Friday, August 3, 2007

All Things Jane

I don't know about you, but I've always thought Jane Austen is the British writer from the 1800s who would be the most fun to gossip and drink with. The Brontes would be a bit too brooding. Jane would make those perfect killer comments about the bimbo at the end of the bar and would have just the right retort for the too-slick guys with overworn pick-up lines. I just always felt like she got it--that the right guy is out there (but not where you think he'll be and not even WHO you think he'll be). And, she's having quite a revival these days. I wonder, when she sat in her room a couple hundred years ago, writing without any of today's modern conveniences, if she could even conceive of the possibility that in 2007 she'd still be read and considered hip? Cool? That she'd have writers turning to her for inspiration? You go girl!

Well, my fellow writer and friend Laurie Viera Rigler has written a fabulous, fun book Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict which combines this love of Jane, a fascination of that time period, a fed-up-ness with looking for love in today's world, and time travel in a book that's funny and sweet and will keep you curious until the very end. I kept wondering how she was going to pull it all off and she did it masterfully. This is a perfect book for your end of summer vacation (or, if you're not getting one of those, it will whisk you away anyway.).

Go buy it. Thank me later!

5 comments:

Lisa said...

This sounds like the perfect read when you just need to get away from it all. Thanks for the recommendation!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great read :-)

Therese said...

I saw a bit about this novel in USA Today (good press!) and it looks like a treat.

We're off to Key West in a couple weeks, and I plan to take Laurie's book along--great suggestion!

Judy Merrill Larsen said...

Lisa, Liz, and Therese--Happy reading all of you--it's fun and smart and, dare I say, I think Miss Jane herself would approve.

Kristy Kiernan said...

I HAVE bought it! But, like Therese (hi, T!) I'm saving it for vacation.