If you’re a reader and have a little streak of voyeurism in you, you might want to check out LibraryThing.  LibraryThing, a website that allows users to share the contents of their libraries online, has a group project called “I See Dead People’s Books” containing the libraries of people of historical and literary significance from Marilyn Monroe to Ernest Hemingway.

My initial thoughts?  Samuel Johnson spoke a lot more languages than I do. Marie Antoinette, on the other hand, had a book entitled “Les loisirs d’une jeune personne raisonnable et sensible.”  Did she actually read this book?  Some of these people appear to have been torturing themselves, but possibly that’s what you have to do for great art.  For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a copy of Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy.”  Dreiser, whee!  (I will spare you my thoughts on the subject of “Sister Carrie.”)  On the other hand, Dreiser had a copy of Fitzgerald’s “The Beautiful and the Damned,” so I guess that’s only fair.

New libraries are still in the process of being posted, so check back for your favorites!

Well, well.  Look who got a modern-day medium makeover:

That would be perennial saint of smart, sassy gals everywhere, Miss Eliza Bennet.  Apparently Marvel Comics has created a comic book adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (due for April 1st release), and the awkward 12 year old who spent numerous afternoons pouring over the pages of this classic and idolizing Lizze, dreaming of Mr. Darcy and who still lives deep inside me somewhere (really – do we ever outgrow the awkward years?) is beyond excited.

According to writer/adapter Nancy Butler:

This is one of Marvel’s first attempts to woo a mostly female readership, and if all goes well, you might be looking forward to more romance-driven Marvel Illustrated books. The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Sheik, Jane Eyre, The Curse of Capistrano (Zorro) and Phantom of the Opera have all been discussed as possibilities. And, of course, other
books in the Austen canon, as well. So if you’d like to see more romantic classics done as illustrated comics, please give Pride and Prejudice a try.

While i have a feeling one of my fellow Femmes (*coughKaicough*) is going to take exception to the thought that comics can only lure female fans through adapting canon classics containing romantic plotlines, I think on the whole it’s pretty awesome that entire generation of young women (and young men!) will get to discover the adventures of Lizze and co. in new and exciting ways.

For more illustration previews, go here.

Author quote via Jane Austen Today.