The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

I've seen this book one to many times from the different book-blogs that I am following. I can't help it, this curiosity I have for abbreviations!

And so I gave it a try.

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Bianca Piper whose story the book revolves around is "The Duff". This insulting nickname given to her by Wesley Rush, a boy she seemed to hate so much, hated with such passion.

Along with her BFF'S Casey and Jessica, she was the designated ugly fat friend. The friend who fends off for them, the one least good-looking, the last one to be noticed and the one set-up to make the two look better... or so that's what she thought.

On the verge of her parents getting a divorce, she searched for an escape. A release she only found by having constant intercourse with playboy Wesley Rush.

After a month or so... she's developed something other than loathsome feelings for Wesley. Scared for her feelings not reciprocated, being the duff and all, she immediately cut her ties with him and disregarded the feeling.

Or did she really?

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I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say this book is not worth my time, that it's so cliche and artificial, that it has no educational value, that it's shallow, that the mature content is too much and that it's all stupid and annoying. I am not going to say those words by saying them.

Honestly, they might be all those things to me but I can't hold it against anything because I enjoyed the book! Yes, the book might be highly for entertainment purposes only, lacking thought-provoking-set-of-words and that revolutionary theme I am looking for but what can you do? I really did darn enjoyed it!

I was all over for that romance Bianca and Wesley had. They made me feel it, they made me feel the passion. The author's lack of imagination for things rather than the run of the mill YA novel low-self-esteem-girl-getting-the-hottest-guy-in-high-school, she made up for that talent she had for simply putting words in such fashion that you're able believe it and feel the emotion it conveys.

Though I wish she had a little more of that conservative touch.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I bought this on BOOKSALE for 145pesos! It was on the display window and I asked for it because I've heard nothing but good things about Life of Pi.

Magnificent book, really amazing.

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The book is a narration of an Indian boy named Piscine Molitor Patel. But because Piscine sounded exactly like "pissin'" and he was always bullied for it, when he finally moved to a new school(the Petit Seminaire) he took the opportunity of making a moniker as substitute. Hence, he is now called Pi.

His family owns and runs the Pondicherry Zoo, it was also there where he grew up and decided to acquire three religions: Islam, Christianity AND Hinduism. His father startled and mother concerned, they've asked him to pick only one. But when Pi quoted Gandhi's "All religions are true", they had nothing else to counter it and so just let him be.

Time came when his father desired to be where the grass is far greener. From India along with some of their zoo animals, they took a Japanese cargo ship(the Tsimtsum) routing to Canada.

Something terrible happened and the Tsimtsum sank. Pi in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and the story of survival begins!

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This book wasn't at all what I expected. Though now I know that it's just a work of fiction, I still can't help but linger on some pages. I guess it's what happens when you finish it off in one sitting. Everything overwhelming, I was overloaded with emotions.

I will never have enough words of praises and compliments for this book but the only guarantee I feel insured to say is that it is a book about the assessing of life. The realizing of it. The appreciation and the perpetual faith we should have in it and God.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ever since, I really wanted to read this book. Yet another gripping novel from Ms. Anderson. I can hear the voices in her novels so clearly, it kind of scares me.

Melinda Sordino, the main character and the narrator goes to her first day of high school. She enters it with a big burden, having the one who called the cops at a party last August, it seemed that everyone hated her.

But what they did not know is... she was raped.

 You almost could not even guess that the book is about rape, you only see a light at the end of the tunnel getting closer and closer as you keep reading.

I hate to be a spoiler but there it is, it's a book about a girl who got raped!

It's basically a novel about moving-on and speaking up (hence, the title) and sharing your story. It's about not being scared to say what you have to say and taking bold steps. 

I liked the art teacher Mr. Freeman very much! He has that kind of encouraging powerful release of emotion through art that helped Melinda on the way. He wasn't scared to paint his frustration towards the school faculty, I know it's not big of a deal in the storyline but it tells a lot of things to me and somehow, it empowers.

I just hated the weakness, I could not wait for it to be done. I had to read it all at once. I can't take how Melinda handled the rape. In the end, the right thing was done and I was eternally relieved. I learned a lot and I definitely commend this book.

Three Men in A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

My Papa bought me this book last June 12, 2012. It was an Independence Day sale at bestsellers and from 119pesos, this book went down to 50pesos. Reading this became such a drag to me. I had so "many" laughs while reading it but my attention span to things about boats and rowing and sailing is unfortunately limited.

