Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts

Monday, September 17, 2012

Birthday Month Reading List : Revisiting the Past

My Birthday month is fast approaching. Since I've decided to make my September reading list into a joint month reading list by making it my September-October reading list due to uber-busy-ness this month...I'm planning early for my reading list for my BIRTHDAY month which is on November.

My November-rific reading list will include books which I totally loved.
Nine books. Nine UBER-FAVORITE books for my Birthday month.
A treat to myself. Booyah!
I seriously can't wait for November to come.
My Reading List will serve as some kind of a consolation. LOL. You know, me, getting a year older. Naaah!

PS: One book per author only. Let's be fair, Hafsa, xD

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes #3)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Complete in nine handsome volumes, each with an introduction by a Doyle scholar, a chronology, a selected bibliography, and explanatory notes, the Oxford Sherlock Holmes series offers a definitive collection of the famous detective's adventures. No home library is complete without it.

Comprising the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand, the magazine in which they were first published, this volume won even more popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Holmes is at the height of his powers in many of his most famous cases, including "The Red-Headed League," "The Speckled Band," and "The Blue Carbuncle."


Graffiti Moon
Graffiti Moon

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.



Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
  "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the "most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author's works," and Eudora Welty in the twntieth century described it as "irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be."



The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
The Da Vinci Code
  An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.


Manhunting   
Manhunting
The Night Circus                
Kate Svenson may be a dynamite businesswoman—but after three failed engagements, she’s decided she’s hopeless at romance. What she needs is a Business Plan to help her find Mr. Right. The Cabins resort is ripe with eligible bachelors, all rich and ambitious—just her type. But they’re dropping like flies, and after fishing Kate’s latest reject out of the swimming pool Jake Templeton is convinced that Kate is nothing but trouble. Especially for him. A man who’s sworn off ambition and a woman hanging from the top of the corporate ladder don’t have much in common. But in that unpredictable territory known as the heart, anything can happen 
                                     

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des RĂªves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. 

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. 

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart
                                                                                               
                                                                                    
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
  It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who’s just walked in to his band’s show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City—and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

This he said/she said romance told by YA stars Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is a sexy, funny roller coaster of a story about one date over one very long night, with two teenagers, both recovering from broken hearts, who are just trying to figure out who they want to be—and where the next great band is playing.

Told in alternating chapters, teeming with music references, humor, angst, and endearing side characters, this is a love story you’ll wish were your very own. Working together for the first time, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have combined forces to create a book that is sure to grab readers of all ages and never let them go.

The Book Thief
The Book Thief
  It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.


Flipped
Flipped
  

Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.






PS: Series are not included. And NO Agatha Christie's too. LOL

Photos and Descriptions: Goodreads




Monday, July 23, 2012

30 Days Book Challenge - Day 23

Day 23 - Favorite Romance Novel

I love romance novels. They're my guilty pleasure. So I'd choose three books for this, one per romance sub-genre.

Historical Romance/Classic

Pride and Prejudice

Contemporary/Humorous Romance

Manhunting

Young Adult Romance

Graffiti Moon

I guess I have declared to the world how much I love these novels. No need to further explain myself here. Haha


Saturday, June 30, 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

30 Days Book Challenge - Day 19

Day 19 - Best Thriller/Mystery

MYSTERY:

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My ultimate favorite!

The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels & 56 Short Stories

THRILLER:

The ROBERT LANGDON SERIES by Dan Brown.


Angels and Demons  (Robert Langdon, #1)  The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2) The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)

The MILLENNIUM Trilogy, Stieg Larsson

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)  The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium, #2)  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium, #3)






Sunday, May 27, 2012

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare (The Quote Book 5)


Romeo and Juliet


 After a strong urge to just dump this book and forget that I ever started reading it...I've finally finished it! I was battling with myself  because half of me wants to stop punishing myself by reading it since I don't even understand some of the words, and the other half of me which screams, "that for the LOVE of Shakespeare, please finish the book!" I guess the good angel won, so here I am...saying what I think about Romeo and Juliet, one of the greatest love stories of all time.


To be honest, I was disappointed. Scratch that. VERY disappointed. And at the same time, I was IMPRESSED. Okay, go figure that one. 

