Pride and Prejudice Recently I set myself the challenge of reading a famous book, called "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen... it was tricky, as it was one of the first classics I'd ever attempted to read in English (the first being A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens which I lost interest in and promptly gave up on). However, I wouldn't let myself be undeterred from reading classics! I knew that after I'd finished I would feel very accomplished in my (still lacking) English skills. I researched classics, and found out that Pride and Prejudice is a good one to start on. I read a lot of classics in Russian, and quite a few of modern novels in English (in order to expand my vocabulary, plus books aren't always translated) so I figured I would just have to get myself into the good mind set and read the book and... hopefully succeed. Or at least not fail spectacularly. It took me about 5 weeks to read the book, which is pretty good in my opinion)) I knew I'd get confused, so as I was reading I kept both a dictionary and a family tree I'd found online at hand so I could look up words and characters. It started out slow, but once I'd got past the 100 page mark I found myself starting to understand the story and identify strongly with Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist, and hating Lydia, Lizzie's annoying younger sister. I still had to concentrate extremely hard, however, to the point of me actually getting headaches. There were many passages I had to reread over again 4 or 5 times as many of the words just, if I use this phrase correctly, went in one ear and out the other. Another thing that I found a little confusing but also interesting, was some of the words were spelt differently. For example, "showed" became "shewed", and the number "twenty-one" was "one and twenty". In addition, they said things like "He is come" rather than "he has come". Fortunately I caught on pretty quick to these little differences. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and it was a struggle at times but the internet and sheer concentration helped me out a lot. I am now, officially, in love with Mr Darcy :D But I am conflicted because I love him and Lizzie's relationship so much ^^ I may check out another Jane Austen book, when I have the time and the patience. For now maybe I'll just read a fluffy contemporary novel to recover from the strain it had on my brain. I'd like it if anyone could recommend me classic books that aren't super long and difficult ^^ thank you))