Apparently we’re not the only ones surprised (and delighted) by Dwyane Wade’s classic novel of choice.

I was leafing through The New York Times Book Review the other day, in my weekly stab at keeping current on books I know I’ll never have time to read, when I was startled to see the face of Dwyane Wade, the superstar guard of the Miami Heat, staring back at me.

He was posed in a double-page advertisement alongside three other big names in basketball.

He wasn’t endorsing a product you’d expect, like Nikes or Powerade or “Got Milk?”

Nope, a smiling Wade was holding a copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

A 6′4″, 212-pound all-star who averages 27.5 points per game.

Plugging the ultimate in chick lit.

Penguin Classics, paperback publisher of distinguished titles, has enlisted NBA and WNBA players to help rouse young people’s interest in literature.

They’re pairing great writers of yesterday with sports heroes of today.

It’s a novel approach to image-building for the NBA, so concerned with toning up its act that players must now hide the hip-hop wear and put on business casual attire when off the court.

I did a real double-take. I didn’t think Pride and Prejudice was anything a pro basketball player would be caught dead caring about — unless maybe Carmen Electra starred in the remake.

Oh gawd. Don’t give them any ideas.

Once you get past the stereotype of Austen being a women’s writer, you see that her subject is universal, said Susan Jones, an associate professor of English at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

“Pride and Prejudice is a book that is really about people being true to themselves,” said Jones, who’s also co-coordinator of the South Florida branch of the Jane Austen Society of North America, “even when people around them are pushing them in one direction or another.”

You’ve got to hand it to Wade, to try to show other young people there’s more to “classic” than a type of Coke or an ESPN channel that re-runs old games.

We couldn’t agree more!

And, for those who missed it, JASNA President Joan Ray posted in the comments of the first post about Mr. Wade that JASNA is giving him an honorary membership.