56.
Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 368
Genre: Classic
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download on Austen's birthday
Date Completed: July 28, 2012
Rating: ***

Austen's characters have never before inspired such a great sense of loathing.  I detest Willoughby, am repulsed by Lucy and her idiotic sister, and couldn't even enjoy the satire of their brother and sister-in-law in the face of the couple's hideous natures.  The difficulty is that, though the antagonists are so easily detested, the protagonists are not truly sympathetic. I appreciate Miss Dashwood, but am annoyed by Marianne; I cannot forgive the former for her easy forgiveness, and cannot accept the latter's "romance." 

This is one of the rare instances where I have seen a film version of the text before reading it (having watched the BBC miniseries before), so I was relatively familiar with plot points before I even began.  However, I find that I prefer the characters of the film far more than those of the text, perhaps because they are more appealing when one can't hear their thoughts. 


*Side Note* I have never seen a more ridiculous cover for this text.

55. 
Title: Some Like it Hawk
Author: Donna Andrews
Pages: 352
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Preordered
Date Completed: July 20, 2012
Rating: ***

Some of the polish has worn off Donna Andrews's Meg Langslow series, and Some Like it Hawk isn't nearly as engaging as earlier installments.  The excitement over Meg's personal life is largely over, and although she is still perfectly comfortable running her home as a public building (I feel claustrophobic just reading about it), the somewhat enjoyable chaos is merely more of the same.  Many of the gimmicks of earlier novels - such as that damn gorilla suit - have become obnoxious plot devices as opposed to sentimental allusions, and the plot itself is rather dry, save for one major question: will Meg and Michael lose their house?

This is the question that kept me reading through a rather lackluster story, and the resolution of this question is certainly not a centerpiece of the conclusion.  Overall, much of the story felt ... obligatory.  While I've enjoyed the series thus far, I'm not altogether certain I will bother with the next, should Andrews continue the series. 

53. 
Title: Insatiable
Author: Meg Cabot
Pages:
Genre: YA
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: Incomplete June 2012
Rating:

I didn't give up on this book on purpose.  Rather, my library loan ran out, and I wasn't concerned enough to request it again.  Everything in Insatiable has been done before, but Cabot's version certainly isn't the worst that I've read.

54. 
Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 272
Genre: Classic
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free Download
Date Completed:  July 7, 2012
Rating: ****

With my books now packed for the move I'm finally finding time to read some of the things I have downloaded on my Kindle.  Jane Austen's Persuasion is the first that caught my attention, and is pleasant for its charm and comfortable familiarity.  Though I enjoy Austen's satire and dissatisfaction for trivial social pursuits and concerns, the novel as a whole seems less polished than her earlier works.  The narrative style is all Austen, the observations more biting, and many of the characters more realistic and therefore sympathetic.