"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen (audio)

I may be the last person on earth to read this book, and assuredly the last to read Jane Austen. It's embarrassing, really. I have recently been lamenting at the lack of exposure I received in high school and college to the literary classics. It makes me feel a bit cheated. I need direction, discussion and analysis! I need hand-holding! These things aren't always easy to read or understand! (Note to self: do not read classics on audio tape. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since I have more time to multi-task than I do sitting down to read. The narrator sounded like a stressed-out Maggie Smith. Love her to death, but ten discs of shrilly, tremulous narration, with little variation of tone from character to character is very hard to bear and even harder to concentrate on.)

OK. That all being said, I absolutely LOVED this book. What the hades have I been doing the last 42 years? Jane Austen is a genius, and all of her works need to be bestowed upon me, soon. Then I think I need to read about Jane Austen, as I understand her biography is as good as her books. As a side note, I have not seen anything remotely related to Jane Austen or her novels in movie form. I'm not generally drawn to period movies. I think I will be rearranging my Q on Netflix, however.

I'm thinking I don't really need to tell you all what the book is about. You already know, right? Well, just for grins, here is the nickel tour. We have the middle-class Bennett family with five girls. They are all a-twitter over some new, available bachelors moving into the neighborhood. These girls need to be married off, you know. Our heroine, Elizabeth, the second to oldest, and a strong independent gal, has taken an immediate dislike to one of the new guys in town, Mr. Darcy. He appears pompous, prideful and rude. She later hears rumors of his having wronged people important to Elizabeth, and decides he is the most despicable person she has ever known. She lets him know, too. Of course, we all know how this kind of thing goes. She discovers later, to her horror, that Mr. Darcy has been unfairly judged. They eventually resolve their misunderstandings, fall in love, and live happily ever after. I will admit, its predictable, but it's all good. This is the classic romantic comedy... maybe even the pioneer of the genre.

There are obviously other plots to the story, all of which are very laugh-out-loud entertaining. With the exception of the oldest sister Jane, Elizabeth's family is a bit of a freak show. A meddling, materialistic mother, an uninvolved father, one nerdy little sister, and two other little sisters that are obnoxious little snots that are determined to nab a military officer and beat their older sisters to the alter. We have the cousin that stands to inherit the Bennett home when Daddy Bennett dies, who breezes into town looking for a wife, any wife will do. When spurned by Elizabeth, he grabs the neighbor spinster Charlotte, and throws Mrs. Bennett into a jealous tirade. There is Mr. Darcy's aunt, of noble blood, that thinks the whole Bennett family is beneath her. Austen insightfully portrays the disparity between the classes. Perfectly titled, the story is also a fine character study of those who are either waylaid or completely derailed by their pride and prejudices they hold against others.

I am open to suggestions as to the next Jane Austen novel I should read!