Jane Austen's Guide to Dating.

Jane Austen's Guide to Dating, the work of the British-born writer Lauren Henderson, 36, leaves the world of rampant rabbits, serial cosmopolitans and toxic bachelors behind, to advise girls on how to snare a man the Regency way.

Undeterred by potential drawbacks - Austen's books tell us nothing about sex, are set in an age whose social mores bear scarcely more relation to downtown Manhattan's than they do to downtown Kabul's, and are novels rather than self-help manuals - Henderson has discovered, at the heart of the oeuvre, 10 principles of dating.

As she puts it: "I think the books are coded instruction manuals - but they can be novels, too. They are about the best way to find someone who's going to be a life partner for you.

"What Austen is about is the continual process of observing the behaviour of people around you. And whether you're country dancing or grinding your bum into someone at a hip-hop club, it comes down to the same fundamental things."

"Dating nowadays," she writes in the opening sentence of her book, "can be like walking through a minefield." And if you need a guide through the minefield, who better than a 19th-century author?

Mine was at a Mobil Mart. Green Mountain, so it's the brand I'd have gotten at the grocery store anyway. But I was in a hurry.

So Jane Austen wrote a secret code book to dating that only she's found out? It sounds like the...Bible code thing once something happens you can go back and find out it was predicted!

(yes this is an extreme simplification of both ideas)

This cracks me up:

In addition to the golden rules, Henderson includes two quizzes to enable you to arrive at a scientific understanding of which Austen heroine you most resemble and which Austen hero your preferred man is.

A handy chart advises you as to your compatibility. Are you an Elinor (sense) or a Marianne (sensibility)? Elizabeth? Grab that Wentworth! Jane? Steer clear of that Henry Crawford!

But one nagging question remains. If Austen really was such a dating genius, how come she died a spinster? "Yes!" says Henderson. "Poor Jane."

I just got a post-election email from T.:

one of the best and most liked soldiers ended up standing on a bomb and needless to say didn't feel much. it has really hurt...i have gone through almost every emotion i think a guy can go through in the last week and i am exhausted. election day left me some hope that i am not going through all this for nothing and that our soldier whom didn't stand a chance that day didn't die for nothing

I'm so glad to hear from him, but I hate this. HATE THIS.

Happy late Birthday Anne! Did you have a good time with your folks?

{{{Lilty}}}

Ack. {{Lilty}}

{{{Lilty}}}

Oh...Polter-Cow got a "jump." and I don't mean porn. That's what the "continued" is. Good for you.