Matilda by Roald Dahl

It's not my intention to but I find it interesting so I borrowed Matilda by Roald Dahl from a friend once she have brought it in our school. I said to myself, "Well, it's still not very awkward for me to read a children's book, right?" And as you might want to know, I really want to go back to my childhood and because it's very impossible, I'm doing things child-like. Actually, in the following weeks I'll be watching Disney on Ice. XD! Can't wait!!!

The Trunchbull is no match for Matilda! Who put superglue in Dad's hat? Was it really a ghost that made Mom tear out of the house? Matilda is a genius with idiot parents — and she's having a great time driving them crazy. But at school things are different. At school there's Miss Trunchbull, two hundred menacing pounds of kid-hating headmistress. Get rid of the Trunchbull and Matilda would be a hero. But that would take a superhuman genius, wouldn't it?

I haven't yet read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Dahl and they say that it's better than Matilda. Well, for me Matilda is a very nice children's book. It's fresh and full of wits. Matilda, especially, is exceptionally smart and can do telekinesis. Her parents ignore her and that's the most unwanted thing you want your parents to do to you. However, Matilda can manage and enjoy herself by making her parents crazy by putting superglue on his father's hat and more. 

I found myself laughing every time Matilda does something crazy that makes her parents jump and act childish. But the book is not just about making fun of people, it also discussed the problems of different people. It shows helping, caring and loving. But of course there's the Trunchbull to ruin everything. This headmistress is like an ex convict and turned to a school master the next morning. 

One thing that distracted me was the book seems to lose its momentum at the end of the book. The story becomes out of the nature of the book and becomes very predictable. But of course children will not know that. All they need is the fun of reading. 

The book has illustrations by Quentin Blake on almost every page. I found some of them ridiculous so I decided to share them with you. 

Look at how small Matilda is! The book is even higher than her! 

Ms. Trunchbull 

And Matilda and Ms. Honey live happily ever after. 

(Book 2 of 2012)

DISCLAIMER: Images used in this post are owned by the Ivanbookworm and blog. 

TGIF! Reading Resolutions

TGIF! is a bookish meme hosted by Ginger of GReads

What are some of your reading goals for the new year?

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I'm starting my 2012 pretty right and I have already finished three books! Wow! I think this year will be more reading than the previous one. Last year, I cannot have the time to read because of the hectic school schedules and a lot of exams. But this, I'm practicing Time Management to give way to free time. :) 

1. Be a filter not a sponge - It means to read with comprehension and application. Learn something deep and learn to extract what the story is trying to say indirectly. Not a sponge that let the water stay in for a while then drain it. It this case, let the thrill and excitement and the characters for a while then let the words be forgotten. 

2. Explore more genre - I like YA and Contemporary because I can relate to the stories they tell. However, life is too short to be locked on a single part of literature. I want to explore more like classics and historical. It seems that they are very interesting. 

3. Have more time to read - I spend so much time in the internet even though I know I'm not doing something. So this year, I will control myself to spend my spare time in books rather than the internet. (LOL, I really hope so!) 

4. Socialize more - I want to meet other bloggers. I'm very interested in learning about other people especially when we have something in common. I will try to "participate" this year. 

5. Not to judge a book by it's cover - I admit it! 

I will not have a very long list as I want to succeed to all my resolutions. How about you, what are your reading resolutions this year? 

Teaser Tuesdays: Matilda

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB ofShould Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda, holding the hat in one hand and a thin tube of Superglue in the other, proceeded to squeeze a line of glue very neatly all around the inside of rim of the hat. Then she carefully hooked the hat back on to the peg with the walking-stick

page 30

Look at how playful this little girl. Always making her parents go crazy. I borrowed my copy from a friend and as of now, I'm loving it!

Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

To be honest with you, guys. I never heard of the Dreamdark duology before, not until now. It was Christmas last year when I went on vacation in our province. Luckily, there is one bookstore there so I marauded it. Dreamdark was one of my haul that month. It stayed in my shelf for months until another December has come and I decided to read it.

 When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself, the creator of the world, she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

Magpie, together with her friend crows, roam the world to hunt for devils that had escaped their vessel. However, humans, unknowingly, open a vessel that contains the greatest of all evil, darkness. This darkness feeds on everything, faeries, humans and even devils. In her quest to return this Hungry One to its container, she met incredible people, including the dead, that uncover who she really is. Not an ordinary faery, they say.

Dreamdark is one of those works that are truly remarkable and magnificent. Laini Taylor is such a great author. She can weave a very interesting and effective plot that even the devils will like.

The world that Laini Taylor weaved is a true art. You can feel the world of Dreamdark as if it really exists. Though very magical, it’s very easy to say that this world exist. You will be left in awe on how the plot was magically interconnected. There are times when you encounter details that seem unimportant just to find out that it’s the golden key to the problem. Even I now that I’m writing this review cannot find a word that best suits to describe how artistic this novel is.

Her characters are not just characters to play the plot while it throws all the troubles to them. The story does not consist of only one or two kinds of being but many! Including a bald chicken, Strag, who was actually a slave of a warlock. If we speak of development, oh I very sure the development of the characters in this story is one of a kind. It’s not forced. It’s very humanistic, very real. The characters, though they are different from commons, act how an intelligent being should on every trouble they encounter. (The problem in most of today’s works is their characters acting inhuman. They act in ways that make them unreal and unbelievable.)  

To cut out the criticism, this is how I imagined those crows that are always with Magpie. And also Strag the bald chicken...

I know! I know. They're are not crows at the first place but man, that’s how I picture them. And they are cute in that form.

Did I already say something about the artistic illustrations in the book? Neh? Well, here they are. Admit it, you like a book with tons of pictures. 

And to summarize this rambling, I will say that Dreamdark: Blackbringer is a must MUST read. It is unique and gives new form to faeries we know. This is renaissance! 

{Book 1 for 2012}

Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge!

Hello guys! It's the second day of the year and so far so good. Regarding my blog, I already queued up reviews and memes this month. I am very well motivated to give life to this blog this year. As you might know, I'm entering college this coming June so I will have more free time between classes. That's ironic, isn't it? Mostly will say they will have limited time when they got into college. Well, I think Time Management skills can loosen up those hassle days to have more free time.

2012 Reading Challenge

Ivan has


read 1 book toward his goal of 50 books.

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1 of 50 (2%)

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Yes, that is correct. I will only try to read more or less 50 books this year. Why so few? You might ask that. Let me explain. Reading is my true passion and blogging is just an add on to it. It's very nice to voice out what you think about a book to people who also read. Have you ever tried to have bookish talk with video-gamers?

So why 50 books? As what I learned from The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, try to be a filter not a sponge when reading. What does that mean? You read not only to enjoy but also to learn. If you're a sponge, you are just letting the words pass in your mind without comprehension and application. When you're a filter, as what the word suggests, there are bits that remain in your mind as the words pass through. That's what we call learning. And those learning that you have gained by filtering should be applied to your life.

Phew! I hope I did not became a philosophical monk on the Himalayas with that paragraph. But it's true. So 50 books this 2012. That 4-5 books per month.

How about you? How many books do you plan to read this 2012?