(First of all sorry for the late post, I fell victim to a stomach bug as did most of my family so we were in our own quarantined world)
Anyway, Sunday the 30th was incredible! I met tons of interesting people and many of the famous BookTubers here in Lima, Peru. We had many interesting games like trivia questions, charades, hame books in alphabetical order. It was crazy! We got to talk about our favorite books, characters, editions. The whole thing. Down below I'm leaving a link to the facebook page of Guild of all Trades where you can see the pictures and some videos.
If you're anywhere near Lima, Peru this Sunday 20 of September, there's a first conference of Bloggers, BookTubers and readers being held. It's in Campo de Marte from 10-1 a.m. There'll be many prizes, trivia, books and of course you get to meet another book lovers and bloggers. Don't miss it!
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Si están cerca de Lima, Peru este domingo 20 de setiembre, se esta llevando acabo la primera conferencia de bloggers, BookTuber y lectores. Será en el Campo de Marte de 10-1 a.m. Van a haber muchos premios, trivia, libros y por supuesto, podrás conocer a otros amantes de libros y bloggers. ¡No te lo pierdas!
Right. So, the Hunger Games. I have to say I wasn't so impressed by the trilogy. I read the books back in 2013 during my holidays.
I thought the first book was interesting and new (if you don't count Battle Royale). Wasn't all that moved by Katniss and Peeta. I know, probably a first. I loved the second book. I did, I thought it was better planned, more original and with a deeper look into the psychology of the districts and the characters. Haymitch is my favorite character in the whole trilogy, by the way. The third book left me a bit confused at times and of course... emotionally destroyed by the end.
Anyway, the second trailer of the Mockingjay Part 2 came out and... my eyes got suspiciously watery. I blame onion cutting ninjas.
The trailer is spectacular. It's even titled "For Prim", which is how the whole thing started in the first place. Now I don't mind romance, but in a world where people are dying left and right and forced to kill, it always feels out of place. But this trailer summarized the best parts of the book and of humanity. Katniss volunteered for her sister's sake. Not for love, not for glory, but for family. That is what I wanted to see more of, but during the course of the book it got lost, to be replaced by the Peeta and Gale dilemma. Until the very end where Collins rips your heart out and stomps it.
This trailer... watch this trailer. It's heartbreaking!
What did you think? Heartbreaking or what? Would love to see different views on the whole trilogy. Who was your favorite character and why? (Mine was Haymitch, guy is a badass!)
Buenas! Hoy vengo con una propuesta para todos esos blogs que necesitan un poco de ayudita para subir su número de seguidores o simplemente que están en busca de nuevos, se llama "+1" y consiste en colocar una entrada con la imagen que les dejaré por aquí abajo, pidiendo a las personas que sigan tú blog y que ellos dejen el link del suyo en los comentarios de tu entrada para que de esta manera tu puedas seguirlo también.
Esta propuesta viene del blog Pétalos de un Libro. No olvides colocar el banner en un lugar visible del blog y dar créditos.
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Hey there! There's this proposal going around called "+1" for all those blogs that are searching for more followers or just wanting to spread the word. It consists in posting an entry with the image below, asking people to follow you and to leave a link to their blog in the comment section so you can follow them as well.
The proposal comes from the blog Pétalos de un Libro (Petals from a Book). Don't forget to place the banner in a visible place on you blog and to credit.
I'm sure most of you know about the 2015 Reading Challenge. If not, let me tell you a bit about it.
Basically, it's a list of books to read that fit a certain requirement. For example, you have to read a book with a color in the title, or a book published in the year you were born.
Some requirements are easy: a book by a female author, a trilogy, or easier still, a book that became a movie (because lets face it, almost every movie in the cinemas came from a book). Some, on the other hand, are a bit harder. You have: a book with an author with your same initials, a book with antonyms in the title or even a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't. At least in my case I'm panicking with that last one.
As far as I can see, the list that seems to be the most popular (you can find many reading challenges floating around), was posted on PopSugar. You can download the list on the site or you can look for it on Pinterest, along with some other challenges.
So far, I've managed to complete almost half of the list. I've read 43 books according to Goodreads this year, but not all of them have met the requirements of the Reading Challenge. Let's see if in the last four months of this year I can complete the challenge!
How about you? Any books to recommend with a specific requirement? Are you doing the challenge? Let me know how it goes! =)
In July there was the International Book Fair here in Lima, Peru where I'm currently living.
There, of the books you see here, I bought Sister Noon, Wonder, and the Maze Runner box set. The last two mentioned I adored and Wonder made my cry. Sister Noon, not so much. Although the writing is lovely.
The Husband's Secret and the Matched trilogy I bought when I went to Buenos Aires to visit my grandparents.
I'll post fuller and more detailed reviews in the future (I need them fresh in my mind for that XP), but all I will say at the moment is that I expected more from the Matched trilogy. It's good enough to suggest for a light reading, but I felt like some parts were rushed. The idea behind the trilogy is excellent and very thought provoking. The whole society Cassia (the main character) is living in is complex and interesting, but not explored enough, for my taste.
As for the Husband's Secret, I liked the main plot and the way it was written, linking three women together to a specific town in Australia through their own perspective. Moriarty (and what an epic surname!) uses these POV chapters to her advantage and leaves us with several cliffhangers. However, the secret ended up being too obvious for my taste, and I ended up not liking any of the women. I'll leave the reasons to your curiosity. I do recommend this book though, it's a fun and easy read.
