Lending Light ｡ﾟ(ﾟ^o^ﾟ)ﾟ｡ Yay! Yay!!!

Can a person be any happier (*´∇｀*) ???? I've got my hands on Lending Light, the fifth book in Gives Light series by Rose Christo, and in Rafael's POV no less (〃▽〃)

Just watched Catching Fire with my family. I've forgotten most of the plot and its characters, but as I watched, it gradually came back. Well, quite violent, but what do you expect, and I did enjoyed the film. My mother and little sister were quite quite into it, too. I guess, to them the theme was quite fresh ;D

Enough with the whinning already!!!

Today I'd been trying so damn hard to wade through Unbreak My Heart to the end before giving up. Sadly, it was an attempt to no avail 'cause I only managed to finish more than half of the book. Man! What is this trend of moaning and moaning about grief or how miserable their life had been or how unfair life was pages after pages without reprieve in fiction these days? There was this other book which was even worse when the hero did nothing other than pouring out his sad, sad life with his mother and family to basically strangers in the defense of being used to those therapies where you are left with no privacy at all for your life. It's as if the guy was begging for attention and pity. Eww! I don't care if the book was highly rated or not, but with such a no back-bone hero, I could not get on with the story; I ended up dropping it. Ah, I remember, it's Saugatuck Summer. That's the name of the book I was describing above. 
To be fair, Unbreak My Heart isn't too bad, so I may revisit it to finish the mission. I guess I'm just tired of all those grieving things and no plot progress. The guy, Brett, kept asking the other guy, JT, to wait 'cause he couldn't handle any love interest at the moment. Brett moped all the time. And JT, seriously guy, if you don't have to guts to love, then don't. JT needed a guarantee that Brett must reciprocate his interest before he decided to go for it. What the...??? So if Brett was still in his mourning phase and wasn't able to snap out of it, you would simply leave him alone there to face his devil? What a dedicated lover you are, JT! Besides, they'd known each other for, I suppose, more than a month or so. And JT remarked that the wait had been long. Well, I probably might have got the time wrong, but it wouldn't be over three months of their acquaintances, and I say it's still damn short to know someone, let alone falling in love with another person who'd lost someone dear to his heart. 
Anyway, Unbreak My Heart isn't repulsive to me. It's just sort of tiresome, at least for me at the moment. Besides, I've noticed myself reading mostly books abstinent of sex these days. I might not have much interest in erotic fiction which had almost zero substance, but I'm not exactly looking for clean romance or something. Nay, vows of chastity ain't for me *wink*. LOL :)) 

Just Between Us...5 Stars for YOU...

Reading Just Between Us now. A pretty good book. I think I've grown fond of J.H. Trumble's writing. But this is one angsty book. It deals with the heavy HIV issues. I'm still in the middle of it, so I have no idea how it's going to end. I hope everything will turn out well enough, because when it concerns HIV, there's guaranteed to be no HEA. Just face it! Even the most unrealistic novel can not cure that disease. Or at least, for now. I sure hope some genius researchers will one day find out treatments to cure HIV, Cancers and Diabetes... for good. I hate it when those terminal diseases are looming over our lives. Yeah, yeah, I know what you want to lecture me. We have to be grateful for what we have. But should I be grateful for those deadly diseases unwelcomely forced upon us? We never asked for it. I'm just a little human. I can't understand divine machination on fates. I'm just blind to it and, to be honest, I have no desire to know it, either. 
Sh**! I think I'm gradually becoming an angry person. 
Okay! Let's get past this undesirable topic I happened to be raging on and go back to where we were discussing. Trumble's stories seem to end on a compromising note. It's what happened in Where You Are. If you've read that book, you'll know what I meant.

Courting Morrow Little is a FAILED attempt...

