Colin Firth in an apron

I can't believe the wait is almost up! Next Saturday, June 13, at 5 pm, is the release party for the actor and the housewife! The King's English, of course, is hosting here in Salt Lake City, Utah. There will be karaoke and pie. And books. What more could anyone desire? I'll speak at 5 and stay until all books are signed. I'm starting to get reports that the books are out there in some places, though the official release is next Tuesday. Here's a piece of dialog from early in the book my mom just read aloud to me (she's rereading the book now):

    “Hmm. So.” He paused. “My wife Celeste and I are taking a skiing holiday out your way, spending the third weekend in February in Park City. We thought we might…” he cleared his throat, “we might meet up with you. And your husband. For dinner.”
    Becky didn’t say anything for some time.
    “I think you’re still there,” he said. “I think you’re shocked.”
    “Sort of. Sort of still here. Sort of shocked.”
    “Dinner is always a shocking proposition.”
    “That’s the truth. Lunch, supper, after school snack--all respectable and appropriate sessions of nutritional intake--”
    “Whilst dinner is practically neanderthal.”
    “I couldn’t agree more.”

Yesterday in the mail someone sent me a copy of a new book of Jane Austen quotes, Remarkably Jane, edited by Jennifer Adams. I was expecting a book of her quotes, which is always fun, but this was quotes about her by other writers and notables. First let me say that the book is gorgeous. Small, compact, in black and green, with leafy prints on each page. The beauty got me to open it up and then I kept reading. It's sort of marvelous to see a couple centuries of thinkers try to reason out why we love Jane Austen and how she does what she does. I kept coming across quotes that I wanted to quote on the blog, finally deciding just to recommend it here so you can see it all. Most surprising and interesting to me was the section at the end filled with quotes from her critics. Yes, even Austen had haters. I found it so encouraging just now! Truly. And imagine my surprise to come across my own self quoted there. Don't I feel all scholarly and important? (I'm in my pajamas, my son snuggled up next to me, leaning on my typing arm, my little girl has just started to call to me from her crib, and today I'm in charge of a church activity for 220 kids, so fortunately I have a few things to keep me from letting it go to my head.)

 It's clearly designed as a gift book, but buy it and read it first before passing it along.

Also, I've had some inquiries about our rapunzel's revenge book trailer contest. We decided to postpone the deadline to coincide with the release of the sequel, calamity jack, in January '10. So there's plenty of time! More on that later, but I promise to make the box o' books prize mouthwatering.

Also, also, Catching Fire is just as captivating and un-put-downable as The Hunger Games.