The Return of the Young Prince

It’s been a while since I’ve written something about the books I’ve read and this year i’ve read plenty. I’m trying to finish The Return of the Young Prince tonight because the first time i tried to read it, I decided I need to purchase a soft teal erasable highlighter first because there’s just so much to take note of. That was to no avail so I bought an original Stabilo Boss pastel teal highlighter instead. The subjects are far to heavy for this to be classified as a children’s book. As I remember it was where the sales woman from Fully Booked picked it up from. (Thank you Ana! I already got my Fully Booked discount card) Going back, this isn’t a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry making it a remake sequel of some sort and it looks like the little prince have moved on in his life abandoning his flower and suffered a terrible divorce and betrayal by a friend , trying to find love again and suffering some midlife and existential crisis in a shape of a teen. Also, this book is not for the agnostic, its God is not universal, well there was one mention of Buddha. This book is filled with big words that are so hard to digest all at once. I guess I bought a highlighter just so I can look back to those inspiring words in a snap unlike The Little Prince that I read once a year. (Oh please someone get me the pop up book for my birthday) I feel so bittersweet about this book, nevertheless it teaches a lot about love, kindness, forgiveness and happiness.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

This novel is intricately written and well thought of. It is a well-played parallelism of two worlds that slightly overlapped (spoiler). It is lengthy but at the end you’d realize the purpose of each chapter and how genuine the chronology was made to create a build up for the mystery. Each character was given a back story that provided more depth. It is also helped that it’s a translation from the author’s native language, I think for some reason, translated books are easier to read. I am not sure if my words are worthy for a review but at the same time I would not miss a chance to shed a light to this highly acclaimed book. This has been my third post-war book this year and it just feels good to see the world in a different time from different places like Munich, Poland and now I’ve reached the streets of Barcelona.

You don’t know what life is until you undress a woman the first time. -Fermin

Women want the opposite of what they think or say they want, which, when you consider it, is not bad, because men, as is more than evident, respond, contrariwise, to the dictates of their genital and digestive organs. Freud/Fermin

Someone once said that the moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you already stopped loving that person forever – Carax
Coincidences are the scars of fate. There are no coincidence, we are puppets of our subconscious desire.  – Carax

The Fault in Our Stars

What can you expect from movie adaptation of a book you’ve already read? It’s not like the plot would change.. I guess, while reading I pledged to watch the film to see Amsterdam and validate the pictures I imagined in my head. It was beautiful. Watching this movie was more of a personal experience. It brought me back to the time when I was reading it and according to goodreads, I finished it last December 19, 2012. I remember pausing to highlight those lines, post them on twitter/tumblr or wipe my tears. I consider myself fortunate to watch it from a different light now. It is a good reminder that everything good comes to an end. There’s a fault in my star.

Pain demands to be felt

“preemptive dumping”

its the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong when he had Cassius note “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you”

“self-actualization”

It’s hard as hell to hold on to your dignity when the risen sun is too bright in your losing eyes

Without pain, we couldn’t know joy

Grief does not change you Hazel, it reveals you

You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you.

 

>>>>>OST

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

    This book was an impulse buy. They said don’t judge the book by its cover but the keywords “mixes fiction with photography” and “from the author of Sherlock Holmes Handbook” killed it so I think it was like buying a novel and an art piece in one. I’ve read the prologue in a dim lit closing shopping mall it was a fun read at first. It was about a corporate slave gamer turned detective after the death of his wicked grandfather but the story progressed in to a Potter-like plot where an teenage boy who sucked at being a homosapien became “The Chosen One” to save the day in the peculiar spirit world . The photos were nice indeed, I’ve included some snaps below. I am not yet so sure if I will pursue the second and third book =).

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I’ve decided to read this book because one review said it was life changing. I could not vouch to that but it did brought me to 1939 Germany. I finished the book last Feb but I think I would never forget the words saukerl, saumensch and arskolsch! It was a long read but quite a page turner. The movie helped put pictures in my head but it was altered in a way a 500 page book could fit in a two hour film. Five stars to heartbreaking story about love, trust and friendship.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

image from goodreads

Sputnik Sweetheart is a magical love triangle and the-one-that-got-away story. It also kept me laughing even if its not suposed to be funny. Informative. Relatable. Elusive. Platonish (if that’s even a word #HIMYM).

Full review with spoilers: 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Every Revolution/Rebellion Begins with a Spark. Okay, Catching Fire is about rebellion. Period.

In other news, there’s an angle on the story where Katniss is somewhat a two timer. So Twilight-ish! but yeah she’s in a tight situation here. She can either pretend to be in love with Peeta who thinks the feelings were real or stay with Gale, be condemned and die. Fixed marriages, owing your freedom to someone or to the society… if this happens to you in real life, die.. just die.

 

Spoiler Alert!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

I am not a big fan of Neil Gaiman, I’ve only read a few short stories and half of Neverwhere so technically this is the first Gaiman book I finished. The plot don’t have much depth but well written, It can possibly summarized in a sentence or two. But still, its a good reminder that even if you are little, there will be people (or monsters) who would want to hurt you. At these times, you should be brave for there will be a friend who is willing to sacrifice everything to protect you.

Favorite Quotes:

“Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.”

“Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are things people are scared of. Some of them are things that look like things people used to be scared of a long time ago. Sometimes monsters are things people should be scared of, but aren’t.”

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”