Wives and Daughters

I just finished watching Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters. I've seen North and South too, and now I want to read the books. Unlike Jane Austen, Gaskell got married and had a bunch of kids. Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe were visitors in her home. And it's not just about romance like Jane Austen. The environment and culture around them gets pulled into the plots, like the industrial revolution and trips to Africa, and British men not being allowed to marry French women...I wish Jane Austen had a little bit more of that.

I can't believe I didn't know about her before. I like good stories. I hate going to the bookstore lately and everything is vampire. Ew. Twilight was more than enough. And what's up with books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? And all these other people who go off of Jane Austen? Please be original. And no, immortals are no better than vampires in originality. Why does it have to be a contest to see who can write the grossest, sickest, twisted book lately?

I'm just tired of feminists lately. I'm all for women's rights and being free to do what you want to do, but what if you want to be a mom and a housewife? Not because you're ignorant, and think that's your only option, but because you've actually looked into it and studied it, and decided it will make you the happiest? Why are those people looked down on? Why does nobody want to get married or stay faithful or stay married lately? Gah.

Wives and Daughters was a good one. And I like the story in this better than North and South. It shows the complicated daughter-stepmother, daughter-father, son-father relationships that we have. I just like the fact that the people act like real people, unlike books today where everything has to be extreme. You can watch it for free on the Netflix site. It's definitely worth watching!