I received Pride and Prejudice as an audiobook from my local library, and I’m very glad. Even if I had managed to have no difficulty getting into it this time around, I only have a limited time for engaging with reading from printed books and this allowed me to go through a much longer work in a reasonable amount of time. I spend a lot of time on the road in this phase of my life, so audiobooks are a good option for me.
I reserved the book from the library and when I picked it up I noticed that it had been shelved in the “Juvenile” section. I was surprised at how well-suited the book is for young readers. I had remembered it as a “very adult” sort of book, but that was not my experience as a reader at 33. I shouldn’t have been surprised that a book considered appropriate for 6th graders at the time that I read it wouldn’t be as adult as I remembered it, but I was surprised nonetheless.
I have enjoyed this novel every single time I have read it. It is a fast and easy read, and so amazingly tightly written. I keep finding new and interesting things from it at every age. The lessons that I learn seem to have similar themes, but they are always different lessens. I also love Steinbeck as a writer. This is the first time that I have read Steinbeck knowing that, as a career Academic, I am a writer too.
I have been seeing and hearing more from my friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers about “work-life balance.” It has really been setting me off. Sometimes I have very strong opinions about relatively minor things. At least, they seem like minor things to other people. “Work-life balance” is exactly one of these things. I am bothered because the choice of words in the phrase is fundamentally incorrect, but I’m even more bothered because of what this improper word choice reveals about our culture.