Book Review: The Historian

 Title: The Historian

By: Elizabeth Kostova

Grade: B+

This book was a really good historical fiction, the only thing I didn’t particularly like is that it read more historically and fiction is sewed in as a side. It kind of dragged on with European history a little too much and it was nice at times when I could see why it tied in, but yeah. Overall, a very good book though, it did keep me page turning and the suspense was fun at times. 

The ending was a little odd. I won’t give anything away but after reading through 80% of the book, the moment I was waiting for was not what I expected. I guess it was a little unreal to me when things actually did happen. The character development was very intricate and details were very well done. I liked it.

Book Review: Breaking Dawn

 Title: Breaking Dawn (4th installment of the Twilight Saga)

 By Stephenie Meyer

 First Sentencer: No one is staring at you. I promised myself. No one is staring at you. No one is staring at you.

So after reading the 3rd book, I was ready to jump into this one and finish it in a couple days (which is exactly what happened). However, even though I read this book relatively fast, I really just wanted to read it to find out what happens in the end. I find some of it good and other parts not as great. It was definitely a fast read because of all the bizarre things that are happening in it.

I am a sucker for happy endings and this one was fairly happy. However, it wasn’t what I expected it to be. I guess I was expecting a less happy ending than that. Either way, this last book was my second favorite in the series and it was a generally enjoyable book to read. However I must say that teenage girls are reading about this??? Kinda strange…if I was reading a pregnancy and vampire sex at that age…sigh!

Book Review: Eclipse

 Title: Eclipse (3rd installment in Twilight saga)

By: Stephenie Meyer

First Sentence: Bella, I miss you too a lot. That doesn’t change anything. Jacob

Grade: A-

I really enjoyed this book. I finished it in 2 days because I couldn’t put it down. Something about this one really stood out from the rest, perhaps it’s the feud between Jacob and Edward that was so fascinating. Also, you get so involved as the read that you wonder whether you’d pick Jacob or Edward. Even though, in the end, we all know that Bella would’ve picked Edward. Regardless, there is something about Jacob that is very attractive, even if he is obnoxious. Everything fell into place very well in this book and definitely added another dimension to the characters. Everyone seemed more developed (especially Jasper and Rosalie) and it was fun to read. 

I’m not too crazy about how Bella and everyone else seemed rather overly dramatic. Bella is crying in every other chapter about how she’s such a bad person and then Edward is always blaming himself for things that aren’t really his fault. It gets kind of annoying sometimes. Jacob is the only one that seems to be at least somewhat level-headed. Ok, so how many times can I really read about Bella apologizing, thinking she’s a bad person and then sobbing more and more. It seems to get more frequent as the book went on. Bella turned out to be more wimpy than I thought. Other than the fact that some of the characters got on my nerves for being too melodramatic, I really liked the storyline in this book better than the other 2. 

ONWARD to the next and final book!

Book Review: New Moon

Title: New Moon, (Twilight Sequel)

By: Stephenie Meyer

First sentence: I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure I was dreaming.

Grade: C+

I was not too fond of this book because it was kind of boring for a bit. I like Jacob as a character and I can understand the way Bella acts, but it was just downright depressing to read about her sort of falling Jacob and sort of not. Poor Jacob….

I guess like most Twilight fans, the lack of Edward kind of drew away from the book. Jacob was a great character but it didn’t help that Bella sort of played him. I liked the general plot idea, but it wasn’t that impressive….It was just filler until it really got interesting in the end. Some of the Volturri and stuff made it somewhat interesting and ancient and more fun sounding, but it was also weird the way they acted. 

Overall, I kind of lost some admiration for Bella as a character now. She seems too undecidedly and unconsciously manipulative and it was annoying at times. Com’on, do you still want to wait for Edward or go with Jacob? I could probably understand from her viewpoint that Jacob was a convenience and seemingly Edward wasn’t coming back. But still, it was really odd to go through the story with her and hitting your head with every major action. Ok, you can be suicidal and crazy, but maybe that explains why she’s still a teenager. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too critical. 

But this book definitely leads me to read the next one!!!

Currently reading it now…

Book/Movie Review: Twilight

 Movie/Book: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Ashley Greene, Robert Pattinson

Movie grade: C+

Book grade: B+

As usual, the book always beats the movie. I watched the movie first and felt an interesting feeling as it was over. But now that I read the book, I like the series a lot more. I guess I was expecting a lot out of the movie since it was such a craze, and me being a vampire fan, usually I like most vampire flicks. However, I expected Edward Cullen to blow me away, and he didn’t. I expected the movie to be really good and perhaps make me cry, it didn’t. I just need to stop having expectations when watching movies. 

Now that I have read the book, the movie makes a lot more sense, it almost seemed better and I appreciated it more. When I first watched the movie, I thought it was a little odd and weird, although that was the point of the relationship between Edward and Bella. It wasn’t as appealing because the movie almost seemed boring at times. I must admit that the cast picks were very good, I liked the fact that there was no mega stars in this movie and that Robert Pattinson was picked. All the actors did a really good job acting. The movie was artistically pleasing, plot was slightly boring. 

