Review: Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret

22:13 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Elfangor's Secret (Megamorphs #3)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Downloaded from Amazon
Synopsis:
We found out who Visser Four is. And he has found the Time Matrix. The machine Elfangor had hidden in the abandoned construction site. The same place we met him on a night none of us will ever forget. Especially me. Now Visser Four has the Matrix, and he plans to use it to become Visser One.


But Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Ax and I can't let that happen. We can't let him alter time so that the Yeerks will win the invasion. So we're prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. And, ultimately one of us will lose this fight...

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

"Their third mass? Which made me wonder if  they had any hope of winning. I mean, one church service, maybe. But three? That's not a sign of confidence. That's more like 'I'll be there any minute now, Lord, so have Saint Peter make my bed.'"

I am on a mission to finally finish reading the entire series of Animorphs, complete with its spin-offs. For a while, I was on a roll, but then around #35, the quality dipped and I lost interest. I found this book in my iBook app while I was mindlessly scrolling through my phone though, and I was hooked back in.

The beginning was really confusing - I would explain but I feel that would be spoilery - but it's all explained quickly enough, so hang in there! I love time-travel, alternative history type of plots, so this was right up my alley. Plus, after several disappointing installments, I felt that this was a return to form. There were genuinely funny moments alongside ugly moments. Animorphs at its heart is a war story, and while it's very much humans (plus good aliens) vs. bad aliens, this one is about humans' wars. From Agincourt to Normandy, our heroes encountered the brutality of man-made war. Applegate didn't hold much back; if I had any romantic notion about the battlefield, it's well and truly dashed.

At times the main plot felt a little lost among the chaos of the actions, and weirdly enough I got so distracted by the alternative histories that I nearly forgot about the Time Matrix, the thing that made it all happen in the first place. Plus, as much as I agree with the message that war is an awful thing, there were moments when it started to feel just a touch preachy. Nevertheless, this has restored my interest in Animorphs.

I can't end this review without mentioning the moment Cassie was confronted with overt, seriously ugly racism. Her response was brilliant.

''We Andalites have fought wars among ourselves in the past. We did not kill children. It is not possible to conceive of a greater evil than the deliberate killing of a child."

Review: Yes Please

19:20 Cilla 2 Comments

Title: Yes Please
Author: Amy Poehler
Publisher: HarperCollins USA
Source: Periplus Bookstore, and technically the book belongs to my sister's
Synopsis: 

In a perfect world . . .

We'd get to hang out with Amy Poehler, watching dumb movies, listening to music, and swapping tales about our coworkers and difficult childhoods. Because in a perfect world, we'd all be friends with Amy—someone who seems so fun, is full of interesting stories, tells great jokes, and offers plenty of advice and wisdom (the useful kind, not the annoying kind you didn't ask for, anyway). Unfortunately, between her Golden Globe-winning role on Parks and Recreation, work as a producer and director, place as one of the most beloved SNL alumni and cofounder of the Upright Citizens' Brigade, involvement with the website Smart Girls at the Party, frequent turns as acting double for Meryl Streep, and her other gig as the mom of two young sons, she's not available for movie night.


Luckily we have the next best thing: Yes Please, Amy's hilarious and candid book. A collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haikus from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers, Yes Please offers Amy's thoughts on everything from her "too safe" childhood outside of Boston to her early days in New York City, her ideas about Hollywood and "the biz," the demon that looks back at all of us in the mirror, and her joy at being told she has a "face for wigs." Yes Please is chock-full of words and wisdom to live by.

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

'You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing.'

I didn't know that much about Amy Poehler, apart from the obvious (she was in Mean Girl, Baby Mama, Parks and Recreation, and hosted the Golden Globes). I liked her from what I've seen - she was a bit odd, really funny, and doesn't make terribly mean jokes - but it wasn't until my sister bought this book and I read this review that I decided to pick it up. 

Reading this is like making a new friend. You get to know Amy's life in bite-size anecdotes, and while reading, I felt as if we were talking over a cup of coffee. It will surprise no one that Amy is as hilarious in writing as she is on TV, but she also comes across as sincere and warm. She confessed to the low moments and pointed out her accomplishments, and when she gave advice it never felt condescending, because you can see where she's coming from.

My interest waned a little during the chapters on her improv career, though I loved the behind-the-scene snaps on Saturday Night Live, so maybe it was a matter of recognising the names and places she talked about. If you are a hardcore Amy Poehler fan, you'll love this book. If you, like me, are not that familiar with her work, there are still plenty of entertainment and wisdom to be found in this book.

