kininarimasu!

Continuing on with Harry P, I just finished the fourth book and would like to proceed to the fifth one as soon as possible. But before that, this post!

Some digital retro goodness

I'm not your bro

I want to put up a small series of posts about my thoughts on the Harry Potter series, since I'm rereading them!

Bought this on a whim just because!

I know I've already put up one short post about reading them in the past, but I only got to about the middle of the fifth book before getting distracted (again). But now, I want to pause every book or so and give a little more insight about some things I've noticed.

It's been more than fifteen years since I borrowed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (yes, the British version) from my then best friend in sixth grade. I've since then fallen madly in love with the series. I mean, who hasn't? And what book lover hasn't read the series yet? This could very well be considered a classic. The magic never wears off.

But when I was reading Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, even when I know what's going to happen, it gave me a different sort of feeling, like browsing through an old photograph album of the most obscure, yet memorable parts of my life. I found myself thinking, Oh yeah, that happened!

It was like reminiscing with a childhood friend who remembered everything while you didn't. Yet with every memory she brought up, you found yourself living in that particular situation, clear as day.

Then there's also the movie stigma. The movies were all modified and different from the books (of course), and after seeing all of them, you can't help but picture the book as it went on in the movies, with Daniel Radcliffe as Harry and my long love Tom Felton as Draco (yes, I fell in love at first premiere with Tom). I also remembered scenes that should have been there, or weren't supposed to be there at all.

I've also realized, that after reading the whole series, reading it again raised some questions in me, but also answered some that confused me the first time I read them.

So like my Divergent post, I will just randomly talk about them, in no particular order, I'll lay them out as the come to mind.

When Harry confronted Quirell below the trapdoor with the Mirror of Erised, I can't help but think, the menace from Voldemort wasn't that prominent yet. I mean, if I were Voldy, as evil as he is, and I saw face to face the person who caused my downfall, I would try to kill them as quickly as I can, then try to regain my power. I mean, he could possibly thwart me again, so why not kill him ASAP? That's probably just me and my thirst for revenge.

I can't help but notice the shortness of the first two books, compared to the intricate details of Goblet of Fire and beyond. I could've finished both in a day, if it wasn't for work. The story was quickly jumping from term to term, with not much activity in each. The ambiance of the books weren't as dark as the last of the series.

I wasn't as scared to read Chamber of Secrets as I used to. I avoided reading it in the dead of night because for some reason it creeped me out, but now I wasn't anymore. 

Hellz yeah

After knowing the different dark curses and spells that have spread throughout the course of the seven books, it occurs to me now that the enchantments guarding the stone was pretty lame. I mean, three eleven year olds got past all of them, how can that prevent the most cunning, most evil wizard of the century? Anyone (in the wizarding world at least, apart from squibs) can conjure flames to kill a plant, use Accio to get the key for the door, even a muggle can win a chess game, kill a troll or Fluffy with Avada Kedavra, and solve a riddle. It didn't need all that. The mirror alone, I bet, was enough to conceal the stone. Being sucked in forever at a vault in Gringotts is scarier, I think.

Lockhart was really annoying.

I think Oliver Wood should have gotten more mention (and more attention) in the forthcoming books. I nearly forgot about him.

Such a keeper.

I've always wondered where the Gryffindor shower rooms were. The one and only time a shower was mentioned was in Goblet of Fire. Have they not been keeping up with their hygiene on other times???

When Ron and Harry were driving the flying car to Hogwarts, I never realized what a high altitude they were flying in. Wouldn't it have been hard to breathe above the clouds? And that's at least an 8 hour ride if the Hogwarts Express leaves at 11 and arrives around dinnertime at the castle.

It makes me wonder how it's like to live in a co-ed dormitory 24/7. To see how your classmates live, have your laundry done, not to cook, stuff like that. But of course, the important question is, I wonder how many kids have done it in the Room of Requirement. Maybe it'll look like the Red Room of Pain when they do get in *wiggle eyebrows*

I've been thinking how the basilisk was able to attack all of those students. I mean, it's not exactly a small snake, right? And it was staying inside the plumbing, but it's not like the pipes were exposed, nor would I think there are tree trunk sized holes gaping along the school walls. The attacked students mentioned seeing a pair of big yellow eyes, so the snake can't just be looking through a keyhole. If Ginny was doing the attacking by controlling the snake, how the fuck did she do it?

But then again I forgot it's the wizarding world, so one can just simply say 'It's magic!'

So yes, so far these things came to mind after finishing the second book. The first two were fairly short reads, and it didn't have much scenarios in it, so it didn't pose much questions. But reading them again is very fun and anyone who's loved them before will surely love them again!

I'm a quarter into the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is one of my favorites in the series, so I'll be talking about that in the coming post! :D

Edit: I also forgot to include pictures of the books. The US editions are better than the UK ones, imo

I know, I know, this is one of those popular series that don't really need another review on the internet.

Everyone's been on the Divergent bandwagon, and two movies have already been released, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago did I start to read the series after my coworker kept on raving about it, telling me to read the damn thing.

