The Crepemakers’ Bond by Julie Crabtree

Ariel is the head chef in her family kitchen. Cucumber salads, fettuccine carbonara, fish tacos, and peanut butter pie are just a few of the dishes she crafts when she’s feeling frustrated by the world. And it’s turning into a frustrating year. Ariel, Nicki, and Mattie have been inseparable friends since they were little kids, but now Mattie’s mom has decided to move away. It’s the girls’ last year in middle school, and they can’t fathom being separated. The friends concoct a plan that will keep Mattie in the Bay area she’ll move in with Ariel and her family. But before you can say “bff,” the party is over. Everything Mattie does gets on Ariel’s nerves, and it’s not long before the girls are avoiding each other. This was supposed to be their best year ever, but some painful lessons are threatening to tear their friendship apart. Can the girls scramble to make things right before the bond crumbles?

I am a cookbook person. By that, I mean, I can only cook if there is a cookbook involved. I’m not the type of person who can mix everything they can find in the fridge and make something absolutely amazing with it. I guess this is why I know I’m more of a baker than a chef because baking needs precise steps and ingredients and you just cant throw everything in a mixing bowl and stick it in the oven to see if it would work. In the kitchen, I follow instructions, I don’t give them or make them.

But that doesn’t stop me from watching cooking shows and marveling at the food they make nor reading books that has a lot of food involved. I think that’s one of the reasons why I got attracted to The Crepemakers’ Bond while I was browsing NetGalley — it’s a foodie book. Thrilled with the prospect of reading a novel with food involved, I totally glazed over the fact that this is a book with eighth-graders in them.

Is this where I say uh-oh?

Well, not really. I guess I have been too used to reading books where the characters are already in high school that I expected this book to be one and didn’t read the blurb properly. For the first few pages of the book, I felt confused at how young everyone seemed to be in the book, and at some point, immature. Then I realized that the characters weren’t even in high school yet. Not that high school students are the most mature people in the world (I know I was pretty immature back in high school — don’t you deny you weren’t!). I do have to remind myself every now and then while the characters were making kind of stupid decisions that they are still young and they don’t really know better.

The Crepemakers’ Bond is a pretty good book about changes and friendship. I liked how the author focused on the fact that things change when the person you thought you get along with very well who isn’t in your immediate family starts to get in your nerves when you start living together. There’s a reason why your best friend doesn’t live in the same house as you do (if your best friend isn’t anyone you’re directly related to) if you’re not old enough to have separate activities with them: living with them will drive you nuts. I’ve had my share of living with roommates and we had good relationships because we don’t see each other 24/7. This was a hard lesson for Ariel to learn especially since she really loved M as a sister, but I liked how the author let her go through it with all the rotten feelings that having a fight with a friend entails.

As for the characters, Ariel (named after The Little Mermaid) is a pretty well-rounded protagonist, given her age. She isn’t perfect, but she felt like the perfect and realistic eighth-grader, as compared to the ones I grew up reading in Sweet Valley. I also liked that Ariel had a hobby to take her mind off things, which is cooking. I loved that this book had recipes in between chapters, and they all seemed yummy, too. That seemed like a pretty healthy hobby for a girl her age, both physically and emotionally. I also liked that the recipes had creative and fun names based on when Ariel made them, like Crepes of Wrath or Achy Breaky Artichoke Hearts Dip or Once Misunderstood Twice Baked Potatoes. Plus points, too, for the cooking references at the end of the book — totally useful for non-cooks like me.

As much as I liked Ariel, I wasn’t really crazy about her best friends, M and Nicki. M’s single letter nickname kind of got on my nerves after a while in reading and I kept on calling her Mattie in my head. I thought Nicki felt a bit underdeveloped, and I felt that she was very inconsistent as a character. I never felt any connection with her, but perhaps the author really meant for it to be that way? Research in Goodreads tells me that M has her own book, cutely titled Discovering Pig Magic. So maybe Nicki will have her book soon?

Reading this book made me realize that I really am over that stage of my life. While I like reading Young Adult fiction, I don’t think I’d go back to middle grade anymore. This is still a good book, but I have outgrown it. If I had a younger sister or cousin or niece at that age, I’d recommend this book to her, though, because of the friendship lessons it gives, and borrow it every now and then to try out the recipes.

The Crepemakers’ Bond will be out on October 1, 2010. Thanks to Netgalley for the ebook ARC!

Rating: ★★★

My copy: ebook, Advanced Reading Copy from Milkweed Editions via Netgalley

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 76 out of 100 for 2010

Cover: Barnes and Noble
Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. Sixfold, Sevenfold
2. Thou art Famine
3. The Great Perhaps

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them.

Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman is one of the books that I never thought I’d get. If I were just book shopping on a normal day, I don’t think I would have picked this book up. But if it wasn’t for the Powerbooks sale and the fact that most of a lot of my Goodreads friends recommended (or in our terms, pushed) this book, I wouldn’t have gotten it when I saw it.

The book is set some time in the future after the second Civil War, coined as the Heartland War. This war was started by a two opposing groups, the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, who were only settled after the Bill of Life has been passed. This bill states that:

…human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until the child reaches the age of thirteen.

However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively “abort a child” …

…on the condition that the child’s life doesn’t “technically” end.

The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called “unwinding.”

I didn’t really understand what unwinding was until I was a few pages into the book. Apparently, unwinding is the process where the child’s organs and basically every part of him/her (blood, vocal chords, fingers, hands, feet, spine — name a body part, they have it!) is harvested and stored for other people’s use. Once a child reaches the age of 13, the parents have the prerogative to have them unwound. They just fill out a form, submit it and the kids get picked up for harvesting and they never have to see the kid again, and they can go on living their lives.

Except, how could they go on living their lives (and do something like get a Branson vacation package) after doing something like that? I honestly don’t know. It’s a sick, sick world that our main characters Connor, Risa and Lev lives in. I find myself wrestling with that question and more as I read the novel, and I don’t think I even have a final answer to those questions, too. The novel started out slow as the author set the stage for each of the character. For a moment, I was afraid it would be just like The Barcode Tattoo because of the way it read at first, but I was glad when things started to pick up and the characters started to shine and the plot started moving.

There are a lot of characters in Unwind, but I was never really confused at any point in the story. Perhaps it’s because the chapters are clearly labeled with whose point of view we are seeing, but I think it’s also because the characters are well-made. There was never a black-and-white character there — all of them had their different shades of gray. You can’t expect the kids featured in the novel to be happy because their choices have just been taken away from them, and it was interesting to see what choices they made given their situations. Out of all characters, I was very interested in Lev’s transformation — from blind faith to darkness and to getting to the path to find his faith once again. I didn’t like him at first, but his journey in the story was the one that touched me the most. Connor and Risa were equally interesting as well, and I liked that they were flawed characters that found their own paths and redemption in the end.

The story is also one huge ride. There’s a certain realistic feel in the story as they often referred to something that exists in our present time. In a way, you’d think that this novel isn’t set far into the future — it could be set in the next thirty, twenty, ten, maybe even next year! There’s a certain timelessness in the novel that I liked, timeless in the sense that even if I read this a couple of years later, I wouldn’t feel like the story or the characters or scenes are dated. The author also executed the passing of time quite nicely, without boring the reader with unnecessary details just to show that time was passing.

I think one thing that those who haven’t read this will ask about this book is its gore factor. Well there are no gory descriptions. But there is an overall haunting and disturbing feel once the actual harvesting was described, and it sits with you to ponder long after you’ve read that part. The words used to describe it were simple and not too scientific, and it really doesn’t say much about body parts or pain or blood, but the author had a way of writing that scene that would make you imagine every part of it clearly in your head, and leave you wondering how could anyone subject a kid to something that horrific?

I can’t imagine myself in their place. Heck, I refuse to imagine myself in their place because it’s a horrible fate, no matter how much the law enforcers in the story tells me it’s not. Unwind successfully opens the doors to different issues existing now that are hard to discuss without sparking a huge debate. It’s not the kind of book you can really read simply for pleasure and to feel good. It lets you escape, sure, but it doesn’t leave you with a happy feeling after because of the questions and issues it raises. There’s so much that can be discussed after reading this book: pro-life vs. pro-choice, abortion, population control, organ donation, family, acceptance, terrorism and even religion. I don’t think one can get everything in this book in just one read. I have a feeling this is one of those books that would leave the reader pondering different issues every re-read.

There are only a few instances when a book has left me speechless when I got to the end, and Unwind just joined its ranks. Good characters, compelling and thought-provoking plot, strong and hopeful ending — I cannot recommend this enough.

Rating: ★★★★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 75 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: paperback, UK edition, from Powerbooks

Cover & Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. Getting inked may not be that cool
2. Life in Notes
3. A Trip to Neverland

The Barcode Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

Individuality vs. Conformity

Identity vs. Access

Freedom vs. Control

The bar code tattoo. Everybody’s getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.

But what if you say no? What if you don’t want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There’s no option but to run…for her life.

I really meant to review this book after I got it, then I planned to review it for Pinoy Pop, but I never got around to it because there were other more interesting books that came in. I wasn’t really planning to review this book anymore and make this as one of those books that I never bothered to review this year but after I read Unwind by Neal Shusterman, I felt the need to revisit this book (or at least, my notes of this book) and write a proper review before writing one for Unwind.

