Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
I know practically every woman will tell you that Pride and Prejudice is her favourite story. With good reason. She has probably seen the movie more than a few times and loves the manners and scenes of English society. Of course, the 1995 BBC version of the story is the absolute best version that follows the book so well. But have they read the book? Trust me, it is even better.
So what it is about this book that makes women dream and men shake their head and don't understand?
First, you need to understand a little about Jane Austen, herself. Jane was born in 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hamspshire, England. Her father was a reverend. Jane wrote stories about what she knew, that is - society. She had a lot of connections and saw a lot of things happen in the everyday goings on of society. That, combined with her sharp wit, she wrote about what she knew best and could be deemed an expert on the topic. In this book, particularly, there is an abundance of wit. Jane herself called this book "rather too light & bright & sparkling."
Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813. It is a novel about family and the everyday life of society in the English countryside, specifically the Bennet family with five daughters. Elizabeth is the sister who has the most wit, according to her father. We are introduced to Mr. Darcy, who is tall, handsome, and very rich, at a dance where he shuns Elizabeth as not being handsome enough to tempt him. While Darcy's good friend Mr. Bingley begins to fall in love with Elizabeth's elder sister, Jane. The more Elizabeth sees of Mr. Darcy the more she despises his pride and arrogance, but Darcy is falling in love with Elizabeth, even though her situation in life is well beneath his own. At last Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, and she refuses him, explaining that his selfishness and contempt toward everyone would never induce her to marry him. He goes away wounded, and realizes that while he was a gentleman with manners who was brought up with good principles, he was left to live by his own selfish pride and conceit. He is determined to change. At the same time, Elizabeth is corrected by Darcy on matters of which she was mistaken in her first impressions, and so her opinion of Darcy slowly changes over several more months. But family matters get in the way, and as a reader, you don't know what is going to become of the Bennet family and what Darcy will think of them.
I think what detours most people from reading this book is the language. It is not written like the modern fiction writers whose works can be read in a flash. Modern books are so focused on the action and keeping a reader entertained. Jane's way of writing is full of minute details centered around the characters. Sometimes the action of a scene is written in one sentence, while the thoughts going on inside Elizabeth Bennet's head last for a few pages. The narrator of the book is one that overlooks the whole situation and can go into the mind of each character.
This book is one of the best novels in the English language, and it is well worth reading if you haven't. I read it every couple years, and each time I read it, I enjoy it so much more. You know it is a good book when it gets better each time you read it. This is the most lovely version, by the way. This cloth-bound Penguin Classics Edition is so beautiful. I treated myself to it last week when I was at Oxford Exchange. Because lovely books are hard for me to resist.
Autumn, I know you have it in you. I know you are able to make my days much more pleasant with your cool breezes and your dry air full of scents that linger and entice one with spices and warm comforts.
I see your presence at the grocery store. Upon walking in, there is a whole display of such beautiful Autumnal colours in flowers and plants. The scent of cinnamon swirls all around me and I cannot help but indulge in some flowers that hold the most lovely golden caramel colours and a tiny potted plant with little mums growing in a rust colour.
So, where have you gone to, Autumn? You were here but for a moment, and now you've gone off again. Perhaps you thought it best to leave a place such as Florida alone, due to our tropical qualities, but I assure you, you will find it most comfortable here. There are no mountains in your way, and all of the residents here will take notice of you. To be sure, you will be the talk of each town.
Perhaps, though, you prefer to linger in the background, and not flaunt your beauty, which is why you tend to slowly reach down to the trees and give them time to change their colours and eventually fall off their branches. It would be presumptuous to think that you were pretentious, even though you are vastly important to me..
So I invite you to come back, Autumn, and stick around for a while. You are most welcome here.
I almost did not go to the library today, mainly because I had several other errands I needed to do that could probably be seen as more important than books at the library. Actually, nothing is quite as important as books, however, I fear not everyone shares that outlook. But I live so close to the library, and a search in their book sale section doesn't take me long. So, I went. There is only one row of books. I always head straight to the literature section, naturally.
By now you know that I am an avid C.S. Lewis reader. I have every book I can possibly get, within reason (I had the chance to purchase a few first edition Lewis books in that little catholic bookshop in Oxford across from Christ Church College, but I just could not spend $60 on a book, however much I would have loved to have it). This particular title is one that has been on my Amazon wish list, but because it is close to $20, I haven't ever ordered it. I've also never seen it in a store, except in Oxford at Blackwell's.
So, when my eyes caught sight of The Discarded Image at the library, sitting there in the literature section, my heart did a little dance and a smile must have been on my face because I pulled it off the shelf I almost could not believe my eyes. I opened it and saw the price, $1.00. It must be my day, was all I could think. If this particular book was in a used bookstore, it would easily have been marked $20 or more. I don't believe in luck, but imagine that!
Then I looked at the publication date. 1964. I suspected it might be a first edition, especially since it was printed in Great Britain and there was no reprint date. C.S. Lewis wrote this, of course, when he lived and taught at Cambridge University at the end of his life. He died in 1963, and this must have been published the following year. When I got home and looked up the publication date online, it was 1964. So, I hold in my hands something so valuable to me, a lover of books, reading, writing, and all things English, for $1.00. You just never know when a sudden and joyous blessing will jump into your day! But I do know there are reasons for everything. Thank goodness I decided to take the time to go to the library today!
O the loveliness that tends to be
the sheer delight of a season to see
as shades of marigold,
mustard, and rust
add warmth and colour,
and even, I trust,
a comfort deep inside,
our knowing still,
that in life and all seasons,
we can seek His will.
