Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I just realized how indifferent I am in writing when I got to read the journal that I have written back when I was in high school, it was so funny, full of erroneous grammar and wrong spelling! And my teacher never corrected those errors, I guessed she never read those or even care to tell me that my grammar sucks. All along I thought I am good, little did I know I just make it right when I read it because I was able to correct my grammar verbally and articulate words accurately. In later years my writing skills improved a little only because I read and I try to internalize those things that I get from those books.

In rating a book, I always look at the good points never at the bad points, and if I did, it means the book really sucks. In looking at the good points, I only consider two factors, I first look at how does it affects me, does the story affects how I looked in life at a different perspective, does the story has something I learned that I can use in real life situation, or does the characters attitude really reflects on how the reality looks like? These mean a lot to me in rationalizing my rate to certain books because I read to learn and I always expect something from it that I can use out of the four corners of the book. Second is how light is it to read, does it requires me use my intellectual capacity to understand the story, does it need to be scrutinized and analyzed before I could get its significant points, or does it requires me to temporarily change my perspective to fully understand the story. These factors affect my intellectual capacity to grasp the significance of reading a book because I am not intellectually capable of understanding all areas of literature, I certainly like to read light books that requires only what I am capable of in understanding what I am reading in.

Reading this book of Sara Gruen is similar in reading a journal, a journal from an old man who had a lot from his experiences and that he really made such a heck of adventure out of his love interest. It was of course taking risk, risk between life and death more to say. The book is a first-person narration that the main character had it himself. This is a good book for me, I have rated it five stars because I was able to see the abrupt changes in the life of the main character and how he had to face all those afflictions to survive and be able to get what life really wants him to have. It was clear that he had gone enough hardship and deserves some credit even just before he die.

In here, I learned that life is indeed a roller coaster, it may sounds cliché, but you can never tell how it will be gone in the future, though you have planned everything that will happen, you can never tell if the fate moves and interferes in your plans. The main character was settled down due to his parents social level, he idolized his father very much and he planned to go with the same path as he is, but just in one accident everything was gone. But though how hard it was to accept things that change the main character’s life, God has always his ways to make things better.

This is a good read!

random thoughts

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it's Penny Lane and A thousand Years, both from a very different singers but has something in common, images!

Let me first talk about Penny Lane. The first time I hear about it, it was a poem. I have read it several times before I could get the meaning and the real images that the poem and/or the song had emitted to his reader and listener. Penny Lane talks about people who had been living their lives with money, Penny Lane is every where according the song, it's in my ear and it's in my eyes. If your going through with it thoroughly you can see the upbeat demeanor of the writer, like in the first part of the song it was showed what you will find in Penny Lane. Barber showing photographs and a banker with a motor car, you will see that both of these men are being busied by their own thing but they never notice what's really happening in the lane. Upbeat attitude of the writer due to the non-existent pessimistic nature in the song, am not trying to discriminate people who is superficial, but if you will be listening to the song without deeply understanding it you will never notice it was really talking about people living with money.
Another thing that had captured my attention in song was the,

"In Penny Lane there is a Fireman with an hourglass
and in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen,
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
Its a clean machine"

I believe that this was talking about the world and us in a short lived, like it is only a matter of time when everything will turn into ashes. Hence, the man keep his engine as clean as it can be and the hourglass tells us time is running fast.

"A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway"

I got this idea from a professor in ADMU, he was the speaker of the seminar I had attended last week, he says that the pretty nurse is selling poppies, but these poppies was in fact has a double meaning, its ambiguous, poppies signifies flowers as well as drugs. It contradict each other but both of these two can be sold, so this nurse is selling from any of the two. Furthermore, when it was in the play, it literally means life, so when the writer says though the nurse feels like it was just a play, its a play anyway. That means that the nurse is selling flowers and/or drugs but doesn't really suite her profession so she just play with it because it's still life, and she live anyway.

The song has a very clear images that suggests that this world that we set out foot into is a world that runs but money.


