Jane
I'm reading two books at the moment. One is in the bathroom being read in five minute bursts, and the other is sort of for work - we're having an away day with the adult team and all trying to read a few books in different genres beforehand.
Both of these books concern Jane Austen. Neither of them is actually by Jane Austen.
Book one is, of course, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is predictably awesome, and very well suited for reading on the loo - especially for people who are not natural Jane Austen fans. Small doses. It's very nicely done - the references to zombies feel really natural and obvious and being a fearsome Shao-lin trained warrior monk frankly suits Elizabeth Bennet so well I can hardly imagine what it'd be like if she wasn't one. In fact, the whole thing is making me wish I had a copy of P+P to hand so I could check exactly what it really says when P+P+Z starts talking about zombies...
The other one is The Jane Austen Book Club. And I'm frankly shocked by how much I'm enjoying it. I picked it up off the 'women's literature' pile (different from the 'chick lit' pile) and opened it up, expecting to hate all the characters and be horribly bored apart from when I was tearing my hair out.
But no. It's really entertaining. It's beautifully observed. It's wry and funny and moving. It's about six friends who get together to discuss Jane Austen. That's pretty much it. It's just... each chapter is about one book and one character, with flashbacks and bits and pieces and quotes from the books and scenes where they're discussing it, and it's just... really great. I don't like all the character completely - but I don't hate any of them, even though I expected to.
The only really weird thing about it is the POV. The pronouns the narrator uses are 'us' and 'we'. Never 'I', because there is no 'I' - it's like the book is being narrated by the entire group, or rather, whichever ones of the group are observing whatever's being written about right then. It'll say things like 'we all thought Bernadette had a very good point', which is kind of odd when it's just said something that must have included Bernadette in the 'we'.
I've never read any Jane Austen. None. I've seen the TV version of Pride and Prejudice (two if you count Lost in Austen), the films of Emma and Sense and Sensibility, and erm, Clueless. I feel like I'm getting the weirdest crash course ever...
Both of these books concern Jane Austen. Neither of them is actually by Jane Austen.
Book one is, of course, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is predictably awesome, and very well suited for reading on the loo - especially for people who are not natural Jane Austen fans. Small doses. It's very nicely done - the references to zombies feel really natural and obvious and being a fearsome Shao-lin trained warrior monk frankly suits Elizabeth Bennet so well I can hardly imagine what it'd be like if she wasn't one. In fact, the whole thing is making me wish I had a copy of P+P to hand so I could check exactly what it really says when P+P+Z starts talking about zombies...
The other one is The Jane Austen Book Club. And I'm frankly shocked by how much I'm enjoying it. I picked it up off the 'women's literature' pile (different from the 'chick lit' pile) and opened it up, expecting to hate all the characters and be horribly bored apart from when I was tearing my hair out.
But no. It's really entertaining. It's beautifully observed. It's wry and funny and moving. It's about six friends who get together to discuss Jane Austen. That's pretty much it. It's just... each chapter is about one book and one character, with flashbacks and bits and pieces and quotes from the books and scenes where they're discussing it, and it's just... really great. I don't like all the character completely - but I don't hate any of them, even though I expected to.
The only really weird thing about it is the POV. The pronouns the narrator uses are 'us' and 'we'. Never 'I', because there is no 'I' - it's like the book is being narrated by the entire group, or rather, whichever ones of the group are observing whatever's being written about right then. It'll say things like 'we all thought Bernadette had a very good point', which is kind of odd when it's just said something that must have included Bernadette in the 'we'.
I've never read any Jane Austen. None. I've seen the TV version of Pride and Prejudice (two if you count Lost in Austen), the films of Emma and Sense and Sensibility, and erm, Clueless. I feel like I'm getting the weirdest crash course ever...