'Decide what your currency is early. Let go of what you will never have. People who do this are happier and sexier.'

Top Ten ALL TIME Favourite Authors

20:44 Cilla 8 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for more information.

This is a seriously difficult list to compile! I don't think I can come up with ten names, but I'm going to try. Here we gooo:

1. J.K. Rowling. This is an obvious choice for me. Harry Potter was - is - so important to me in many ways. It is still my escape; the world is so familiar and yet so strange, and in a way the characters are alive to me. I enjoy Rowling's writing outside of Harry Potter too. Sure, The Casual Vacancy was a bit jarring at first, and she'll never write another like HP (how can anyone?), but she continues to write memorably strange and vivid characters and basically excellent stories.

2. Jodi Picoult. I buy everything she writes and have only been disappointed once. She never fails to tug on my heartstrings and make me really think about difficult, emotionally charged topics. Not to mention those complicated, beautifully flawed characters! Nineteen Minutes remain one of my favourite books of all time.

3. Meg Cabot. Honestly, the last time I read a Meg Cabot novel, it was really hard to remember why I loved her so much. I'm still putting her on this list, however, because I was so in love with The Mediator and The Princess Diaries, and still remember them fondly. I adored her ability to tap into the mind of a teenage girl, and that connection I felt with Mia Thermopolis and Suze Simon was important to me during my probably-less-thrilling-than-theirs-but-equally-complicated teenage years.

4. Enid Blyton. She was the author that pretty much started it all for me. From the moment my mother gave me her copies of Famous Five and Secret Seven, her books set my imagination free.

5. Cameron Dokey. I forgot how much I loved reading her writing until I was going through my list of favourite books. Her book, How Not to Spend Your Senior Year, was probably the first YA I read, far before I knew what YA was, and I was so in love with it I went on to read her retelling of fairytales. I loved the twists she placed on those stories.

6. Marissa Meyer. A part of me feels that it may be premature to put her on this list when I've only started reading her last year, but that's hardly a measure of the quality of her writing. Her world-building is amazing and her characters are complex. The Lunar Chronicles is the first series that comes even close to Harry Potter for me in terms of how much I loved it, so that's saying a lot.

7. L.M. Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon were the series my mother and I bonded over when I was a little older, so it is extra special to me. We loved Avonlea, and Anne Shirley, and Gilbert Blythe - basically all of it. This is a series I need to re-read, because it has been far too long since I last go through them.

I honestly can't think of anyone else right now, so this list will just have to be a Top Seven this week!

Review: Paint By Magic

17:40 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Time Travel Mystery #2: Paint By Magic (my version is the Indonesian version so: Time Travel Mystery #2: Lukisan Kematian Padova)
Author: Kathryn Reiss
Publisher: Kaifa Teens
Source: Can't remember - probably one of the chain bookshops in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Synopsis: 
Something is terribly wrong with Connor's mom--she keeps slipping into bizarre trances. Connor suspects that the key to his mom's strange behavior is an old art book filled with paintings of a woman who looks exactly like her. But the artist who created those paintings died before his mom was even born.


Connor gets his chance to break the evil link between the past and the present when he is mysteriously whisked back in time to the 1920s. But can he save his mom--and himself--before it's too late?

Review: ⋆⋆⋆

'Hay is for horses!'

This is one of the books I found in my family's study whose plot I couldn't remember. The only thing I can remember is that I liked it, and that sentence up there^ (funny what your brain retains, isn't it?), so I decided it was time for a re-read.

Paint By Magic is aimed for middle-schoolers, and I think that age group would find this thrilling. I've read and watched too many mystery novels to be surprised by the conclusion of the plot, so I became quite impatient with Connor for not reaching the same conclusion faster. Then I reminded myself that he's eleven. Nevertheless, there were truly eerie and thrilling moments, and I was truly creeped out by the painter.

I'm kind of ambivalent about the push for old-fashioned activities. I totally understand how lovely it must be to have family quality time without technology interrupting - and that should absolutely happen more than it probably is for most families - but I've lived overseas. For more or less five years, technology was the only reason I could have any form of quality time with my family. Balance is always better, and I like that the Rigoletti-Chase family seems to be moving in that direction.

All in all, I would've loved this more if I had been 14 year old, but it is still a good read.