Who hasn't read or even heard about the series yet? Gone are the days of wizards (sob) and vampires (thank god), and have since then been replaced by the dystopian genre.

But I did promise myself (and for this blog) to talk about the books I have been reading. And instead of talking about this like my other reviews, why don't I just go straight into what I think about all three books? (Warning: spoilers for those who haven't read them yet). I'll be talking about them in general, and not sequentially. They may be all over the place.

First off, I like Roth's writing. It's easy to read, no big words that try too hard and nobody understands, and the characters speak like any other teen would *cough* John Green *cough*. You could be someone who loves to read, or just happily familiarizing yourself with the trend that's why you picked up the book, and it still wouldn't be such a bore coz you understand half the shit the characters are trying to say. Kudos to you, Roth.

That being said, there seemed to be a lot of fan service in terms of Tris and Four's relationship. Like, wow, that escalated quickly. Seriously. Not even a little flirting? Stolen glances, secret memos, playing hard-to-get? There were hints but it didn't really give me that *giddy* feeling of a budding new romance. It was just bleh. Then they wouldn't stop eating each other's faces.

And I know that the book is PG-13, but she still included a sex scene. A lame one at that. Bitin. If you're bold enough to hint it, go all the way. Pun intended.

I liked Christina's character. I can see myself in her sometimes. Reckless, being blunt more than what the situation calls for, holding grudges. I liked how Roth built her character. Although after watching the first movie, I can't help but picture her as Zoe Kravitz. But Kravitz is short and Christina's supposed to be tall. I can't seem to stretch her in my imagination.

The whole genetic reasoning as the cause of all this didn't sell for me. It was a little bit far-fetched to be the cause of a human experiment, let alone be a solution to problems across a whole country. But hey, what do I know about dystopian America? I live in Canada.

In terms of suspense, it wasn't really that much of a page-turner for me. I was able to put the book down. It holds my interest long enough that I keep reading it when I have nothing to do, but it doesn't make me seek out the rest of the story. I found myself playing Candy Crush Soda instead of reading it on the train sometimes.

But as much as there were characters all over the place, the author somehow manages to build each one of them enough to gain some significance in the story, without really taking the essence away from the protagonists. It wasn't all about Tris and Four. Yes, in the first two books, it was Tris talking, but the myriad of characters were still introduced and explained in detail. It didn't make me confuzzled, so that was good.

Did I cry at the end? It made me a bit glassy-eyed, but I didn't love Tris enough to mourn her death (spoiler!) She's still Shailene Woodley in my mind, and I see her as just another actress. I'm unattached, even to Tris. I don't know why, but I just didn't connect with her, no matter how good her character buildup was. Sorry.

I haven't watched the second movie, but I heard it wasn't that great. I've seen the first one, and it would have been perfect, seeing as they've stuck to every aspect of the movie as much as possible, but the ENDING ruined it for me. Why did she have to throw a knife at Jeannine? That wasn't in the book! Not that I'm being a book purist, but that was just unnecessary! Hollywood being Hollywood again!

I liked the first book best. The second bored me a little bit, and the third only got interesting (for me) on the last few chapters.

I love Maggie Q and I'm so pleased she was cast as Tori. And watching the movie made me want to get another tattoo.


The gist: 7/10

Overall, the series was just okay, but with excellent character buildup. I prefer Hunger Games better, and of course, Steelheart, when it comes to dystopian. I've had the books sitting on my dresser  for a year begging to be read, until I finally gave in. I'm not disappointed, but I'm not raving like a fangirl either.

Here it is! After more than a year of waiting for the second installment, it. Is. Finally. Here!

For those unfamiliar with the series, it's better known as the Reckoners trilogy. The first book, titled Steelheart, came out September 2013, and Firefight came out January of this year. You can read my review of Steelheart here so you can join in on the epic (pun intended) journey that it is.

Let me just say first off that I liked the first book better. That is not to say that this book is a complete letdown.

To pick up where Steelheart left off, David goes with the Reckoners to pursue fish just as big as Steelheart, after his successful assassination (spoiler!). David was left with this big void that Steelheart used to fill. And now that he's gone, he's doing what he's been used to doing best: pursuing and studying epics, and plotting ways to kill them. And possibly finding Megan in the process.

The Reckoners' modus operandi this time is to kill Regalia, a high epic with the power to control water, who is currently ruling over Babylon Restored a.k.a Babilar f.k.a (formerly known as) New York, NY. 

You won't get your usual characters in here, but the main ones, Prof, Tia, and David are in it, of course. They set off to a new base with a completely different theme. Not to mention, the portrayal of Babilar has such a stark difference compared to Newcago. Images of Pandora (the Avatar world) meets civilization pops to mind whenever glowing neon graffiti are mentioned.

So glow. Much color.

