Somewhat of a Morrie Story

      If you ever read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom and loved it, then you will most likely like this one. Written by Yoko Ogawa in a first person narrative, this novel goes into depth in the relationship between a housekeeper and the professor she takes care of. The relationship starts on the rocks when the housekeeper sees for herself that the professor's memory can only contain 80 minutes of present time before it disappears from his memory. As the story goes on she also sees that the only things he could never forget are the numbers he surrounds himself with and the memories before 1975.
Despite this and both of them being from two different worlds; her from a world of housekeeping and him from the world of numbers; these two characters end up teaching each other life lessons that help them evolve as characters. 
There are some quirks to the book that set it off: such as almost all of the characters don't have names and there isn't no specific time frame. Reading this novel, I found out that even though these quirks might have given the novel a less personal touch, I saw that it helped put emphasis on the importance of the details in their relationship and the progression of it as a whole.
However, I do have to say that this book does not give in to some reader satisfaction of Disney endings. Rest assured, if you read Tuesdays With Morrie, you will cry or at least shed a tiny little tear. I recommend this book for those days when the mood is turned on for some comfort food and a need for some tissues.

Til Next Review,
Miss Bobo

Run, Witch, Run!

So you want a brain snack for your bookworm noggin' and find yourself thinking 350 pages are just too much for you (at the moment anyway)? Don't sweat it (really don't), because I just finished reading a wonderful noggin snack perfect for a short train ride or just passing by some minutes.
Written in third person narrative by Vivian Vande Velde, Magic Can Be Murder has the magical triple combo of mystery, murder, and magic taking place during the time of Salem Witch Trials.

soft cover copy (even cheaper as an e-book)

Following the story of Nola, a teen witch who learns the hard times of being a witch-in-the-closet, this novel takes the cake as one of Velde's great desserts for any witch-lover out there.
Starting from a flashback of Nola's childhood, you get the deal that being a witch-in-the-closet was rather...tricky. From then on, you follow "the present" of Nola as a teenager who is constantly on the run with her mother because of the voices her mother hears. Yes, you did not read wrong, her mother hears voices and what is worse is out right vocal about it, embarassing Nola and in turn, leading Nola to cover her with the whole "she's losing her wits" line.
Although, most parts of this book don't get too serious, there is still a view of what it was like to be on the road in the 1600's with no cars or anything but yourself and your "wits" to help you through.
Nola's character is surprisingly relatable and witty despite the time setting of the novel. And the mystery aspect of this book will be fulfilling enough to make you think more of Nancy Drew than Agatha Christie mysteries.
But don't get too serious, because as mentioned before, there is humor splashed here and there that at least will make you chuckle..
Be warned that with it's charming ending, this novel still gives the after effects of wanting more. Vivian Vande Velde must have known what she was doing when she set the ending, especially when it takes a witty twist on the "happily ever after." Again three words: great snack read.

Til Next One,
Miss Bobo

New Year's Cheer and a Ghost Breath in the Midst

Hello! I hope you all had an awesome holiday cheer and I wish you the best for this new year. Since I am on vacation for the holidays I took the opportunity to grab a handful of books to read and review. Unfortunately for Giacomo, I left him just when things got all Rubik's cube and so that book review is on hiatus. (BOO!)
However, I was able to begin and finish reading one of the novels I burrowed at the library titled Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen.

Taking place in South Carolina, this novel starts in the voice of Charlotte Silver talking about her life as the daughter of two paranormal researchers and the sister of a charming Annelise.

After dealing with a life of being on the road to haunted places with her parents, Charlotte gets a change of scenery and gets settled at a house near Charleston, South Carolina. From then on things get wacky as she ends up finding out she is haunted by a ghost that seems to have followed her from a recent trip to a haunted place with her parents in Charleston.

At first reading the novel, I thought it was going to be one of those stories of a plane Jane or a dorky girl being changed by an extreme paranormal event. As the novel progressed I realized I wasn't wrong.

Pertaining in the YA paranormal/fantasy genre, this novel gives a bit of a twist to the stereotypical ghost story.

Instead of having the main character being a random person, she ends up being the offspring of what she herself quotes as the daughter of "ghostbusters." I did find the narrative to be a bit reminiscent of Meg Cabot and a pinch of R.L.Stine and also found some interesting scenes of the novel; like when Charlotte encounters the ghosts and communicates with them.

Because I've read a lot of paranormal YA novels, I wasn't scared at all reading the novel. However, I would recommend this novel for teens who are slowly getting into the paranormal genre and don't want to get scared too easily. Besides that I would say it's "cute."

Some Books To Discover!

the Penguin edition

Sorry I have left you guys hanging for the past month. Life is no easy feat. I will be doing some book reviews on some classics since I have not really dwell in them outside of school. Hopefully I will be able to read them and post a review. One of them I just started is called Of Mistresses, Tigresses and Other Conquests by Giacomo Casanova, who was "a writer, adventurer, soldier, free thinker, con man, gambler, gourmand, violinist, lottery director, and spy" who also "consorted with many notable figures of his day. " I barely know much of him besides the little paragraph in the book. Which means most likely, I will  be researching in due time and giving a background scope on his life and what he did. So far, I am on the first few pages in which he explains that he isn't a bad person and believes in God. Already reading that I am inferring that things are just going to get really heated for him to have written this especially before he died in 1798! Things might just get scandalous! This is short so it won't be too long before I write a review on this. But for now please be patient.


