progress report one: axe the zombies

I knew I didn't like zombies.  A truth universally acknowledged when I got through a whopping two chapters of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies before throwing it down and shouting, "I hate zombies!"  I can't really trace my zombie hate back to any particular incidence (the way I can trace my werewolf hate back to having to read New Moon), but it's safe to say the side-by-side reading of classic and quirk is not going to happen.

I did, however, finish my five chapters of the original Pride and Prejudice.  It's really too soon for me to make any sort of judgement or even witty commentary, but what I can say is that my favorite character, by far, is Mrs. Bennet.  She's so haughty, I love it.  And her relationship with her husband brings a lot of humor to the story.  I truly look forward to continuing on with the book and can't wait for the romance to really start.

Completely aside, I have added two more books to the "Required Reading" list.  One was summer reading that I never did, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel.  The second was the mysteriously forgotten senior year book that I could not for the life of me remember not reading: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.  Why the school decided to replace it with Beowulf is absolutely beyond me.

reading schedule: pride and prejudice

This week was such a fail in terms of reading for the specific purposes of this project.  Pride and Prejudice seems so daunting.  I've read (actually read) Jane Austen before (Emma, btw) and remember it being very difficult to get through, so I think a part of me is just too intimidated to get started.  Granted I was a lot younger then, and didn't really have the patience that reading this kind of old, "proper" English requires.  Anyway, to help the process along, I've decided to set a schedule for reading Pride and Prejudice.  At this point I'm aiming for one chapter a day, five days a week.  I may adjust according to how into the book I get once I've started it, but for now my plan looks like this:

Pride and Prejudice Reading Schedule

Dates	Chapters
April 24 - April 30	1 - 5
May 1 - May 7	6 - 10
May 8 - May 14	11 - 15
May 15 - May 21	16 - 20
May 22 - May 28	21 - 25
May 29 - June 4	26 - 30
June 5 - June 11	31 - 35
June 12 - June 18	36 - 40
June 19 - June 25	41 - 45
June 26 - July 2	46 - 50
July 3 - July 9	51 - 55
July 10 - July 16	56 - 61

Three months seems like an awfully long time to be reading a book, but I feel like if I take the pressure to read it and finish it and finish it NOW! off, I might actually get some reading done.

plot recall: pride and prejudice

As much as I like to pretend that, having read the SparkNotes for all these books, I'm just as cultured and knowledgeable as the people who've actually read them, I'm not.  I realized that today when, after reading the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, I tried to recall what exactly I remembered about the book.  It's not impressive.  I couldn't carry on a conversation with someone about this book if a person was standing behind them with cue cards telling me the major plot points.  Because I wouldn't understand the context of them, the meaning of them, the people in them.  Here, let me prove it to you with my vast recollection of this novel's plot:

• Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy fall in love, right?
• And she has some sisters?
• And one of them marries Mr. Bingley, who turns out to be an asshole?

That just about sums it up, no?

Let's hope my Nook charges quickly so I can get back to becoming cultured and intelligent and well-rounded.  That's right, all those things will result from my reading of this book.

a start inspired by zombies

I recently checked out a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from the library.  Not because of the hype.  Not because of the trillion sequels and copies it has spawned.  Not even because of the rather disturbing cover.  No, I picked it up because of it's first line.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

It is the truth.  So much the truth that I felt compelled to learn more zombie truths.  Which is odd, because in general I am not that big a fan of zombies.

Anyway.  I thought, perhaps, a simultaneous reading of this "quirk classic" and its namesake just might be in order.  And so it is decided that my first read, for the purposes of this project, will be Pride and Prejudice.

Pride and Prejudice was supposed to be read my junior year of high school, in a class appropriately named British Novel.  The teacher of this class was a stuck-up cow (I'm sorry, but it's the truth).  She is probably the reason I stopped reading books for classes.  She sucked the life out of them and is the only teacher who has ever made me cry.  And I'll admit that just to show how evil she was.  It's no wonder I didn't want to invest my time in her class.

Let's see if reading the book without a force of malevolent hatred looming over my shoulder goes any better than my first non-attempt.