Follow Friday: December 31

What are your New Year's Book Blogging Resolutions?
I'm a new book blogger and I noticed a lot of mistake I've done. So maybe it's time to change this coming year.
1. Interact more - I always read the post from the blogs I follow but I rarely comment. Depending on my mood if I want to do so. So in the coming year, I will comment more than I do usually. 
2. Review more/Read more - I'm a slow reader, but not naturally. I'm a teen boy and I got really distracted whenever their is technology, like my computer, iPod and cellphone. That slow down my reading. So I will do my best to read more so I can do a lot more reviews for my followers.
3. Giveaways? - I'm not sure if this coming year I will be able to afford a giveaway. But we do not know, I may have the budget this coming year, and that will be my first!
4. More Interviews - I'm not interactive with author actually, bot this coming year, I will do a lot more author interviews
5. Choose what I will review - Recently, I'm receiving books/e-books to review, mostly from unpopular authors. Next year, I will try to say NO to some of them.

Tragic Theater by G.M. Coronel

Tragic Theater by G.M. Coronel

Publication Date: August 2009
Publisher: Visprint Inc.
Pages: 245
Genre: Horror
Source: bought at National Bookstores(Philippines)

In February 1999, a group of spirit communicators attempted to exorcise the then-abandoned Manila Film Center of ghosts. These supernatural beings were believed to be those of the victims from a fatal accident during its hasty construction. 

Unknown to them something had, long ago, taken sanctuary inside the building feeding on the anger and misery of the victims' souls. They learned this secret too late and walked into a horrifying encounter.

 Annie is an official in the Tourism Department. They planned to reconstruct the haunted Manila Film Center, so they can build an IMAX theater in it. First, they need to drive out all of its inhabitance before proceeding to its construction. He seeks for the help of Father Nilo, a close friend of her, to exorcise the building. But during their procedures, the unexpected happened.

The action started in the first few chapters, enough to say that the book is fast paced. One thing I don't like in the book is its unnecessary explanation of historical background of some places. One example is a lengthy description of a chapel which was not necessary. The chapel in the first place is not a major setting, it was just mentioned then the description comes. It shows that the author researched well but he put in the wrong place.

In the first few chapters, Annie is very unlikable. She is very irritating when it comes to her decisions. But you will understand why as the story go on. For me, it seems that Annie and Fr. Nilo have a mutual understand between them. Which is very unlikely with a priest. The author wrote their actions like a couple rather than close friends. Annie came to the point where she will be a round character but the plot took over pushing her back as a flat character.

The writing is also not that good. I like how the author pick his words when writing. The Tagalog dialog, for me, added an emotion to their conversation. But what I don't like is the English translation after the Tagalog sentences. He should have written the book in purely Tagalog or English instead.

The ending is a huge cliff hanger. It is very obvious that there will be a second book. It should be okay but the ending was full of questions that should be answered, which I think is not that good. But personally I want the answers to the questions, making me wait for the second book.

Rating

Plot: 4
Characters: 3
Ending: 3
Writing: 4

Overall: 3.5

Changes in 2011

2010 is coming to an end, and 2011 is now saying hello. I decided to post the changes that I will make in the blog in the coming year. 

1. Book Details - if you notice, I don't write the book details like publisher, publishing date, pages, etc. In the coming year, I will start to place them at my reviews so you can see it. Know if it is already published or any info you want.

2. Source - I will now say the source of the book in a proper manner. I just started to received review copies and started to request from Net Galley. 

Maybe also in 2011, I will try to read fast. I'm wasting my holidays surfing the net and less reading books. So in 2011, I will read faster and lessen my internet usage. 

Life is Good Award

Hi, today, I received an blog award called Life is Good Award from aobibliophile. 

here's how this award works:
1. first, thank and link back to the person that gave the award
2. answer the 10 survey questions
3. pass the award along to other bloggers whom you think are fantastic.
4. contact the bloggers you have chosen to let them know about the award.

10 survey questions:

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this?   If you are not anonymous, do you wish that you had started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now?

· I blog not so anonymously. I sometimes give some of my real identities but of course I took some precautions.