I have a couple of sweet little pumpkins sitting on my coffee table reminding me that we are in the season that inspires me the most, through the colours that emerge. The muted tones of caramel, mustard, rust, and marigold and all variations of those earthy shades.
The Summer season seems to embrace bright, vibrant colours that are pretty loud, and that doesn't suit me as well. If I were a set of colours, I would be the earth tones that emerge in the Autumn season. It's a feast for the eyes, I think, and quite a change from the end of Summer.
When the winds come through the trees and begin to cast a chill, the colours wake up and remember that it's time for their beauty to show in a different way.
I cannot possibly be so close to Oxford Exchange and not go there, unless I am prevented for some reason. On Monday, I had to go to downtown Tampa for jury duty. I had no idea how long my day would be or if I would be able to do anything afterwards. I drove into Tampa before the sun rose, and it was a long, long morning. I went through Federal Court jury selection and was not selected to sit on the jury for a criminal case that I was brought into with other jurors.
Since I was not selected, I was dismissed. Where else would I go when Oxford Exchange is literally a few blocks drive away? I was famished - waking up at 5:20 AM is not my norm, and it was such a long morning at the courthouse without food. So, I had some late lunch, iced earl grey lavender, and then browsed the bookstore.
It is such a beautiful, classy destination that transports me to another place. It doesn't feel like Florida at all. It feels European, and lovely. And if I am nearby, the road will take me there.
The air smelled different this morning. I got out of bed and noticed immediately. Then I remembered that some chilly air moved into town overnight. I rushed to my door and opened it to get my first taste of Autumn air. It was glorious. Full of scents of leaves and freshness. It was 57 degrees, dry, and the breeze shuffled the surprised leaves that had grown so accustomed to the Summer heat.
Now, the sounds of birds and the wind shuffling through the branches is what fills my space. It's absolutely lovely. When the first feeling of Autumn arrives I remember the blessing of God in the different seasons. I am so thankful. It is this kind of weather that energizes my mind and body. My mind becomes all aflutter with words and poetry. And I am eager to get outside to enjoy it.
I am in love with the beauty that God grants us; the way he brings forth such Autumn scents and earth tones that stir my feelings.
I cannot help it. I was made so that these things would wrap my heart in a blanket of lovely and warm thoughts and fluttery feelings. These are the kinds of days that stir my imagination and remind me of the bounty of God's blessings.
Past upon past has been planted in you,
in order out of you, like a garden, to rise.
- Rainer Rilke
I could not resist posting these photos today, which really was a sweet pumpkin Sunday. The weather all day has been glorious. The kind of weather that you wake up to and notice that something is very different. The air is clear and chilled. The sky is perfectly painted the shade of baby blue with no glimmer of wispy clouds anywhere.
After church we walked down to the church pumpkin patch by the lake, where it was fun to watch Elliott walk around and point to that pumpkin, and then point to that one, and then try to pick up a different pumpkin. It was darling. We all picked out a pumpkin to take home. Happy Autumn!
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
- Psalm 139.17-18
To stop and pray in the midst of a normal day is not the easiest thing, but is it ever easy, even if we somehow have hours in the multitudes? We always seems to find something to take us away from focusing on prayer. The work on my desk and the tasks demanding my attention seem so important throughout the hours of the workday, but really, Lord, You are above it all.
Above the work, above the errands I need to run, above the chores I need to do.
You are above it all. And that includes my thoughts.
You are higher than my thoughts and I am standing in wonderment at the vast amount of thoughts You have.
I am so singular, Lord, but You are not stuck in time or singular place. You are everywhere and in everything all at once.
Your ever-presence is a comfort to me. A comfort that also fills my soul with the wonder and mystery that is You, God. To imagine something far higher and grander than myself, I am naturally drawn into the depths of wonder.
Thank you for the mystery of Your love, presence, plans, and gifts of every rising sun.
Always do I dream about travelling. If you know me at all you know how I day dream about it. It's always on my mind. I frequently find myself planning, dreaming, or talking about my next trip, wherever it may be.
My boss and his wife are currently across the ocean in Europe, on a grand vacation travelling around a few different countries. I am back here holding down the office. I am so happy for them and so envious that I cannot be there, too. They sent me photos and it's all so dreamy. In my mind I imagine so many sorts of splendid sights and I am afraid I will be very eager to hear all the details about their days, and see more photos once they get back. I want to know about the cafes, the transportation, the weather, the people, the architecture, and favourite things.
Travel is a wonderful thing, I think, because it takes us out of our comfort zones and shows us what we have not seen. It throws us into another world where languages or accents are different, and the way of life differs in some way. Or even it is a place we have been before, it causes us to look again, and see from a new perspective perhaps. It causes us to dwell for a short time in another culture, another city, another way of living. I love to see the everyday scenes that are apart from the tourist spots. I love to be there as if I were a local.
I have much more world travelling to do. I really haven't done that much in the grand scope of our world. Even in my home country. There is much more to be seen. I shall see some more of this big country this month. It is going to be a busy month. Stay tuned!
The air was salty and the breeze welcomed. Before the air grew too far into the heat range that warrants an immediate shower, we ventured onto the pale, sandy shoreline of Venice Beach. The air was more wavy than the waters that morning. A calm sense filled the space between the tall waving sea oats and the gentle lapping morning waves meeting the shore.
When you stand on the shoreline, sometimes you forget the rest of the land that sits behind and beyond. All that lies before you are endless seas that rise and fall with the moon each day.
A powerlessness sweeps over you, but at the same time you cannot help but feel part of the nature that you get to dwell in. With sand getting into your flats and between your toes you are like the grains of sand- small and a tiny part of something much larger.
You are with the land, the sea, and the air. Other distractions are beyond your reach, if only for a little while.
