For as far back as I can remember, I have been embarrassed that I was not a big reader as a youth. My mom was not a reader, so neither was I. In recent years it has been a goal of mine to become a reader, and I do believe I have been successful in this venture. However, I feel sorely behind in my reading, due to the many years in which I did not read at all. Strangely enough, I was an English major, but my focus was on writing instead of literature. As a matter of fact, I survived the literature courses I did take in college largely because of my ability to fake my way through by use of sparknotes. So now, as I approach my thirties, I feel like I have done myself a disservice by not having read any of Jane Austen’s novels, which are regarded as classics. The women my age all talk about how timeless these novels are, and I blindly agree, having no clue what they are talking about. So now, it is my goal to read them. All of them.