Posts

Showing posts from May, 2012

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Image
Summary from Goodreads : Revenge  When Eugenides (yoo-JEN-ə-deez), the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered...she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge . ...but  Eugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.  ...at what price?  When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph, and his greatest loss, comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago... I rea

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Image
Summary from Goodreads : a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all. A new friend and I recently discovered that we share the same love of books. And soon enough, we started recommending titles to each other. Since she found out that I loved The Hunger Games (and so did she), she  gladly lent me Divergent, a dystopian novel. I usually look for a believable imaginary world in dystopian novels. One that sucks you in and makes you think that this is real/could actually be real. With Divergent, I didn't quite get that feeling not because it is poorly written but perhaps it's because I found it hard to grasp a world based only on five values. I not am entirely convinced of how such a world will

Want Books: PostSecret Books by Frank Warren

Image
Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted by Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.  I have been considering joining Postcrossing . But I may not have the time to take trips to the postal office so I thought of the next best thing.... POSTSECRET: EXTRAORDINARY CONFESSIONS FROM ORDINARY LIVES Summary from  Goodreads : For the Postsecret project, which was started in October 2004, Warren asked people to write a secret they had never told anyone on a handmade postcard and mail it to him. This compilation is astonishing in its honesty and creativity. MY SECRET: A POSTSECRET BOOK  Summary from Goodreads : From the bestselling author of "PostSecret" comes a collectible, flexibound book offering a fascinating glimpse inside the secret world of teens and college students,

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Image
Summary from Goodreads : The year is 490 AD. Fiery 16-year-old Elaine of Ascolat, the daughter of one of King Arthur's supporters, lives with her father on Arthur's base camp, the sole girl in a militaristic world of men. Elaine's only girl companion is the mysterious Morgan, Arthur's older sister, but Elaine cannot tell Morgan her deepest secret: She is in love with Lancelot, Arthur's second-in-command. However, when yet another girl -- the lovely Gwynivere-- joins their world, Elaine is confronted with startling emotions of jealousy and rivalry. But can her love for Lancelot survive the birth of an empire? Lately, I have been taken to watching the BBC series Merlin and I realized that I have not read a single book pertaining to Arthurian Legend. So when I heard about The Song of The Sparrow from Chachic of Chachic's Book Nook , I thought that it would be an excellent choice to start me off.  The story centers on a girl named Elaine. Having lost

Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs

Image
Image from Goodreads Father Christmas Santa Claus is undoubtedly my favorite Christmas character. And I've seen more than one portrayal of him in movies and television shows. Old St. Nick in a red suit, full of mirth and cheer with his "ho ho ho" signature laugh. But Briggs' took a turn in another direction and gave me a different version of being Santa. Here, being Santa Clause is seen as a job. A "someone's got to do it" type of job. He is grumpy and complains a lot about the snow, the cold, his cat, and the hassle of squeezing into chimneys. He is somewhat less magical than what I have seen him often portrayed. The only magical thing he probably has is his flying sleigh towed by two (not nine) flying reindeer. In fact, he shovels all the gifts into the sleigh himself, using a wheel borrow.There is no huge enchanting toy factory and no whimsical elves. But I am not complaining here. In fact, I adored this Santa Claus. I loved this version eve