Cloud Atlas,
I left out the 'Dear' because it'd make me feel like I'm writing a 'Dear John' letter. And I don't want to feel that at all. I drafted most of this letter in my head a little less than 12 hours ago. I don't remember much so forgive me if this letter seems...disjointed. I'm not even sure if that's the right word. I don't care enough to see if it is.
I thought that it would be different the second time around (it was when I had reread Catcher in the Rye) but it was still the same. I couldn't enjoy reading you no matter how hard I tried. Perhaps, to enjoy you (or at least reach the final page), one must have an open-mind. I tarnished mine by reading your wiki page, watching the movie trailer, listening to the sextet, creating unrealistic expectations.
I wanted to read you for so long. And you're not even here. I returned you to the library just yesterday. I hope another reader would read you, and enjoy it. Because I certainly didn't.
I'm not exactly sure on why I couldn't enjoy you. I am so very much in love with the concept. The idea of reincarnation and lives and fates being intertwined. I love stories like that. I want more stories like that. Maybe I was never supposed to read you. I don't think I'll read you again. At least not in the near future.
I got it now. I don't care about your characters. I couldn't find anything in them that would make me sympathize with them. I didn't care for their struggles, their stories. My favorite story was of Robert Frobisher. And he was a jerk. So I didn't like him very much.
Was it because they weren't teenagers? I remember reading a book that had an adult's point of view and I loved it. He ended up being my favorite character.
He was a statue.
So now I'm going through Goodreads to find any book that has an adult pov. I can multitask. There was The Name of the Wind. I didn't like it very much. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life was okay. Thought it was boring most of the time but I got through. 1Q84 was a nightmare to read. Took me about four months. It was okay. The ending still sucks.
So is it me????? Is this my fault???? I couldn't enjoy you because there wasn't any chapters in a teenager's pov???
I can't believe this, do you know how much this would limit me??? WHAT IF THIS STAYS??? WHAT IF I GROW UP TO BE IN MY THIRTIES AND ALL I CAN READ ARE YOUNG. ADULT. BOOKS.
Excuse me, I'm going to go reexamine myself.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
I Wouldn't Mind Being Shocked to Remind Myself of All the Deadlines I Have
04/29/2014
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that I can write other than a book review.
I don't want to talk about endings anymore. I'm over that. I've been over that since last (last) Thursday when I stayed up 'til one in the morning to finish this one book and got my heart crushed ten pages before it ended.
Last Two weeks ago, I created a draft of this one post that was supposed to be a soundtrack to a book I'm sure some of you are familiar with if you had read my blog all the back in first tri, number9dream, and I was really excited about it too until I realized I don't know any songs!!!! Songs that I can apply to number9dream anyway, and that realization was a crushing blow to me because I Love Music.
I love sharing music with peers. I love turning up my volume to the max. to fully appreciate the vocals, the instruments, and the beat. I love falling to sleep to music. I love staying up at night to listen to music even though it kills me later in school.
But since I didn't have any songs for last (last) week, I'm now a (really two) post(s) behind. I'm not even sure on what to write for this week.
Oh well.
Right now, I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (also the author of number9dream) and this book is so different from what I usually read because all the characters, with the exception of one, are reincarnations of the same soul.
05/06/2014
I don't know if I honestly believe in reincarnation but the idea of it had always fascinated me. Imagine if reincarnation was a thing and you remember every single life you had before. That would mess me up. That would mess me up real bad.
Cloud Atlas is really different from Mitchell's other work, number9dream. I can breeze through number9dream at any time but I'm struggling with Cloud Atlas. The best thing about number9dream is that it's really easy to read. I'm not saying that it has really simple diction and all stuff. It's just that it's a fast-paced read. It's as smooth as its cover (which is pretty dang smooth considering that it's a paperback).
I stumble over the words of Cloud Atlas. And what makes it worse is that every chapter is different in writing style than the previous one.
It's arranged weirdly too. You would get Person A, then B, then C, D, E. And then F. Then E, D, C, B, A. That's going to mess me up. That's going to mess me up real bad.
Perhaps I would watch the movie instead. It looks promising.
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that I can write other than a book review.
I don't want to talk about endings anymore. I'm over that. I've been over that since last (last) Thursday when I stayed up 'til one in the morning to finish this one book and got my heart crushed ten pages before it ended.
I love sharing music with peers. I love turning up my volume to the max. to fully appreciate the vocals, the instruments, and the beat. I love falling to sleep to music. I love staying up at night to listen to music even though it kills me later in school.
