Sara's reading log

I am a book hoarder and reader. My main genre is SF, but I also love magic realism, fantasy and general fiction. Favorite authors are Iain M. Banks, Ursula K. LeGuin, Haruki Murakami, José Saramago, Isaac Asimov, Ben Aaronovitch and more. My rating system is based on five stars. I rate books based on my expectations and what a books aims to be. This means that the brilliant 'Fahrenheit 451' gets five stars because I thought it would be good, people said it was good, and it was good, but 'A Closed and Common Orbit' also gets five stars because in its series, in its style, I really enjoyed it and was not disappointed.

Emma by Jane Austen

  • Started on: 2011-10-25
  • Finished on: 2011-10-28
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ***–
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

After reading all that modern and science fiction recently I felt it was time again for a classic. I chose Emma by Jane Austen because I loved her humor in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Emma is an English girl, rich and smart, pretty independent for her time (early nineteenth century) and a matchmaker. After her governess marries she finds a new friend, Harriet, and because nobody knows Harriet’s lineage, Emma makes it her task to have her marry well. What follows is a long story of mistaken love and looks. We are introduced to numerous men, some very eligible bachelors, some wiser older men.
Jane Austen herself calls Emma “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”, and at first I had to agree. She sticks her nose in everyone’s love life, always thinks she knows best, and is pretty cocky. But slowly she sees the error in her ways and what it does to others, and then the role of the unlikable character shifts to a new lady in town. I didn’t like this book as much as the other two I read, but it was still pretty good. Three out of five stars.

  • Started on: 2011-10-25
  • Finished on: 2011-10-28
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ***–
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

After reading all that modern and science fiction recently I felt it was time again for a classic. I chose Emma by Jane Austen because I loved her humor in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Emma is an English girl, rich and smart, pretty independent for her time (early nineteenth century) and a matchmaker. After her governess marries she finds a new friend, Harriet, and because nobody knows Harriet’s lineage, Emma makes it her task to have her marry well. What follows is a long story of mistaken love and looks. We are introduced to numerous men, some very eligible bachelors, some wiser older men.
Jane Austen herself calls Emma “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”, and at first I had to agree. She sticks her nose in everyone’s love life, always thinks she knows best, and is pretty cocky. But slowly she sees the error in her ways and what it does to others, and then the role of the unlikable character shifts to a new lady in town. I didn’t like this book as much as the other two I read, but it was still pretty good. Three out of five stars.