Story-wise, the bulk of the middle of the book is mostly about background stories, running around Babilar, and not a lot of action compared to the first book. It's not the same whirlwind ride as before, although, of course, like the first one, the action is always packed at the very last chapter. I'm beginning to think that's just Sanderson's style. It hooks me. I like it. But there's more tactic and planning involved since they were dealing with an epic that they didn't know how to locate.

Regalia's powers (one of them) is like an all-seeing mirror on the wall, except that it's any surface of water. What makes this interesting? Babilar is a flooded city. She basically can see anything as long as there's a pool of water around. Interesting. Another thing that makes Babilar really fascinating is this mysterious epic called Dawnslight that people seem to worship. It's weird, but the one who's behind Dawnslight is even weirder.

David gets a little frustrating in the book, his judgments clouded by his love for Megan. I keep forgetting that's he's still this lovestruck teenager, and teenagers often do stupid things in the name of 'love'. There was this whole trust issue throughout the book, since, knowing what happened last time, is she really telling the truth or is she just acting under Regalia's orders? Sometimes I wanted to punch David.

Also, we get to see Prof (still think of him as a slightly younger Morgan Freeman) using more of his powers, which means we also see more of his temper. A lot more is revealed about him and his connections to the other characters in the story. And I have this feeling the next book might revolve more around him. Just a feeling.

A little tidbit about Calamity is also revealed, and, unsurprisingly, that is the title of the next book. When Calamity was mentioned, I stood upright and couldn't stop reading (the middle of the book stretched out for a whole week for me).

Overall, it's a nice second book, lots of info, epic weaknesses, previous lives. It dragged on a little bit, until you get to the end that was a CLIFFHANGER. I could almost just picture this as a movie, and I bet it would make all the viewers ask for more. Just get this on as a movie, please!

The gist: 8.5/10

A bit of a lower score because I didn't find it as big of a page-turner as the previous one, but I still liked it all the same. It's like the pickled ginger you eat after having a piece of sushi: cleanse your palette for the next bite.

It's been a while since my last book review, just like it's been a while since I've been wanting to finish this book.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, I think this book would appeal to you very much. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of similarities between this and Harry Potter, although their general "feel" couldn't be any more different.

The Name of the Wind focuses on the early life of Kote (real name Kvothe which I don't know how to pronounce), an innkeeper at a place called the Waystone Inn. It takes place in a fictional, sort of ancient time, in a world unlike our own.

The book starts off on dark times, filled with demons and magic that people are afraid to tinker with. Kote is the mysterious innkeeper in a small, rural area, where no one knows anything of his past. He keeps to himself and doesn't meddle with townsfolk, and just prefers to tend to his humble inn.

Although all around him, people are talking about legends and deeds of an infamous man named--you guessed it-- Kvothe.

Details about what he has done in his past remain vague. According to hearsay, he is a legend. On the back of the cover of the book it says:

My name is Kvothe

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

He tells his own story in his voice. Straight from the horse's mouth. Legends as he has played them out.

Kvothe was a gifted child. He could remember anything and everything he was taught, learns something in a fraction of the time most adults need to know things. Sometimes, those kinds of kids turn out to be the most dangerous adults.

The most disappointing part of the book was that it was not the complete story. It only goes to so far as to half of his misadventures. It's a real cliffhanger, and if the second book is as much of a cliffhanger as this one, then I won't know what to do with myself. Because apparently it's a trilogy and there have only been two books so far. Sigh.

As far as similarities to Harry Potter goes, I can name a few things:

They are both orphans. Killed by some sort of evil just for kicks, with them being the only survivor. Harry's parents were killed by Voldy, and Kvothe's travelling Ruh family were all killed by the Chandrian, a group of immortal 'demons', I guess you could say, because they're not really human.

The University could very well be compared to Hogwarts, a school for learning magic, or sygaldry and sympathy and lots of other things in Kvothe's world. But Hogwarts is a little more complicated and more magical, and the University just screams learning institution.

Harry has Draco, and Kvothe has Ambrose. But Ambrose is more of a Joffrey Baratheon, if you know your Game of Thrones.

What I do find different about The Name of the Wind in comparison to HP, though, is that it is set on a much darker atmosphere right away. I know it gets a little more serious as the volumes go on in HP, but TNOTW is just all around mysterious.

Also, there are certain differences with Harry and Kvothe. Harry was more of a regular kid, and Kvothe was more seasoned, experienced (in terms of hardships and adventures), and just more gifted. The more that I thought about it, Kvothe was a mix of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. He has Harry's bravery, Hermione's brain, and Ron's... well, financial misfortune.

Also, I think the story of Kvothe has more of a purpose. Kvothe is searching for the mysterious Chandrian, and Harry is just experiencing the wizarding world for himself. Although they were at about the same age when all of this started to happen.

And Denna. Oh, where do I even begin with Denna? Apple of Kvothe's eye. I honestly think she's just some opportunistic bitch and just doesn't want to get on with Kvothe because he doesn't have money. What a gold digger. She really annoys me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I can't really judge yet how magical it is since it's only the first installation. Patrick Rothfuss can really capture the magic details, although sometimes they might be too much details for a younger mind. I think this book is more for a more mature, I guess more adult audience, although not exclusively.

