Books on my Birthday Wishlist

Irrelevant photo from a mini trip during the long weekend. San Fernando, Pampanga. October 30, 2016. 

I haven’t posted anything new since September when I finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and honestly, I’ve been feeling guilty about not reading anything even if I promised myself I would stop doing reading hiatuses during mid-semesters. I feel awful for not keeping that promise and for just not trying to pick up Eleanor and Park from my shelf. Now, I’m two books behind my goodreads challenge–just when I thought I could finally succeed in the challenge.

But I'm turning nineteen this Monday! No, I don't have plans to treat myself to new books because I have a ton of other reading materials I need to get done. Not that I'm complaining. My professors actually have a couple of interesting books and reading materials lined up for the last month of the semester. It's just that I have to wait till the end of the semester (by the first or second week of December maybe) before I get the freedom to read the books on the list below:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Curtain shot again. Also, I love the cover of this lovely book. 

“Love blinds. We have both tried to give our sons, not what they needed, but what we needed. We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their present.” -Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts one and two

Hello! I can't believe I have time to write about my feelings for this during such a crucial time. This week is about the eighth book of the beloved Harry Potter series-- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I got it a month after its initial release here in the Philippines because every copy of the book was sold in less than 24 hours. I had to wait for news about new stocks coming in and lo and behold, my mother, my sweet mother got me a copy.

Now, it's nice to note that this eighth story isn't anything like the books (although I know we've all been hoping for it to legitimately feel like it) because of it's a play so 1) it's not going to feel the same as reading the books 2) expect a fast read with less details on storytelling because it's meant to be staged where the actors and the sets and all that-- they'll be the ones responsible for the gritty little details we usually crave for in novels.

A very Potter Q&A

I sometimes wish I have two boy best friends like Harry and Ron. I'll be frst to admit that while I'm not exactly as smart as Hermione, I get teased a lot for working extra hard in school, and trying to follow the rules just because. I'm so happy that I found a strong, witty girl character who didn't have to change who she was to be to have guy friends who appreciate (and need) her. image source

Because I currently have no idea how to properly express my feelings on the whole of the Harry Potter series, I'm going to do something like this instead. An update: I am now considering myself a Potterhead after years and years of living in the dark from the HP series (am sorry. am a late bloomer)

I just finished The Cursed Child script book. I just got a copy of it recently (thanks mum for being so supportive of your little bookworm) and while I told myself to take time reading it, I finished it in almost a week. I'll be posting about it sometime this month. But for now, here's a little something about my Harry Potter adventure. I can't wait to reread the books soon.

The Night Circus

"People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told that they see."  -The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern 

For a couple of years, I was reluctant about getting this book. But it has always intrigued me. During my trips to the bookstore through the years, copies of this book would be greeting me in the entrance but I by the time I look around, I would find something else that I prefer more. 

So when I got a book store gift card for my birthday, I finally decided to pick up a copy of this book (with The Bane Chronicles and Castle in The Air). I made it sit on my shelves for quite some time in the duration of the semester. 

But hell yeah, I read it for almost a week-- brought it with me in my trip to Singapore (majority of the book was read in the airport and on the airplane), and bam, finished!

First Summer read: The Sword of Summer

“My name is Magnus Chase. I’m sixteen years old. This is the story of how my life went downhill after I got myself killed.” - Rick Riordan, The Sword of Summer

Guess who finished reading The Sword of Summer as her first book of the summer? Me! 

I stayed away from reading recently released book series because I've always hated the one year agony of waiting for the next book (yup, I won't be reading Lady Midnight for a while I guess.) However, my sister decided to pick up the first installment of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard some time around November so it was sitting in our shelf for a couple of months. Then, it was calling for me while I was contemplating on which book to read after The Bane Chronicles. It was the first thing I picked up after TBC but I had to postpone reading it because school caught up with me. 

But here I am, back from my purposefully done reading slump just so I can make room for my mountain pile of school work. Yay me for finally finishing this book which came out last year! I've waited a long time to finally read and write this review so here it is. 

The Bane Chronicles

"Love did not overcome everything. Love did not always endure. All you had could be taken away, love could be the last thing you had, and then love could be taken too." -The Bane Chronicles, Saving Raphael Santiago

This month's book blurb is for a book I waited 2 years before gathering up the courage to pick it up from the bookstore because of boredom.

And hell yeah, every single peso was worth it.

Carry On

"Carry on, Simon."- Carry On, Rainbow Rowell

Today, I'm reviewing another book I read in 2015. And truth be told, this book is something I still love. So much.

I told myself I wasn't going to write about this book because I didn't want to gather my thoughts about it. It was hard to gather everything I felt while reading this book into words but I couldn't not talk about it. So here it is, another magnificent work by the one and only Rainbow Rowell: Carry On.

Unremarkey-able and "Finch-tastic"

“You make me lovely, and it’s so lovely to be lovely to the one I love.…”
-Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places

First book post for 2016! Let's start the year with notes about the books I read from the last few weeks of 2015.

I celebrated my birthday last November and waited till my long-awaited holiday break to start diving into the books I received from my 18th. One of which is this book which I received from a best friend.

Movie + book: Me + Earl + Dying Girl

"When you convert a good book to a film, stupid things happen." -Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews

YAS HOLIDAY SEASON IS HERE

Just kiddin' I still have a play to read in class, and a short story to revise befoe I can legitimately bid goodbye to the first semester and join the hype of the Holiday season. But since I have a bunch of time to write extra today, I decided to publish one post with my string of thoughts about a book that I read eons ago and its movie adaptation that got released ages ago.

source: meadgmovie.tumblr.com

I'm talking about Me and Earl and The Dying Girl. Yes, that wonderful story.

