Book Review: The Universe of Us by Lang Leav

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Rating: ★★★★
Read: March 2017 

4.5-ish, so close to 5!

This is the third book of Lang Leav that I have read and she never fails to pull at my heartstrings. I have always been impressed by poets because poems are really so hard to construct. I have read a few poems Edgar Allan Poe and E. E. Cummings and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and it actually requires a lot of understanding but I loved their poems nevertheless.

In Lang Leav’s books, she has a different and modern take on poems that I adore. I like the way her writing touch people’s hearts and make us feel like we’re not alone. Now, in this fourth collection of poems, Lang Leav has grown absolutely well with her writing. She has improved even more since I first read Love & Misadventure. 

I’ve read this book for about an hour, it was just too good that I actually devoured every page, it’s like a medicine for my soul. It covers everything, from love to heartbreak, from being lost to getting found, and really, just about life itself.

…and although life will always find a way to test you, someday you’ll have everything you want. Your ending will be a happy one. 

— A Premonition

My favorites are:

Distance
A Premonition
And Then
Predestined Stars
Eros
Stitches And Scars
Remorse
Young Love

 

Book Review: The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

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Rating: ★★★
Read: March 2017

It’s more of a 3.5 stars.

It’s been a while since I last read one of Nicholas Sparks’ books. He’s one of my favorite authors, so I’m actually trying to be able to read all of his novels and so far, I have already read 7 out of 20.

In The Choice, I honestly didn’t like how Travis and Gabby fell in love, because it was all too fast and I’m just not fond of the idea that people can fall in love in a span of a few days. I liked Travis’ character though. I find him a great man and I didn’t see his carefree-ness as a negative part of his personality. I liked how he adores kids and that he mostly daydreams of having his own family in Beaufort someday–if only he could find the wife-material woman for him.

Gabby, on the other hand, frustrated me. At some point in the book, I found her a bit annoying. There are other parts, though, that I get why she was acting. The title was really perfect for the whole novel. I really liked how Nicholas Sparks seemed to have thought that part through.

But all in all, I liked the story. Although not as much as I liked his other books, there are still points in this novel that are unique. The ending absolutely made up for my concerns and frustrations with Gabby at the first part of the book.

 

“How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?”

 

I’ve watched the movie right after reading the book, and it wasn’t really that good (for me, at least). Some names and relationships were different from the book and I’m just glad I’ve read the book first.

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Lately, life has been kind of suffocating. It’s actually crazy how at one point I thought that I finally got my shit together, then life happened and reality hit me straight on the face once again. 

It’s been months since I last felt okay and it’s been a struggle since then. And it’s hard knowing that no one can actually help me but myself and I haven’t felt this way before, ever. I badly want to scream and tell the world to stop and hold still for a second because I honestly can’t keep up anymore. 

I hate it, I hate this—not knowing what to do and where this is all coming from is very stressful. Suddenly, waking up every morning is the hardest thing to do and I always find myself looking forward to the afternoons when I get to go home and when I finally do get home, I feel exhausted and tired and helpless, not to mention the stress that adds up to it when everyone and everything at home seems to be in such chaos.

I’ve never felt so alone in my life and it’s crazy because I am almost always surrounded by people and the weird part is, on most days, I feel more at peace when I am alone at a coffee shop or at home than I am when I am with other people. Maybe I just got used to it, maybe I’m no longer happy with what’s currently happening in my life since everything has been “just a routine” and I don’t know how, but one thing is for sure, I gotta find my way out of this.

Book Review: Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

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Rating: ★★★
Read: December 2016

It’s been four years since I’ve read the first book in the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series and I don’t know why it took me that long to finally get a copy of the second book given that I enjoyed the first one! Silly me.

This time around, I still enjoyed it because it was a very light and easy read. I’ve been too busy with a lot of things last year that I didn’t really get to finish a lot of novel books. I got to read a lot of interesting comic books though, so I guess that isn’t a bad thing.

The story still follows the everyday life of Greg Heffley and how he deals with school and everything around him, especially his brother who’s basically a pain in the butt for the most part.

I liked the way the story is light and funny that it will keep you turning the page until the end. Although, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the first one for unknown reasons, I can say that it still was good enough for me.

2016 Wrap Up: Year In Books

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The past year has finally come to a close and though it has been a very frustrating and challenging year for most of us, I actually still had a great reading year!

