Review: A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

I had just spent the majority of my weekend reading the most delightful--and at the same time, heartbreaking--story of a lovable curmudgeon. I consider this book one of my best reads this year. It wasn't at the same level as reading Dark Matter, but Ove's story will stay with me for a lifetime.

I didn't find this book "hysterically funny" as Kirkus considered. I'm not sure if it's because I find it extremely difficult to relate to humorous writing, and so I don't usually gravitate towards funny [or humor-genre] books. Though I still did find myself smiling and chuckling at the funniest moments of the book. More than the humor, the book broke my heart in a hundred different ways. It was a love story between Ove and his wife. It shows how even a physically strong man crumbles in grief. It was a story of unlikely friendship between angry Ove and his jovial neighbors. It was a story of fierce loyalty to a man's principles.

Collective Review: Pottermore Presents eBooks

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies by J.K. Rowling
Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists by J.K. Rowling
Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide by J.K. Rowling
My rating: Average: 4.3 of 5 stars

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

Only now have I finished the three Pottermore eBooks. Yikes! Turns out I'm not really good at reading multiple books interchangeably. However, that didn't stop me from enjoying Rowling's collection of short stories! :)

Ever since the series ended, JK Rowling hasn't been shy on releasing new information about the Wizarding World through interviews and tweets. What I don't understand is how people or "fans" are getting tired of it. I know I never will! A lot of people doesn't seem to understand that when JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter, she created a new universe. And this new universe will never cease existing. Instead this universe will only grow or solidify as time goes. Harry Potter's story may be complete and have come full-circle, but the world he was written in is incredibly vast and complex. And what Rowling is doing is brushing up the world she painted. The foreground is complete, but she's still working on the background--building an elaborate puzzle to give us the bigger picture. I will never get tired of learning new information about the Wizarding World. I thoroughly enjoyed these eBooks, but out of the three, I've enjoyed two the most.

Review: Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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This review is also found on my Goodreads profile here! :)
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WOW. Here I am, staring at my phone's screen wondering what to write because nothing I say will justify the sheer intensity of what I went through with this doggone book. So far, this is my best read for 2016. I have been blown away by the magnitude of the bar for science fiction this book has set.

How to even begin to describe this? The closest I get to it is a "science-fiction-slash-thriller." This book got me questioning my existence; questioning my CHOICES in life. I'm not really sure if the few sentences that follow can be tagged as spoilers, but just to be on the safe side, I'm going to tag them anyway. I can't exactly explain to you the book for fear of getting swallowed by the plethora of confusing quantum physics terms, explanations, and theories, but I will try to put it as simple as my limited knowledge on it can offer. [spoiler] To explain it the way the book explained it, imagine the famous Schrodinger's cat experiment. The observer will only the know result of the experiment once the box is opened--and it can only be one of the two possible outcomes: alive or dead. The quantum law states that until the box is opened, the cat is in superposition. Until the moment the observer opens the box and influences the outcome of the experiment, the cat is in superposition, or to put it simply--it is both alive and dead. But that's a cat. What if there is a box that puts a human being in a superposed quantum state with a drug that changes the way the human being's brain perceives reality; a drug that forces us to loose our quantum coherence and collapses our wave function? It opens a gateway to multiple universes (or multiverse). What if it allows access to a multiverse where everything that can happen happened? [/spoiler][ To explain it the way the book explained it, imagine the famous Schrodinger's cat experiment. The observer will only the know result of the experiment once the box is opened--and it can only be one of the two possible outcomes: alive or dead. The quantum law states that until the box is opened, the cat is in superposition. Until the moment the observer opens the box and influences the outcome of the experiment, the cat is in superposition, or to put it simply--it is both alive and dead. But that's a cat. What if there is a box that puts a human being in a superposed quantum state with a drug that changes the way the human being's brain perceives reality; a drug that forces us to loose our quantum coherence and collapses our wave function? It opens a gateway to multiple universes (or multiverse). What if it allows access to a multiverse where everything that can happen happened. (hide spoiler)]

