The Graveyard Book: Book Review

I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and The Graveyard Book consecutively. Even though The Graveyard Book has the Newberry Medal, the British Carnegie Medal and the Hugo award under its belt, I actually enjoyed The Ocean At The End Of The Lane more. It was more exciting and more of a page turner rather than Graveyard.

Needless to say, I still enjoyed The Graveyard Book; it has it's own morbid charm that would have you cheering for Bod, (short for Nobody), the boy who lived in the Graveyard. After his family is murdered by the man Jack. 

I was admittedly drawn to Gaiman's morbid/macabre premise of a little boy (A baby at that!) who lives in the graveyard and is raised by its ghostly residents. Complete with lessons from ancient teachers teaching some pretty outdated but still useful curriculum. 

In a sense the story reminds me of Harry Potter who becomes the only survivor after his family is murdered by Lord Voldermort and just like Tom Riddle, the man Jack doesn't leave a job unfinished. 

Gaiman has admitted that the book was inspired from another famous orphan-Mowgly from the Jungle Book. When I was reading through the book, I thought that each chapter was like an episode in a TV series where Bot has his adventures, like meeting the different residents in the graveyard, after all it's not only ghosts who stay in graveyards. 

Bot even goes to regular school for a time and let's face it- in school there are worse things than ghosts. 

The eight chapters are like short stories on their own and are set two years apart, so we see Bod grow up before our eyes as we read through the pages, which Gaiman has said follows the same format as Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. 

Aside from Mr. & Mrs Owens who becomes Bod's ghost foster parents, Bod is also looked after by the Graveyard caretaker Silas, who is suggested to be a vampire but not really confirmed which was a source of frustration for me since at one part, you're thinking: "He doesn't...so does that mean..?" So you're racking your brain for clues and hints but don't get any confirmation in the end. 

Years after Bod escapes as a baby, the man Jack and the other Jacks of the secret group The Jacks of all Trades have finally cornered him and it's up to Bod to use all of his knowledge of the Graveyard to truly escape their clutches. 

I loved the illustration that was in the book, the pages were creatively drawn and designed and made for more pleasant reading. It's good to know that there's actually a movie adaptation in the works for the movie. Early rumors had it to be a stop motion animation but let's see what happens since a director was just confirmed (after some hiccups) this year. 

Reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Graveyard Book is a great book which young teenages and adults will surely enjoy. Gaiman's genius and story telling cannot be denied, reading through the book will have your imagination working over time and isn't that what reading is all about? 

Bag of Bones Book Review

I make it a point to have a Currently Reading Book; it really helps with my writing. The words come easier and I get inspired to improve on my writing and come up with new techniques.  

But since I don't have the budget to splurge on brand new books the smell of which brings such joy to me I have to make do with old, really old books which are sold by vendors who come to the office every payday, all the more to tempt you with, my dear and sell old Stephen King, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon books at P150.00 a pop. 

So even if that brand new book smell (which I love so much) is replaced by moldy, wet paper, old book smell (which I choke on, every time I open the book and get it too near my nose) I still get to have a new book to read so I'm happy and content. 

My latest old book find (which I got around my birthday) is Stephen King's Bag of Bones and well, let's just say that I haven't been this scared by a book in a long time, so much so that I would refuse to go down in the early morning to get a glass of water, even if I'm already parched. 

I loved that the novel featured a writer/novelist as the main character. As I got a glimpse of what it's like in the life of a novelist, being chased by editors, publicists, being pressured to continue to write books and appear on TV interviews and what not. It's like  I was able to get an idea how it is to be a successful novelist, so that was a refreshing new protagonist, only someone as gutsy as Stephen King would try something like that. :) 

This ghost story of epic proportions begins with the sudden death of novelist Michael Noonan's wife, Jo. Mike is devastated, his grief is overwhelming but aside from his mourning; Mike has to get over the fact that his wife was pregnant and that she kept the pregnancy from him. Which is strange considering that he and his wife have been trying to conceive a child for a long time, they even have a name picked out already, Kia if the baby was a girl. 

Now if Jo was keeping that secret what else could she have been hiding? 

All these questions plague Mike and even follow him in his dreams, their lake house, Sarah Laughs. These vivid dreams turn into nightmares and Mike is haunted not only by the nightmares but the inability to write as well. 