Finished Courting Morrow Little today. Such a strange name! Anyway, I gave it four stars. Alright enough, but not so good. The book is full of contradictions. Morrow Little was said to be oblivious to her beauty, but the way she acted, I'm not so sure she wasn't aware. One moment she was fearing Major McKie, an unpleasant military man; not so long later, I found her dreaming of the man. Oh, and she fell in love with the Indian man, Red Shirt, whom she'd hated for a good 8 years or so very quickly, too. Then she knew in her heart that she loved him; yet she told her father she wanted to marry another man, Robbie Clay, a settler. Poor Robbie. He asked her to marry him, not forced her to do that. But she acted as though he held a knife against her Pa's throat and threatened her into marriage. Shortly later, because of Morrow, Robbie was forced to enlist and sent straight to the front attack, hence he died immediately since the guy was a farmer, not a soldier. Well, at least that got Morrow to mourn for him for a few brief moments (which lasted for about one or two sentences.) I swear she was relieved beyond measure. A few days after her marriage with Red Shirt, also after her Pa's funeral, Morrow was thinking non-stop about bedroom activities with Red Shirt. I guess it's ok if it's just that; but the problem is it was constantly emphasizing on her innocence over such matters, and yet I found her just short of begging Red Shirt to take her right there and then. What part of it is innocent??? Hmm, the more I think about it, the less favorable it seemed to me. Perhaps I'll change it to three stars. (Edit. I did change the rating to three stars. Sorry, four stars is too good for you.)
It's such a pity to give a book low rating when you obviously was intrigued by the plot, loved the setting and liked some of the characters such as Morrow's Pa, Red Shirt, Joe and Good Robe...But the thing is I hated the heroine, Morrow Little. Laura Frantz wanted to create an epitome of goodness, innocence, strength and beauty out of Morrow, but in my opinion, it failed miserably. She tried to pack too much contradicting qualities in one person and the failed attempt backfired. Otherwise, it would have been an excellent read.

Another day...

I'm planning on tutoring English for junior high students. I guess I can teach senior high students, too, but I'm not sure I can deal with their attitudes these days. Working on book translations alone doesn't seem to give me a stable income. Damn those forever critical editors! You guys are so gonna get wrinkles all over your foreheads if the only thing you'll ever know is to haughtily stick your nose up in the air and look down at us with those condescending eyes of yours. What? If the translation is exactly accurate to the extend of word-by-word, then you'd say the writing isn't flowing enough. If the translation is flowing and literary, then you'd accuse me of free translation beyond what the original was meant. OMG! Isn't that so mean of you, sir and madam ? May I remind you that Vietnamese and English are not the same, and in some ways, very different? I can't stick too close to the original text without changes and achieve the flowing effect you so desire. I tried my best to reach middle ground; apparently, no matter what I did would never satisfy your only-god-know standards. Could it be you are a perfectionist? Well, guess I'm not versed enough in translating skills then to please you perfectionists.

A few days ago, I finished the first two books in the Gives Light series by Rose Christo. They were amazing works, and to be honest, quite chaste. Sometimes, I found myself hoping for something more heated. Yet, all Sky and Rafael ever did were chaste kisses. All in all, the story was wonderful and insightful. It gave me more understanding about the Indians' tradition, lifestyle, and difficulties dealing with the State Government's harsh treatment. Come to think of it, I've always had a thing for stories with Native American rather than those stupid cowboys with only muscles and no brains. 

Gives Light is a triology, but if you've known me by now, you'll realize I'm an ever-changing person. I get bored easily, and that's exactly what happened. It had nothing to do with the book. It's just me growing restless and wanted to jump to another story with different background, different characters, different situations. 

Anyway, last night and this morning, I tried out Chulito by Charles Rice-González. Ohhhhh, it was such a disaster. It was so terrible that I couldn't tolerate it for another word, let alone another page. No way! I have no idea why all those reviewers went on and on about how "CUTE" the story was. Anyone??? Not me for sure! I saw nothing CUTE about it. Just annoying characters, nonsense ramblings, shallow plot... Man! Just remembering it is enough to give me shudders. Ewww! No, thank you very much!

