Third Book of Christmas: 45 Pounds (More or Less)

Finally, finally had the time to write about my 3rd Book of Christmas: K. A. Barson's 45 Pounds (More or Less)! So, it is about a sixteen year old girl named Ann Galardi, who is a size 17 and her mother's a size way too smaller than her.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I dunno, maybe because I can relate so much with her and the fact that we share the same name and dilemma. Coincidence much? :D Though I am not overweight, like her I can safely say that I struggled with my self-esteem that I felt like I always needed to lose weight. As a child, I have always been the 'tabachingching' in the family. I was that chubby and I grew up wearing that insecurity. Like her, I tried different diet plans just to shed the extra pounds but thank God I didn't have to resort on infomercials about weight-loss which Ann unfortunately did in the novel. Yes, as we all probably know, the kit---which includes prepackaged food that tastes horrible and an exercise DVD that's harder than she thought---is absolutely not faultless. But I think that's the highlight of the story and Ann managed to stick with it and I liked how Barson did an awesome job mixing the humor with the lessons of the story.

It was a fun read and I recommend it most especially for those teens who are dealing with overweight. Scratch that, I think every woman in the world, overweight or not, should read this. You will learn a lesson or two on how to just be yourself. Oh, or maybe, how to nab a very cute guy by just being you! About Ann, however, did she lose weight you ask? Yes, she did. But you have to read the book to find out what and how did that happen. You won't regret it, that I can assure you. :)

It's all about being comfortable with your own skin,

Second Book Of Christmas: Eleanor & Park

As I mentioned on my Twitter account yesterday immediately after I finished the The-Catastrophic-History-of-You-and-Me post that I'd be reading Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park for my Second Book of Christmas Challenge. Annnnnddd guess what? Yes, I'm done reading it!

Honestly, I'm kinda hesitant to post a review of it because if you noticed, my reviews are sorta, kinda, little bit 'informal' in the category side I might not do any justice at all to the awesomeness of the book and that's just unfair. You know what I mean?

Oh, well. Eleanor & Park is about the first love shared between two young teenagers who actually met in a school bus and found a way to eventually express that love inspite of the circumstances and despite their differences. It was cute and surprisingly sweet. Unlike, TCHOYAM, E & P has a rather more serious attack to it though I found myself cracked up a few times on Eleanor and Park's convos. They made me miss my teenage years at some point with all the sneaky glances, doodling hearts with your crush's name at the back of your notes, the music, practically every little thing about it--minus all the family drama, of course. Lol. Fine, geez I never thought I'm gonna say this but I did miss my ultimate crush back in highschool while reading it. *groans* Man, what you did to me, Park! *facepalm*

Anyways, moving on. If you happened to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and liked it, I'm pretty sure you're gonna love E & P, too. The nerd in me just couldn't help but point out the similarities of the two, like for example, the song references! I really am a goner every time an author uses songs (most especially the ones I listen to) in his/her stories. I dunno, it always made me connect or fully understand a character. Haha. Ok, geek. :)) There's the whole protagonist-one-is-a-freak-while-protagonist-two-is-the-every-bit-definition-of-cool-and-popular-and-protagonist-one-fell-in-love-with-protagonist-two thing going on, as well. Though I am not saying the plots are the same, because they're totally not. But it will absolutely get you hooked! :)

You should definitely read Eleanor & Park! But I highly suggest it if only you're at least 13 years old because it has serious number of explicit words used and some mature content and I don't want kids to grow up so sudden by being exposed to mature stuff like that. Man, do I make any sense? I hope I do! Other than that, it's fine. However, the cliffhanger ending is just... I don't even know what to say. I hate Rainbow Rowell for it. Errr, not really. But. Yeah. Haha.

You know what to do,

First Book of Christmas: The Catastrophic History Of You And Me

Yesterday, I checked Saab Magalona's blog (because I am such a fangirl like that lol!) and found out she is giving away 12 books in 12 days before Christmas Day in there (so if you're a total bookworm and you wanna snag a book for free, go check out her blog and join her giveaway contest! :) ). I thought it was a great idea and I wanna do the same thing. Well, not exactly the same thing as in I will give 12 books away to 12 lucky winners. (No, sorry folks, I am not that rich. :D ) But I wanna do the 12 Books of Christmas thing, in a read-12-books-before-the-year-ends-and-if-possible-write-a-simple-review-to-each kinda way.

