of lines in the first episodes made me laugh so hard I had to pause the show. Fabulous.

And Mad Men. I have a specific interest in the 1950s, especially in the role/treatment of women and I'm also fascinated by the advertising industry and how they pass messages to us. I loved the first episode and can't wait to watch more. Though the treating-women-like-shit thing makes me very angry and I end up yelling at the TV...

What are your favorite shows? Anything I need to buy? :-)

Books Read in 2011

December
62. Matched by Ally Condie
61. Maggie Again by John D. Husband
60. Ravenstoke by Augusta Blythe
59. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
58. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
57. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
56. Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey
55. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
54. audiobook - The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
53. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster


November
52. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
51. The Cat by Colette
50. Gigi by Colette

October
49. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
48. One Day by David Nicholls
47. Holes by Louis Sachar
46. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
45. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

September
44. *The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
43. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
42. Soulless by Gail Carriger
41. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
40. audiobook - Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants: The Second Summer by Ann Brashares

August
39. Dating Big Bird by Laura Zigman
38. Making History by Stephen Fry
37. Wish me Dead by Helen Grant
36. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
35. Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls #4) by Ally Carter
34. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

July
33. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
32. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
31. in Polish: The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
30. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
29. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
28. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

June
27. Nurturing Superwoman by Carolyn Moody
26. The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

May
25. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
24. *Winterborne by Augusta Blythe

April
23. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
22. Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook
21. *The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
20. The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison
19. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
18. audiobook - When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
17. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin


March
16. *audiobook - The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
15. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
14. Fables 3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
13. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
12. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
11. The Reptile Room (Book Two in A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket
10. The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble


February
9. DNF - Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
8. The Princess Diaries, Take Two by Meg Cabot
7. *The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac
6. *audiobook - Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself by Judy Blume
5. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter


January
4. *audiobook - The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
3. Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
2. The Class by Eric Segal (DNF)
1. Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler