Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time

And last but not the least for the 30 Day Book Challenge, though I didn't went by the one-for-each-day-30-days-rule, my favorite book of all time is, drum roll please!

The Winchester Austen edition

Got this for my 18th birthday with my 18th birthday cashmoney. I had 18 books instead of 18 candles for my debut so my reading list was full that year. 1 more book won't hurt right? It comes in a black pseudo-leather jacket with elastic closure. Includes four introductions by renowned Austen scholars, coloured illustrations, and a map of Jane Austen's England! Imagine if you have all six of Austen's novels in this edition on your bookshelf. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

P.S. I like buying different covers/editions of my favorite books. Especially if the covers are beautiful.

Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked

I had to read every spine on my bookshelf for this one. I had to delay because I couldn't get an answer. I'm not really spontaneous when it comes to books, in fact I'm picky. I'm a sucker for historical fiction - 1920s to 1940s, WWII, spies. Classics - mostly Austen, The Great Gatsby. Nicholas Sparks. Young Adult - not like those teenage novels filled with sex, angst, and hormones.

But anyway, everybody hates Twilight (I realized I didn't liked it so much either after all the hype). Out of the Twilight series, I liked New Moon best, even though Edward was a no-show for months and pages. So yeah, I was a bit of a Team-Edward-kind-of-fan. It's just a phase everybody goes through, like puberty. Haha!

Google Images

Day 28 – Favorite title

The Sky is Everywhere


Poetry in one sentence.

Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending

I really didn't expect the ending. It felt strange that after twenty long years of missed chances and fate bringing them back together would eventually lead to that. I was thinking along the lines of lovers becoming strangers That would even be bearable. It was surely unexpected.

Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something

It changed my perception on life and the future. This book made me feel infinite.

Life is a Great Perhaps.

“When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.”

Photos from weheartit. x

Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most

I don't know how I relate to her but she's everything I want to be.

Lennie Walker from The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. 

Writing poems on every flat surface available and leaving them anywhere. She writes to cope up with her grief, which I also do when I'm heartbroken. She road-reads, which I think is cool. She's a girl caught between nursing her sadness and wanting to break free.

Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read

Presumption doesn't feel like a sequel, or even a presumption of what the sequel to Pride and Prejudice should be like. The writing style is so Austen, you'd really wonder if the author wrote it herself. It really is an indulgence.

I have a huge crush on P&P's Mr. Darcy. Then I met Persuasion's Captain Wentworth. His subtle ways, his feelings bottled up after 8 long years, his letter to Anne. I was really persuaded. The most romantic book Austen wrote.

I'd gladly lend my copy to anyone who's willing! x

Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t

I was intrigued by the book. I guess I wanted to find answers more than actually reading it. It was too haunting and tragic for me, so after a few pages, I just let it go.

Day 22 – Favorite book you own

My heart goes out to every book I own.


Every book is a door that leads to beautifully written words and poignant characters, you wish it would swallow you whole and you were them. Every book holds a certain feeling or place or person, your bookshelf has your memories folded in paperbacks. x

Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood

Missin' my Ladybird books with the ladybug print hardcover! Wonder where my mom hid them. x

Day 19 & 20

I'm soooo far behind the 30 Day Book Challenge! Sorry! I'm not even following the mechanics anymore haha! Been busy with school and other things. But I'll finish this no matter what. This is my first post for 2012 so I'll throw in another day challenge!

Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Atonement by Ian McEwan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I knew about this book through the movie. Atonement was my first historical fiction and I was in love with the genre ever since. Even though the movie wasn't that faithful to the book, I loved it nonetheless. You cannot destroy a novel so poignant as this. Turning it into a movie made it more delectable. It's nice to put a face on Robbie and Cee too! The ending was heart-wrenching but I won't have it in any other way. If I was Briony, I would do the same thing. Beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.



View all my reviews

Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you've read this, you have to read The Lost Duke of Wyndham. The two novels are woven together perfectly (I realized after reading both). But the good thing is they don't depend on each other. You can take one book as it is. I just recently knew this is book number two and I've read this first! It's utterly funny and romantic at the same time. I love the twists and the parts where it overlaps with book one. The plot is consistent within the two books. Julia Quinn is a genius! She's my go-to for historical romance.



View all my reviews

Happy New Year! (Chinese New Year, that is) Will be posting about my book lusts for the start of 2012 soon. Happy reading everyone!!!

Day 18 - A book that disappointed you

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Why can't you choose what you forget... and what you remember?"