Til Next Book Review,
Miss Bobo

Popping Like A Tropical Bird in the Jungle

It has been quite a while since I last wrote a book review, and for that I apologize for my disappearance. But enough excuses! Today, this blog post is a book review on an interesting book I recently finished, titled Hot House Flower & the 9 Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin.

hard cover version

Written in first person narrative, this novel focuses on the spiritual journey of a Lila Nova, who is a 32 year old divorcee living in downtown NY. After spending some time wandering around Union Square, Lila finds a plant vendor who introduces her to the world of exotic plants. After that, Lila ends up surrounding herself with the mystical and spiritual aura of plants, discovering all sorts of crazy spiritual happenings. Through out the book, Berwin makes sure to express a strong sense of spirituality not only in the plants Lila discovers but in the metaphors and symbolism behind them. Each chapter there is an image of a plant with a description of it or a refrain hinting at what Lila might do next. Of course, there are moments where I question whether to dislike or like Lila for the irrational actions she makes. In the end , I found there is so much more that I loved or found interesting in this novel I lost a bit a focus on Lila. Like for example, Armand, the old man who helps Lila on her adventure finding the 9 plants of desire; has a few or rather many of the great quotes in this book. There is even a recipe on how to make chocolate out of cacao beans. I definitely would recommend this book to any other person whose into spiritual romantic adventures that have more substance than the sex scenes in it, which this novel sure had a few erotic moments. Nevertheless, this novel is worth getting hooked on.

Til Next Book Review,

Miss Bobo

P.S. check out the book trailer!

Something Borrowed is Revisited (Book vs. Movie)

                  

the movie

As promised, here in this blogpost is the compare and contrast of Something Borrowed (both the movie and the book). Sometimes it could be a bit disappointing to read a book and then watch the film version of the original work realizing the film wasn't going to go exactly as the written work.  I personally found myself exactly in that position. In the book, Darcy is quite a b*tch but at the same time is depicted to have a sense of humanity that equalizes her negative side. In the movie she was protrayed by Kate Hudson as a cartoon character: the typical female villain in most of its progression. However, for Rachel who was played by Ginnifer Goodwin , she was portrayed more headstrong than how she originally is in the book. That was  especially one good thing that brought up the movie: Rachel taking the balls to confront her emotions and grow as the movie progresses. And yes you see John Krasinski on the right of Kate Hudson as part of the entourage. He plays Ethan, the long-time best friend of both Darcy and Ethan. It was sad for me to see that he was actually saying what Hillary, another best friend, was saying to Rachel in the book. In the book, it is more empowering to hear it from a female perspective because of the situation Rachel didn't want to confront herself and Dex[the guy engaged to Darcy] about. Nevertheless, Krasinski's dialogue helped the movie with involving some humor and a bit of a twist to things. What I was mixed about was how Dex was portrayed in the movie. Played by the handsome Colin Egglesfield, Dex was played as this cheesy goody guy who is sensitive and whatnot. I thought the direction of the acting was bad because in the book Dex is more realistic. He isn't necessarily the sensitive guy. Even Marcus, the guy who is supposed to be close friends with Dex seems to me like a total sleazebag in the movie while in the book he is your regular guy caught in the whole love mess. I have no comment as to how Claire, who is more of Darcy's best friend is portrayed. The whole movie was a mess in the dialogue and in the characters because the actors only portrayed stereotypical archetypes instead of the realistic characters in the book. I did appreciate the fact that at the end Darcy and Rachel were able to end on a good note even if it didn't make sense or wasn't really fitting with the whole movie. Overall, the movie seemed as more of the Disney version of a book on a realistic situation than portraying the actual real situation of dealing with betrayal and the end of friendships in general.  

Vampires Still Amist

the hardcover cover

While I am cooking up that movie vs. book comparison I will continue to cultivate the usual random book reviews. Recently, I finished another supernatural novel. (I have a fancy for the supernatural especially vampires). When it comes to vampires in novels you know there is going to be some action. This is definitely the case with Meg Cabot’s Overbite; a novel written in third person narrative about vampires, redemption, ancient history, and of course some romance.

Taking place in present day New York, Overbite follows Meena, a psychic; her vampire lover, Lucien Antonescu; her brother, Jon; and her handsome co-worker, Alaric Wulf in an action drama against flesh eating vampires.  Although, Jon participates less in the action as the other characters, the action is just an added bonus to all the dramatic twists.

This novel would mostly be considered a supernatural mystery/romance because certain “criminals” are punished and eliminated and of course the protagonist gets the happy ending.  It would have been advisable for Meena to have been able to kick some butt just like the other characters instead of just having the brains to uncover the mystery. Nevertheless, Velma would be proud for her cookie smarts. If you are a vampire action lover you will definitely get sucked into this book.