I found The Barcode Tattoo during one of my Amazon Kindle sample days, and I remember being sorely disappointed that this book had no Kindle edition. I wasn’t sure if the cover or the premise attracted me to this — perhaps it was both. The idea of a sinister requirement tattoo is kind of creepy, and the cover was equally as creepy as that idea. I found a lone copy in Fully Booked a few weeks after I added this to my wish list, and I was immediately off to the cashier to purchase the book.

The Barcode Tattoo reminds me of those sci-fi TV shows that I used to be very interested in but never found the time to watch. I think the first time I saw a barcode tattoo on screen was in Dark Angel, where I think each of the clones had a barcode tattoo at their nape to identify them. I can’t remember the details anymore, but I was pretty sure they had that. In this book, the tattoos serve as a symbol for “coming of age”, and where everything can be done using your very own tattoo. This spells convenience for everyone as there was no more need to carry an ID or money around since everything can be done with the barcode (including buy compression stockings online).  But as expected, people in power can easily manipulate it. This is where we found Kayla Reed, who’s about to turn 17, but is wary of getting her tattoo. She turned out to be even more wary when her dad starts acting suspiciously, and pretty soon, her avoidance in getting the tattoo turned her life upside down and she starts running for her life.

The concept is good, and it makes for a very good dystopian fiction. However, I think that was the only thing that made this book good. I knew from the get-go that the tattoos were evil, but it was never really explained in the story why it was evil. Sure, the tattoo meant control for those in power, but it was never really expounded on. Like Kayla, I only got the faintest idea on what made the tattoos bad but she never really found out about the exact details of it.

It may be because the book was written in 2004, so the setting (which was 21 years later) showed a world where everyone was wearing a modified space suit and moving sidewalks are common. It took me a while to get into the setting probably because I felt it was a bit too unbelievable even if it’s in 2025. My friend Jana coined it as the “flying cars” setting, where people think of the future as a time where flying cars are the norm. Personally, the setting reminded me a bit too much of those Zenon movies from Disney. I couldn’t imagine myself inside the world the characters are living in, so I remained a mere spectator for Kayla’s adventures.

Furthermore, I felt that there was no defined villain in the story — sure, there was Global 1, the mastermind behind the tattoo, and there were the kids that chased Kayla around…but who was her real villain? Was it the tattoo? It is their destruction of privacy because the tattoo contains all information about them? I’m not quite sure. Sure, Kayla had some personal stake over the matter because of her family, but if that was taken away, would Kayla still have resisted? Where is the Truly Evil Government that dystopian fiction is known for?

I also felt a bit cheated with the ending. I’m not really a sci-fi reader and I’ve only started to appreciate fantasy, but I know there’s a way to make the two mesh well without sounding forced. Kayla’s situation felt truly hopeless as she ran away from those who want her inked (or in some cases, dead), and I truly felt that she had no more allies…but when she finally found her allies, I found that the solution to the problem felt a bit too over the top. Deus ex machina, if you may. The resolution never really sat well with me, leaving me a bit unsatisfied at the end of the end of the book.

It’s not really a bad book, but I didn’t really find it spectacular, either. It’s an in-between book, really, and it’s not one I’d lose sleep or mull over for the next few days thinking about the story or the consequences or the characters even. The story had a lot of potential that wasn’t explored, unfortunately. Interestingly, there is a sequel to the book: The Barcode Rebellion. Will I read it? Probably. Will I buy it? I’m not sure. Maybe someone can lend me a copy instead?

Oh, and one last question: how the heck do you pronounce Mfumbe?!

Rating: ★★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 50 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: paperback from Fully Booked

Cover & Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. Waiting on Wednesday: You Wish by Mandy Hubbard
2. This is the Bill of Life
3. Sixteen Moons

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.

I have been seeing John green’s novels for a while now, but I never had the time to pick them up. I think I saw Paper Towns first, but they reviews were saying that Looking for Alaska has more awards, so I was always on the lookout for it. Of course, I promptly forgot all about it, until I saw other book bloggers I am following posting reviews on his books. After one particularly boring night at work where I wrestled with the urge to buy a new book, I got this one, thinking his first novel should be a good place to discover if John Green is really as good as people say he is.

I guess I wasn’t sure what I was expecting in this novel, except maybe for a dorky guy character to fall in love with a cool but not exactly popular girl, and will turn his world upside down as he tries to get out of his shell to impress her. I can’t remember where I read this, but I hear John Green is the king of nerdy guys in contemporary YA. I have yet to prove that, but with Looking for Alaska, I was very surprised. I can’t say pleasantly, but I was surprised.