The gist: 9/10

This is a really good book if you like your magic and adventure. Although I compared it to HP in this post, they couldn't be more different. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They have a lot of similarities, but they each have their own charm. I think HP fans will find this enthralling.

I just finished this book less than ten minutes ago, and I just want to make a short insight on this book before I move on to whatever I have on my plate next.

I'm sure many people have read or heard about this book. It has gained a lot of popularity since its first publication, and has been translated into several languages. People rave about it from all age ranges. I mentioned in my review of Eleven Minutes that I may or may not read this book. But, lo and behold, an opportunity presented itself and proved that this book and I were meant to cross paths.

This is a book about pursuing your dreams.

The story is about a boy, often referred to as "the boy", by the name of Santiago, who had a dream about finding a treasure around the pyramids in Egypt. We embark along with him on his journey to find that 'treasure'. He meets interesting people along the way, a gypsy, a king, a thief, a merchant, an Englishman, a camel driver, a beautiful woman, several tribes, an alchemist, and lots and lots of Arabs. As he searches for his treasure, he is met with challenges that continually test his resolve.

Did he find his treasure?

Read the book. It's less than 200 pages.

This story is not unlike something you would hear from your grandpa, or just a wise man in general. Paulo Coelho strikes me as such. This is something like a bedtime story with hidden lessons. It teaches you about obstacles people often encounter when working towards their goal. And they were all true. The obstacles were written in the introduction, but it makes more sense when you see it while reading the book.

I understand the hype of this book, and, surprisingly, I think it's justified. Lots of people will find this very helpful to them at some point. Maybe the universe conspired that to happen.

In the back of the book I saw that this book was actually about wisdom, and that Eleven Minutes was about love. After seeing that, Eleven Minutes made much more sense to me. It is about love, in all its purest forms. The Alchemist was indeed about wisdom.

Let's just say I feel a teeny bit wiser after reading this book.

It's like a fable--a parable. It teaches a lesson and makes us realize the reasons of what we do.

The gist: 8/10

Did I like this book? Yes. But it struck me as something from a self-help book in the form of a story. All in all I was curious (kininarimasu!) on what it was about. I'm glad I read it though. And like Eleven Minutes, it sits on my "nice" shelf.

I know this review was probably barely helpful, but I encourage you to read it just because. Because why not.

Will I read more Coelho books? Maybe. When the universe conspires to make that happen.

Finally.

Finally, finally, finally. I've been postponing writing a review for this for so long. I heard about this book from one of my high school friends back home, and she said it was not one to miss. Intrigued, I got it the very same day... and finished it two days later. Two days! I was practically whizzing through the whole story, especially on the last few chapters. I felt bad for writing a review about it so soon because I didn't savor its contents, so I decided to read it again. But the same thing happened. I tried to stretch out my reading days, but still managed to read it within four days. It was that good.

Well, then. Steelheart. A.k.a. Reckoners #1. Let me tell you now, if you don't like superheroes, supernatural powers, villains, and terrible metaphors... read this book anyway. You will not regret it.

This is like reading a hardbound movie. In which case, I won't be surprised to see a movie adaptation of this in the future. But ironically, this isn't a book about superheroes. In fact, there are no superheroes in this book.

Conforming to the trends of young adult fiction, we see a post-apocalyptic America. But don't be fooled--this isn't about districts or factions.

From Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series that I have not read yet. A brief synopsis:

It all started with Calamity, a mysterious floating red...something, appeared in the sky, giving ordinary humans special abilities. And when humans are given powers, they want to exercise those powers to get what they want--and to eventually rule the powerless. These special creatures are called Epics.

We meet David, an eight year old boy, in what was once Chicago (I'm telling you, this is not Divergent) in a bank with his father. All of a sudden, Deathpoint, an Epic who could kill through, well, pointing, causes chaos, and wanted to take the city for himself. And then, as if to suppress the situation, a more powerful Epic by the name of Steelheart, comes along and stops Deathpoint. Steelheart can turn anything inanimate into steel, is invincible to everything, and can shoot blasts of energy through his palm. Oh, and he can fly. David's father, believing Steelheart was there to save them, saw that Deathpoint was about to kill Steelheart when his back was turned. He then took a gun from a fallen security guard and tried to shoot Deathpoint, but missed and managed to graze Steelheart's cheek, leaving a wound on the thought to be invincible Epic. Enraged, Steelheart killed David's father, and turned all of Chicago into steel.

David managed to escape, and ever since that day of Annexation (the beginning of Steelheart's rule), he made it a life purpose to defeat Steelheart. Carrying his desire for revenge, he seeks out the Reckoners, a group of anti-Epic normal humans, who regularly assassinate Epics all throughout America. David wants to join them, and he has seen something that nobody else has.

He saw Steelheart bleed.

How does that not sound like a movie?

