This summer, after reading nonfiction books about what would happen if everyone disappeared and why people love Celine Dion, I decided it was time for a classic novel I had never read before.
Instead of going to Borders, I decided to get my book at the library. I figured that newer, sexier novels might be checked out, but that I could always get my hands on a masterpiece.
Turns out, I was half right. Last week at the Brooklyn library, I was able to check out Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but apparently, it’s not some stuffy old “classic.” It’s a hot and sexy summer read.
I mean, just look at the cover of the 2006 Bloomsbury edition! There’s obviously a sassy story inside!
(Sexy Jane Austen photos… after the jump)
Leaving the library, I was stoked. I was ready for Gossip Girl in book form.
But then I remembered a wise saying by Suzanne Vega: You can’t judge a book by its cover. I mean, what if P&P wasn’t as cute as those pink and orange hearts made it seem?
Then I realized… It’s not just the cover that tells me this book rules. Meg Cabot, who wrote The Princess Diaries, contributes a foreword called “Why You Should Read This,” and she signs her name in big cursive script, like she’s signing a note she’s about to pass in fourth period geometry.
Plus, all the chapter headings are in a fun font with little hearts around the numbers. Precious!
All these things together must accurately represent the book, right?
Totally right! An afternoon of reading left me gasping with summer wildness, so I went with my friend Casey to Pinkberry. That seemed like the perfect place to talk girl power with a kick-ass pal.
While we were there, I asked Casey if she wanted to read the world’s best chick lit. She totally did:
She was so into it. She said it was like watching Sex in the City, but with empire-waist dresses.
After Casey and I air-kissed goodbye–love ya, sister!–I went home to snuggle up with some mango iced tea and my new friend, Liz Bennet. And when I got to that part with Darcy? Swoon!
You know what I’m thinking now? They should make a movie out of this thing!
(thanks to Elizabeth for steering me right with the fashion reference)
7 responses so far ↓
1 Collin H // Jul 25, 2008 at 8:23 am
I was never a big fan of Jane Austen back in school, but I find that as time goes on I am looking back on what I read from her more and more fondly.
What surprises me is that there isn’t more Austen satire/parody out in the world. I have this feeling in my gut that Pride and Prejudice is a comedy goldmine that hasn’t been fully explored.
2 Casey // Jul 25, 2008 at 11:58 am
If only they sold Cosmos at Pinkberry. It was almost a perfect grrl power evening.
3 Michael // Jul 25, 2008 at 12:11 pm
As an unashamed, grown-man Jane Austen obsessive, full to the brim with opinions about everything wrong and right about the recent film adaptation AND the preceding two TV versions AND the 40s Hollywood film of P & P, I write only to steer Collin AWAY from the Bollywood update of Pride and Prejudice–unless you’re far more forgiving of this sort of thing than I–and toward a comic dream scene in the 1998 British film Bedrooms and Hallways: our hero, lovelorn gayboy Leo (played by Kevin McKidd, soon to be Thor and lots of other heroes) asks a friend for a book to read that will help him forget his hopeless crush on an unavailable hottie; the friend loans him Pride and Prejudice and it leads to a hilariously smarmy Jane Austen parody dream in which all that polite language is twisted toward adolescent sex fantasy–it’s the costumes and the BBC intonations that make the joke work–and that’s pretty much how Austen’s prose comedy works, too.
4 Collin H // Jul 25, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Theres a Bollywood Pride and Prejudice? I must see it. Bollywood makes everything tenhundred percent more awesome. Look at how much more excellent they make Superman and Spiderman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHIQQVCe8Is
I found the Bedrooms and Hallways clip on youtube and laughed hard enough to get a disapproving glare from my boss.
Hey! McKidd was the uberhot Pvt. Cooper in Dog Soldiers! I’d love to know how someone with such a heavy Scottish accent is gonna play a Norse god.
5 AustenBlog . . . she’s everywhere » Tuesday Open Thread: Sassy Edition // Jul 29, 2008 at 4:13 am
[...] Blankenship finds P&P a “hot and sexy summer read” — but pray do not book a chaise to the charming village of High Dudgeon, Gentle [...]
6 Jean // Aug 3, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Collin H: Try ‘Pride and Promiscuity” – out of England a few years back – that should satisfy your longing for good Austen Satire!
7 Irene // Aug 4, 2008 at 9:50 am
Join the Jane Austen Society and get to hear wonderful comments on Austen’s irony, style, humor, everything and have fun.
JASNA.org
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