30 Day Book Challenge // Day 30: Your Favourite Book

Day 30: Your Favourite Book

I can't believe we've arrived at the last day of my 30 day book challenge! 

And to end it all, it's only right that we talk about our favourite books. There are a lot of books that I have a lasting connection to, emotional or intellectual. However, I do have a favourite book that I always go back to, and that I love with all my heart.

That book? Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

My love for Pride and Prejudice started when I was very young. My mum has always been a huge fan of Austen's work, and especially this one book. I remember sitting in my living room with my sister, playing in front of BBC adaptation starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It didn't take us long to know all the words, and to play games about the characters. It didn't take me long to fall in love with it.

When I was slightly older, I knew it was time I read the book, and I did so at about 13 years old. Young for Jane Austen, but being so familiar with the story already, I flew through it. I loved it even more than the on-screen versions I had seen, and it was the true start of my ongoing obsession.

If you're one of the very few people who do not actually know much about Pride and Prejudice, here's the blurb:

Set in England in the late 18th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's five unmarried daughters after two gentlemen have moved into their neighbourhood: the rich and eligible Mr. Bingley, and his status-conscious friend, the even more rich and eligible Mr. Darcy. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy is disdainful of local society and repeatedly clashes with the Bennets' lively second daughter, Elizabeth.

Blurb taken from Barnes & Noble.

It's impossible to find a blurb that can do the story justice, and this one also doesn't satisfy me. The book is a gentle, easy read, although admittedly it is difficult for first time Austen readers. However, it's well worth giving it a go.

As well as being a fantastic love story, this book teaches us so many important things about humanity. It teaches us to put wit and intelligence over material things. It teaches us that kindness attracts happiness. And, unsurprisingly, it teaches us to put our pride and our prejudice behind us, and see the truth of a person. 

This book made me a better person, and continues to teach me things with every re-read. It's the book I will always recommend, and the book that, without a doubt, captured my heart and my mind.