It's been a while since I last read "Pride and Prejudice", but all the vivid scenes and characters just came right at me when I was listening to the audio book, as if I had just put down the novel and closed the cover. I have always been a great admirer of Jane Austen's work, and am not at all ashamed to admit that I have eagerly sought out even her most obscure publication just for the sake of completion.

    However, a fervent reader I might be, I often lack the true enthusiasm that qualifies me to be a "fan", which is also true for a lot of other things I am interested in. This accounts for my shockingly little knowledge of Jane Austen's life as a writer herself. But this time, aided by the omnipotent Wikipedia at hand, I was determined to dig down further--to find out what exactly is this woman who created all these romances full of British elegance, insinuated humor and feminine wisdom.

    Maybe not so surprising for a female writer in the early 19th century, she died young in the age of 41 and remained single for all her life. Yet what really amazed, or rather, confused me is that a woman who has never had the chance to walked down the aisle could be the mother of the most engaging love stories. I have to cast my doubt, though most unwillingly, to my favorite novelist: Did she even understand the subject she wrote most lavishly, and sparingly, that of love?