Thursday, September 24, 2009

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
3 out of 5 Stars
Fellow Jane Austen addicts have spoke of this as a must read. But the title is totally misleading. I expected a journal type reading from Courtney's life and how being a Jane Austen addict has affected her in a day to day basis. But this is nothing like that. Courtney Stone wakes up one morning in the 1800's of Jane Austen and living the life of a single girl waiting to get married, named Jane Mansfield.

She spends most of her time trying to decipher the bits and pieces of Jane's lif...more Fellow Jane Austen addicts have spoke of this as a must read. But the title is totally misleading. I expected a journal type reading from Courtney's life and how being a Jane Austen addict has affected her in a day to day basis. But this is nothing like that. Courtney Stone wakes up one morning in the 1800's of Jane Austen and living the life of a single girl waiting to get married, named Jane Mansfield.

She spends most of her time trying to decipher the bits and pieces of Jane's life and trying to figure out how to get back to her own time period in the 21st century. Meanwhile she is actively being pursued by the local eligible bachelor and toying with the affections of the stable boy while trying to escape her mother's tyranny. The idea
of the book was very promising until I read it. Jane /Courtney should
have just enjoy being in that world instead making every one else's
life miserable including Mary, her best BFF and go with the flow. That's what a true Austenite would have done and tried to find her Mr. Darcy.I understand she had to describe her surroundings to get an idea of her totally different environment but I felt it was a bit belabored.
It's distracting having Courtney correcting herself whenever she
referred to herself as Jane. She isn't really Jane, but Courtney. Yea. We get it. Let's move on.The book overall was entertaining mostly for the Jane Austen references.


The highlight of the book, which I sort of expected was when she met
Jane Austen. I thought for sure this will be interesting. But the
writer totally messed it up by making her into a babbling idiot. She went on and on about how the future would love her writing. Why
would she mention the movie renditions of her book? That part was totally lame.

So don't believe the hype and read other fun things instead like "Austenland" and sequels to "Pride and Prejudice" like, "Mr. Darcy's Diary".

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Best Friends by Jennifer Weiner

Best Friends Forever: A Novel Best Friends Forever: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was different than Jennifer Weiner's past books. Though the story was interesting, it was missing her dry humor. I missed her little comments and observations that are present in her other lead characters.

The two best friends, are not very likable. One is self centered and bossy while the other is a doormat. I really didn't feel much for either character. The "hero" of the story iffy as well. But I still had to give her four stars because I'll read anything she writes.

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