We find this terribly exciting. Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago, announced that Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen will be the ninth selection (and the first written by a non-American) for the “One Book, One Chicago” reading initiative. More information is available at the Chicago Public Library’s site.

The British novel was selected this year for various reasons, the mayor said.

The founding of the Chicago Public Library was made possible by the donation of 8,000 books by Queen Victoria and other British leaders to replace those destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Daley said. Additionally, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the British Consulate in Chicago.

We thought this part was particularly cool:

Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey said neighborhood libraries will offer copies of the novel in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Polish, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, French, German and Italian.

Jane must be very proud right now.

Activities are planned around the reading:

A monthlong series of discussions and seminars are planned for October at the Washington Library and DePaul University, at neighborhood library book clubs and at local Borders Books and Music and Barnes & Noble stores.

Also, Steppenwolf Theatre plans an ensemble reading at 6 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Washington Library, 400 S. State St., while Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, will present a stage adaptation Oct. 5-Nov. 20.

Debrah Pickett muses about how modern society hasn’t really changed that much from Austen’s day in the Chicago Sun-Times.

I don’t know if any of my neighbors plan to on picking up a copy of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the new selection for the Mayor’s One Book, One Chicago project. And I have no idea, if they did, whether they’d find it at all interesting — or familiar.

But it amuses me to imagine an earnest discussion — wedged, naturally, between the far more important topics of which kindergartens produce the highest standardized test scores and which gyms have the best Mommy and Me yoga classes — about how much better off we all are now, in these more-enlightened times.

The Sun-Times also has an article about the selection with biographical information about Jane Austen and an excerpt from the first chapter.

Hey…Oprah’s in Chicago…could she finally acknowledge the existence of Jane Austen’s books on one of her shows, do you think?!?