Literary Cravings

I know I'm a little weird in this, but I love to reread books. Not just once but often. There are some books that just captivate me from the first chapter and I identify them so completely with the weather that I crave them each season.



Every spring, as I start to see the snows melt into muddy channels and flowers peek through the ground, my mind turns to Pride and Prejudice. Most especially to the part where Elizabeth walks through the muddy fields to see her sister and the Bingleys, and gets spied by Mr. Darcy in less than lady-like cleanliness. The irony of this is of course that I don't much enjoy being in the elements. I enjoy reading about being in the elements. So I read Pride and Prejudice every spring, indulging in the daydream of crisp walks through the muddy forests and fields.

This spring has been a bit more ... um... unusual. No real muddy channels since we had no snow. And I really miss that. I've never been a fan of winter but there's something to spring that depends upon the waiting for it. I guess we've all just been waiting for something in the weather to do something, so maybe that counts.

But perhaps taking this weird and sudden spring weather as my cue, I'm spicing up my routine and I am SO excited. This year, instead of cracking open my usual Jane Austen (the very same one pictured here in 2010... see even Maddie's taken to it!)


I'm delving into this:


That's right. Lost in Austen, a create your own Jane Austen Adventure book.

Man, I loved these books when I was a kid. Anybody remember these?

(And I just discovered you can buy the whole series on amazon. Totally Outrageous!)

So yes, this spring I will be choosing whether Elizabeth will be saying yes to Mr. Darcy the first time around or bumping into Captain Wentworth. (Sigh, I love him!) And the awesome thing is that I can read it again and again and never read the same thing twice. Problem solved.