Monthly Reading List | September 2013 + Announcement

It’s September, which means we can say goodbye to the Dog Days of Summer! (At least in my hemisphere).  It also means saying goodbye to my lazy summer days because I’m going back to school! I (crazily) enrolled myself in six college courses this semester and I’m drowning myself in assignments and homework. (;ω;)

I do have an (sad) announcement to make. Books Over Flowers is going to be somewhat inactive the following months. It’s tough not to be more involved with the book blogging community, but due to the amount of workload I have I decided it would be best to prioritize my schooling over my blog. This means infrequent posts and late reviews. However, I will respond to comments on my blog as soon as I can.

 August 2013 Recap:

I accomplished reading 3 out of 5 books from my August 2013 reading list!

• The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna (reviewed)
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (review in the works)
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (reread)

I also did reviews on Kpop Club by Y.R. Choi and Ristorante Paradiso by Nastume Ono.

I was surprisingly nominated  for the Liebster Award!

——————

Since it’s a new month, I have theme prepared for my monthly reading list. You’ve may have already guessed it, but I’ll give you a hint on what my September theme is.

Fill in the blank: “Come on, Sammy! We’re gonna gank some ______ tonight!”.

Stacking the Shelves #5

Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

It’s back to school! So along with the boring textbooks I had to buy for class, I also got some fun stuff to read in between breaks. I mostly bought manga/graphic novels, but I’m most excited to read Maus (which I have to read for one of my classes). I also won a nice paperback copy of Seige and Storm from a giveaway hosted by the amazing Chiara @ Eternal Delicacy. She has a lovely blog, so go check it out!

Bought:

    

Ebook:

Giveaway Prize:

I Got an Award!

After almost a two week hiatus, It’s good to be back! I wanted to keep up with my blog, but honestly I was just too preoccupied. The past couple days I focused on getting everything settled for returning to college, I moved closer to my campus and I even lost internet for a few days. Maintaining my blog just fell to the bottom of my list 😦

However, while I was away the lovely Stephanie @ Stephanie’s Book Reviews nominated me for the Liebster Award! Pretty exciting! If you’re curious about the origin of the Liebster Award you can read about in a post by Sopphey Says.

The Rules:

• Link back the blogger that tagged you
• Nominate ten others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you
• Ask ten questions for the bloggers you nominate
• Let your nominees know of their award

Stephanie asked some really fun questions, which I’ll answer right now!

1. I have a compulsive need to finish a series once I start it. What are your book compulsions? Whenever I read an intense moment in a book that gives me the FEELS, I have a compulsive need to stop what I’m reading and put the book down in order to process what I’m feeling. This may involve yelling into my pillow or speak in short incoherent words. After my fangirling moment I continue to read 😉

2. Does a lot of hype surrounding a book make you more or less likely to read it? A lot of hype will pique my curiosity and I’m more likely to research the book more, but ultimately if it doesn’t attract me I won’t read it.

3. What book do you love that you’re embarrassed to admit? I don’t really like the idea of being embarrassed about reading a book. There’s no reason to be embarrassed about a book you love.

4. What book would you love to see as a movie – a movie that faithfully follows the book to a T? The Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld. I really want to see Clanker machines and Darwinist animals CGI on the big screen 🙂

5: How many books have you read this year? According to my Goodreads: 17 books. But my account was made last May, so I probably read a few more books prior to that.

6. Why did you start your blog? What do you to “promote” it? I actually wanted to be a Booktuber originally, but that didn’t work so well because I was too camera shy. I made my blog in order to talk about books with other book lovers. I don’t do much to “promote” my blog, but commenting on other blogs has really helped put my name out there 🙂

7. If you could have any super power what would it be? Teleporation. If I could so this my life would be so much better.

8. Who would play your favorite author in a movie? I honestly don’t know. I don’t have one particular favorite author, but if an author has a chance to be featured in a movie why not have them play themselves?

9. If you read a book with terrific writing, but were unsatisfied with the story, do you still recommend it to others? Yes.

10. What’s the last book that really surprised you – good or bad? Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. High fantasy books normally don’t impress me, so I was surprised by how much I ended up loving this book 🙂

And the nominees go to…

The rule says to nominate blogs with “under 3,000” followers, but some blogs don’t state their follower count. So I’m nominating some of the awesome blogs I’ve come across.

