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.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

  • Started on: 2011-12-19
  • Finished on: 2011-12-22
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ****-
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

One of the classics that has been on my wish list for a couple of years now is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and a few weeks ago, Sinterklaas brought the book with him for me. This is the first book I have read by Dickens, but of course I know his stories (especially A Christmas Carol) from other adaptions.
In this book we hear the story of Pip, an orphan raised by his sister and her husband. They are poor, and his sister isn’t very nice to Pip. But in his life several things happen that lead him to have great expectations. He meets a scary escaped convict on the marshes, he get called to a strange single lady called Miss Havisham (who I knew from the Thursday Next novels), he gets his apprenticeship as a blacksmith, he gets a great offer, he finds out who is who, and in the end, everything is connected.
Even though the story is flowing from one end to another, and the changes sometimes seem a bit random, I really liked this book. The descriptions were great, as was Pip. He has his flaws, but he knows this and admits this. I couldn’t put this book down, and am glad I finally read it. Four out of five stars.

  • Started on: 2011-12-19
  • Finished on: 2011-12-22
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ****-
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

One of the classics that has been on my wish list for a couple of years now is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and a few weeks ago, Sinterklaas brought the book with him for me. This is the first book I have read by Dickens, but of course I know his stories (especially A Christmas Carol) from other adaptions.
In this book we hear the story of Pip, an orphan raised by his sister and her husband. They are poor, and his sister isn’t very nice to Pip. But in his life several things happen that lead him to have great expectations. He meets a scary escaped convict on the marshes, he get called to a strange single lady called Miss Havisham (who I knew from the Thursday Next novels), he gets his apprenticeship as a blacksmith, he gets a great offer, he finds out who is who, and in the end, everything is connected.
Even though the story is flowing from one end to another, and the changes sometimes seem a bit random, I really liked this book. The descriptions were great, as was Pip. He has his flaws, but he knows this and admits this. I couldn’t put this book down, and am glad I finally read it. Four out of five stars.