on the 41st..Ü

Yes, I am still progressing! Book number 40 is done. ÜÜ

I dont know but I am really a fast reader but these past months have been a drag...it's so un-me. Well, anyway, I am moving on...which is always a good thing, isn't it?

Ü

32 books in 4-and-so months

Yay! If I keep this 'streak', I might be able to finish the hundred books. hehe. ÜÜ

Angels and Demons

I can't write a really nice review about the book. The only thing that I want to say is: I think Angels and Demons surpassed the The Da Vinci Code.

*

The book is masterfully created. (I may have said this for any other book but...) This one is unputdownable. It kept me at following Robert Langdon with more vigour than I did in his second adventure. The pacing was such that I can't afford to just leave the book and do anything else...I must get to the end.

*

Dan Brown, once again, proved his prowess.

*

All in all: /go figureÜ/ Impressive, great, breath-taking, will get you offguard.

two books in a week.Ü plus updates

yey! I am finally moving forward with my reading challenge. Ü

I actually lost count but I think I am already reading my 24th book. hehe.. I had given in to the urge of buying all the books that I want. Darn. i can't have that! I have to save money!!

Anyway, I have survived my most dreaded exam in my entire student life. Well, physically that is. haha. As if I have a choice of not being able to do so. hha.. The results are another matter though. haha

hmm, I have reason to believe that I gave a wrong email add to my prof in Eng 1. She said she's going to send a file and I have not received one yet. Plus, I was a bit disoriented last Friday and I really think I made a mistake. i just sent her an email, though. i just wish she'd still care to send the reading..hehe (that's a nervous laugh, by the wayÜ)

And I am just fascinated by the ability of people to multi task. haha. For as I am writing this post, I am also working on another post in another blog, chatting with my mom and sort of catching up with my friends. hehe. /shrugs/ Now that I have written these down, I can't seem to see what is marvelous about it. /sigh/

20th book! and Updates!

the thick thick thick book is done...(so are the other readings I mentioned in my last postÜ)! Anyway, I just want to post some updates for I've been away from any computer for two weeks straight. *ack!*

Hmm.. What to say? oh yeah... I became a member of a group without me knowing it. (scratch head) And then, I think they are about to induct me to a position. Yikes. I really can't have that! Darn.

And I had my forst long exam in Math 17. I did okay. hehe. Went completely bersek in arithmetic. haha. Anyway, I passed. haha. Ü

and I finally went home on my own. It's pretty simple, see. First, I'd take a jeepney ride to SM North Edsa. Then, I'd walk for about three to five minutes, while trying to maintain balance as I was carrying a big bag of my things and the road is slippery for it was raining. Then, I'd wait for like 20 minutes, praying that my clothes wont be soaked by the time the bus passes. Then, the bus comes, and I'd wave frantically and run (yes, run..rain, big bag, slippery road and all) until I catch up with it and hop in. Then, I'd spent the first half of it standing (the bus was full) and i wont be discounted as a student for that darn konduktor did not hear me say i am a student.

Anyway, for all that rant, all I wanted to say is that maybe it's better if I just go home on saturday mornings. hehe Ü

Then, I am beginning to be oh so worried for my ES 1 class. It's not that I dont like drafting or engineering drawing, it's the fact that it actually hates me. hehe. I stay more than half of the night trying to do my plates and none of them would be good enough to gain me a really good score. I mean, I am pretty happy for the grades I am getting, but not improving in something that you really work hard for is another matter.

Oh, and I would be needing a pen name! yey. It's for my Eng 1 class. Ü I am thrilled and 'determined' to come up with something that suits me. hehe. I hated the way that sentence sounded, though. hehe.

Hmm, I guess my post is quite long already. hehe. Ü got to go. Ü
review of the 20th book might be posted later. Ü

three and I am home.

I'm home for the weekends so I want to use this free internet and post some overdue updates.

Let me start with my professors. Ü God has been really good to me...He even guided me to pre-enlist in the subjects not under the terror teachers...or those who simply refuse to teach. Ü All of my profs are cool and they make me think for they inspire me to be on their level. haha. Ü

The next one would be the UP life. I must admit that I experienced many 'firsts' during my two weeks stay in the University. The first place where I ate beef and isaw. The first place that taught me not to adhere to the impulse of buying extremely cheap books and use that money for the jeepney fare. ...which taught me that carrying an umbrella is not just 'in' but is also a necessity. ...which taught me to sit anywhere, on anything that can support me (or on the floor, the sidewalk, the stairs). ...where photocopying the reading materials for one meeting costs me my allowance for the whole day. ...where I can go back to my room (where I sleep in) in the middle of a class and not be reprimanded or anything. ...where I get food and other stuff for free just because my student number starts with the digits 2008.