Zoey is the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to popular boyfriend Brandon. She has a perfect life until she finds out her dad knocked up his twenty-four-year old girlfriend then her mom had a nervous breakdown. No one knows about her mom's stint except her dad, Zoey, the cop who found her mom, and Doug Fox. Doug Fox has juvie history, part of the swim team, and seems to hate Zoey, the way he scowls at her. Then the accident happens. When Zoey wakes up the next day, she realizes she can't remember what happened minutes before the car crash. Doug suddenly shows up in her living room, concerned and touchy while Brandon is avoiding her.

I really really liked the plot. The way Zoey is thrown about when she is missing the all important memory that could explain why Doug can't stay away from her and why she seems too like it too. I guess I was expecting a different outcome from the turn of events. I was disappointed of the way the characters' were thrown to each other, it was shallow and flat. Sex is also overrated in the book. But Doug got under my skin. When I found out what really happened before the car crash, it just didn't come through. Overall, it lacked the soul the tagline portrayed.

View all my reviews

Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book/s

It's really hard for me to choose only one so I've picked the best quotes I wrote down from different books.

"And would you rather sir, that your sister could recite by rote the principal rivers of Russia and China or those other shreds of useless knowledge that are nowadays so much the fashion? ...What I call education is not which smothers a woman with incidental accomplishments, but that which instead encourages in her the power and habit of thinking." - Julia Barrett, Presumption

"There are days when you really just need to know there is going to be someone on your side, even if you're the one screwing up." - Theresa Alan, The Girl's Guide to Global Guys

"It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh - I really think that requires spirit." - Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of little ones - I've discovered the secret of happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now. Not to be forever regretting the past, or anticipating the future; but to get the most that you can out of this very instant." - Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

"To want things is to be constantly disappointed." - Suzanne Weyn, Reincarnation

"Only fools think they have all the answers." - Suzanne Weyn, Reincarnation

"The whole of man's life on the face of the Earth can be summed up by that search for his Soul Mate. He may pretend to be running after wisdom, money, or power, but none of that matters. Whatever he achieves will be incomplete if he fails to find his Soul Mate." - Paulo Coelho, Brida

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” - John Green, Looking For Alaska


What's your favorite? Hope you liked it! x

Day 16 - Favorite female character

This is long overdue I know, so will make this short and sweet.

Lennie Walker from The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Why? Not only do I love the prose, I love how Lennie writes poems on every flat surface available and leaves them scattered across town. She writes about her sister, the new boy in honor band, her grief, and it's so poignant. Everything she does and everybody around her makes her this vibrant character, a living prose herself. I can almost feel her own grief. Even though there are times I dislike her for what she did, I believe I'd do the same thing if I was her. I love how much she loves her sister, how she read Wuthering Heights 23 times, how I can feel her every emotion through her poems. She's so raw.

Who's your favorite heroine? x

Day 15 – Favorite male character

If you asked me months ago, I would've answered Mr. Darcy right away.

Matt from Twenty Boy Summer
You can read plot here.

(Warning: contains spoilers!)

Matt is Frankie's older brother and both are Anna's best friends and neighbors. Anna has always loved Matt but he doesn't know. Until her birthday, he kissed her with frost in her hair. They'd sneak out to the backyard when everyone's asleep and just talk, look up at the stars. Frankie doesn't know and Anna is scared that she might feel left out. Matt made her keep their secret and promises her that he would tell her. But then he suddenly dies because of a hole in his heart. And she finds herself thrown into Frankie's scheme of twenty boys in Zanzibar Bay where Matt used to write to her about every summer. She couldn't grieve for the boy who loved her because Frankie seems intent on running away from it. But she couldn't forget him when everything around her has traces of him.

I guess his early demise has drawn me to him, in a way. What would've Matt been like if he didn't die? Matt hangs out with her younger sister and is best friends with a girl. He likes to read, like Jack Kerouac's On The Road. He collects sea glass and makes necklaces and bracelets out of them. He loves the sea and writes postcards to her best friend about his summer. He's not the typical kind, alpha males. His soft side makes him more an amazing person. I wish he was real. I wish he lived long enough.

Sorry for the spoilers!
Who's your favorite male character? :)
x

Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore

From the So Little Time series

Used random photo from Google Search ;)

So Little Time is a US sitcom starring Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. It was later on made into a novel series.

