Penguin Group USA will give a copy of The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler AND the Jane Austen Penguin Classic novel of your choice to the first ten AustenBlog readers who send an e-mail with his or her name, full address, and choice of Jane Austen novel to editor@austenblog.com.

Unfortunately this giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. We have several giveaways over the next week or two that will be open to all, so stay tuned!

EDIT: And we have ten winners, who all have been notified. Congratulations to Quick On The E-mail Trigger Janeites Lindsey, Laura, Kirsten, Jenny, Nicole, April, Lisa, Julie, Jenna, and James! Thanks to all who wrote in, and we are sorry that we didn’t post the results sooner, but were away from our computer this afternoon and evening. More swag to come, so stay tuned.

Alert Janeite Lisa sent us a link from Inside Higher Ed in which Austen scholar Devoney Looser wittily answers the eternal question: Why Jane Austen?

I’m having a similarly mixed reaction to the latest wave of Austen mania in the U.S. and U.K., shifting nervously, while approaching it with a combination of anxiety and dread. I know that all English professors worth their salt should be constructing some theories and responses now, in advance of being cornered by colleagues and co-workers and co-eds, so as not to have to resort to the professorial and clichéd. What will we say when asked about Anne Hathaway’s Becoming Jane (2007); about upcoming The Jane Austen Book Club film, with its star-studded cast; or about PBS’s planned 10-week winter 2008 airing of the Complete Jane Austen on “Masterpiece Theatre”?

What’s the witty, cynical comeback to this cultural flowering of Austen-related stuff, I find myself wondering: “Can’t wait to see it!” “Wish I’d thought of it first!” “The Decline and Fall of Austen’s Empire.” “A tippet in the hand is worth two in the bush.” “A stitch in the huswife saves nine.” “Don’t look a gift pianoforte in the mouth”?

Read the whole thing, it’s hilarious!

Alert Janeite Elizabeth reports that Book-It Repertory in Seattle will be staging Persuasion in February-March 2008. We hope the West Coast Bureau of AustenBlog will send a representative.

We were perusing our copy of JASNA News tonight and were delighted to note that Maggie Grace, who plays Allegra in the film adaptation of The Jane Austen Book Club and formerly was a cast member in the television program Lost (though nobody ever really leaves the cast of Lost, do they?) loves Jane Austen’s novels, particularly Pride and Prejudice. We take back all those mean things we said about Shannon now. (Stop giving us that “told you so” look, Dorothy.)

Alert Janeite Jen found a reference to Jane Austen on a blog post about the author Ben Okri.

“I realised you cannot evoke a place truly till you find a tone, a narrative, in tune with the dimensions of that place. You can’t use Jane Austen to tell stories about Africa.”

Oh, you’re just not trying hard enough.

Alert Janeite Faith-Anne wrote to tell us that Stephenie Meyer, author of several novels for young adults, lists Jane Austen as one of her favorite authors.