The last one would be the 19th book! yay. I am done with it. Ü It's as I did not admit that I can;t reach the mark. Anyway, i am gonna try. Ü The 20th is a bit thick and the other readings I have are also thick, so i guess I have to prioritize those other readings frst. Ü

I am acepting my defeat..

boohoo..

The challenge? I cant do it. Aww.

I've been busy for my first week...and I cant imagine what the coming days have in store for me. I have been neglecting my blogs, have not read anything since saturday and the bookmark on my (where am I?) nth book has never been moved since saturday.

And so, I am announcing it again. I am not likely to complete the 100 books by May of 2009. But, in the spirit of trying (haha!), I am going to keep a list of my reads, still, and figure out where a year of busyness would take me.

Anyway, Christine from She reads books... said that she has already mailed my book! yay! I am just so thrilled. haha Who doesnt know? I have badgered everyone I know about it. haha. $-6 weeks! about a month or so. What a great birthday treat for me! ( i was born in July)

Ahm, what else? I'll be posting weekly...twice a week ifthe sched permits...so I am saying bye bye temporarily to my blogger...which I have probably done in my last post.
hehe..

Till next weekend.

oh,and Happy Father's day tp every dad in the world. (I cant be with my dad...awww.)

art and an update

Okay, so I want to use the remaining hours of free computer and internet to the fullest. haha! So here are examples of what I am doing these past few hours. Ü

So there,haha. I know, they are just all childish 'doodlings'...but I felt especially attached to the first drawing. dunno why

- - - - - - > > >

Reading challege update: 17th book now done. Ü

Ruby: A Novel

Got the image here. (Obviously)

I really liked way the characters, especially Olivia and Ruby, clearly showed the tendecies of the people who grieve and of those who are badly in need.

...and the way the promise of healing after a really devastating experience can indeed happen to everyone. 'Hanging in there' would help, but sometimes, one needs another person to rely on...and something to hope for to be able to continue and move one.

I also found the scenes from Olivia's past marriage reasonable. They somehow 'reason' out why she just cant live normally anymore. It's just that there were too many of them. But still, they were okay. Really.

The ending is okay. I have to agree with the Library Journal review, though. It is a bit anticlimatic. But, again, that's the only way there could be a 'happy ending', if you could call it as such.

All in all: Satisfying.

Fair Exchange

Got the image here.

I have no words for the book except that I am disappointed that it is already the end of the story. I just want to keep on reading. It had me wanting to just follow what happens to the characters. Ü So, also from here:

Drawing on the secrets, lives & affairs of two of the most famous &
passionate figures of the late 19th century - Mary Wollstonecraft & William
Wordsworth - this is Roberts' most romantic novel to date, written in beautiful,
beguiling prose. In the early 1800s, Louise, a French peasant, fearing she is
about to die, calls for her priest. She has a secret to confess. Though the
priest is impatient, she wants to tell her tale from the beginning. It opens in
London in the 1780s, when Jemima Boote arrives at Mary Wollstonecraft's school.
Later she follows her beloved teacher to Paris, wanting to be part of the
erupting revolution & then - 6 months pregnant - retreats to the village of
Louise's youth. Her arrival coincides with that of another young mother-to-be,
Annette, who has been sent by her parents to the country to hide her disgraceful
pregnancy & to get over her infatuation with William, a young English poet.
In an abandoned convent they take up their waiting: waiting for their babies,
waiting for their men. While borrowing hints & facts from the lives of
Wordsworth & Wollstonecraft, the intriguing mystery of the lives that unfold
as a result of these pregnancies, is Michele Roberts'
own fascinating creation.

