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Desiring something a little more "serious" to read, I picked up Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was very tough going in the beginning, and by actual page standards I think I'm only on about page 25, but I think I've finally hit a place where I am comfortable with the text. Meaning that, I don't feel like I'm trying to translate sanskrit when I look at the words. However, This is what I have learned thus far:

1. I do not like anthologies in general, and especially on the Kindle. I was never big on buying anthologies because their size alone made me feel that I had to classify the book as "at home" reading. If the book is too big to (a) fit into my bag, or (b) fit into my bag comfortably, it ain't going anywhere. And if it doesn't go, it doesn't get read. One would be correct in observing that this is not the case with the Kindle. The Kindle can hold up to 1,500 eBooks and never grow larger than .5 inches in width. So I started reading Pride and Prejudice from a copy of the Complete Works of Jane Austen I bought when I first got my Kindle. What a great deal! Five books for less than what a Penguin Edition of one costs! However, there are no page numbers. And with no page numbers, those 20,000 locations look mighty foreboding. So I cracked and downloaded a free copy of just Pride and Prejudice. I can breathe much easier as I continue to not read.
2. It isn't all in the formatting. When I first noticed problems with how the formatting appears on some eBooks, I was able to overlook the problem. Sort of. But as I was reading and finding many formatting issues appearing on the screen at once, it was beginning to be annoying. And then I realized that I was allowing myself to miss what I was reading by getting hung up on how the text looked. So I'm thankful that reading on my Kindle is forcing me to face that limitation.
3. Sometimes it is the author's fault. I majored in English Literature in college, and rarely did we sit down and discuss what a writer did incorrectly*. Unless you break into a discussion about juvenilia. So when I sit down to read a book and the author--a well-respected, creator of canonical works at that--does a bit of jumping around and I can't follow it, I just think that maybe that one professors insinuations were correct. Maybe I'm just not that bright. Do not fall for this. Writers are not perfect, and a reader's ability to understand what is going on is not solely their responsibility. No, I don't expect Austen to show up and guide me through the piece. But I do ask that when you begin a new paragraph, stick to the topic at hand! (And yes, plenty of writers still do this, and no it isn't wrong all the time, but damn it if I was not incredibly frustrated for the first few days of trying to read this book).
4. I didn't realize how much I love footnotes. As I continued to read, I began to notice that I was longing for my Penguin Edition footnotes, explaining to me that when Austen mentions Miss Lucas, what she is actually saying is: Charlotte Lucas, oldest, unmarried of Lord Lucas' daughters. Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal when there are only two Lucas daughters, but with there being five Bennet daughters, it's nice to know that the title isn't used for every young woman, or just for who happens to be present in the room at the time. Needless to say, I'm glad for one of my friends, whom I know see as my living historical footnote.

As I previously mentioned, I'm hopeful that I've finally found my place with this book. Let's see if I'm right. But only time will tell. I've got the apartment to myself for the next week, so perhaps I'll get to it. Maybe I'll even have a review by the end of the week(end?).

* This is not completely true, as a professor of mine was kind enough to give an after class lecture on "bad poetry". Oh captain, my captain...