Wishlist Wednesday: The Obernewtyn Chronicles

17:59 Cilla 0 Comments

Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody

'For Elspeth Gordie freedom is-like so much else after the Great White - a memory. It was a time known as the Age of Chaos. In a final explosive flash everything was destroyed. The few who survived banded together and formed a Council for protection. But people like Elspeth-mysteriously born with powerful mental abilities-are feared by the Council and hunted down like animals...to be destroyed.

Her only hope for survival to is keep her power hidden. But is secrecy enough against the terrible power of the Council?'


My Australian friends have been recommending The Obernewtyn Chronicles since... perhaps my first year in Melbourne. I read Obernewtyn, Farseekers, and then half of Ashling before I realised I probably should buy the books rather than borrow them from the library. Three weeks isn't enough when the books are that thick and you have uni to deal with. Unfortunately, I just haven't bought any of them yet. Now that I'm not in Australia, I can't find them in the bookshops. (This is where Book Depository may come in handy.)

I remember loving Elspeth and the world building in this series. There's something unusual about Carmody's writing that I can't describe without having the books in front of me, but as a whole the story was quite enchanting. I'd really like to finish the series, and also re-read the beginning because I've forgotten the details. xD

Have you read Obernewtyn Chronicles? What is on your wishlist this week?

Top Ten Inspiring Quotes From Books

14:27 Cilla 1 Comments

Review: Dorothy Must Die

09:15 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Dorothy Must Die
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Loaned by a friend
Synopsis:
I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero. But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas. I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. I've been trained to fight. And I have a mission.

Review: ⋆⋆

** spoiler alert ** 

The Wizard of Oz wasn't part of my childhood. I knew the story, but didn't read the book when I was in high school and only watched the movie fully last year when it was on TV. So I'm not at all attached to (or, really, remember most of) the original world of Oz. It's possible that contributed to my detachment from this book, but I don't think it should. After all, I knew little about actual Trojan mythology but I loved Song of Achilles anyway. 

So with that in mind -- I thought the world building in this book was impressive, and the plot is fascinating. Once Amy gets to the Emerald Palace, I stopped feeling like I had to drag myself to the end. Part of this is because I was intrigued by The Wizard and Ozma and the plight of the monkeys. 

Now, the first of my biggest issues with this book: the summary on the back of this book made me think that Amy was going to have a mission with four steps right away - remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage, -then- kill Dorothy - but no. The first three weren't even brought up until around 12 pages away from the end. That (and how the phrase 'Dorothy must die' was repeated a ridiculous amount of time) annoyed me. The other issue was that I felt nothing for Amy. I never felt Amy's emotions, and certainly never thought Nox was a compelling love interest (a dark, hot, and powerful boy who'll probably break her heart - really? It could certainly work, but not here, not for me). Also, Dorothy feels like a caricature. She's over-the-top sexy, dishes punishment left and right, and while greed is an absolutely valid motivation for a villain, I felt that there should be more to make me fear her. I disliked her a lot, but I was never afraid. 


All in all, this book was just okay for me. I know others who have enjoyed it, however, so whether or not you enjoy it may depend on what you're looking for in a book. Though I'm curious about Amy's missions, I probably won't read the sequel.

Flashback Friday: Famous Five

12:05 Cilla 0 Comments

I planned to do this yesterday, but things came up. So, here it is now, a Flashback Friday, even though it is Saturday.

My family's study recently suffered from termite infestation. Not only did it lead to a ridiculous amount of books and shelves hauling and cleaning (bloody hell we own a lot of books), it also broke my heart to see holes in books we have owned for years. On the bright side, it made me actually look at them again. So Flashback Friday is where I share my appreciation of the books that had helped start my love for reading.

This week, it's all about the Famous Five, by Enid Blyton.

My love for them has its roots in my mother and aunt's love for them. See how there are books that have white spines instead of coloured ones in the picture above? Those belonged to my mother and aunt, bought when they were in primary school and then given to me when I was in primary school. Oh, and if the titles baffle you, it's because they're in Indonesian. (I actually have never read Famous Five in English, so recent news about the lingo getting a 21st century update fascinated me. I wonder if I read my copies again, I would find the language dated too despite it being in Indonesian.)

If you didn't grow up with Famous Five, here is the summary provided by Enid Blyton's website: 'The Famous Five are a group of children who have the sort of adventures most kids dream about, in a world where ginger beer flows and ham rolls are a staple diet.' Now I don't remember much about ginger beer and ham rolls, but I remember Kirrin Island, and every member of the Five. Julian was probably my first book crush, long before I know what book crushes were, I saw myself in Anne, and occasionally wanted to be George. My imagination featured a lot of picnicking on a private island (though in reality I was a city kid who hated camping), exploring castle ruins and old houses, and - of course - solving mysteries. 

