Required Reading 2013: October

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I knew it. I knew that my blogging would improve after I did the facelift. I wrote 8 posts in September, which isn’t really a lot compared to the Septembers in the past three years that this blog has been in existence, but it’s a little bit more regular than the past months. Yay. I still have a backlog to work through, but I’ll get to that soon! :)

September was busy in terms of my personal life, with lots of work and trips and tutoring weekends and all that. I was still a very slow reader, though, but it was okay, because…well, I can’t do much about that when life is taking over. :P With that, I finished just one book from my September list:

  • Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (4/5) – This was surprising in the sense that I didn’t think I would like it. Then I got to the end and I was all, “Huh.” In a good way. I can’t say it’s the best book I ever read, and it still has an icky topic…but I think I understand why people say that this is one of those books that you should read in your life time. Trust me. If you think the first parts are too much, just read through it and get to the end and then see what you think about it. :)

I totally gave up on A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin because I just wasn’t in the mood. I’m sorry, reading buddies. I barely moved from page 250. :/ I’m still reading Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland #2, and I didn’t even oven Lili Wilkinson’s The Zigzag Effect. I’m actually best friends with Hannah the Kindle now, because I find that I read more when I use it. I am starting to miss paper books, though!

Required Reading 2013

October is usually the month I decide to pick scary books and all that, and I almost thought of that now…until I realized that our book club’s book for this month is a little thick. So I backtracked and chose other books instead.

October Books

  • Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay – our book club’s book of the month. This discussion will be moderated by two of my minions favorite TFG boys, Aaron and JL. I’ve heard good things about the book, but you know I’m not such a high fantasy girl, so I started on this a little early. I like what I’ve read so far, and I hope I like this as much as my minions favorite boys do. ;)
  • Trese: Stories from the Diabolical by Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo – I missed paper books, but I don’t feel like picking up the regular volumes (by regular, I mean 300+ pages) because I feel like I won’t be able to read it anyway. So I decided to go back to my favorite Filipino graphic novel and read this sort-of spin-off. Stories from the Diabolical are side stories in the Trese series. I’ve scanned it earlier and there were some creepy illustrations. Hee. This should be quick and fun.

Like I said, I’m still reading The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, but I wasn’t able to put it in the picture. It’s still slow reading, but I really liked how Valente weaves her words, so I’m excited to continue with that. :)

October will be another busy month with life and stuff, plus Filipino ReaderCon 2013 preparations, and another trip (yay!), but I will try to keep blogging. :) Try is the operative word, so. :P Happy October, friends!

 

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Required Reading 2013: September (and then some)

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Hello folks, look at that – it’s September! In the Philippines, Christmas preparations start as early as today so I will go ahead and say: Merry Christmas! :P

On another note, August has come and gone, and I read a lot of books this month (compared to last month, anyway) because there were several long weekends in the month. :) I wasn’t able to finish all August books, though, because I got distracted by other shiny little books along the way. Still, no regrets. :D

  • Tall Story by Candy Gourlay (4/5) – the reread was as charming as the first time. We had our discussion yesterday and it was filled with warmth, especially with all the sibling stories we shared. :)
  • No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July (3/5) – I didn’t like some of the stories, but there were others that were really good ones. Here’s to trying to find time to blog about it soon.

I didn’t touch Jasper Fforde’s book at all, or even made really good progress with A Clash of Kings. Well. But I’m not hurrying anything, so…let’s go to September. :D

Required Reading: September

No particular theme this month, except for that spillover from July. I’ve tried to balance out the serious and lighter books but I don’t even know if I will be able to read them all. Heh. Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to try. :D

September 2013 books

  1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – our book club’s book of the month. I hope I’m ready for this. XD
  2. A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin – it is my hope to finish this soon, except that I’m still at page 250ish. Not that it’s boring — it’s not. I’m just not in the mood for it for some reason. Oh well, I must soldier on!
  3. The Zigzag Effect by Lili Wilkinson – something light to offset the first two. :)
  4. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente – just because the main character’s name is September. :)

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Now we go to the “and then some” part of the post. I haven’t really been blogging, obviously, and I think I found out why: I’m not too interested in it anymore. This doesn’t mean I will stop blogging, though — I think maybe I just need a little change. I think I may have outgrown the “One More Page” aspect of this blog.

SO…I am going to apologize in advance if I don’t really blog yet anytime soon, but trust me, I’ve got something going on for this blog. It may include a blog facelift of sorts and even a name change, something to reflect my new reading habits, among other things. :) This won’t take too long, I hope! (Maybe by mid September? :D)

Have a happy reading month, you guys. :)

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2013 Mid-Year Report

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I saw some of my friends do a post similar to this, and I was checking my archives and as it turned out, I haven’t really made a list like this in my past years of book blogging. Since this book blog has been feeling a little bit lonely lately, So I figure I’d write something like this. And yeah, maybe do a check on my goals, too, to see if I am still sort of on track. :)

Image from we heart it

Image from we heart it

Best Books of 2013 (So Far):

In no particular order:

  • Life of Pi by Yann Martel: “The ending left me…reeling. A friend told me about the twist in the story, but I wanted to be surprised and boy was I surprised. I couldn’t wrap my head around it for a while, and I had my first case of a book hangover for the year, which was extended right after watching the movie.”
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: “One last thing: I hope that when Death comes for me, he’ll find my soul sitting up.“
  • Iscariot: A Novel of Judas by Tosca Lee: “Would there have been redemption for Judas, if he had just waited? Could he have become someone like Peter, who denied Jesus but accepted mercy which led him to become the great church leader that he is? If he had just waited until Sunday, would he have believed that Jesus was indeed the person he had been waiting for his entire life?”
  • 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff: “If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.“
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver: “Because really, what do people talk about when they talk about love? My friends and I do this a lot, and while we all have these ideas and dreams and everything, I don’t think we will ever grasp what love really is about. The best we can do, I think, is try.”
  • Icon of the Indecisive by Mina V. Esguerra: “Let’s just say this book had me…er, squeeing more than half the time. Hee. There were many, many things I wanted to ask at the end of the second book, but I’m very glad to report that this third book delivers.”