Joni @ Lace and Fog

Laura @ Music Plus Books

Pat @ The Girl Who Keeps Reading

Francine @ The Bookworm in Boots

Delaney @ The Awkward-ness

Erin @ The In-Between-Place

Tory @ The Sleeping Latte

Anahera @ Anahera Reads

Annie @ Book Blather

Reem @ I Read and Tell

My Questions

1. If given the chance to rewrite an ending to any book, what book would it be?
2. Where is your favorite place to read?
3. What book do you avoid reading like the plague?
4. Cats or dogs?
5. Everyone wants to ride in style. What kind of fictional transportation do you want to cruise in?
6. What is the most interesting thing you’ve used as a bookmark?
7. Tea or coffee?
8. What advice would you give to a new book blogger?
9. Do you like book memes? Why or why not?
10. It’s the end of the world and all of mankind has been wiped out! The last living survivors are you and a fictional character. Who would you want that character to be and why?

Manga Monday #6 | Ristorante Paradiso by Natsume Ono

Ristorante Paradiso (Gente, #1)

By Natsume Ono

Original Title | Ristorante Paradiso (リストランテ・パラディーゾ)

Published in America on March 16th 2010 by VIZ Media LLC

Genre | Josei, Slice-of-Life, Romance, Drama, Comedy

Goodreads | Amazon |Rightstuf

A charming tale of a mother/daughter reunion, a burgeoning romance, and a little restaurant in Rome. In exchange for playing “the daughter of an old friend,” Olga offers Nicoletta a place to live and an apprenticeship at the restaurant. Nicoletta fits in well among the vibrant personalities at Casetta Dell’Orso. She gets along particularly well with the kindly headwaiter, Claudio, a divorced man who, after years, has still never taken off his wedding ring. As Nicoletta’s feelings for Claudio become complicated, she finds a sympathetic ear in Olga, leading the estranged pair to form a friendship neither expected. But as they grow closer, the pressure exerted by the secret they share becomes too much to bear. (Courtesy of Goodreads)

Once upon a time, I watched the anime Ristorante Paradiso and fell in love with the series.  I was surprised at how much this anime has made a good impression on me because, at the time, I primarily watched shōjo and shōnen anime which are made for the younger demographic. I adored the story for being simple, sweet and touching. So when I found that Viz Media had published the Gente series as a lovely Viz Signature I went out and bought the first volume.

Review |★ ★ ★ ★

Imagine a quaint little restaurant located on the charming streets of Rome. Inside the tables are occupied to maximmum capacity and appetizing Italian food are catered by handsomely mature bespectacled gentlemen. This is the kind of restaurant Nicoletta waltz into in Ristorante Paradiso.

When in Rome…This manga is a nice slice-of-life romance about a young woman named Nicoletta who travels to Rome in order to confront the man her mother remarried. As a young child, Nicoletta’s mother her left to be raised by her grandparents with this as her reason: “There’s a man I’m destined to be with. But he’ll never marry a divorced woman”. (This is not really a spoiler because this is explained within the first few pages). Now at age 21, Nicoletta travels to Rome to meet her mother’s husband, which is why she finds herself outside of Casetta dell’Orso and where our story begins.

Like mother, like daughter. Nicoletta’s relationship with her mother is interesting to say the least. After basically being abandoned as a child, it’s easy to understand Nicoletta’s resentment towards their mother. Due to some circumstances, Nicoletta doesn’t outright say she is he mother’s child and instead plays the “daughter of a friend” role. I appreciate that this story isn’t all about hating her estranged mother, but instead mother and daughter trying to rekindle their lost relationship.

“Most of our guest are here for the waiters. Our customers share a particular weakness for handsome gentlemen.”

Left to Right: Furio, Teo, Claudio, Luciano , Gigi and Vito

Ladies, eat your heart out! The story is set primarily in the ever popular restaurant, Casetta dell’Orso. This restuarant is popular for two reasons: 1) The food. 2) The staff. Now I think one of the selling points of Ristorante Paradiso is definitely the abundance of charming bespectacled gentlemen. While I wouldn’t call this story a reverse harem (all the guys don’t fall for the female protagonist), the readers could easily pick out a favorite if they wanted to. I would say that Ristorante Paradiso is the Ouran High School Host Club equivalent for older woman. What’s nice about this manga is that we do get some insight on all the characters (some more than others). Everyone has a personality and story behind them fleshing out their character.

City of love. Now, I know that Paris is typically the city of love, but after reading this manga I think it would be nice to fall in love in Rome. Nicoletta falls in love in the insta-love kind of way, but being a short romance prequel manga to the series I didn’t really mind. Like her mother, Nicoletta feels with her heart, but she also doesn’t act rashly on it. She is constantly trying to understand if what she is feeling is simply an attraction or real love. To me, when Nicoletta acted for the sake of “love” she did it in a way that was confident and reflects how sure she is of her feelings. I really admired her personality because of it.

Would I recommend it?

I loved the anime and love being able to carry the manga with me to read whenever. So yes, I recommend it. This is a nice light read if you want to stray from the typical shōjo romance manga out there.

#BookChat [2] | Reading Habits & Bookish Quirks: Before and After Blogging

#BookChat is a feature on my blog where I make discussion posts on anything book-related. So, let’s chat!

As book lovers, we all have our own little reading habits and bookish quirks.  These habits may have started in childhood and stayed with us as we’ve grown. Or maybe they’re brand new habits that you’ve recently just discovered. Once I got into book blogging, I’ve noticed how much I’ve changed as a reader and unearthed some bookish quirks I’ve either attained or realized I’ve always had.

Before Blogging:

Kpop Club by Y.R. Choi

Kpop Club (Kpop Club Series, #1)

By Y.R. Choi

Published March 10th 2013 by Daegom Limited (ebook, free online)

Genre | Young Adult, Contemporary

Website |Goodreads | Amazon

Ice cold lattes and red hot kpop stars!

Krystal has just finished high school and is determined to achieve her dream of becoming a kpop star. After encountering a number of bumps in the road, she eventually auditions with big-time kpop producer, KYM. KYM signs her as the final member of his new multinational girl group, Kpop Club. With only 3 months to prepare for their debut performance, the Kpop Club girls must give everything if they are going to be ready in time. Will Krystal have what it takes to fulfil her dream, and could she have found someone special along the way?

SPOILERS AHOY!

Review |★ ★ 1/2

Ever since I started really getting into Korean Pop music, I’ve been craving to read a book inspired by K-pop. I wanted to read a touching story about an aspiring K-pop artist making their way into the music industry. An “underdog becoming a top dog” kind of story. Kpop Club is that story, but it wasn’t a good story.

Before reading:

After reading:

I want to be a K-pop idol when I grow up! Kpop Club is a pretty linear story about Krystal who just finished high school and is looking to become a K-pop singer. She auditions at one of the top four entertainment companies in Korea, OMG Entertainment (yes, that is seriously the name). Her audition goes well, then things start to go awry and then everything quickly becomes all sunshine and rainbows after that. I didn’t feel for Krystal at all. Other than her bumpy start, I felt like she barely struggled or made any efforts in her goal. Things were just going so well for her. This was mainly the fault of the writing. I was basically told what was happening to Krystal rather than experiencing her journey. This made the story less fun

Did you say something, Mr. Kim? I had an issue with the extremely long dialogue used in this story. More than often, a character would tell us information rather than the author showing us in his writing. At times I felt like I was being force fed a lot of K-pop industry trivia. This may have been an attempt to give the readers an insight into the industry, but instead created too many incredibly long monologues. As a K-pop fan, I am interested in what the industry is like, however the delivery of information was boring and dragged on for too long. I don’t mind the trivia, but at least make it interesting or vital to the story. (On a different note, why were there so many “Mr. Kim” characters?. I understand that “Kim” is very common Korean name, but was it really necessary to have them in the story?)

Ten girls, one group. I liked the idea that Krystal, our main protagonist, eventually joins a girls group with international members. However, there were ten girls in total and none of them were memorable. Heck, even Krystal wasn’t that memorable. When the time came to introduce the rest of the Kpop Club members there were mentions of where the girls came from, a little about about their appearance/personality and who their favorite fictional K-pop groups were. Nothing after that. No dimension. No personality. The girls just became background characters.

What did I like? I appreciated the author’s efforts to illustrate what Seoul and Korean culture was like. He mentioned the different stations you could use to travel, Kakao Talk (a popular Korean mobile messenger) was mentioned, honorifics were used and plenty of Korean foods were mentioned (ah, pat bing soo *drools*). This worked and didn’t work at times, but good effort. What interested me most was the mention of plastic surgery and the pressure for K-pop ideals to adjust their body image in accordance to the popular trends.  I honestly didn’t know anything about V-lines or those crazy dieting remedies that are so popular in Korea.

In conclusion,  Kpop Club was just “meh”. This was almost the story I wanted to read, but was just poorly executed. Supposedly, there is going to be a sequel in the future. I seriously hope that there will be some major improvements by then.

Would I recommend it?

Nope. Sad to say, this book didn’t get a “Wow. Fantastic baby.”out of me.

