It’s January, it’s pitch dark at 5 p.m., and we have succumbed (thanks to our gift Roku bringing the wonders of streaming to our house on the bluff) to one enjoyable TV series after an other – those drawn out, beautifully lit cliff hangers, ranging from Texas football to 50s New York ad men – that Charles Dickens would recognize.
But the young writer who edits other people’s words for a living quietly recommended a little movie. She said I’d like “The Jane Austen Book Club,” and she was right. It was fun to settle into a real movie and watch a complexity of Jane Austen permutations and reactions.
It helps to know Austen, makes it even more pleasurable, but you don’t have to – it’s California, there are women and a book club but also men, great clothes, and much, much Austen as the plot mimics, and the book club discusses, her six novels.
“Persuasion” has always been my favorite, but maybe it’s time for a reread of all of them. In the meantime, you can watch the movie and be reminded of the stories, the characters, and the long-lasting pleasures of Jane Austen’s world.
her spirits rose... 
I loved The Jane Austen Book Club! What do you make with black eyed peas? We always eat them for luck at the new year. I used them in soup this year.
Hi Barbara – I just cook them – for luck – or like you add them to soup!
Hi Katy This may be of some interest to you. In today’s NYT. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/?hp
Hi Ben – great to read this! only now I feel very guilty for watching movies while obviously others in the Northwest are hard at work! Thanks for sending, Katy
I enjoyed the book a great deal — now I’ll have to get the movie — sounds fun. (Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.)