Ruby Loves Adventure

Annabelle is a girl who knows what she wants - when the kids in her school all sport boring hairdos: pigtails and ponytails, she decides to step out of the box and have an all-new hairdo! She comes across her grandmother's bouffant and decides to create one for herself.


This book is very entertaining, especially for kids. I wish I had read one of this when I was younger, as it promotes individuality and lets you realize that inspiration can come from even in the older generations. It also drives kids to try and experiment on new things (with the help and permission of your parents or guardians, of course), and your uniqueness will shine even more!

The illustrations are very colourful and cute! I couldn't take my eyes off it, and the writing is very good as well - it provides the rhyme that will make the kids remember the story, and coupled with the illustrations, I'm sure these will always be something parents would love to read out loud to their children, and a book they would all treasure forever.

Summary:
Published: April 1, 2011
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

Available from: Everywhere! [starting April 1, 2011 tho]
Read it if: you want something to read to your child to teach them about individuality
Book was: provided by NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group
Rating: Loves [5/5]

Okay, I've gotten lazy and kind of stopped doing this for the longest time. Anyway, I'm reviving it! Woohoo. I guess I'll see more of this now that I'm borrowing a lot of books from my friends and acquiring some dirt cheap books too. Oh my god, is there something bigger than a mountain now? Can I just call my TBR a galaxy now??

Brief introduction though -- In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.  It features bought, borrowed, or received books as well as other cool stuff from the mail.

For this week:


Borrowed: 

• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.  I just finished the first book but since I'm a cheapskate to buy a full priced copy of this book I just borrowed from a colleague of mine! Yay for bookworm colleagues
• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. Borrowed from one of my closest friends who's also a bookworm! Wheee!

Bought:
Quite a lot, I must say.

• Fallen by Lauren Kate. TP. Bought from National Bookstore. I've read lots of reviews and buzz about this and blogs. When I found out she's coming to Manila on November 27th and 28th, I couldn't resist buying a copy to get an invite for the event. Only to find out there's another event under Powerbooks for the 28th at a venue closer to my house x_x Oh well. Better be worth it though.  
• Torment by Lauren Kate. HB. Bought from National Bookstore. Same writeup as Fallen! :) There was a 20% off as well from NBS and I just had to buy them both!
• The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. HB. Bought for 50c USD from Booksale! Oh. My.God. I've been looking for this book forever and now I have it!!!!!!!!! And to top it off it was sooo cheap!! Squeeeeeeeee
• Madapple by Christina Meldrum. HB. I've seen this on the Random Buzzers website before. I was absolutely happy when I saw this again at my favourite bargain bookstore!!! It only cost 75c as well! Waah! I'm on a roll! Good reviews opn this book as well even though I've no clue what it's really about.
• The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd - Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer. HB. Again, from my  favourite bargain bookstore. I saw this at a full price bookstore before and I was absolutely intrigued. Now I need to get book 1 so I can continue reading this.
• Wild Roses by Deb Caletti. TP. Again, from my  favourite bargain bookstore. This was recommended to me by one of my closest friends and I just had to have it as well! It was only worth $1!
• This Lullaby by Sara Dessen. HB. Again, from my favourite bargain bookstore. This was recommended to me by one of my closest friends and I just had to have it as well! She said it was one of her favourite Dessen books, and believe me, she read all of them.
• 
  Pretty Little Liars # 4: Unbelievable. HB. Again, from my favourite bargain bookstore. I've seen the tv show, and have book #2 [also from the bargain bookstore], so just need books 1 and 3 too!

So, my wallet was dented, spent over $20 on books this week! My In My Mailbox post for next week would probably be more books bought and borrowed as I'm about to meet up with a newly converted bookworm to borrow some other YA books and book hunt at a super sale of National Bookstore in Market Market [which is around 5 minutes walk from my office]. Be still my heart. Be quiet my wallet. Off to read and review faster now. Tah! Hope you had fun reading the books I got this week :)

Last Friday, November 5th,  I got a text from Michelle: Rhett has organized a gothic tour of Manila: Chinese Cemetery, La Loma, Intramuros, Film Centre, Etc. Meet at Gateway tomorrow, 11AM. See you?