Review: The Library at Mount Char

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK. I repeat: this is NOT a children's book! *cries* No matter how innocent the title is urging you to believe, this ish is not for kids. Consider me shocked. Baffled. Disturbed, even. *cries harder*

I honestly did not get the point of this book. Halfway through, I was enjoying it, while getting confused on most parts. I was happy trying to take in as much of the mysteries and intricacies of the world Hawkins conjured, because I was expecting it to make sense--to have a perceivable connection to our world. But the deeper I get into the story, the lesser I understood. The intense focus I was projecting in trying to understand the story and their world waned, until the only reason for me to keep reading was just to finish it, and not because I was still enjoying it.

This book is definitely not up my alley. This is one of those books that I'm not smart enough for. :'( And I felt so bad because I really really wanted to enjoy it. I know, I know! halfway through, I said I was enjoying it and I was hooked! I really WAS. Up until two-thirds of the book, I was determined to give this a 4-star rating. However, it feels so unfair to my other 4-star reads seeing as I did not understand much of what happened on this book anyway. So I danced between giving it 2 stars or 3 stars. I decided to go for 3-stars because I enjoyed some parts of it--the gore, most especially. I was hooked, but when I realized that most of the questions on this book will remain unanswered, I became unhooked. My interest on it went from 95% to 2% (if that makes sense at all).

I just feel a complete disconnect. Maybe I was expecting too much from this book. :( I felt no emotional connection to Carolyn despite the gruesome history she went through. The conversations between Erwin, Steve, and Carolyn are absurd and unbelievable given the situation they are all in. Maybe an explanation--a sequel, or a deeper explanation of Hawkin's "Librarian" world--might dramatically change my opinion. But even so, the fact that this book cannot stand on its own (without a sequel or an explanation) just doesn't seem worth all the confusion for me.

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I did find a few gems within this book:

"Peace of mind is not the abscene of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."

"Her world is very cold, and this is the thing she warms herself over with."

"...faint comfort is better than no comfort at all."

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


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Worth the Splurge: A Taste of Kobe, Japan

I was high on butterbeer, and that delicate rhythm of Hedwig's theme carried my feet away in an intoxicating stupor. I closed my eyes and shook off from the trance. I know the experience will live with me forever, but I need to be onto the next important thing--dinner. :D

Borgy led me to the train station, and asked me where I wanted to go next. "What time is it? Is it still open?" I asked him. He already knew what I was talking about. We've been discussing this place way before we landed in Japan. He was initially worried that I was too tired from fangirling my heart out at USJ, and I might not have enough patience and energy to travel to Kobe. I assured him I'm okay, and I really wanted to have my birthday dinner there. We still had two hours, but I still worried if we'd make it. But faith, he had. "We'll make it." And so began our long train-ride towards Kobe. 

A few hours and my birthday will officially end. While on the train, I did a mental recap of my day. The tingling sensation of being inside WWHP (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter) slowly crept back to me. I was away from the place for only half an hour, but I was already missing it--how I seem to have floated the entire day while I celebrate my inner Ravenclaw. An announcement jolted me back to the train ride. I looked at my phone and checked where we were. I realized, we were still at a considerable distance from Kobe. I started to panic. I told Borgy we might not make it--that Kobe was still so far away; that it might still take an hour more before we reach the Kobe-Sannomiya station. Borgy assured me that we'll make it. And after another half hour, we sure did. :)

Alighting the train at Kobe-Sannomiya station, we were greeted with an atmosphere more "business-like" than that of Osaka. Buildings are taller; facade's are sleeker and more modern. There were more people carrying briefcases and dressed in suits. People there walked a little faster--they seemed busier. Kobe is the sixth largest city in Japan and is home to more than 1.5 million people. The location of Kobe made way for it being the busiest container port in the region. It's a center for foreign trade and a metropolitan where cultures of Japan and other foreign countries diverged.