I don't know if I'd have turned out any different as a person if I had never read Famous Five. I still love reading detective stories and independent characters though, and I think I have them to thank for it. 

Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

22:04 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Publisher: Arrow Books
Source: Aunt's collection, bought from Kinokuniya Singapore
Synopsis:
'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this enchanting classic - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. 

Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much... 

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

'Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.'

There was a number of things about this story that I was unfamiliar with. I grew up in Indonesia, so my knowledge of Southern USA's culture and its history with race largely comes from the news and popular culture. There were a couple of times where I felt like I'm not quite understanding what was being implied or referred to. (I had to google the meaning of 'his food doesn't stick going down, does it?' and what NRA was.) The characters' speech style also took some time for me to get used to. 

Yet those are superficial, and once I sank my teeth into the story, I had no trouble understanding it. Racism is the same everywhere in the world, and the way it plays out in this book made me feel both terribly sad and hopeful at the same time. For every Bob Ewell in the world, there's an Atticus. The characters are appealing and familiar; I lived in a small town for a while and I can think of people in my life who are similar to the Finches' neighbours.  I loved the innocence of the children's observations contrasted with the often prejudiced attitudes of the adults. A part of me suspected the result of the trial, but I didn't expect that conclusion. It was a strangely uplifting end; it was realistic and hopeful - in the sense that justice was served in the end, and just because people are strange doesn't mean they're not good people. 

I enjoy a book that both entertains and makes me pause to think about uncomfortable things, and To Kill A Mockingbird did both perfectly. 

'I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.'

Wishlist Wednesday: The Pillars of the Earth

18:55 Cilla 0 Comments

Review: The Song of Achilles

12:27 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: The Song of Achilles
Author: Madeline Miller
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Source: The Book Grocer, Melbourne
Synopsis: 
Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful— irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.


Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
'“Name one hero who was happy."
I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back.
"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.
"I can't."
"I know. They never let you be famous AND happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."
"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.
"I'm going to be the first."'

I don't remember why I felt compelled to buy this book at the bookstore. My knowledge of Greek mythology is limited at best, though I am familiar with the Trojan War and Achilles' story if only because I was once forced to watch the director's cut of Brad Pitt's Troy. I don't generally like stories of war either - they're often a little too violent for my taste. I did buy it though (it was only $5 anyway), and I'm really glad I did.

From the moment we meet Patroclus, I was hooked. I have no idea if his backstory was lifted straight from the original myth, but it doesn't really matter to me. I felt for him, and I love his capacity to love despite how little of it he received before Achilles. (I thought he was the better man out of the two of them too, but that's perhaps a whole other discussion). I loved the way the story is told from his perspective, especially later on, and the little explanations about ancient Greek culture. I love all the characters; I was occasionally irritated by Achilles, but it's not the way he's written, more the way he is.

Being blind to most of the details of the mythology was an advantage in that I couldn't predict any of the twist. I could not put the book down. I don't think knowing the myth would spoil the story though; the writing is brilliant, every scene was vivid on my mind (as were the battles, but if I can swallow it, so can anyone else with a weak stomach). As for the love story - I don't generally enjoy tragedies, but this one hurt my heart in the best way.

'In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.'

The First Step

11:29 Cilla 0 Comments

Hello there! Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. I'm Cilla, 24, and I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember.

I grew up in a family of readers. My parents read to me long before I could do it for myself (according to them, Sleeping Beauty was my first love). My aunt likes to tell the story of how she took one-year-old me to a book sale, with one hand to help her go through the selections and the other balancing me on her hip. We all love to buy books, even though often-packed schedules have resulted in there being piles of unread books in our house. We don't necessarily share the same taste, but now that I'm more grown up and recently moved back home, my TBR (to be read) list has expanded to include some of my parents' favourite titles and authors. My goal this year is to cut down on that list as much as I can.

There are two reasons behind the creation of this blog. Last year, I started using Goodreads more actively and discovered how fun it could be to connect with other readers. I love a good friendly discussion about books, and I figured a blog would help me get involved in more of that. The other reason is that I want to reconnect with my family. I've been away from home for a long time, and I've changed too. Sometimes I find myself struggling to find something we can share. It's my hope that by reading the titles they have chosen and loved, we'll understand each other better.

Because I like having everything in one place, I'm going to transfer reviews from Goodreads while I get cracking on my list, one dusty book at a time. I hope you'll come along for the ride. :)