Hooked on Books: "The Jane Austen Book Club"

Jane Austen saved my life.

I met Jane Austen at the book store. She was gleaming from the florescent lights that glared harshly from above. I knew not who she was, or who she would become to me, yet I knew she was someone important. I found her squished next to the name Shakespeare, who I knew, and Bronte (with a last name like that I figured they must be important). I hesitantly picked up Jane, liking the feel of her I kept her close and carried her under my arm all the way home.

From that day forward we have been the best of friends.

Everyone knows a Jane Austen, yet never the same one.

Jane Austen has been a friend to some, a mother to a few, a guidance counselor to many, and a savior- just to list a few.

I read Pride and Prejudice at the tender age of 14, read it again a couple months later, and have read it once a year since.

When I met Jane for the first time I was coming off a depressing year, that would be another couple depressing months. I’m sure most people remember that age, the tough ache of growing up. Growing up was very difficult for me, as in I never saw the advantages. While my peers whined about not being able to drive, or being too young for relationships, or suffered from lack of independence, I yearned for the things of my childhood. It’s a tough thing to navigate, being on the edge of adulthood while still a child.

Being an adult scared the living crap out of me. Forgive my French, yet I saw no good in it. I was scared of it all- driving, possibility of marriage, moving out, independence, etc. Being an only child I was significantly closer to my parents than to my peers, as they were my best friends and who I was around 24/7. This was another factor, in that I never wished to be parted from them, not for a second. They were my safety.

Yet I had another safety- books. Books were my friends. I surrounded myself with as many fictional worlds as I could find, to escape the nonfictional world right outside my window. Oh how I loved the adventures we would go on, and the stories I cooked up inside my little room. This was my happiness. While my peers spent time with each other, I spent time with my books. I was never lonely.

That is, until the age of 13.

There comes a time in everyone’s life where they start to realize- everything! You begin to be self-aware, and aware of the world, and the people in your world and it’s rather frightening.

So, I began realizing just how different I was from everyone else. The friends that I thought I had, though they be few, left. And the person I thought I was, was no longer good enough anymore. Sure, this self-doubt crept in far earlier than 13, yet now it was enhanced. No longer did I push these thoughts away, but listened and searched out.

No longer was the love of my parents convincing enough. I had convinced myself that I was unlovable, abnormal, and waste of space on this earth.

This continued for quite some time. I denied myself happiness, friendships, and love.

Yet through this time I delved into my books. They provided escape, the white noise to drown out the ever pressing flow of thoughts, that was much needed.

It was a hot summer day, my parents knew not what to do, yet they did know the joy that was brought from a new book. So, we went to the local book store.

I had already read everything.

Just as I was about to throw in the towel, call this trip a wash, did I make eyes with a black cover that would change my life.

I read Pride and Prejudice in two days, then again in a week. I felt like I had found home. I felt like I belonged somewhere, and that somewhere was in the pages of this brilliant novel. I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennet, friends with Elizabeth Bennet, sisters with Elizabeth Bennet. I spent weeks, then months researching the Victorian era and obsessing and dreaming about living in such a world of finery. I read every single one of Jane Austen’s novels- even the unfinished one. And I can’t explain, but I’ll try my best-

Jane Austen gave me back my life, when growing up I was ashamed by how odd I was. I never felt like I belonged. I had a cynical view of love, even at such a young age. The modern world made me angry. People no longer had manners, sent love letters, simply talked to each other in a drawing room. No longer do women wear dresses when reading or lying about the house. I so longed to live in such a place as this yet soon realized how futile it was to yearn for such things so far out of my reach.

So, what did I decide to do?

Build a time machine!

No.

I built myself. I became the person I wanted so badly to be, yet no longer did I feel the timidity of it. Jane showed me a world so unlike my own- so beautiful and elegant and proper. I found myself in the pages of her books, in Elizabeth Bennet and Fanny Price and even in Mr. Darcy.

I learned the value of friendship, and of love. My romantic was brought to the surface in each and every novel. And I found my passion- writing.

Jane Austen saved me from becoming someone I wasn’t.

Which, finally brings me to the book- “The Jane Austen Book Club”.

Yes, it’s been out for quite some time, and yes you have probably already read it- or even watched the movie. Yet, I wanted to call this book to attention to stress the importance of loving your favorite books and favorite authors. Whereas a book might merely be black ink on white pages to one person, it’s a person to another, and adventure, a good night’s sleep.