Being an avid traveler and since my plans for Ocean Park has been cancelled, I immediately accepted. I could not resist a chance to see other facets of Manila that I do not know about or haven't seen yet. I met the guys at Fully Booked Gateway [hah! I didn't get to buy anything - yay me for not succumbing to temptation], and ate lunch while waited for the rest of the party to arrive. Then, our first stop was the Chinese Cemetery!


It's amazing how the rich and the poor could also be divided in death. There's no apartment tombs in the Chinese Cemetery, compared to the ones that are more apparent in North Cemetery. Almost all the tombs are in intricate mausoleums, and since All Saints Day and All Souls Day had just finished the week before, there were coloured papers on top of the tombs, and the signs of burned material are still in the burners. Apparently the Chinese burn offerings [ie paper money, paper cars] to aide in the afterlife of their loved ones. [ie if they burn paper money, they in turn are sending money offerings to their deceased loved ones. Amazing.]

For me, there is something very enlightening in visiting a cemetery - never mind that it's full of deceased people, but it is a quiet area to meditate on your life as well. Facing death, how would you be able to make your life more worthwhile? And then the questions come in: if I die, would people look at my grave and visit me and pay their respects?

Anyway, moving on to the tour instead of my insights - we eventually got back in the car after walking through some gothic tombs. We eventually decided to try and find Andres Bonifacio's tomb, which was shaped like a pyramid. Then the questions pondered us: "Is Bonifacio Chinese?" Maybe. Maybe not. But we did find out for a fact that the non-Catholic people cannot be buried in La Loma or in North Cemetery so most Filipinos/Chinese were buried in Chinese Cemetery.

We eventually found ourselves in a memorial for General Yang Guangsheng. He was a Chinese Consul for the Philippines at the time, and as his plaque explained, he was shot to death in a grassy field when he tried to help the Filipino guerillas fight against the Japanese. Initially the Japanese wanted the General to call on his fellow Chinese to help the Japanese with their cause. His refusal ended in his and his entire staff's death. Way back in the World War II days, not much light has been given on the Battle of Manila, but it definitely is a shocking and interesting tale on how Manila has been a pivotal point in the War of the Pacific. I command the General for fighting with the Filipinos even though he himself is not of our race.

We saw a foreigner checking out the memorial of the General, and I was a bit happy to see that there are other foreigners who are touring Manila! By this time, one of our group saw a "tacky" crown on top of a mausoleum and we decided to check it out. They shrieked in delight when the mausoleum said "Ma Mon Luk." I honestly had no idea who this Ma Mon Luk was until Peter patiently told me that there is a restaurant named after him which serves the best siopao. Oh! So they paid their respects to Ma Mon Luk by having a photo in front of the mausoleum. I didn't join them because honestly, I'm a bit freaked of having my photo taken with a mausoleum -- I've seen some telly series where there are other people showing up in the photos and I'm not particularly keen on having that sort of experience if it does happen.

We then walked to Mabini's grave. It is found in Mabini St, but it is tucked in a little side street that's a wee bit hard to find, esp if you're not that familiar with the cemetery. Apparently the reason for the odd shape of Mabini's grave is that he was part of the Freemasons. Oooooh! Da Vinci Code, Philippine version anyone?? That would be a great book plot! LOL.



So, that's the first stop of our tour. We went to La Loma Cemetery after, which you can read in a different blog post once I've got over my laziness. Teehee!

When anonymous blogger St-R-Sd writes an entry wishing that popular girl Lucy Cunningham would disappear, his/her dream came true. A few posts later, St-R-Sd blogs about the disappearance of two fellow students. Enter Madison Archer, one of Lucy's close friends who seeks to find out what had happened to the missing persons. She seeks the help of outcast Tyler, and tries to find out where her friends are before Madison eventually ends up in St-R-Sd's blog and disappears too.

