Friday, March 22, 2013

Holidays... and BOOKS.

The holiday is now half gone. More than half actually.... D:

School has been pretty okay, except for when there are tests - those moments are the worst, especially when you have one after the next.

Had a Bazooka outing two nights ago. It was really fun, just sitting over the table, complaining about our food HAHAHA. It was funny how we actually started out as the 'sch uni' club though LOLOL. Really missed talking to a group of people whom I am comfortable with :) 

Talked alot with Siyun yesterday also, while waiting for Dion to come ahahah. 

Anyway, main topic today is BOOKS. I had this impulse buying thing going on when I went to Compass point Popular on Wednesday. The member's 20% off sale was really tempting too. So I went to buy two books: Between the Lines by Tammara Webber, and Requiem (the last in the Delirium series!!) by Lauren Oliver.

Between the Lines was pretty good. I did feel embarrassed buying it because it just seemed like a love story that was like a teenage read. I usually buy books with more... meaning? hahah. Anyway, reading those books once in a while is good. The plot was pretty interesting, love triangles duh. But the context was slightly more cool - Hollywood. And even though it was in Hollywood, it didn't glamorize it in an exaggerating way. It did feel rather realistic, which made it a very interesting read! Surprisingly, I enjoyed it very much! Some excitement in my dull life I guess. Though I would definitely not buy such books again... probably hahaha.

So. REQUIEM <3 p="">
I posted a review on Goodreads. So I shall just paste it here:

Okay, this is really quite fresh in my mind because I have just finished it in about 30 minutes ago!

So... frankly, when I started reading Requiem, I was a bit lost because I read Pandemonium a few months ago and not every single detail of the book was fresh in my memory. Some weird names came up, and I just went 'Whatttt? Who's that?' My advice: It's okay, just go ahead, because as long as you know who the important characters are, the story can still go on pretty well.

The book is told from Lena and Hana's perspective, which makes for a very interesting plot. You see direct opposites of their lives (one is of the Wilds, the other is of the posh life of a wife-to-be of the mayor), however, there are also some similarities that come through as the book goes on. Both are dealing with personal struggles, and miss each other (whether unknowingly or not, especially for Hana). Anyway, I think it was refreshing for Lauren to put Hana's perspective across. I did talk about it in my review on my blog, so it was nice to see it happen :)

The book did feel a little slow in the beginning. I was actually more interested in Hana than Lena! Surprise surprise.What I did like was that Hana did not lose her zest. It was still there, just muted and hidden from everyone around her.Lena was much much stronger now. Physically, yes. Emotionally? Nah, not so much, although I'd agree that she went through some personal growth throughout the story. 

Oh, and while reading the book, you would just be SO MAD and frustrated at Alex. Because he was something like a sourpuss in this book. Hm... Was that the wrong word to use? Anyway, he's so cold... and confusing. I know where he's getting at, but Lena doesn't, HELLOOO? Someone give a mind reader to Lena because that would make everything alright.

Anyway, the Julian-Lena-Alex thing gets on my nerves, ever since it had appeared on the last page of Pandemonium. I was DREADING the love triangle, and wondering why on earth did Lena fall in love with Julian. Couldn't there just be Alex, ONLY? The love triangle does complicate things a little, but I am glad that Lauren doesn't JUST focus on that, she did talk about other things that were going on in the resistance, which was what I really looked forward to in this book. There was also a lot more exploration about the concept of love and the irony of it, which I loved. The stories (Solomon and the weird guy who killed women) were also nicely woven in and created some depth in the story.

Most readers would probably find the book slow at first. Don't give up! Continue and the pace picks up. Especially towards the end, YOU WILL BE SKIPPING WORDS JUST TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED. At least that was what happened for me! I was so EXCITED!!! It was like the grand finale! :DD Loved what Lauren did there = making me so anxious to find out what happened. Although I would have loved for Lena to play a more active role, like fighting/killing people, I guess it wouldn't be like Lena to do that either.

The ending was GOOD. SO GOOD. It did leave some uncertainty, but it was uncertainty at its best. You don't get a definite happy ending there, but you do know that somehow everything is going to work out fine.

Requiem did not disappoint me. It was a really exciting, well-written roller coaster ride that made me fall in love with the Delirium series again (especially after how I did feel abit disappointed after Pandemonium) :D

Really a great way to end off the series :)
~

So, overall, I really enjoyed reading those two books these past few days (around 3 to be exact). It renewed the sense of pleasure I got from reading books - I had almost forgotten what it felt like after months of reading TIME magazines and study notes. I think that I will always love books. No matter what :)

Now, it's time to catch up on my work!!! 

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