MADreads

Austen update

January 19th, 2008 Sarah - Alicia Ashman

I am not very good at keeping things updated.  Every card I have is pretty much expired all the time; all my computer software is about 4 versions old; and I won’t buy any new electronics because frankly, I haven’t the heart to learn how to use them.

But some things, I like to keep on top of.  And one of those things is tracking down every single new work of fiction that is written–not BY Jane Austen, that would be quite the trick–but that is written in her style and usually set in Regency England.  I’ve already been through all of Pamela Aidan’s Mr. Darcy series (An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain) and enjoyed those.  So when I stumbled across a novel last week called Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, by Laurie Viera Rigler, you can bet that I was all over it.

And, even though it got largely slammed in reviews for its confusing time travel element and lack of true characterization, I liked it.  I read it late at night and enjoyed it for its pure fluffy nature, not to mention its copious quotes from Jane Austen’s actual novels.  I greatly enjoyed that her heroine was named Jane Mansfield (Austen readers will get that) and that her hero was named the suitably romantic “Mr. Edgeworth.”  In short, I enjoyed the whole thing.  And I’m not ashamed to say it.

So, Austenites, give it a try.  It’s also one of the quickest books I’ve ever read, so even if you don’t love it, at least it won’t take you long.

Entry Filed under: Historical Fiction, Romance