Welcome to this week’s Friday Bookblogging, where we talk about Jane Austen’s books and books about Jane Austen’s books and books inspired by Jane Austen’s books.

First, a review of a book about governesses in literature mentions Jane Fairfax, though she never actually had to work as a governess.

Jane Austen — who, on the death of her father, was displaced from her home and became dependent on fortunately kind brothers — was characteristically unromantic about a governess’s fate. In “Emma,” the character Jane Fairfax, contemplating applying for a governess job, describes “offices for the sale not quite of human flesh but of human intellect.” There is a hint of prostitution here — another fate that could befall unprotected women — but also, more clearly, of the slave trade.

We suppose there had to be some fallout to the recent enthusiasm for Jane Austen. We’ve never advocated that EVERYONE must LOVE Jane Austen’s work, not at all; but we don’t like it when it is dismissed on unfair criteria, either.

Alex Beam of the Boston Globe complains about hyperbole in book description.

On the internets, “Emma” and “Pride and Prejudice” are often cited as the BBEW, which must mean there are a lot of 17-year-old girls hanging around keyboards with little to do.

Because those books could never appeal to thinking adults or even men. Oh, no. Laurie Viera Rigler begs to differ in a post on the Penguin Blog.

Okay, here is perhaps a more compelling reason for men to read Jane Austen: It will make you a chick magnet. So will watching one of the popular Austen film adaptations. Or even reading an Austen-inspired book like Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Case in point from an email I received:

My son Jack told me his friend Andy had met a really hot woman (Lisa) and discovered on their first awkward date that she was a fan of Jane Austen. Over a beer, Andy confessed to Jack that he had no idea what Lisa was talking about but wanted to find ways to impress her. I told Jack about you and Confessions; and suggested that he tell Andy to check out your web site for Austen insight and knowledge before going on his next date. Jack is now Andy’s hero, Andy and Lisa are talking about getting married, and I feel like Yoda - thanks to you.

Take that, Alex Beam. YOU’LL never be Yoda.

Chana, we fear, doesn’t get it, either. She’s got Charlotte Brontë’s back on this one.

Life is about what “throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushes through…” The trick is to reveal that passion via the mundane and ordinary means of our everyday lives, which we do, but Jane Austen does not like to, in most of her works. If the genteel demeanor hid what was dark, fascinating, furious and compelling, then that would be a type of brilliance, but it does not. Even Elizabeth’s passion is a shallow mimicry in comparison to that of an Anna Karenina…

No passion in Jane Austen’s work, eh?

“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

“I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father’s house this evening or never.”

Elizabeth Bennet feels no passion, eh? She might have found something better.

I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.

What can be better than that?

And fear not, Gentle Readers, that this backlash will last, for Megan is rediscovering Jane–and loving it.

I’ve seen a lot of movie adaptions, as well as Becoming Jane, so this summer will be when I become a full-fledged fan and read all of her books. I love her writing style- she is so smart, funny and ironic. We started with Northanger Abbey, and I am catching so much on my second read. She really was an amazing writer.

Yes, she was. That’s it for Friday Bookblogging, Gentle Readers, so until next time, always remember: Books Are Nice!