Bookish Updates #2

It's Thursday once again.. time to talk about books! I am really happy that I decided to include book topics on this blog because even if I created this blog to document my weight-loss progress, I also wanted a place to talk about my well-being in general, and reading books is something I want to develop. Including a little space here to talk about bookish updates keeps me motivated to read more books... and since this week, I am pleased to say that I am able to resolve the lack of sleep issue. I now set an alarm on my phablet - and once it beeps at 2am, I really have to set the phablet aside and sleep.


Booking Through Thursday asks, "1. Do you read books about sports? 2. How about AT sporting events? (Kid's soccer practice?)

I love sports, but sports doesn't love me (honestly, I never really gave sports a chance). I love watching sporting events - I usually stay glued watching television whenever the Olympics are on, and I also love watching movies related to sports. However, when it comes to literature, the only ones I have read were the old World Wrestling Federation magazines, as I had a big crush on Shawn Michaels since I was very young (got over him mid-college). As for books, I never really got to read about sports - especially because it is just now that I started developing my book reading habit, and because I am such a newbie, stories about sports aren't at my priority list.

However, that doesn't mean I won't read books about sports. Sure, I have my own preferred genre, but part of building the habit is to be as rounded as possible. In my bookshelf, I have "Bang the Drum Slowly" by Mark Harris, a very, very old book (as you can see the sides have been eaten by insects). It's a story about a baseball team. Baseball isn't a well known sport here in the Philippines; and although my late father taught me the gist of how the game is played (once a TV networked showed a baseball finals), I seriously don't know how the ins and outs of the sport and I feared I might not be able to understand the story based on the technical aspect - should the book talk about that. Still, I couldn't bear tossing it to the recycle bin because I didn't want any regret about it. If it turns out to be bad, then so be it... if it turns out to be good, then lucky me. :) Well, if I have loved watching "A League of Our Own," I think I will get to appreciate this, too.

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Last Thursday, I shared that I started reading the Twilight series, and I am now in the last 100 pages of "Breaking Dawn." I guess I will just make a collective reaction about the books and the movies (I just finished watching "Breaking Dawn, part 1" this afternoon) next Thursday. I am thinking of reading "The Hunger Games" next, because I just heard that the movie version of "Catching Fire" is about to come out and I still haven't watched the movie adaptation of "The Hunger Games."

For today, I wanna talk about the another book I finished reading last week - "Double Cross" by James Patterson.

Taken from GoodReads -
Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington, D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex knows: the killer adores an audience. As victims are made into gruesome spectacles citywide, inducing a media hysteria, it becomes clear to Alex that the man he's after is a genius of terror--and he's after fame. The killer has the whole city by its strings--and he'll stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star that Washington,D.C. has ever seen. 

Although this is the 13th of the Alex Cross series and the last I read was "London Bridges," the 10th book in the series, I was glad that there weren't too much that I missed, other than wondering how Alex Cross met Bree Stone. As for the main story, I loved this better than "London Bridges" because reading the story reminded me of one of my beloved TV series, "Criminal Minds." I loved the sense of mystery and surprise, even if I am already used to the usual plot because of the TV series. I loved how the scenes were weaved, and somewhere in the story - when Alex Cross met girlfriend Bree Stone at the hotel for some "alone" time, I really thought it was DCAK disguising as Bree Stone. Hahaha. I know, it was weird for me to think that, but then again... there were things about masks and Bree Stone was acting different, that when she started tying Alex Cross' hands on the sides of the bed, I really thought that was the end of Alex Cross. :)

Checking Wikipedia about this book, I read that this will be next Alex Cross movie, with Tyler Perry portraying Alex Cross. I still haven't watched any of the movie adaptations - I heard "Alex Cross" the movie (adapted from "Cross" book) didn't do well. I hoped this turned out to be a good one, because now that I have read the story, I might go and watch the movie.

I took a little break from reading James Patterson books for the mean time, but maybe next week I will start reading "I, Alex Cross."