Bookworm Log #8 to #11: Game of Thrones

I started reading the books after I watched the first season of the HBO TV series. The TV version was so good (I finished watching the 10 episodes in one night!) that I just couldn't wait to get my hands on the books and know what happened to the remaining characters. Not to give anything away, but George R.R. Martin has this habit of making you feel for a character, and then he kills him off. Oh well.

I can't wait for Martin to come out with the 5th book!

Bookworm Log #7: The Best of Chico and Delamar's The Morning Rush Top 10

I've been such a fan of Chico and Delamar back in college. Fast forward to 11 years after, and I am still a big fan of theirs, especially now that they have Gino onboard.  They definitely make my morning commute to work a LOT bearable. They're the only reason I want to get up Monday mornings!

Of course aside from their funny repartee, their Top 10 topics never fail to make me laugh! Even their listeners, who are responsible for the Top 10 entries, are so funny and witty.

And so when I heard that they're coming out with a book of their best Top 10 entries, I just had to get me a copy. The moment I started browsing through the pages, I couldn't stop laughing. Alone. In public! Very much like when I listen to them using earphones and I suddenly burst out giggling.

I definitely recommend that you get this book, if you haven't already, and be prepared to exercise your laughing muscles. Oh and of course, start listening to Chico, Delamar and Gino on RX 93.1!

Bookworm Log #6: Heaven Is For Real

The book is basically about a little boy who visited heaven while he was on the operating table for a burst appendix. He gets better and returns to his own body and over the next months and years he tells his parents about his heavenly experience - meeting Jesus, his dead grandfather, an unborn sister and getting his own pair of wings.

Although I'm far from being called religious, I believe in the existence of God and heaven. I somehow agree with the book's message but I just didn't love it, not something I'd go recommending to friends and colleagues.

On the plus side though, it's an easy read, written in very simple language so you can finish it in one sitting.

Bookworm Log #5: Flipped

A friend first told me about the movie two years ago, but I never got around to getting a copy. So when I saw the book a few days ago, I immediately decided to buy it! Penned by Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped is a cute story of family, friendship and first love.

The story is alternately narrated by both protagonists, Julianna and Bryce, so events are presented in two slightly different perspectives. It starts when Bryce's family moves to Juli's neighborhood a few days before they start school in second grade, and Juli is immediately smitten by blue-eyed Bryce. Juli liked Bryce all throughout their childhood and Bryce feels just the opposite for Juli. Until they reach eighth grade when everything gets flipped.

I liked the way both perspectives were written. I found it funny that they were typical 'he said-she said', you know, the way a girl describes every little thing in detail and a guy glosses over them and just talks about the main points. Haha! I also loved the moments with Bryce's grandpa and the lesson he taught them that who or what a person will become is determined by the choices he makes during childhood.

Overall, I liked Flipped because it brought me to that happy place where everything's alright in the world. It also made me remember the kilig feeling when you see your crush. Haaay! This is such a light and easy read that I was able to start and finish it at the airport while waiting for my flight to Cebu. Our flight was delayed for at least an hour, so it was a very good thing that I had this to keep me company.

Bookworm Log #4: Before Ever After

My friend, Farah, told me about this book a few months back. She described it as The Time Traveler's Wife-ish, set in Europe, written by a Filipina author. I was kind of skeptical about that given that I loved Audrey Niffenegger's book.

But when I heard that the author, Samantha Sotto, is coming to the office for our International Women's Day event, I immediately ran to the bookstore and bought myself a copy. This is only because I wanted to get it signed for my friend, and her review of the book was convincing enough.

So I read Before Ever After a few days before her scheduled visit, and I can't tell you how much I loved reading it! Although Sam was inspired to write it after reading The Time Traveler's Wife, it's definitely much more than its copycat. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more only because it's more lighthearted and had a more mystical feel to it (and not to mention a less depressing ending). I also loved the way that it made me feel like I also signed up for the Slight Detour, traveling through Europe with them, not knowing where Max's story will take me next.

