Succumbing to a fad

Anyone who has been to a library or bookstore in the last few years has probably noticed Jane Austen sequels are all the rage. Everything from the diaries of different characters to the story with the addition of the supernatural (even one in which Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy is a vampire. I know!) can be found on the shelves.

I've read and enjoyed some, while others have bordered on the ridiculous. No, not just bordered. Built a house and lived there. Carrie Bebris is an author who has done a decent job with the life of the Darcys after Pride and Prejudice. She made them detectives and had them meet characters from other Austen books. I have all her books so far. I read she has another one coming out this year, I think.

I hadn't read any of the Austen-based books by Amanda Grange. She's the author who made Mr. Darcy a vampire. But she's also written four books about the heroes of Austen's works, creating them in the form of their diaries. Since Northanger Abbey doesn't get a lot of love when talking about Austen, I thought I'd give Henry Tilney's Diary a try. I was pleasantly surprised.

Henry (the object of Catherine Morland's affection) loves gothic novels as much as Catherine and his sister do. In fact, he and his sister read them together. He's got a great sense of humor, observing from his pulpit "if not for Mrs. Attwood's new bonnet, I would have had the ladies' undivided attention. The gentlemen I was more certain of. They had no interest in bonnets, new or otherwise, and listened in pleasing silence, broken only by an occasional snore."

Of course, Grange can't ignore the plot of Austen's book, so we learn what really happened to Henry's mother and how Eleanor's marriage finally came about. I really did enjoy it. While it wasn't a meat-and-potatoes kind of book, it was a fun piece of pie for dessert. I'll have to see if our library has any more Austen hero diaries.

On an unrelated note, it's baseball season. Yippee! I do like baseball. It's one of those sports that provides good background noise while you're working on something else. I do wish the Cubs were on more - I haven't gotten to see them play yet. The Royals are on pretty often, so I've had them on the evenings I've been home.

I know some people think baseball is boring. Well, some of us think soccer is boring, and others are bored by football or golf or tennis or basketball. I think I like baseball because it forces me to slow down. Life moves fast enough - having those times to pause for a moment is good for my well-being. It's a sport that lets you think if you want to or just watch if you don't want to think.

It's fun to go to the ballpark and soak up the experience that goes along with the game. From the game itself to the peanut vendors to the other fans, there's always something or someone to watch. You can talk to the people you came with and not miss anything. It's a game suited to the lazy days of summer. So, I usually have a game on when I'm home. And I really don't care whose playing.