I won’t say much about the story, so as not to ruin a reading experience of those who haven’t read this yet. Looking for Alaska is about Miles “Pudge” Halter, who transfers to Culver Creek Boarding School in search of The Great Perhaps. Here he meets new friends Chip “The Colonel” Martin and Takumi, and Alaska Young, the girl across the hall that rocks Miles’ world and ultimately divides his world into a “Before” and “After”. I wasn’t sure about what “After” meant in the book until I got to it, and that was where I experienced John Green’s magic with words.

The question that readers will get here is the same question that Alaska and the other characters wrestled with: How will I get out of this labyrinth of suffering? I admit that it’s not a question that I would ask myself. I’m generally a cheerful and happy person, with random bursts of sentimentality and sadness every now and then. I can relate to Miles a lot in the sense that his life is generally okay: good parents, good school, and no big traumatic problems in his past. Save for the lack of a group of friends (or even just a single friend), we’re pretty much the same. I guess I can say his approach to the labyrinth would be essentially the same as mine: pretend it doesn’t exist, and live in a self-sufficient world. But one can only live like that for so long, until the suffocation of living on my own will crush me and break me, just as like those people who get lost in their own labyrinths. I don’t think there is ever one answer to this question, because I think every person has their own labyrinths, and it’s never the same with others. I thought that Miles’ answer to the question was brilliant, though, and it may be one of good exit plans that other people (myself included) use in their own labyrinths.

I don’t know if that paragraph made sense, but I hope it does when you decide to read this book. Looking for Alaska is more than your nerdy guy meets cool girl and things change story. This is a surprisingly heavy book that deals with a lot of growing up issues, yet John Green’s prose made it somewhat light and funny, and poignant all at the same time. This isn’t the same world I grew up in, but this world felt real and their situations were something that I know other teens can get into, and it’s something that I appreciate. John Green doesn’t sacrifice dialogue for it to sound real (one that I think Take Me There by Susane Colasanti kind of failed in), but instead makes use of the setting and the situations to bring us all into Miles’ world.

I think my favorite lesson in Looking for Alaska was how you never really own a person, regardless of your relation to him or her. I don’t know about you, but I know I have a tendency to feel like I own the person just because we’re friends, or because I like the person. It’s like their world should revolve around me, because my world can easily revolve around them — it’s just fair, right? But the truth is, we never own anyone, and there’s always something we don’t know about the other person even if we feel like we know them, like we’ve figured them out. We may be important to the other person, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think other people are also important, or that other people think the world of them like you do. The best thing we can do for the people that mean a lot to us is to love them and accept them and forgive them and be content at the fact that they will always surprise us. It may not always be in a good way, but it was what made Miles like, love and forgive Alaska for in the end.

This isn’t my favorite, but I liked Looking for Alaska. It’s left me hopeful and smiling and thinking of things that I have never really thought about, or at least, never really bothered to think about. I am definitely going to read the rest of John Green’s novels.

Rating: ★★★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 74 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: ebook from Amazon Kindle store

Cover & Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. In My Mailbox (2)
2. Happyface
3. The Cop and the Blue-Haired Chick

So it’s been a pretty eventful week for me, but not in blogging because I didn’t really post that much this week compared to last. For a change, I was busy reading, squeeing about certain books, and talking to people face to face.

Yes, I still have a social life, thankyouverymuch.

So, what’s been happening the past week (and a day)?

Metro Comicon

Saturday last week, I ventured into the city and out of my comfort zone to tag along with some of the boys from my Goodreads group to attend the Metro Comicon at SM Megamall. Now, I’m really not a comic person, but I recently bought Happyface before that Saturday, so I thought…why not look around? Plus, I was also hoping I’d find a copy of AEIOU or An Easy Intimacy of Us by Jeff Brown (one that I started to want to have after I read the review at Pinoy Pop) there. I have zero knowledge about other comics, but I figure it shouldn’t be that different from when I go and look at books, right?

Well, it wasn’t, really. I didn’t find AEIOU, and I ended up not buying anything after. I still had fun, though, if only because I got to watch some of the boys look like kids on Christmas morning as they had their favorite comic books signed by the writers and the artists. Ace and I were just watching them, then — he was just there to have his friend’s copy of Trese signed, and we were amused at how Jzhun and Ariel looked like how we do when we see books we love and all that. Ah, bookworm quirks.

This picture is a bit blurry, but trust me, their eyes were sparkling.

Jzhun and Ariel with Trese creators

Even if I didn’t buy anything, I did appreciate the local comic book scene. There’s so much talent out here, and so many interesting ideas, and they’re really good. I may just be glossing over everything because I can’t draw to save my life…but really, it’s quite amazing looking at the available local comic books.

