For my part of the "read British literature on the trip to the UK" I picked up Pride and Prejudice. I've never read any Jane Austen, nor have I ever seen a movie or BBC "treatment" of an Austen novel.

I laughed out loud while reading page two! This, I thought, will be better than I expected. In two weeks of traveling -- quiet nights in B&Bs, some day-long train rides, and a couple afternoons in parks, I only got just past half way through the book. There are some great one-liners in the book. Most of them were put into the mouth of Mr. Bennett. I really liked that character. Too bad the book wasn't about him. I liked Elizabeth and Jane, too. Too bad about Mrs. Bennett. She was the Homer Simpson of the book. Or she was the 19th century version of "legally blonde." The two daughters who were not Elizabeth, Jane, or the book worm were British versions of valley girls or Jackie from That '70s Show. Once when some of my students were studying India and Hinduism, a couple of them recommended an MTV show called Road Rules. It was one of the original versions of reality TV. The premise was that a half dozen adolescents were sent out "on the road" on a "quest." The group I was told to watch had been sent to India. My students told me I'd get a good image of life in India from the episode airing that week. I looked up the schedule and watched. About 4 minutes of the half hour showed anything about India. Besides commercials, the show revolved around self-centered, self-conscious college-aged teen-agers talking about their relationships and self-doubts. The conversations in Pride and Prejudice reminded me of the monologues and conversations in that episode of Road Rules. I've been told that similar talk abounds on other reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Even Elizabeth and Jane's conversations were painful. Austen's portrayal of bourgeois country life does illustrate the origins of repressive Victorianism. The characters are well drawn and believable. But I couldn't finish the book. Nancy rented the DVDs of the BBC television production after we got home. I couldn't watch the whole mini-series. I did sit down to watch the last hour to see how Austen managed to create the happy ending. I liked Mr. Bennett.