Honorable Mentions:

2013 Goals Checkpoint:

  1. 52 Books – upped to 75, when I realized that I will probably reach 52 a bit earlier. Then I got into a reading slump. Heh. But I am at 38 books now, and Goodreads tells me I am 1 book ahead. So yay.
  2. 5 Classics – 1 out of 5. Eep. I have to catch up.
  3. 4 Chunksters – 2 out of 4. Reading my third this month!
  4. 20 Filipino Books – 10 out of 20. Good job, self. *pats*
  5. Required Reading – I am surprisingly managing this well. There were some books that I postponed reading (for the future (hello, May books), but other than that, I think I hit my monthly goals quite well.
  6. The Reread Factor – I’ve reread several books but I didn’t get to review them. Oops. Maybe next time. :)

I don’t review all the books I read now because sometimes I get too lazy to review and by the time I realized that I should review it, it’s been too long and I can’t remember what to write anymore. So…there. But don’t worry, this blog isn’t going anywhere. :D I’m just a little busy with other life things. :)

Happy reading for the rest of 2013!

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Required Reading 2013: July

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June felt like a short month, which is kind of strange because there were days that I spent at home, writing, which should be slow days. Or maybe it’s because I was on a mid shift schedule so my days were faster? Either way, I really was in a reading rut last month because I didn’t feel like reading much, except maybe something light and romantic. Still, I managed to finish the only book in my reading list for June — a day late for the discussion, but still, I finished!

  • The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (3/5) – It was fun in some parts, but also equally not fun in other parts. It was a lot of parts dragging, though. Maybe Chabon isn’t for me? Or maybe I should try another Chabon book? I had a lot of fun during the discussion, though, so I did my best to finish the book even after. I am keeping my copy on my shelf because it looks nice there. :D

Required Reading: July

We are now at the second half of the year, eep! A bit of panic mode, but not really with reading, because I find that I am still on track with my reading goals (the 52 books challenge is upped to 75, btw). I think I am out of my reading rut. I think! I hope these books really bring me out of it!

Required Reading for July

  • A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin – Finally moving on to the second book in this series. I don’t think I will be able to do a marathon reading for these books, so one a year should suffice? :) Reading this with some buddies, and I’m expecting it to be as fast-paced as A Game of Thrones was, so this shouldn’t take me that long to read it, right? :)
  • The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen – Ah finally. Some good old contemporary YA from my favorite contemporary YA author. I started this already, and it’s nice to go back to Dessen’s writing. :)
  • Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Our book club’s book for discussion this month, moderated by our book club’s canon couple, Bennard and Rhena. :) This is my first GGM, and I don’t really know what to expect. I read the first few pages of this earlier and I like the opening line: It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love. Well that was quite a beautiful (and sad) picture.

I hope July will be a good reading month for everyone. :) Happy second half of 2013!

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Required Reading: June 2013

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May felt like a long month, don’t you think? Well, there were 31 days in the month, so I guess it was long, but it felt like I was out for so many things, and I did so many things…but also wasn’t able to.

So a few things I did in May, which I hope will explain a bit of my absence here:

  • I attended two weddings – one for my brother’s best friend and another for my college roommate. I love weddings. :)
  • Book discussion, as always, and several movies. It was a chill month for the book club, partly because April was so darn busy, but overall, it was a good time to be relaxed.
  • I started (and finished) watching Firefly. And why did I wait this long to watch this series?!
  • I busied myself with writing my novel for Mina V. Esguerra’s romance writing class (aka #romanceclass). I wrote about writing middles and how I kind of hate it, but I reached THE END the other day, and I’m all squee. <3

The reason I wasn’t able to finish all my books for May even if they were mostly thin books is because of the last item in my list — I got so consumed with writing that my mind refused to accept anything that isn’t contemporary romance. So, there. But I did finish most of them!

  1. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5/5) – Lovely, lovely book about people who became friends over books. :)
  2. Smaller and Smaller Circles by FH Batacan (4/5) – A reread, and I liked it as much as when I read it the first time. :) The discussion was really fun, too. :)
  3. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (5/5) – Love, love, love. <3 I want to read more Carver after this.
  4. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (4/5) – My second chunkster! I liked how this ended. :)

Four out of six. Not bad.

And now let’s go to June.Required Reading: June

June feels like that kind of month. I don’t know, but I just don’t feel like reading. I feel like it’s a spillover from the last month, and my brain still needs a rest from all the writing. I intended to read two books this month — thick ones, too! — but I decided to push the other one to the next month and just concentrate on our book club’s book of the month:

junerr

So for June, I am only requiring myself to read one book. (If I finish more, then yay)

  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

My good friend Tricia is moderating this discussion for the book club this month, so I am pretty excited. Now if I can only start reading this…

Check out my friends’ reading lists for June, too!

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