2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

·   I can't remember any :)

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

·     I see a happy man

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

·    Mango juice or sometimes buko juice

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

·       I do what ever I want

6. Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

·    I want to establish my own business and experienced to be called as boss.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching?

·   I am the class clown, and I'm happy that they like it.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see?

·        I will see a moment to God talking to Him.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

·     I like doing it but I take precautions. It is best if your followers know something about you.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

·      I would like to talk to the phone. 

Blogs I think deserve the award

Amaterasu Reads

Reading Vacation

The Slowest Bookworm

Brush up your reading

Waking the Dead by Yvette Tan

After a week of no blogging due to vacation, I will now post my review for Waking the dead which I read during my vacation in Bicol.

Waking the Dead and other Horror Stories is a collection of 10 horror stories.

Let's us talk first about the cover. I really like it especially the idea of an inverted image of a lady and the font of the title. It somehow catches my attention that is why I chose it to read first.

Let's just say I only like some stories in the book, The Bridge and Stella for Star. Those two stories, even not that scary, have a very nice plot. I also like the gross part in the Stella for Star.

Most of the stories, for me, lack the thrilling part in the ending. Sometimes, when the story begins to be interesting, it will suddenly end. If the endings will be a lot more dramatic, thrilling, I will say that I will like the book.

I also not recommend this to be read by young readers who are not educated in sexual matters. The book contains some bits of pornography. I didn't really know that it has, I'm a young reader but I know what is right and wrong so I think I'm safe:).

Rating: 4

In My Mailbox -8-

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It features books that you bought, borrowed or received from somebody in a week. To join the meme, visit her blog.


Hello there. For this week, I got four books, won, gifted and borrowed. I'm very happy that I received a book last Friday on our Christmas party on school. It was the second installment of Percy Jackson and The Olympians series. I've been wishing to have it but I don't have enough money. 


I borrowed two books from our school library. I was very lucky for our school librarian to borrow books even it is Christmas vacation, and it is free of charge even if I exceed the days of borrowing them. 


I would like also to thank Nina from Brush Up your Reading. I won a novel from one of her contest. I was very happy with that.

WON

13: A Novel by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish

GIFTED

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

BORROWED

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Notice that the borrowed novels are not YA, I know. I just want to read them because my Social Studies teacher recommend it for me to read for me to realize my mission in life.

Tomorrow, I will visit my grandmother and I will blog for one week, but expect a lot of reviews since I will do just plain reading there.

Next year, I will lessen my book buying. I will save money for my best friend who is suffering from MILD heart enlargement. It's not only me who is saving up but we are six. We want to help especially me because he is my best friend. Please pray for him. Thank you!

So that's my mailbox this week!

Teaser Tuesdays: Waking the Dead

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!

Everyone thought that this meant Teresa's death, for how could a newborn babe withstand all the poison in the Ilog Pasig (Pasig river) water?

(lola is a Filipino word for grandmother)

Waking the Dead by Yvette Tan

page 4

I just finished The Graveyard Book and you can check my review about it HERE. After it I decided to read two horror books, both authored by Filipinos. They are just thin books so expect my review about them shortly.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

It's almost midnight here in the Philippines, but I cannot wait for tomorrow to post my review about the amazing book of Neil.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to the neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy - an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack-who has already killed Bod's family.


First of all, I want to say that this review will not just be a plain review about the book. It will include some life reflections and lessons I've learned and want to share with you.

The book was narrated by neither the author nor the characters. It is called the persona. Sometimes, we just say that the narrator is the author since he composed the story.

According to Gaiman, the book was inspired by The Jungle Book, where instead of ghosts, animals took care of the boy.

Bod is a very clever man for his young age. He was taught lessons by ghosts teachers. This includes some magics, since he owned the Freedom of the Graveyard. He met Scarlet, who played a great role in shaping his life. Silas, his guardian, who always at his side.

The beginning of the story is kinda boring. Of course, because it is a children's book and look, I'm 16! But I'm very thankful I read this book. You will find the thrill, the excitement and the climax after the 200 page mark out of 307 pages. See, it will be boring. But there is a hidden message of making the first part boring.

Let's continue the review in a reflection.