But since I didn't have any songs for last (last) week, I'm now a (really two) post(s) behind. I'm not even sure on what to write for this week.
Oh well.
Right now, I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (also the author of number9dream) and this book is so different from what I usually read because all the characters, with the exception of one, are reincarnations of the same soul.
05/06/2014
I don't know if I honestly believe in reincarnation but the idea of it had always fascinated me. Imagine if reincarnation was a thing and you remember every single life you had before. That would mess me up. That would mess me up real bad.
Cloud Atlas is really different from Mitchell's other work, number9dream. I can breeze through number9dream at any time but I'm struggling with Cloud Atlas. The best thing about number9dream is that it's really easy to read. I'm not saying that it has really simple diction and all stuff. It's just that it's a fast-paced read. It's as smooth as its cover (which is pretty dang smooth considering that it's a paperback).
I stumble over the words of Cloud Atlas. And what makes it worse is that every chapter is different in writing style than the previous one.
It's arranged weirdly too. You would get Person A, then B, then C, D, E. And then F. Then E, D, C, B, A. That's going to mess me up. That's going to mess me up real bad.
Perhaps I would watch the movie instead. It looks promising.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Krista Ramsey
Today, after accidentally wasting roughly an hour and a half doing nothing in class, I came across an article that tugged on my heartstrings and instantly I knew, I had to blog about it.
Newlyweds spend first year raising groom's twin sisters by Krista Ramsey is more than just its title. It's also about how these two wonderful, compassionate, people, Ryan Craig and Megan Annis, had put the sisters first instead of themselves and gave the girls love, care, and a home they needed.
I feel that the line, "When they left their old life behind to move into Megan's apartment in Eastgate, they left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing." is the strongest line in the article because the diction in the sentence is simple but the impact it has on the reader is strong. It also uses a cliché that is familiar to all of us, "with nothing but the clothes they were wearing" so we know how serious the situation was for the two little girls. Before the line is registered in the reader's mind, Ramsey elaborated on the girls' previous life, illustrating how terrible the conditions were like how the house was virtually falling down and there were more than a dozen of cats. The line makes it clear that the girls had it rough and it was easy to infer they didn't have many happy memories. It also act as a transition in the article when the author switched to the girls' new life from the girls' old life.
Krista Ramsey's writing style is idiomatic. It sounds very natural and is easy to understand like the line "But before parents claw back the iPhones, experts say the problem may not lie in the technology itself, but the amount of time spent on it, the environment in which it’s used and the activities it’s replacing." from the article Ramsey: For better vision, kids need time outdoors. Sometimes in her articles, she would directly "talk" to the person/audience using second person pronouns like "you", seen in the passage, "If you’re the parents of the bride who put thousands of dollars into an elegant wedding, you might well feel a pang when people arrive in jeans with sunglasses atop their heads. The sight of sports jerseys and sweat pants at a carefully planned memorial service could be hurtful. And as you look down at your fitted blazer and heels in a sea of shorts, T-shirts and nylon jackets at your daughter’s college graduation, you probably wonder why you bothered. Keep bothering." It creates a small connection between them and Ramsey because when Ramsey uses the pronoun "you", she's basically saying I know how you feel and the reader can relate to the article. She also writes like she's telling a story rather than a commentary or a opinion. Her first line in Newlyweds is a good example, "On April 22, 2012, life looked like nothing more than a long, smooth path to happiness for Ryan Craig and Megan Annis."
If I ever get to meet Krista Ramsey, I would like to ask her this:
Newlyweds spend first year raising groom's twin sisters by Krista Ramsey is more than just its title. It's also about how these two wonderful, compassionate, people, Ryan Craig and Megan Annis, had put the sisters first instead of themselves and gave the girls love, care, and a home they needed.
I feel that the line, "When they left their old life behind to move into Megan's apartment in Eastgate, they left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing." is the strongest line in the article because the diction in the sentence is simple but the impact it has on the reader is strong. It also uses a cliché that is familiar to all of us, "with nothing but the clothes they were wearing" so we know how serious the situation was for the two little girls. Before the line is registered in the reader's mind, Ramsey elaborated on the girls' previous life, illustrating how terrible the conditions were like how the house was virtually falling down and there were more than a dozen of cats. The line makes it clear that the girls had it rough and it was easy to infer they didn't have many happy memories. It also act as a transition in the article when the author switched to the girls' new life from the girls' old life.
