I’m posting this on Wednesday, May 17th, the day on which I am 380 pages into Mansfield Park. This lesser know Jane Austen novel traces how the oft-mistreated Fanny Price works to maintain her integrity despite the chaos and compromises around her.
It is…not the most readable Austen book. Fanny is blushing and quiet— unlike Elinor Dashwood or Lizzie Bennet. Mansfield Park moves very slowly along for 440 pages. No one else is particularly likable and Fanny doesn’t really draw the reader in based on her own personality. Fanny will be vindicated, of course, but 380 pages in I’m just barely starting to feel the momentum to the end.
So, it’s been a project. But this is why I have adopted the practice of reading precisely 10 pages per day toward my goal of reading through all the works of Jane Austen this year. Ten pages doesn’t take that long. Because it’s such a small daily requirement, I actually read the ten pages, rather than flipping through to see if something more interesting is coming up. I feel a certain patience with the whole process, because I know that if I stick with it, I will be done. I know the day I will be done! (Well, the outside possibility of the day I will be done. If I’m 20 pages from the end I suspect I might just keep going.)
This sense of steady forward progress was helpful when I was mired in the middle. At 280 pages, I had been reading Mansfield Park for four weeks. And I still had 160 more pages — that is, 16 more days — to go. But 16 days isn’t an eternity, and eventually we will be on the other side of those days. And because I stick with this project, I will be done with the book.
I’m all for abandoning books one doesn’t like, but that isn’t the point of my year-long reading project. Instead, I do think it’s good to practice patience with important books, and the commitment to reading just a little bit every day really does help with that. I think if I’d just thought “hey, I should read Mansfield Park!” I would have quit a long time ago (possibly 37 days ago). But the slow steady pace is doable. So I do it. And I will make it through.
In other news: My 3-year-old is at the stage where we are having some crazy conversations. In the car the other day he asked me “what’s the biggest number?” So I told him “infinity.” He said “No, 100,” which — to be fair — is likely the biggest number on his counting chart at preschool. So I said, “well, what about 101?” He screamed “NO I WANT IT TO BE 100!” So there you go. Math with a toddler! This was followed slightly later by “Mom, when are you going to die?”
I love your little guy’s comment on 100. I teach 2nd grade, and when we work on 4-digit numbers we practice counting by 1000s. Many of them think that after 9000 is 1 million. They are so excited to think they can count that high and disappointed to find out it’s incorrect!
@Kristi – I can just imagine your students figuring this out! I think my little guy was excited to have it all figured out. He knew numbers, and he knew the biggest one, so why was I suggesting otherwise? Too funny.
I have enjoyed Jane Austen’s books for years. Lately I read the Jane Austen Project including time travel- very good, and am in the thick of Lucy Worlsey’s Jane Austen at Home. It is fun to connect with how much her writing has a made a difference in our culture
Oh my goodness – KIDS! They keep us humble (and laughing…when we’re not crying)!
Out of the mouthes of babes. My dad was very funny, and when speaking of death his line was always “well when your times up, your times up”. I am not sure at what age he told us this probably not three. Blessings on how to navigate these questions!
Kids 😃
Don’t know how you’ll feel about this one, but come October, make sure you consider reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Actually found it to be a fun read. A solid mash up of concepts.
You inspired me to read a chapter of War and Peace each day in 2023. I am a big reader and have enjoyed many long books but I am finding this one quite tedious. At least I know when I will be finished!
@Pam99 – on December 27th! But at this point you’ve made it through the Free Mason stuff. I really think it is mostly uphill after that!
This is what happened to me last yeat. I stuck with War and peace the whole year, I did not like it a bit, but I can say I conquered it, it wasn’t that difficult at that pace. This year I am reading the works of Louise May Alcott. I read most of them when I was a kid, in Spanish, young readers versions, so they are quite different this second time around.
This is what happened to me last yeat. I stuck with War and peace the whole year, I did not like it a bit, but I can say I conquered it, it wasn’t that difficult at that pace. This year I am reading the works of Louise May Alcott. I read most of them when I was a kid, in Spanish, young readers versions, so they are quite different this second time around.
I read Moby Dick this way about 15 years ago. There was a website that would send you 15 minute chunks of classic literature as an email. Sadly, that service is not longer operational, but it was a great way to slowly but surely tackle a big read.