The 2012 Book Challenge

[strandedstranger]

My nose spurted out blood with that review.

[schizo_me]

Kailangan talaga may review? hehe hindi ako sanay mag review ng book pero a good way para ma enhance ang writing skills ko kung meron man hehe:
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
One of my goals this year is to learn more about investment in stocks so I started by reading this book. I didn’t learn much about investment though..

This book teaches you how money will work for you and not the other way around. Few thing I learned: Avoid the rat race and have your own business or since business is not for everyone, keep your day job and invest your assets. Grow your assets , reduce expenses. Buy luxury last. Don’t be afraid to lose. take chances.

This is a good book for those who doesn’t know how to manage their money. Some parts are generally boring for me since I already understand what accounting is but overall an okay book for me.

[bitwise]

so i guess im out of this thread since the "rules" are stricter now.

it is impossible for me to finish 50 since 99.99% of the time, i only pick REALLY thick books. i have this weird feeling that im being shortchanged if i read short books.

still, good luck to all that will join this challenge!

(goes back to A Crown of Swords, Book 7 of The Wheel of Time )

[strandedstranger]

^Just go ahead and try. List down the books that you've read and let's see where we'll go from there. (That's the same reason why I ask people to put down the number of pages of the book they have just read).

[pinoy2781]

@PINOY what are you planning to read this 2012. I'm still looking for interesting titles and it would be better if some of us will have similar titles so we can discuss them here.

currently, i'm reading "the hour i first believed" ni wally lamb. next yung "she's come undone", same author.

[pinoy2781]

1. The Thief- Megan Whalen Turner
2. Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
Staged in a future civilization called Panem, the hunger games is the first book of the famous Trilogy YA book by Suzanne Collins. This is about a girl, Katniss who is forced to join a brutal deathmatch when her sister was picked, thereby replacing her. This is a story what it takes to survive.
At first I had a doubt on starting on this book. I'm not the type who reads more famous titles (I prefer finding hidden gems). What can I say. I'd rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. We have here a kickass heroine with an unpredictable loverboy partner, Peeta. Medyo love story-action-drama type na may halong social concepts. Who would not hate the capitol? It is fast- paced so you wouldn't notice that you are done reading the book. Enjoyed the book but I guess I have to continue with the next 2 books to fully apppreciate it. (and the movie too!)

thekaisermarc, when will you be reading the next book of the series.

Oh the Hunger Games, can we talk about that in this thread later? I'm sure a lot of you guys have read that already.

plano ko ring basahin ang hunger games. plus yung percy jackson.
tsaka terry pratchett.

[sexybod]

Done reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Will write a short review on my blog tomorrow.

Initial recommendation: GET A COPY AND START READING IT NOW.

[nozmail]

1. 999: twenty-nine original tales of horror and suspense - al sarrantonio (editor)

just finished:


2. title: a christmas carol
author: charles dickens
number of pages: 72 pages (project gutenberg ;the image is a vintage classics edition)
date started: january 5
date finished: january 8
short review: a christmas carol, written by charles dickens, is a ghost story/christmas story about ebenezer scrooge, a grumpy man who hated christmas. he was visited one christmas night by the ghost of his business partner, jacob marley who, along with the ghosts of the christmas past, present and future taught scrooge an important lesson.
this is my first dickens. ito na ata ang pinakamaikli nya since novella lang ito. simple lang ang istorya pero hindi ko basta basta naintindihan. kinailangan ko ng dictionary para mas maintindihan ko.

akala ko mamamatay si tiny tim, buti na lang nagbago si scrooge.

rating: 4.5 out of 5. overall, a nice read.

[strandedstranger]

^I'm pretty surprised that you haven't read or at the very least watched a version of The Christmas Carol whether on cartoons, anime or in print.

If you don't mind me asking, what prompted you to reach that Dickens classic?

---

Here's the problem with me, I tend to switch books a lot. Due to this, I incur a backlog which I can hopefully finish within the month.

[nozmail]

^I'm pretty surprised that you haven't read or at the very least watched a version of The Christmas Carol whether on cartoons, anime or in print.

If you don't mind me asking, what prompted you to reach that Dickens classic?