So apparently there's a movie version of Bag of Bones with Pierce Brosnan playing Mike Noonan, have to put that on my to-watch-list.  

Crippled with writer's block and haunted by ghosts and spirits unknown, in a desperate attempt at peace, Mike heads out to the lake house in question. 

In this seemingly peaceful town, you know the type where everyone knows everyone, Mike meets a young widow and her young daughter and from this chance meeting (or is it?) Mike is thrown in a web of mystery, violence and horror (one he will never, ever imagine) and one too horrible to even be a plot in his books. 

Without giving anything away Bag of Bones works up a good climax (even if the first part of the story, the mourning part, took a bit long). You get caught up in the story and characters and like classic Stephen King, everything goes down at a big event and it will literally leave you with your jaw open. 

This horror story comes in full circle and will have you scarred in the end at how cruel human nature can be and how far hatred can go, beyond years, beyond generations and even beyond death.      

Going YESSS, YAMAN with my 4 Pre-Loved Items!!

If you knew me, you'd probably be wondering why I have a copy of Katy Perry's PRISM album, we'll actually there's a funny story to that. We were actually asked to cover the PRISM album launch last year. Blog post on that here and during the launch you can actually win a brand new LG phone if you get a copy of the album along with other COVER GIRL goodies. (I didn't win the raffle though T_T) 

So that's actually the reason why I'm selling the album now. 

After all I've already synced it on my iTunes. Okay so there were a a couple of nice tracks in it. So while that's already done, the CD is just sitting with my other CDs. 

I want to support music as much as I can and that means buying CDs whenever the budget allows it. But now that I really don't get to listen to the album I guess it would be smart of me to sell it. :p 

I'm a big bookworm and I try to make it a point to always have a currently reading book and that means buying books too. :) I always believe that books are good investment since they help me become a better writer and they of course keep me entertained. 

I like collecting books also but I remember a number of my books getting wet and destroyed during Ondoy and ever since then I've always thought of selling them after I've read them. So that's why I'm also selling these pre-loved books. 

The Mortal instruments: The City of Bones 

Divergent 

Carrie 

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane: Book Review

When I read the summary of the book from it's back cover (as I was doing some book 'window' shopping) and I honestly did not know what to expect from the story. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I was thrown into a thrilling adventure of a mysterious world existing within our own.

The story begins with a mundane middle aged man as he makes his way through his childhood home. There is nothing special about this man, he is just like any other adult, dealing with the same problems and concerns that we all do; like "marriage (failed a decade ago, a relationship that had slowly frayed until eventually, as they always seem to, it broke), dating (I wasn't; I was not even sure that I could, not yet), children (all grown up, they have their own lives), work (doing fine, thank you)." 

But beneath this seemingly ordinary man lies a great adventure that chills me to the bone just thinking about it. The unnamed narrator visits a farmhouse he used to visit when he was a child, it is in this farmhouse where he met a young girl Lettie, her mother and grandmother. He goes to the pond at the back of the farmhouse and memories of a forgotten adventure start coming back to him. 

I just love the tattered and ripped details that the pages of the book had. 

It all starts when an opal miner (that rents a room) in the then young boy's home (he is seven years old at this time) commits suicide in his father's car after gambling away all his friends' money. Because of this suicide, a being from another world makes its way into our and starts giving money to people -it's not as fun as it sounds especially when you wake up choking on a coin. 

Our seven-year old protagonist then seeks out the help of Lettie Hempstock (the girl he met in the farm) and her mother and grandmother. 

Lettie takes the boy with her to bind the spirit that is causing all the trouble, Lettie (who appears to be eleven years old) instructs the boy to never let go of her hand. When they confront the 'being'/'spirit' the boy lets go of Lettie's hand for a moment-in surprise and this is when he feels a pain in his foot. 

After vanquishing the spirit, the boy goes home and discovers that there is a hole in the sole of his foot where a worm has lodged itself in. He is able to remove the worm but a part is left inside him. 

The next day, his mother introduces him to Ursula Monkton who is going to look after him and his sister. While the whole family adores Ursula, the narrator of the story doesn't and this is because Ursula is actually the worm that was in his foot and is the same 'spirit' that he and Lettie supposedly bound. Ursula was able to make her way to this world through the boy. 