Case in point, look at how Manix Abrera signed Ariel’s comic books:

Awesome lettering. I envy. A lot.

Being at the Comicon kind of made me think that I’m in an episode of The Big Bang Theory, sans the Physics and Math talk and lcd monitors. So I guess that makes me Penny?

After Comicon, I dragged the boys joined my friends and I for a lunch at Orchard Road and lots of talking (as always). Ace already left, so he wasn’t in the picture, but Jzhun and Ariel finally met and bonded with Grace aka Kai. And the obligatory picture!

Goodreads represent (minus Ace) after Comicon

Mockingjay Launch Party

The rest of the week was full of Mockingjay excitement, which was further fueled by the Mockingjay Launch Party held yesterday at NBS Bestsellers in Galleria.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is pretty much the most anticipated book for everyone the entire year, and I was one of the people who actually jumped up and down when I finally have my copy (and my shirt) in my hands. I wanted to read it all throughout the night, but I had to surrender to my eyes who demanded rest, but I finished it in two days. No spoilers, here, and I will write a review for the book pretty soon, so let’s go to the launch instead.

Now the funny thing about the launch is it was some kind of unofficial Goodreads Filipino Group and Flips Flipping Pages meet-up. After some twitter exchange with Chachic and Honey, we set up an thread at the group, and planned the attendance. Blooey gave us a slot for the Catching Fire Live Action Role Play (LARP), too, and guess who became the group’s tributes?

We're tributes from District 7

Yep. Everyone wanted me to be the tribute because I was “athletic”. Right. I should be flattered that they think I have the guts to live through the Quarter Quell, but I don’t have a competitive bone in my body. Ariel‘s just in it to try to win a copy of Mockingjay, as far as I know. Sorry for my fail LARPing skills. ^^;

Well, the LARP was fun while it lasted. Like I said, I had no competitive bone in my body, so I wasn’t surprised that we were the first to be eliminated. But in my defense, Ariel and I agreed that the physical stuff should be for him, but of course they had to make us girls “carry” the guys and shoot the arrow…both of which are a fail to me. Oh wait, I didn’t have to carry Ariel — he was nice enough to tiptoe so I won’t have to give him a piggyback ride. But I channeled a Grace when I tried to shoot the arrow — I broke my bow. Haha. Sorry!

I'm faking this.

But, despite that, it was fun. And we did get a shirt (my second Mockingjay shirt!). And the rest of the games were kind of…well, rowdy, so I was fine to not be there after. There were no blood baths, but it was…well, bloody in its own sense.

After the launch, there’s the obligatory picture taking, and an FFP+GR dinner, followed by coffee. Ah, this is where I excel the most — eating and talking about books.

Goodreads with Mockingjays

Flips Flipping Pages + Goodreads Filipino Group

It was a long, fun and tiring day, and I personally think it was perfect being spent with people who has the same passion for books as I do.

I feel a bit sad that there’s no planned meet-ups soon, but it’s not hard to set up a meet-up anyway, at least not anymore, I think. So yeah, I had a blast last week and yesterday. I look forward to the next event, or even just the next movie/dinner/drinking session/whatever.

I end this post with a quote from Aaron‘s twitter:

Geeks shall inherit the earth.(Read: Filipino Goodreads and Flippers shall inherit the earth!).

Hear hear! Till next meet up (old and new) friends!

Related posts:

1. Do not disturb!
2. When Book Lovers Meet
3. Follow Friday / Book Blogger Hop (2)

Happyface by Stephen Emond

Just put on a happy face!

Enter Happyface’s journal and get a peek into the life of a shy, artistic boy who decides to reinvent himself as a happy-go-lucky guy after he moves to a new town. See the world through his hilariously self-deprecating eyes as he learns to shed his comic-book-loving, computer-game playing ways. Join him as he makes new friends, tries to hide from his past, and ultimately learns to face the world with a genuine smile. With a fresh and funny combination of text and fully integrated art, Happyface is an original storytelling experience.

The bright yellow cover called me the moment I entered the YA section of Fully Booked Eastwood. It was bright, and the smiley made an interesting cover, and when I took a peek inside, I saw that it was a book…with drawings!

But what really convinced me to buy is when I removed the half dust jacket and saw this:

With the half dust jacket, it's Happyface!

And then...awwww.

This certainly got me very, very curious. How can a book entitled “Happyface” have a sad face inside?

Happyface is the journal of a boy who has been christened Happyface by the girl he likes because of his sense of humor and his happy demeanor. Happyface is a high school sophomore, and a shy, artistic kid who tries to reinvent himself when he moves to a new town. The journal contains the account of the school year, from June to March, as he tries to make friends, ask out the girl he liked and be the happy person that everyone expects him to be.

