Another recent read of mine was The Bronte Project by Jennifer Vandever. It started out great: a doctoral student is searching for the lost love letters of Charlotte Bronte, and loses research funding because of an up-and-coming new professor whose field of study is Princess Diana.

While the novel begins by skewering academia (and having been at the bottom of the academic totem pole both as a grad student and as an adjunct instructor, I found these passages to be absolutely hilarious!), it gradually degenerates and the story gets more and more unbelievable and less humorous. I finished it because I cared about the main character (and let's face it, most of the time I stick things out to the bitter, bitter end because I'm stubborn!).

Fans of the Brontes might or might not enjoy this one...