Now, I have a college degree. In fact, I was an English major. I took countless courses in literature and studied authors from Shakespeare to Kafka to Hemingway. But believe it or not, I have never read Jane Austen. Until recently. Just finished my first last week. I did a little research and discovered that Pride and Prejudice was by far the most recommended Austen novel to read. Fortunately for me, I was able to find it on CD at the public library. So I had the unabridged version read to me over the course of the last couple of weeks. What did I think?
Perhaps my many years in advertising has affected my patience for the flowery prose. Case in point: It takes a while to read (or in my case listen to) lines like, “The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.” Then you have to translate it into something more along the lines of: “Haste makes waste.” Did I mention how much I enjoyed studying Hemingway? Vivid dialogue. Short, simple sentences.
Although I can appreciate Austen’s character development, strength of relationships and timeless sense of “destined” love, I was still rather indifferent.
So Many Hats 