India, June 14 -- Everyone has a few comfort films or comfort books that bring them special joy.

I have a set of comfort books or, perhaps more accurately, a comfort author. She wrote only six major novels in her lifetime but, no matter what I am reading, one of these is almost always open on my Kindle alongside. Since this year marks the 250th birth anniversary of this globally celebrated writer, I'm happy to dedicate this week's column to the peerless Jane Austen.

Most English-speakers are familiar with Austen, but I suspect many know her more through the countless TV and movie adaptations of her works than through her books themselves. And that is a pity.

The six novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Em...