"C" ---- I HATE YOU

I don't know if I should continue with Acclamation series, or even Acclamation itself. I struggled through this book so hard, and it's not because the book was bad or anything. It's because it dealt with cancers and losing loved ones that unsettled me so much. These days I refuse to read or to watch anything that has to do with "cancers". I hate this "C" word so much.
Acclamation was a good story even if the writing was a bit too high-leveled for me that I was overwhelmed sometimes and had to stop frequently to revise what I'd just read for better understanding. My problem with it was the reality of losing your loved ones.
My life right now is quite a mess. I'm constantly in fear that such a fate is shadowing us, and one day it would make its official appearance, then everything would crash down. I've been trying to hide myself in books as much as possible. I'm afraid if I'm sober, if my mind is not drown in stories, stories of other people's life, IT would just be right there, in front of my eyes. I'm afraid. I'm so afraid.
Acclamation isn't my sedative. In fact, it dragged me right out of my own hole. It pushed me right into the drama I've been so scared to face.
Acclamation was such a personal book. I felt quite uncomfortable to be so intimate to the narrator's mind. It felt like I was living right in his head. Every single thought of his, be it innocent or dirty or pain or joy, was revealed to me.
Part of me doesn't want to continue it. Part of me is drawn into it.
I just wish when I get to the part where the "C" word finally came to an end, I would not smash my kindle against the wall or floor into pieces.
My heart is straining. I hope my mind would just go numb so I can't feel anything, or worry about anything. Life is such a fucker...I have no idea what I'm talking anymore. I'm such a HYPOCRITE.
Sorry, this post probably is so very disturbing to you. I know I could just set it to private, but I feel like I need to let it out, like I need someone to know about it, like it really was there and not just my imagination.

One of my most PERFECT and all-time FAVOURITE books, The Price of Falling.

Reading Acclamation by Vee Hoffman. Have nothing to say about it yet. Not against it nor very positive about it either. 

I've just done re-reading The Price of Falling by Melanie Tushmore. Once again, I'm so glad I picked the book up before. Its rating on goodreads was around 3.8 and wasn't know by many, which usually was not the sort of books I would pick . Many reviewers didn't like it. I have no idea as to why. I LOVE this book. I ADORE this book. No matter how many times I'm gonna re-read it in the future, my opinions about it would stay the same. 
Many reviewers didn't like Jason; they said Jason was the lowliest sort of human beings. I agree that Jason was a very weak person: he was depraved; he gave in to drugs and whoring; his attitudes were horrible; his treatment towards our hero, Mike, was vile, and so on. But I like him. Jason was unique. Screw kick-ass heroes! They're all cliché! Jason was SPECIAL. That's why Mike loved him. Mike was Jason's redemption. Mike was Jason's life-saving rope. Mike was Jason's second chances. Mike buoyed Jason up on the surface in the middle of a vast black sea. Mike was Jason's everything. Somehow, I thought The Price of Falling was actually more about Jason than it was about Mike, even though it was told in Mike's narrating voice and through Mike's life. I saw Jason through Mike's eyes. I understood Jason through Mike's love for him. Mike and Jason were PERFECT regardless of what other reviewers' opinions. I love this book. I love Mike and Jason with all my heart. And I assure you, it says a lot for me to use the word "perfect" for books I've read. I may be an easy book-rater, but I'm a very picky reader and not many books could succeed in doing the job of pleasing me completely. This book did it. Everything has a price, worth it or not is up to you. In my case, picking this book was one of the best move I've ever done.

Hey, do you know that Pancakes actually have a wide range of varieties. I'm so hooked in looking up and discovering different types of pancakes on google these days. I'm gonna try out each of those recipes. :P

Hold Still is so disturbing and unhealthy. Realistic in an unrealistic way (if you get what I mean.)

