Bookish Updates

This Thursday, Booking Through Thursday asks,

I saw a Latin edition of “The Hobbit” last time I was at the bookstore… Do you read any foreign languages? Do you ENJOY reading in other languages?

Well, my main language is Filipino (or Tagalog), and since most of the books I read are in English, I'd say I do enjoy reading books in English. In high school, there was a big rage in reading Filipino romantic novels, something I fell for back then, but since I entered college until now, the only novels in Filipino language I have read were "Dekada '70" (The 1970s) and "Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa" (Lea's Story) - both written by Lualhati Bautista using the Filipino language, although I own other books by Filipino authors, which were written in the English language. I actually own a copy of "Dekada '70" but I lent it to a classmate who didn't return it to me, the other Lualhati Bautista book I read using another classmate's copy.  I do love both of these Filipino novels, but because there weren't much Filipino books out there (although I want to buy Ricky Lee's "Para Kay B"), and that English books weren't translated to Filipino, I prefer reading English books.

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Some bookish thoughts this Thursday. :)

As you may know by now, I already finished reading "London Bridges" by James Patterson. It took me many months to finish it, simply because some things in the story I truly can't relate to. I do love the way James Patterson weaved the story - it was both suspenseful and wonderfully written - but because I am not that knowledgeable about stories concentrating on acts of terrorism (the only one I can vividly recall was the TV Series "24," season 2), I felt lost reading about the different government branches, how they operate... it was difficult for me to visualize the scenes. I finally got to finish it, and I didn't regret reading it, although I wasn't so pleased at how "the Weasel" died. While the story was something I can't relate to, I loved how each scenes unfolded - that even if I knew I only had a few more pages to go, it still felt as if more and more events were unfolding.

I also got to finish reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky.
I actually wanted to watch the movie first (when it was shown here in the Philippines), but my friend Daisy asked me to read the book first, so that was just what I did. The book was about a 15-year old Charlie, who was about to enter High School. The book focuses on that full school year, using Charlie's letters to a "Friend," who is actually the reader of the book. It was an easy book to read - it was like I was reading a friend's letter to me, and because the story was set in the early 1990s, I can quite relate to it, too. Way too many things for a freshman to endure, but it was one of the best coming-of-age stories I have read. I got to read the eBook version, and I bookmarked about a dozen quotes in the story, my favorite being, "We accept the love we think we deserve." 


The morning I finished reading the book, I watched the movie. With the screenplay written and the movie directed by the same author of the book, the movie was very close to the book version, although of course some details were changed (like in the book it was said the English teacher had a "girlfriend" while in the movie the teacher had a "wife"). I then understood why I had to read the book first before watching it because of the little details written on the book that weren't shown in the movie version. Both the book and the movie were awesome - truly an unforgettable story - and I loved how Emma Watson didn't have any British accent here. She's such a great actress.


These were my two favorite scenes in the movie. The words spoken by Charlie (second video) weren't written on the book, but what he said - "...but right now these moments are not stories. This is happening, I am here and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you're not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you're listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite."- was such a powerful ending to a powerful story.

I am nearly done reading "Double Cross" by James Patterson. I think I will finish this by weekend, and right after I finished reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," I started reading "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. I know, the only reason why I am reading "Twilight" was because "Fifty Shades" trilogy was based on "Twilight," and that EL James first posted a fan-fiction using Edward and Bella's character and it soon evolved to become Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. I personally don't know anything about "Twilight," because the both time I had the chance to watch the movie, I chose to sleep instead of watching it (I truly didn't like how KStew looks so one dimentional - facial expression wise). I cannot make any comments about the Twilight series if I don't know anything about it (funny how some people voice out many rants about it without even watching the movie or reading the book), so I am giving it a chance. I may not like KStew, but I might like Bella Swan in the book. Anyway, I still have nearly 200 pages to go... but it was an easy read, so I might finish it even before I finish "Double Cross."

I currently read two books, yes, but I only can read "Double Cross" late in the afternoon (today I wasn't able to read it because I am writing this post, haha) while I read the other book before I sleep. Since my phablet has its own light, I don't feel the need to open the lights just to read the book - so I do prefer reading eBooks until I fall asleep.

{book cover images taken from Wikipedia}