Karen Joy Fowler's latest novel The Jane Austen Book Club is elegant in its simplicity, its vivid and elemental imagery and its unique style of character development. Plus, it's just plain fun for any Austen fan and may even be appealing to people who haven't gotten around to reading Persuasion just yet.

Fowler is a bestselling author with some renown of her own after being named a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist for her novel Sister Noun.

The Jane Austen Book Club, Fowler's fifth novel, is a little lighter than Sister Noun, but it is written just as carefully.

The novel starts with these words, carefully chosen: "We sat in a circle on Jocelyn's screened porch at dusk, drink cold sun tea, surrounded by the smell of her fresh-mowed California lawn."

From the first, we realize that Fowler has not designed this novel to be tasking to her readership. Instead, it's the essence of lazy summer reading, perfect for a hammock or the beach. It even comes complete with a happy ending.

The plot of this novel is barely existent and not really important. Six people — one man, five women — gather once a month to discuss a different Austen book. Each chapter of The Jane Austen Book Club is devoted to one book, with one member leading the discussion. As each member of the club takes a turn, the way they lead the conversation reflects the trials and emotions present in their life at the time.

Sylvia is left alone after her husband of 32 years leaves her. Bernadette is the most unflappable of the group, and she acts a little dotty from time to time. Jocelyn breeds dogs. Then there's Prudie, a French teacher, and Allegra, Sylvia's lesbian daughter. The single man of the group is Grigg, a computer nerd and science fiction fan.

While the group's focus is Austen novels, Fowler's focus is on the interaction of these eclectic characters. With wit, she writes lengthy digressions to describe each character's individual problems and neuroses, which makes them seem like actual people, not just flat characters in a book.

The only disappointing moments in this book come at the resolution of each character's storyline, which just sort of trails off, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions as to the exact circumstances of the conclusion.

After the novel, Fowler includes a series of appendices that make The Jane Austen Book Club ready-made for actual book club reading. Readers will find plot summaries of Austen's novels and discussion questions from the point of view of Fowler's six characters.

The Jane Austen Book Club walks a fine line between chick lit and literature, making it an intelligent lazy-day reading choice.