Every Day by David Levithan

This year’s 9th book is my first David Levithan read…

A soul, named A, is the main character in the story. He drifts from one body to another every single day of his life until one day, he found Rhiannon and fell in love with her. The idea of living a different life everyday while remaining true to who you really are is very moving and touching. A’s story is hauntingly beautiful. (He’s added in my list of favorite characters.)

This is pretty much a book about love and all those little things that we sometimes never think about in order to make those feelings work for us. So if you haven’t read this yet, find time to do so. Reading this was a delight in every way.

Quotable Quotes:

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: We all want everything to be okay. We don’t even wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.”

“There will always be more questions. Every answer leads to more questions. The only way to survive is to let some of them go.”

“The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations – all of them rearranging themselves so this precise, remarkable intersection could happen. In your heart, in your bones, no matter how silly you know it is, you feel that everything has been leading to this, all the secret arrows were pointing here, the universe and time itself crafted this long ago, and you are just now realizing it, you are just now arriving at the place you were always meant to be.”

“If you stare at the center of the universe, there is coldness there. A blankness. Ultimately, the universe doesn’t care about us. Time doesn’t care about us. That’s why we have to care about each other.”

“I am a drifter, and as lonely as that can be, it is also remarkably freeing. I will never define myself in terms of anyone else. I will never feel the pressure of peers or the burden of parental expectation. I can view everyone as pieces of a whole, and focus on the whole, not the pieces. I have learned to observe, far better than most people observe. I am not blinded by the past or motivated by the future. I focus on the present because that is where I am destined to live.”

Rating : 5/5 stars

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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

I’m back! After a two-month reading hiatus, I’m glad I’m starting to get back on track. I planned to read 25 books this year and so far, I’ve only finished 7 until early March. I’ve finished my 8th book just yesterday and I think I can focus on my reading once again.

So, for my 8th book:

This was recommended to me by a friend in Goodreads and I’m glad to have found a copy of it online. 🙂

This book is about Harry August, a man called a kalachakra – a person reborn over and over at the same point in time with all his knowledge of his previous lives still intact giving him a chance to avoid his mistakes in the past and make or build a better understanding of the past, present or future.

On Harry’s eleventh life, however, while on his deathbed (again), a girl came to him and warned him that the world is ending. And this is where the real story kicked in.

Though time travel isn’t really a brand new concept nowadays, it being my first of its kind is probably why I enjoyed this book. The author also covered a lot of interesting themes such as living a good or bad life, doing what is right or wrong, technological advances and its effect in our daily lives, etc.

I’m happy I’ve read this book ending my reading hiatus, it leaves me thinking about how we can give life more meaning.

Quotable Quotes:

“I know now that there is something dead inside me though I cannot remember exactly when it died.”

“You know everyone breaks, Harry. Everyone.”

“Our actions… matter. We have a responsibility to consider the small as well as the big, merely because that is what the whole world around us, a world of conscious, living beings, must exist upon. We are not gods, and our knowledge does not grant us the authority to play the same. That’s not… not the point of us.”

“But in the name of progress we have eaten our souls up, and nothing else matters to us anymore.”

“The secret to being unafraid of the darkness is to challenge the darkness to fear you, to raise your eyes sharp to those few souls who stagger by, daring them to believe that you are not, in fact, more frightening than they are.”

Rating : 4/5 stars

My Year in Books

Proud of my reading achievement this year and happy with most of the books I’ve read!

I’d be glad to see yours! 🙂

Book #38 – 2015 Reading Challenge – The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This is my first Neil Gaiman book so I didn’t know what to expect. I loved it nonetheless! 

The story began when the unnamed narrator revisited his childhood home for a funeral and was drawn back to a farm where he met his one true friend and experienced a magical and haunting event when he was seven years old.

Not every child probably did this but when I was young, I like to imagine things differently from what they really are. I like thinking about them in a weird way that sometimes my memory get mixed up from what’s real and what’s not. The book somewhat depicts that. That sometimes, things are different from what we remember them to be.

Although this isn’t typically the kind of book I usually seek out to read, this made me smile. But it made me sad, too. It gave me something to think about. It even made my heart ache. So I think that’s enough reason to recommend this book and read more of Neil Gaiman’s works.

Favorite quotes : “I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”

“You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.”

“I saw the world I had walked since my birth and I understood how fragile it was, that the reality was a thin layer of icing on a great dark birthday cake writhing with grubs and nightmares and hunger.”

Rating : 5/5 stars

Book #37 – 2015 Reading Challenge – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Sometimes, you find a book with an amazing story and it’ll stay with you always. Book #37 for my 2015 Reading Challenge is one of these…

Book #37 – 2015 Reading Challenge

In All the Light We Cannot See, we meet a French blind girl, Marie-Laure and the young German soldier, Werner. Set in France in World War II. Two people. Lives changed. Then eventually crossed paths filled with beauty and heartbreak.