In the song a thousand years is a very positive song that suggests romantic love to her behalf. The image of being so deeply in love is so clear. The colors of red and blue emitted that unconditional and untimely love of the persona in this song.

depth thoughts

I never write something so emotional in a blog, and am not really into blogs kaso this time I don't have anyone to talk to. Everyone seems so aloof and they all trying to make themselves as busy as hell. Ako naman, I am trying to make myself as well, but things are getting a little defiantly annoying lately, I don't know where exactly I am heading for. The first time I came here in Manila, things in my mind are so simple, after I have finished my review in the Licensure Examination for Teachers at the Philippine Normal University and take the said examination, I will be going back to Bicol to live life as simple as it was intended for me. However, things got abruptly changed, I have passed the LET, enrolled in graduate school and accepted the renewal of my contract in my current job. Now, as I accept the reality of taking all the consequences that I have decided to live with, things are getting disappointing not only to what is going through with my job but to those people as well whom I thought will be in my side as I go along with the path I have decided to take. I feel so left alone, I feel so loner, I have to dine alone and walk alone. I know, I know. Life isn't about other people but myself, but if you'll look at the other side of perspective, life wouldn't be life without having a companion. Right? Many wouldn't understand, sabi ko nga dun sa kaibigan ko, I'll try everything to be the master of my emotion and by that, I'll try to live my life as aloof as what other people is doing to me. I have been pleasing all those people in my life since God knows when, but one thing living-in-Manila had taught me, I cannot please all these people. Sa office, those people are just as piece of shit as they looked like, bureaucratically influenced, I was never capable of hating anyone but when I am there, I tend to hate them! God forgive me for hating those insensitive prats! Sa school, I haven't met more than 10 persons there but those selfish classmates on mine is freaking the hell out of me! And in here, sa boarding house, they've been nice to me but sometimes they seem to be as what other people to me.


--------------------------------------------Fish :(

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I'm thinking of how could I possibly work on a review without having many thoughts which makes it ambiguous, I want to craft something clear which the reader will have glimpse on the picturesque of the story vividly. Something like playing with words and trying to make the choices of words clearer. But that isn't just a piece of cake, working with such variety and complex contemplation of the books that I’ve read will take a little longer before I could have the proficiency in writing a review. In reference herewith, connecting this thoughts to make a little less incomprehensive review in this book has a lot of things to make a difference.

Let me start on this, Sussie is a loving and submissive daughter to her parents, eldest among the three offspring of Jack and Abigail Salmon. In her family, she's the girl who runs across her dad ahead of her mom, though it was accentuated that she loves both of them in parallel ways. In the first part of the book, it was nakedly introduced how will the whole book flows until you caught yourself in the end. The point of view of the narrator is a first person point of view and she's the main character in the story. You'll recognize how naive she is and that the only thing she wants’ is to love her parents that the psychopath had stolen it to her and her family. There are some humorous scenes that has included in the story but most of it are saddened scenes that will make the reader cry.

This book had given me the chance to appreciate life, which i couldn't do alike if i die. This also made me wonder if my mom is giving me a quick view of what's happening in my life right now. What a lovely story this is.

The Book Thief by Suzak Markus

The feeling is strange and peculiar when this book was lend to me by a close friend here in Goodreads, I knew that this book existed a couple of years ago but it was just this 2011 that I had the opportunity to read it. Perhaps it’s really the fate that tells us when and where we can read such books and each one has a significant touch to us because we linked it to the current status of our lives. As a matter of fact, reading is not just about reading the book and putting them to oblivion but its part of our life and it’ll be in our veins running until we die and who knows that even in our second life these books that touched us will be part of us wherever we go.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a book that am not really fond of reading because of the poverty that runs through the lives of the characters. The energy that this book has is aggravating the sympathetic feeling of mine for the less fortunate populace. I felt strange and empathic because of the sudden adverse that I encountered in the first page of the book. Moreover, I weighed between empathy and compassionate disposition to what was the main character is portraying in the next chapters. Enigmatic in a way but as I read further I’d see that aside from the main character, the other supporting characters here have a common portrayal that I apparently foresee in the first few chapters.

I don’t want to indicate here anything that will spoil the book to those who haven’t read it yet, but I assure you that you’ll learn and experience a lot that I categorized into two, first, the negative which was intensified throughout the book and the positive which was subtle. In the negative, this includes war or chaos, poverty, unemployment, bereavement, bad governance, crime and death. And in the positive, this includes friendship, loyalty, sense of belongingness, family, and love.

Reading this book has a mutual feeling that I had when I read the books written by Frank McCourt which was a memoir of his life; it is due to the poverty that runs in the story. A little from the books of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer because of the burglar’s adventures of the main character and her best friend. Giving this book a four-star-rate has somewhat rare to me, I liked it but it gave me a hard time comprehending the sceneries that the author is trying to point out. Perhaps, I just had a different mood when I read it.

