30 Days Book Meme: Day Seven
Day seven: Most underrated book
I can do 'overrated' better than 'underrated'. There are multiple, oh so many overrated books out there! But it's a series that comes to mind, rather than an individual book, as my underrated candidate:
The Mr and Mrs Darcy Mysteries by Carrie Bebris
The Janeites hate 'em, which is as good a reason as any to read 'em, but Carrie Bebris' quirky Regency detective novels are like cupcakes for the brain. Darcy and Elizabeth prove themselves to be unlikely sleuths in a series of six novels, each based on one of Austen's main works. He is his usual uber-gentlemanly self, with a rational, methodical approach to murder and mayhem, and Lizzie is his spirited, open-minded partner in crime, playing mystical Mulder to Darcy's sceptical Scully. They work together, like Nick and Nora, with perfectly matched personalities and a lot of playful, affectionate banter, to solve mysteries and help out family and friends. Characters from all of Austen's stories - Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma and (most recently) Persuasion - make cameo appearances, and Bebris manages to remain faithful to the spirit of the original while throwing in disturbing events and unexpected twists. The basic premise of the series is a rebuttal to the Janeite cry of 'But Austen would never write that!' - because that's the point - but even the style and detail of the writing lacks the usual anachronisms and Americanisms of modern Austenuations. Bebris gets Darcy and Elizabeth, and murders aside, she portrays them in the way that most Pride and Prejudice groupies would imagine them together - loving, but still very much different people. Lizzie never fades into the wallhangings as 'Mrs Darcy', she remains the same freethinking and forthright woman that Darcy - and Austen's readers - fell in love with.
Go on. You know you want to.
I can do 'overrated' better than 'underrated'. There are multiple, oh so many overrated books out there! But it's a series that comes to mind, rather than an individual book, as my underrated candidate:
The Mr and Mrs Darcy Mysteries by Carrie Bebris
The Janeites hate 'em, which is as good a reason as any to read 'em, but Carrie Bebris' quirky Regency detective novels are like cupcakes for the brain. Darcy and Elizabeth prove themselves to be unlikely sleuths in a series of six novels, each based on one of Austen's main works. He is his usual uber-gentlemanly self, with a rational, methodical approach to murder and mayhem, and Lizzie is his spirited, open-minded partner in crime, playing mystical Mulder to Darcy's sceptical Scully. They work together, like Nick and Nora, with perfectly matched personalities and a lot of playful, affectionate banter, to solve mysteries and help out family and friends. Characters from all of Austen's stories - Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma and (most recently) Persuasion - make cameo appearances, and Bebris manages to remain faithful to the spirit of the original while throwing in disturbing events and unexpected twists. The basic premise of the series is a rebuttal to the Janeite cry of 'But Austen would never write that!' - because that's the point - but even the style and detail of the writing lacks the usual anachronisms and Americanisms of modern Austenuations. Bebris gets Darcy and Elizabeth, and murders aside, she portrays them in the way that most Pride and Prejudice groupies would imagine them together - loving, but still very much different people. Lizzie never fades into the wallhangings as 'Mrs Darcy', she remains the same freethinking and forthright woman that Darcy - and Austen's readers - fell in love with.
Go on. You know you want to.