Though I am sure I stand convicted of intolerable stupidity on wholly independent grounds, I must protest Amanda’s characterization of my view of Austen .
I yield to no one in my esteem for her wit or social perceptiveness . . . and I said as much . To the extent that I can read her as a sociologist, a moralist, or a humorist I am rapt. But the desire to see what happens next does not propel me eagerly through the book as it would have done ten years ago. And it’s still tiring to keep the characters’ various relationships straight in my head. Which, I admit, is a fault I’m working on.
Anyway, I’ll take the advice with the abuse and buy Master and Commander this afternoon. Who knows, it may replace The Way of the Lord Jesus, Volume Two as my preferred bed-time reading.
Probably not, though.
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