In July of this year I was on vacation with nothing along to read. I was looking for a copy of Age of Innocence which I'd started years ago, and meant to finish. For some reason, I thought Age of Innocence was written by JA. Duh. Anyhow there I was in the JA section of the store, so I picked up a couple books: Emma and Pride and Predjudice. From the first page, Emma had me completely engrossed. I devoured the two novels in less than 5 days (it was a long plane trip home).

When I returned home I immediately went out and bought the other four JA novels. I started on S&S, and though the first chapter was a bit rough (I've since assigned myself a week's digestion period between books) trying not to confuse the characters. The second chapter was genius. The minute I finished it, instead of going on to chapter 3, I reread it. I don't think I've ever done that before. By the end of the novel, I was totally won over to the story. I think it is a total triumph and though I am still a fan of wild, unchecked passion, I think that S&S would have been a much healthier model for my younger life than some of the other books I read as youngster.