Krista Ramsey's writing style is idiomatic. It sounds very natural and is easy to understand like the line "But before parents claw back the iPhones, experts say the problem may not lie in the technology itself, but the amount of time spent on it, the environment in which it’s used and the activities it’s replacing." from the article Ramsey: For better vision, kids need time outdoors. Sometimes in her articles, she would directly "talk" to the person/audience using second person pronouns like "you", seen in the passage, "If you’re the parents of the bride who put thousands of dollars into an elegant wedding, you might well feel a pang when people arrive in jeans with sunglasses atop their heads. The sight of sports jerseys and sweat pants at a carefully planned memorial service could be hurtful. And as you look down at your fitted blazer and heels in a sea of shorts, T-shirts and nylon jackets at your daughter’s college graduation, you probably wonder why you bothered. Keep bothering." It creates a small connection between them and Ramsey because when Ramsey uses the pronoun "you", she's basically saying I know how you feel and the reader can relate to the article. She also writes like she's telling a story rather than a commentary or a opinion. Her first line in Newlyweds is a good example, "On April 22, 2012, life looked like nothing more than a long, smooth path to happiness for Ryan Craig and Megan Annis."
If I ever get to meet Krista Ramsey, I would like to ask her this:
- What had gotten you interested in journalism?
- I noticed that you write a variety of columns and I wonder, how do you choose a story to write about?
- What are some advice you can give aspiring writers about writing non-fiction?
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Directions: True or False. If false, change the statement to make it true.
"Reading is boring."
That is my statement.
It's been my statement for roughly a month now. Since the beginning of November to the end of the second trimester, I was on a hiatus. A hiatus from reading and when I had finished a book after four months, I had found myself in an unfortunate predicament.
I cannot read. At least for entertainment anyway. Just look at my status on Goodreads. It'll say "Currently Reading" and there will be a list of books that I'm "currently reading". And I put the quotations there because I am not "currently reading". I'm not "currently reading" anything.
Last year, I can breeze through the Harry Potter series in one day. I loved reading. And I loved showing off how fast I can read. Reading was so fun. But now I feel like I've read all the books in the world.
I was doing okay before; I finished two books.
Maybe I'm just annoyed about the four month-long read and that's why reading bothers me now? I mean, 1Q94 was originally a 1157-page novel translated from Japanese that was split into three books to make it more reader-friendly (WHICH DIDN'T WORK BY THE WAY) and I bought from Barnes and Noble without knowing what it was about. I didn't have any background knowledge on it. I didn't even have an idea. It didn't have a summary on the box set and I was a bit terrified.
But I was also really excited.
This book was fun to read; it had a lot of plot twists and mystery to it and it was fun going up and down the roller coaster. There were some graphic scenes though, many were unnecessary and tmi so I had to skip some pages. Because one: I'm a huge baby. Two: I'm fourteen.
It really amazed me though, because for a really simple story (despite all the outlandish ideas and surreal characters) it was really long. Do you know what it's like reading a 1000+ page novel??? (technically it was three but still!!)
Like what I had said with The Shadow of the Wind, the book had way too many words and not enough meaning.
What does 1Q84 mean to me? Well, it means four months I'll never get back. Perhaps I'm too simple-minded to understand. Maybe I haven't been through enough, haven't experience enough to know the meaning of this book but frankly I do not care.
It was terrifying seeing how close I was to the end when there were still so many questions I needed an answer to.
Perhaps it's too soon for me to start reading again after two books with endings to the likes of excrement.
Have you ever read a book that was really good but then went down the wrong path at the last minute?
That is my statement.
It's been my statement for roughly a month now. Since the beginning of November to the end of the second trimester, I was on a hiatus. A hiatus from reading and when I had finished a book after four months, I had found myself in an unfortunate predicament.
I cannot read. At least for entertainment anyway. Just look at my status on Goodreads. It'll say "Currently Reading" and there will be a list of books that I'm "currently reading". And I put the quotations there because I am not "currently reading". I'm not "currently reading" anything.
Last year, I can breeze through the Harry Potter series in one day. I loved reading. And I loved showing off how fast I can read. Reading was so fun. But now I feel like I've read all the books in the world.
I was doing okay before; I finished two books.