Disappointed, because of the plot. Seriously, at 14 years old (if I understood the story right, please, correct me if I'm wrong) Juliet fell madly IN LOVE with Romeo?! (PBB Teens lang ang peg). I mean, Hello?! In our generation, that is called PUPPY LOVE. And here comes Romeo, which fell in love the first time he saw Juliet...considering the fact that during that time..he was currently "in love" with Rosaline. What the heck! Love at first sight?! Even if you felt strongly attached to someone. No. Not plausible for me. Or maybe. I'm just cynical when it comes to these things. Since I have this belief, that teenagers don't fall in love just like that. For me, romantic love develops in a span of years and not in the mere three seconds that you held your eyes together for the first time. Tsk. But, enough of that. Who am I to judge Romeo and Juliet if they really fell in love that fast?! Duh! It's just a story. A fiction. (Affected ako. Bakit?LOL)

IMPRESSED. Yes! Very much. As I've told you earlier, I don't understand half of what the book is saying. It's hard to explain, but even if I don't understand it, I feel what it supposed to mean. I know. It's weird that instead of understanding it, I'm feeling it. But maybe, that made Shakespeare a great writer. 

Quotes (yeah, I found some)

"Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boist'rous, and it pricks like thorn"
"True, I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy; Which is as thin of substance as the air, And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes..."
"...Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night; Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine. That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun..."
Photo credits: Goodreads



Persuasion - Jane Austen (The Quote Book 4)

Persuasion

After reading Wuthering Heights and got a little bit disappointed, I decided to stick with Austen (for now) since I liked Pride and Prejudice. I chose Persuasion because I got curious after reading its plot summary on Goodreads. I wouldn't write a review for this. Just want to share some "passages" from the book.

"No, it was not regret which made Anne's heart beat in spite of herself, and brought the colour into her cheeks when she thought of Captain Wentworth unshackled and free. She had some feelings which she was ashamed to investigate. They were too much like joy, senseless joy!"

"For the first time, since their renewed acquaintance, she felt that she was betraying the least sensibility of the two. She had the advantage of him in the preparation of the last few moments. All the overpowering, blinding, bewildering, first effects of strong surprise were over with her. Still, however, she had enough to feel! It was agitation, pain, pleasure, a something between delight and misery."

"..Yes, I do. Your countenance perfectly informs me that you were in company last night with the person whom you think the most agreeable in the world, the person who interests you at this present time more than all the rest of the world put together."

"I can listen no longer on silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, than his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.  Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.....For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes?...."

"I was six weeks with Edward, (said he,) and saw him happy. I could have no other pleasure. I deserved none. He enquired after you very particularly; asked even if you were personally altered, little suspecting that to my eye you could never alter"

Photo credits: Goodreads

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

30 Days Book Challenge - Day 7

Day 07 - A book's that hard to read

The Idiot

I haven't even finished this one. HaHa. I gave up!
The characters were such drama queens and kings.
Beside, I got bored. LMAO.

Photo credits: goodreads.com

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights

I decided to take on the classics after reading Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I decided on Wuthering Heights after reading its plot summary on Goodreads. Phew, it was a long read. I cannot endure to read the book for a long time since I'm afraid I'd suffer from intellectual indigestion. Maybe the book was too much for my cute little brain. (LOL). Anyways, I hated Catherine Earnshaw...and so Mr. Heathcliff. They were both conceited and selfish. They made hell out of the lives of everyone surrounding them. Another character which I couldn't help but despise was Isabel's (and Heathcliff's) son, Linton. Boy, I never met someone as coward and as selfish as Linton. Good thing there were characters I loved like Catherine Linton (the daughter) and Hareton. I felt really happy that they ended up together. I just felt sorry for Edgar and Isabel Linton for being caught in the middle of Heathcliff and Cathy's emotional dilemmas.

The Quote Book 3

Oooh, and by the way, let me share some of my favorite quotes from the book. (yes, surprisingly I did find some quotes worth posting. HaHa):

"It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."

"You teach me now how cruel you've been-cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears; they'll blight you--they'll damn you. You loved me--then what right you had to leave me? What right -answer me- for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart--you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you - Oh, God! would you like to live with your soul in the grave?"

"May she wake in torment...Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there - not in heaven- not perished-where? Oh! You said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer--I repeat it till my tongue stiffens--Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you-haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderes, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot leave without my soul!"

*See how emotionally exhausting it is?

photo credits: Goodreads.com