A few day ago, I picked up a marvellous novel, titled: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler at the Rancho Mirage Library. The book centers around 6 diverse people (5 women and 1 man) at various stages of their very interesting lives. At their monthly book club meetings, the members explore one of Jane Austin's novels. What's fascinating is how each characters' distinct and unique way of approaching and "reading" Austin informs his/her outlook on life and the story as a whole. I am about three quarters through the book and I love it. Not only is the concept and structure of the novel wonderful, Fowler's writing is superb. This is a storyteller!

If you haven't read any of Austin's work, you'll still enjoy this book. If you have, you may, like me, want to dig them out for a re-read.