A novel in which the protagonist rewrites Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice because she believes the novel was really intended to be about Mary Bennett? I’m such an Austen fan; this plot idea could either be really entertaining or really bad.

Another Jane Austen tie-in: A movie is being made in UK about “the doomed love affair” between a young Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy, a young man of her acquaintance who later became Chief Justice of Ireland. The movie is based on the book,Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence.

This idea also sounds like fun: books about the history of a house, Home: The History of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House by Julie Myerson and The House By the Thames: And the People Who Lived There by Gillian Tindall. I wonder who lived in our house before we did? What if you found out something nasty while researching your house? Would it make any difference to you if your house had been the scene of a murder or some other horrible crime? Wow, this thread of thought is starting to remind me of Agatha Christie, particularly Sleeping Murder, the last of the Miss Marple mysteries.
(HT: Suitable for Mixed Company, a great blog for finding interesting tidbits about books and bookish things.)

The Slaves of Golconda have chosen The Virginian by Owen Wister for their next reading/reviewing selection. As I understand it, anyone can join in, and I may just do so since I’ve been intending to read this book for a long time.

Here’s a beautiful story about the power of great literature. Although Gilead didn’t affect me quite so profoundly as it did this lady, I did enjoy reading about how much she loved the book–because I liked it very much, too.