So to kick things off, I started reading The Catastrophic History of You and Me by  Jess Rothenberg last night at 9PM and found myself sobbing my heart out, quietly, in the dark at 2AM (a few times, anyway-ok. A lot of times, happy now? What?? *groans* FIIIIIINE. Almost the whole time! Geez, just how annoying can you get? Embarass me, much?? *grumbles under breath* Ok... Sorry you witnessed that. My alter-ego is just acting up today. Enough about her, tsk!) As I was saying, it was heartrending as in the you-need-a-pack-of-tissue-beside-you-while-reading kind. Oh, am I being too much of a spoiler so far? Don't worry, I won't share the juicy details. ;)

Though I wanna reiterate how much I loved and enjoyed reading this book! If you're into paranormal or supernatural-themed books minus the gory details (like those other stories I've read with the same genre, that it is almost creepy to read? Especially in the dark? At 3AM? Haha. Though I can honestly say I really enjoyed reading that ones, too!), you will totally love this one as well. Or if you're a mom/parent/guardian of a teenage kid and you want her to read a good book, I extremely recommend TCHOYAM because not only the flow of the story is super smooth you won't be able to put it down even for a second, the convos--err, dialogues are super relatable, too! Oh, and it has a lot of Disney and song references, as well that I end up playing some of 'em while writing this not-so-formal review hahaha! And though I know it is a story about teenage death, heartbreak, betrayal and a whole lot of hilarious angst, it is packed with bunch of lessons about life, love, friendship, forgiveness and the life-beyond, too. Furthermore, who can even resist a funny-charming-motorcycle-riding-leather-jacket-wearing-willing-to-sacrifice-even-his-own-soul-just-to-be-with-the-love-of-his-life-again-even-if-it-takes-forever-hero? Ooopsie! I didn't suppose to share that one!! :P

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. My first book of Christmas and very informal review. Lol. I hope you pick up a book today!

♥,

PS. If you're looking for a synopsis of the book, you won't find it in here because I deliberately didn't write one since I tend to retell the whole story in the process and I bet you don't like that much, do you? I thought so. You can check it out on Goodreads, though. :)

Life > Death

Earlier this evening, as we were doing our usual family dinner, we suddenly heard a fuss outside. Apparently, a teenage kid knocked over a trash bin that was supposed to be taken away by the garbage collector. The kid was a nephew of the guy living across from ours. The guy got so pissed he admonished the kid so the kid went to his mother---who's a sister of the guy---to tell the story. And that was when the screaming fest began. Long story short, the guy---who actually had hypertension complication---had a heart attack minutes after his confrontation with his sister and was declared dead-on-arrival when his family were finally able to get him to the hospital.

It was that fast. Bam. In just a matter of a few minutes, he lost his life over what? A silly as a thing a trash. What a waste. I know I'm no perfect to say that I don't get mad over a petty thing, in fact, I do. Last time I check, I am still human. But in those fateful minutes when I learned that that guy was losing the battle for his life, I realized that life is too short to be anything but happy. As what The Beatles said in their song, "We Can Work It Out," "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend." Let not our hearts be angered by things that are not worthy of such strong emotion. Like, when you're watching a film inside a movie house but you cannot focus on the movie because some kid is crying if not banging your seat with his feet. Or when your brother is being his obnoxious self leaving dirty clothes everywhere the house even if you have reminded him time and time again not to. Or how some neighbor love to play really loud music early in the morning that wakes you up every single time.

Annoying, right? But what can we possibly do about it? Yeah, we can rant and rave and huff all we want but what change will it going to make? Will it do us any good? No, because anger is a double-edged sword that when we use it against someone, little did we know that we are hurting ourselves in the process just as how we are hurting others with it.

Life is short. Be happy. Be grateful and if possible, always have a heart that is ready to forgive ourselves and other people's shortcomings. I know it is not an easy feat, though we can always try, yes? Oh, yeah! :)