Maybe I'm just annoyed about the four month-long read and that's why reading bothers me now? I mean, 1Q94 was originally a 1157-page novel translated from Japanese that was split into three books to make it more reader-friendly (WHICH DIDN'T WORK BY THE WAY) and I bought from Barnes and Noble without knowing what it was about. I didn't have any background knowledge on it. I didn't even have an idea. It didn't have a summary on the box set and I was a bit terrified.
But I was also really excited.
This book was fun to read; it had a lot of plot twists and mystery to it and it was fun going up and down the roller coaster. There were some graphic scenes though, many were unnecessary and tmi so I had to skip some pages. Because one: I'm a huge baby. Two: I'm fourteen.
It really amazed me though, because for a really simple story (despite all the outlandish ideas and surreal characters) it was really long. Do you know what it's like reading a 1000+ page novel??? (technically it was three but still!!)
Like what I had said with The Shadow of the Wind, the book had way too many words and not enough meaning.
What does 1Q84 mean to me? Well, it means four months I'll never get back. Perhaps I'm too simple-minded to understand. Maybe I haven't been through enough, haven't experience enough to know the meaning of this book but frankly I do not care.
It was terrifying seeing how close I was to the end when there were still so many questions I needed an answer to.
Perhaps it's too soon for me to start reading again after two books with endings to the likes of excrement.
Have you ever read a book that was really good but then went down the wrong path at the last minute?
Friday, April 11, 2014
Monday, April 7, 2014
Could've Been Better ?
I had finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón some time ago and I have to say, it was a bit disappointing. Especially at the end, I feel that's where it turned to a path I wasn't expecting.
But first, I'll tell you a little bit about the book.
The Shadow of the Wind is a story of a boy, Daniel Sempere, who discovers a mysterious book titled The Shadow of the Wind by a Julian Carax when his father took him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. When Daniel set out to look for more of the author's books, he makes a shocking discovery: somebody has been hunting down Carax's books and destroying them. In fact Daniel may have one of the last books in existence. As Daniel goes out to search for the rest of the books, he unravels one of Barcelona's deepest secrets. One of murder, madness, and forbidden love.
Based on the summary and some scenes of the book, I had thought the book was going to involve magic especially when the author had written about Jacinta Coronado and her past. There were also a lot of parallels between Daniel and the author Julian Carax. And some parallels between reality and the book such as Laín Coubert, a pseudonym both the Devil (in the fictional book) and another character (in the actual book) use. Unfortunately it didn't involve magic at all, not in the main story and the part about Coronado's past seemed unnecessary.
The atmosphere of the book was very dark and gothic. It had a mysterious air to it so the ending was a bit weird because the mystery wasn't really solved like a mystery. Throughout the book, I mentally raised my hand quite a few times and many were answered. Most of them all at once [hint].
The characters all have the same voice (or the same type of voice) except for Fermin.
The writing was beautiful, don't get me wrong. The man is good with words and he knows to create an atmosphere but I can't say much about his storytelling. A lot of it was repetitive because of the parallels and...
I don't know. This review is all over the place and I don't even have the book with me.
There were a lot of words but not a lot of meaning. Not a lot of substance.
To me, this book is like a beautifully decorated cake. So beautiful, you may not even want to touch it because it's too beautiful to eat. Except when you actually do give it a try, it's bland.
The cake is bland.
But if you are into the angst-filled, forbidden love, really descriptive and wordy, that type of thing, I guess you might enjoy it. I mean I'm into that kind of stuff too but I guess you have to be in a specific mood to enjoy it. And to have that enjoyment last the entire book.
I give this book a 3 out of 5. I like it because the writing was poetic and the atmosphere was dark. I hate it for everything else. This book had potential but it wasted that potential.
I'm sorry I can't talk anymore about this book but The Shadow of the Wind is the type of book where almost everything is a spoiler.
But first, I'll tell you a little bit about the book.
The Shadow of the Wind is a story of a boy, Daniel Sempere, who discovers a mysterious book titled The Shadow of the Wind by a Julian Carax when his father took him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. When Daniel set out to look for more of the author's books, he makes a shocking discovery: somebody has been hunting down Carax's books and destroying them. In fact Daniel may have one of the last books in existence. As Daniel goes out to search for the rest of the books, he unravels one of Barcelona's deepest secrets. One of murder, madness, and forbidden love.
Based on the summary and some scenes of the book, I had thought the book was going to involve magic especially when the author had written about Jacinta Coronado and her past. There were also a lot of parallels between Daniel and the author Julian Carax. And some parallels between reality and the book such as Laín Coubert, a pseudonym both the Devil (in the fictional book) and another character (in the actual book) use. Unfortunately it didn't involve magic at all, not in the main story and the part about Coronado's past seemed unnecessary.
