Jane Austen & You Help The Unlucky In Love

"... a pithy book of concrete advice and strategies that show how honesty, self-awareness, and forthrightness do win the right man and weed out the losers, playboys, and toxic flirts. Remember, falling in love should be easy." -Lauren Henderson

Well hopefully last Sunday's BBC Mansfield Park will have been the worst installment of the Jane Austen marathon on PBS, Simply Jane (what a dream come true). Something about it was just off, too hurried and bland. Oh well. We have so much more to look forward to as it won't be ending until March. They even thew in a few others such as one of my all time favorites Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Anyway, I came across a book recently that turned out to be the perfect subtle gift. Sadly in cruel NYC it is too easy to know someone unlucky in love, wistful, with a stagnant love life but you don't want to interject yourself too much or make them feel as if they're going about things all the wrong way (even if they are).

So here comes Jane Austen to the rescue, yes Jane, in a positively sweet yet insightful book geared towards women entitled, Jane Austen's Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson (Hyperion). How about buying a TV Guide, tagging the Sunday page and passing it along with Henderson's book or for those without TV, buy a few Jane Austen BBC movies on DVD or Blue Ray and bundle them with the book? Tie a red ribbon around everything for the romantic old love letters look.

"...the fact you should show and say you like someone (if you really do), why play games or hope the other person will make the 1st move..."

Really Henderson's book is simple and superb, with the main sage advice coming from the fact you should show and say you like someone (if you really do)... yes she had real work cut out for her trying to do damage control from the game playing Rules but with Jane, she does pretty well. Best of all this book is actually very Cliff Notes in the way it brings you up to speed on all of Jane's novels and makes the perfect companion to the BBC movies. The quiz's are pretty novel as well, such as, "Which Jane Austen Character Are You?". Oppss that wasn't supposed to be a pun, really, it just came out that way.

Up next in the US, 3 weeks of Pride and Prejudice on PBS, Sunday's 9 EST (check your local listings for times).

Also Read:
- DIY Old Love Letter - Inspiration Bright Star