The book was ( I think) intended to be boring at the first part. The first part included Bod who was still learning from his teachers while he is adventuring the whole graveyard. In life, when we are still young, we are learning, but we find it boring. That is why we need to cherish our childhood. It is only once in a lifetime chance to be a child. The book then will be interesting at page 200 and up. In life, again, this stage is our teenage stage. Where all the excitement happens. We have now our minds to decide what will make us happy. At the end, the book will turn to a very lonely tone, like that we are leaving childhood and taking a new life to adulthood.

I've learned a lot from this book. One is to cherish our childhood and the other is that everything has an end. Like book, you need to feel every page as it has an The End.

In My Mailbox -7-

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It features books that you bought, borrowed or received from somebody in a week. To join the meme, visit her blog.


Hi for another In My Mailbox post. I'm doing it now, even it is Saturday, because tomorrow I will be very busy. I will need to go visit my friend in the Philippine Heart Center and do a lot of school projects. It is really hard to choose between a special friend and a school grades.


For this week, it is a nice haul. I got galley from Net Galley. I also got a book from BookSale bookstores. 


Bought

Dreamdark by Laini Taylor

I like the short teaser at the back that is why I bought it. 

For Reviews

The Iron Queen by Julie

Lost Voice by Sarah Porter

Awaken by Kacvinsky

I had a peak at the first page of awaken and I love it. I think I will love that book. But I'm not yeat reading this three galleys. It will be a part of my 2011 Debut Author Challenge reviews, and according to the rule, it will not be counted of I read them now, 2010. 

So what's in your mailbox?

Book Blogger Hop

"What is the thing you like most about reading book blogs?  Is it the reviews, author guest posts, articles, giveaways, or something else entirely?"
The thing I like most in book blogs are the books. Book blogs introduce me to the books I don't know. It is a very easy way. With their reviews or thoughts about it, I can save my money to good books only. Also, I like interacting with others. Blogger around the world, in book blogs, interaction is possible and free. Of course, the contests. I'm not that rich that I can buy 5 books every week. With the help of the contest, they are helping with my passion. 
In short, I like the blog itself and all it contain and who runs it.

Net Galley

Days ago, I requested some titles from different publishers for review. I requested 3 titles.

Today, all my requests had been accepted and I feel very happy. It was my first time to request for galleys. I expect that they will reject since I'm a new blogger. But they accepted.

I will reveal the titles in my next IMM post

What I want this Christmas

What I want this Christmas

I would like to share to you some of the things I want for this Christmas. 

1. iPhone 4 - my mother promised me she will buy me this when I hit the top 1 mark in the class. I hitted it but she said he might just give it this Christmas. I hope I can have it now!

2. New Laptop - not being so money-waster, but my current laptop is dying. I own it for 3 years and I know it is dying. It needs to rest.

3. Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel - I still can't read the other books because I don't have money. I hope my friends will give me this. Some said they will Happy!

4. BOOKS - of course, I want books this Christmas

The next will be sentimental :))

1. Happy Christmas with Family - I hope no other factors will affect the joy of this year's Christmas

2. Happy cirlcle of Friend - I hope that our Christmas Party goes well.

3. No enemies - I have some enemies, but I decided to forgive them this Christmas.

So how about you?

2011 Debut Author Challenge

Another great day guys. I will not make it long so let's get started

I decided to join the 2011 Debut Author Challenge by Kristi of The Story Siren. The challenge is about reading YA and MG novels released in 2011. The books should be a debut novel of an author. 

I'm not really sure of joining this challenge since I know my 2011 will be a lot busier than my 2010 (if you love to study). Next year, I will take several college entrance exam to find my college school. And I need focus. But recently my teacher told me that too much studying is really bad. So I decided to join for me to have some relaxation time in 2011. I hope to finish the challenge. If there's a will, there's a way.

Here are my 12 books I wish to read. Remember this is tentative, it might change when time comes.

