Today's the Day!

Today is the deadline for DH's challenge. Happy Birthday, sweetie! Here are his thoughts on Emma:

It’s down to two days. I have about 200 pages to read and I have only two days. I think Emma will be my downfall. I am really enjoying it so I don't want to rush.

JA uses her writing to explain the complicated class system of the era and how the changing times will eventually change the whole country. We know this now because of history and what happens later.

I have come to realize that Charles Dickens is a man who takes Austen’s way of writing descriptions to explain the way life is afer Austen in England and how the Industrial Revolution has changed the landscape of England. We look at Dickens’ writing as a picture of Post IR England and how society has changed and then reflect on Austen’s picture of British Society many years before.

In Emma we see the youngest daughter holding the family together and worrying about others and forgetting about herself. As in society today so many times changes in family dynamics will cause someone to step up to the plate and bring everything back into place.

Being an analytical person I have had to learn during this time to leave my predispositions and just read. In the beginning it was hard but now at times I can't put the book down and at times I have to try to just find time to pick it up.

The challenge, even though it looks like I won't make it, was one of the best things I have done in many years. I think it brought me closer to my wife doing something she liked and something we could talk about together. I have a few books to read after Emma and then I will take the next challenge up. Thanks for letting me be a part of the JA Challenge. DH Bruce

Thank you for doing this, Bruce! You did great with it! It was so much fun for me to see how you were really enjoying these books and discovering for yourself why I like them so much. It doesn't matter that you haven't finished Emma. Just the fact that you like it is enough for me! So now, what's next?