Pride & Prejudice and Through the Looking Glass

Since I'm already well into this I'll just start with the two most recent books I finished. I'll start with Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll because I have the least to say about it. Basically instead of Alice falling down a rabbit hole she gets sucked into a looking glass. Its just as messed up as Alice's first encounters in Wonderland and include memorable characters like tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. Its a very quick read so if you enjoyed Alice in Wonderland I do recommend this one. Alice is trying to make her way across a chess board to become the queen! And what an imagination she has to get there. I don't have much insight to share since, really, who knows what Lewis Carroll was thinking when he wrote this stuff. 

Pride and Prejudice is a book I've become completely enraptured by. I LOVED this book!! I finished it and wanted to start it over. I sufficed by reading some of my favourite scenes over again. From the first time you meet Mr. Darcy you just have to love him. Not because he's endearing in ANY way, but for his honesty and complete lack of restraint during his conversations with Miss Bennett. Likewise I think Eliza holds even less back and her frankness is quite admirable to someone like me who only wishes I could be as open as her. Every page kept me wanting more and I could hardly wait for their next encounter. One of my favourite scenes (which I think is for many) is his first confession scene.  I felt as surprised as Elizabeth did. And the "argument" that ensued is so honest and raw, everything they had been holding back before this moment is laid to the table. 
As you continue the book you see the dramatic change in attitude between first confession Darcy and second confession Darcy. He comes from a very proud and arrogant state and throughout the book you see his defenses completely stripped away. He takes every criticism Elizabeth so wantingly shares and makes an effort to improve and become a better person (which we see when she accidentally meets him at Pemberley). And likewise I suppose Elizabeth's great irony is from one her first references to Mr. Darcy where she states 

"Heaven forbid! - That would be the greatest misfortune of all! - To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! - Do not wish me such an evil". 

Her prejudice toward Mr. Darcy is based on an account from a most unscrupulous character (Wickham); its not until his first confession that she learns the truth. After that she learns more about his true character and is forced to re-evaluate almost everything she previously thought about him. By the time they meet at Pemberly she's so embarrassed by her previous actions its really quite awkward (REALLY AWKWARD). 
Pemberley is the first time you start to see a big change in Elizabeth's attitude towards Mr. Darcy. Both characters have bewitched me and I will probably read this book many more times in my lifetime. For now I will leave you with one of the best confession scenes I've ever beheld. Matthew McFayden definitely makes a beautifully vulnerable Mr. Darcy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFsgLhx9dxg