Notes On: Confessions Of A Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Of course I had to read this book. I mean look at me. Just look at me. And was I personally attacked and called out by the book? Yes. And did I LOVE the intense addiction the main character, Courtney, had with Jane Austen (and deeply relate to that)? Also yes.

If you're a big Austen fan, or a casual enjoyer of historical fiction, I think you'll enjoy this book. The protagonist, Courtney, is a 21st century girl who wakes up one day in the body of a girl in 1813. Some people's dream! And I'm sure also some people's nightmare. This is just a really fun book, has some cute romance mixed in with a modern-day girl trying to navigate life 200 years ago. And in case you are wondering, we only see Courtney's side of this kind of Freaky Friday switch, but it does seem to be a switch, and there is a sequel to the book that shows the other side of the switch (which I will be reading next).

One thing I am a bit worried about for the second book is outlined in this book. Even though Courtney finds herself in this new life she remembers all of her old life, in particular her fiancé cheating on her and how a good friend of hers knew. Now, I got the feeling that this friend of hers, Wes, is set up to be the love interest for Courtney in her real life and I don't like that. I just don't like him because he did kind of "help" her cheating ex. But we'll see if he's redeemable enough, or if that's even the storyline followed in the next book.

And Now, Some Quotes:

Laurie Viera Rigler reading me to filth.

"... Jane Austen, my number one drug of choice, my constant companion through every breakup, every disappointment, every crisis. Men might come and go, but Jane Austen was always there. In sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, till death do us part."

This quote has inspired a (hopefully) interesting line of thought that I'll be exploring (again, hopefully) soon in another piece

"When Frank caught me watching the Pride and Prejudice DVD in the middle of the night for umpteenth time, he sneeringly referred to my fascination with Jane Austen's world as postmodern nostalgia. Not that I have the faintest idea of what 'postmodern' means, despite Frank's having spent many hours lecturing me on the topic. Sanitized simulacra, lack of indoor plumbing and oppressive mothers notwithstanding, there is something about the simplicity and quiet of this world that not only does not disappoint, but which exceeds my expectation. I don't have the constant noise in my brain from all the Internet, iPod, and radio signals streaming all those sounds and words and pictures into my consciousness practically every waking moment of every day. I never even noticed that noise in my brain until I realized I didn't have it anymore."

About Jane Austen

"But she isn't a person in that sense of the word. She is a legend, an icon, an object of speculation by people who have made her life their life's work, or her work their life's focus. She's also been dead for almost two hundred years."

Just a quote I really liked :)

"... dreams, when you remember a whole history that had nothing to do with your waking life but which makes perfect sense in the context of the dream, a connection you discover that makes the illogical logic of the dream click into some sort of order that you couldn't possibly articulate when awake. And you wake up and know that this dream was more meaning, more depth than the usual dreams. It stays with you as a feeling, an impression, but then it fades, and try as you might to recapture it, to remember that history, it slips away and nags at the back of your mind, wanting to be remembered but elusive nevertheless. It is like a butterfly whose wings are too fragile to be touched. When you try to put words to that feeling, they sound like nonsense, but in the dream it somehow made all the sense in the world."