Hello my name is Tayler, and I've never read Jane Austen...

I have a confession to make… I’ve never read anything by Jane Austen. There, I’ve admitted it, let the chastising begin. I have no idea how this fact can even be true, as I have been obsessed with Jane Austen since I was a little girl. I was an English major for crying out loud! (well, more specifically Creative Writing, but they are very closely related, especially in the amount of required literature classes).

I’m still trying to figure out how I’ve made it almost to the age of twenty-five without devouring all of her novels. Sense and Sensibility has been on my reading list since I was ten years old! When the movie came out, I was obsessed, and I’m pretty sure that I rented it more than anyone else is our small town combined… it was practically the background of my childhood. I loved the flowing gowns, the English countryside, the wit, the language, the strong women, the romance, I loved it all! I know for a fact that several of my childhood friends were always bored out of their minds at my birthday parties as I subjected everyone to watch Emma at slumber parties. Thankfully my adult friends are much cooler… my college roommate has read Pride and Prejudice about five times (making me look even worse) and watched the movie probably once a week. 

I’m convinced that what makes this situation the most pathetic is that I adore Jane Austen… and as an adoring fan, you would think that the least I could do would be to read one of her books! Perhaps it would be a little more forgivable if Sense and Sensibility hadn’t been sitting on my bookshelf for the past five years. The book has followed me through six moves, and I’ve only picked it up to put it into and take it out of boxes. Maybe it would be more excusable if I had to put in a request at the library, or actually had to buy the book, but no, it’s been at my disposal, and I have neglected it. I’ve even gone so far as to read The Jane Austen Book Club… and yet nothing by her.

The story gets worse… I’ve actually spent time at the Jane Austen Museum in the city of Bath… I’ve walked through the Assembly Halls where several scenes from her novels took place… I’ve been inspired by the costumes, the language, I’ve even swooned after Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy… so why haven’t I picked up the damn book already? 

I spent this past weekend in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and naturally the first thing I wanted tickets for was Pride and Prejudice… (ok so I didn’t actually see ANY Shakespeare plays at the Shakespeare Festival… which is of course another source of English Major guilt) Though I will admit that the stage version is limited… there are only so many costume changes, and the scenes of course are not taking place in quaint estates in the English Countryside, but the language is still captivating. Several people in the audience even squealed a little bit when Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy finally kiss at the end.

So it’s two weeks to my Twenty-Fifth Birthday, and I’m trying to decide if I should pick up Sense and Sensibility… I’ve never been one to list out things I wanted to accomplish before reaching a certain age (which is kind of shocking, considering my tendency to list everything else). But it seems like maybe I should try… I mean putting something off for fifteen years is a little ridiculous. Yes I am a huge procrastinator, but this is a little much, even for me. Of course the next two weeks are ridiculously busy with work, I’m trying to squeeze in two yoga classes a day, and I’m right in the middle of the Steig Larsson Trilogy… not to mention the fact that I also just started reading Finding Beauty in a Broken World, and will start reading the Bhagavad Gita on Wednesday… Fact, I have given up TV this month, but juggling four books at a time is a little much… But maybe. It seems a shame not to try… I don’t want to be a twenty-five year old who has never even attempted to read Jane Austen…