Pride and Popularity by Jenni James

   Pride and Popularity by Jenni James is the first book in the series of six called “The Austen Diaries,” which are modern retellings of Jane Austen’s books. It is the first published novel by Jenni James and is a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

  Set in Farmington, New Mexico, Pride and Popularity is about Chloe Hart and Taylor Anderson, two high school seniors who hate each other, or rather Chloe hates Taylor and he’s determined to change her mind. Taylor is the stereotypical egocentric jock, a player and the most popular boy in the school, Chloe is not so popular and detests Taylor as much as she loves dancing, which of course makes the book sound very cliché, but it’s not. It’s filled with surprises and some of the characters are not all they’re cracked up to be.

    I suggest that you read Pride and Popularity if you’re looking for a romantic comedy or if you have read Pride and Prejudice and you want to see how it compares. I personally have no idea how well the writer did with the retelling as I have not read Pride and Prejudice but what I do know is that it was a well written book with interesting characters.

   Pride and Popularity is an amusing story that I think most people will enjoy reading as it appeals to all age groups.

I wrote this book review in English a while ago, but with the release of the second book in the series,Northanger Alibi, I thought I'd post this :)

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies by William Golding


A plane crashes on an uninhabited island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. In this, his first novel, William Golding gave the traditional adventure story an ironic, devastating twist. The boys' delicate sense of order fades, and their childish fears are transformed into something deeper and more primitive. Their games take on a horrible significance, and before long the well-behaved party of schoolboys has turned into a tribe of faceless, murderous savages.
 First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is now recognized as a classic, one of the most celebrated of all modern novels.


Fun. Simplistic. Humorous. Light.
All thing that William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies was not.

Gruesome, confusing and, in my opinion, not very enjoyable, Lord of the Flies is not high up on my books-to-recommend list.

That said, the book wasn't all bad. It started off well but then progressively deteriorated. Another good thing in the book is Piggy.

Piggy was one of the only nice characters in the book. Throughout most of the book I felt incredibly sorry for him. It took forever for him to be taken seriously, and by the time he was, it was generally too late.

Ralph started off quite rude, obnoxious and a little full of himself. Ralph did get better through the course of the book though. He knew what was important to get them saved and by the end of the book I was feeling terrible for Ralph; all because of Jack.

As far as book characters go, Jack Merridew is one of the most evil and twisted boys there is. There was no way he was right in the head and to be perfectly honest, I don't think he even wanted saved from the island.

The island seemed like a nice enough place. Or it would be if you added a few adults, shelter, easy food and bathrooms. It was a tropical island with many exotic fruits growing on it and a few pigs running around. With it's great scenery and tranquility it seems like what every modern holiday resort aims for.

I found the ending to the book confusing. It just got a little too fast paced with far fetched ideas. It told you that one of the characters was the Lord of the Flies. What it didn't tell you? What the Lord of the Flies actually was.

Though I didn't enjoy the end of the book, I did like the beginning, and I'm going to give it two of out five stars for that.
I know - I'm very generous.