This isn’t exactly a comic book, but it’s also not a plain novel. I like reading journal-type novels because I like first person accounts, and I’m a journal keeper myself. The drawings in this book are fascinating and entertaining at the same time. Look:

Happyface: Family

Happyface: Emails

Happyface: December

OH HAI, ITZ HAPPYFACE: THE WEBCOMIC-IN-PRINT

More drawings

Tear stained drawing

I’m not big on graphics or photos in a novel — I like words more. However, Happyface made me appreciate art (simple as they may be sometimes), and the images were not there just to be there, but they really add to the story. I can’t draw to save my life, so I am immediately in awe of anyone who can draw something that is more than a stick figure. I do wonder sometimes how Happyface can have the time to draw and write — writing is hard enough, but drawing them as well? Wow. Of course, again, I’m not an artist, and I can’t draw, so I can’t exactly say how hard or easy keeping a journal with art is. Perhaps someone can enlighten me?

Happyface may sound and look like a happy book, but I was surprised to find myself sighing and feeling really…well, sad, about Happyface. Like what the dust jacket and cover shows, there is more to Happyface than his smiley face. When I was in college, I used to call myself a sugarcoater. I remember telling my YFC household head to never ask me how I am once — she needed to ask me twice (and sometimes even more) because I automatically answer “Fine” or “I’m okay” whenever they ask me how I am. Ever since then, people were careful to really ask me that, and conversations usually start like this:

Friend: Hi Tinamats! How are you?
Me: Hi! I’m okay.
Friend: (pauses) Okay. Again. How are you?
Me: (take a deep breath and tries to answer the question again)

It’s a defense mechanism, I think. It’s not that I’m never okay, or I lie at the first answer, but it’s become such an instinct to just answer that I am okay, rather than explain why if I am not. Plus I always felt like if I open up and tell them exactly how I am, it’s like I’m laying the burden on them. I figure I’d be of better help to them if I was okay, and I can listen to them better rather than give myself room to rant.

I’m happy to say that I am doing my best not to be that way anymore. Reading Happyface reminded me of those days, and I really empathized for Happyface in his plight. It’s easy to think Happyface was just a shy, awkward kid who would rather spend time in front of the computer or at home with his comic books and sketch books. It’s easier to think of that because I didn’t think he’s the kind of guy who has serious problems, because he was so cheerful all the time, even to himself, and this book was supposed to be his journal! But as the story went on, we find out what happened to Happyface and his family, why he moved in the first place and how he really, really felt (with some help from alcohol). It’s sad, almost heartbreaking, and now I really understand the presence of the sad face.

Happyface is the dorky boy in school who you would never have a crush on, but would be really good friends with. He’s the guy who’d draw stuff for you, join you in shopping and hand you a Christmas gift that he made himself, looking all awkward and blushing. He’s the guy you will call when you’re dating someone and you need someone to encourage you or tell you that everything will work out — heck, he may even help you work things out with the guy. Happyface is the guy who is secretly in love with you, and you may never ever know because he’s too shy to tell you about it.

Altogether now: awwwww.

I also love how refreshing a male point of view is in contemporary YA fiction. I am a girl and I appreciate it if I read a girl’s story about life or love or whatever…but let’s face it girls: we can be too whiny and we over think a lot. Happyface’s voice is refreshing and funny, and it’s a relief to read that guys can be awkward and dorky yet be totally sweet all at the same time.

Happyface is a fun yet painfully honest journal, not about self discovery, but realizing that everyone of us hides behind our own happy faces. It may not be like how Happyface hides behind his smiles — we may hide behind what we wear, what we eat, what we do, who we date, how we act, but we all hide something, that we are afraid of others to see. Happyface the novel and the character teaches us that it’s okay to (and I quote) “…allow myself to cry or sit by myself when I need to…and find things to really smile about…“ after.

I recommend this book to anyone who’s loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, or, if you haven’t read that yet, those who can appreciate a good, non-paranormal YA story. My friend Aaron says this sounds similar to what John Green writes, and that I have yet to find out. I’m pretty sure girls will like this book (who doesn’t like reading about sensitive, awkward and geeky guys? ), but I’d recommend this book more to guys who may have been a Happyface at one point in their life.

Oh, and my favorite part of Happyface? This drawing. I really think I look like her when I don’t dry my hair properly and when I wear my glasses. What do you think?

I think this looks like me.

Rating: ★★★★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 72 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: hardbound, from Fully Booked

Cover: Amazon
Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. Revolve 2010 (New Testament Biblezine)
2. In My Mailbox (5)
3. Tweet Heart

I meant to post a review and a post related to this before this came, but I was too busy. So now, no reviews, no posts until I finish this.