In a frenzy of one adventure after the other, it's really hard to stop yourself from reading. There seemed to be no pause button. Every part of the book had something going on, one chapter after the other. Even as I'm writing this review, it's hard not to mention something going on in the story. I really don't want to ruin it for anyone, since I want everyone to enjoy this as much as possible.

I could say this is like a Hollywood DC/Marvel superhero movie, and some would take that as possibly an insult, but I mean that in the most positive way. There are some pretty good superhero movies, and I don't like superhero movies. That's saying something. You will have your trainride of guns, killings, powers... the works. I will go to the premiere of this if it ever comes out as a movie. I just hope they don't butcher it. It's less than 400 pages long, so I'm hoping they don't do too much damage.

One thing I didn't like about the book was their apparent swearing. Sparks! or Calamity! just didn't hook me in. I thought that was a bit lame, to be honest.

As I was reading through this, I was imagining the characters with their possible actors for the role already. A candidate for Megan would be along the likes of Hayden Panettiere (though she might be too short). Emma Stone doesn't seem to fit the role, in my opinion. Megan is the strong willed and no-nonsense type of girl, with tsundere issues. I could say Jennifer Lawrence, but she doesn't strike me as the tsundere type. And I've seen enough of Shailene Woodley. Please.

I was thinking Morgan Freeman would be ideal for Prof, but I think he's too old. Laurence Fishburne or Samuel L. Jackson could be ideal, too. And maybe Jamie Foxx. But then again Jamie Foxx could be Abraham. Or maybe Denzel Washington. Or Michael Ealy. Gosh, so many choices, Hollywood!

Tia  is hard to imagine. There wasn't much description of her other than drinking a lot of cola. And Cody could well be any white male actor. Like Ryan Reynolds. Someone witty and funny, but charming.

And David. The book doesn't even describe what David looks like. All the while I was reading I just imagined some random teenager.

What's funny is that, I kept imagining Steelheart as the animated Bruce Wayne/Batman from the 90's. With the jaw, physique, and the cape. Too bad he can't fly. But that's Batman.

The gist: 9.5/10

I'm not big on superheroes, and although it says this is not a superhero book, I loved it. It's worth the read and the money, in my opinion. Although the dystopian theme has long been used and abused nowadays, it gives a different vibe from other novels. It's full of twists and surprises that you will not know until the very end. Big emphasis on that.

And it left me hanging. So. Bad. There wasn't even a Firefight sneak peek, which is the second book in the series. Argh.

But fear not. Brush aside the big lie on the back that says Coming Fall 2014, it comes out on January 2015.

I can't wait!

Photo credit to Y. Johnson

It's been a while since my last book review. I've actually read a few books but I don't really know what to say about them. I still have yet to do one on Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart, but I feel like I have to read it again because I whizzed through it in two days. But what I'm here to review is Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho.

This is the first Paulo Coelho I've read. I've heard a lot of people really like his books, like The Alchemist, and lots of people quote his works.

I don't like mainstream books and authors. Apart from Harry Potter, which was excusable because I was in my teens, and didn't care whether it was really mainstream or not. When everybody raves about something, I tend to scrunch my nose and stay as far away from it as possible. That was the case with Paulo Coelho. Everyone read The Alchemist and they would tell anyone who gave a rat's ass to read it. Now that the hype has died down a bit, I eventually came to read what this was all about.

I came across this because I was discussing books with my friend who also loves to read, and she recommended it to me. It looked like a fairly short read, so I decided to give it a go while I await for the next amazing series to devour (Divergent needs to work on its convincing spells).




In all honesty, the book didn't disappoint, but I don't think it would appeal to anyone younger than 20. I'm  not going to rave about it, although it's a good light read. It's a story that will sort of stick to you, you'll kind of remember what it's about, but it's one of those books that, for me at least, that when someone asks "Is this a good book?" I will reply with a "Yeah, it's nice", period. Just nice. Period.

In the book we meet Maria, a young girl from rural Brazil who at an early age experiences a variety of love let-downs which leads her to believe that there's no such thing as love, and that she can only experience orgasm through her own hands (hate to burst your egos, boys). She's had her share of skirt chasers who were only attracted to her looks. Also, she's a bit bummed about her routine life, so she decides to go, impromptu, to Rio De Janeiro, armed with only a few clothes and not a lot of money. And, of course, due to her looks, albeit wrong choice of swimsuit, an opportunity to work in Switzerland lands on her lap. She snatches the opportunity, but little did she know that she would just end up working the world's oldest profession: prostitution.

She meets a painter named Ralf Hart, who, lo and behold, she falls in love with. She tries to stop herself because she didn't believe in love, or finding orgasm through actual sex. And then guess what? She finds it. Somehow. Somewhere within the depths of her woman cave, she finds that orgasm.