So in 2016 I’ve read a total of 52 books of my Goodreads goal of 30! This was actually the first time I’ve ever read more than my goal and I am so happy. I’ve read A LOT of comic books last year since DC Comics launched their Rebirth series and I was just too hyped about it. But aside from that, I’ve also read some novels and poem books. So below are list of the titles I’ve read:

Comics:

I didn’t push through with Harley Quinn and Supergirl because it didn’t quite work out for me as much as the others.

Novels:

So I guess that wraps it all up! I’m certainly looking forward to more reading this 2017 and may all the booknerds out there have another great reading year ahead!

#Christmas2016: Tagaytay

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It’s been our family’s routine to celebrate Christmas in Tagaytay ever since our house there was built. I used to hate leaving home during that season since I grew up celebrating there, but I eventually got used to it as time passed by.

This year, we stayed home during the 24th and busied ourselves with the preparation. My aunt, godfather (my aunt’s husband), and I drank wine and tequila while waiting for 12mn. I used to drink twice a year and with them and with my friends during college week, but ever since I graduated, it has been reduced to once a year, and because I’m not that of a fan of drinking, really, that’s fine with me.

On the morning of the 25th, of course we heard mass and headed to Starbucks (since it’s the only cafe open at that time) for breakfast.

I was really excited to read the book my mom gave me for Christmas, which was Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (read my review here). So I basically read a few pages before we head for the grocery to buy stuff we need for dinnertime at home. We also dropped by a few cute shops there!

And then we had lunch at this new steak house at Ayala Malls Serin, T-Bone King Steak & Grill. The place was kind of quiant and there are a lot of bible verses and God related quotes hanging around the place.

The food was amazing!  I had their local T-Bone steak and house iced tea and we shared a basket of nachos as well. It’s affordable and the food is delicious! So if you happen to stop by Tagaytay, drop by the place at Ayala Malls Serin!

Here’s our obligatory family photo to end this post.

Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

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Rating: ★★★★★
Read: December 2016

Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry about surviving, love, pain, abuse and feminism. I loved how each poem was moving and powerful and made me relate to things I never knew I could relate to until I read this book.

And though I am not a fan of the author not using proper capitalization (I don’t know if she did it on purpose or if she has an explanation about it, please don’t hesitate to notify me), I loved every bit of her prose and poetry. It showed us, her readers, that her experiences made her stronger in time and I can’t describe this book more, because all I can think about when I try to describe it is POWERFUL.

If you’re a fan of poetry, you should read this.
If you’re not a fan of poetry, you should read this.
Just read it.

This is one of my favorites:

“I thank the universe
for taking
everything it has taken
and giving to me
everything it is giving”

Source: dustypromises

Opposites

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We are two different people.
You’re bold and I’m almost always hesitant,
you’re outgoing and I’m shy around other people,
you’re quiet and I talk endlessyly about everything.
It’s crazy how sometimes the most contradicting thing
create beauty when collided.

You speak your mind out, frankly but tenderly at the same time
and I keep mine shut, I don’t share what I feel deep inside,
but I do pour everything out on paper.

You never fail to remind me that storms don’t last forever,
and that I can handle every challenge that comes my way.
You’ve always been the one who pushes me to do good–better.
You’ve always been the only one who believes in me when I keep doubting myself.
Your love has been my strength when I am weak.

We are different–opposites in so many ways.
Our thoughts, our views, the way we listen and understand,
the way we think and learn but what’s important is that we let each other in.
We accept each other’s difference–wholly.
We are so different, but damn, do we love each other.

Maybe it doesn’t matter that we’re so different,
maybe what matters is how at the end of each day,
all we wanna do is be with each other and share our thoughts.
no matter how different and opposite they are.
Maybe opposites do attract each other;
and maybe being two completely different person is a good thing,
because then we could fight for each other and find more ways to love each other.

Recent Book Haul

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 Titles:

Here’s a quick book haul post — It’s been a while since I last posted a haul on my blog. I haven’t been buying books lately because I told myself at the start of the year that I’m going to minimize my book buying since I still got a load of TBR piled up in my room. But my grandfather have a friend who is selling some of her son’s used books and guess where that lead me.

My grandfather got all these for only ₱420! Can you believe that? So anyway, I’m still reading Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver and H.C. Chester. Plus, I read some comic books over the weekend:

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Titles:

Source: dustypromises