October Wrap-Up and November Goals

October reads

October Wrap-Up

• Finished: 7
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 2,191
• Average rating: 3.71

Another month with a lot of books. The only contemporary fiction, though, was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (4/5 stars), which (despite the high rating) was a bit of a disappointment. I love The Hunger Games, but the prequel did not achieve the same level of excitement as the original trilogy. Click the link to read a longer review of book and what I did and didn’t like about it.

Jane Austen July wrap-up and August hopefuls

Jane Austen July Reads

 

July Wrap-Up

• Finished: 6
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 2,323
• Average rating: 4.5

I had so much fun last month! July was full of Jane Austen and related literature as I participated on Jane Austen July for the first time. Here are short reviews of all the books I read in July, and a quick look forward to the books I’m planning to read in August. All links with * are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Book Title: Pride and Prejudice (*affiliate link)
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: classic
First published: 1813
262 pages
My rating: 5/5

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The Bennet family has five daughters and only a moderate amount of money to share as dowries to them. It is no wonder that Mrs. Bennet’s dearest wish is to see her daughters well married – preferably to men of good fortune. Her second daughter Elizabeth, however, believes in first impressions and is determined not to marry just anyone. So when the rich but extremely proud and disagreeable Mr. Darcy slights her, she knows exactly what to think about him. But appearances can be deceiving, as Elizabeth is forced to acknowledge after Mr. Darcy becomes captivated by her lively manners, bright eyes, and sparkling wit.

It’s odd to write a review of a book I’ve loved ever since I read if for the first time 25 years ago and have read multiple times afterwards. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Jane Austen novel, and although it was not the first Austen novel I read (that honor belongs to Mansfield Park), it was the book that made me binge-read everything else Austen had written. The humor, the wit, the characters, the historical setting, and the world and the people Jane Austen so accurately describes and at times ridicules are all features that made me fall in love with her writing, and Pride and Prejudice is a perfect example of Austen’s style.