This Week: Rainy Day Reads

Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy is one of her most charming works. Like many of her Regency Romances, the novel features a most charming and beautiful heroine. Other characters include the sexy leading man, his uptight fiance, the gambling dandy, and the nervous aunt. When cousin Sophy visits London their lives all become a bit less monotonous. As Heyer writes, you will discover that Sophy is a "most shocking lady indeed!" She drives her own carriage through London's most stylish avenues! What else is she capable of? Check-out Heyer's rich and sweeping novel.

This collection of short stories selected from The New Yorker offers some of the best and biggest chuckles. Where else can you catch Emily Dickenson in the act of keying a car? Steve Martin advises on how to cure writer's block. Woody Allen kidnapps the grumpy Emma Bovary. Fierce Pajamas deserves a place on every bedside table.

William Thackeray's Vanity Fair is an often overlooked classic. The devious and manipulative Rebecca Sharp is unlike any heroine you'll find in an Austen or Bronte novel. No novel better exposes the hypocrisy of 19th-century British society. High fashion and a quick story add to its charm.