Did Jane Austen die of arsenic poisoning? Was Pablo Neruda given a lethal injection by agents of general Augusto Pinochet? Who put that funny looking shirt on Ronnie Devoe?

That a Muslim man, regardless of his fortune, must be in want of a nine-year-old virgin wife.¹ READ MORE

We're probably a little late to this, but it's too good not to share: Fran Lebowitz discusses Jane Austen. [Via]

A British medical researcher has put forth a new theory on the disease that claimed Jane Austen's life. While previous speculation centered around Addison's disease or lymphoma, "Katherine White of the Addison's Disease Self Help Group has written an article for the British Medical Journal's Medical Humanities magazine in which she says that Austen probably died of tuberculosis caught from cattle." This postulation is actually borne out if one reads letters Austen sent to her family at the time, as well as the original ending of Sense and Sensibility, which was changed because it was thought to be too bleak. READ MORE

Ooh, you know what opens tomorrow at the Morgan Library? The exhibition of Jane Austen's letters! See you there, yo.