Book Review: Under the Dome + A Sneak Peek On The TV Series!

I know I said I haven't been writing as much book reviews as I would like so I'm making a point to start getting back to writing book reviews. I've already finished a bunch of books but instead of stopping to write reviews I would move on to the next book. So while I've already finished reading most of these books, some I've already read months back I can still recall my thoughts and opinions on each book. :) 

First up on the to-write-book review list is Stephen King's Under The Dome - I guess I want to start by saying that there are some books that I read when I have nothing to do, like before going to sleep or when I'm waiting in line but there are some books that I really make time to finish, the kind of books that once you are hooked on you sit on bed, with the television off, the computer off and you just find yourself going through page after page until you've already read about 200+ pages without even noticing the time and Under the Dome is one of those books. 

I clearly remember nights where I would be sitting on bed furiously reading through the book, being totally engrossed by it. 

Well before I go into my thoughts on the book let me tell you first how we first met. :)  

When I got a gift certificate for Fully Booked from my Ninang Joy for my birthday I immediately thought about what titles to buy. I originally intended to buy one of the Young Adult titles on my to-read list but when I got to Fully Booked I saw this really really thick book (think 3 encyclopedias) by Stephen King entitled Under The Dome. 

I've already mentioned in my blog posts that Paul and I are big Stephen King fans , we've read his books, watched movies based on these books and even bought the Kingdom Hospital (TV Series) DVD Box Set - King was a producer on this series (although that was dissapointment since it wasn't as good as we'd hoped).     

I picked up (with much effort) - the 1,074 page book and I knew I was going home with it.  

Just like other of Stephen King's books, Under The Dome takes place in a small sleepy town (in Maine) and where unsuspecting evil works up in a big dramatic climax that leaves a town with (SPOILERS) a record breaking death toll (even higher than Carrie).

But unknown to most people even before 'The Dome' (an invisible force field) descends on Chester's Mill cutting it off from the rest of the world, there is already much evil and corruption brewing in their supposedly sleepy town. 

Now a reluctant hero in the form of former Iraq soldier turned-short order cook Barbie (yes, his name is Barbie) along with his rag-tag team of some of the town's constituents take on a force none of them could ever fathom. 

While reading 'Under The Dome' I found myself remembering another of Stephen King's books - 'Needful Things' I thought of the latter because of the huge cast of characters that Stephen King has but he is able to orchestrate through them like a seasoned maestro, he knows each section, each character and he is able to have them play all together and come up with the perfect harmony and music.  

Stephen King is such a master story teller that he can even tell a chapter through a dog's perspective but it would still read like a masterpiece. He jumps from character to character and is able to narrate a beautiful story without having to sound like a diary. 

I really admire how unforgiving and gutsy Stephen King is when it comes to the demise and fates of his characters. I think he and George R.R. Martin are now infamous with how they kill off their characters - there is no rest for the wicked and let's just say that the death toll in Under The Dome is unrivaled, the shock factor is always there and will have you gasping and shaking your head at every turn of a page.   

One thing that did bother me about Under The Dome (SPOILERS) would be the actual origin of The Dome - leather heads and aliens are really not my cup of tea, they sort of remind me of Ancient Aliens on History. Aside form this the book is a big page turner and I also love the lessons that come with it - yes it's not all about conspiracy, corruption, blood and gore there are actually subtle lessons within the text of the novel such as environmental, religious and the human dynamics of kindness and cruelty.  

 I loved reading Under the Dome so much going through the 1,074 page novel was a breeze. 

Even if I'm already finished with the book I'm still exited - why? Because there is a TV Series out right now based on the book! :) 

Stephen King is a producer of the series and it has already been renewed for a next season. It premiered last June on CBS. 

Now Reading: Stephen King: Under the Dome

Taking a break from zombies, Shadowhunters mundanes, vampires, werewolves and YA Dystopia novels. Currently reading Stephen King's Under The Dome. 

Seven words: "The best yet from the best ever" -Lee Child 

Oh and there's a TV series too! Yiheeeeeeee!!! :) 

Shot with Canon 500d, Canon 18-55mm, 3,5-5.6, Canon 430 EX II (triggered wirelessly) in a light box.