The atmosphere of the book was very dark and gothic. It had a mysterious air to it so the ending was a bit weird because the mystery wasn't really solved like a mystery. Throughout the book, I mentally raised my hand quite a few times and many were answered. Most of them all at once [hint].
The characters all have the same voice (or the same type of voice) except for Fermin.
The writing was beautiful, don't get me wrong. The man is good with words and he knows to create an atmosphere but I can't say much about his storytelling. A lot of it was repetitive because of the parallels and...
I don't know. This review is all over the place and I don't even have the book with me.
There were a lot of words but not a lot of meaning. Not a lot of substance.
To me, this book is like a beautifully decorated cake. So beautiful, you may not even want to touch it because it's too beautiful to eat. Except when you actually do give it a try, it's bland.
The cake is bland.
But if you are into the angst-filled, forbidden love, really descriptive and wordy, that type of thing, I guess you might enjoy it. I mean I'm into that kind of stuff too but I guess you have to be in a specific mood to enjoy it. And to have that enjoyment last the entire book.
I give this book a 3 out of 5. I like it because the writing was poetic and the atmosphere was dark. I hate it for everything else. This book had potential but it wasted that potential.
I'm sorry I can't talk anymore about this book but The Shadow of the Wind is the type of book where almost everything is a spoiler.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
A New Start
Hello audience~
So I haven't been blogging since first day of November (sidenote:.. even though I said that I would but then again I say many things... and not do them until a long period of time. My friend, Indiana, knows this very well. This is a common thing.) and I feel like I've forgotten how to blog. Plus I've just started a new book just the other day so I don't have much to talk about right now.
:I
But anyway, the book that I'm currently reading about is called The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It was originally written in Spanish, translated by Lucia Graves. I chose this book because I needed an independent novel to read for class (I lended a friend a copy of And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie). After browsing the classroom library (and saying no many times) I came across Zafón's book.
It stood out to me because of its title. It sounded very familiar to me and it reminded me of another book that I had read years ago. After reading the flap for the summary, I realized that I knew this book.
I had read about it on Wikipedia when I was like ten-ish, eleven-ish. And I remember wanting to read this book; I think I even bookmarked the page. I never did get a chance to read it when I was younger but now it's in my hands. Literally!!! And now it's not. I've set it down.
But for this book to find me (and for me to find this book) years after I discovered it, it must be fate~ I have to read this book.
And so far, I love it. Maybe love is a strong word, too strong to describe what my current feelings about this book but I'm on page 56 right now. And I really want to continue it.
I already have some inferences about the story. I dog-eared the pages and kept the thoughts tucked in all nice and snug in my mind. I'm not going to share them right now. Because I really want to get this post done so I can read.
So this is where the post has to end. I'll talk to you next time~
P.S. What's another word I can use in place of "so"?
So I haven't been blogging since first day of November (sidenote:.. even though I said that I would but then again I say many things... and not do them until a long period of time. My friend, Indiana, knows this very well. This is a common thing.) and I feel like I've forgotten how to blog. Plus I've just started a new book just the other day so I don't have much to talk about right now.
:I
But anyway, the book that I'm currently reading about is called The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It was originally written in Spanish, translated by Lucia Graves. I chose this book because I needed an independent novel to read for class (I lended a friend a copy of And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie). After browsing the classroom library (and saying no many times) I came across Zafón's book.
It stood out to me because of its title. It sounded very familiar to me and it reminded me of another book that I had read years ago. After reading the flap for the summary, I realized that I knew this book.
I had read about it on Wikipedia when I was like ten-ish, eleven-ish. And I remember wanting to read this book; I think I even bookmarked the page. I never did get a chance to read it when I was younger but now it's in my hands. Literally!!! And now it's not. I've set it down.
But for this book to find me (and for me to find this book) years after I discovered it, it must be fate~ I have to read this book.
And so far, I love it. Maybe love is a strong word, too strong to describe what my current feelings about this book but I'm on page 56 right now. And I really want to continue it.
I already have some inferences about the story. I dog-eared the pages and kept the thoughts tucked in all nice and snug in my mind. I'm not going to share them right now. Because I really want to get this post done so I can read.
So this is where the post has to end. I'll talk to you next time~
P.S. What's another word I can use in place of "so"?
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