Books to read

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone A wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

It is not so much that The Life of Pi, is particularly moving (although it is). It isn’t even so much that it is written with language that is both delicate and sturdy all at once (which it is, as well). And it’s certainly not that Yann Martel’s vision filled passages are so precise that you begin to feel the salt water on your skin (even though they are). It is that, like Bohjalian and Byatt and all of the great Houdini’s of the literary world, in the last few moments of your journey – after you’ve felt the emotions, endured the moments of heartache, yearned for the resolution of the characters’ struggle – that you realize the book is not what you thought it was. The story transforms, instantly, and forever.And in those last few chapters, you suddenly realize that the moral has changed as well.You feel Martel’s words lingering, suggesting, and you find yourself wondering whether you are his atheist who takes the deathbed leap of faith – hoping for white light and love? Or the agnostic who , in trying to stay true to his reasonable self, explains the mysteries of life and death in only scientific terms, lacking imagination to the end, and, essentially, missing the better story?There is no use in trying to provide a brief synopsis for this ravishing tale of a young boy from India left adrift in the Pacific in a lifeboat with a tiger who used to reside in his father’s zoo in Pondicherry. There is no use because once you finish the book you might decide that this was not, indeed, what the book was about at all. There is no use because, depending on your philosophical bent, the book will mean something very different to your best friend than it will to you. There is no use because it is nearly impossible to describe what makes this book so grand.Read this book. Not because it is an exceptional piece of literary talent. It is, of course. But there are many good authors and many good books. While uncommon, they are not endangered. Read this book because in recent memory - aside from Jose Saramago’s arresting Blindness – there have been no stories which make such grand statements with such few elements. As Pi says in his story “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn’t be more simple, nor the stakes higher.” It is the same with Martel’s undulating fable of a book about a boy in a boat with a tiger. A simple story with potentially life altering consequences for it’s readers. As Martel writes, "The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?" Like Schroedinger's cat in the box, the way this book is understood, the way it is perceived affects what it is. There has been some talk that this book will make it’s readers believe in god. I think it’s a question of perspective. To behold this gem of a novel as an adventure of man against the elements (the “dry, yeastless factuality” of what actually happened) is certainly one way to go about it. But to understand this piece to be something indescribable, something godlike, is by far the greater leap of faith.Oh, but worth the leap, if the reader is like that atheist, willing to see the better story.

Who is the real Margo?Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...

The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five richly diverse fairy tales, each with its own magical character, that will variously bring delight, laughter and the thrill of mortal peril.Additional notes for each story penned by Professor Albus Dumbledore will be enjoyed by Muggles and wizards alike, as the Professor muses on the morals illuminated by the tales, and reveals snippets of information about life at Hogwarts.A uniquely magical volume, with illustrations by the author, J. K. Rowling, that will be treasured for years to come.

Messenger is the masterful third novel in the Giver Quartet, which began with the dystopian bestseller The Giver, now a major motion picture. Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Village once welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must risk everything to make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

"Sa wakas, andito na at naka-imprenta ang mga tula ng pinaka-astig na spoken word artist ng Pinas sa kasalukuyan. Astig hindi dahil sya ang pinaka-sikat, kundi dahil sa pagiging tula ng kayang mga tula. Bagaman sinasabi na magkaibang form ang spoken poetry at ang tula na nakalimbag sa papel, nananatiling tula ang mga tula ni Juan Miguel Severo binibigkas man ito o binabasa.Ibinalik ni Severo ang lugod ng tula sa puso ng mga kabataang nawalan na ng oras sa panulaan dahil sa pagkaabala sa maraming bagal. Naging bata akong muli pagkatapos basahin si Severo. Umibig akong muli hindi lamabg sa pag-ibig kundi sa kapasidad ng tula na gisingin ang ating mga damdamin na matagal nang pinamanhid ng paulit-ulit na pagkabigo."-- Jerry B. GracioKomisyoner, Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino2015 Southest Asia (SEAWrite) Awardee