Crime is afoot on the famous river, the Nile. This book explores all the positive motives. Money, jealousy, love, vengeance, opportunity, vanity. The crime? As the title of the book suggests, murder is the favored evil.
Christie is a criminal mastermind of her own. One of my favorite things about her is that she presents numerous characters that all have a role to play. No one is there as a simple background character. Whether it be a small comment, an observation, a past relation which might be part of the bigger scheme of things, or the very same culprit, they are all important. And the best part is that it keeps you guessing.
What better way to start this blog with a quick book review?
Now, mind you, there will be spoilers ahead. But first a general review for those that are thinking about reading it.
The book is about two teens who fall in love in a Romeo and Juliet style. She's from a respectable and wealthy family while he's the complete opposite. His surname, Cole, brings fear into the hearts of all who hear it. His family is like this giant small town mafia that nobody pisses off. But here we have young Dawson, who hates his family, is nothing like them, and has fallen in love with one Amanda Collier, a girl way out of his league, status and general lifestyle.
Needless to say her family did not approve. Not in the slightest. As is mentioned in the summary, their paths go different ways. Twenty years later they reunite. Does love bloom again? Have their hearts' desire changed?
The answer is no. At least on Dawson's side. Let's give the guy some point though, he never dated anyone since he was sent to prison for accidentally killing a famous (and only doctor) in small town Oriental.
Amanda, though madly in love with Dawson, moved on. Now, if she had gone to visit young Dawson in prison and said youngster had told her "move on", great. But she didn't, and so he didn't. Don't let the movie fool you. She never went.
She went to college like she wanted, she met a future dentist and got married. Had three kids (a fourth who she lost to cancer), and lived happily ever after. Or she would have, if Frank, her husband, didn't start drinking to the point of being a certified alcoholic.
Now, while all this was happening, Dawson was off in prison. After he got out he stayed a year back home on probation. He had left his family long ago, went to live with a widower named Tuck, who aside from letting his stay in his garage didn't really talk to the kid.
After the year on probation Dawson left for Lousiana. Why there, no idea. He worked on a rig, and one day for some reason it exploded, sending his crashing into the water below. This is when he starts hallucinating. Yup, you heard right. But don't be mistaken, this isn't a negative point toward the book. It was brillinatly handeled. The hallucination very important. Read to find out why.
Tuck's death is what brings them back together. They get a call from a lawyer saying he asked them to take care of something. Now here's the thing, they don't know that their first love is going to be there. Tuck, apparently, shipped them hard. I think he was counting down the days till he died so he could get both of them together. It was rather funny.
Funnier still, is that while both of them are falling in love again, but it being difficult for Amanda who is married, Dawson's cousins know he's back and want him dead. Yet be it fate or Tuck having a laugh, they miss each other almost until the end of the book.
Things happen and Amanda decides that she can't break up her family. Which, is actually being a decent and responsible human being. Yes her husband is a drunk, but he's not violent, works, loves his kids and loves her. Just also loves his booze.
Dawson, being all noble dies. Won't go into detail about how or why. But it turns out that while he was dying, Jared, Amanda`s oldest was in a car accident and in desperate need of a heart transplant. Guess who's heart he got?
Now the first half of the book was boring for me. But the second half was much better. When the accident happened I almost cried. And when it is mentioned that Jared was going to need a heart transplant I did shed a lonely tear, knowing where this was going.
I wasn't a fan of Amanda not telling her son where the heart came from, specially after he had asked her to find out about who's heart was beating in his chest. One, he has a right to know. Two, it feels like she's compeltly killing Dawson off, instead of sharing his story with her son. The truth of who Dawson is, the good person he was, never tainted by his Cole blood, dies with her. It just left me with a bad taste.
In conclusion, it's not my favorite Sparks book. That slot still belongs to Safe Haven.
So, any opinions? Thoughts? Do you disagree, agree? Remember though, keep it civil.
Hi there! Welcome to the Guild of All Trades. I hope to meet new people and interact with them, share ideas and generally have a great time. A small note first.
In 2009 I started a blog on Livejournal. Although, it was rather more of a place to post stories than an actual blog. I won't say it crashed and burned because it's still around... floating in the ocean that is the internet and it has some success.
I had moments where I would post every week and then months of inactivity. I still love writing but I like to think I matured in that regard, which is why I decided to start from scratch.
I might post a ficlet or two, original stories (I've been saying that for years so don't hold your breath), book reviews, book vs movie reviews (I can just tell it'll involve a lot of venting and cursing), talk about teaching and dancing and all kinds of artistic topics. Basically, I'd like to write about things that interest me that I can share with all of you, although books will probably be the main theme. I chose the name for this blog for two reasons. One, because I want to write about more than one thing. The second, because thousands of people, worlds, cultures and stories hide inside of books. I love the idea that you can find them all in one place -a library, a bookshop, the internet or your own room-a sort of guild, and each contains something unique.
This journal is my guild, and the trades are many.
(On a side note, I'm crossposting to my Livejournal, s-ren, if anyone is interested.)
(First of all sorry for the late post, I fell victim to a stomach bug as did most of my family so we were in our own quarantined world)
