Book Geek Week News for 2013

courtesy of imdb.com

courtesy of imdb.com

Hey, everybody. Hope you all are having a great holiday week. Wish you all good tidings before, during, and after New Years Eve.

Just wanted to drop by a review along with some other news.

First off: news; with the Twilight saga thing ending there are two movies coming out soon (just around the corner) that are straight from the supernatural fiction book shelves: Beautiful Creatures coming out in February 2013 and City of Bones (part of the Mortal Instruments series) in August of 2013.


The significance is that despite the 7 month gap in between movies, there is a question of which one will take the throne for film adaptation of a supernatural YA novel. There is also the question if these movies will capture the series well, quench the thirst of the book fans, and also create a strong hold on the audiences that go watch them.


Nevertheless, with such movies coming out, it is seen that the supernatural genre in the YA section is taking popularity. And among them there are other novels being adapted to film next year. Here is a list of a few I found on squidoo.com:


1. World War Z by Max Brooks (set to release on June 2013)
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (set to release November 2013)

3. Paranoia by Joseph Finder (set to release October 2013)

4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (set to release March 2013)

5. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (set to release November 2013)

And these are just a few of them. I guess now with less new ideas in the world of cinema, most people working in that medium are adapting movies to cash in the big check or really haven't found a new idea besides making a romantic comedy, action movie, or a movie based directly on a book or some significant thing in the media. But enough of my ranting on that.

 So far, things have come out good. Books never stop being in popularity whether e-book style or physical print with all the binding and non-virtual pages. And other good news: picked out some interesting novels and a few book reviews are due after this post, (right before New Years Eve!)

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Jiu Jiu v.1 (book review)

Hey guys hope December is treating you well wherever you may be. Recently, with this upcoming winter break I got a chance to check out a few books to crack on some book reading.
A few of them I have already started reading them on the side until I can go full blown book worm mode aaaaaand I got to finish one of them.

picture courtesy of mangapark.com

Now, this is a first since the beginning of this blog because I usually review fiction rather than comic books or graphic novels. So as a first: here is my review on a manga I picked up yesterday.

Titled Jiu Jiu (story and art done by Touya Tobina), this manga starts with the growth of Takamichi who is put in charge as a demon hunter after her twin brother passed away. As years go on, her father finds two puppies and puts them in Takimichi's care. She calls them Snow and Night and takes care of them for 3 years. As she gets older she starts high school and spends less time with them. Puppies now turned into grown dogs, find themselves in a struggle to stay by her side.

As you can tell by the plot, it is a shoujo story 9meaning that the target audience is young girls). Personally, I do know a few guys who do read shoujo so it isn't a big deal. But with shoujo mangas like Vampire Knight and Absolute Boyfriend, its a bit hard to distinguish yourself in the genre when the main point is about a girl finding love (or so is the usual trend in this genre).

Anywhoo...I found this graphic novel more cute than comical and there were instances in which there wasn't much of transitioning in character growth. I liked the concept of a girl being put in charge of her dead brother's job and found that her character was aggressive in action sequences. Nevertheless, its cute just not that big of a deal. This would probably go well for a girl who is in her preteen-early teen years and who had just started getting into japanese graphic novels.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

CosMos: A Co-creator's Guide to the Whole World (Non-Fiction Review)

picture courtesy of goodreads.com

Hello folks. It's been a month since my last blogpost so I apologize for being MIA. Been all over the place with projects, papers, and all that collegiate halubuloo.

However, I was able to finish one of the books I recently checked out. First of all, as you can tell by most of the books reviewed here, I am not much of a non-fiction person. Things have changed a little now, and I am now picking up non-fiction books on interesting subjects that aren't bout the usual economics that have been sold within the past decade.

The book you see here was one of the few non-fiction books I picked up to read on the train ride.
Written by Dr. Ervin Laszlo and Dr. Jude Currivan (yeah they both got Ph.D's so you gotta call em Dr.), Cosmos; A Co-creator's Guide to the Whole World broadly covers subjects such as string theory, the Akashic field,  holographics, certain terms of physics and other developments/studies that have done to prove such phenomena as ESP and premonitions.

For 264 pages, this book does not cover the whole world as it is stated in the subtitle of this book. Both authors cover broadly certain complex theories such as the string theory and equations such as E=mC2 in basic terms. There were instances that I felt certain subjects should have been given more detailed explanations and examples of, like the concept of quanta being used to discover parallel universes. However, I did learn certain things such as what are "photons" and certain experiments & developments done to prove phenomena like ESP. Sure some of the information done here you can research it online but this book is good to guide people who are starting to connect with other books containing more detailed information on the aforementioned subjects. I wouldn't take this book literal to the details provided but its good to get you started on understanding more of what Albert Einstein was talking about in his equation of E=mC2. Oh and another thing: this book in almost every chapter had an Albert Einstein quote to accompany it. It was kinda cool and deep but wasn't too much of an introduction to the chapter. The main concept I got from this book is to be more aware and not be afraid to learn new things. So, if any of you thought that concepts like wormholes, string theory, parallel universes, chakras, ESP, premonitions, or even Deja Vu was interesting I would recommend this book to get you started. Either way,

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Thank You & Some Hot Tamales!

Tally-ho Book Adventurers! I apologize for being M.I.A for the past few weeks. I have been caught in the tumults of life (school work) and a book I am reading which I will be reviewing very soon (hint: Santiago Gamboa). 

picture courtesy of memegenerator.net

Just want to state for the new followers: thank you for following and don't be scared to post a comment (whether good/bad). I welcome all opinions: as long as there are no insults. 