Squee with me, come on:

Yay!

I’ll be back when I’m done! *waves*

Related posts:

1. Comic Books and Launches
2. Follow Friday / Book Blogger Hop (2)
3. Waiting on Wednesday: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

Have you ever wondered what happens to the other people in the fairy tale?

Things look grim for Talia and her mother. By royal proclamation, the constables and those annoying “good” fairies have taken away their livelihood by confiscating their spinning wheel. Something to do with a curse on the princess, they said.

Not every young lady has a fairy godmother rushing to her rescue.

Without the promise of an income from spinning, Talia’s prospects for marriage disappear, and she and her mother face destitution. Past caring about breaking an arbitrary and cruel law, rebellious Talia determines to build a new spinning wheel, the only one in the nation, which plays right into the evil fairy’s diabolical plan. Talia discovers that finding a happy ending requires sacrifice. But is it a sacrifice she’s willing to make?

Out of all the Disney princesses, I find Princess Aurora a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty the prettiest. Maybe I’m biased because I like them blonde, and she seemed like the most poised, most elegant of them all. But that maybe because she slept for a hundred years, and it must be hard to move after lying down for so long. I mean, I find my back and bones stiff after I sleep for more than ten hours, what more hundred years.

Tia Nevitt’s retelling is by far the most unique one I’ve encountered of all retellings I’ve read so far. Instead of focusing on the main character, the author shifts the focus to the people we readers rarely focus on in a story, to some random person in the town. The usual faceless and nameless people in the crowds are put into spotlight in The Sevenfold Spell, putting quite a unique twist in the story of Sleeping Beauty.

This is a quick read, more of a novella than a novel. However, the first part of the book felt long for me. Terribly long, mostly because of all the sex. I wasn’t expecting that, really, but I was surprised to read that Talia would resort to that to cure her of her loneliness. Mind you, she didn’t really become a whore so she could earn money — she did it out of loneliness.

I can’t really question the motivations of the characters, given Talia’s situation. Reading this told me that I am pretty conservative with what I read, and I could only stand to read so much sex in one book before I feel sick of reading it. I’m not saying that they were pointless in the book — I got the point. It had some kind of bearing in the story that made the character grow, which was good. I liked how Talia eventually outgrew her need for physical intimacy, and instead focused on other more important things, like patching things up with her mother (who can’t get any other livelihood besides making thread using their spinning wheel –health care jobs are not so hot in their time). I just didn’t like reading about how Talia did it with Willard and how Talia seduced an old man to do it with her. Just not my thing.

Fortunately, the story picked up by the second half, and there was a surprising twist. The resolution felt a bit too easy, and too clean cut for my taste. I guess that’s where the author really meant to go, to a happily ever after ending. It is a fairy tale, after all.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book. It’s just not for me, I guess. If I want another retelling, I think I’ll stick with Gail Carson-Levine and similar authors.

The Sevenfold Spell will be out on September 2010. Much thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy ebook!

Rating: ★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 71 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: ebook, Advanced Reading Copy from Netgalley

Cover & Blurb: Goodreads

Related posts:

1. The Great Perhaps
2. Red Riding Hood strikes back
3. Little Red Cowboy Hat

Oh hi. This isn’t a review, for a change, because I realized I posted so many reviews this week. Eep! Not that it’s bad, but I’m just not used to it.

This week’s In My Mailbox is supposed to be last week’s post, but our wireless was acting up. I found out last night that our four-year-old wireless router died, so I had to get a new one today. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we have stable connection again! (Yes, that’s the Internet addict in me speaking)

Anyway, let’s just pretend the things I’ll post this week wasn’t for last week. In My Mailbox is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren, where bloggers post about what books received that week, be it via  mailbox, library or store.

I went book-crazy last week because it was sale, and it was payday. Last Saturday, Grace, Jana and I went bookstore hopping to take advantage of the book sales. We started at Fully Booked Greenbelt, Powerbooks Greenbelt, then at Powerbooks Shang, National Bookstore Shang, Fully Booked Gateway and finally, National Bookstore Cubao a.k.a. The Mother Ship. We went home tired but very, very happy with our purchases.

