Review: Pax

Pax by Sara Pennypacker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on my Goodreads profile here! :)

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

It took me a long time to finish this, I knoooow. Not the book's fault I was busy with other things.


This book is everything I didn't expect!

What I expected:
- Children's book with a very light tone
- More illustrations than words

What I didn't expect:
- A heavy and emotional narrative
- An actual relation to war

Emotional and Esurient at Ebisubashi-suji

I woke up with a feeling of excitement and tugging at me like an inevitable flu is the feeling of melancholy. It was our third day in Japan, the last full day Borgy and I will have before we depart back to Manila. We had no plans for the day. Actually, we never really had a proper itinerary for our Japan trip. All we've decided while we were still in Manila was that we had to go to USJ for my birthday and to eat Kobe beef at Steakland Kobe (that's for my next post). Probably the reason why we've enjoyed the trip so much--we weren't stressed out from following schedules to the dot; we just decided to wing it and went wherever our feet (and our tummies) would take us.  

On our third day, after preparing, Borgy and I went directly to the Daimaru department store to have our currencies exchanged to yen. Tip: on weekdays, you can get your dollars exchanged at their post offices. Days prior, we had our dollars exchanged for yen at the Osaka Minami Post Office, since it was just a few blocks from our AirBnb apartment. It was the same post office that directed us to Daimaru when we were looking for a currency exchange on a Sunday when the post office wasn't open.

At Ebisubashi-suji Shopping Street

Dotonbori: An Overture to Osaka

"It's not as crowded as I originally thought it would be," I thought to myself as I stepped through the famous "Doutonbori Street" sign, and unto the cobbled dimly lit street one cold Thursday evening in April. It was half past ten. Some shops were already closed. Their roller shutters lowered down, but their dazzling neon lights shone persistently, inviting late night tourists like us to draw close and admire their impressive signs. A bicycle is casually parked in the middle of the street, leaning on a street light post. No evidence of its owner around, and yet no one is giving it a second look. A few steps within the district, a few more unattended bikes lined a railing. Borgy and I went further down the street, intent on  taking in as much of the place as we can.

Dotonbori Street

Review: And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review is also found on my Goodreads profile here. :)

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This novel is perfection. Nail-biting in every sense of the word. I have a confession, I read it on my Kobo and upon checking if my copy was complete, I went to the last page trying to check the existence of the Acknowledgement page. (It would suck really hard if upon tapping towards the last page on the e-book, I would find out my copy is truncated). And so I saw a name. :( And I automatically assumed that the name is the mystery in this novel. I was right! So if you are new to this novel, DO NOT in under any circumstances flip to the last page! I assure you though, it did not diminish the effect of this story on me.

Review: Zero K

Zero K by Don DeLillo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Review can also be read on my Goodreads profile here.

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This book...is weird. I did not find it creepy, but I did find it disturbing (and not in a good way). I found it very strange and incomprehensible. I did not understand what was happening half the time. All the characters keep spouting random thoughts in rote monotone and always off on tangents that it kept me wondering whether they were high, heavily medicated, or just...crazy.