1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

2. XVI by Julia Karr

3. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

4. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

5. Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

6. Ashfall by Mike Mullin

7. Gathering Storm by Robin Bridge

8. Dead Rules by randy Russell

9. Halo by Alexandra Ardonetto (I'm finding a replacement for this since it was already released here)

10. Entangled by Cat Clarke

11. The Iron King by Kulie Kagawa (also finding a replacement)

12. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (again, also finding a replacement)

As you can see, there are 3 books that was already released here in the Philippines, and according to the rules, it will be not allowed to read novels already released in 2010 in the participants country. So I'm looking forward for replacements. I wish Kristi's spreadsheet to be updated soon. 

I will also see if I can find debut novels by Filipino authors.

In My Mailbox -6-

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It features books that you bought, borrowed or received from somebody in a week. To join the meme, visit her blog.


It's been a while since my last In My Mailbox post, because I don't buy books a lot. I expect this Christmas season to have a lot of books to buy. To start with here is my in my mailbox

The Package

The Books

In my last post, I told you that I won a contest held by Jason of Taking a Break. I won two books written by Filipino authors. 

Waking the Dead by Yvette Tan

A Time for Dragons by Vincent Micheal Simbulan

Thank you so much to Jason for the books. There will ni post for this week without your books.

I think, my next IMM post will be next sunday. Since I'm planning to buy books this coming Saturday. My mother already gave me my christmas budget (you know, the budget I use to buy gifts to myself and my friend) and I already calculated the numbers. I hope to have at least two new books next week. 

What's on you mailbox today?

Follow Friday

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee's View

What do you do besides reading / reviewing as a hobby??

When I'm not reading, I do science experiments, watch for the latest technology and I am also usually at the Apple Store Online looking for new gadgets. I also sometimes do handicrafts. I make things that I think I will need in my desk like pencil holder and a lot more. I do these to have a break in reading, since reading a lot is not good for our eyes. John Milton, an essayist, got blind due to excessive reading and writing. I don't want to be blind. :)

Book Blogger Hop

Another book blogger hop post here





What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review
In my recent Book Blogger Hop post, about the favorite book cover, I answered Breaking Dawn. This time, it's Breaking Dawn again. The series was popularly known in most countries. Some are dying hard just to complete the series. In the last book, Breaking Dawn, I thought it would have a very thrilling ending, but I was wrong. There was no thrill in the book. That really disappointed  me. With all the struggle of the characters to fight the Volturi, was wasted. When I reviewed this book, I'm scared that I may offend Twilight fans, but fortunately, some agreed with me. 

For the first time I WON!

Hi, there. I'm currently celebrating since I won on Filipino Horror Books contest by Jason on Taking a Break.

His contest was for readers to recommend horror books that are written by Filipino authors. I suggested Tragic Theater which according to a lot of people is very scary. Then he posted a review about it and it is mostly negative. So it means that there is a big possibility that I will not win the contest. But I'm very surprised today when I read his post. I won the second place. This was the first time I won a contest here in the blogging community.

So thank you Jason for your contest.

Article a Week! -- Happy Thanksgiving

Hi there for another article a week post.

First, I want to tell that you that I'm not an American or Canadian or any other raises that celebrate Thanksgiving. We don't have that here in the Philippines, but I thought sharing you my thanks to the good things happened in my life this year is a great idea. So let's get started.

1. I belong now to the PEP in our school. It is Proficiency Excellence Program. It is a program where top 20 students by year level have special classes on English, Math and Science. Since first year high school, I want to be included in this program so that I can maximize my ability and learn more things. I'm very thankful that I succeeded in my gaol to be a PEP member. It really made my parents happy.

2. Sometimes, we cannot prevent some misunderstanding in our circle of friends. Last October, I have a quarrel to my second best friend. We are just joking him and he suddenly get pissed and told us that he cannot feel us as his friend. We are really hurt when he said that so we a two week long argument. I found my self really angry and my pride took over. He was very sorry but I won't forgive him. Until his birthday comes where I decided that he didn't mean what he said. And our circle of friends are again restored.

3. I thank my mother for giving me NOW a budget for my books. I said in the past that they don't give me money to buy books, now they do.

4. Lastly I want to thank GOD (Even we are in different religion, we have our Gods) for guiding me and keeping me safe and healthy this year.

So, how about you? What do you want to thank?

