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Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 22nd, 2012, 12:35 am
by laila_6045
this is a story of regrets and redemption...dr. david henry delivers his fraternal twins one snowy nite, the eldest is a son Paul was born normal while the 2nd a daughter Phoebe was born with a condition of a down syndrome...he made a decision to send his daughter away to an institution however the nurse who assisted him decided to take the child with her and raise her herself in another city away from his family.He never told the truth about that nite to his wife or to his son, he lied to them by telling his wife that their daughter died during birth a blue baby.Over the years Dr. Henry and nurse Caroline kept in touch thru letters to each other about how Phoebe and he even send money to them but never asked to see Phoebe. But Dr. Henry even realizing over the years of the horrible mistake he made with his decision that nite that haunted his relationship with his family in the end he still lost them. He wanted so much to protect his wife and his son of the downside in raising a child with down syndrome that he lost site of the real joys in life. Like nurse Caroline told him when they met again in the later years that he may have avoided the heartaches, but he missed a lot of great joys also in watching Phoebe grow up into a happy functional person. Dr. Henry became obsessed with photography thus he took a lot of photos over the years trying to capture that certain moment like keeping a memory forever, it was his coping mechanism in trying to forget and amend at the same time of the consequences of that long ago decision. In the end the enduring power of love will find ways to forgive and not really forget.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 22nd, 2012, 12:33 pm
by Wanda
Just read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Despite the fact that the whole story happened in just one night and meant to be fast paced, i still found it a bit slow. It has the usual elements that have made Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demon fascinating - Robert Langdon being summoned for his services, symbolisms, codes and puzzles everywhere, an enigmatic city filled w old world charm, hidden labyrinths and buried secrets. And yet, the revelation in the end was a bit disappointing for me.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 23rd, 2012, 10:59 am
by arlene927
it's a good read... finished the 3 books in a week. :D

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 24th, 2012, 2:11 am
by Memnoch26
The House of Silk,
A Sherlock Holmes Novel
by Anthony Horowitz

My favorite part of a Sherlock novel is always the last part. I always get amazed of how two or three isolated cases are meshed up all together. This novel has the complete Sherlock story ingredients. Surprisingly, all the major characters are also there including Holmes brother and his mortal enemy which has minor involvement in the story.

I excitedly read the last part part of the story. Unfortunately, my guess didn't match Holmes story. I will try better next time. hahaha...

Holmes didn't fail to amaze me!!!! This sparked my desire to read old Holmes stories.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 27th, 2012, 6:54 pm
by april
finally finished... lots of narrative... have no further comment

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: March 28th, 2012, 12:58 am
by Memnoch26
Princess by Jean Sasson

This book is scary !!!!! The story included the rape of non Muslims in Saudi Arabia including Filipinas working as house help.
Woman in general , are considered 2nd class citizen for Muslims. Just imagine how out classed the non Muslim women would be.

The story shows how glamorous the life of an arab royalty is and how terrible women are treated in their society. One the other hand, its an eye opener to the world of our Muslim neighbors. Its a great read.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: April 1st, 2012, 12:00 am
by Memnoch26
The Lost Hero
by Rick Riordan

This is the Percy Jackson series continuation. The gang and camp half blood is back with new lead characters - Jason, Pper and Leo. Percy is missing and Annabeth is looking for him. The background story is the story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2012, 9:59 pm
by Oz Zee
It's difficult to appreciate the novel if you're familar with a few philosophical schools such as Epistemology and Empericism. Basically the story, published in 1949, is about the dystopian future in the year 1984 where everything that drives society and culture were made up by a higher level "government" called 'the brotherhood'. History was not based on truth anymore because it was re-written.

Such idea now isn't new but back then it probably shook the literary scene, al though I believe Ayn Rand's Anthem should get higher recognition than this one. For one, the main character was more convincing and took more personality by lacking it, ironic but that's how it should be. If the character was brought up in a world without culture, then our character shouldn't be intellectually reflective, but human curiousity is the key that made the book more interesting than it should be.

Anyway, Orwell's 1984 is still one of the great/betterbooks out there amongst the rest.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2012, 11:29 pm
by laila_6045
This is a hilarious novel of the typical teenage angst about boys, highschool and love with a paranormal twist and for Ally she just can’t wait to get out of Cornersville Trace Highschool where majority of the student body are crazy into the goth look since vampires, werewolves and zombies have come out of hiding and revealed their existence in the human society. Ally is living in this so called post-human era and teenage girls in her school are going gaga over hooking up with vampires…she thinks they are a bunch of idiots. Ally’s character is very sarcastic and jaded even for one so young but then she unwittingly fell for Doug who happens to be a Zombie. But for me no matter how sweet their love affair is, its still kinda Eww imagining kissing a zombie! This was a fun read with a bittersweet ending.

Re: Latest book you have finished

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2012, 11:35 pm
by laila_6045
If I Stay by Gayle Forman...This is a beautifully written novel of loss, acceptance and the will to live. Mia have a very important decision to make that will mean life and death for her literally. So there in the ICU, while her spirit looks over her comatose body she contemplates her decision as she comes to grips of what she lost and remembering the life she had with her family and those she will be leaving behind if she will not stay. I love all the characters in the story, even though this is a fiction it doesn’t take away the fact that life is fragile and if given another chance would you fight to live on when it means you might have nothing to live for anymore.
Here is an exerpt of one of my fave part:
Gramps doesn’t wipe his face or blow his nose. He just lets the tears fall where they may. And when the well of grief is momentarily dry, he steps forward and kisses me on the forehead. He looks like he’s about to leave, but then he doubles back to my bedside, bends so his face is level with my ear, and whispers into it.
“It’s okay,” he tells me. “If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues. “But that’s what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s okay if you have to leave us. It’s okay if you want to stop fighting.”
For the first time since I realized that Teddy was gone, too, I feel something unclench. I feel myself breathe. I know that Gramps can’t be that late-inning pinch hitter I’d hoped for. He won’t unplug my breathing tube or overdose me with morphine or anything like that. But this is the first time today that anyone has acknowledged what I have lost. I know that the social worker warned Gran and Gramps not to upset me, but Gramps’s recognition, and the permission he just offered me—it feels like a gift. Gramps doesn’t leave me. He slumps back into the chair. It’s quiet now. So quiet that you can almost hear other people’s dreams. So quiet that you can almost hear me tell Gramps, “Thank you.”