I am Number Four by Lore Pittacus

I unintentionally had this book few weeks ago because one of my housemates was so hooked with total excitement upon reading and telling us what was this book about. I didn’t mind reading it because I was preoccupied by the notion that I still have to read BEA for the sake of pleasing our moderator (weh?). But I was too tired comprehending and going back on and on for the last 2 months and I felt like dropping it. Spare me, I need a break but no worries, I don’t have any plans to condone BEA anyway. So I abruptly read IANF after my housemate finishes reading, perhaps to ease the pressure that BEA is giving me. Lemme get on the book.

I find this as a profound inception of a story that was unfold by the main character Number Four, he told bit by bit the history of the Planet Lorrien and how was things got worse because of the invasion of the Mogs. The events were quite predictable and the feeling of going over it was mutual as of the HP series but the feeling goes different when I got farther. Its way too far from HP, it’s just the fact that the main character has a little similarity as of HP’s point of view.

This book used jargons to identify the quirks of the Planet Lorrien and some unnatural stuff that a reader will remember. Some of which is the Cepan, the term was peculiarly defined as a guide of the Garde, these were the people who survived from the deterioration of the planet and were dispersed to be the 9th Gardes that inherited a Legacy that will save the Planet Lorrien. Another is the Mogadorians, this is the weakling foe of the Gardes that destroys and killed their populace in their own planet. Chest is also used that refers to the cunning stuff that the 9 Gardes inherited from their ancestors. And most remarkably used term is the Legacy, this refers the unnatural strength and power that the 9 Gardes have and can only be used in due time.

The urgency that kept me read on until it was finished is the adventures and the romantic sceneries of the main character and his love interest. The experience was fun and light but I don’t honestly recommend this to those folks who read classic books that has a deeper point of view; this is much of a shallow and will eventually get them tedious because of the predictability of the events. But since am not so stingy in giving rates for books, I’d gave this a four star because in a way it allures me to deviate the pressure of finishing BEA. LOLS!

Paper Towns By John Green

Fuck that! Am done with my review a couple of minutes ago, I just had my lunch and when I got back, darn! It was empty. haiz.

Okay, lemme get on this. Reading this book was somewhat rare to me because I never heard of this book as well as the author, but thanks to Sheryl, who has this enthusiasm of lending me books, gave me the opportunity to hover in this one. I was actually going to check first the web before I jump up reading the book, but since I trust Sheryl and some of the people which I met a couple of weeks ago and the only friends I have here Manila, which had given me pieces of advice which one is to read better than which is not, I decided to read it after an hour of handing me the book.
When I read the title of the book “Paper Towns”, I had this notion that the story is a frame tale, in which a book tackles various anecdotes in one big narrative story. In other words, it gives a quick rundown of various stories while a certain story is being told. It’s like Canterbury Tales, a story within a story. Apparently, I was wrong; it was different, very different indeed. Paper Towns is a story of Q, short for Quentin Jacobsen, a senior high school student who is secretly in love with his enigmatic neighborhood Margo Roth Spiegelman for God knows since when. The interesting part in the story started when Margo went up sneaking to his window and asked him to help her (in a very demanding way) in her plotted revenge to her friends and her now-former boyfriend. At first, Q was not convinced and was very skeptic about the stupid plan of Margo, but eventually since Margo has this you-can’t-say-no-to-me charisma, Q incredulously joined and helped her to her illegal escapades the whole night. It was fun and though it exhausted his energy that was up to the next day, he never regretted helping Margo.
At the very next day, Q was surprised with the abrupt news that Margo, that in fact who was with him just last night, was missing. Loaded with so much in his mind thinking about the prom, graduation, finals and this Margo-thing-was-missing, he decided to dwell on the theory that Margo left clues for him to figure out where and what was Margo up to. The real adventure was the quest of Q and his friends to find out where Margo and her clues going to bring them all.
I gave this book a five star rate, not because of the fact that there is this guy who’s bullying me, that I wanted him to like me, no! The book itself is great and the taste of the bully guy, who actually convinced me to read the book, is profound. Am not really good in making reviews, and my grammar sucks but I hope this will do for Sheryl who lend me the book and the bully-guy who persuaded me to read his favorite book.

Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving

It's a short story written by one of the classic writer from the 18th century Washington Irving. He is known for his two short Stories the Lengend of the Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Both of this stories were part of the book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. It's a collection of short stories and essays which was published during the 18th century. You may ask who was Geoffrey Crayon and what does he have to do with the author? Speaking in a matter-of-fact manner, the name in the sketch book was the pseudonym of Washington Irving.