My head is pounding *bum bum bum...* right now. I need a painkiller pill.
 *Hands up* I surrendered. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force myself to read another word of Hold Still by Nina LaCour. It is such a disturbing book. I know LaCour was aiming for reality, but then I couldn't help but felt it was too unhealthy to read.
The story's main purpose was to be realistic. But then, all through the first half of the book, I found myself snorting derisively at its unreality all the time. The book's casts were all beautiful and cool and superman talented. The girl commited suicide was described like a goddess who was not only amazingly talented in art and photography, but also gorgeous; except her unstable mental state with a disturbing inclination to self-inflict on her own person. Well, I guess, LaCour wanted to point out that in beauty there is ugliness present; things are not always as it seems, bla bla bla...
I'm so sorry if you are LaCour's fan and happened to stumble upon this post; but seriously, I can't stomach this book. After all, I haven't finished Hold Still, so I guess I do not have the right to judge it; as, perhaps, what's important is at its end. Still, I guess I chose the wrong book to humor me. I should never have chosen a book with suicidal theme. 
Oh, and you know what, I couldn't seem to find another person with normal life in this book. Every walking person in there seemed to be enveloped in grief and drama. Seriously, I don't know about anything else, but LaCour has done a wonderful job in giving me a picture of dooms and grief ahead for a future. Yeah, yeah, I know, redemption is in the second half of the book, but admit it, can you really bear to sit all day to read all the dark and gloomy things unfolding before your eyes and still got nowhere that is less depressing. Then you have to spend another day to suffer through it until you get to the part where the protagonist realized the light was still there in her life and she has to get over it and move on, and so on. 
It's tiredsome, this book. I suffered so much that I decided to release myself.
I want to re-read again. I swear this is my re-reading year; very few new books shall be added to my read list this year, I'm sure.     

Edit. Big news! I've found a new interesting series, "The Ghost and The Goth". Some reviewers marked it as being shallow. As for me, after spending time on books after books which were actually worse than being shallow, I stopped being afraid of experiencing them. Even highly rated books couldn't do it for me, why not try out the other books as well. Don't think it will make much of a difference. Wasting my time or not, I guess I can only count on my luck to find my favourite books.

"Good thing. Hate to be the only one afflicted.”

“Her hands cupped his face, thumbs caressing his cheekbones. "I love you, Mr. Bennett."

"Good thing. Hate to be the only one afflicted.”

― Ellen O'Connell, Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold 

Cord's succinct speech which unnerved me all the time turned out to be his charm.

Listening to He is We - All About Us ft. Owl City (anyone tell me which is the title and which is the artist name. It's confusing.)

 

Sigh~ My mind is ELSEWHERE. Where are you???? Come Back!!!

Hmm, I'm sorry to say I've abandoned Flame of Sevenwaters. No! No! Don't get me wrong! It's not because of the book, I hadn't even started it; It's just me being all difficult. I swear, I'm tired of myself too. I picked up "Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold" in its stead and at 15% now. So far the story is rather good, but quite bloody and violent. Can't say I was not surprised. This book has been on my to-be-read list for a long time. The problem is I still can't be sure of how the protagonists felt about each other. There were hints of secret admiration, but then I felt like admiration was all there was; like it lacked certain strength to convince me of their feelings. Or perhaps it was because my mind had been elsewhere and not too focused into the story *sigh*. I've noticed I always sigh whenever I blog. I guess it has become a habit.

JUST A FEW MOMENTS FOR THE NEWS BELOW PLEASE:
There've been alarming warnings that there might be another large-scaled uprising happening on the day before President Ho Chi Minh's birthday 19/05, which means 18/05. Yes, you get it, it's tomorrow. If you are a Vietnamese by-passing my blog and saw this post, please share this news to others and encourage them not to participate in any such illegal operations, emphasize that organizations that are currently active on facebook like Việt Tân are terrorist organizations in disguise. They do not care for anything other than their own evil purposes. They're manipulating the minds of the reckless. Please do not fall into their vices and become their minions-in-crime (I say minions-in-crime and not partners-in-crime because we all know they do not care about you either. They simply USE you.) If you love Vietnam, please leave things on the hands of the government, police and armed forces who know what they're doing and doing legally. Let us PRAY FOR VIETNAM.

Not-really-a-review review for Septimus Heap's Flyte from 19/8/2011

The day I picked up Magyk, I fell in love hopelessly with it.

Like an devoted admirer, I follwed its path unconditionally towards Flyte.

As a person who was trapped in the web of the sweetest spiderweb, I surrendered all my wills to be swallowed by it and was drunk in the beauty of magic.

Becoming one with Flyte, I experienced all the feelings invoked from a ride on a roller-coaster: nerves raking, heart palpilating, shock, fear, then fascination and finally, absolute elation.

