All Roads Lead to Austen

So, you all know I have this ongoing love affair with all things Jane. This time I even read a non-fiction book to prove it (gasp!).

With a suitcase full of Jane Austen novels en español, Amy Elizabeth Smith set off on a yearlong Latin American adventure: a traveling book club with Jane. In six unique, unforgettable countries, she gathered book-loving new friends— taxi drivers and teachers, poets and politicians— to read Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice.

Whether sharing rooster beer with Guatemalans, joining the crowd at a Mexican boxing match, feeding a horde of tame iguanas with Ecuadorean children, or tangling with argumentative booksellers in Argentina, Amy came to learn what Austen knew all along: that we're not always speaking the same language— even when we're speaking the same language.

But with true Austen instinct, she could recognize when, unexpectedly, she'd found her own Señor Darcy.

All Roads Lead to Austen celebrates the best of what we love about books and revels in the pleasure of sharing a good book— with good friends

This non-fiction book reads like fiction which is probably why I liked it so very much. I loved learning about new countries, different cultures and how Jane translates across language, culture and time barriers. Amy meets so many colorful people on her journey across six countries not to mention boxes full of books. I gained new insight to some of my favorite stories and characters and started applying the Bingley/Darcy test to the new romance book I'm reading. Guess what? It worked! It's probably a good idea to apply it to my own writing!

If you love Jane and travel and a good romance thrown into the mix, buckle su cinturon (that's seat belt) and go for a ride through Latin America with Amy! I'll be reading this one again.

Do you have a good non-fiction book you love?