I got tagged to share 7 book covers by a friend. I was not sure what is the point of just sharing book covers - so thought I would rather write about 7 books that made a difference for me in the next 7 days (and that depends a lot on the work schedule!!)
First, I am going to restrict myself to 7 English books and may be later, I might write about 7 Tamil books as well. And I have no set criteria or choice in choosing these books but these are the books that come to mind the moment I am asked to chose. So to the first book.
I read 'Pride and Prejudice' just when I finished college - in fact, most of these books are going to be from that period - when I was flush with money and had nothing else to do in life other than shopping in Amazon (yes, customer since 1998!) and Barnes and Noble, all the time.
And it was not the first Jane Austen book I read - that was 'Sense and Sensibility'. After watching that excellent movie version by Emma Thompson, I picked up the book and was hooked. When I found that Jane Austen has written only 6 or 7 novels in total, I went ahead and got all of them.
What I loved in 'Pride and Prejudice' is that unending optimism of the story. While her other stories have strong heroines - there is a sense of disappointment and melancholy that pervades at places. You know that those girls are not entirely happy. But Lizzie is different.
She is full of bonhomie and positive energy. There is nothing that will disappoint her or make her feel bad about herself. She always puts a positive spin on life and lived it.
I used to wonder what would've happened if she did not end up marrying Darcy. The answer , to me, is that she would've married someone else and be that same girl she always was. Love is nothing but a part of life for her and would not have taken away her spirits.
That sets the tone for the entire story as well. There are no bad endings - even the wicked Wickham marries off (although whining!) and behaves in the end. Everyone ends up living, if not happily, at least rich, which is something.
But why is it the top book in my list? because it is a romance and all romances are personal. The Lizzie - Darcy love story is not unique or the greatest in the world, but what makes it lovable is that the story is told as a product of their personalities and the events just happens around their personality. That is absolutely what is different from every other story out there. Lizzie does not change or lose her perspective anywhere in the story. Darcy - changes for the better - but is still the proud man we see at the Netherfield ball. And what they despised at the start becomes the one element that they fall in love with at the end. And that is wonderful to read about.
Probably, this is the book I've written more about than any other. And will write more but for now, that is the first book in the series.
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