Just Me

I few weeks ago I told you I lost my bio binder. Well, I didn't. Or rather, I found it. I can't remember how (omg, what is wrong with my brain these days?) and yeah... and today... well, guess what? I forgot my spanish finder in my Art class. At least I DO remember where I left it so it's kind of an improvement.

Right? (to think that the I have a test in spanish on Monday... but we're not gonna go there.)

So the thing is: I seriously visited three bookstores this weekend and bought a total of more than well, 20 books! I have absolutely no idea why, I just... bought them! Apparently if my room were bigger than my nostril, I wouldn't have been a problem. Well, it is. So my room right now is flooded with boxes and boxes of books! and I don't even know when in God's name I'm going to finish reading them all.

Given I have tests and quizzes coming up next week AND I have 3 chapters of Bio to read! Plus the fact that I'm off to college in less than 6 months! I wonder if they have a large enough room for me to put all my book? Please let that room be bigger than 3 food strides (that's the size of my room by the way) and please please please don't let my roommate be a drunkard or one who has a crazy appetite for sex and drugs or anything like that! Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

So back to the problem, too many books, too little space but that's no problem. I can always make use of my closet.

The main problem is that I ALSO bought some more books online. Books that are older than myself even! So they're in pretty bad condition. Apparently they smell.

I'm currently reading a rather old romance book (published in 1995, I think. Not that old to some people but compare to the fact that I've only witness life for 19 of years. It IS old)

The next post will be about one of the old books that I bought online. It's called Virgin Star by Jennifer Horsman.

Summary:

Captain Sean Seanessy returns home after braving the fury of nature and the treachery of men to discover a beautiful woman lying abandoned and unconscious on his doorstep.

I really think the cover is cute. 4.5/5 if I might rate it. I didn't give it the last 0.5 b/c while knowing that this book was published when I was 4 years old, I thought they could have done something more with the edges instead of putting a plain pink background. It made everything flat and 2D. I think it would be so much more beautiful of they could just large the flowers to fill the space instead.

Before I review this book, let me tell you straight up that I did not finish this book, and I'm not planning to in the near future either. I know I've mentioned sometimes in the past that I love reading romance where the heroin is a virgin. Well, this heroine is every bit a virgin and totally innocent. In fact, she is so innocent that it annoys me. How could she not understands that kisses make her heart faster and her pulse accelerated? Can a 21 year old woman be that innocent, or should I say dumb? Seriously? Common!

The hero is not well built either. I know nothing from his past throughout 2/3 of the book. I mean, NOTHING. I don't even know his mom's or dad's name or what they did or whether they're alive for not. I don't even know his age for crying out loud. Overall, I supposed he's the cool, mysterious, never show emotions to even the most danger situation kind of hero but really, he didn't portray that. He seems to me like a blunt, lay back person who cares nothing about the girl.

This is when I come to hate the heroine. There is a scene in the book where the hero is taking her to the place where he is supposed to meet other men to discuss about some plan and she's coming with him because she's obsessed about the fact that someone is trying to kill her and she doesn't want to be anywhere without him. Seriously, if she's a strong, free spirited person like the book "tries" to portray her, then she should just freaking stay at home instead of begging to go with him to the meeting place because he told her the meeting might end with a gun showdown. And get this, she doesn't care about his safety, she only cares about her safety so any sane person would have keep their butt home right?

No.

she begs and begs him to let her go, dressed as a man! What he heck? And while they're on the way there, some of the hero's mistresses come and flirt with him. He comes and kiss one of them in the mouth! right in front of the girl and all she does is getting jealous and wanting him to kiss her again. If she's an innocent virgin, shouldn't she feel hurt that the man who kissed her with that same lips is kissing other girl? She doesn't even care! and the hero is rubbing in her face that he only kisses his "aquantances" whom he had bedded or planning to. And understand that I did not include the fact that they were discussing lewd things right in front of the girl's face. She. does. NOT. even. care.

What kind of an innocent virgin is that?

I know this is a really long review but I have to, have to get it out. I'm so frustrated. The author keeps throwing in engthy information and background description of character who appeared in only one or two scenes of the book. Like the guy at the antique store. All his contribution to the plot is that he happens to have the girl's piece of jewel and the hero's men want it. The author spent THREE pages on that guy's life and his relationship with his wife and what nots. I mean, seriously, WHO CARES? I kept getting sidetracked by all that information and the author keeps throwing in more characters along the way that it's really hard to keep track of the all the names.