I hardly know where to begin bashing this book. Do I start with the 9-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister, who read about 6 and 8, respectively? The imperial measurements (miles, feet) despite the German setting? The German boy, raised in Berlin, who thinks that Der Führer is "The Fury" and Auschwitz is "Out-With," despite being corrected several times and seeing it written down? The other English-language idioms and mis-hearings, despite our being told that he speaks only German? And that he believes that "Heil Hitler!" is a fancy word for hello, because he understands neither "Heil" nor "Hitler"?So maybe these are fussy issues, and I shouldn't trash the book on these minor linguistic flaws. Instead, I can start with the plot holes big enough to drive a truck through: that Bruno, whose father is a high-ranking official in "The Fury"'s regime, doesn't know what a Jew is, or that he's living next door to a concentration camp. Or that the people wearing the "striped pajamas" are being killed, and THAT's why they don't get up after the soldiers stand close to them and there are sounds "like gunshots." Or that there's a section of fence that is (a) unpatrolled and (b) can be lifted from the ground high enough to pass food and, eventually, a small boy through, AND that nobody would try to get OUT through this hole. Or that Bruno's friend Shmuel, a frail 9-year-old boy, would survive over a year in a Nazi camp. Or even the author's refusal to ever use the word "Auschwitz," in an effort to "make this book about any camp, to add a universality to Bruno's experience."That last is from an interview with the author that appears at the end of the audio version. I can't speak to most of what he said, because it was a lot of "here are all the places that are hyping my book," but the worst part of it, to me, was where he was addressing criticisms: "there are people who complain that Bruno is too innocent, too naive, and they are trivializing the message of this book." Um, no. I'm not trivializing the message; I'm objecting to his trivializing of the Holocaust. I find his treatment of the Holocaust to be superficial, misleading, and even offensive.As an audio recording, I'm pretty neutral. The narrator did the best he could with the material and there was some differentiation between the characters' voices, but the music that was added... some chapters ended with appropriately-somber music. Other chapters had no music at all. Sometimes the music appeared in the middle of a chapter. Two other incidental notes: first, normally you can't say anything negative about a Holocaust-themed book without being an asshole, because the books are so tied in with the Holocaust itself. In this case, though, I feel like, due to the fictionalizing of it, the book is far enough removed from Auschwitz that it's okay to be negative about the book without being insensitive about the Holocaust. Second, this doesn't land on my "run away! Save yourself!" shelf, because that's more for books that are comically bad--books that I can bash with glee and mock with abandon. I can't find anything funny about what makes this book so bad; it's just plain offensive and shallow.

How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of whom we are?That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all.

Mula sa kasumpa-sumpang kahirapan at kalunos-lunos na kaignorantehan sa mundong kanyang kinagisnan, namulat si Marie sa tunay na mukha ng matamis at mapapakasakit na pag-ibig.Ngunit makakayanan niya ba ang mga hamon ng bukas?Ano ang kanyang magiging kapalaran?Huwag na huwag palalampasin ang mga tagpo ngayong gabi sa telesineryenobela na kumpleto sa mga pang-aapi, paghihiganti, impostor, amnesia, kasal at diary!

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they’re great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And then the journey of the pants — and the most memorable summer of their lives — begins.

"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day...or wondering who did the heart breaking and wondering why."Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

This book is my 158th read book for this year but just the second time that I am giving a 1-star rating. As much as possible, I don't give this rating because there are always somethings to like in a book. Just imagine the hours the writer put in writing the book and prior to its release, he or she must have said a lot of prayers asking God to make readers buy and read it.But I also have to be honest to myself, right? I think Bautista should still be thankful that I bought and read her book. Anyway, this is my second by her. Last year, I read and liked her 2nd novel, Dekada '70 (3 stars), so this month, August, being the Month of our National Language, I picked up this book hoping that this was as good as Dekada. After all, Dekada won the Palanca (our equivalent of Pulitzer) in 1983 and this book, Bata, Bata won the following year, 1984. So, I said to myself: wow, two years in a row, this book must be really, really good.But I got disappointed. Reasons:1. Too feminine. I always believe that books, like human beings, have gender. This book is written by a woman only for women. It is too alienating for us men. Lualhati seems to have this itch to rally all women by her campaign slogan It's not a man's world! What you (men) can do, we can do, too! Oh well, who says that this is still a man's world. Hello? Wake up, little Suzie. It's the 21st century and you can already exercise your right of suffrage, both father and mother are now working and they fight when they don't agree, many woman have children without marrying, society no longer look down on them and yes women can do almost all the jobs that we men do and nobody gets surprised anymore. In short, this book is outdated. It's passe.Take note that I did not say feminist. I have no problem with feminist books or anything that defends equal rights for women. I said too-feminine and that made the book extremely alienating.2. Rehash of Dekada. So many similarities between her 2nd book to this 3rd book. Not only about her outdated slogan but also about the missing child, the protagonist desire to work and her right to think of herself. It was as if I was still listening to Amanda Bartolome (the protagonist in Dekada) instead of Lea Bustamante (the protagonist here in Bata, Bata. Same banana, only the name has changed.3. Lea is a sex-maniac. Oh, dear Lord. Stay away from Lea Bustamante. She is married. Since she doesn't want to stop working when her husband gets assigned to another place, she calls it quits even if they already have a son. When her husband leaves, she gets herself another man and now they also have a child, a daughter. Then when both of her men have their own new wives, she asks her co-worker to have sex with her and it is for her sexual urge to be satisfied.I mean, oh dear Lord. In my 48 years of existence on earth, I have not met any woman like Lea Bustamante. She is just out of her mind. Sleeping around like a whore and having children in the process. At the very least, hello, have you not heard of safe sex, Miss Bustamante?I understand if my GR Filipino friends who are ladies or those who want to be ladies like this book very much but oh please, not for me.

