knitting lemonade

So I watched the new Pride and Prejudice this weekend on DVD...twice. I feel like this new version is a pretty good reader's digest version of P&P. Perfect when I don't have time to watch the 5-hour A&E version with Colin Firth....mmmm, Darcy in a wet shirt...okay, I'm back. Plus, Keira Knightley didn't bug, which I fully expected her to do. In fact, I enjoyed her Lizzie. But my absolute fav in the new version is Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet. He is so sweet, even to his crazy wife. I am a total basket case in the end when he gets all teary-eyed giving Lizzie his blessing. Oh Mr. Bennet! He has no compassion on my poor nerves!

I am such a Jane Austen freak, I can' t help myself. Anything having to do with Jane and I gobble it up. When I did a study abroad in London, I went to all the Jane Austen sites I could. I visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath where I bought an insane amount of tourist souvenirs. I went to the British Library in London where they had her wiriting desk on display along with her original manuscript of "Persuasion" and her "History of England." I even saw the house where she died and the site where she is buried. Morbid, I know, but as I said before I am a freak.

I recently purchased all of Jane's books. Not because I didn't have copies already--cause I do--but because I wanted all her novels in hardback and to match. Heaven forbid, my Pride and Prejudice looks different from my Mansfield park...So there they all sit on my bookshelf--pretty maids all in a row.

Watching the movie this weekend gave me an idea. So I am setting a goal here and now to...wait for it, wait for it...re-read all of Jane's novels by the end of 2006. Hurrah! Ya-Ya!! Enter marching band. Cue confetti. I love fanfare, can you tell?

Look I even put it in the sidebar to prove that I am serious. I love the accountability of a blog...