The plot is summed up in one long and rather boring letter at the beginning of the book...

With all that was said, I'm pretty sure that you know I won't be recommending this book to anyone. Yeah, anyone. Besides, it's not like you can go to a bookstore and grab it. I had to hunt this book down and bought it online since they stopped publishing it while back.

The reason I bought this was that the reviews at amazon rate this book as 5 or 4 stars. Well, maybe it's just me who couldn't get my head in the book. Maybe I like a more short sweet and to the point books so that's why I have such a hard time with this book. So if you're a fan of slow paced and detailed description background and such this book is for you.

I can't seem to give short titles. Most of my blog tittles are like, at least 4, 5 words long. I guess I can't just get to the point, I suppose.
Anyway... just feel like making a post although I have no idea what I'm going to say. ..

Oh yeah.

I lost my bio folder. It's one of my AP classes and I lost the whole folder. My teacher is sooo going to kill me... Argh!

I have several things to say but I don't feel like saying anymore... depressed. Y_Y

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.

I came across this a while back on facebook but am too lazy to post until now.
Here's my favorite version of Asian Grading System.

A= Average
B= Bad
C= Crap
D= Death
F= Freak (now, this I made up. For the real one it's a bad word - I'm sure we're all on the same page now)

And oh, my teacher once asked me "what about A+"? and so I replied him that A+, according to this system, is "above average" and because where I live there is no such thing as that, the most ANYONE can have is an "AVERAGE GRADE" and he proceeded to smirk, which was as miraculous as snowing in August (and I hope he's not reading this).

Of course we all know that Asian countries don't have LETTER GRADING SYSTEM as in A, B, C and such. Well... for a while they did. I'm not sure now but before I came here, elementary schools still use that system but it varies by TEACHER. Some gave A+ others didn't. Some accepted F others thought D- was the lowest grade. It was pretty messed up and so I hope they got rid of now. Or unified the system to the very least. Seriously, it's not that hard people!

I actually liked the ten point scale system. Which, for me at least, 9-10 is an A 8-7 is B and 6-5 C... and so on. Although I couldn't quite make out how a 5 would equate to a D- with my system since anything below 5 is considered an F, but I can careless since I'm not a very bad student myself to get those F often. Thank the lord.

But to be fair, I have to admit that the American grading system creates a HUGE advantage to students. Seriously, it's very hard to fail a class with such a wide range for letter grades. Don't get me wrong, I have to work my butt off to get good grades but really, it's not IMPOSSBLE!
so I REALLY REALLY think that anyone who live in America should be thankful. AMERICA IS AN IDEAL COUNTRY! No, really, it is! that's why I want to bitch-slap anyone who blames their teachers about how he/she doesn't know how to teach and blah blah like that. I know that not every teacher's way to teaching is easy to understand. My physics teacher lectured for 45 min and nobody in my class understand jack about what he's saying until we read the workbook.

But seriously, if you DO want to pass the class and have enough determination, YOU WILL! (I'm not sure you'll pass with a good grade, that depends on you but you will pass) Gosh, I wish my classmates are here. Better yet, I hope I could tie them all down and lecture them until their ears bleed! Those ignorant things!

Well...

How did I end up yapping about other people's business? Really, it seems like I can NEVER have a bloody post w/o digression, doesn't it? So I'm going to zip my mouth now before go to great length about another useless thing, which I'm sure I would. I'm about to do it now, see?

PS. Eating BROCCOLI with KETCHUP seems like a fine idea but trust me, it does not taste good at all, especially when the Broccoli is bloody bitter for whatever reason. Same principle applies to Celery. NASTY STUFF.

That is all. I hope.

THE MAZE RUNNER by JAMES DASHNER
Summary:

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

Well, for me the cover is... okay. I'm very picky about cover, I know! But seriously, when I first glanced at it, I thought those green... things in the background are bamboo trees. For some reason the cover reminds me of a Japanese move called the Ghost System, probably because of the greenness...but I have to say the uniform color in the background does make the title POPS, which is a good thing. I was just hoping the walls (yeah, those bamboo things are walls though they're not exactly how they're described in the books but I'm not going to tell you how :p) are done a little more realistic, you know, maybe add more shadows to bring out the perspective or at least more tints of greens... but I digressed.

