History of Romance Review #1 - Pride and Prejudice

4/5 stars - I am 39 years old and I just read this for the 1st time. I've decided to read all the best romances of all time in order, starting with a few from ancient Greece. However, the Greek ones are a little difficult to plod through and don't really inspire enthusiastic bedtime binge reading so I'm reading simultaneously with books a bit more enjoyable to me while staying as true to the chronology as possible.

That being said - Pride and Prejudice was on 5 out 0f 5 "Best Romances of All Time" lists that I used to compile my reading list. I really did enjoy it. Some of the more antiquated dialog was a little difficult for post-English lit me to trudge through. But for the most part, it was in the same vein as the more modern historical romances I love. (I actually described Kleypas' Wallflower series to someone as "Jane Austen but with sex", even though the only Austen I had ever read prior was Mansfield park).

When Elizabeth and Darcy finally realize their feelings are reciprocated I could have used a little more of a scene than what basically amounted to "They told each other how they felt etc.". I haven't seen the movies, so I guess I'll get a little more of the romantic pining I long for when I finally watch one or both.

Also, having never seen the movie(s), I kept picturing Elizabeth as Kiera Knightly and Darcy as Colin Firth, which was dismaying because I don't care for that match or that age difference and I tried hard to dispel their images from my mind's visage. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to watch the movie. Then after I finished the book, I looked it up to see who else was in it and that's when I realized that they are two different movies and that Tom Wambsgans (Mathew MacFadyen) from Succession plays Kiera Knightly's Darcy, which is a match I DO like, so I'll probably watch that. I'll probably watch the Colin Firth one too actually.

Anyway, I get why it's a romance classic. It had all the things historical romance: enemies-to-lovers, scandal, misunderstandings/miscommunications that lead to drama, a gold-digging villain, the works. Would recommend.