for some time, i had forgotten the ironic peace of mind that is found in losing yourself in a dramatically well written book.

i picked up my jane austen collection recently and despite having read her books several times over, i am still amazed at the precision with which she writes her characters. the dialogue cuts to the heart of everything, with originality, depth, simplicity, honesty, truthful irony, humour, clarity and yet, (and yet!) without any trace or hint of cliches (except that which is the human character itself, of course :P)

wow.

on another note, a friend of mine once said this - that the reason why jane austen writes her characters so well, is because she writes like a man.

booooooo :P