Emma

Thus far in my life I have read very few of the classic novels that are floating around out there (although I did recently read The Great Gatsby and wondered who thought that chunk of garbage was worth reading, let alone claiming it to be one of the greatest written works of our time. Just my opinion though.). When I decided to go on a little adventure and find my local library up here in New York, little did I know what was waiting for me.

I am an avid reader, always have been, and so expect a library that can deliver. So when I pulled up to this teeny room tucked behind and in the basement of a business complex I literally laughed out loud. Then, after I took a picture of it in sure terror/disbelief and sending it to my mom so she could see what I've subjected myself to by moving up here, I went inside.

They don't have much. A measly three or four short aisles devoted to various types of fiction, one or two for nonfiction, and a couple other random aisles that libraries always have, and no computers anywhere for checkout. You go up to an actual librarian to check out your books and place your holds.

I was really questioning if this move was a good choice.

After browsing the woefully inadequate shelves, I decided to just begin with something simple, and I turned to Jane Austen. I have only read Pride and Prejudice, and decided to try my hand at another of her books. Emma became it. (And The Great Gatsby, but I don't want to relive that waste of time.)

I liked it, although it was a little slow for me. I feel for that generation, but I also wish that we still had some of the formality that they had back then. I found myself not really liking Emma though, although I always liked her in the movie. I felt like she was so vain and so self absorbed and didn't care to improve herself, so it made it hard for me to really care what was going. I ended up skimming a lot, which I don't normally do.

So maybe the moral of the story is that I don't really like a lot of classic literature? I'll have to test it out and see if that is the case. This one is just a like then.