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Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 6th, 2014, 11:54 pm
by laila_6045
arjaye wrote:STARGIRL by Jerry Spinelli
5/5

In a merely 5 hours of solid reading, it got me 5 solid stars in the end.

STARGIRL.
Crossing upon its title, i cannot help but to be reminded by Stardust of Neil Gaiman. Maybe the rhyme that i get from the title itself. Or the lead character being described to be different, weird, unreal, out of this world. Or just maybe because of how its written, simple yet profound.

Stargirl is new in town. A subject of so many set of eyes in school. She is different, she doesn't conform to the norms. She dresses funny for others, do weird stuffs like serenading each and everyone by ukulele, acts mysteriously, friendly to everybody. That is why nobody likes her. Or wanting to be associated with her. Mocked. Humiliated. Shunned. But one thing i admire, or rather envy of her is being oblivious to the world. She does not give a bit of a care on what others are thinking about her. She is not shy. She is not embarrassed. She just do what she feels like doing. Actually, i liked her since the beginning. She got me shaking my head quite a few times because of her antics, but these all were in a very good way. oh the cheerleading moments were precious! but honestly, the little things that she does where actually the big things. When i learn to know of her more, i was in awe. She has this big eyes, yes, but with big bigger heart. She is such a sweetheart!

I would love to be Stargirl.

Unfortunately, I am Leo most of the time. He is as scared as a rat to think that everybody will not like him because he's doing differently, acting abnormally. But whose standards? By them, by the society he is living in. So he gave in, do what everybody is doing. Even though in reality, all he wanted to do is to be with Stargirl. Because with her he can be his real self, express it freely and not just go with the flow. He tended to change her ways, according to everybody's accepted usual behavior, so as not to be ignored, not to be shunned. But what did it get him?nothing. Where did it lead him? nowhere. He just became one of the puppets that work only if one is pulling the strings. Not different, just normal. But why would you insist on being normal, if you ought to shine in your own different way. Like Stargirl. Don't tell me she never tried to fit in. She did! But you will know how it ended when you finish reading the story.

I wonder what happened to her sometimes.

But one thing is for sure. After closing the last page, i learned a lot of things, opened my eyes to more important ones.
Like being different is not always weird.
Like being happy is not always about myself. It is about what others might feel.
Like acts of kindness can be done without harboring credits from it.
Like acceptance cannot be earned by conforming to everything.
Like small things can be the bigger things.
And so on and so forth.

I would still definitely want to be Stargirl. Or somehow like her.


I HAVE A COPY OF THIS BOOK! BUT I STILL NEED TO REREAD IT COZ I MERELY SKIMMED IT THE LAST TIME BEFORE PUTTING IT ON MY SHELF. GOT DISTRACTED BY OTHER BOOKS AGAIN. BUT I KNOW THIS IS ONE GREAT BOOK :)

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 7th, 2014, 12:08 am
by laila_6045
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Genre: Adult contemporary psychological thriller mystery
Rating : 4/5

This was still a great read for me, despite having predicted something about "AMY" about 19% into the book. I actually like how dark and twisted this other MC was, when you read enough f*cked up characters such as Gone Girl in other books with similar themes, how their mind works fascinates me but in real life I really don't want to encounter such kind of person. They are very deceptive and before you know it, you are screwed! It is all about what motivates them, what makes them driven to the extreme. This is like Fatal Attraction with your own spouse! have you seen that movie Fatal Attraction?...yeah talk about obsession gone deadly wrong.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 7th, 2014, 12:27 am
by laila_6045
Unwind (Unwind Dystology #1) by Neal Shusterman
Genre : YA sci-fi
Rating : 4.5/5

This was a great surprise for me. I had this copy for quite a long time na but it is only now that i got around to reading it. This is one thought provoking novel. There are subjects here that really pierce you . Written from various POVs but they all work really well into one cohesive plot, the pacing is appropriately fast enough to keep the momentum of the story going and still keep you engaged. I really like the character development of the book and i highly recommend this to sci-fi and most esp. non-scifi fans like me.

I dare you not feel something for the UNWINDS once you read this book. ugh that Bill of Life only protects the interests of the so called Adult parties, what about what these young generation want? their rights? if they became too much of a problem to handle you can opt to have them "harvested" ...like an unwanted toy being dismembered and recycled to make better use. Like that makes it all okay...when really it was just tragically cruel :(

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 7th, 2014, 3:19 pm
by ayanamifaerudo
I couldn't recall what happened at the end of the second volume. My Goodreads two-sentence review said that I quite admired the anti-bullying stance of the second volume.

What else? Oh yeah... Girl power! Alice goes out every night battling baddies while the guy stays home worrying.

The third volume continues Alice's story as she battles against the Corrupted, characters from Grimms' Fairy Tales that went evil. Everything is drawing to a close now and this volume sets up the final battle in the fourth.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 8th, 2014, 1:02 am
by arjaye
LOVE, STARGIRL by Jerry Spinelli (#2)
5/5

Indeed. The longest letter. Took Stargirl hours, days, years to sum it all up. All things happened to her, big and small. All people she met, places she saw, feelings she felt. Actually, it was written for Leo Borlocks, her long lost love, a diary of some sort. Why? Because she is here, he is there. A long distance kind of thing, but pretty complicated.