“Book Club” follows the lives of 5 women and one man through a span of 6 months and it gets interesting! Jane Austen’s novels have a way of meaning something different to every person, and bringing out something different in everyone as well. Jane was eloquent in writing about the concepts of humans, our desires and dreams and secrets.

I highly recommend this novel for any Jane Austenites, and truly for any literature lover. It’s full of different perspectives and ideas, yet truly if you love Jane as much as I do then this will be a treat and a quiz on your knowledge of anything Austen.

On another note, if you’ve never read Austen, ask yourself why! Then no matter the answer, do it! Do it now! Do it for Mr. Darcy, if not for me!

And as always,

Even though I was a little threatening…

Happy Reading!

Hooked On Books: Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five has been on my bookshelf for several years, as is the case for many of my books. I am constantly adopting books, and collecting books, and attaining more and more and more and more books. It's a comfort to be surrounded by so many lives and stories. It's also a comfort, a relief in fact, to be able to escape real life in a mere instant.

Kurt Vonnegut's novels have been peaking my interest as of late. Travel to any well known bookstore and you'll be met with a plethora of colorful spines and whimsical titles, all with the name Vonnegut. (I'm a sucker for a good spine.)

Slaughterhouse Five is an episode of Doctor Who. Time is relative, not a straight line but a continuous mass of bursts and explosions. So to begin, this novel is not chronological. Rather, Vonnegut structured Billy Pilgrim's narrative with frequent jumps through time and space.

Billy Pilgrim is an alien abductee, a soldier in World War II, an optometrist, a prisoner of war, a father, husband, and son. "And so it goes." And it went on and on and on for Billy Pilgrim. Life never stops, have you ever noticed that? Have you ever noticed that amid happiness, tragedy, desperation, and contentment life goes on? And as it goes on, quickly and forebodingly, we have to run to catch up. We have to search for time to understand, to accept, to explain away, or to comply with the human condition.

I found this novel very human, which is a weird way to explain anything- especially something hailed for its science fiction. If anything I should have found a very alien novel. Rather the perspective from which Vonnegut writes is that of a very human nature. He seems to pick apart everything that builds the human race- even the less than favorable qualities.

There are many opinions floating around this novel- as is common with many critically acclaimed novels. (Rather, which is common with Vonnegut in general.) Is it an anti-war novel? Is it really about aliens? An old man's decent into lunacy? Is it about death? Life? Love? Hate? What is it?
For me it was all of the above.

Billy Pilgrim has been drafted into the war, has been abducted by an alien race- the Tralfamadorians, is getting married, going to optometry school, and dying all at once. 'Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.'  Each and every traumatic moment of Billy's life is constantly happening, every day, every minute, and in every second- or so the Tralfamadorians have explained.

And amid the trauma there is Dresden, there is a Slaughterhouse, and there is a war.

The basis for this novel is completely for your own interpretation. It bonds the reader and the writer; and it bonded me with Billy Pilgrim. So it's not in my realm of capability to tell you what you will experience while reading this book, rather I will try to express what I found while scrolling my eyes up and down its pages.

World War II is on the rise, and Billy Pilgrim has become the most unlikely protagonist. He seems to have the characteristics more common with secondary characters, i.e weak, unpopular, thin as a rake, no real motivation. Soon he learns of the power he has, that of which he has no real control over, being a time traveler. He begins experiencing his life through snippets- like memories you have while falling asleep. Yet the kicker is his first alien abduction. During these abductions he is given the insight to rethink the human condition- namely death.

Death is a common motif found in this novel. A very nonchalant view is given right from the very start, namely in the form of "So it goes". Meaning: "And life goes on." Yet to the Tralfamadorians it literally does "go on". As stated before, time is of relative nature and so is death. To a Tralfamadorian, rather than viewing death as an end, it's a mere puzzle piece to an endless puzzle. Rather than time being an absolute, straight line it resembles the stars- scattered yet constant.

"All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist."

I loved this book. I devoured this book. I praised this book. And I found purpose in this book. Books that hold this much magic and meaning are rare, and Slaughterhouse 5 holds a very special position on my bookshelf. I found myself taking pictures and scribbling notes of the beautiful phrases scattered throughout this novel.

And if you take the time to read it you will see what I mean, when I say it has multiple leanings and meanings.

Was it truly aliens giving a human perspective on inhumane people? Or is Billy Pilgrim suffering from a lifetime of war, pain, suffering, and madness? Can we ever become immune to death and its effects? And when we do relive the past, are those moments 'nice'?

"If I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice."

As always you can find links, to purchase any one of the books mentioned on this blog-to the right.

Give Vonnegut a chance to change your life.

“There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.”

Happy Reading.