V-Card for Austen

Last fall I joined a classic fiction book club led by a friend of mine at work. I have always loved classic fiction and to find a club solely devoted to it was a perfect fit. We have read some fantastic books (Uncle Tom's Cabin) and attempted some less than fantastic ones (Ivanhoe). This month I was finally able to read an author that I have always wanted to read but never had the opportunity. It's quite an embarrassing confession: I have never read Jane Austen. Don't judge me! I have felt like I was somehow less of a woman for never falling in love with Mr. Darcy or meeting Emma. You can imagine the excitement when I learned that we would be reading Mansfield Park. The others said they were disappointed that my introduction to Austen would be this book, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless. The book started out slow and she had lots of characters to keep up with in the beginning. Once I learned who was related to whom, I was able to follow the story much better. Plus, my knowledge of English history and culture is very limited, so things that were considered unacceptable and "vulgar" did not register at first. About mid-book, the plot finally began to develop and I was intrigued to find out where she was going with this descriptive family dynamic. Then, the story took off and I absolutely loved it. So, I'm watching the movie tonight to compare and looking forward to reading her more familiar novels soon. I'm proud to declare I am no longer an Austen virgin!