Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Book Discovery

I know many of you heard of and even read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES by Seth Grahame-Smith and using text from Jane Austen's original. It is a New York Times best-seller!

Well I have to admit that even though I was supposed to read it for book club, and it sounds interesting to me and an entertaining book, I never got around to reading it. I heard it was humorous and maybe a bit disturbing in the zombie violence.

However, I was browsing a new book list the other day and discovered another book in the Jane Austen monster spin offs. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS by Ben H. Winters and text from Jane Austen again.

Summary:
From the publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

With a new author I wonder how this one will be accepted and how it reads. If anyone has a chance to read it let me know! It is going to be on my TBR pile for now.

6 comments:

Ratliffs said...

I think I like my Jane Austen just the way it is. :) But I'd be curious to see what you thought.

Robyn Russell said...

I saw this on the bookshelf recently, too. I'm still marveling at the guts it must take to write and query such a bold, ridiculous idea. (And I mean that in the best possible way.) I haven't read either book, but it sounds like the kind of thing that's so unique it's either going to be great or absolutely terrible. Story ideas like this encourage me do be brave and not dismiss my own wild ideas. Who knows what might come of them?

Aubrey said...

I totally agree Robyn! The reviews I have read for P&P and Zombies have been mixed. People either loved it and thought it was hilarious or it was too off-beat for them. I think I might enjoy them if I don't take them too seriously!

It really is fun to see what people do with books! I read a sequel to Macbeth that was actually really good, and I was kind of dreading it because it too sounded so crazy to try to add to Shakespeare's world!

Jena said...

I have been following Quirk Classics on Facebook for awhile, I saw a trailer for this book a few months ago, it was a little gruesome, just a little, and I have to admit, I loved it!

McKay read P&P&Z and loved it. He said at times it was a little crude and that the crudeness was not needed. It is still in my TBR list until I have time for it.

Jena said...

Oh, and another one I want to read:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim: Mark Twain's Classic with Crazy Zombie Goodness

Aubrey said...

Thanks for the heads up on the Mark Twain!