I'm a huge Jane Austen fan. I haven't been that impressed with any of the adaptations I've seen, other than BBC's Pride and Prejudice from 1995 (with Colin Firth), but the books are staple reading for me. The romance in those books is actually pretty much a side plot, to my mind. Jane Austen's own opinion is expressed by Charlotte Lucas in P&P: "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance" - I like that view because it tallies with my own experience and opinion. And at least some of the people in Austen's books have a sense of humour - Henry Tilney for instance, and Elizabeth Bennet - and I like that.

The only Brontë book I've read is Jane Eyre, and I don't like it very much, I'm afraid. I'm not a big fan of Victorian novels in general, though Dickens and Trollope are exceptions to the rule. Oh, and Elizabeth Gaskell, too.

So many books, so little time. I have more than fifty books on my "to read" list right now.