The Friendly Jane Austen

Book excerpt: What's so friendly about Jane Austen? Every generation rediscovers Jane Austen with a renewed enthusiasm for her timeless novels. In recent years, Austen has become more popular than ever as nearly every one of her books has been gorgeously filmed and reinterpreted to reflect today's sensibilities. Both diehard Austen addicts and new converts to the cult will find endless revelations and witty insights in The Friendly Jane Austen. With quizzes, eye-catching illustrations, interviews with Austen scholars and admirers, a filmography, bibliography, browsable quotes and sidebars, and engaging commentaries that illuminate her family life, early writings, and novels, The Friendly Jane Austen answers such questions as: What are Jane Austen's ten surefire ways to be vulgar? How do you tell a rake from a rattle? (Hint: They're both rascals.) Why is Jane Austen sometimes called the mother of the romance novel? Who is Sense and Sensibility's only sexy man? How much money did Jane Austen earn from her books during her lifetime? Reading The Friendly Jane Austen is like stepping into the happy world of her fiction.