All in all: Intriguingly mysterious. Impressive.

some updates...late and earlyÜ

I am now officially out of new books to read. /sob/

I bought 4 books (at a really good price) to read this past 2 weeks. Yes, you heard that from me...4 books? 2 weeks? and I am only at my 12th book when I decided that! darn. I. AM. DOOMED. haha.. Infuriatingly exaggerated: Yep, that's me. Ü

Anyway, passing over that (and coming back to my point) I managed to read them all (thankfully!) and now, without any prospect of buying 4 more books ( I am broke) and without anything left in the house that I have not read, I am now stuck.

Hmm..

Oh, and the 16th book's done!

Hmm.. what else? Oh yeah, the housing results would be posted today. Kalayaan, tanggapin mo ako! Parang awa mo na! hehe. I somehow wish that I would be accepted!!!!

And today's the end of the summer classes! (Not yesterday, the instructor had someting to do in Manila.)

The Chocolate War

Got the image here.

Every young adult should read this! Reading the book is looking at our real world...and learning and growing from it.

*

What I like most in this is the way I got to know the boys (the characters) as if they are from my own neighborhood. It was as if I grew up watching the bullies (in the book) taunting other kids (those who were bullied in the story). The cruelty, the occasional guilt, the refusal and the tumult it caused were told in a superb manner.

*

The story is marvelously structured and the ideas were conveyed masterfully. The suspense and the overwhelming reality of The Chocolate War got me excited for Beyond the Chocolate War (is it a sequel? haha I dont know, but I'll still be looking forward to it...or to any work of Robert Cormier.Ü). I really hope I will be able to read it soon!

*

All in all: Impressive. A must read.

Five Mile House

Got the image here.

(I really dont know how to write a proper review as anyone who read the other ones already knows.Ü I just write what I think about the whole book, nothing too formal or too studied or anything. Have patience please. Ü)

*

Five Mile House contains everything that I look forward to in a book. The mysteries, the suspense, the secrets, the passion, wicca and the events that would really really lead you into thinking. It has just enough of these good bits that I consider this as one of my best reads this year.

*

The book started with Eleanor and in my perception, it ended with her as well. The prologue was a bomb and the last part was to die for. Yes, I sound exaggerated, but i do feel that way.

*

As for the whole story, I found myself reading something totally different from what I expected (a disappointment at first) but it was something that turned out to be far better than what I anticipated. It was filled with twists and turns that I seriously felt the need to go and get a break only to discover that I can't! I am rooted to the book.

*

The suddenness of some of the revelations and the slow but deliberate way some secrets were unraveled got me gripping the book tighter...for at times I was blown away, and at times, I was too impatient to get it over with. haha.

*

I loved the way it was told by a character in an omniscient view of all the others in the story. It showed how every little thing is connected to another detail that is all in all important in the book. The chapters ended like they were goading me to read on and find out what's gonna be next.

*

As I've already told, I was overwhelmed with the different subplots that are intertwined and got the book to a really good ending. There was the House (apparently), the ghost, the detective, the children, the wicca (witchcraft), the passion the women showed, the obsession, the thing compared to the Holy Grail...there were so many that I am still in a state of marvel at how Karen Novak gathered all this together and created such a beautiful beautiful story. She is really good. Ü

*

All in all: Impressive. (already in my TBR list!)

Slacking off

Wow. It's almost the end of May and I have just finished my 13th book (review later). How slow is that? Wow. hehe. yeah, well, I am reading my 14th. Ü

With this record, I really doubt if I can ever, I mean, ever get to my 100th mark.

Hmm. I've been busy lately. The classes are actually a drag...a major drag. Yep, I am just heaving myself every morning. Pep talking myself so that I can get off the bed and so that I can keep myself from just sitting on the bus till it takes me to where I really want to go to.

*sigh*

At least, tomorrow is my last day for this week. After it, I can relax, till sunday that is. Ü And maybe do more reading. Ü

update, reading challenge.Ü

Contrary to the my post regarding the 100+ Reading Challenge, I wont edit that particular one anymore but instead, I put another page element and list down the books that I've read since last week.

I am 10% done with the challenge. Ü hehe...I can't wait to lay my hands on another book..hehe..my mom actually told me that I thrive on books...what am I? A termite? tsk tsk..(shakes head)..hehe..though with the things are going, it might probably be true.

I just joined the 100+ Reading Challenge that I found here in blogger. Ü I can't start the list yet, for I don't know if I can include the books that I just reread. Anyway, i will be editing this post as soon as I am certain of the rules.Ü

P.S.
Click the pic to go to the 100+ reading challenge site.Ü