---

Here's the problem with me, I tend to switch books a lot. Due to this, I incur a backlog which I can hopefully finish within the month.

i have to be honest. i find classics, well maybe not all, dragging. pero it's worth it. andami kong natutunang mga salita na hindi ko nababasa sa mga contemporary books. or maybe that's just me.

meron akong audiobook nang a christmas carol pero hindi ko maintindihan kaya binasa ko na lang.

pareho din tayo ng problema. mag focus muna ako ngayon sa isa. nakalimutan ko na nga yung first half nung novella ni hp lovecraft. umpisahan ko ulit yung at the mountains of madness.

[yakibuke]

3. art of war - sun tzu

[strandedinavan]

^let's follow the review format, shall we? It's not only to confirm if you have read such books but to brush up our writing (reviewing) skills as well.

You said you have time to finish 100 books so I'm pretty sure that writing at least a six-sentence review is a piece of cake on your part.

----

[yakibuke]

^wahaha tol naman. yung ganung libro hindi na ginagawan ng review. nasa title na lahat.

Review:

Art of war ni Sun Tzu. Ang sinasabi lang naman ng libro ay mga taktika ng gera. Kung paanong dapat mong kontrolin alamin ang bawat bagay na papabor sa yo. Distansya, posisyon, araw at gabi, liwanag at dilim. Panahon kung kailan aatake at kung kelan dedepensiba. War tactics lang para pasimplehin. Maganda rin siguro panoorin nyo yung red cliff

[brrrrr!!!]

1) Kitchen- Banana Yoshimoto

2) 1Q84- Haruki Murakami
928 pages
2-10 Jan 2012

[spoiler start]I have mixed feelings. We see fine, moving moments here and there amid pages of incredible tedium (just being real, sorry Murakami ) 500 pages through I just wanted to get done with it. Throw in constant recaps and it just grazed the limits of my patience and loyalty to the author. [spoiler end]

Pros:
-Aomame the most original Murakami character imo
-some pretty interesting back stories
-surreal elements keep us guessing
-neat, wrapped-up ending
-might be Murakami's big gun for the Nobel

[spoiler start]Cons:
-too much fat. 400 pages less might have revived the sagging plot.
-formulaic. I find myself thinking that I'm reading the same characters from wild sheep chase thru wind-up bird.
-book 3 by another translator. the difference is subtle but noticeable.

4/5 stars [spoiler end]

===

anyare TS, bakit ka na-ban

[strandedinavan]

He'll be back before you guys know it. I'm also reading that one right now.

[brrrrr!!!]

^oh, I hope I didn't spoil it or what. Forget you read about my cons, trust the author and you'd be in for a ride. Are you new to Murakami?

[strandedinavan]

I'm not new to Murakami. Nope you didn't spoil anything, it's just that I've been hearing a lot about how the pacing might bore me as may be dragging on some parts. And I'm the type of person who wants a fleshed-out plot with enough gasoline to run the story in high velocity.

That's the same reason why I'm quite surprised about how I was able to finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you have read the books then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

[japspt]

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (349 pages; Jan 5-7, 2012)

Review: It had the promise of a heartwarming, inspiring true story in the title itself -- "one man's mission to promote peace one school at a time." While I admire the man for his determination and self sacrifice, plus the fact that I am in the middle east and understand how it is to live in an restrictive country, I am just distracted by the way it was written. It was simply a narrative, with nothing to make me turn the next page. It was just...dead. What also turned me off was, upon research and in the middle of reading the book, I found out there was a controversy, though I did not care to dig it further anymore. Overall, I rate this 3/5 stars.

[brrrrr!!!]

That's the same reason why I'm quite surprised about how I was able to finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you have read the books then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

ha ha actually, LOTR was coursework for my HS lit class so it used to bother me. Haven't considered laying eyes on that again as the size gave me PTSD (I was 14!). Good riddance, Ondoy took it away. We'll see if The Hobbit changes my mind...

[tintura_de_yodo]

^
^
Aww, you make me cry. I'm a Tolkien geek e. Lalo pa, I used to read LOTR once a year when the movies came out.

OnT: Darn it hindi ko pa ma-start ang aking listahan. Life, or rather, the outside world seems to catch up on me. Hay, masisimulan ko rin to.