Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict: Jane Austen, Jane Austen, Jane Austen. My number-one drug of choice. I could spend all day rereading Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Mansfield Park. Yeah, even Mansfield Park. Then there are the movies. Mr. Darcy fencing. Mr. Darcy in a clinging wet shirt. Even Mr. Darcy bathing. Various other bare-assed naked characters that Jane Austen would have never put into her novels but which Hollywood and the BBC feel her great works lack. Are there enough hours in the day to read Austen, watch Austen (or at least what purports to be Austen), then engage in some serious imbibing with my girlfriends? Unfortunately, the slight inconvenience of having to work for a living leaves me less hours for Austen than I would like.
Music
: U2, Once soundtrack, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Sugarplum Fairies, Bend it Like Beckham soundtrack, LCD Soundsystem, Pride and Prejudice (2005) soundtrack
Movies
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict: Pride and Prejudice (1995), Emma (1996), Bend it Like Beckham, Becoming Jane, Sliding Doors, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Clueless, Love Actually, Bride and Prejudice, Once
Television
Lost, Big Love, Ugly Betty, House, Flight of the Conchords, Damages, The Wire, Mad Men
About me: ... Here is the new book trailer for Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict.
When not indulging myself in re-readings of Jane Austen’s six novels, I teach writing workshops, including classes at Vroman’s, Southern California's oldest and largest independent bookstore.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is my first novel and now out in bookstores. The parallel story, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, will be out June 25, 2009. Here's the website: www.janeaustenaddict.com.
RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT picks up where Confessions left off, telling the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentlemans daughter from 19th century Regency England who, after a nasty fall, wakes up in Courtneys complicated and confusing (not to mention overly wired) LA life.
Though she cant begin to fathom what her boss means by syncing a blackberry, what this strange contraption called an Ipod is, and how people can flirt without expectations of marriage, Jane finds herself intrigued by this new world. She is comforted by the machine called a television where she can watch scenes from her favorite book Pride and Prejudice, and by Courtneys friend, Wes, a handsome, young gentleman who reminds her of the man who broke her heart back home.
Part comedy, part love story, and part social commentary, RUDE AWAKENINGS is a delicious treat for Austen addicts and fans of womens fiction everywhere, and a sweet reminder that no matter the century, home is where the heart is.
Laurie, I am very excited to see a new book coming out. I recently moved from San Francisco, CA to Frankfurt, Germany, and in true Austen Addict fashion brought only one book with me, which is a beautiful leather book with all of Jane's novels in it. With warm regards, your fan in Germany, Wendy
