Amy Smith (1)

Ms. Smith has a brilliant idea - hold bookclub meetings in six different countries in central & south America and read Jane Austen in translation. As a professor who has lots of experience with student reactions to Jane, Ms. Smith wants to see how other cultures react to her writings. This memoir is equal parts Jane and Amy Smith, who is having her own cultural reactions to different countries and relationships and thoughts on such human themes as prejudice, privilege, and family relationships. I really enjoyed it.… (más)

Guyaquil, Ecuador is known as the port of pirates because of French and English raiding starting in the 1600s. Jesuits were expelled from Latin America in the 1700s. Argentinians have a reputation for being the snootiest of Latin Americans.
These are some things I learned from this book. It was a pleasant pastime that combined personal memoir with Austen discussions, the adventure of learning and interacting in a new language, travel and a tacked on bit of romance. Not deep but it kept moving and I can see why the author's students enjoy her classes. I admire her accomplishment of getting her university and/or publisher to pay for the adventure.… (más)

An English professor at a California University, specializing in Jane Austen, decides to travel for a year on her sabbatical in South America teaching Austen and holding book groups on 3 of her books. A very nice travelogue, with the teacher learning a few things along the way. The cultural differences between the countries she went to are interesting, but at the end, it all comes down to Austen's universitality (sp?) of human foibles, failings and realistic characterizations. She even found her Mr. Darcy! Even if you've never read Austen, you'll enjoy this book.… (más)