Eligible

Maybe it has something to do with Seattle's recent hot weather, but I've already found the book I'll be recommending to anyone who comes in to the bookshop looking for an upbeat summer read. It's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, which is nothing special these days, except that it's by one of my favorite contemporary authors. Curtis Sittenfeld excels at portraying regular women's self-consciousness (if not always self-awareness) and the often ridiculed particularities of their social world. Which sounds a lot like Jane Austen. However, unlike Austen, Sittenfeld writes with a healthy dose of forthright raunchiness that in this case is even more hilarious because you can't help but imagine Old Jane reading it. (I suspect she'd be amused.) Sittenfeld has delivered a top-notch romantic comedy that will delight lovers of the genre as well those whose only dalliance has been with Miss Austen herself.