Despite many people's initial reaction to the word "prostitute" written on the back covers of books, this wasn't porn, erotica, or any of the sort. It could be, to a point, but it wasn't the whole point of the book. Which was great, because Coelho wrote it in a way that it was about Maria, and not the whole prostitution thing, which she could easily get lost in, in context. I also liked her diary entries--they were the quotable ones. I particularly liked:

I've been scouring my local Value Village (a thrift store) for books lately ever since I started reading again a month ago. I've taken home some pretty awesome books, at dirt cheap prices. I took advantage of that and got some twenty books or something. I got pretty good copies (not beat up and torn, they look like they've only been read once) of the Hunger games, Insurgent, Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson... And one thing that caught my eye was The Night Circus.

Just how beautiful is that cover? I kinda wanted a crooked photograph because the text and the little white lines become all holographic and colorful when viewed at a different angle, but obviously my phone didn't capture it. Oh well.

I've been following the blog of this local celebrity from the Philippines Saab Magalona and saw that she particularly mentioned this book. She gave it four stars on Goodreads and mentioned that it gave her some sort of "Harry Potter feel". Hmm. Okay. So when I saw it in Value Village I immediately grabbed it.

It was the best five bucks I ever spent.

The cover description goes like this:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. 

That first line hooks people in. And the following statements can raise your expectations. I mean, a circus that arrives at night with some magic duels between people who are supposedly in love with each other? Interesting.

I personally loved it. A lot. And I mean really, really, really loved it. I have not been able to put down a book like this since Harry Potter. I mean, it's not comparable to HP, but it's as much as the highest praise I can give. I finished this book within two days. I read it on the way to work, during my breaks, on the way home, before going to bed... the spare time in the last two days were literally filled with this book. From the moment Celia was introduced, the first few chapters... I was hooked. It was like the circus cast a spell on me and refused to let me go.

I'll try not to ruin this for you in case you ever plan on reading it.

Celia Bowen is the daughter of Prospero, an acclaimed theatre magician. He was like no other magician though. He didn't use deception. He used actual magic. No sleeves, no smokes and mirrors, no tricks of the kerchief. Celia has powers of her own, but has still yet to hone her skills and control them, in which his father teaches her how.

An acquaintance of Prospero, a man in a grey suit that calls himself Alexander, shows up in one of his shows at the magician's invitation. After some tete-a-tete after the show, they organize a magic duel of some sort. Prospero introduces Celia as his "piece" in the game, and Alexander has to choose his. He chose a random boy from an orphanage, with no name but later dubs himself as Marco. After years of training on both sides, a stage of the duel was made. The Night Circus was born. 

They each have to one up each other, to try to show the other one and display better feats of magic. What they didn't see was that they would fall in love with each other. Marco fell head over hells flat the moment he set eyes on Celia, but she takes a little while to soften.  But since this magical circus is naught but a two-man act, it's inevitable that many people would be caught up in the tangle of the game. And for the game to end, one has to come to the point of surrender, to the point of death. Well, death, really. One has to die.

Sad.

What really caught me was the whole stage of the story, and I have been a sucker for historical settings recently. Add in a sprinkle of magic, and you have me coming back for more. It's like I can almost feel myself whirling around in the middle of the circus, trying to see everything all at once. I feel like Bailey in the story, sort of. And the magic was described in the tiniest of details. It's like seeing the act, seeing every drop of magic unfold and come to life before my very eyes. The vivid color changes, the transitions... I know I have a fickle imagination, and I guess that just helps me visualize the circus like a movie. A good adaptation of the story.

I know that for some readers, the story and the whole point of the game was stupid, along with the deceptive "fierce battle" as described in the cover was just... not fierce at all. It was more of trying to impress the other. I mean, Marco loves her, I understand, but I guess the readers were just looking for more magic, the synopsis being able to live up to what it's selling. It was like watching a trailer only to get your hopes up but just coming up short of the suspense once you actually watch it.

And yes, I agree the whole reason of the game was oh so what-the-fuck. If I could tweak the story a little bit, you know, add a dash of flair and show here and there, pack in a little action, just a little more and it would be complete for me. But then again who am I to do that? I could, but then again I could be deemed as one of those fanfiction wannabes attempting to "raise the bar" only to fail a thousand leagues under (yes, I will forever continue to hate that book). And for the hype... well, there wasn't that much of a hype (at least I think so), but it is worth checking out.

But like I said, I really enjoyed it, more so because it engaged my imagination in so many ways possible, tugging at mind, engaging my senses. It's been a while. And there was just the right amount of romance and sadness to make a lasting impression. Hours after I read the book, I could still feel the magic of the circus lulling me in, like leftover glitter clinging to my skin. I'm writing this review a week and half after I read it, and I could still grasp the magic even as it fleetingly settles like silt underwater in my memory. That was how much of an effect it had on me. It just stayed with me. And I didn't want to shake it off.

Overall, it cast a spell on me. It may fall a little bit short on the whole purpose of the game, and the email address at the end kind of ruined it for me, but then again I guess you would be in the circus at the present time, while I envisioned myself just a few years after the story came to be. But that was a small price to pay for a sumptuous book.