Thoughts - The way the book was narrated and presented to the readers is awesome. With a mixture of blogs, comments to the blog, notes, and the narration of Madison, its certainly a new twist to me. Though the writer is male, he had presented the point of view of a female very accurately, in fact, I had to look at the back cover of the book to ensure that the author is indeed male and not a female since I throughly believed the female narration and what goes on in the mind of the girl, esp when they're attracted to someone.

The mystery component is presented with lots of red herrings. It drove me crazy that around 100 pages into the book, I snuck a peek at the last few pages of the book to see who the perpetuator was. I spoiled myself in the process and though this is not often the case, I was utterly disappointed that I did not get to figure out who the killer was by myself. Awww.. But anyway, just look at the clues presented in the book and I'm sure you'll come up with the killer too!

The characters were stereotypical to be honest - they are the rich, young kids who are living in private school and its set in a typical YA manner - a high school. It's all right though, as Tyler offered a breath of fresh air as well as Sharon and Laurie. Not many books delve in the topic of homosexuality too.

There is a second book out, called "Blood in Her Hands." Did I say this book was the first of a trilogy? If not, well, it is! As I checked out the blurb of the second book from Amazon, I think it's not related to the first book per se - ie, the characters are the same, but nevertheless, it does look interesting too! Although the series did not get as much buzz as I thought it would be, it's a nice read for Halloween as its a thriller and a whodunit type of thing!

So, on to the final summary of the review!

Published: 2009

Publisher: Egmont
Available from: Everywhere!
Read it if: you want to read a whodunit book, or want a thriller of a book that's of a young adult reading level
Book was: provided by A.S King as part of Lenore's International Book Blogging Mentoring Program
Rating: Likes [4/5]

My heart literally pounded when I saw this from National Bookstore's Facebook page:

So, last Tuesday, Oct 19th, I got a chance to go to the book launch of "Trash" by Andy Mulligan at National Bookstore Glorietta 5. This is my third book launch so far, second of Andy Mulligan's, and I wouldn't pass up a chance to have a book signed! The launch was attended by a lot of British nationals [well, obviously since Andy Mulligan is also British, and taught at the British School Manila so his colleagues, and former students were out there to support him].

The launch started at 5pm, where he was introduced by a big boss of National Bookstore [NBS], and there was a brief question & answer by the audience and also by the host!



Some notable questions and his answers:

**What are you currently working on?
He's currently working on another book, due for next year. It's about a girl who falls in love with a boy from the streets. So Trash lives again [everyone laughs].  It was a work in progress but Mr. Mulligan's laptop was stolen so he has to rebuild everything from scratch!

Note: However, we should be able to get something new from him by Feb 2011! It will be a sequel to Ribblestrop, entitled "Return To Ribblestrop." Oooh! I can't wait for that! And ooh man, let's hope Andy gets to remember all the lines he typed when he was creating his new novel.. it's due to be sent to the publisher this December 2010 so here's hoping there's another book out after the Return to Ribblestrop novel!

**Will you hold another book launch when Return to Ribblestrop comes out? [personal question that I asked when I was having my booked signed]
Hopefully National Bookstore will invite me again, but we'll see how it goes.

**Will there be a sequel to Trash?
Unfortunately, no. The book in itself is simple and there's not much elements to place in a sequel.

**Will Trash be turned into a movie?
There is a British filmmaking company who has already bought the rights to the book. They are currently on pre-production and are scouting for the location. They did go to Brazil and were thinking of setting the movie there. He was trying to convince the film people to try and film it in Manila, but unless he is JK Rowling or some other money making author, he has no rights to the filmmaking process. And currently, he's not getting his hopes up too early as these film people tend to put the red light on projects very quickly and unexpectedly.

**Are the characters of Trash based on someone you know?
Yes, there is a boy in India from which the main character, Raphael is loosely based on.

