Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet

Last night Luke and I went out to our usual browsing spot, Borders, to find a book to read together. We've been reading stories to each other, as often as we've had a book to read, since we've been married. As we wondered through the Classics section we discovered that nearly every shelf had at least one spin-off book from Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'. It started out a little frustrating, like "Really, who wants to read about Miss Darcy and Miss De Burg setting up Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy?" But then it turned into a kind of eye-spy game.

Just now, I went to Border's website and searched for Mr. Darcy. Seventy-seven, yes, you read that correctly, 77 different titles with that character! Did Jane Austen know her created character would one day become the ideal man, or at least one idolized by many?

What about the name Miss Elizabeth Bennet? Let's take a look shall we? Zero results. There are a few spin-off books about her sisters and then a similar number of books that are under the name Mrs. Darcy. But, as you can see, Mr. Darcy has grown in popularity far above the Bennet's.

Anyway, after all that, we ended up buying 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Peter Pan.' Hopefully these books will keep us going for a little while, as we finished 'The Princess Bride' in a matter of a couple weeks.

Any suggested reading you would like to share?

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