Ah, this is supposed to be a rest day after hearing the mass early this morning. I have to do to the laundry though. The laundry basket was bursting at the seams. Anyway the laundry is done after so many loads. At least I’ll be free tomorrow morning to tend to the garden and maybe plant ampalaya (bitter gourd). I saved the matured seeds yesterday when I cooked some veggies for dinner.
I’d like to tell you about my reading journey, my 2019 Goodreads Challenge particularly. At the start of the year, I committed myself to read another 150 books. I am on my 27th read and it is the first YA book for this year. I am trying to read different genre and find more new authors. If possible, I prefer first book publications because they are usually the best. Publishing a book for the first time and writing about it must be pretty hard. There are so many competitions out there. There is this book entitled All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I had it for a couple of years now but it was only the other day that I started reading it. It’s Goodreads’ Choice 2015 for Young Adult Winner. As Goodreads says: The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die. And since I read both books before, I was intrigued to read this one too. So far, so good. I smiled at the five-star and one-star reviews on Goodreads. I am not deterred by the one-star review since I feel encouraged to read it seeing that there are many five-star reviews too. It might be a little disturbing for some but we have to admit not all books are about rainbows, some could be stars in the night that shine brightly above. Though I still prefer memoirs and historical fiction, occasionally, YA books are welcome.
I saw this particular photo from an album I posted at Facebook nine years ago. They have this “memories” app and you can visit it every day to remind you what life was years ago.
When this was taken, Lovell was still a seminarian. He is now a Dominican priest – a son, a close friend and a confidante. Caleruega is such a beautiful place and I miss it.
I do the washing a little at a time because it’s slow drying at this time of year, Arlene. Then I’m off to play! 🙂 🙂 Enjoy your day!
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Thanks Jo, I do the washing twice a week and ironing once a week.
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I hate ironing 😕 xx
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Haha 🙂
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I can’t seem to get on with the YA genre. Then again, I am not a young adult, so din’t really expect to. 🙂
You look happy in that nice photo, Arlene.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I read YA once in a while. Thanks Pete. That was nine years, no gray hair yet.
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Happy photograph
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Thanks Derrick!
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The Fault in our Stars was a good read indeed! Arlene, do you read printed or digital books?
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I read both Sabine, now it is more on e-books. Sometimes, you could even download them for free. We have a set of the five John Green books but I only read one which is the Fault In Our Stars, Watched the movie adaptation too.
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I might check out the movie. 🙋
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It’s pretty good. enjoy!
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Will do!
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🙂
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Lovely photo
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Hello, thank you 🙂
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My granddaughter has just begun to read YA though she prefers fantasy, not too much romance, not too much dark stuff. She loved a book called “The Disappearances” by Emily Murphy. She said it has literary references. I haven’t read it yet, but I trust her judgment. Otherwise I wouldn’t have plowed through all seven Harry Potter books.
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That’s nice, you’re done with the Harry Potter series, we have a complete set of it including the 8th one which is with Nissa. She is a Harry Potter fan. YA books are okay, occasionally.
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27 so far is an impressive tally! When it comes to star ratings I very rarely read the five star one, I usually head to the one and two star ratings to see if people actually have good reasons for disliking the book.
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Hi, thanks! We always get curious about those one-star rating. They might be treasures we haven’t discovered yet.
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Amazon reviews are always good for a laugh, after years of saying negative reviews of sellers should be directed to them, you still see them turn up in the comments. I remember going to leave a negative review for the fifth Harry Potter book and being surprised with all the five star reviews for it.
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It’s one way of letting the book stay in the market for long I guess. I read all the seven volumes of Harry Potter (my daughter collects Harry Potter) books and when they were made into films, we also watched the adaptations. I just had a good sleep at the movie theatres in some of them. My kids laughed at me 🙂
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Haha, I remember the first film, cringey kids acting and an overly long ending but I usually have them on in the background if they are on TV, usually whilst I write.
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for those young at heart, there is something magical about those kinds of reading. There was a time when I saw so many souvenir items at the bookstore about Harry Potter. They even had these pretty mugs with the characters of the HP books.
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It was crazy. I read the first four books when I was 19 and enjoyed them each, to various levels. I could never buy the merchandise though, that would take money away from other books.
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Oh well, the volumes are cheaper now than when they were first published. My daughter used to reserve a copy at the National Bookstore then would come back for it when it opens the following day. My son reread them once in a while and he still finds them good reads.
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Good old National Bookstore, I always wanted a bookshop to name it Bational Nookstore. I don’t get out much!
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I love Fully Booked better when it comes to reading materials, when it comes to school supplies, it’s National Bookstore.
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Fully Booked is so expensive but I like the selection better.
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They go on sale once a year I think.
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Wow, I’m amazed how many books you’ve already read this year. I’m a much slower reader.
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I just love reading Sheryl. I always read when I have free time and before going to bed. Thanks for the visit.
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