Follow Friday

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee's View
The follow friday for this week has no question included. So I just decided to share to you some of my experience this week.I'm included in class of the Top 20 students of our level and we have special classes to English, Math and Science. Yesterday, was our school's Book Week and we performed a speech choir, called The Congo. I really hate performing in front of several audience, but yesterday, I over come that. I actually enjoy what I did and asking for more. What I learned is that, as long as you can do it, do it!

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books
What is your favorite book cover?

First of all, I'm not a Twilight saga fan, but Breaking Dawn's cover is my favorite. Meyer said that the cover show how Bella became strong. The red pawn there represent her as a weakling at the start of the series, while the queen represent her as a strong woman at the end. 
Again, I'm not a Twilight fan although I watched the movies. 

Teaser Tuesdays:

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!



I think I'm kinda slow in reading this week. Imagine, I'm still in the Graveyard Book! But still, I will make a teaser for it.

Bod looked at the remains of the gentleman in the brown coat. There was a lamp beside him, broken on the rocky floor. "He ran away" said Bod aloud. "He ran because he was scared. And he slipped or he tripped on the stairs and he fell off"




The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
page 56






I hope to finish this early this week. 

Follow Friday

Hi there. I'm new in this meme and this is my first time to participate here. I've seen a lot of blog using this meme and I thought I should try it also

Parajunkee's View

This week question is:

How long have you been book blogging?

I started blogging last August 2010. I've been in wordpress and I just transfered here in blogger last week. If you'll ask how long since I fell in love with reading. It was just two years ago when I read a novel for a book report and suddenly realize that I like to read more.

Thank you for stopping by :) Have a nice day!

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I'm here again for another book review. Before I started my blog, I have some couple of books in my shelf. One of them is The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery. I've encountered a lot of children books where even adults can relate. The most popular is Harry Potter. It is actually a children book but the lessons there seems to be for adults. Little Prince is like that.

A pilot forced to land in the Sahara meets a little prince. The wise and enchanting stories the prince tells of his own plant with its three volcanoes and a haughty flower are unforgettable. A strange and wonderful parable for all ages, with superb illustrations by the author.






If you read the summary, there's no doubt, it is a children's book. Add the factor that the cover is also like drawn by a child. But what is written inside is not only for children, for adults also. For all ages. I've seen a lot of people who give this book as a gift every Christmas Day. Then I got so intrigued on what is inside to  give it a try.

The book was in the point of view of the Pilot first then changes to the point of view of the Little Prince. They met at a desert and the Prince requested the Pilot to draw him a sheep. The Pilot had drawn a lot of things in his childhood but a lot of people misunderstanding them discouraged him. It is one of the lesson. Do not give up. Sometimes in life, there are discouragements which changes are character. You should take those discouragements as a challenge. Pursue what you are and you get better and  better.

With this book, I miss my childhood days. It is true, when we are still young, grown ups misunderstand us. It brings us back, like time traveling, to our past; to our youth. And realizes what a child should have so we will not do what our parents did to our children.

"One sees clearly only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes" This the line our elementary teacher let us explain. For me, this line means that the truth can be seen by the heart. What is important is only seen by the heart. Our eyes only see the physical features and not what is inside them.

I really enjoy this book, and I hope you too.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Graveyard Book

Hi again for another Teaser Tuesdays post.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should 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!

The Graveyard book is my first book written by Neil Gaiman. I heard from many bloggers that Neil's works are fantastic so I give it a try. I'm currently just starting to read it and I'm still at the first page. 

The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, no immediately.

The Graveyard Book

page 1

Neil Gaiman

I just started it a while ago so I'm still at the first page. 

So how about you, what's your today's teaser?

The Magician by Michael Scott

After The Alchemyst comes the Magician. This book series entitled The secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel is very unpopular in the Philippines. I knew only 2 persons who read it. My girlfriend and a blogger. Even it is least known, what it contains is a very nice story. A very thrilling action scenes and bits of knowledge from the past. So, here's my review:

After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, the City of Lights. Home for Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Perenell is still locked up back in Alcatraz and Paris is teeming with enemies. Nicolo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He’s after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. For every day spent without the Book of Abraham the Mage, they age one year—their magic becoming weaker and their bodies more frail. For Flamel, the Prophecy is becoming more and more clear. 
It’s time for Sophie to learn the second elemental magic: Fire Magic. And there’s only one man who can teach it to her: Flamel’s old student, the Comte de Saint-Germain—alchemist, magician, and rock star. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world’s only hope—if they don’t turn on each other first.


