Today it is the turn of Jody to tell us all about her favourite book.
Victoria asked me to contribute to her lovely blog by writing a piece about my favourite book. I have to admit, I find it really difficult to just pick one novel as my absolute favourite. I have several favourites, and this list changes every few months. However, there’s one classic romance tale which has been on my favourites list since I was 16 years old and I am pretty sure it will never be replaced by anything else. Probably because it continues to be one of the most amazing love stories of all time and that is something a sucker for romance like me can’t possibly ignore!
Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ tells the love story of intelligent and witty Elizabeth Bennet and the proud and handsome Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth lives together with her parents and four sisters in Hertfordshire, and if it’s up to her mother there is only one main goal for her daughters to achieve in life: marry a man with a large fortune. When a young and attractive bachelor moves to the neighbourhood, Mrs. Bennet is therefore set on making sure he will eventually marry one of her girls. Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet quickly fall in love with each other, and at the same time Elizabeth meets Bingley’s friend, a proud man named Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth loathes him from the start and tries to avoid him as much as possible. However, as time progresses, Darcy develops a fondness for Elizabeth. Will these two be able to overcome their prejudices and differences for love?
I remember exactly when I first decided to pick up a copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. I was 16 years old and for my English class at secondary school we had to choose several classic novels to read. Without even having to think twice about it, I choose Jane Austen’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’, because I wanted to read more about the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, which I was already slightly familiar with. At first, I struggled a bit with Austen’s late eighteenth-century English, but I also thought it had a particular charm to it. A sense of Englishness and romance (especially when you imagine a handsome English Mr. Darcy saying all those lovely romantic things out loud); something I hadn’t found in any other book up until then. I immediately fell in love with the story, the characters, the setting… And I still am just as much in love with all of the aspects of this novel numerous years later.
Back when I was 16, I had no idea what an enormous role ‘Pride and Prejudice’ would eventually play in my life. It influenced my decision to go to university and study English Language and Literature (in the end I even wrote two dissertations on Austen’s novels); it turned me into a true Austen fan that has to buy anything even slightly related to one of her novels (not that great for my bank account); it made me a hopeless romantic (which my down-to-earth boyfriend is absolutely thrilled with, as you can imagine), and it was the start of my love for chick lit, which has become an even more important and amazing part of my life since I started my book blog ‘A Spoonful of Happy Endings’ at the start of 2013. Most importantly, Austen’s novels and particularly ‘Pride and Prejudice’ have turned me into the person I am today. It has taught me things (Elizabeth Bennet is a great role model for young women, if you ask me), it is always there in times of need (together with a box of tissues and some chocolate), and it helps me to continue to believe in true love and happy endings, no matter what. So, to all lovers of romance and/or chick lit, this classic is a definite must-read and I hope it will influence and inspire you, just like it continues to do for me.
Jody
Blog: http://spoonfulofhappyendings.blogspot.com
Twitter: @happyspoonful
I would like to say a big thank you to Jody for taking part. More up tomorrow on ‘my favourite book.
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