Paul Auster: Friend of Jane
Novelist Paul Auster (whose books are usually snugged up against Jane Austen’s on the bookstore shelf) thinks Jane Austen is a genius. We concur!
“A strange thing happened to me, proving how personal reading is: when, aged around 20, I read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen, who I consider a genius, I noticed as I read that all the novel’s action was taking place in the house where I grew up. I had transposed everything into my own world, into a familiar setting, all the more easily because Jane Austen is very parsimonious with descriptions.”
That’s a really great observation, and very true; and typical of a novelist to notice it, and not as typical as perhaps it should be to learn from it. 
Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the link!
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That’s why I love him! Really! It’s so nice too look to the shelves and see two writers that I like so much together. And now this: Paul Auster is a friend of Jane. How happy I am!