Overbooked Reader

Me holding my hardcover copy of 1Q84, which I bought on the day it was released in Fully Booked, Greenhills Promenade.  It's really dirty. I spilled some coffee on it. I will finish reading it soon.  I haven't read the whole 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami , but I've probably read part one of this novel more times than any other novel I've read before. It's not that I didn't enjoy reading part one. In fact, I loved it. It's just one of those stories so heavy and detailed that I have to pause for a while. It just so happens that when I get back to reading it, I feel like starting all over again. 1Q84 is set in a Tokyo during a fictionalized 1984. I assume the parallel between this book and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four will become more apparent in parts two and three. Part one alternates between the narratives of female assassin/gym instructor Aomame and budding novelist/male cram school mathematics teacher Tengo . Aomame kills with a needl...

I'll be honest here. I bought my copy of The Way of Kings (Part 1 of The Stormlight Archive ) by Brandon Sanderson for two reasons. First, I though he wrote all of the Wheel of Time epic-fantasy series. He wrote co-wrote a few of them, but only after Robert Jordan died in 2007. Second, I really dig its white book cover. I even bought an entire roll of plastic cover just to wrap that one book. I'm trying to catch-up on reading fantasy and science fiction books that, regretfully, I didn't read when I was younger. Thus, my recently reading Orson Scott-Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow , as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring ,  all of which I've reviewed previously. This is also the reason why I bought The Way of Kings (Part 1) in Fully Booked, Alabang Town Center.  Me being silly again, I thought the thick tome was the entire book, but it was only half of it! Luckily, I found Part 2 in Fully Booked, Greenbelt 5. Af...

Sharp Objects is one of the most thrilling and terrifying novels I've ever read.  Gillian Flynn 's debut novel tells the story of the journalist Camille Preaker . She's a cutter, who carves words onto her skin using knives and other sharp objects. She can barely cover the words sliced onto her skin, a permanent reminder of her troubled past. Camille is given an assignment to cover a pair of murders. Two preteen girls have been abducted and strangled in the small town of Wind Gap. All their teeth are missing. Camille must now return home and face her neurotic, hypochondriac mother ( Adora ), her beautiful half-sister ( Amma ), and the memory of her dead sister ( Marian ) She must confront her childhood traumas. As she delves deeper into her investigation, we learn more about her, her family, her friends, and her hometown.  Wind Gap is a town filled with horrifying secrets, but who hides the biggest secret of them all? Will Camille survive her homecoming or wil...

Gone Girl is a page-turner. Reading it, I was taken for a ride--one that I'd rather forget.   It's Nick Dunne and Amy Dunne 's fifth wedding anniversary one summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri. Nick drives home. His front door is open; His wife is gone. He calls the police, and they mount an investigation. From the start, Nick is their primary suspect. Pressure builds. The police, the media, Amy's parents, the American public, all of them searching for answers, and for Amy. Unfortunately, Nick is a liar. He lies, deceives, and plots. He acts inappropriately, like laughing when he's supposed to frown. He seems guilty, but is he? Nick stands by his innocence. His twin sister Margo lends her support. But if Nick didn't do it, who did? Lies, Lies, All Lies! Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne in the upcoming Gone Girl movie adaptation.  Rosamund Pike (in missing person's poster) plays Amy Dunne. Gone Girl is a gripping read. The story is tol...

Author: Mina V. Esguerra Title: Fairy Tale Fail Place Published: Manila, Philippines Publisher: Summit Books Year Published: 2012 No. of Pages: 142 Price: P175 Place Bought: National Book Store, Greenbelt 1 Have you ever dreamed of living happily-ever-after with the love of your life? What happens when your dreams fall apart? This is the premise of Mina V. Esguerra ’s contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale Fail .  Eleanor Andrea Manuel is a young professional working at a financial services firm in Makati City. Her boyfriend Don Padilla is her office mate. Ellie sees Don as dependable and friendly. He’s a “good guy,” the kind of guy her parents would love. She’s the heroine of her fairy tale love story, and he’s her Prince Charming. Then reality strikes unexpectedly. Don dumps Ellie. He says she lacks passion, ambition, money-sense, and is “a failure at relationships.” He misses the free-spirited Ellie he first met. She is devastated, but resilient. She sees her s...

Author: Orson Scott Card Title: Ender’s Shadow Place Published: New York Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Year Published: 1999 No. of Pages: 467 Price: P360 Place Bought: Fully Booked Greenhills Promenade I read Ender’s Game back in September 2013, in anticipation of the book’s movie adaptation (which was alright, but paled in comparison to the book). I reviewed that Orson Scott Card science-fiction novel and gave it a perfect score.  While I enjoyed the novel immensely, I found that it left too many questions unanswered.  I wanted to know more about what happened behind the scenes in Battle School and the I.F.’s battle against the Formics. Ender Wiggin was mostly clueless on both accounts. That’s when Blooey, a fellow book blogger (and one of my favorites!), recommended that I read Ender’s Shadow as a companion guide to E nder’s Game . She added that the former was told from Bean’s point of view—and that she liked Bean better than Ender. [Click o...

Her (2013) is a 126-minute science-fiction-romance film that follows the success of writer-as-protagonist films like Stranger than Fiction (2006) and Ruby Sparks (2012). Written and directed by Spike Jonze ( Being John Malkovich , Adaptation ), the film takes a sincere and serious look at the nature of human relationships in a world set in the near future.  Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly , a professional letter-writer who falls in love with an intelligent computer operating system called Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson ). For Samantha, the feeling is mutual. Theodore thinks he's found the perfect woman. However, he soon realizes that loving an OS can be as challenging as loving a real person. Supporting characters include Theodore's wife Catherine ( Rooney Mara ), who is asking her husband for a divorce; his friend Amy ( Amy Adams ), whose marriage in on the rocks; and a friend of a friend ( Olivia Wilde ) who goes out on a blind date with Theod...