**How did you make the transition from a light young adult read [Ribblestrop] to a more serious young adult read?
As a background, Andy Mulligan has already penned his debut novel titled Ribblestrop - it's about a group of kids in a school... well, they are very, very special kids and the school is quite special as well. Andy says that writing Ribblestrop was harder because there were too many characters involved and intertwining them in the novel takes far more time. Trash, on the other hand, only involves three characters and the story is far more simple than Ribblestrop.

**How do you feel that children reading your book may think how lucky they are that they are not living in the streets?
The novel wasn't written as a journalistic expose meant for kids to realize the realities of what's outside. It was just written as a tourist seeing what's real in MNL. If the kids realized that they are lucky then it's good that they learned something but the book definitely wasn't meant to be written in an expose form.

**No photos from the book launch from my camera yet! I've no idea when I'm going to get the time to upload them though!

It's currently October 31st as I type this. My cat is going wild outside for some unknown reason [perhaps she is seeing ghosts or ghouls or whatever?], my mum went out to visit my grandma's grave as part of the tradition of All Saint's/Soul's Day and I'm at home, having a readathon and a tv marathon of some scary tv shows and movies.

Right now I'm reading "Wish You Were Dead" by Todd Strasser and watching "Harper's Island" on DVD. Since I'm alone, I'm dead scared but hey, it's the whole spirit of Hallowen, right?

I wanted to stay at home and continue my scarefest but sadly, I've got work and it's only a PH holiday tomorrow, not a UK holiday. But oh well.

Surprisingly, I'm loving the horror/thriller genre of books!! And for some reason, I feel very brave whenever it's Halloween that I tend to dive in this genre! teehee! Oh well, back to regular programming now. Hopefully I'd have done finishing a book after this so I can post some reviews!

Which reminds me -- I haven't done an In My Mailbox for the past x number of months! Eeep!!!

In a third-world country, there lives three boys who picks up trash to make a living. Welcome to their life: picking up trash to clean, sell and get a bit of money in return to feed them. It's a life that's bleak, where most of the stuff they scavenge turn out to be human waste [not a good thing], until one day, they come across a bag. The police are after this bag, so they try and chase the boys to get it. Little did these boys know that this bag would change their lives forever, and unravel a mystery that was in the national news.

I first came across this at a Facebook post by one of my favourite bookstores here in Manila: National Bookstore. They were having a book launch and since there rarely are any book launches in MNL, I jumped at the chance and went with a colleague of mine from work!

Anyway, I have a bit of a soft spot for this book. First off, it shows the cruel reality of life here in MNL: the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, and well, there are so many corrupt officials out here that it's hard for the country to actually rise up. Okay, enough of the dark stuff, on to the book. Although the setting was not specified, it is obviously based in Manila [as what Andy Mulligan said during his book launch] and some of the places he stated in his book are real: Green hills, McKinley Hill [which is just a stone's throw away from my office building and the British School Manila, where Andy used to teach], South Superhighway [which I pass every day as I go to and from work], while some places are loosely based on other settings in Manila. I believe Navaho Cemetery is the North Cemetery -- where yes, there is a divide between the poor and the rich, even in death. There are obviously those stacks of graves that he was describing, and yes, the 5-year lease is also true and if you can't pay, the bones would just be tossed out. And yes, there definitely are people who make a living by foraging in the trash, even children. The sad realities of life in Manila.

While the characters are not as well-developed as I hoped, their bonding makes it an ideal team as they tried to solve the puzzles in the book. At times I often wonder if I were in that situation, would I have been brave enough to complete the task and the mystery involved? Or would I have taken the money? It's such a huge dilemma! And yes, money definitely is involved in almost every aspect in everyday life here.

I loved this book, it took me just a few days to finish this, and since it's quite short [200+ pages], it is a quick read, but the message is deep. Although the plot can be quite predictable, and the writing is simple, I loved every bit of this book and I'm more than happy to have gotten a copy and had it signed by the author. It makes me want to say how lucky I am to be in a position that I am in and thankful for everything that I have.

