All Roads Lead to Austen

#32 Book Read in 2012
All Roads Lead to Austen


Amy Smith is a professor who decides to travel for a year through Latin America.  As part of her journey she wants to hold book groups in the different countries she is visiting and discuss some of the works of Jane Austen.  Smith wants to know if Austen's appeal is truly universal--spanning location, the ages and cultural diversity.  This book discusses that, along with some romance along the way, things she learns about herself and other cultures and has lush description for armchair travelers like myself.


I enjoyed Smith's writing style.  She gave good description without being too over the top.  Smith made the people she met along the way seem easy to picture in my head.  The romance part interested me but did not get into the way of the story.  As a huge Jane Austen fan, I was curious too to hear how readers in other cultures would respond to her works.  I found their responses interesting to read.  


This book was a good read and I recommend it.  I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks to review.