What I've Been Reading: Dear Mr. Knightley

If you enjoy Jane Austen's writing, then this is a book for you! I finished this book this weekend, and I am still thinking about it, so it is a great book to mention to you! While it has a old-fashioned feel to it in that the main character is infatuated with the writing of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and other literary classic authors, I feel like it is a nice, cozy book to read.  Yes, a book can be cozy.






Also, I loved that it was clean.  It didn't have any foul language and it wasn't sexual in nature.  Even at 30 years old, some books can still make me blush and squirm. It mentioned God quite a bit also.  So much so actually, that I pondered whether it was a Christian book or not.  Once I finished it, I noticed that another book written by this author, Katherine Reay, was listed under the genre of Christian Fiction.  So there's my answer I reckon! I plan to read Lizzy and Jane soon also. 




The book centers on the character Samantha "Sam" Moore, a now-grown orphan who has had a mysterious funding so that she may attend graduate school for journalism.  The only requirement is that while she is in school, she must write letters to the donor, who is going by the pseudo-name Mr. Knightley.  Although Sam was quite uncomfortable with the notion at the beginning, she begins to bare all.  The book takes us through the reasons for her being an orphan, her trying to process how to handle relationships old and new, and the struggles that come with graduate school. 




The setting of the book is Chicago, modern day.  I love reading about the different restaurants featured in the book, and another character in the book is an author.  I hadn't ever really considered it, but the book mentioned that he was in Chicago as he was writing a book, and was going to all of these restaurants for a better sense of his own book characters.




 Reason #327 I should write a novel someday?  I can go eat out, a lot, and call it research for my book.  Done deal.




There was only one chapter of the book that was not done in letter form, the last chapter, and I won't tell you why.  Although I had done some foreshadowing and guessed previously what was going on, the end of the book was still good. 




Since the book mentioned all of these great literary classics such as Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, etc. throughout, the first thing I did when I finished the book was to put all of those books on my Kindle as well.  And luckily enough, most of those are free.
 
If you're looking for an easy read that is clean and pleasant, this is definitely one that fits the bill.