In my drugged state, my lips stretching wide; my eyes streaming from the spice of wittiness; my body shaking with laughter; my head was light and filled with only magical battles and escapades.

Through Jenna's eyes, I became the prettiest princess armed with intelligence and compassion. I was brilliant at horse-ridding and immensely courageous. In a deadly cold night, I was the picture of a solitary figure ridding on horseback, breathlessly trying to escape from the clutch of an evil adopted brother despite the hindrances brought by giant worms lurching in darkness prying for unwary preys.

Through Septimus's eyes, I was the seventh son of the seventh son, the most powerful wizard gifted with unlimited potential. I was favored by the goddess of magic, wrapped in the skin of a handsome eleven-year-old boy. I was close friends with the boy, Bettle, who worked in the manuscriptorium where all spells and charms were to be found, and Wolf Boy, who had been forced into the same loathsome young army as me and who had developed excellent senses since his living in the forest where he had been nursed and nurtured by wolverines. You may not believe me, but there was more in me than met the eyes, I was an apprentice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Maricia Overstrand who had a queer taste for purple python shoes and kept bunches of them in storage, just in case of emergency, should she need another pairs. You don't want to step in the wrong shoe with her; my Master was very PARTICULAR about shoes, hence, was universally feared by most people and creatures, not for no good reasons. And now, she was followed by a creepy and unknown shadow. It grew more and more visible, and I could sense its power growing, too. There must be something I and Jenna could do to dispel this frightful and ghastly thing from the tower of wizards. Regardless of her constant denials, I knew Marcia was certainly affected by this. She didn't even believe in me that Jenna had been kidnapped. Besides, there was more troubles at hands: DomDaniel's skeleton was loose and that bothersome of a brother was free to waltz his way to here and there to kidnap princesses as he pleased. Most aggravating was the fact that Simon happened to have acquired a very powerful charm, the FLYTE, and it was at his mercy to employ to wreak havocs.

I can't tell you enough how much I was in love with it. My review didn't do justice to Angie Sage's unique talent to make us laugh and stomach churn with excitement at the same time.

My favourite charm in Flyte was the Chocolate Charm:

Take me, shake me, and I will make thee:

Quetzalcoatl's Tchocolatl.

Note: Review from 19/8/2011. Wow! It actually took me 10 days to complete the second book. I remember it was a thick book and I was leisurely savoring it. How deja vu!

Not-really-a-review review for Septimus Heap's Magyk from 9/8/2011

Oh, my Septimus Heap's Magyk,

Never knew you were destined to be the light of my doomed life. Had I known, I would have dropped all things in my life, and made a light-speed leap to your embrace. Curse me with your MAGYK, if you must; for, I let you stew on my bookshelf for almost two whole weeks. It was the worst crime I've ever commited *cross fingers*. What a fool I was for misjudging you. Who was I to judge and criticise you when I only knew the very first layer of your extraordinarily thick outfits behind your jacket? You have such a treasure that is worth the universe of delight. You are the very world of all enchantments, of raptures and joie de vivre. You drove me to the state of euphoria for days.

Lulled into sleep, I heard you sing the most beautiful song of fairytales with the voice of a syren; I had an estatic dream overflowed with adventurous darings and impossibilities: there were dragons, countless mythical creatures, magyk, wizards, necromancers, witches, princesses, the seventh son of the seventh sons, haunting wraiths and many more. But the most important thing is, you gave me heaps of fun. Thinking about you, even in the sultriest day, I feel enveloped by a cloud of fresh and cool air; in a sombre day, I'm bathed in your sunlight of hope. You are my sunshine, my jewel. And you deserve to receive more praises than criticism. Not that you were flawless, you know, you started kind of weak and wasn't very intense, tut tut, which was the reason that gave me the idea of stewing you forevermore; however, you grew up, and oh yes, so well and beautifully. Thanks goodness, I was snapped out of my daze and saw what a wonder you truly was.

All in all, you are an excellent, magical book. I love you so very much. I love all your queer but quaint inhabitants. I love all the impossibly, ridiculously, funny events that happened in your story. You beautify my day into such a grand piece of art and I love every moment I lived in you. Thank you. Thanks so much.

