Book Bucket List | The Marriage Plot

I love Jane Austen.  I love her humor, I love her commentary, and I especially love her men.  Pride and Prejudice was the book that really spurred me on to be a big reader and is still one of my favorite books of all time.  Austen was also pretty bold.  When King George IV was a young prince and allowed Austen to dedicate her book Emma to him, her response was pretty hysterical.

"To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated to His Royal Highness by His dutiful and obedient humble servant, the Author."

Obviously, she was thrilled to be told to whom she could dedicate her own book.  At our libraries, we have Austen's works available for check out:

• Northanger Abbey
• Sense and Sensiblilty 
• Pride and Prejudice
• Mansfield Park
• Emma
• Persuasion

So, if you're an Austen fan, definitely check out Jeffery Eugenides' The Marriage Plot.  Eugenides is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel Middlesex.  The Marriage Plot follows the lives of three recent college graduates and their journey into semi-adulthood. As an English major at Brown, Madeline Hannah is doing her thesis on the repeated plot points and characterizations in Regency and Victorian novels. (Jane Austen, the Brontës, Dickens) However, what she doesn't realize is that her whole life is mirroring those of her favorite characters in Austen's books.  She falls in love with the dark, moody, and sarcastic Leonard Bankhead, while politely ignoring, but being fully aware of her friend Mitchell Grammaticus' love of her. 

This book is beautifully written, and tragic, and now one of my favorites too.  I waited a long time to read this book, and I'm so glad that I finally did.  It's one of those books that I can't help hugging to my chest because of the emotional connection I had with the characters and story.

Seriously, just go read it.