What I’m Reading: Austenland Edition

I used to do lists on the blog of what I read every year.

Then I got lazy.

Well, first I had a baby and the thing I quit doing in my life to take care of her was reading.  Then a tablet appeared in my house and I discovered how easy it is to read on it–I can buy books for $3!  I can check books out from the library without leaving my house!–so I started reading again.

I want to share with you books I’ve read and loved.  I don’t review books, but I do want to spread the word about wonderful things I read.

Two books to start:

I am probably the last person who hadn’t read these, but I loved them, so I’m sharing.

This fall I saw the Austenland movie and loved it.  Love love loved it.  I’m a sucker for meta-genre pieces that mock genre tropes while simultaneously committing them.  So of course I went and found the book.  And, to my joy, there were two!


Shannon Hale’s Austenland and Midnight in Austenland are charming books that I read in a few hours each.  They’re just as meta-genre as the movie, and benefit greatly from Hale’s witty narration.  Midnight adds a mystery element to the mix, which makes it even more fun than the first book.  The characters are different, so you don’t have to read Austenland first, though if you do, the recurring characters are all the more amusing.