Brownouts with Austen | Clare

During the recent power outages due to the typhoons Santi and Tino, I had the opportunity to finally catch up on my reading. With no distractions from the TV and the net, I picked up a couple of books from my reading list and just started reading away. I ended up finishing two books from Jane Austen: Persuasion and Pride & Prejudice.

Due to the influence of the movie The Jane Austen Book Club, I had bought the complete set of Austen books but never had the chance to read everything yet. I had read Emma last year but never got around to reading the others until the brownout happened. The weather was perfect for curling up with a good book so I thought it was the best time for it.

I liked reading Persuasion more than Pride and Prejudice. It’s not so much about which one was better written but more because I’ve seen several versions of the latter as a movie. It was hard for me not to visualize based on the movie rather than just enjoying the book and letting it create a world of its own in my mind.

One thing I noticed about the Austen books I’ve read so far is that Jane Austen likes having characters where the lead is often too pre-occupied with other people’s lives and distracted by a young eligible man who ends up being wrong for her. Plus, there is almost always one man in the background who is quietly waiting for her to make up her mind about her life so that he could be with her.

It’s refreshing to read Austen’s books because of how it’s written. The prose from back then was so much different from today. It’s a bit much to read sometimes but once you get past reading in that kind of language the stories are entertaining.

It’s also nice to read about the life of ladies and gentlemen in the early days. While there are some beliefs that I think should be kept in the past (particularly about women’s rights), it would have been nice if we brought some of the old ways in the present. It was really a different era and reading the books was a great escape toward it.

I still have a few more books to go to complete my Austen reading list. I hope I can find the time to read another one again soon.

Photo Source: Hillcrest United Church