I like it much more than the Alchemyst.
So let us first discuss the cover. This is NOT a spoiler since the some summary tells something about it. The first book, you will see air, because the Magic of Air is the focus magic of the book. In this book, you see fire, the Magic of Fire. Like the characteristics of fire, it can destroy or create, can be control and not, can harm and can heal, we can relate the book to it.

The characters in the second book, especially Sophie, developed a lot. I saw her character to developed from an ordinary girl to a little mature one. She can decided on her own, and think like a grown up. In the counterpart, Josh's character will make you annoyed. He is very annoying. He all wants powers. He cannot think what is good and what is bad. He cannot make decision that will help.

Nicholas Flamel remained the same, unless you will include his age. The book also introduce Perenelle. It says how powerful and brave she is.

Like make other books out there, death makes the book interesting. Not the way, "I want all the characters to be eaten up by a monster and die, and the story ends". What I mean is that, since we are humans, we have emotions. Even though they are just characters out of imagination and exist only by the inks in the book, we still managed to make bond with them. Then suddenly, you will become sad or happy when something happen to the character, whether good or bad. This book brings that bond and enables readers to love the characters. Lovely!

Like the first book, it is full of action scenes, knowledge about the past. New things that our teachers never taught us. Michael Scott did a very great job here. Although I cannot relate to the characters because I don't have a twin, the book instead relates me to the reality. On how human, us, forget our origin. On how interest is slowly eating our dignity. Soon, we will decide sometime that will make us harm instead of good.

My Rating 5 Outstanding

Teaser Tuesdays: The Magician

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should 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!

I'm still on The Magician book. Why? Because I'm doing a lot of school works and it's eating up my reading time. But, I will be able to finish it before thursday. So for now, another teaser from the book. 

In the light of the ornate crystal chandelier, Sophie saw that they were young women in white chain-mail armor, their faces hidden behind helmets, one wielding a sword and an axe, the other carrying a sword and a spear. She reacted instinctively. Gripping her wrist with her left hand, she splayed open her fingers, palm outward. Crackling blue-green flames splashed across the floor directly in front of the two girls, shooting upward in a solid sheet of wavering emerald fire.

The Magician by Michael Scott,

page 269

I just notice something, when I'm writing teaser tuesdays, I always notice that I'm on the action scenes. :)

So what is your teaser?

Article a Week: I prefer the printed ones

Good day to all, I'm here again for Article a Week. Today I will feature e-books and why I prefer printed copies instead.

Printed or Electronic? For me I'm on the side of printed works. I'm not against e-books of course. They are handy and good for busy people. They are also cheaper than printed ones. But I prefer to buy the printed books. I have this dream of having a collection of books, where, when I'm done studying and have a job. I will make my house where my room have several bookshelves to hold A LOT of books. If I buy e-books, then, all I need is a memory card. How awful to see a memory card in a bookshelf. And, I need a computer to open it and read it.

Another great thing about printed works is that I can share it with my friends legally. I mean, I'm not reproducing the book to share it. If I share an e-book copy, he/she might copy it for her/his own copy, then the copyright is violated. And I hate violating the copyright.

In My Mailbox -5-

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It features books that you bought, borrowed or received from somebody in a week. To join the meme, visit her blog.

This week, I got a e-book copy of The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It is the first book in his new series, The Heroes of Olympus. I am dying hard to get a book copy of this but I can't wait so I asked my mother to buy me an e-book edition of the book. Since that I don't have any kindle or e-reader device, I just used my ipod touch with ibooks application. What a handy device. I really like my ipod since it is like a substitute to my computer. Even some of my projects are stored in it.

I'm also looking forward to get a copy of The Red Pyramid which also by Rick Riordan. Yes, I am a great fan of fantasy, both middle grade and young adult fantasy.

Here's a short summary!

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?
Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.
Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.