Published: 2010
Publisher: David Fickling books/Random House
Available from: Everywhere!
Read it if: You want a glimpse of life in MNL and the realities of the harshness of life picking up trash, how corruption works
Book was: bought from National Bookstore; signed by the author at the book launch.
Rating: LOVES [4/5 rating!]

The Lord of the Rams is an autobiography of Ronan Smith as he was growing up in the late 80s, early 90s in rural Ireland. It shows him as a troublesome young lad, as he was terrorizing his teachers, bus drivers, and others through his unstoppable mouth. The book also shows his adventures with his friends: mostly gross, but then again what can you expect from boys?

So, what are my thoughts about this book? Uhmm... Let's just say that the descriptions of some of the pranks and things that happened to him are utterly disgusting, you'll be put off from reading after some time. The mere thought of their antics as well is enough to make a parent shake their head in disbelief and wish that their children would not be as troublesome as the Rams was when he was younger.

Was it entertaining? A bit, yes. Was it worth your time to read? I honestly don't know. To each their own, I guess. Did I learn something new from the book? Uh.. maybe more tricks to terrorize adults? Okay, I did not entirely like the book, but there's this area where I could totally relate to the Rams: it was college, and he was broke. I experienced the same hardship when i was in university and my funds were very limited, and yes, I have to come up with ways to earn more moolah! I also can relate to him when he was feeling down and depressed as he was searching for a job after university. And finally landing a job he really likes!

So, okay, what else? I wouldn't really bother spending some money or time on this book, but read it if you're curious about rural Ireland in the 80s/90s.

**Summary**

Published: 2008
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Available from: Amazon
Read it if: Huh. I don't know.
Book was: provided by the author for review.
Rating: So-So [2/5 rating]

Percy's first year at Camp Half Blood was a success! He was sent on his very first quest and managed to live another year. This time, he meets a new friend, Tyson, at Merryweather Prep, managed to get attacked by monsters [Laistrygonians], and had to save the Camp from being destroyed by getting the Golden Fleece when Thalia's tree was poisoned.

Another action-packed Percy Jackson novel! I can't write my own summary without giving too much away! Teehee. This book has got a lot of family values, a lot of action, and a lot of adventure, all in 279 pages. I love how Rick Riordan manages to combine reality and Greek mythology in his Percy Jackson novels -- it sure can encourage the young ones to remember their mythology [if it is still required for school].

However, I've got some rants about this book. I find it too predictable... the stories obviously have been mashed from some of the mythologies that are already known -- Jason and the Argonauts, and most of the plot is from Odysseus. I've managed to watch a documentary of sorts about Odysseus one time from the History Channel and everything is plotted out there. Down to Circes, and all the other characters from the quest -- I guess the Sea of Monsters is a retelling of sorts? [Uh, Duh, Ruby?]

**May contain spoilers**

 I looooooove Tyson!! He is such a cute little character -- as well as Hermes's snakes, George and Magda!!! "Rats are delicious." Hmmm... not that I like rats too but it's become my favourite tag line for the whole of the Percy second tale! Magda is the more serious one but George and Magda combined offer a lot of laughs for me. I hope they would make some other cameos in the other books!

Honestly, that part about the golden fleece and Thalia? I kind of thought that would happen. Oh well. Predictable. But nevertheless fun.

So, on to the ratings then!

Published: 2006
Publisher: Hyperion
Available from: Everywhere!
Read it if: You want to learn about Greek mythology, or you want to know what's next in Percy's adventure
Book was: Borrowed from a friend
Rating: LIKES

**Scroll down for earlier hour updates**

HOUR 24
I can't believe the Readathon is nearly over. As I type this, there's 9 more minutes left before the end... oh my gosh....

