u/Opening-Tea-257

Hi,

I’m 40yrs old and I realised recently that I’d never read any Jane Austen.

I thought I’d remedy that so I looked on the internet and everyone seemed to recognise Pride & Prejudice as the best place to start, so I started reading it.

Reader, I’m 100 pages in and I’m so bored. Can someone help me as to why this is such a classic? It’s just people gossiping and wittering away in different drawing rooms. I wouldn’t mind if it was funny or witty but it’s just gossip.

I should add I’ve never seen any TV adaptations of it so don’t really know the story.

EDIT: thanks for the responses. I think I’ve maybe been reading it in a bit of a standard blokey way and Seems like there’s a whole layer of humour and wit that’s going over my head. I’ll crack on with the rest and try to be a bit better at getting the subtleties.

Ok so finally finished Middlemarch. Would have been quicker but for various reasons I had to break of mid-read to read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I really loved it. Had a slightly strange feeling during the final section of being all >! Dorothea and Will !<where, although I was enjoying it, I was looking at how many pages I had left and was thinking “but what happens to Mary Garth?!”

But then of course we find out what happens and then >! I just burst into happy tears. !< Which got a few funny looks as a middle aged male lawyer on the commuter train to Waterloo.