Read Up!

Rainy day + bed and pillows + a cup of hot choco + books = ♥♚ my perfect kind of day.

I won't consider myself a wide-reader like my dad. Just a reader. A person who loves some great reads. I choose what I read. Except maybe for those times when I was still a kid where my mom filled our shelves with Encyclopedia and those "1000 Things You Should Know About..." books. I got to the point of rummaging our bodega for books that are interesting. That is where I found dad's Prose and Poetry book, Little Women, Gulliver's Travel that I never got to finish, Swiss Family Robinson, collection of short stories and other old stuff. Why did I ever delight in seeing yellowish, old hard-bound books, ripped covers, and torn pages? Perhaps, like wine. As the adage goes: "the older, the better".

There were times though that I disregard that love for reading. I get lazy or uninspired. I settle for short articles, picture-filled thin books. But if I get the chance, I try to catch on my readings. When I am in my reading mood, nothing can take me away from it. Not even sleep - considering the sleepyhead that I am. I get so excited to finish the book that I tend to forget the time. More than once, I have reached the wee hours, up to 4:00AM.

My cousin sent me new copies for my iBooks so I did a lot of catching up. 

Some of the books I received. :)

                                     

I don't remember everything that I have read so I bookmark or screenshot or scribble down my favorite parts. Let me share with you some of it.

This one is from "One Hundred" by Nina Garcia. It is a fashion book but you can actually grasp more than what it primarily offers.

From Mitch Albom's "Have A Little Faith" :

• "When a baby comes into the world, its hands are clenched...Because a baby, not knowing any better, wants to grab everything...But when an old person dies, he does so with his hands open...he has learned the lesson...We can take nothing with us."
• "A committed person was someone to be admired. He was loyal and steady. Now a commitment is something you avoid. You don't want to tie yourself down. It's the same with faith by the way."
• "They expect perfection. Every moment should be bliss. That's TV or movies. But that is not the human experience."

It is full of lessons in life and love that I just wanted to bookmark everything.

Sun Tzu's "Art of War"

I noted and bookmarked a lot from this book but I will only share one since the others are for a warrior to keep. Mwahaha! Ponder on this one:

"He who wishes to fight must first count the cost."

"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

This one gave me an emotional ride. I was angered, confused, anxious, inspired, amazed and humbled. I cried more than once. It is about a girl with cancer who fell in love with someone who is also a cancer patient. But it goes beyond that. Aaaahhh...I can't even explain. It is just beautiful.

• “I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is improbably biased toward the consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed. And who am I, living in the middle of history, to tell the universe that it-or my observation of it-is temporary?” 
• “That's the thing about pain...It demands to be felt."
• “The world is not a wish-granting factory.” 

After those heavy ones, I'll share one that is light. From "One Fifth Avenue" by Candace Bushnell. This one is much like Sex and the City and other Candace books -  straightforward, inclined to women, almost unfiltered, sexy and set in the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of".

“Retribution is tricky. . . . The insult isn't usually worth the risk of punishment. And eventually one learns that karma has a surprising way of taking care of these situations. All you have to do is sit back and watch.” 

Another one from John Green which I'm currently reading. "Looking for Alaska"
I'll leave you with this last one. This made me melt. I wanted so bad to be in her shoes in these particular lines. Don't you?

"...I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was hurricane.” 

These are the only ones that I have found for now. I adore John Grisham but I don't have a single quote from him. Oh no! I still have to search for some of my handwritten notes. 

I love how books take you to different places. One day you're daydreaming with a character or setting, next day you are faced with your fears - where you want to close your eyes but you have to keep reading. Some days you feel mighty, strong and powerful but some days you are slapped with reality. No matter what, it inspires, entertains and gives me a different kind of happiness. :)

Fist-bump to everybody else who loves reading.  :)