Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Ok, to be completely honest, I was expecting to absolutely hate this book! I know, it sounds terrible, not to mention super 'Judging book by cover', but I only knew a few things about it. 1 - it was written very long ago, I'm not the biggest fan of older books, so this wasn't a good sign for me. 2 - it was solely a romance. I enjoy romantic comedies, I enjoy romantic mysteries, but I've never been the biggest fan of straight romances before. And 3 - there was a six hour movie based on this book. SIX HOURS! I'm sorry, but I couldn't imagine how long and tedious a book had to be to have a six hour movie based off of it!

I was quickly shown that all of these facts, though they seemed terrible, weren't as bad as they seemed and that the 3rd fact wasn't true at all! The first thing I noticed about Pride and Prejudice was the ease with which I read it. Jane Austen has a way of writing that just lets everything flow. Another plus to this book:: Short Chapters! I love when I always have an easy stopping point, because then I could read the book in times where I don't have too much time.

I think that this book is hilarious. You have the couple that basically experience hate at first sight. You also have the couple who experience love at first sight. You have the man desperate to marry, and also the woman desperate to marry. I believe that Jane Austen did an excellent job of expressing how each gender would approach this sort of situation. Provided, this book was written a while ago, so the manner of dating is slightly different. Well, I suppose dating isn't even the correct term, courting... or just straight engagement, would be the more appropriate term.

Of course, in the end, everyone is happy.... sort of. But there is just a magnificent road to happiness. I love how Jane Austen really allowed some people to be so obviously pompous, or such a terrible brat! The significantly unique personalities of each character made the novel even more enjoyable! At first it was hard to keep the characters straight, but after you get into the book, you begin to distinguish which Miss Bennet is being referred to.

Time for the grading! This book was just magnificent. And my friends told me it wasn't even one of Jane Austen's best! The characters are unique, the plot is entertaining, and the ending ties the entire book together! Obviously a 5 OUT OF 5 STARS!

Reading Next:: Tales of the South Pacific by James A Michener

The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow.

Wow - did this book take me long enough to read?! I have to admit that I thought of quitting reading it, but in the end, after finishing the book, I am so happy to have read it. This book was written in 1949, so the writing is much different from the modern writing that I was raised on. One of the things that drove me nuts at first was that the book seemed to have no antagonist, except perhaps Augie's life. However, in hindsight I realize that Augie had multiple different antagonists that he was constantly trying to overcome, and without one the rest of the book would have been completely different.

So, in this book we follow Mr. Augie March, who is the narrator of the book. One of the interesting things in this book is you never really know how old Augie is, so you have no idea how long of a life it's spanning. There are often times where an undetermined amount of time is spanned, making the age of the main character even more unpredictable. Augie starts off in a hard life, and really, it never quite gets better.

Augie's family consists of his mother, who we never know beyond the name Mama, and his two brothers, Simon and Georgie. We quickly learn that Simon is some sort of business-minded overachiever and Georgie has some sort of mental disability. Also living with them is Grandma Lausch, who isn't actually their Grandmother, but is never referred to in any other way.

Augie goes through many trials throughout the book, and many love interests. Actually, often his trials are closely connected to the women. Of course, his rambunctious high school friends also help land him in jail a few times. We follow Augie through many job attempts, college, a giant adventure through Mexico, and through war (they never actually tell us what war though).

The writing of this book is great, though it seemed rather crude for the time it was written. There is quite a few cussing and some sex scenes, though these are easily skimmed through since there is no importance in these scenes. Often there are times where you wonder why a particular scene is in the book, even til the end, since it doesn't change the outcome of the book. I believe that some scenes could be done without changing the outcome, but I do love the ability to look back on the book and find the humor in the adventures that Augie has experienced.

So, hard to read, but great to reflect on. A few humorous times in the book, and a bunch of problems for our main character. I, personally (remember all ratings are purely opinionated), give this book 3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS.

Reading Next:: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen