Kate Fenton Entry in Old Journal

Oh, this made me laugh. I just came across a reading journal I attempted to keep in 2000. Looking at the dates, I lasted all of two weeks at the effort. Even worse, the first book I logged as having read and loved in February 2000 I clearly have a memory of reading "for the first time" in July 2003.

Is it really possible to have had literally not a glimmer of recollection of having read a distinctive book only a few years prior? The 2000 entry says I borrowed it from a friend, yet in 2003, I found and read a copy during a trip to England. Maybe I didn't want to know this about my memory.

The book, by the way, is Kate Fenton's LIONS AND LIQUORICE, which is currently published in the United States as VANITY AND VEXATION. Here's what I'd noted about it in 2000.

Gender-reversed version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Clever movie-within-a-book-within-a book device (or something like that). Witty, charming, modern, with a couple of very nice romances. British novel borrowed from [redacted]. Loved the hero's funny-cynical look at the world. (4 out of 5)

You know, reading some of the entries from those two weeks, I can kinda see the pleasure of keeping a journal. I might reproduce some of the entries here for my future edification (because the physical journal is likely to get lost again.)