Not even sure which one I read. After my fascination with Sweet Valley High (I miss!), I became a fan of the Olsen twins. I remembered photocopying magazines with them on it. Haha! It was around freshmen year when I got the book. Then I lent it to a friend - which was never given back to me - and is totally alright considering that I won't read it anymore. I couldn't even remember what the title was! Thinking about it made me curious though. :)

This post is a slacker. Will make it up to you on the next one! x

Day 11 - A book you hated

The Girls' Guide to Global Guys by Theresa Alan

I am picky with books - young adult, chick lit, classic novels, historical romance, historical fiction, romantic fiction. I don't usually read outside my comfort zone and I like books that are written like poetry.

The title was what caught my eye. I pictured a world class chick lit. Light, funny, and romantic. I imagined a soul-searching heroine who hits it off with a guy in every place she's been. I imagined exotic places, beautiful backdrops, bilingual dialogues, and of strangers meeting accidentally. Then she'd realize her hero is waiting for her at home. It would've been a delicious read.

Two best friends, Jadie and Tate had it with their dating life in Colorado and decided to travel around the world to learn about the different dating cultures and maybe find Mr. Right along the way. They left Colorado without knowing what's ahead of them and that was a thrill. Then the two girls began to interview ladies, locals, about their dating life. Yes, interview them with ready questions. That set me off. I didn't even finish the book. It felt tightly constructed, Alan didn't let her characters wander on their own and find out the different dating cultures themselves. Maybe it's just me but I didn't like it at all. I just didn't get it. What a waste on a good plot :(

Photo from Google Search.

Threelogy

Sorry about the lagged posts. I'm having off days but will try really hard to keep up from now on! Since I haven't posted anything for days, I'll cram three in one! ;)

1. Mini library
It's already semester break so I've been stuck at home. Plenty of time to do nothing, which bugs me a little. But then again, it's a much deserved break after all those stress. Anyways, I've been cleaning my room for days now, rearranging stuff around. I stack my books in different places in my room for a cozy feel, I want to be surrounded with things that I love. I had nothing to do so I tried to see what it'll look like if I placed them all in my bookshelf.

Sans the ones my friends borrowed and some left at my dorm. I want to fill every flat surface of my room! Fingers crossed.

2. Current read
Last Sunday, I got to buy myself a book! Yey! I have a long list of books to buy but whenever I'm at the National/Powerbooks/Fully Booked, I get overwhelmed with so many books I forget my list. I have this instinct too! After walking around the store a couple of times, I usually end up buying a book that I impulsively see like it's meant for me. And it's on sale! :)

The Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes

I'm only past eight chapters. So far, I'm loving the plot and the writing style. I love everything that has a bit of history in it. The Last Letter from your Lover is set on the 60s and the present. It's romantic without going overboard. I'm expecting a lot from this book! Though it's really unexpected, you really don't know where everything is headed. Keeps you at the edge, you wouldn't want to put it down. That's what makes it a good book. Prolly will post book quotes/feature about this next time :)

3. Day 10 - Favorite Classic Book: Pride and Prejudice & Persuasion



Allow me to be so indulgent to choose two :) Written by my favorite author, Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is the book that got me reading again. I adored the thought of Mr. Darcy, brooding and handsome. I fell in love with 19th century Europe, the balls, the dresses, the language.

Persuasion reflects the romantic in Jane Austen, and me. Captain Wentworth's coldness towards Anne Elliot when they met after eight years, his subtle ways, his letter after finding out his sentiments towards her are still the same was enough to captivate me. You have to read it yourself. If you've read it, read it again! :)

Photos are mine. x

Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

I'm picky when it comes to genre and Paulo Coelho doesn't fall under my type. I'm not crazy for Brida but I found myself highlighting quotes from the book. Paulo Coelho makes his readers reflect about life. I didn't expect that kind of effect on me.

Some highlighted quotes:

The whole of man's life on the face of the Earth can be summed up by that search for his Soul Mate. He may pretend to be running after wisdom, money, or power, but none of that matters. Whatever he achieves will be incomplete if he fails to find his Soul Mate.

None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.

Whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in.

Brida had the feeling that what she was struggling for in life was exactly this, to be able to sit one day and contemplate just such a sunset.

True love allowed each person to follow their own path, knowing that they would never lose touch with their Soul Mate.

Never stop having doubts. If you ever do, it will be because you've stopped moving forward.

x

Let me tell you about the 30 Day Book Challenge

It's a challenge wherein you get to post about a book that fits each day. Been up to Day 8 so far (you can view them on the links below) and decided to continue here. Enjoy! x

Day 01 – Best book you read last year

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

Day 03 – Your favorite series

Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book