Hello! Yeah, I’m still alive. I still blog. And I still love reading books!
Well, I can’t entirely say that I hadn’t foreseen this would happen but I still didn’t expect that months would go by without any updates at all here. Well, that’s life — unpredictable.
No new reviews yet but I’m gonna use this post to write about the new books I’ve acquired since the year began.
11 books! I guess that for a casual reader that’s a big number already. But for most avid bookworms, I’m sure that’s nothing.
“The Lovely Bones” and “A Sense of the World” were the first two I purchased this year. I’ve already written a glowing review for the latter. The former now sits in the “Unfinished Books” shelf.
I picked up “Twisted 8 1/2″ during the days I was applying for a new job. I needed a short, fun read for the long idle times and Jessica Zafra’s columns were perfect for this. I already finished this one but the review has been stuck in the draft phase for weeks now. It will probably be stuck there forever.
I bought “An Island From Home” on impulse. It looked like a good juvenile read at the time. Now? Not anymore.
After being so inspired by “A Sense of the World”, I bought “The Blue Bear” because it looked like it’s in the same vein as The Blind Traveler’s story. I have yet to find out if I was right.
Carl Sagan’s “Contact” has always been one of those books I’ve wanted to read. I’m just waiting for that moment to come when I’d feel like I’m ready to tackle some sci-fi. Same thing with the “Tom Sawyer” book. There’s a right book for each moment of one’s life. 
Roger von Oech’s “A Whack on the Side of the Head” is a popular book that teaches you how to be more creative. There’s a nice story behind my experience in getting this book but the bottom line is, I got it through a really good deal. The stuff I learn from this book easily make this my best bargain purchase yet!
Percy Jackson book 4 “The Battle of the Labyrinth” is an obvious purchase. I’ve been reading it for almost a month now! I think I’m a bit weirded out now by the story after having seen its movie adaptation. *sigh*
“Sabbath” is a Catholic book with a year’s worth of daily scripture meditation. At my new job, we’re restricted with regards to what websites we can visit. I used to read my daily spiritual reflection fix thru email (c/o KerygmaFamily’s free newsletter). Now I need to have that available offline. This book is one solution for that. And it’s priced so low, they might as well have given it away for free!
If you counted the books in the first picture of this post, you might have noticed only 10 books were shown there. Well, that’s because the 11th book was late for the pictorial. Haha!
I bought this one March 31st, just before the 2-day Lenten holiday. I’ve been wanting to read this unusual book ever since I’ve heard of it last year. “Come Be My Light” is an epistolary book narrating the correspondences of Mother Teresa that were kept hidden from the public due to their “dark” nature.
I thought it would make for a good read during the Holy Week but I wasn’t feeling hopeful I’d get it in time because all the bookstores I’ve went to for the past two months didn’t have it in stock.
Less than an hour left before the malls close, I decided to leave work early and take my chance in the St. Pauls branch at Ali Mall Cubao. It was my first time there. I only knew about it after my friend and I passed by the store a week ago. And I guess it was God’s will for me to get the book because they have it in stock with just one copy left!
Out of these 11 books, I’ve only finished two. I’m currently reading 3 of them plus “Sabbath” which I don’t think counts because it’s a yearlong read. I have no idea when I’ll begin reading the others because I’m trying out something different this time. I don’t track anymore how many books I read in a week or a month. As long as I still read at least 4 days in a week, that’s good enough. It’s less pressuring on my part and I also end up enjoying the books more. Because of this, I’ll probably review only those books which I feel I want to write about.
I have no clue when I’ll be posting again here and I sure don’t want to make any more empty promises. But I’m about 90% sure already that the next update will be for a book review. Subscribe to my mailing list (at the bottom) or follow me on Twitter if you want to be notified as soon as I update. That’s all for now and happy reading! ^_^
a WordPress rating system
Oh I forgot…this book on Mother Teresa intrigues me with your mention of its dark nature. Hope you can write a review on this.
I’m loving this book right now so I will most likely write a review for it.
Hi! Glad you’re back. Looking through your acquisitions, all I’ve read is Lovely Bones and Battle of the Labyrinth. Lovely Bones is a nice read. Hope you get to finish it.
Wondering why you’re “weirded out” with Battle of the Labyrinth. It’s ok but not as nice as the first book. But you just have to get through this if you don’t really like it to get to the final one, The Last Olympian, which I think is as fun as the first book. Don’t cop out on the Lightning Thief series; it gets to be rounded up pretty well with the final book. Hey, you were the one who got me interested in this series in the first place.
Hi Johanna! I get weirded out now by the story because I guess I’m one of the few PJ book fans who liked the movie. I began reading Battle right after seeing the movie. It was tough not to imagine the story with the movie actors. But it’s been 2 months now since the movie so I’ve adjusted myself again and picture everything just how I used to before the movie came out. I’m almost done with it and it looks like book 2 will still be my fave Percy Jackson book. Lightning is a close second. Anyway, there’s no way I’m giving up on this series. I like the story well enough to buy the hardback of the last book even if it’s still too expensive for me.