I had the copy of this book because this was a soft copy given to me by my former professor a year ago which I found in my email while I was organizing my mailbox. I didn't really intend to read this because it is in a poetic form that eventually bore me. But since I was dong nothing in the office, I decided to go over it and not knowingly finished it before the office hour ended.

The story is about Rip who do nothing except devouring on his unrealistic imaginations which he narrates to the kids wandering in their small town and having fun on his unsociable endeavors in wilderness, while his wife Dame always nag at him because of his intolerable laziness. And one day, he intend to scape from his wife's wrath and went through the woods with his dog. Upon wandering in the woods he met this weird and small people who asked him to drink this wine-like liquid that lead him to sleep over Twenty years. When he woke-up things around him seemed very strange and when he went back to the village he learned what had happened to him. The scences when he went back to the town was indeed hilarious, knowing that Rip just fell asleep for just a little an hour and not realizing how long he had been asleep.

Reading this in a poetic form was not new and strange to me at all because I had been reading alike when I was still in college over and over again though it really bored me to death. I don't know what happened to me that lead me to read this one, perhaps the boredom that ran in my day that time. Well, it's a nice way of going back and remembering the life I had when I was still in school. I gave this five star rate because it was really amusing and I laughed so much.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower By Stephen Chbosky

It’s like writing a diary, but writing a diary alone is inadequate if we wish to be understood by people around us fully. But it is through literature that we can obtain to be understood by these intolerable critics. The novel ‘The Perk’s of being a Wallflower’ is another juvenile narration who ventures the reality of going through the complexity of adulthood. Charlie here is a special one, surrounded by people who loves and heeds about him so much. The author makes the whole book very realistic; the reader will be moved by the emotional allocation that each letter of the main character confers.

Let’s go further with the technicality that the book presents s to the reader. First, the objectives, the very first thing that a reader will perceive is the authors urge to be emphatically aware of the experiences of the main character and how it was became so imaginative that imitates life. In other words, reading the book as life and seeing it as life not just another fiction clichés.

As what I have learned from reading any other literature pieces, it solves personal problems, develops proper attitudes toward life and deepens understanding of people and improves relations with them. Second, the approaches of the literary genre, it has became so commonly imminent that moral and humanistic approach are so in the trends of nowadays novel books, but this book has a different approach. It has the Impressionistic Approach, it is a kind of approach which the reader is compelled to have their evaluation and reaction after each of the chapters. The inclination of the readers, their ability or inability to respond mis-conceptions, new insights, or blank minds are revealed in each of the reactions. And lastly, the values or the moral in the story, this one is the most vogue of all because every story has its own values.

In this book, it has three psychological values, namely, sensory values, emphatic values and analytical value. How does sensory motor showed in this book? Technically, this involve the experience of a rich and vivid series of images. Emotional values has also evoked images and somehow denote abstract ideas and power of arousing feelings and emotions. Emphatic values, this refers to the feelings of the reader which integrate the characters feelings and an emotion to what was the reader is getting into it. In other words, the reader puts himself in the characters shoes. It is brought about how the accumulation of the complex series of images and feelings that lure the reader into identifying himself with the character or emotion or situation. And most importantly, the analytical values, in here the story are manifested by the author in his analysis of character and his undertaking of motivations for the reader and for the reader himself discovers the personality pattern of a character.

Wrapping up this little analysis, the book has the quality of getting the readers sympathy to what was the characters are getting from each of his experiences. I gave this book a 5 star not just because I liked it but because it gave me lots of handy values in reality and even in my imaginative wits.

Mere Movement by Naowarat Pongpaibool.

Reading between the lines is hard to elucidate especially when a reader is dependent in literal expressions in any reading materials. However, in the Mere Movement by Naowarat Pongpaibool, the reader compels not only to perceive literally but to go further their imagination to depict the picturesque that the poem itself is trying to linger in the minds of the reader.
The poem accentuate a serene, pristine and transparent brook in the midst of the woods, where in the reader can see himself in the water like Narcissus see himself in the myths. This can probably erudite that the image correspond a naive existence of a creature amid of the chaotic outside world. Suddenly, a sound of a clanking chain that represents misery ceased the serenity of the brook, and though this corresponds with great gloom, a hope abruptly comes out to give the creature a sense of hope to help him in his adversity. But then, man are too insistent in making things complicated for him, we do things that in the end we suffer from great misfortune. But then again, there will always be hope, in which the astir represents a light for those in the stillness of murky according to the poem.
You will notice that the rise and the fall of the fuss in the poem are consistent. The author end it up with another fuss which will make the reader ponder.