In the first book, STARGIRL, Leo was the one narrating. On how their simple town, his Mica high, suddenly became alive because a certain different bordering weird, home-schooled girl just arrived. Stargirl Caraway, who got a name like that? Stargirl blew their minds by her antics and gestures that doesnt conform with the norms. She was different by their standards, thus she was not normal. No matter how hard she tried, it seemed that people cannot open their arms and embraced her fully. No matter how hard she tried, they cannot accept her. Except for Leo and Dori and Archie. Leo even fell in love with her. Then dumped her. Then she left the town, abruptly.

I wondered what happened to her.

LOVE, STARGIRL answered that in full details. Now, Stargirl herself was the one speaking her mind, her point of view. Now, she was in a different town with different set of people whom slowly, through her accounts day by day, seemed to accept her in their lives. She met Dootsie, Betty Lou, Alvina, Arnold, Margie, Grace's Charlie, Perry. How she made her day interesting and valuable, how she made impacts on these people, how she made a difference. But eventhough these were all happening, occupying her mind and time, she missed Leo. Thus, the longest letter. She wanted Leo to know he was not forgotten. And she, Stargirl Caraway, was still hoping to meet Leo again. Because she still loves her.

A lot of good words affected me. Most especially when Betty Lou said to Stargirl how to live. "Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Inhabit one day at a time."

And this last statement., really struck a chord.

“Our hearts yearn backward. We long to be found, hoping our searchers have not given up and gone home. But I no longer hope to be found. Do not follow me! Let's just be fabulously where we are and who we are. You be you and I'll be me, today and today and today, and let's trust the future to tomorrow. Let the stars keep track of us. Let us ride our own orbits and trust they will meet. May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision of destinies! ”

I loved these two books of Jerry Spinelli. They are about life, love and everything in between. :)

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 8th, 2014, 1:05 am
by arjaye
laila_6045 wrote:I HAVE A COPY OF THIS BOOK! BUT I STILL NEED TO REREAD IT COZ I MERELY SKIMMED IT THE LAST TIME BEFORE PUTTING IT ON MY SHELF. GOT DISTRACTED BY OTHER BOOKS AGAIN. BUT I KNOW THIS IS ONE GREAT BOOK :)


read it if u have the time na. it will not disappoint. :)

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 9th, 2014, 1:54 pm
by joesel
Image Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon

it's one of his books written in the 1970s so finding an ebook copy of it was quite hard for me. The trouble of reading too much Sheldon books is that after a few books the probability of you knowing who the real culprit gets higher, thus a lesser "OH MY GOODNESS". This is what happens to me while reading the book and then I really didn't like how the book ended - i still want to know what happened to the other characters in the book, did Helene and Rhys ended their affair? how did it even started? aggghhhh. so many questions pa talaga!

nonetheless, it still has that Sheldon's ability to attract the reader to flip those pages more and more. the storytelling was flowing, simple and gripping. I always like how his words make it easy for me to visualize the scenes in my mind, making the reading more enjoyable. :)

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 10th, 2014, 7:06 am
by Super_Mark
The feels. The feels. The feels. Set during the early 1960's in South Carolina on the height of desegregation, the novel is about the story of Lily Owens and her search for the true meaning of family. Raised by her unloving father in a peach farm with the help of her black nanny, Rosaleen, Lily had troubles growing up. It revolves around her search for belongingness at school, in his community and also at home.

Due to unexpected turn of events Rosaleen and Lily escaped their community and went to Tiburon, South Carolina that holds secret of her mother's past. There they meet the three beekeeping sisters that took them in. They also meet the Black Madonna, who would later play a major part in Lily's search for answers.

I love this book. Amazing storytelling. An easy read. You could feel the depth of each character and how the author managed to interlock each one of them. Characterization was so good. Each chapter is started with a blurb about bees that, for me, prepared me for what I was to read. It was a cry-laugh-cry-laugh situation for me while I was reading this book. It's full of life lessons about growing up, love and acceptance. Overall, it's a must read. An easy 5/5 stars for me.

I demand a sequel. :)

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 10th, 2014, 4:27 pm
by laila_6045
Asylum (Asylum #1) by Madeleine Roux
Genre : YA horror, thriller, mystery
Rating : 2/5

in anticipation of the book signing event of Roux coming to Cebu, i have opted to read her book in advance. i have a lot of hope that i will get to enjoy her book. but unfortunately it didn't work well for me. even though i am not so fond of horror but i do appreciate character development and creepy details in the horror genre...which i find lacking in this book. i could not connect with any of the main characters, mostly they act like they are on pms lol!...and the romance angle felt forced and seriously awkward and not in an adorable way.
i did not pick up on the sequel right away coz i did not care for it much. but this is not in a way to discourage those who are into this genre. this is just based on my reading experience. so i hope that others will enjoyed this much more than i did.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: October 10th, 2014, 5:45 pm
by laila_6045
Fateful by Claudia Gray
Genre: YA period romance with a paranormal twist
Rating : 4.5/5

the author is coming and i haven't read any of her works before so i opted to get a stand alone book of hers that i seem to like the synopsis at first but then...
i was quite surprise with the way how this book swept me away with TITANIC feelings...yes because this book all takes place aboard the ill fated Titanic. we have two star crossed lovers desperate and feeling doomed in more ways than one. we have our Jack and Rose but in a reverse role...we have TEss a lady's maid and the enigmatic Alexander "Alec" with a dark secret that is dangerous. there are cheesy moments but i expected that na yet it did not annoy me very much, instead i began to sympathize with their desperate situation and wish that fate somehow will step in to their favor before they will all go down tragically with the ship...