My Venture into the Classics

So my goal for the past couple months has been to read some of the "acclaimed" classic books that I have heard of, read pieces from or have had referenced in my past classes. I started with a Tale of Two Cities and immediately disliked it. I had read Hard Times for an economic class and enjoyed it so I was surprised by my displeasure of the book. I repeatedly tried to "get into" the book but failed. The next book I chose was Wuthering Heights, I must admit my interest was peaked by the mention of the story in Twilight. I found Wuthering Heights to be nothing as I had imagined, where was the love?? Okay so I may have had the wrong notion of the book but nevertheless I found it interesting. Of course the conventions of our times, rules, moral standards made it a little hard to imagine a love story between cousins or to imagine the motivations of certain characters however the entanglement of characters is what drew me in. i find the original Catherine ridiculous but I was not held to her standards nor have I ever had to live in her world. I felt the surmise of most of the characters was due to their own doing yet part of me felt it was also due to the standards/customs in which they lived by.

I am now on Pride and Prejudice and so far I find the different characters interesting. My favorite already being Elizabeth since she can hold her own in witty conversation and with any group or class. I still have a long way to go but I must say that the conventions of the women having to marry off and only being judged by their looks is nerving. The thought of meeting a person for the sole purpose of estimating what a good wife or husband they might make seems contrived for our day & age. Right? I know so wrong, since that is what the dating world at our age is about. I had the luxury of meeting my husband when marriage was the furthest thing from my mind, we were able to grow as a couple without the strains of marriage breathing down our necks. I guess the daughters in the books meeting complete strangers with the prospect of marriages hanging over their heads can be likened to men and women venturing out on blind dates. I still have a lot to read so I will post some more thoughts on the book later!

I hope everyone is having a great week!