Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.
~Laini Taylor
Month: May 2020
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
I was not suppose to read this book because I don’t like cats. But it’s a book written by Hiro Arikawa, a Japanese author whose works I haven’t ventured on yet so I thought it’s unfair not to give it a try after seeing lots of good reviews about it and just because I don’t like cats. Plus, it was translated by Philip Gabriel so I know the translation would be a good one.
So… Nana was a stray cat and was soon taken in by a kind-hearted guy named Satoru after he found it injured by a car. They lived together for years until one day, Satoru can no longer take care of Nana so they found themselves traveling together to find a new home for her. They visited several of Satoru’s friends and slowly Satoru’s story unfolds. The more they travel, the more their love for each other grew.
Well, there’s not much of a plot here and the writing was slow for my taste but simple and engaging which I like. I love Satoru and Nana and cared enough what will happen to them so it was okay that the story went a bit slow for me.
This is a beautiful story of friendship, companionship, love and kindness. The part towards the end of the book was quite lovely. Tissues required while reading.
Quotable Quotes:
“My story will be over soon. But it’s not something to be sad about. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon.”
“If you have to consider what’s going to happen after you die, life becomes doubly troublesome.”
Rating: 4/5 stars
A Six-Word Story
Needed you more than I thought.
WWW Wednesday 27-May-2020
Hello there, Homo sapiens! Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.
As usual, just answer the three W questions:
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What are you currently reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
~Recently Finished~
~Currently Reading~
~Up Next~
Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!
Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!
Live
Live
make mistakes
create happy memories
Life’s too short so
live.
Quote of the Week
It’s amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.
~John Guare
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
This is Helen Keller’s autobiography written while she was attending Radcliffe College. Despite being blind and deaf, she was very lucky to get proper education and use what she learned to help others in the same situation as hers. This is also a tribute to her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who was very devoted to her and made such a big difference in her life.
Since she wrote this book while still attending college, I would like to read more about her later life and somehow know more about her as a person. I’m afraid I didn’t really get that from this book. I would also probably read something about her through another’s viewpoint, say Anne Sullivan’s for example, who contributed greatly to what she has become.
I’m giving this book 3-stars for its inspiring and interesting story though the second part of the book was a bit redundant. I’m giving 5-stars to Helen Keller for her passion, her commitment and eagerness to learn and for her achievements.
Quotable Quotes:
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
“I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities? Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them, and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser, and learned how to use them rightly.”
“Trying to write is very much like trying to put a Chinese puzzle together. We have a pattern in mind which we wish to work out in words; but the words will not fit the spaces, or, if they do, they will not match the design.”
A Six-Word Story
I really should have never cared.
WWW Wednesday 20-May-2020
Hello there, Homo sapiens! Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.
As usual, just answer the three W questions:
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What are you currently reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
Recently Finished
Currently Reading
Up Next
Have you read any of these books? Or is there anything you want to recommend? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!
Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!
Don’t
Don’t
settle for
temporary pleasures for
you’re worth more than
that.
Top 5 Tuesday – Top Opening Lines
Hello there, homo sapiens! It’s time for Top 5 Tuesday.
This tag is hosted by Shannah over at Bionic Book Worm.
Top 5 Opening Lines
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.”
“It was a pleasure to burn.”
“All this happened, more or less.”
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
“History has failed us, but no matter.”
Quote of the Week
There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice.
~F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Six-Word Story
Choose to believe you are worthy.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh where his areas of expertise were computer science and virtual reality. He worked for Disney as an Imagineer. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 47.
Overall, the book is inspiring though not mind-blowing. The wisdom within this book makes it an important book to read. It is indeed a good lecture for him to leave to his children and to inspire many others.
While I enjoyed Randy Pausch’s positive attitude during the most difficult time of his life, I also felt that the book was a lot more about him proving how great he and his life had been. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead and I will probably burn in hell to say this but he appeared to be cocky, arrogant and so full of himself. Death is always a tragedy but his was a fairytale having been able to bid goodbye to everyone he loves and leaving a mark in the world. I personally think he should have hired a writer to assist him in writing this book, maybe it would touch more hearts and won’t sound or appear the way it did.
Nevertheless, you’d still have to admire Randy.
Quotable Quotes:
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
“Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”
Rating: 3/5 stars
Write
Write
about anything
even the thing
you are most afraid
of.
Quote of the Week
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.
~Victor Hugo
A Six-Word Story
Be kind you can’t be ignored.
A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
A Dog’s Purpose is one dog’s story trying to find and understand his life’s purpose through four different lives. He was first born as a stray dog and was later named when caught and kept in a dog pound. In his second life he was a golden retriever named Bailey. This is my favorite part of the book, aside from being a golden retriever which is my favorite dog breed, this is where he met Ethan. Come his third life, he became a she, a female German Shepherd named Ellie and was part of of the Search and K-9 unit. He was back to being a male dog in his fourth life and this time a Labrador.
Told from a dog’s perspective, every thought that enters the dog’s mind were realistic. The way the author has written the dog’s thoughts made me feel like I am actually in a dog’s mind. It felt like the dog was really the one telling the story.
A Dog’s Purpose is a roller coaster of emotions — I laughed, I cried, it was happy and sad, it made me nervous and scared, it made me hopeful. I just so love this book from beginning to end.
W. Bruce Cameron did a brilliant job in this book. Whether you’re a dog/animal lover or not, I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed. I can’t give enough praises to this work. Read it. It’s a paw-fect book!
Quotable Quotes:
“The job of a good dog was ultimately to be with them, remaining by their sides no matter what course their lives might take. All I could do now was offer him comfort, the assurance that as he left this life he was not alone but rather was tended by the dog who loved him more than anything in the whole world.”
“Because failure isn’t an option if success is just a matter of more effort.”
“Humans were capable of so many amazing things, but too often they just sat making words, not doing anything.”
Rating: 5/5 stars
WWW Wednesday 06-May-2020
Hello there, Homo sapiens! It’s the month of May! How are all of you doing? I hope you’re all safe wherever you are. I’ve been kind of busy the past couple of weeks, I moved to a new apartment and have to arrange stuff here and there plus work, of course. Well, thank God everything’s almost in place now. So…
Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.
As usual, just answer the three W questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next
Currently Reading
Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!
Find Someone
Find
someone who
doesn’t want you
hurting yourself in any
way.
Quote of the Week
People are icebergs, with just a bit you can see and loads you can’t.
~David Mitchell
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
I’ve been seeing this book almost everywhere both online and offline and so I’ve finally decided to purchase an ebook and see why people are so raving about it.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is Lale’s true story during the second world war. It tells us how he became the tattooist in Auschwitz and the trials and sufferings he and the others experienced there.
I liked the story, I do, but I didn’t quite like the writing. I’m a big fan of world war reads but this just came a bit flat for me. I also wasn’t able to connect with the characters and there was no character development. I also didn’t feel that much emotion while reading this unlike the other books I’ve read about the war. I did felt some but I would have loved it more if I were able to feel a connection with the characters or between Lale and Gita. I kinda felt like the bond between them was missing, an opportunity missed for a beautiful love story. Or is it just me? Don’t get me wrong, this would have really been a great story but I really felt the writing didn’t do it justice.
Any holocaust-related story is a gripping tale but I wasn’t blown away with this one. Still I’m glad I’ve read it.
Quotable Quotes:
“I know he is not perfect, but I also know he will always put me first.”
“To save one is to save the world.”
“Remember the small things and the big things will work themselves out.”
Rating: 3/5 stars
HappymessHappiness 