Small world! One of the members of the reading email list I run mentioned this book last week. A friend of hers wrote it!

Wow- so cool, Ith! I got Newsweek in the mail this morning, and lo and behold they had a blurb about the book, too. I think they said that she was from the Central Valley? Where is that? Did I even get that right?

Karen Joy Fowler lives in Davis, CA which is near Sacramento. Karen is one of the nicest people I've ever met. She's a great teacher and is a natural wit - as an example, she cofounded Wiscon (a feminist science fiction convention in Madison, WI) as well as the Tiptree award (Tiptree is a very famous SF writer who posed as a man to get her work published - there were huge debates whether a woman could have written such stories with a famous SF male writer saying a woman couldn't possibly have written them). To pay for the Tiptree award, Karen and her cohorts hold a bake sale. What is better than that!

It was a wonder that Karen mentioned she writes SF short stories in the same breadth as her literary work. Egads, her publicist must be having spasms.

So, what question did you ask? I heard most of the interview but not all. Were you the Austen nut with the Pride and Prejudic beach blanket ;)

Oh my! A beach blanket? No, but that does sound fun...

I mentioned that people have teased me about having an obvious interest in Austen when they hear my daughters names. I then told her that I can relate to her statement that "my views and understanding of JA's work change as I mature and grow older." The question I asked was who her favorite Austen character was or were there several that over the years to whom she has found herself relating.

She said that while she admired Anne Elliot that she was so kind and nice that she could never aspire to that, so, Elizabeth Bennett was one that she could understand and relate to best. One of her lines (paraphrased) was that she loves Anne's character and would love to have her attending her children and assisting her through her difficult social obligations- I thought that interesting because I have always admired Anne's character and felt like it was/is attainable.

Anyway, what a terrifically approachable woman! She responded to well to Diane's questions and those of the callers and e-mails. I ordered it today from a local store and can't wait for it to get here and get started.

Are you Ith's friend, RLE?

Rae, RLE is the member of my book list I mentioned. I told her you had posted about the book today.

Yep, book list me. I don't think I heard your question live, but it was a very good one!

You know, I'm finding myself wanting to reread Austen now. I remember Elizabeth Bennett and loved her. She was the character I related most too, since I have always had a tendency to say what I think - to the detriment of myself as well as others ;)

I hope you enjoy Karen's book. We should discuss it once we're both finished. I'm a quarter of the way through - can't get a moment to read lately.

Great website!
RLE

I am just dying to get my hands on it. We live in a town starved for good literature (too much religious pieces on the shelves) and we have a brand new library, but no books.

It should be here on Tuesday-we should discuss it; that would be terrific :)

Thanks for the compliments. Please come again anytime :)

I got my book! I got my book! Doo-da! Doo-da!

I can't wait to settle into the tub tonight and get started :)