Gist: 9/10

I recommend it, use your imagination, put yourself in the middle of the circus, envision yourself as a reveur and willingly take in the magic Celia and Marco cloaked it in.

So everyone has been raving about this. They have cried buckets and buckets of salty tears, voted it best sad book ever, the book of the year, the most touching cancer story, the soon to be movie everyone is looking forward to.

Except me.

I am in the miniscule minority since everyone's been rating it five stars on Goodreads, and seen a few four stars. I am one of the handful that has rated it two. And this is why.

I may mention some spoilers, so read the review at your own risk.

Time for another book review! I've been trying to 'unread' this book that I've been unable to put down no matter what I do: Facebook. It takes up a lot of my time and I'm just wasting brain cells reading about other people's lives. Which is really not healthy. I've been trying to wean myself off Instagram too, but it's one of my very important tools in getting motivated to go to the gym. I basically wake up and troll on the pages of my fitness motivators, but that's another story. I swore to myself to keep reading and continue on my games and books and stay away from social media. It's about time I kept a part of my life to myself and not announce it to the world. Although I still do blogging (of course) and post here and there, but I want to try to keep some aspects of my life private. But that doesn't mean I won't blog anymore. I mean, this is different. Social media is just making people... dumber. People post a lot of crap and such...

ANYWAY, I'm not here to ramble about Facebook. I'm here to talk about a book I have recently read, Tokyo Suckerpunch by Isaac Adamson:

 I bought this about three years ago back in the Philippines from Book Sale for approximately two bucks. And I just got around to reading it a couple weeks back. I may mention some spoilers and some detailed descriptions of the characters, so just be warned of that before you read on.

Okay, let's kick this thing off with a book review, like I promised yesterday.

The cover isn't a telltale of the, erm, secrets within

Back in high school, my friends and I always wanted to bury our noses into books.  Pocket books, novels, series, sequels, manga, comics... you name it. Inasmuch, we were called The Book Club, not only as a self-proclaimed title for our group, but our classmates also deemed us so. You could never pry one of us out of the little spell cast upon us of whatever tome we had in our hands. And of course, when one enjoyed something to read, it's almost ritual that we share the book we had with each other once we were finished.

Among those books that we enjoyed were romantic novels. Imagine about seven girls during lunch, giggling, having their undies tied in knots in whatever escapade their heroine was trotting on about in the current novel in our hands. It was a guilty pleasure for us. The novels, of course, had sex scenes in them. Men fiddling about with the *ahem* "curly triangles" and "cupping bosoms" were just some of the regulars in the pages we would read about. And we were about 13-14 years old when this happened. We chose to violate our own imaginations and pop our own fantasy cherry at a tender age. But I mean, looking at us and the books we chose to read, you would never guess they were romance novels. The romance novels we read never had any racy covers. We preferred to read ones with, erm, less provocative images, or sought out versions that were a little more vague.

I personally have never read that book, I bet it would be an interesting novel, but God forbid me to wave that book around in a private Catholic high school.

The book in question that we thoroughly enjoyed is Judith McNaught's Something Wonderful.

This is a review, and some of you might've already read the book, some may plan to, some may not have enjoyed it as much as I have. It's books like these make me believe, once again, that romance can be well written.

It happens at some time in eighteenth century England. I know nothing about centuries but that's what I can deduce from the novel. Our heroine is Alexandra Lawrence, a cheerful, boyish teen of the countryside, who, at a young age, has shouldered most of the responsibilities of a slowly degrading household. Fatherless, and practically motherless, and an only child, her mother arranges for her to marry some rural aristocrat to save their lives. Alex is none too thrilled about an unwanted fiancee, let alone a marriage.

Judith has her thing about 'independent, different, driven' women, ones who just won't back down. It is a very consistent pattern. As I was reading a fifth book (Whitney, My love), I could basically pretty much skip the description of the women and get on to the next chapter. Every woman in her novels have sooty black lashes. They are thin but they somehow fill out. Their hair cascades down in a waterfall of gold/mahogany/titian/tartar sauce on her shoulder. Their skin alabaster. They are in every book she has ever written. Once I get to the physical description of the ladies, my eyes just instantly roll themselves.

Anyway, as if on cue, along comes Jordan Townsende, into Alex's quiet life, with an entrance of a band of thieves wishing to end his life.

Jordan is, as among many of McNaught's main male characters, a very eligible, sought-after bachelor. Blessed with "rugged good looks", "tall, with long muscular legs", "muscles rippling across his shoulders". You will see all male characters fit this description in her series. Jordan has averted himself as far away from marriage as he possibly can. Apparently he can be ruthless and cold to women after they happily and willingly warm his bed, and he disposes of them the next day. Rinse, repeat.

Sometimes I wonder which book I'm talking about. They are all like this. She just changes the names. But then again, her books are delightful so I can let that slide.

Back to the story, Alex unexpectedly saves Jordan's life from the thieves, garbed in what could be the most unflattering choice of clothing a woman could wear. Because of this, he thinks him as a boy. Caught unawares of her gender, Jordan, er, does something, I'm sure with pure intentions, to Alex, resulting in a tarnished reputation for her.

