Emma, I heart you

So, I started reading Emma about a week ago. I've read well over 300 pages so far. I can't believe I haven't read it sooner!I had to make a character list at first to keep everyone straight, but once I wrapped my head around all the people, I really quite enjoyed it. I would love to travel back to that time, when you argue about whether or not you should be leaving the party because it's snowing. Or where people rejoice over receiving letters and share them with the whole town. Although, I'd probably get frustrated with how no one really said what they were thinking, or took forever to make a point. Much in the fashion of Emma herself, I believe I would be quite often thinking to myself, "Don't give another half second to the subject!"

I'm also amazed by the fact that love at first sight (practically) was so natural. For Emma to spend 2 weeks with Frank Churchill and upon his departure, she admits she is in love with him, but then talks herself out of it! Today, love at first sight is looked down upon or thought of as only a fantasy, even though there a plently of people who admit to its existence. (Ask Trisha!)

If Emma were to have taken place today, or even updated into a movie (like they did with Taming of the Shrew) I am convinced that Mrs. Elton would have been put in her place by Emma. Instead of calling her "pleasant and elegant" when she was really rude and insulting, I believe Emma would have shouted at her, "Your husband was in love with me, just weeks before he married you." Then she would walk away, leaving Mrs. Elton defeated and put in her place.

My favorite quote comes from Mr. Weston, discussing the return of his son.
"I have observed, Mrs. Elton, in the course of my life, that if things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next." I love it so much. Simple and true.

I'm hoping to have finished Emma within a few days and I will move onto the next book. Summer vacation, why can't you last forever?

And so it begins!

I made the journey to my library yesterday. I had to renew my card and pay my giant $1.25 fine, thanks to the season of Bones we checked out a long time ago. Instantly, I got that feeling I always get when I'm in a library or a book store. "So many choices, so many stories, so much fun! And it's FREE! How can you beat that?"  

I perused the shelves for awhile. I didn't know where to start. I knew which books that I've always wanted to read, but then how would I ever push myself to read all of them if I read all the familiar ones first?
I was also getting ideas for books I've always wanted to read that aren't on the list.  Hello, Ellen DeGeneres, hiding over here. Maybe later, but not today!
I randomly picked a few books of my list and came home with:
A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Emma by THE Jane Austen, of course! and
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

They didn't have the Joy Luck Club, which would have been my first pick from Tan, but it all worked out pretty well.
I picked one book that I was familiar with and two that I didn't know anything about. I think I might organize the list that way and tackle it like that. Or I could organize it into fiction and non-fiction. Or categories. Oh, there's so many options!

I can't wait to get started. Since I'm on vacation and also currently have no gas to go anywhere, I should be able to make a dent in these books by the end of the month.

Gretchen Rubin is so right. Sometimes, just the planning something (a vacation, a party, a project) gives you almost as much happiness as actually going through with the activity!