And speaking of Jane Austen-related pain, check this out:


The above is what its publisher describes as a "deliciously naughty updating" of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, making it "the story you love, with the heat turned up to high". Unfortunately, a disgruntled reader review sounds less appealing:

"[The book is] literally Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice word-for-word with several sex scenes and sporadic, unnecessary sentences added mostly in bold. I kid you not. You will pay $7.00 for a few extra unamazing sex scenes and/or sexual dialogue embedded in the original Pride and Prejudice."

Sadly, the second quote has the ring of truth to it, so I won't be buying this sucker. But I confess, I am totally curious: are the sex scenes scattered throughout the book? How does that work? Do Elizabeth and Darcy, say, have sex during her stay at Netherfield, and then resume their previous relationship? I'm really hoping someone (read: Megan) will flip through this at the bookstore and find out for me.

Labels: Jane Austen, Sex, Such wrongness

The fine people at Entertainment Weekly recently put together a list of 24 Classic "Steamy" Books. The list is worth clicking through for the vintage covers alone, but some of the quotes are great, too. Wordcandy staffer Megan was named after the heroine of Steamy Book #15, Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds, which she's never read. (Neither have I, but my mother tells me it was my great-grandmother's favorite book, and the Wikipedia plot summary makes it look horrendously bad.) Anyway, Meg is currently on vacation, but I'm looking forward to showing her the featured McCullough quote the minute she gets back:

"Not, not tonight. On my mouth, Ralph! Kiss my mouth as if we were lovers!"

"Mary, I'm a priest! I can't!"

Heh. Yeah, Meg still hasn't forgiven me for mendaciously assuring her that Kathleen Winsor's 1944 novel Forever Amber (which was inexplicably left off EW's list) was "totally readable", but that's just too good to pass up.

Labels: Classic books, lists, Sex