Sara 's Updates

Sara liked a readstatus

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:57:22 -0700

Sara liked Serena’s status update

Serena wants to read Small Things Like These

Sara is on page 184 of 331 of Martyr!

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:56:12 -0700

Sara is on page 184 of 331 of Martyr!.

Sara liked a readstatus

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 05:37:32 -0700

Sara liked Nima’s status update

Nima wants to read JAJ: A Haida Manga

Sara liked a readstatus

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 05:37:31 -0700

Sara liked Rachel’s status update

Rachel wants to read The Lion Women of Tehran

Sara liked a readstatus

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 05:37:21 -0700

Sara liked Kate’s status update

Kate Fahrner is currently reading The Bee Sting

Sara started reading 'Martyr!'

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:05:39 -0700

Sara started reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Sara added 'Deep End'

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:10:47 -0700

Sara gave 2 stars to Deep End (Kindle Edition) by Ali Hazelwood
bookshelves: contemporary, romance
Didn't really like any of the characters

At least this book confirms my theory that the author believes that everyone wants hetero romances where the big strong looming terse man dominates the woman.

Sara added 'Pride and Prejudice'

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:09:55 -0700

Sara gave 5 stars to Pride and Prejudice (Paperback) by Jane Austen

Sara added 'Emma'

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:08:57 -0700

Sara gave 4 stars to Emma (Paperback) by Jane Austen
bookshelves: classic, funny, romance, quiet, character-driven
I marked it as read in 2020, but maybe I'd thought I'd read it? Or was basing it on Clueless or the Gwyneth Paltrow movie? Because I don't think I actually read it until this year.

In some ways the book felt quite claustrophobic, with the scope limited to about 10-15 characters in a small village. For the most part they are forced to be each other's society, sometimes on a daily basis. Almost all the characters are annoyed by other characters, or at least judgmental towards them so sometimes I wondered if Sartre's No Exit was perhaps modeled on this book.

I do confess to skimming part of Miss Bates' pages long dialogues where she recounted(sometimes repeatedly) endless minutiae. Austen certainly did an amazing job portraying such a character type, but after the first few times I wish she had done more telling than showing because the Bates character was really tedious.

The biggest surprise for me in this book was Jane Fairfax. I had no memory of this character from the screen adaptations. I thought it was really interesting how Emma and Jane's relationship changed over time, and to me was the most powerful part of the whole book. In some ways their friendship somewhat echoes the Lizzie/Darcy dynamic so I thought that was interesting.

I also thought the dynamics of gender and status were very interesting though of course often frustrating.

Sara added 'Shy Creatures'

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:55:00 -0700

Sara gave 5 stars to Shy Creatures (Hardcover) by Clare Chambers
bookshelves: historical-fic, literary, psychological
It's a difficult combination for a book to be warm and uplifting but also contain some distressing plot elements. I think this would be a great book club book.