book nook: little women

little women
louisa may alcott

i recently worked as an accompanist for a small theatrical production company during the auditions and callbacks for their upcoming production of little women, the musical. after listening to lines being read, songs being sung, and conversations about the characters themselves, i was intrigued.

by the time i got home from the first day of auditions, i had already decided i was going to read the book. someone gave it to me way back as a present, but i never got around to reading it and forgot all about it as it got pushed farther and farther back into the labyrinth that is the back of my closet. (i'm so glad i was able to find it.) actually, the version that i have includes both little women and good wives, the original sequel to little women, making it an even sweeter discovery. :)

the book is set in america with the american civil war serving as its chronological backdrop. centred around a family of four daughters, the book is about the lives of the sisters, their hopes, dreams, and loves. all in all it's a heartwarming book written in a way where it's impossible not to love the characters (or at least most of them) and become submersed in their world for a little while.

full of many heart-tugging moments, and zero trashiness, this book is one that made me laugh, cry, smile, and feel warm and fuzzy inside. i recommend it to those who are interested in reading it, but haven't had the chance to yet.

book nook: tuesdays with morrie

tuesdays with morrie
mitch albom

i've been wanting to read this book for a while now so when i saw it hiding on a shelf at my local library, i snatched it up right away. i'm so glad i found it.

this book is a memoir outlining the journey/relationship between a professor and his former student as the professor's health declines. through the professor's philosophical tidbits and outlook on life despite his failing condition, the student is reminded of what is really important in life and what is truly needed to live.

i appreciate the fact that albom's writing made the heavy content in this book digestible and the fact that he threw in snippets of the past to put things into context. i literally soaked this book up in a couple of hours and couldn't put it down until i was finished. even though the book itself is small and thin, don't let it fool you - there's a lot of depth and wisdom in its pages.

all in all it was great book which i thoroughly enjoyed and definitely recommend. just be sure to have some tissue around.

book nook: in my mother's house

in my mother's house
margaret mcmullan

so in my attempt to get back into reading books other harry potter or artemis fowl, i've decided to write a little blurb on the books i read whenever i finish them and get around to doing so. i'm fully aware that i am no book critic and for all i know everything i write might be complete crap, but at least i try. haha. keep in mind these are my own personal thoughts so read them with a grain of salt if you need or want to. ok, here we go.

this book was actually the first non-harry potter book i've picked up and finished in...well let's just say it's been a long time. :P unfortunately although i didn't dislike it i didn't necessarily like it much either - actually, the only reason why i ended up finishing it at all was because i was determined to see it to the end. while the subject matter was touching and concept of the book was interesting, it didn't really capture or keep my attention long enough to make me want to keep reading.

i personally didn't feel like i really connected with any of the characters which probably made the book seem longer than it actually was. i also found it a little confusing to follow at times since it switched between the perspectives of the mother and the daughter every chapter and there were quite a few jumps in time. then again, maybe i just didn't get it.

i did end up finishing this book in less than a week so the writing itself must have been ok, but that kind of sums up my thoughts on this book: it's an ok read. not great (despite multiple 5-star ratings over at amazon.com), just ok.

accio all things harry

even though the series is over and done with, i can't help but pick up my books and read (and re-read) them again and again. and again. call me a nerd or a dork (or even a dorky nerd), but i just can't help it - i really love harry potter. i love getting lost in the pages of the books and seeing the scenes play out in my head. i especially love j.k. rowling for writing, in my humble opinion, the best book series i have ever read. oh and for being so bookishly cool.

cbc's the passionate eye aired this yesterday, but unfortunately i missed it. *sobs* (i watched bbc's special on jo and she was so fantastic.) lucky for me - and you! - it will be airing again this coming sunday, feb 10th, at 8pm. yay! i'm so there.

sunday. 8pm. cbc. see you at the tv.

hogwarts on the brain...

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

i'm a hufflepuff! i was kinda hoping for gryffindor, but i guess i'd rather be in hufflepuff than in ravenclaw. and well, anything is better than slytherin. haha.

p.s. i absolutely loved the seventh harry potter book! (i finished it the day i bought it, which was also the day it came out.) i think it's actually my favourite of the lot of them. i'm pretty sad the series is over, but at least it was good brilliant while it lasted. :)

potter weekend

from reading the last book to seeing the movie, this past weekend was definitely harry potter weekend for me! to be perfectly honest, i thought the movie was kinda 'meh'. yah there were a lot of cool special effects, but i liked the fifth book better in my imagination. :P

captivating

i just finished reading this book a few days ago and i think it's pretty good. i heard about it from hannah a couple of months back and had wanted to read it earlier but just never actually got around to doing so until recently.

the authors don't use many big words and there's nothing in the book that is too confusing making it an easy read. (actually, the most confusing thing was trying to figure out who was writing what because they both wrote in first person...but i guess that was more annoying than confusing. :P) anyway, although i found some of the ideas presented a little on the idealistic side, there were other ideas that were really solid and got me thinking. they also made up for those other ones. haha.

despite what others have said about this book (i've heard both good and bad things), i generally feel it's a refreshing take on the women's psyche compared to most other christian books on women.

