backtracking

Hi there! :)

It's been almost a month since my last post.  August to October were super hectic and workload was crazy and try as I might, I was not able to post as much.  I was not even able to finish my TBR pile for July - August, but I did read a bit - THAT I managed to squeeze in.  Otherwise I would've gone insane :P.

So looking back, below is my TBR for July- August:

I was only able to finish The Demonologist, How They Met, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and the Eyre Affair.   Here are my thoughts on these books:

1. The Demonologist (Andrew Pyper) - This book gave me quite a scare! The way the book was written really fuels the imagination, and boy, do I have one hyperactive brain.  The book is about a demonologist who does not actually believe. Due to this lack of belief he was subjected to a number of events orchestrated by a demon, for him to believe in their existence.  The plot refers quite a bit to Milton's Paradise Lost but you don't actually have to read it first to understand the novel.
2. How They Met and Other Stories (David Levithan) - this book is a compilation of short stories with love as its central theme.  It deals with a number of different relationships: straight, gay, lesbian, but it was all written beautifully.  The stories express a number of emotions linked to love: longing, lust, happiness, among others.  It displays Levithan's creativity and how he sees love as a universal emotion that binds people together. Nice read indeed :)
3. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (David Levithan) - I liked this book, simply because it has a number of things and emotions embedded in the story, though at first, the story seems quite ordinary.  I liked how the story evolved and how I got to know Nick and Norah more.  Both of them have issues and both were given equal time in the spotlight for the reader to understand and appreciate both characters.  Plus I like the notion that there is a someone meant for somebody and that a broken heart can be mended by finding the right person :)
4.  The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde) - the book started quite slow for me, but it took off after a while.  Thursday Next, the lead character is a Literary Detective whose main job is to catch Literary Offenders.  Overall, it is an enjoyable read, taking you to an alternate world where characters in books can jump pages into the real world and vise versa, where criminals have certain powers that defy the rules of physics and worms that eat punctuations and prepositions, instead of leaves, exist.

So, that's that for my shortened July - August TBR.

I did read a few more books after that,  I read House of Hades by Rick Riordan (Heroes of Olympus Book 4) last Saturday (yep, excited much! I finished it in less than a week!) and am now currently reading the Cuckoo's Calling by Roberth Galbraith aka JK Rowling :) Will write my thoughts on that and post it hopefully soon.

So what else have I been  up to?  My friend Ayie and I went to the Manila International Book Fair in SMX Convention Center on the last day, September 15.  We were surprised to find the venue packed!  We initially thought it was due to a number of other activities being held there on the same day, which included a Cosplay event and the UAAP Cheerdance Competition (UP Fight !!!! ). But it turned out that the Book Fair was really packed!  Was quite happy about it though, cause it means there are a lot of people still interested in books! Yay! :)

I got me a number of books that time but my biggest regret was not getting a Larousse Gastronomique which was on sale at 500.00 Php only! sheesh :(

Oh well ... hope Larousse will still be there next year :)

Till next time! :)

- M