Books are a window to different worlds and universes; not everyone will like the same "trip" (OK, I don't make sense that much but bear with me >.<). So thank you again for following this blog :D

As for the hot tamales: some of you might be all too familiar with the movement that is going on online: indie self-published ebooks that have been posted on the kindle ebook section of amazon.com.

picture courtesy of Wiki Commons

So far, I have found myself confounded by 5 pages of the list of free ebooks online. I am still perusing as of this moment and have downloaded about 5 books. (And they're mine to keep *evil grin*). Oh, and for those of you who are always hesitant about hot books that are turned into movies (i.e Alex Cross, The Hunger Games): in the list of free books you will be able to find previews of those books. SOoooo, instead of buying the "hot" books you can preview them and see if you like them; if not you don't have to worry about wasting your money...cause its FREE!

And on another hot tamale: I just found out last week: the film adaptation for Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl is expected for release on February of next year. For those of you who are fans of the series, the date on the IMDB.com (which is where I got my source of information) says February 13 2013 as the release date (just in case you want to mark your calendar). 

I also saw the trailer and as a film adaptation: doesn't look bad. Then again, trailers can deceive people. Anywaaaays, I suggest to start recommending reading the original books (yep, it's a series alright) to your friends who are fantasy/paranormal romantics because it is a love story AND it would suck for them to see the movie and then read the book that way: the characters will be defined by the actors rather than them choosing as to how they would look like when they read the book. My professor for Film Rhetoric once said that it is better for the reader to have the power on how the characters look like in a book than defining them in appearances to the actors in the film version. Definitely agree on that.

For now, that's it folks

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

"Why Be the Sheep When You Can Be the Wolf?"

picture courtesy of compassbookratings.com

Good Afternoon fellow book pirates! Just came through with a finished reading on a book that came out this summer.

Taking place in medieval Britain, the story centers on a girl named Ismae who escapes an arranged marriage by the hands of fate. Turns out she is destined to be the handmaiden of Death since the "mistake" of her birth and is sent to a convent in which she is trained to be an assassin.

However, as it may, things aren't always cut and dry when there are politics at hand, romance, and traitors in the midst of a potential war. What will Ismae do?

This is a unique story because its not your everyday medieval novel. I mean, the main character is trained to be an assassin which is a bit antagonistic. She is definitely not girly and kind of awkward when it comes to interacting with hot guys. And what I also like about this book is that the romance (yes there is romance) isn't the main focus of the novel. There is action and almost a textual game of Clues because when reading it, it isn't exactly clear who is the traitor in the group of people surrounding the duchess. I'd say its a great book for the beginning of the series but I think some of the supporting characters could have had a little bit more spotlight to add more mystery or something else. Otherwise, I recommend as a train read.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Stray (First Fall Book Review)

courtesy of rachelvincent.com

Hope you all are having a good week. The fall season has started and its time to collect some of those books for the time in between work and school.

And talking about books, today I finally finished an awesome adventurous one I was reading ebook style:

Written in first person narrative, Stray by Rachel Vincent is centered on Faythe, a girl doing her years in graduate school to escape her family life. Independent and stubborn, Faythe has spent her years in college studying and annoyed at the bodyguards her father sends to protect her. Being the only female daughter who is a werecat, she has always been a great concern of her parents. And as human girls start to appear dead within werecat territory, worry starts to bubble even more.

The concept of a “werecat” was interesting to find in this book since werewolves have been one of the famous fantasy archetypes along with the vampire. Here, werecats are very similar to werewolves in behavioral aspects but have different elements of stealth. For example, in this book werecats are impervious to silver.

I also found the main character, Faythe, to be a little too stubborn and crazy in the beginning but as the story progresses it becomes apparent the reason why she is that way and why she avoids her family. There is suspense in this book in which there are twists and unsuspected turns along with adventure and romance. And even the romance itself is intense and less sweet than your usual conventional one.

Finishing this book, I find myself highly intrigued and waiting for the next one since this book is the first in the series. However, I do have to say that this book was really graphic in the violence content and there were some scenes that I actually had to take a 2-day break before continuing reading. I definitely recommend to read this book for those of you who are shape-shifter fans and like some good suspenseful action. 

Beware: this book requires a certain tolerance to violence.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Last Seen Leaving (book review)

courtesy of kgbbar.com

Hope you all are enjoying these last days of summer.

As usual I have a book review here for you. I love mysteries and this one is in that category. Now please do not get mad at me when you finish this review just because I said I love mysteries.

At some point we end up finding ourselves with a book that leaves us speechless. This one most definitely left that impression on me.

Written in third person by Kelly Braffet, Last Seen Leaving is about a girl who disappears after an accident and a short time later is searched by her mother who has never been the same since the death of her husband.

I remember Kelly Braffet from reading Jack and Josie, so when I picked this book I figured maybe this would be disturbing. Man, was I wrong.

 This book was all over the place with the characters and the setting. There was a lot of flashbacks going on along with unnecessary focus to things happening in the background of whatever character the narrative was focusing on.

I have read a lot of books using a past and present tense in their narrative and still be able to keep a composure in how the story flowed. This novel only flowed well in the switch of focus on the main characters. What kept me reading this book is the concept of the mother finding the daughter but that didn't even happen (sorry to spoil that small detail). So I am still questioning what is the point of this book? If it isn't about the mother finding the daughter then what is it truly about? Is it about growing up and finding home? Or is it just a story of 2 aimless characters?

If you don't like confusion, I suggest NOT to pick up this book because you will either A. get annoyed and/or B. throw the book across the room or even C. look at the book with a question mark above your head just like I did.

For the first time on this blog, I am going to say this book is one of the bad apples.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo