The Last Reader

Book Review: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Series : Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2
Editon : Paperback (288 pages)
Publisher : Dysney Hyperion Books (2007)
Genre : Fantasy
Source : Amazon
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synopsis

The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan’s amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a “half blood” whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan’s series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment. In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book’s drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.

my thoughts

“I am Thalia,” the girl said. “Daughter of Zeus.”

That line has made me more excited to read the third book. Grover was captured by Polyphemus (an evil Cyclops) and needs to be rescued. The tree of Thalia has been poisoned which made the magic walls of the Camp Half Blood open to monsters. The quest of finding the golden fleece (that can heal Thalia’s tree) was given to Clarisse but Percy, Annabeth and Tyson (a baby Cyclops, which happened to be Percy’s half brother) will also do the quest with the help of Hermes.

I love this book more than the first one. I think even if I didn’t read the first, I can still follow the story. It’s also good that Riordan included some background stories about the characters or names that was mentioned. It’s very helpful for those who don’t have a lot of knowledge about Greek Mythology (Ahem). My favorite character here is Tyson. He’s cute (not to mention that Douglas Smith played his character in the movie) and he likes Rainbow (a Hippocampus).

5 / 5 stars
Date Read : August 2013

Book Review

Book Review : Why Men Love Bitches by Sherry Argov

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Editon : eBook (288 pages)
Publisher : Adams Media Corporation (2008)
Genre : Self Help, Non-Fiction
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Why are men so romantic in the beginning and why do they change? Why do men take nice girls for granted? Why does a man respect a woman when she stands up for herself? Full of advice, hilarious real-life relationship scenarios, “she says/he thinks” tables, the author’s unique “Attraction Principles,” and an all-new bonus chapter, “Why Men Love Bitches” gives you bottom-line answers. It helps you know who you are, stand your ground, and relate to men on a whole new level. Once you’ve discovered the feisty attitude men find so magnetic, you’ll not only increase the romantic chemistry you’ll gain your man’s love and respect with far less effort.

“Being a bitch does not mean you lose your femininity. And it also doesn’t mean you overtly try to wear the pants in the house. It just means you don’t allow anyone to walk all over you.”

My Thoughts

The title caught my attention so I’ve decided to add it on my to-read list and I also enjoy reading “self-help” books like this.

This book defined “bitch” in a different way. A bitch (Babe In Total Control of Herself) is a strong and independent woman who will not let anyone, specially a man, treats her like a “doormat”. The Author also wrote 100 Attraction Principles which are very helpful for women (us). While I’m reading this book I keep on asking myself if I’m a “nice girl” or a “bitch”. Well, I don’t know the answer until now. All I know is I’m sometimes a “nice girl” and a “bitch” most of the time.

This book is a perfect read for girls who are in a not-so-happy relationship and for those who always treated badly by their man. Time for you to stand up for your rights!

“Throughout life, people will try to shake your faith in yourself. When this happens, remind yourself that the only way they can succeed is if you allow it. When you walk down the street of life, always hold your head high and keep walking. Don’t ever let anyone shake your faith in yourself, because that’s really all that you have.”

My Rating

Date Read : April 2013

Book Review

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Series : Divergent #1
Edition : Paperback (487 pages)
Publisher : Katherine Tegen Books
Genre : Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
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“Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up”

My Thoughts

I can’t help not to think of “Matched” trilogy my Ally Condie while reading the first two chapters of this book. I’m aware that almost everyone is comparing this to THG but I didn’t felt like that. I don’t have any idea about the story of Divergent though everyone (in blogospere) was talking about it specially before the movie came out. So i think i don’t need an introduction for this.

I personally enjoyed how Tris (Beatrice) evolved through the Dauntless initiation. I love the idea that she cannot be manipulated to do something or believe something that she don’t want to. I wish I can be somehow like her. Well i know that i’ll also choose Dauntless if given by chance but my result (on the quizz in the book) is Abnegation. Oh, just like her. So now let’s talk about Four. *sigh* Four *sigh* Haha! I definitely love this guy. I love the fact that he let Tris to know his weaknesses. for me that’s one of the characteristics of a real man. I have to admit that Theo James (who played Four in the movie) didn’t get much of my attention. So i’ll just keep on imagining another guy as Four. Some chapters made me cry specially the pages 443 and 471.

It’s a brilliant book that it kept me insterested in what’s going to happen on the next chapters. I also love the playlist specially the songs from Flyleaf. Kudos to Ms. Veronica Roth considering that this is her first novel.

I’m still waiting for the DVD to be available here and I’m excited for Insurgent.

My Rating

Book Review

Book Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Editon : Kindle (240 pages)
Publisher : Vintage (2004)
Genre : Fiction, Contemporary
Source : Amazon
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Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

My Thoughts

Christopher, an autistic teenager, discovered their neighbor’s dead dog one night and decided to make an investigation (He’s a Sherlock Holmes fan) to find out who murdered it. During his investigation, he accidentally discovers the truth about his family. Siobhan, his friend, explains everything to him specially the different emotions of people.

I can somehow compare Christopher to Sheldon Cooper (of The Big Bang Theory). Both of them don’t understand human emotions and they both love physics and maths and I love their attitude. There are some parts of the story, I’m talking about the math formulas, that I had to read fast (didn’t read at all) because it’s MATH. Am i the only one? Haha! The story was unpredictable and it has a great twists.

All in all, the book is incredible.

“Sometimes we get sad about things and we don’t like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don’t know why we are sad, so we say we aren’t sad but we really are.”

My Rating

Book Review

Book Review : To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Edition : Paperback (288 pages)
Publisher : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2014)
Genre : Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Source : Bought from Hugendubel Buchandlung
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Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her.

They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

my thoughts

“I think I see the difference now, between loving someone from afar and loving someone up close. When you see them up close, you see the real them, but they also get to see the real you.”

I didn’t think twice on buying this. The title is catchy, i love the cover and it’s my first Jenny Han book. I was expecting to read a lot of handwritten love letters but it’s not, there are like 3 or 4 short letters. At first I thought It’s Gogo who sent the letters, but I’m wrong.

I can somehow relate to Lara Jean when it comes to “costume parties”. I can only be Yoruichi (Bleach) even I want to be Fujiko. Hahaha! Back to the book, I like Josh more than Peter but I like Peter’s character more than Josh. I also want to have a little sister like Kitty. She’s so smart and adorable.

I’ve read that Ms. Han is working on the sequel and the title is “P.S. I Love You“.

Date Read : July 2014

Book Review

Book Review: The Future Of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Edition : Paperback (356 pages)
Publisher : Razorbill (2012)
Genre : Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
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What if you could see how your life would unfold–just by clicking a button?

It’s 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM. Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on–and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

My Thoughts

Knowing what you will be, 15 years from now, is an awesome thing but somehow scary. But I’m not sure if I’ll do what Emma did. I won’t even maybe check it for the second time because I want my future to surprise me. And I also don’t want to mess with it.

This book is about friendship, “friendzoning” and loyalty. And it shows how our current decisions, both big and small, can affect our future.

“History’s a bitch when you’re in the middle of it.”

My Rating

Book Review

Book Review: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

August 11, 2014 No Comments

Edition: Paperback (196 pages)
Publisher : Hyperion (2003)
Genre : Fiction, Inspirational
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
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“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.”

Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination, but an answer. In heaven, five people explain your life to you. Some you knew, others may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie’s five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his “meaningless” life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: “Why was I here?” (source)

My Thoughts

An extraordinary book. Just like Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, some scenes made me cry and reflect about life. Full of flashbacks but not to the point that the reader will get lost in the story. I’m also somehow happy and proud that the last person was from the Philippines and Albom included some Filipino cultures. I didn’t know that there’s also a movie of this, so I think I’ll be watching it maybe today or the next days. After reading the book, I caught myself wondering who will be the five people I’ll meet in heaven.

My Rating

Book Review

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

August 11, 2014 No Comments

“I didn’t have much to say to anybody but kept to myself and my books. With my eyes closed, I would touch a familiar book and draw it’s fragrance deep inside me. This was enough to make me happy.”

Synopsis : Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

A poignant story of one college student’s romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man’s first, hopeless, and heroic love. (via Goodreads)

My Thoughts : I love all the characters, specially Midori. I love how open she is. The story is depressing but it will show us that there are beautiful things awaiting for us in the end. I was able to listen to the songs (all of them) that Murakami included in the story specially the ones from The Beatles. I never saw the movie but I’m sure I will. This book is recommendable to all young and young-at-heart readers.

My Rating : ★★★★★

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Book Review

Book Review: Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

August 11, 2014 3 Comments

Let It Snow Editon : Mass Market Paperback (566 pages)
Publisher : Crown (2012)
Genre : Fiction, Mystery
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
Check this book on Gooreads

Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses. (via Goodreads)

My Thoughts

I bought this book after Christmas (February) but it’s still accurate because February is a “love” month and it’s still snowing (until now).

This book consists of three short stories about romance, friendship and relationship that are all connected to each other. My favorite is Maureen’s “The Jubilee Express” and Jubilee is my favorite character in this book. I like her attitude and the thing about her and the “cheerleaders”.

John Green’s “A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle” (My fourth book from Green) is written like his other books (which has a roadtrip “scene”). I just had a hard time remembering who’s who (well I’m not really good with names) so I often go back to the previous pages and search for the name.

Lastly, “The Patron Saint of Pigs” by Lauren Myracle is my least favorite but it makes me want to have my own tea-cup pig pet.

All in all, it’s a cool book. You can still enjoy reading this even if it’s not Christmas season or even if it’s not snowing.

My Rating

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