"...but don't take my word for it." - levar burton, reading rainbow

to all you ladies out there (and men if you're interested), if you haven't read the book yet and you get the chance to, give it a read. :)

the da vinci code

yah, so i read another book! i finished this book today after starting it yesterday. two books in the span of less than a week. (*sigh* i know i know, i'm a dork.) i don't remember ever reading this much in years, but i think it's something that i want to get into again. it's so nice curling up with a book after a long and exhausting day/week. :) when i was little i read tons, but as i grew up i slowly drifted away from it. (in fact, i remember getting in trouble a lot for trying to read during dinner at the dinner table. heehee.) fortunately, this summer i was able to reach my goal of reading three books, but really, three books isn't even that much...

sorry, i digress.

so yes. i've finished this book. my thoughts? it was a good book! i wasn't as impressed this time as i was when i finished reading angels and demons, although this books is still pretty impressive in my opinion. it's probably because this was the second time i've read his books so i kind of knew what to expect to a certain extent. in any case, he definitely has his own style of writing and i really like it. :)

there was, however, a plethora of controversial material in this book. at times i could feel my eyes widen, my jaw drop and my eyebrows shoot up so high they were probably three-quarters of the way up my forehead. errr...yah. i was pretty shocked some things at times and really shocked at others. :O

i feel that if you are going to read or have read his books, one thing needs to be made very clear: even though brown might use some historical facts and what not in his books, that doesn't change the fact that his books are fiction, and should be read as fictitious novels. they are good novels, but they are fictitious novels.

anyway, check this out if you're interested. it just solidifies the fact that 'the da vinci code' is indeed, fiction. (and if you're REALLY interested, there's a whole ton of stuff on the internet that you can easily find with mr. google.) :)

p.s. i promise my next entry won't be on another book. haha. :P

angels and demons

i just finished reading this, and oh me oh my it's a good one. i started reading it yesterday night and finished it this afternoon. :)

my thoughts on the book? i really liked it! i was even prepared to skip my intro to clinical psych class this morning in order to keep on reading, but don't worry. last minute i decided to go and i ended up not skipping. instead, i listened to my teacher talk about two treatments that are used with clients that have post traumatic stress disorder. lucky me.

anyway, i'm really impressed by the amount of knowledge dan brown must possess in order to write a book like this. it was so jam-packed with loads of information on art history, scientific facts, religious facts, symbology, the Vatican City...etc., but presented in a way that was really captivating and engaging. not boring at all! i literally did not put the book down unless i really had to. the storyline was also really great in my opinion. oh the twists. it was like reading a prison break! (only not, because the book is nothing like prison break...) but i was definitely surprised to see the story play itself out the way it did.

all in all, it's good read and very well written, not to mention some of the stuff that dan brown brings up is actually pretty deep and insightful, although it was a non-fiction book. :P in any case, if you haven't read it yet, read it. i definitely recommend it. :)

harry potter and the half-blood prince

so, i started reading this two days ago and i finished it yesterday morning around 2am. i seriously read this book whenever i could - just ask liz. whenever i went away and was really quiet it was because i was reading harry potter. bah hah.

but really, that J.K. Rowling has an incredible imagination. so impressive. totally sucks me in and i seriously can't stop reading until the pages run out. i probably would have read the whole book straight if i could have. and whatever. i know i'm twenty-one. i don't care. i like harry potter. no. i LOVE HARRY POTTER. :P

the book itself was (in my opinion) very well-written. it didn't seem so drawn out in some parts like in the fourth and fifth books when i thought some portions of the book were too long, so that was a plus. i did, however, think the ending was a little abrupt...like one minute you're reading and really into the book, and then you turn the page and it's like the publisher information or whatever the crap it is that's on the very very last page of the book. i read somewhere that the seventh book is supposed to be somewhat like a continuation of the sixth book though, so maybe that's why...? i hate it when they make you wait. like in tv shows when the screen goes black and all you see are the words, "to be continued..." aghhhhh. that's the worst. i want to read the seventh book now. :P

but anyway, like levar burton (haha what happened to that guy?) said back in the day when he was on that old tv show (that apparently still exists...?!) reading rainbow, "don't take my word for it".

read it. i totally recommend it. :)