NaNoReMo 2012

A few days ago, I was reading my friend John’s blog and found an entry on National Novel Reading Month.  How red did I turn when reading this, for I have never even heard of NaNoReMo before John pointed it out to me.  Well, I did a little investigating and, according to all the sites I could find with a title of National Novel Reading Month, I’m actually already two weeks behind.  Ugh!  I discover something I didn’t even know existed and already I’m late on a dead line?  Well, that is far too much pressure for the very first day of a year in which my every goal comes under the umbrella of acceptance, so I’m tossing the rules of NaNoReMo as they are written and simplifying things for myself- no four novels in four weeks and no trying to cram two into the two remaining weeks until January 15^th.  Nah, I’m just gonna go the simple route and read a novel.

John has suggested looking over one’s bookshelf for a classic- something highly recommended by many that you bought because it was on sale or was given to you by a friend which you always meant to read but somehow never quite got around to.  Well, I took a look at my bookshelf and what should I find but one that John himself was contemplating reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I picked it up and thought “Wait- I’ve already read this, haven’t I?”

I have seen many different film versions of Pride and Prejudice (like, at least three).  I’ve heard references to it in so many different forms of media that I can’t even list them all.  The names of the main love interests- Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy- are so familiar to me that I list them among other characters too well known to forget.  And yet, what should I discover when I open that first page that there’s nothing- not a dog ear, not an underlined passage, not even a crease in the spine- that indicates that I’ve ever actually read the thing.

Needless to say, I was appalled.  How on earth could I claim to be a lover of the written word when I’ve never even read what is arguably the best-known novel from one of the best-known authors?  I’m so ashamed I feel I cannot go on one more day without repairing this horrific mistake.  So I’m going to read Pride and Prejudice.  And, of course, blog about it. Stay tuned.