DECEMBER 2007
10. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Maximum Ride Series, Book 3
by James Patterson
AUGUST 2007
9. Wish List
by Eoin Colfer
8. Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever
Maximum Ride Series, Book 2
by James Patterson
JULY 2007
7. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Maximum Ride Series, Book 1
by James Patterson
6. The Amber SpyglassHis Dark Materials, Book 3
by Philip Pullman
“Excellent book. Finished. Tapos na nga. Heh. Okay na yan.” * Taps giggles: ‘You crazy oaf!’ * “This book did not disappoint. The continuously twisting plot and escalating suspense from the first book to the third would make it hard for you to put it down. I suggest that if you do intend to read this series, get all three books right away, and free your schedule for at most two days, and put your life on hold until you have finished all three. I liked the way the characters were portrayed in such a way that a person may seem evil at one point, but later on you would see or at least understand the reasons behind his or her actions. For example, Mrs. Coulter, basically the kontrabida of the whole series, was able to show her good side, her maternal side towards Lyra, in the third book. She went even as far as sacrificing her life for Lyra. I got excited also because Will’s daemon manifested itself at the end of the book. This was something Anna and I anticipated in the second book and one of the reasons why we couldn’t put the book down. Parang ayaw naming tigilan until makita naming yung daemon ni Will. Basta read it. The ending isn’t as perfect as you would have wanted it to be but it had closure so okay lang siya.”
5. The Subtle KnifeHis Dark Materials, Book 2
by Philip Pullman
“The pace picked up exactly where The Golden Compass left off. So imagine how fast the pace was right from the very beginning of this book until the very end. The plot also did not disappoint. In fact some people found this book better than the first. And what’s exciting also is they say the 3rd book is the best of the three. So I can’t wait to have it. Anyway, this book introduces a new character, he is so different from Lyra but he totally complements her, so it introduced the making of a great tandem.”
JUNE 2007
4. The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud
by Julia Navarro
“I picked this out myself in National Bookstore in Quezon Ave. It grabbed my attention because coming from reading Rule of Four, I realized, as mentioned in my comment in Rule of Four, that history shit interests me. This book is about, obviously, the Holy Shroud. Astig siya kasi it has two storylines, one which dated back as early as the time of Jesus, and one in the present day. It really grabbed me because of the alternating story line. Nag-a-alternate siya, this chapter ibang timeframe, pagkatapos the next chapter yung second plot dinidiscuss niya, so nabibitin ka in such a way that you want to finish each chapter agad so that you’ll know what happened to the previous story line. I particularly liked how she tied things up – fiction tsaka history. It almost made me believe.”
(Book borrowed by Lucky Alcuaz)
3. The Golden Compass
His Dark Materials, Book 1
by Philip Pullman
“I bought this book because Anna and I saw the movie poster in Gateway, so I decided to buy it when we saw it in National. This shit was interesting, gustong-gusto ko yung lead character si Lyra because she reminded me of Anna (konting sipsip sa typist nito). She was adventurous, she was not your regular kind of girl, actually she seemed more like a guy than a girl. Anyway, I was in love with the idea of having daemons. It’s like having the other self in you, the one that tells you what to do or what not to do, manifested externally. Parang ego tsaka super ego na ginawang hayop. I liked Iorek, the relationship between Iorek and Lyra because I was amused by the way Lyra changed from being a boyish, careless, mischievous naughty child to a suddenly very caring, demure little girl, yung mga “oh my dear, Iorek” niya. Also, it may have started a bit slow for the first few pages at least, but when it picked up its pace, it fucking DID pick up its pace. To the point that I did not want to let it go, kung pwede na nga lang maligo with it, ginawa ko yon eh. But true enough, di ko siya binitawan until natapos ko siya. Lastly (dahil nagrereklamo na yung typist ko na ang haba daw ng comment ko at f na f ko naman daw pala), grabe yung mga twists. The twists that you would expect to find in the end were revealed halfway without coming short at the end. So imagine how fascinating the plot was.”
2. The Rule of Four
by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
“I first picked up this book because of Anna’s persistent pagkukulit, so I finally decided to read it. Lo and behold, it was damn interesting. I realized then that I had this thing for fiction which gives reference to history. This book had a lot of this. Anna and I think this has the makings of a big movie like DaVinci Code because we honestly think it’s a lot better than DaVinci Code. At first it started slow for me kasi it dealt with ordinary situations that did not necessarily give rise to curiosity, like yung discussions nila about ordinary college life, friendship nung characters, what they do normally in their daily lives, how they hang out and shit, and of course their thesis, which was kind of a turn off for me because naaalala ko na I haven’t done mine. But as soon as the plot picked up, ang bilis na niya, parang sine na mahihirapan kang tumae kasi you might miss something na. The end was perfect, I thought, it was perfect enough that Anna and I were able to imagine the cinematography of the movie in case it comes out. Pumili pa kami ng mga artistang bagay sa mga characters in the book.”
1. Presumed Innocent by Scott Turrow
“I liked the plot kasi you wouldn’t have guessed who the killer was until the very end. Also, as a law student, what I liked about it, was the fact that it was able to show the behind-the-scenes of the legal processes because in the book, the bida was a prosecutor who suddenly became the accused. So it was able to show how prosecutors investigate for their cases, as well as how defendants prepare for their case.”
(Book borrowed by Sher de la Cruz)