From top to bottom:

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson
   I figure I’d need a break from YA every now and then, and I’ve heard good reviews of this one. Let’s see if I’d think the same thing.
2. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
   Finally! I have been looking for the paperback version of this since I saw good reviews of the series, and Chachic loved it so much. I can’t wait to start reading this.
3. Dark Blue by Melody Carlson
   I’ve been looking at this book since I saw them in OMF (or was it the book fair?), but I never had the motivation to get it. Finally grabbed a copy from National after seeing it was less than P200.
4. King Dork by Frank Portman
   Impulse buy! I saw some good reviews of the book from my friends in Goodreads, but there were also some bad reviews. I didn’t finish The Catcher in the Rye, so I am kind of wary of this impulse buy. Here’s to thinking positively.
5. You Wish by Mandy Hubbard
   I WoW-ed this book a couple of months back, and thanks to Grace for pointing this out to me! Don’t you just love that pink cover?
6. Spilling Ink by Ellen Potter, Anne Mazer and Matt Phelan
   Saw this, and I just had to have to have it. Writing books are always in my list, even if sometimes I don’t finish them. ^^
7. Happyface by Stephen Emond
   When I saw this curious book with a smiley face in Fully Booked, I was surprised to see that it was filled with drawings inside. Happyface is a journal of a boy nicknamed Happyface, about how he always seems happy but really he’s not. I’m reading this now and I am loving it.
8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
   The Book Smugglers have a good review for this, but I wasn’t about to pick it up until I saw the hardcover version in National for less than P350. I just had to get it, even if I’m not fond of hardbound books. The paperback costs P399! This is a bargain, as far as I’m concerned.

Not in picture: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Picked it up as a favor for Ariel, who can’t seem to find a copy of this book. There were piles of this in Powerbooks Greenbelt and Shang.

This is probably the biggest weekend stash I have ever had, and my wallet wasn’t really complaining. Probably because it was payday? I am not so sure. But I’m okay with this stash — I mean it’s probably not as expensive as say, getting Outer banks short sales (which isn’t that expensive, either, I’m pretty sure).

But it’s not over! Guess what else arrived last week!

It's in a pink case, definitely.

Tadaaaa!

Paper-like screen

Eeeee. ♥

Yes, I have a Kindle! I gave in and ordered, and my mom brought it home last week. Funny thing, though, was I ordered this one two days before Amazon announced they were releasing new Kindles. T_T But so far, I’m pretty satisfied with this one! I don’t really need the Wifi (although it would be more convenient), and 3G signal works pretty well when I’m at work. Reading on it is awesome, though. The screen really doesn’t strain the eye.

I’ll post a review of the Kindle soon, after I’ve read a couple more books on them. But I can say now that it’s a very good investment.

Oh, and her name is Astrid.

Now that’s a long In My Mailbox post! How about you, what’s in your mailbox?

Related posts:

1. In My Mailbox (4)
2. Happyface
3. Comic Books and Launches

It’s Friday, and I am so glad that it is! Because tomorrow is Saturday, and I am in need of a break (even if I had a break yesterday – holiday, yo!).

Anyway, this week has been relatively easy, even if I still have a ton of things on to-do list. Next week should prove challenging because I would be acting lead for our team, and it may mean I won’t have time to read and post…except maybe for Wednesday, because it’s Mockingjay release day! (It’s Wednesday here because the release in the US is on Tuesday – timezones and stuff) I. Can’t. Wait. Can I have a Mockingjay Leave, please? I can’t not read that book that week, especially since I’ll be joining the Mockingjay Launch Party next Sunday.

I will probably be busy during the weekend, and I’m hoping to post an IMM post on Sunday, but in case I don’t, here’s my second Follow Friday / Book Blogger Hop post!

Permit me to copy my friend Amaterasu’s FF post, and list the books reviews I posted this week. I’m actually quite surprised at the number of reviews I churned out this week — goes to show how fast I read and how much I managed to squeeze in my free time this week!

• Catch a Falling Star by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo
• Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (originally posted last week at Pinoy Pop, reposted on this blog)
• Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
• Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck

Look who’s a reviewing machine.

This week’s featured blogger for Follow Friday is Joy from Edgy Inspirational Romance! Now this is awesome — she writes Christian romance! I am definitely a new follower of Joy now. Lots of people joining the FF, too, see all participants of Follow Friday here.

Book Blogger Hop at Crazy for Books time, and this week’s question is: How many blogs do you follow?

My Google Reader has about 1000+ entries everyday, and I hardly read them all. I follow so many blogs, and not all of them are book blogs. I try to trim it down to 3 digits every day just so it doesn’t look overwhelming. One day when I’m really bored, I will get through all those unread feeds, promise! Sometimes I end up marking them as all read without reading them, and I miss about reading other stuff, like 5th wheel insurance…but sometimes I just don’t have the time. I’m trying to trim down my feeds by unsubscribing to those I don’t read anymore, and I’ve got a long way to go!

As for book blogs, I follow a lot, but I have about twenty or so that I really read and try to comment on. Sometimes the sheer number is kind of overwhelming…but that’s where multitasking comes in.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Related posts:

1. Follow Friday / Book Blogger Hop (1)
2. Waiting on Wednesday: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
3. Comic Books and Launches