I have been sluggish on my two pacts this year, and especially sluggish on this one. I have moved at a snail's pace since the start of the year and had contented with two unfinished books and two kids novel's to speak of.
Though, I would love to pick up books I have not read earlier, I recently picked up two of Jane Austen's novels back to back for quick, leisurely reads. I have said it before and I will say it again, Jane Austen is my most favourite author as an adult, along with probably J.K. Rowling. When I was in my teens and early-twenties, Jane Austen introduced me to romance and when I set foot in my thirties, she introduced me to feminism. I have read all her books multiple times with ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Emma’ and ‘Persuasion’ being my absolute favourites.
I can pick up a Jane Austen book anytime anywhere and read it. What I love in her books is how all her characters are absolutely real and so perfect in their imperfections. Moreover, despite the fact that her books were based and written in early 19th Century England, much of the context and the details of the society are still very relevant for the contemporary yet traditional Indian set-up where men still dominate the patriarchal society and marriage is often an obsession with the women. And in this orthodox set-up too, women, much like Jane's protagonists, still tend to stand out with their individual and independent views. That's exactly what I love about Jane's work.
So, when I did pick her books, first 'Persuasion' and then 'Mansfield Park', I couldn't keep them down though I had read both of them before. I love Anne's character from 'Persuasion' for her consistency and will power and though I find it a bit difficult to relate to Fanny Price from 'Mansfield Park', I am able to appreciate her for her values and beliefs and I can identify with her absolute sense of decorum and propriety.
They were good reads, alas!