The book was much more entertaining. It was a quick read and often I couldn’t put it down. I’m currently reading New Moon and can’t wait for the next movie! Vampire romances are quite sexy…

Book Review: Marley and Me

Title: Marley and Me by John Grogan

First Sentence: We were young. We were in love. We were rollicking in those sublime early days of marriage when life seems about as good as life can get. We could not leave well enough alone. 

Grade: A

Overall, this book was very touching and easy to relate. I love dogs and ever since I was a kid I loved reading stories about dogs. This one is very similar, but somehow very different than stories/movies that I read about dogs. Although Marley and Me kind of reminds me of Beethoven, the movie. You can tell that this book is very much about the owners as it is about the dog. It seems like the dog was a symbolic and essential part of the owner’s life and that is part of the charm of this book. Every important moment in the life of John and Jenny, Marley was there, whether silly, crazy, destructive or caring. It seems so endearing how Grogan can truly capture the essence of a dog and how much of an impact they truly have on their owners. Truly shows that dogs are a man’s best friend, and also another reason why I think I should get a small dog when I eventually get one (or at least medium sized). I’m all too familiar with having a big and uncontrollable dog (I had a golden retriever that was over 100 lbs. and impossible to control). 

So of course, the end of the book brought tears to my eyes because you have truly begun to grow close to the characters, especially Marley. You can guess what happens in the end, but it was a very resolute and heartfelt ending. Does justice to dogs everywhere.

Book Review: The Notebook

Title: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

First Sentence: Who am I? And how will this story end?

Grade: A

Short, sweet, simple and well written. It’s very obvious why Nicholas Sparks books always become movies, they always have a very invigorating plot and the characters are very relatable. The notebook was a really fast read and is very captivating, a good classic love story. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with all the actions done by the characters, you feel enough for the both of them and hope that it all works out in the end. Unlike most movies, I think this movie does the book justice. I fell asleep during the movie, sadly. But as I was reading the book, it pulled me in and I felt like every single main scene I was reading from the book, I remember from the movie. Either way, it’s worth it to read this at least once.

Book Review: I want Candy

I Want Candy by Kim Keltner Wong

 

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Candace Ong is wasting away in wonderland—Eggroll Wonderland, the restaurant where her under-Americanized family toils in San Francisco. She loves rock candy and rock music, jelly beans and jelly shoes—and hangs with her best friend Ruby, whose wild life she envies. Candace wants more than another stifling summer stuck in the kitchen. So when a new opportunity arises, she leaps at the chance—even though it means leaving home to experience a tantalizing, dangerous life far beyond the dim sum ho hum. But the waiting world may be a lot more than one brainiac Chinese Lolita can safely handle.

 

Grade: B-

 

Hmmm, after finishing this book, I’m not quite sure what I thought. But it definitely was very relatable and easy to understand simply because I have gone through a stage in my life where I felt like the main character, AND she was also Chinese. I like reading books that talk about the Asian American experience in the U.S. and of course I also want to live in San Francisco, so it’s nice to hear about the interesting culture there. But at the same time, this girl seems to go through these things and psychologically, I could see why, but at the same time, not really. I guess she goes above and beyond the normal Chinese girl life and it was hard to relate in that way. Of course, some parts were rather explicit and I thought at some points, I was thinking “wow, middle school girls actually do these kinds of things?” but then again, that’s my naive self thinking that girls don’t actually go through things like this, especially innocent Chinese girls. But if they did, God please help them..it’s a sick world out there….

 

I would recommend reading it only if you can handle a level of explicit-ness and if you are a Chinese girl, because it is relatable only in that way. I can’t imagine what a guy would feel reading this. Probably gain a lot of insight into the teenage girl mind I suppose…

Book Reviews: 5 people you meet in heaven and The Book of the Dead

5 people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom

 

First sentence: This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun.

 

Grade: A+

 

This book was a real tearjerker. After I read the first chapter, I couldn’t put it down and could only read it to the end. I felt different emotions and was very much involved in the main character throughout. It spoke of a lot of realistic emotions of life and the character is so relatable. By the very end, it’s so heartbreaking but at the same time so beautiful to watch what this man learns about his life. Truly inspiring It’s totally worth it and if you read fast, it probably will take about 2 hours. 

 

The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

 

First Sentence: Early-morning sunlight gilded the cobbled drive of the staff entrance at the New York Museum of Natural History, illuminating a glass pillbox just outside the granite archway.

 

Grade: A

 

This book was a page turner, I couldn’t put it down despite the fact that it was about 500-600 pages to read. It gave me chills as I read it becuase of the thriller content. I really love books which can become movies and this one can be a very well done thriller movie. The story follows the Natural History museum in New York and the mysteries of an ancient tomb exhibit. The book takes a lot of twists and turns and is always unexpected, I completely enjoyed myself with it. It’s not necessarily well written, but the plot was very worth it to read.