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Here’s a quick housekeeping note before I dive into my answer: blogger was once again not allowing me to comment on some blogspot sites yesterday for Top Ten Tuesday. I was eventually able to leave most of those comments by switching to a different browser and playing around with certain settings, but if I can’t reply to your post today it’s probably due to this issue.
Okay, onto my answer.
I have never read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and never plan to change that.
I
’m treading gently here because I know this is a classic novel that many people adore, but I am not interested in it for the following reasons:
1) Romance is something I appreciate as a garnish in stories instead of as the main dish. I normally read books with little to no romance in them at all, so leaping from that to a full-fledged historical romance novel is a bit too much for me in the vast majority of cases.
2) With all due respect to Ms. Austen, she and I grew up in wildly different cultures. I struggle to relate to books from any era that make getting married the most important life goal for their characters, much less ones where an entire family’s economic and social fate hinges on whether their daughters find wealthy husbands.
I grew up in a family that prioritized education and personal development to the point that I was discouraged from dating when I was a teenager, so it’s a huge culture shock for me to read about families that push their teenage and young adult daughters to find a husband. It’s a completely unrelatable theme for this reader because of that.
3) From what I’ve heard, the main character clashes terribly with the man she eventually marries when they first meet. I tend to shy away from people who have abrasive encounters with me online or in real life unless it’s a one-time occurrence or there’s a reasonable explanation for why we clashed on topic X and we otherwise get along pretty well. There’s a huge difference between politely existing in the same space with someone who may not be your cup of tea due to reason X and purposefully seeking out the company of someone you struggle to find common ground with during your limited free time. Life is too short to waste worrying about high-conflict, optional relationships in my opinion. Why not seek out more compatible friends, romantic partners, etc. whenever possible instead?

This is a story that happened when I was about two years old. I don’t personally remember it, and there aren’t any photos from this day so far as I know. Luckily, my parents made sure to tell me all about it once I was old enough to form longterm memories.
I don’t think anyone will be surprised by this answer, but English was my favourite subject in school.
The first website I remember visiting is
Strawberries are my favourite food.
I love being pleasantly surprised by what I read. Here are my three answers from three different genres: literary fiction, memoir, and middle grade. I read them all last year.
Lunch is my biggest meal of the day. It’s common for me to eat dishes like pasta, rice and beans with various seasonings and vegetables added in, stir-fry of various sorts, tacos, fajitas, or chilli. I batch cook a couple of days a week, so these are often leftovers from previous meals. During heat waves, I switch to cold options like sandwiches, hummus and pita, large salads that include a source of protein, etc.
When someone needs help, I’m the sort of person who will leap to the occasion. That’s a positive character trait in many situations, but sometimes it can be taken too far if you don’t also look after your own needs or if the person who wants help doesn’t respect boundaries.
I was an average math student in school, but I didn’t find it particularly interesting or relevant to my life most of the time. It seemed like something that a few students were naturally good at while the rest of us slogged through it.
I’d heard so many good things about ”Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel, so I finally started watching it this winter.