So lately I've heard good things about a novel called Longbourn. It's written about the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but told from the perspective of the servants. This intrigues me. So I thought I should reread Pride and Prejudice before taking on Longbourn, to remember the story before hearing all the fascinating details from the kitchens and the back stairs.
And then I remembered: I've never made it all the way through Pride and Prejudice. I've read Sense and Sensibility. I've read Emma. I've seen the movie of P&P, the one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen (who I've had a crush on since I stumbled onto the British spy series MI-5 several years ago). But I've never read the book, cover to cover.
So I was excited. A new book! Woot! And what a great first line! "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." That used to offend me, as I've been a single woman for a long time and don't appreciate that attitude that I needed a man to succeed. But I'm over that now. And for the time this was written, it's appropriate. And it's kinda lovely.
So here's my problem. I just can't get into it the way I want to. I'm trying to force it, trying to make myself want to read it. But it's not happening. I want to read Gone Girl. I want to listen to The Stand. But I'm not ready to give up. I'll keep banging away at it. But I'm moving forward with other things too. It's all good. I hope. And if it's not, then I only have to read it once to say I've done it.