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

basis, n.There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.If the moment doesn't pass, that's it―you're done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it's even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover's face.How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

Bakit namamalo si Miss Uyehara?May mga notebook bang lumilipad?Bakit masakit sa ulo ang Mafhemafics?Ano ang sikreto sa pagkakaibigan nila Pepe at Tagpi?Bakit may mga taong nakapikit sa litrato?Masarap ba ang Africhado?Sino si Tigang?Bakit may mga classroom na kulang ang upuan?Masama bang mag-isip nang malalim habang naglalakad?Saan ang Ganges River sa Pilipinas?Bakit may mga umaakyat ng overpass pero hindi tumatawid?Sino ang webmaster ng bobongpinoy sa Internet?No calculators.No dictionaries.No erasures.No cheating.Oops, time's up!Pass your papers.

I was rereading this book for the #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy and I think that reading it the second time made me love it even more. Back then it felt like one of those tragic love stories we all read but now it made me sympathize with the characters. Or it probably had to do with me experiencing heartbreak first. Ha! Truly experience is the best teacher, and with that I was able to be sentimental with the book.\ \ Me quota ang pag- ibig. Sa bawat limang umiibig, isa lang ang magiging maligaya. Ang iba, iibig sa di sila iniibig. O iibig nang di natututo. O iibig sa wala. O di iibig kailanman.\ \ [Love has a quota. For every five person who loves, only one will be truly happy. The rest will love the person who don't love them, will love without learning, will love no one, or will never love at all.]In this book we follow five stories, each of them portraying the many faces of love. That Love is not all happy endings, it can be stupid, greedy and cruel and it can also ruin a person and a family but what I admire about this book is each character's realization of love. Setting love aside, this book also deals with national issues like politics, poverty and double standards. Ricky Lee was able to touch these issues and use them in the background giving it more color, making it much deeper than just a love story. The characters are well developed in such little amount of pages and each story has a great arc intertwined to achieve a greater ending. It's like reading a book within a book and I love how reading it made me feel like watching a movie.I would totally recommend this to every Filipino, this will give you all the feels.I've included some of my Favorite quotes and tried my best translating them but somehow it doesn't convey the same emotion.[*sigh*] Or I'm just no good at all ... LOL^^ my bad! I'm open for inputs though.**Naku Ang hirap pala ng trabaho ng book translator mga besh ha! Sumakit ang ulo ko pramis, d na yata ako uulit**\ \ Na-realize niya na dahil ang nararamdaman niya ay hindi kayang ilagay sa mga salita, mas totoo ito, at mas totoo siya\ \ [Her feelings can't be put to words because She realized that this is more real, and that he's more than real.]\ \ Dahil totoo ang sabi nila, ang great love mo ay hindi mo makakatuluyan. Ang makakatuluyan mo ay ang correct love.\ \ [It's true what they say, that you won't end up with your great love instead it has to be the accepted kind of love (correct love)] ***I find this hard to translate*** huhuhu\ \ Gusto niyang isiping wala na siyang nararamdaman para dito, na nakalimutan na niya ito, pero mas matinding makaalala ang puso kaysa utak.\ \ [She liked to think that she had forgotten him along with her feelings but the heart is fiercer to remember than the mind.]\ \ “Pantay-pantay ang ibinibigay na karapatan sa lahat ng tao upang lumigaya o masaktan o magpakagago pero kapag sumara na ang mga pinto, nawasak na ang mga puso at ang bilang ay umabot na sa zero, goodbye na.”\ \ [Everyone is given their fair share of happiness, to be hurt and fuck up, but when the doors shut, hearts are shattered and the number reached zero then it's goodbye.]