Jogging with Jane

Earlier in the week I was searching for on-line reviews of the latest BBC adaptation of Mansfield Park that was broadcasted on Sunday night. I'm astonished by the vast number of websites and blogs dedicated to sweet, sweet, Jane. There are individuals who blog about Jane EVERY DAY!

A few of my favorites I discovered were Jane Austen Quote of the Day; Austen-tatious;
Jane Austen Today, and Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.

On one of these sites I found an interesting review of Lori Smith’s A Walk with Jane: A Journey into Adventure, Love and Faith (which sounds a bit like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray and Love with an Austen twist). Here’s part of the review:

"This memoir of love and travel, food and faith will satisfy. Austen-lover and acclaimed singles writer Lori Smith weaves her own romance and personality into analysis of Austen's characters and biographical information on Austen's rarely discussed spirituality. In these eloquent musings on Smith's journey to London, Derbyshire, and other key locations in Austen's life and works, Austen's 19th-century novels come alive in ways no silver-screen rendition has ever accomplished."

And Ms. Smith is hardly the only one to pen an Austen walking guide. There is also A Rambling Fancy by Caroline Sanderson and In the Steps of Jane Austen by Anne Marie Edwards.

I LOVE the idea of literary travel, however enough of the rambling, strolling and walking. Readers, let’s pick up the pace!! I’ve often fantasized about working with Marathon Tours in order to create some sort of Running and Reading Tour Group. Our trip to the South of England could be called Jogging with Jane, or for those hard-core literary athletes, Intervals and Hills at Pemberley.

Unfortunatley there are no plans to head over to the UK this weekend, but I will be travelling up North for a mother/daughter ski weekend with my 10 year-old, Hannah. Yikes - this means I have to run the long run on Monday (alone and after Super Bowl Sunday!) That will most certainly be a slow, long, run.