Yours,

Faithful-Fan.

Note: My review from 9/8/2011 which did not seem to resemble a review at all. Kind of embarrassing to read such a childish review, but then it was sort of cute and fun too, so WHY NOT? ^_^

Dropped! Again!

*sigh* I've decided to drop The Education of Sebastian. It was too shallow to have any real plots. Everything was just blurring background for sex and lust and desires. Then I remembered the Redhead series, and tried to have a look at its reviews. Good move! It was again another erotica. Exactly the same theme. Not my cup of tea at the moment. I want something slow and deep and touching. I decided to try the sixth book in the Sevenwaters series by Juliet Marillier, Flame of Sevenwaters. I read the first three Sevenwaters books a very long time ago. I no longer remember the characters and what happened in them.
Come to think of it, I started my journey in book reading with fantasy genre; I don't know why but eventually I drifted apart from this genre, and most of the books I read these days are contemporary/ realistic romance. I guess it has something to do with aging. I hope it's not a sign that I've grown too old for fantasy dreams. After all, one cannot lose hope and dreams. *contemplating*

I felt very dreadful today too; my stomach felt like it was stuffed with leads. Everywhere was news of riots and wars. Why has it come to this?

Picked an erotica by accidence.

Oh no! I picked the wrong genre. You know what, in fiction, I always love the forbidden, and romance between a younger man and an older woman seems to fit that bill. Today I was reminiscent of On the Islands by Tracey Garvis Graves and all of the sudden I wanted to read something of the same theme. Then I went to Goodreads and had a look at books listed on the Older Women/ Younger Guys list and chose "The education of..." series.
The story was sweet and humorous. But my problem was the pace was way way too fast that it seemed like instant love which I do not like, what's more, they were already having sex at 13%. This plus the detailed sex scenes had me realize that I've chosen an erotic fiction. Usually I try to steer clear of erotica since most of its content was just sex, well, creative sex (just to be fair). From time to time when I just want some easy books without the need to contemplate too much, I would choose this genre. But today wasn't one of those days and I wanted a non-erotic fiction with a slow-paced development. *Tsk* whatever. I've chosen it and read it to 15% already. May as well finish it up. I have to confess, I've dropped too many books to my liking. They would have been added to my "read list", had I completed reading them all to the end. Need to practice on patience.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I wonder if I should move all of my old reviews from my old blog which I had used many years ago to here. It's sort of tiresome to go back and forth between the two blogs using two google accounts. -_-

Blogging again.

I'll take up blogging again. I'll start tomorrow as there's not much anything to talk about today. I'm now looking up and down my bookshelf trying to decide which book I've collected so far to read. This year seems to be my re-reading year. I'm afraid I won't be able to complete my 2014 goodreads challenge *sigh*.
You know what, I'm learning to BAKE.

WE'RE SORRY!!!

Today was such a stressful day. Everywhere I surfed online reported riots in Vietnam and how Vietnamese treated Chinese citizens and Chinese/ Taiwanese companies in Vietnam. I felt so ASHAMED. I'm a Vietnamese. I'm upset about China's provocations and bold claims on the South Sea and Hoang Sa - Truong Sa islands, but I would not do such a thing. These people thought they were doing our nation a favour, but in fact what they have accomplished were making Vietnam lose face. They caused the world to look at us differently and in negative ways. I don't want other nations to lose trust in Vietnam, in Vietnamese.
Those mercenaries who called themselves patriotic Vietnamese are killing our nation. Their actions affect Vietnam's law and order, national economy...they affect many things.
I know saying this doesn't help anything, after all I am just a tiny soul in a vast ocean of people, but please please do understand that THOSE MERCENARIES DO NOT REPRESENT VIETNAMESE. They destroyed properties and hurt people out of their selfish grudges, evil purposes and sickly twisted minds. A lot of us feel so ashamed for their foolish actions and apologizing towards those who have been hurt regardless of your nations. We, the true Vietnamese, DEEPLY APOLOGIZE TO YOU. The government, police forces and armed forces are in action to suppress riots and doing their best to prevent the same disaster from happening again. PLEASE DO NOT LOSE TRUST IN US.