Amazing story. A book not to be missed!

Favorite quotes: “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”

“I saved her only to hear her die.”

“So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?

“Is it right… to do something only because everyone else is doing it?”

Rating: 5/5 stars

Book #36 – 2015 Reading Challenge – 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

Book #36 is another Jane Marple mystery by Agatha Christie:

The story started when Ms. McGillicuddy, on her way to visit Miss Marple, witnessed a murder when her train ran alongside another. Nobody believed Ms. McGillicuddy since there were no other witnesses and no corpse was found. Only Miss Marple believed her friend’s story so her quest to find out the murderer started.

I enjoyed every page of this book and I loved the tandem of Miss Marple and Lucy Eyelesbarrow (one of Miss Christie’s best female character). I managed to narrow it down to two suspects about halfway through the book but one of them died a few pages later so I’m left with just one who turned out to be the murderer! Haha! I am a little bit bothered though that I didn’t find out who Lucy ended up with! 🙂

Agatha Christie isn’t called the Queen of Mystery for nothing — I’m officially hooked!

Rating: 5/5 stars

52 in 2015 – Reading Challenge

My friend and I challenged ourselves to read 52 books this year and since I just started this blog a couple of weeks ago, I was only able to start to post from Book #34. So here’s the list from Book #1 to #33…

1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey – Who decides who’s sane & who’s not? 
2. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – A quiet novel that contains so little action and yet carries great, gentle power.
3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – A psychologically twisted portrait of relationships gone wrong.
4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote – Highly readable writing style.
5. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd – For fans of historical fiction or simply of a good story. 
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon – I’m not sure how true in real life this portrayal of Asperger’s Syndrome is but I think that it is very well written.
7. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie – A mystery that will keep you in suspense while keeping a smile on your face. 
8. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup – “What difference is there in the color of the soul?”
9. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera – A kind of book that requires a little more attention than usual but worth reading.
10. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven – I know a lot of people were raving for this book but I’m definitely not the target audience for this one.
11. HHhH by Laurent Binet – A book so good even though I already knew the outcome. 
12. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami – It’s not quite as good as his other books but I love it. Still Murakami. Weird and wonderful.
13. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson – It’s not quite what I was expecting and it was so easy to figure out the outcome.
14. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – Truly a page turner! Finished it so quickly. Highly recommended! 
15. The Pact by Jodi Picoult – My third Jodi Picoult book. A tragic event turned personal family tragedy. I like the book though it left me with a lot to think about.
16. By the River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept by Paulo Coelho – “Love perseveres. It’s men who change.”
17. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – While I personally think that suicide is stupid, I would recommend this book. I like the way the book’s written, alternating Hannah & Clay’s points of view within the same chapter. Truly a page turner because you want to find out who’s next on the tapes. I was so relieved to find out that Clay isn’t included for bad reasons. I can’t say I agree with all of Hannah baker’s reasons why she did it but I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
18. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand – One of the best stories I have ever read! What can I do but recommend this book? True to the book’s title, Louis Zamperini’s life’s one of survival, resilience & redemption. It’s just very unfortunate that evil Watanabe (the Bird) was never tried as a war criminal. I’m left with an unsatisfying ending but very real. 
19. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie – The “dangerous” Miss Marple was first featured in this book. Suspenseful. Surprises and false leads.
20. Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck – Crushing! 
21. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – Enjoyed this book because it felt real though the ending was a bit rushed.
22. Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult – I like Jodi Picoult’s works, but this didn’t make it high on my list.
23. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – Wonderful! Magical! 
24. The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson – I was literally laughing out loud while reading this. Fast-paced & entertaining. 
25. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak – A simple, heart-warming book that makes you think and want to do better for yourself and other people.
26. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks – A simple, captivating, romantic read. As always, Mr. Sparks has his way of giving life to his characters, making it so real. A great read about taking chances and following your heart.
27. The Railway Man by Eric Lomax – “…remembering is not enough, if it simply hardens hate.”
28. At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks – This completely broke my heart so I’m not going to read any book of Mr. Sparks any time soon.
29. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami – The title itself tells what the ending’s gonna be. Really loving Murakami more! 
30. The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie – A nice exercise if you like to guess “Who did it?”
31. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai – The start was a bit jumbled up to the middle part that I found it hard to continue reading this book but the last few chapters got a lot better. It’s a brilliant story, it’s just the way it was presented that I didn’t like.
32. The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie – Love the love story and the nasty mystery.
33. A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie – Being able to guess who the killer is in this book just makes me feel good and clever. Haha! 

There goes my list. Let me check yours! 🙂