Happy 200th Birthday Pride and Prejudice!

Dear Miss Austen,

Thank you so much for Pride and Prejudice! It's the first book of yours that I've read, and the book that made me fall in love with your works. I bought a cheap green Penguin copy on a family trip to Kuala Lumpur  and I probably spent more time reading that actually enjoying the sites (don't worry, we go there quite often). And when I got back to Singapore, I was distraught when I lost it one day on the way to school. It's one of the only two books that I've gotten upset over losing.

Well, at least this feeling went away when I bought an exact same copy.

I know Pride and Prejudice must be the favourite of many people (and rightly so), so I don't dare claim that I'm your biggest fan. I will say that I love Pride and Prejudice, and that I read it over and over again.

Love,
Eustacia

And that's my love letter to Jane Austen! This is part of the Pride and Prejudice 200th Anniversary blog hop, hosted by Alyssa Goodnight and Stiletto Storytime. You can find out more, and a list of participants here.

In addition, I have something else to contribute! While I can't narrow down my one favourite quote from Pride and Prejudice (I might as well quote the whole book), I did make one quote picture by picking a random quote an a (hopefully) matching photo that I took. Enjoy!

Book Blogger Hop #1

As always, I'm not much of a meme person, but I am very intrigued by this week's question. Plus, I like the ethics behind this meme. So, this week's question is:

How do you handle the writing of a negative review?

Well, honestly, I try my best not to write negative reviews. I'm well aware of my biases, so I tend to stay away from books that I think I won't like. But since I've been getting more review copies to read (thank you NetGalley), I've also encountered more books whose blurb's and my expectations don't meet. In this case, I'd rather decline to review. If I'm getting a free copy, I don't feel good writing a negative review, so if I can't write a nice review, I'd rather not write anything at all.

There was this one time, however, where the book was sent from the author. In this case, I emailed him once I realised I couldn't write a good review and told him my reasons. Since I'd previously agreed to review the book, I asked him if he still wanted me to do so (but I won't write a nice review when I can't). Thankfully, he understood my position and let me back out.

But if it's a book I bought/borrowed, all bets are off. I may or may not write a review, depending on how infuriated I am with the book itself (and it's lack of logic/excessive swearing/etc).

Hmm... what about you? Do you prefer not to write negative reviews too?