I Swallow My Pride & Admit My Prejudice

In which I confess something:

Until last week, I had never read a single word by Jane Austen,

and share something you probably already knew:

Pride and Prejudice is a great book!

Why haven't I ever read this before?! Why did I used to scoff at people who talked about how funny Jane Austen is? The answer, appropriately, is that I was unduly prejudiced against the book for no reason other than that it is a "classic" and the covers always look so dull and, like, 1800-ish, and, well, there is no good reason. I apologize to all of you at whom I scoffed.

It's not like nobody tried to get me to read it. Confession #2: I have a vague memory of giving an oral report in AP English on Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, which I hadn't read either. This was very unlike my usual total and complete geek industrious student self, which is probably why I was wracked with enough guilt about it to remember doing it at all. I think I used the Cliffs Notes, actually.

Oh, now I am really embarrassed. I will probably be kicked out of the Cool Writers club for this. Oh, wait. I was never in the Cool Writers club. Is there a Cool Writers club? Who would be in it? Jane Austen, for one, and then I'd never get in once she read this post. But who else?

In any case, take it from a converted scoffer: you should read this book. It's funny. Not even English teacher or Shakespearean pun funny. Sarcastic and witty funny, with bits of dramatic irony mortified funny like squirming in your seat watching a sitcom character do something totally embarrassing. I could go on about how brilliant the characters are, how timeless the themes, how precise the writing, but, instead, I leave you with a question:

Fess up. What books have YOU pretended to have read?