Alex's mother seizes the opportunity to marry off poor little innocent Alex to Jordan because apparently, it was Jordan's fault for 'nulling her chances of ever being wedded to anyone who mattered'.

Well, I guess that's what you get after being given a second chance to live.

Being the respectable gentleman that he is, Jordan reluctantly agrees, admitting to his fault. He then finds himself lulled into Alexandra's sweet, sweet innocence, enraptured in something that 'sets her apart from the others'.

There is actually more twist to the story than just that, in which I choose not to spoil for you in case I may have interested you into reading it.

For the most part, I found myself in a tizzy of frustration because they could just not seem to communicate with each other, like why Alex is acting like thus and why Jordan was like this.

It is so deliciously, romantically, outrageously frustrating.

Yet I was practically having my undies in a twist out of pity for poor Alexandra, and I just want to scream "Just love her already, Jordan!"

And in the part where he finally learns about her past? I cried. Yes, I fuckin' cried. Call me a crybaby. My heartstrings are as easily tugged like a loose thread on your sleeve. Sue me, I could not help not to. It made me cry in high school, and it made me cry last week at 2 am. Well, I really just got teary eyed, I didn't bawl my eyes out. That would make it look like I'm crying to my tablet. Which is just sad.

And during the accused betrayal, I just practically whizzed through the last remaining chapters of the book. I was at the edge of my seat (well, my bed).

Although the ending was somewhat meh. Alex could've made it more interesting and made Jordan beg at her feet, but she didn't. Boring. Would have been funny though.

The gist: 9/10

Other than the used and reused description of the characters, I loved this book. I loved it then and I love it now. I could not put it down. I read this into the wee hours last Friday, and I have never devoured a book as fast as when I attempted to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in an hour (I finished it in four).

Some of you who have already read it may think I may be shedding too much praise on this, but I absolutely fell in love with it. It is something wonderful. As far as romance goes, I'm pretty sure there are other more interesting ones out there, with a more interesting storyline, but it's not as bad as you would think. It will and always be a guilty pleasure for me. I bet I most probably will read this a third time.

I have just started reading the Harry Potter books again, like I have mentioned in the end of my Fifty Shades of Grey review. I grew up with Harry and his friends since in sixth grade, ever since one of my friends lent me Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Rereading these books is very nostalgic for me, having gone through most of high school treating the school like it was Hogwarts. Camille (my friend who lent me the book) even had her dad get us matching Harry Potter pens (yellow lightning bolt-shaped pens that lit up as you wrote) and a little pouch of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans each. The pepper flavored one was horrendous, I must tell you that.

My other friend, Nicole, and I would even pass notes to each other imitating Harry and Ron's handwriting (I copied Harry's, Nicole had the same loopy writing as Ron), pretending it was owl post. I think I may have some of those letters hidden in my memory box somewhere underneath my bed. Now that I look back, we did seem a little silly. But it was high school. It was fun, we were young. I even have a copy of (Nicole's) Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and (my own) Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

To put us as Potter lovers would be an understatement. We were freaks. Hahaha! Ultimate nerdos if you will. We would even criticize the movies when they came out, saying, that didn't happen in the books, or it was supposed to be this way... I mean, of course books were always more detailed than the movies, otherwise the film would be six hours long if they adhered 100% to the books. Ah, but shortcuts were never acceptable to Potterers. It had to be the way it was in the books; anything else beneath that was unthinkable.

And how could I forget my ultimate, undying, ever resurfacing crush on Tom Felton (saying his name still makes something stir in my insides xD). He just played Draco so well, it was infatuation at first sight. And it did not subside until about I reached twenty. Oh my goodness, I am getting all giddy and giggly as I'm typing this out (click on his name. Do it.). He looked fuckin' dreamy in those two photos on that link. I could still say that he still has my panties in a knot. Chris, I hope you are not reading this :P but if you are, chill out hun, it's just a crush. And what are the chances of me meeting him? But then again you never know.

ANYWAY, I'm currently on Prisoner of Azkaban, having devoured Chamber of Secrets in two (working) days. Having not read them for about ten years, I do get surprised at some parts and even forget what happened in some scenes. It's like reading the whole series anew like I have never read them before. It's actually fun. Earlier I was finishing Chamber while Chris was playing RF Online in his room. We even skipped watching Sword Art Online because I was so engrossed in reading and he fell asleep waiting for me to finish (Sorry, hun, we'll get to that sometime this week). I've even restarted watching the movies. Gosh, Radcliffe was so young! And Tom still had big two front teeth. So cute. You can also tell in the other movies that they're hitting puberty, especially in the third and fourth one. Their voices were breaking and their faces were getting kinda mature.

Still, the magic of Harry lives on and I think it will be one of the most remembered books of all time. His magic left a scar in my heart and memory that will sometimes twitch in reminiscence of all that happened to me with Harry in my younger years.

Relive the Magic!

<3