The book itself is a great read. I love how James ends a chapter with a sentence or two that lead you to the next chapter. It makes me curious and shock several times. If I have to choose one favorite line from the entire book, it'd be "my name is thomas. That's... all I remember." It's so gorgeous. I don't know why but the sentence just leaps out and grabs my attention and yells "you've got to read me!"
The whole book is about Thomas trying to get out of the maze with a bunch of kids. But there is a twist. A BIG FAT twist that I never saw coming. And Oh, **spoiler*** I always wonder why all the kids have weird names like Zart, Alby (actually alby's not a weird name but oh well), and Newt... but then I found out that they're named after famous people like Mozart, Albert Einstein, and Newton! Isn't that cute? ***end of spoiler*** There's a little bit a romance in the book as well as humor. I love when Thomas makes jokes they're freaking funny although to the character himself, they're lame.

I love word in the book except the fact that... it's repetitive sometimes. The things that Thomas said and thought are sometimes repetitive. More than one occasion I find that information I thought was obvious is supposed to be a shock or a secret. Especially at the near end when Thomas explains about the whole purpose of the Maze. I read 2 lengthy paragraphs of the information that had already been told in the first half or so of the book but everyone in the book was shocked to hear it. I guess it's because this book is pretty obvious. There needn't a lot of explanation in the end from Thomas if you pay enough attention. I'd figure out half of the secret when I'm 2/3 done with the book.

So in the end, I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes Ender's Game, the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and any similar sci fi novels. And oh, have I mentioned that there are several bloody scenes that I, although loved violent and torturing movies, have to blink? It's that awesome!


And oh, if you haven't, FREAKING CHECK OUT THE TRAILER! IT'S GORGEOUS AND FREAKING DISTURBING! LOVE IT! BEST TRAILER I'VE SEEN SO FAR! LOVE THE PART WHEN ALBY SAID "WELCOME TO THE GLADE!" LOVE HIS VOICE!

So I've been snowed in for a week now and therefore do not have time to read a lot of books. What? You think it's ironic? Certainly not. I have a bunch of reading in my txtbook to catch up with (which I certaintly not where I'm supposed to be. English puts me to sleep.) But I did read several books and not all of them are very good.

First one I read (or is it the second? Can't remember? time has no meaning when I stay home, you see.) was THE SERPENT PRINCE by Elizabeth Hoy!









Incredibly vivid lead characters, earthy writing and an intense love story buoy the third entry in Hoyt's Georgian-set romance series (following The Leopard Prince), which kicks off with Lucy Craddock-Hayes's page-one discovery of Viscount Simon Iddesleigh in a ditch near her home, naked and beaten almost to death. Though her blustery father fears for Lucy's virtue, they take the battered man in, and the insightful, beautiful Lucy is soon as drawn to the handsome, witty gentleman as he is to her. But Simon's mission, to avenge the death of his brother, pulls him in two opposing directions: his soul-deep need for revenge and his desire to protect Lucy. The exquisite romance, flawed slightly by a dearth of historical details, is touched by Hoyt's mesmerizing storytelling; in a less talented writer, the love story could easily have been overwhelmed by the revenge subplot, but Hoyt skillfully uses Lucy and Simon's internal and external conflicts—including the threats against their lives—to enhance her love story.

First of all, I gotta say that the cover is off. WAYY off. It reflects nothing from the book. Apparently, the book mentions nothing about the huge pendant the girl is holding. Trust me, I read the books three times in a row so I KNOW. Of course there are other versions of the cover but none of them really captures the FEEL of the book. I think they just take a pretty picture and slap it on the book as a cover which is totally unacceptable since it's such a good book.

For the book. I'd recommend EVERYONE who's 18+ (apprently b/c it's romance). I love love love the main characters. Very well built, especially Lucy, the female character. I've read quite a few romance but none of them reflects such a strongwill... No. Not that but Lucy reflects inner strength just through her words and her eyes. She doesn't have to speak loudly, to argue or to shed a tear to make everyone SEE reasons. I've never seen such unique character before. It's... hard to explain. You just gotta read the book to know what I'm talking about. Simon is haunted by his past and seeking revenge for his dead brother but he redeems himself from meeting Lucy. I have to see that this is the first( yes, this book gives me a lot of firsts) time I see a hero falls head over heel for the heroine but still "refrains" himself from touching her. I remember a scene when he keeps staying away from her so much that she thought he doesn't want her anymore. Then he told her that if he touches her just ONCE he'd lose himself and take her. He can't even bring himself to kiss her goodbye and ends up cursing himself for it. I don't know why but I think it's very cute.

So in the end, this book is VERY good. I usually find several details in books that could have been improved, this book has none. It's beautifully written, a fine piece of work, indeed.