Happy Conclusion: The Heroes of Olympus

I wouldn't want to discuss this whole series in a critical way because I have always loved the Olympians universe ever since Percy Jackson. Doing it would be way too biased.

It took me about two years since I finished the Mark of Athena, the third book of The Heroes of Olympus series before I got my hands on a copy of House of Hades, its fourth installment. I'm not usually the type to wait for two years before reading the next book after an eventful cliffhanger but I guess school work has distracted me from getting a copy of the book.

But I ended my 3 year journey with the Heroes of Olympus in two weeks, when I finally found the time to grab my sister's copy of House of  Hades. I plowed through the book in one week and then proceeded to Blood of Olympus a few hours after finishing the fourth book. I finished it in one week, because while my head was pounding with a headache thanks to colds, I wanted to know what was going to happen next sooooo badly.

I must say, Rick Riordan didn't forget to give his readers a pleasant, heartwarming conclusion to this Heroes of Olympians arc even after his ridiculously heart-breaking cliffhangers (I'm watching you, Mark of Athena.)

This might be late, but thank you Rick Riordan for creating such a wonderful universe. :)


-Mic

Finnick and Annie

"There's nothing you could say that could make me leave you." -Annie, Finnick and Annie

If there's one thing that totally broke my heart in The Hunger Games Series, besides Mockingjay's ending, it was totally Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta's relationship.

The Rainbow Rowell read-a-thon continues: Attachments!

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Do you believe in love before that?"

-Attachments, Rainbow Rowell

I finished this book two weeks ago, and while I know I should have written my writeup on this one after finishing the book because IT WAS SO DAMNED FANTASTIC (That's  how fantastic it was, I had to capslock those words), my professors decided we had to start our writing drills. But now that I finally found the time to write, here we go!

Fangirl

"What class?" he asked. 

"Fiction-Writing."

"You take Fiction-Writing? That's an actual class?"

"That's an actual question?" -Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell 

(or the time the whole world asked me why I'm taking up Creative Writing. I mean, hello?! This may not be the most quotable thing from this book but this totally describes my problem with the whole world when I try to explain creative writing)

Reasons I picked up Fangirl:

1. The title is the exact term for my life.
2. Pastel green, cute sketches of a girl and a boy on the cover (I judge books by cover sometimes too.)
3. The plot is nice—sisters, fangirling? Sounds familiar!

The Girl of Nightmares

"Instead I kiss her, one time, and try to tell her in that single gesture everything that she'll forget as soon as she turns away. I tell her I love her. I tell her I'll miss her. And then I let her go." -Girl of Nightmares, Kendare Blake

     I love the cover just as how I loved ADiB's cover. And the love for the cover has nothing to do with the review below. 

Sa limang umiibig, isa lang ang magiging matagumpay.

[INFORMAL FILIPINO POST. Basta parang bagay yung ganitong wika para sa review na ito.]

Totoo nga! 

    "Maski naman sa tunay na buhay, sagot ng Writer, ilang love stories ba ang nagwawakas nang masaya?

   Pero iba't iba naman ang ibig sabihin ng masaya, sagot ni Sandra." -Para kay B, Ricky Lee

Noong kinuha ko yung nobela ni Ricky Lee na Para kay B sa shelf ng Filipiniana section ng National Bookstore, dalawa lang yung rason. Una, yun yung nobelang binabasa ng karamihan sa mga blockmates ko ngayon. Nakakacurious kung bakit pare-pareho silang nasasawi pag naririnig nila yung pamagat ng nobelang yan. Pangalawa, yun lang yung filipino book na hindi wattpad novel na hindi duduguin yung ilong ko pag binasa ko. Naghahanap lang naman ako ng chill na babasahin. Karamihan kasi ng mga librong nandun, mga klasikong akda na malamang sa malamang, nabasa ko na para sa klase noong high school ako.

"Why is your favorite book not a romance novel but your favorite genre is romance?"

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.” 

― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Favorite book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Pages to Scenes

Just as the title suggests, this post is about 5 movies which are book adaptations.

Book-to-movie adaptations aren't the best thing there is in the whole of a book junkie's life. Most of the time, the sentence "the book was better" is the best way to describe one's feelings about a movie adaptation of a certain book. I've certainly had times I felt that way but here are 5 books to movies that I like talking about in 4 different categories.

Book = Movie (I loved the book, and I loved the movie just the same.)

source: pinterest.com

Pride and Prejudice(2005)

A lot of people have mentioned about the 1996 version being better than this. I have yet to watch that adaptation but this version has captured my heart just as the book. Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden melted me the moment they were portraying the timeless characters. Not only were the actors great and astounding in their portrayals, but the setting was very much captured properly. The scenes felt very Regency era, and I think to feel like being able to go back to that time is really a beautiful feeling to have.

Wild Ride

“Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” -Jennifer Crusie + Bob Mayer, Wild Ride

(aren't my sheets adorable?)

I feel very bad for neglecting this book review as I enjoyed this book in some way and I wanted to tell things about it. It was one heck of a roller coaster ride but I wouldn't say it's going to be one of my all time favorites.

Every Day

"In my experience, desire is desire, love is love. I have never fallen in love with a gender. I have fallen for individuals. I know this is hard for people to do, but I don't understand why it's so hard, when it's so obvious."- Every Day, David Levithan

A is not a boy, not a girl, not even someone in-between. He just exists. He goes from one person's body and takes over for a day. One day, he took over Justin's body and fell in love with Rhiannon, Justin's girlfriend.

Why We Broke Up

I have finished another book that has been piling up dust in my shelves for 2 years! Yes, this heavy, hard cover edition of Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler was too heavy for me to carry around to places, especially in school. I attempted a few times (few is an understatement) to finish this book in the last two years and its just now that I am able to finish it.

But anyway, I'm done with it and I liked it.