This is a story about three men and a dog's journey to unwind themselves and get a quick escape from the city by travelling in a boat. It is a story about comradeship, facts about life, geographical landmarks and also history.

Reading this book taught me so well about England, the journey in the waters gives a similar connection to roadtrips in this era. A hankering for finding oneself is always best especially with friends. I can't quite give an explanation why a hundred years from now, with different style in narration and different approach in grammar, still this book is hilarious!

This is my first classic book-review and what a fresh start!

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Once I found a copy of this book at National Bookstore, SM Southmall... I didn't hesitate to purchase it right away. I knew I had to buy it immediately because the John Green books here in the Philippines sell like hotcakes. Business is good here for Mr. Green.

Just after high school graduation, child prodigy and anagram-loving Colin Singleton lies face-down on the carpet of his bedroom floor faster than you can say depressed, having just recently dumped by Katherine number 19. Now, although weird and hard-to-explain, Colin has only ever dated girls named Katherine. All of whom, dumped him. Always the dumpee, never the dumper. Or is it?

So his Arabian best friend Hassan picks him up from his misery and suggests a soul-searching, self-redeeming roadtrip.

Leaving Chicago and soon stopping in Gutshot, Tennessee for a supposed-to-be quick detour to visit the tomb of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. They get sucked in into the world of Gutshot after that.

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This book has a LOT to offer. I enjoyed the footnotes!

I am born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and so I enjoyed the Arabian streaks in this one.

There are SO many idiosyncrasies and I love how it tends to make you feel part of the story, I loved the quirks! I loved the kafir! The sitzpinkler! The Dingleberries! The Hassan Daddy jokes! The "Hi." and "Hi." between Lindsey Lee Wells and Colin!

I learned a lot from this one really, well, it's a John Green book so anybody would expect nothing but the best. It just made me want to learn a lot of things like, more languages and history and books.

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And that it makes you compare yourself with the characters as well, how badly I want to matter just like Colin. How mattering is a reflection of what matters to you. And how you can find yourself differently in the end if you just step outside your orbit. How stories make people immortal and how the future is an infinite possibility.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

I have been seeing this book way before in bookstores. I never had the interest in reading it for some reason. Not until my friend Tine told me that she read it and that I should too, I knew I had to.

The character Lia is the one narrating throughout the entire story. The story revolves around the challenges she faced after her best friend Cassie had died alone in a motel. Cassie called her 33times that night before she died and she(Lia) ignored it, thinking she was drunk-phonecalling her and that they're not in good terms anymore.

Lia started seeing Cassie's ghost.

This is a story about anorexia and how seriously teenagers can get affected with this condition. The story was very truthful and dramatic, complete with parental issues and possible self-perception of the people with anorexia.

My only problem with this is that it's so intense and annoying at times. The problems of Lia are very engaging and you can't help but just continue reading and hope for the best in the end. This is the kind of book that teachers recommend students to read. The whole thing is informing.

I guess the author titled it Wintergirls to connect with hibernation where the animals don't eat(starvation, anorexia) and that they're asleep(half-alive but still alive nonetheless) and they seem to be in a limbo between waking-up or staying asleep.

Just like Lia.

We all have a choice and we are better than we think we are. That's what I learned. That the only one who can help me make things better is myself, my choices.

Paper Towns by John Green

This is the last book my mom bought for me before she went home to Canada to work. It was the last copy in bestsellers at SM Center. I really had to have it! I'm spoiled like that.

The main characters of this story is Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Speigelman. They have been both neighbors and friends since they were 2-years-old. But then the times have changed and Margo became "the Margo" who was too cool and unreachable and became just acquaintances with Quentin. While Quentin remained his geeky humble self , just a couple of  weeks before graduation, she(Margo) suddenly appeared on his window 9years after the last time they were friends.

Margo takes Quentin to this midnight adventure where he helps her fulfill her plotted revenge. They had the time of their lives and they just clicked together like no empty time has passed between them.

The next day, after the adventure, Margo didn't show up for school.

The Quentin who was very in-love with Margo had to look for her, find the clues she left...

before it's too late.

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Though the characters were quite similar to that of Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns compromised in the story-line. The other characters like Ben and Radar were the supporting characters in this one, and gee, they give that dose of humor.

This book is worth the time and money spent. Felt nostalgic but I guess that's his(John Green) goal with all his open-ended novels where nothing's certain at the same time it's so definite that it actually makes sense when you don't want it to because you want a specific favorable ending.

Just amazing.

You almost wish you could live in that moment where they kiss and stare at each other for the last time(or is it?) and see how it goes on.