This week's reads...

I have a degree in English Literature. As you can imagine, there is a certain amount of literary snobbery that comes along with such a classification. I started on the classics at a very young age and spent most of my high school and college years with my nose stuck in a book (minus my forays into Sassy and Harper's Bazaar), feeling I was the literary superior of my classmates. But I'll let you in on a secret: after years of reading "real" books and four years spent dissecting plot lines and outlining social commentary, I became a heretic. I've already admitted that I read comics. But you should also know that I read bad mysteries and scifi, too. And food books. I even read the Twilight saga--and, moreover, I thoroughly enjoyed it! The truth is, I haven't read anything of real value in probably two years. That isn't to say I don't feel guilty about it...I do. Just not enough to put my Anita Blake novels down and pick up Wharton or James or...Austen.

And then along comes Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. You can imagine how excited I was to have my love for the classics combined with my new love of trashy science fiction. I was in heaven! Today Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (which are probably even cooler than zombies!) is being released, and I'll be picking it up at lunchtime. I know these retellings have caused quite a stir amongst Austen purists, but I think the concept is simply genius. It gives a whole new meaning to "guilty pleasure."