So, what are my stats?
Only managed to read two books out of the four I've posted... Finished books? Zero. Managed to finish half of The Dust of 100 Dogs, and uh.. until Chapter 8 of The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. No idea how many pages I've read in The Sign of Four tho!

Hours spent reading/blogging/joining mini challenges/looking at other blogs: 10.

See you on the next readathon! :) I'll mark the date on my calendar now!


HOUR 21:

Just gone online again... wanted to take a little break and join in yet another mini-challenge =) It's about memoirs/true stories. Hmm... they all count as autobiographies, right? Off to answer the questionnaire:

Have you ever read a memoir/true story (Or book 'based on true events'?)
Yes, quite a few, actually

2. If so, what was the title/author?
Ronan Keating - Life is a Rollercoaster
Belle de Jour - The Unlikely Diary of a London Call Girl
Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie
Westlife - Our Story


3. What what it about?
Mostly biographies about the life of the authors I've been reading.

4. Did you like it? Would you recommend it?
I like most of the books -- definitely will recommend Tuesdays with Morrie to anyone. All the rest? Well, I guess fans of them would definitely enjoy it but it's not for everyday reading.

5. How many have you read?
4

6. Why or what made you want to read it?
I'm either a) a fan of the band or person I want to read the book [case of Westlife and Ronan Keating] or b) I've seen a tv series/movie based on the book and wanted to check if the adaptation is same or almost close to the book [like Belle de Jour] or c) I needed some lessons in life [case of Tuesdays with Morrie]

7. What was the saddest/scariest one you read? 
Tuesdays with Morrie, definitely

8. Did it have a 'happy ending'?
Not really.

9. When choosing a memoir/true story, do you look for a certain kind? ( i.e. historical diary, inspirational like The Freedom Writer's Diary, Christian, non Christian)
I normally just look for inspirational stuff for people or shows I'm not normally a fan of.


10. Bonus question(s-it's in parts:) for my giveaway: Have you read 3 or more memoirs/true stories? Title/Author, would you recommend them?If you were to win the giveaway prize, would you want the book, (Sizzling 16 by Janet Evanovich) and would you prefer the coffee or tea? or both?
Yes, I've read three or more memoirs/true stories; Title/Authors listed are same as the list above; would I recommend them? YES,; and if I were to win a giveaway prize, I'd get Sizzling 16. 
Ronan Keating - Life is a Rollercoaster
Belle de Jour - The Unlikely Diary of a London Call Girl
Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie
Westlife - Our Story



HOUR 18:
Yay!! I just won a prize from the Readathon from the mid-event meme !
Thank you sooo much!! Anyway, on to more mini-challenges to distract myself from reading. I am getting a wee bit sleepy [Gaahhhh my body is reacting to me reading! It thinks that it's already evening and I'm set to sleep for a new day ahead! I should program myself next time that there's a readathon to stay up!]

I am making good progress on The Sign of Four by Sherlock Holmes [I think I'm about to finish Chapter 8 but no clue on the whole progress/page count since I'm using a Kindle for iPhone to read the ebook] and I'm on page 122 of The Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King already! It's a re-read but I looove this book!

Anyway, Part of a mini-challenge for Dewey's 24-Hour readathon is hosted by Midnight Book Girl: It is to present a book and why it should be banned. It doesn't matter if the book is already part of the banned book list or is not, you just have to market it to her!

So, going back to my comfort book, The Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King, I am going to present why it should be banned:

The Dust of 100 Dogs lets you inside the world of Emer, a female pirate. Hmm... pirate books in itself should be banned as there are also loads of Somali pirates [real life ones, in fact] that are kidnapping sailors and boatnapping ships alike! Also, this book should definitely be banned given that the main character always imagines sadistic, hurtful things to other people who pissed her off. Hmm.. that, and violence around the home is also being discussed in the book. Now, would you also like your kids to imagine that they could remember their past lives, if ever? I wouldn't think so. So, ban this book [although banning certain books would be certain to make the sales go up higher] and protest against pirates, boatnapping, kidnapping and violence against the home!!!