And as if I didn't like the book enough, I loved it even more when I met Sam! She told us about how she came about writing the book and her story is truly inspiring. I must mention that she came complete with a full slideshow presentation (with matching music and video) to tell us about the making of the book. So artsy and creative! Love it! =)

Anyway, she was part of the corporate world for quite some time before she decided to quit and become a full-time wife and mom. She said that while she was looking after her brother, who just had an appendectomy, she was reading The Time Traveler's Wife. At that time, she was also hooked on the TV show Dr. Who. Then, Max suddenly popped into her head together with other bits of the soon-to-be-written story.

So she decided she had to write everything down. She would drop her kid off to school every morning and wait for him to finish after three hours, and in those three hours, she would stay at Starbucks and write. When she finally finished writing her book, her husband liked it but asked, 'What now?' He encouraged her to have it published.


Then one day, as fate would have it, she was in a book sale shop in one of her trip and there on a table was
an Idiot's Guide to Publishing. And so she started on her journey to finding her agent. There were a couple of unsuccessful attempts until she finally found Stephanie Kip Rostan, with whom she felt she had an instant connection because her name Kip meant 'chicken' in Dutch.

The rest, they say, is history.

Here's a sneak peek into the book:

And so I share with you my takeaways from this wonderful meeting:
 

Here's the note for Farah!

Chickens definitely rule! =)

She's just amazing and I can't wait for her next book! Visit her website here: http://www.samanthasotto.com/

Bookworm Log #3: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

I should say this is the worst of the trilogy.

I was so excited to read this and find out how Lisbeth gets out of that fatal bind she found herself in at the end of the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and of course figure out how it all ends.

So I was so disappointed that it didn't live up to my expectations. It didn't have the explosive ending that I hoped for, and worse, the story progression wasn't even that exciting. The problem was that there were too many new characters and too many new subplots that I can hardly keep up. I often find myself pausing and asking, 'What the hell is going on?!'. It felt like Larsson suddenly realized that he ran out of time so he decided to put everything he thought of in one book.

It's really a pity that it turned out into a sorry mish mash of everything because I was hoping that this would be an amazing conclusion to the trilogy. I enjoyed the two other books while I was reading them, but man, he really does have a penchant for anti-climactic endings.

I haven't seen the Hollywood movie version of Dragon Tattoo, and I hear they're filming all three books, but I do hope they make a better job bringing it to the big screen.

Bookworm Log #1 and #2: Stieg Larsson

One of my goals this year is to get more brain food and so I resolved to read at least 20 books in 2012.

My first two for the year were both penned by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire, the first two books of his trilogy.


For Dragon Tattoo, I found it a bit too hard to read in the beginning because it started really slow. (Side story, I brought this book with me to Boracay and apparently my friend did too. He never got past 20 pages, hehe) There were a few characters introduced in the beginning whose significance to the story I couldn't seem to understand right away, and it also kept me wondering until the middle of the book when the two main characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, would finally meet.

But when I got to Chapter 3, when all the action started, I found it hard to put the book down. It has a good mix of action, suspense, mystery, gore and even humor, that I found very addictive. Larsson has the ability to tease the readers' logical reasoning and imagination, and he will keep you guessing who did what and, more importantly, what the hell is going on??

However, one big downside to Dragon Tattoo, is that it has very anti-climactic ending which somehow felt like an afterthought. Coming from action-packed events, I was left with 'That's it??' I felt that the ending should have happened 2 chapters earlier. But I'm not an author, so whatever. Anyway, I'm still excited to see the movie version and find out how the story is translated to film. I think Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara fit the roles perfectly.

The Girl Who Played With Fire is also very thrilling and still had the theme about violence against women. Here, the pace is a bit faster and if the story's not confusing enough, Larsson introduced concepts about Math and Algebra. Lisbeth turns out to be not just a computer genius, she also is a Math prodigy. Some of the characters in the first book, who I thought were just minor bit players, reappear here and are given more dimension.

But again, the ending was torture! As in super bitin and I'm like 'Teh, anyare?!' You'd have to read the third book to know what happens to Salander and Blomkvist.

So,... you can bet that Bookworm Log #3 would have to be about The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Now excuse me while I go run to the bookstore and buy me a copy.