Required Reading 2013: October

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!

 

12 Best Books of 2012

So the 2012 reading year was interesting because I think this is the most I’ve explored different genres. I blame my book club for this, especially with our monthly discussions and their book recommendations. As a result, I didn’t reach the 150-ish book goal. However, I did enjoy exploring these other books that I wouldn’t normally read, so it’s still a pretty good year reading year.

I’ll talk about my reading stats more on another post. First, let’s get the best list out. 12 Best Books for 2012. Let’s get at it, shall we?

  1. Angelfall by Susan Ee. Gruesome, creepy and scary but absolutely fun. I read this book because of all the good reviews I read from my Goodreads friends, and I devoured it in several days. I loved Penryn the kick-ass heroine and the equally bad-ass angels who caused the apocalypse. When is the sequel coming out again? Please make it soon?
    Angelfall by Susan Ee Continue Reading →

Faves of TwentyEleven: The Characters

From books, we go to characters! Today is the second day of the Faves of TwentyEleven series hosted by Nomes of inkcrush. :) Characters are my favorite part in a book, and sometimes I think they may even be more important than plot. I believe strong characters can revive an overused or boring plot, so I always pay attention to them. Here are some of the characters that stood out for me in the books I read in 2011. :)

Day Two: The Characters

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Faves of TwentyEleven: The Books

I remember making my own set of best-of lists for last year, but this year I don’t have that same gimmick, so I’ll ride on other bloggers’ gimmicks instead. Ha. Here’s my first post for the Faves of Twenty Eleven hosted by Nomes of inkcrush! :)

Day One: The Books

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In My Mailbox (21): Sales and Komikon

In My Mailbox is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren, where bloggers post about what books received that week, be it via  mailbox, library or store. I wasn’t expecting to write an In My Mailbox post this week, but three things happened:

And so, I ended up with these:

  1. The Song of the Quarkbest by Jasper Fforde (Fully Booked) – Aaron told me last week that this book was already available in Fully Booked, just on the same day I wrote a Want Books post about it. I had a copy transferred while making a personal deal with myself to catch up to quota before it arrived. And I just that. I cannot wait to read this. :D
  2. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (Fully Booked) – I borrowed a copy of this book from my friend RE early this year and I loved it. He told me that if I see a copy of this, I should grab it immediately. I saw one and grabbed one. :) I can reread this book anytime I want now, yay!
  3. Filipino Heroes League Book 1: Sticks and Stones by Paolo Fabregas(Komikon) – I already bought a copy of this months before which I lent to my brother and is currently missing. Anyway, yesterday I got to meet the author, Paolo Fabregas, at Komikon, so I bought another copy so he could sign it. And he remembered my review, too, so yay!

    My FHL copy signed by the author :)

  4. High Society by Paolo Chikiamco and Hannah Buena (Komikon) – Of course I had to get a copy of this, after reviewing it just recently. :) Dibs on a pretty special colored cover because of that review too. Thanks Pao! I had it signed by him, but not by Hannah because we don’t know how she looks like and so we weren’t able t “stalk” her during Komikon. :( Maybe next time, then. :)

    Signed High Society

  5. Tabi Po by Mervin Malonzo (Komikon) – We were hanging by the Flipside booth talking to Honey when she plugged this comic to us. It was the black and white version, and it seems pretty scary given the illustrations shown in the colored version in the iPad. Eep. Still, it looks interesting (and it was only P30, so why not buy, right?) If you’re more of a colored comic person, you can buy a copy from Flipreads.com :) I hope to read and review this sometime soon.

    Signed!

And being a Trese fan, I cannot pass up something like this:

Signed glossy Trese poster in plastic case :)

It’s so pretty. :) Actually, we call it a placemat because it kinda looks like one. But this is going on my wall, once I’ve organized my room. Gotta love the detail in this one. :)

And there goes my week. Before I reward myself with anything else, I must get to 50,000 words on my NaNoWriMo novel first. Onward!