Dear Jane, Pt 1: I was a precocious brat

Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.

~ Northanger Abbey

Dear Jane, 

I was a precocious brat.  I know  this; I've come to accept it.  And as a precocious little brat, I was always eager to get my hands on moldering old books that all of my friends turned up their noses at.  I was a friend to Oliver and Anne, Polly and all of Jo's little men.

But somehow, I never stumbled upon Lizzie or Emma, Catherine or Elinor or Anne. (Or Fanny, I suppose.)  Oh sure, I'd had brushes with these ladies, mainly from movies like Clueless and Emma (the Paltrow version), and Dorothy Jane Torkelson.  But years went by before I actually held one of your books in my hands, before I let your characters into my head.  Maybe I was afraid to be disappointed; maybe I knew they were going to take over my brain; mostly, I think, it's that I weirdly associated Pride and Prejudice with War and Peace, and this weird kid I knew who talked about W&P all the time.  Sometimes I'm a little strange like that.  You'll have to make allowances.
But when I read Pride and Prejudice in high school, I think I realized that I was just saving the best for last.  I was building up to you, laying the groundwork so that I could appreciate you for what you really are.
You're a master.  You're a comedic genius.  You're a radical, and you make all who know you love you -- even when they won't admit it.


But you knew that already, didn't you...


~M.


(to be continued...)