Stacking the Shelves #4

Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Guess who didn’t stick to her previously mentioned book buying ban? *Raises hand* Let me explain, I passed by a thrift store and the books were cheap! I just couldn’t help it! I honestly thought I got a pretty good bargain: $10 for a bind-up of the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, the only Harry Potter book I didn’t own and a book on ghosts with illustrations in it. The rest were free Amazon ebooks and an ARC I was given for review.

This is my reality.

 Bought:

Ebook:

ARC:

The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna

The Theory of Everything

By Kari Luna

Published July 11th 2013 by Philomel

Genre | Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Sophie Sophia is obsessed with music from the late eighties. She also has an eccentric physicist father who sometimes vanishes for days and sees things other people don’t see. But when he disappears for good and Sophie’s mom moves them from Brooklyn, New York, to Havencrest, Illinois, for a fresh start, things take a turn for the weird. Sophie starts seeing things, like marching band pandas, just like her dad.

Guided by Walt, her shaman panda, and her new (human) friend named Finny, Sophie is determined to find her father and figure out her visions, once and for all. So she travels back to where it began—New York City and NYU’s physics department. As she discovers more about her dad’s research on M-theory and her father himself, Sophie opens her eyes to the world’s infinite possibilities—and her heart to love. (Courtesy of Goodreads)

Review |★ ★ ★ ★

The pandas are coming…

Aww, aren’t they cute?

The Theory of Everything is one part 1980’s, two parts Donni Darko, three parts String Theory and four parts of adorable. A nice cool contemporary cocktail that suited my taste buds.

This is a coming-of-age story about a fourteen year old girl named Sophie Sophia. She’s a young girl stuck in the analog age, wears themed outfits, and loves 80’s music. She goes through things that a handful of teenagers her age go through: getting used to a new school, making friends, dealing with the trauma of a father that walked out on her, and receiving advice from her shaman panda. Wait, what was the last part? Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that Sophie has episodes, meaning she sees things that others don’t see. Now, this could mean that Sophie hallucinates or something else, but her episodes are so much fun to read about. It’s like if you combined the movie Donni Darko and Fantasia together you would get Sophie’s various episodes. Really trippy stuff. 😀

I feel like a lot of the books I enjoy have an amazing cast of characters and this book is no exception. Sophie is an adorable little girl finding her way in life, going through a journey of self-discovery. And then there are her two best friends.

First off, there’s Walt. Sophie’s shaman panda who plays poker, attempted to conduct a panda marching band and gives enigmatic fortune-cookie advice. I honestly wished there was more of him in the book, but he showed up when he needed to. He’s a lovable panda. The kind who is more likely to give a hug, rather than a right-hook like other zoo pandas.

Then there’s Finny….

Finny, Finny, Finny…a.k.a. Fab Physics Boy, a.k.a Sophie’s best friend, a.k.a. the guy who knows how to do friendship the right way! Awhile back, Lottie @ Book Adoration discussed the absence of friends in Young Adult Fiction. Where were the friends in YA? It can’t be all be love triangles and junk. Well, I’m happy to say that the friendship between Sophie and Finny is a true testament to what a  YA friendship should be. This is the guy that sticks with his best friend through thick and thin, through the ups and downs and brings out the comfort coffee when necessary. At first, I thought things were going to go differently. Sophie started out as the weird new girl with no friends when all of a sudden Fab Physics Boy pops out of nowhere. Now, in the YA books I’ve read the guy who sticks out like a sore thumb to the protagonist is usually a potential love interest. NOPE, not this time. And that’s not a bad thing. I adored Finny and wished I had a Finny of my own.

That’s not to say there isn’t romance in this book, because there is. A rainbow-vomit inducing teen romance to be precise. No, there’s no hot passionate make-out session you can read about, but there is a sweet romance present. It’s mainly the awkwardness and adorableness of a first love. But gosh-darn-it, it’s freaking cute! By the end of the book, I was squeeing like crazy because of the cuteness.

I love how the underlying theme is love. Not just romantic love, but also the love between daughter and mother, daughter and father and between friends. I feel like a lot of Young Adult Fiction books try to sell off physical attraction as love, but that wasn’t the case with this book. Love isn’t all happy endings. It’s also the hurt, the struggle and the ability to pick yourself up after being broken. It’s a really nice message once you think about it.

The only issue I had with the book, a really small issue, was the lingo and 80’s references used. I am not an 80’s child, nor do I have any attachment to 80’s music. So sad to say, all the 80’s band references were completely lost on me (sorry!). I had to look up who Morrissey was, what Ray Ban glasses looked like and even looked up some of the bands mentioned on YouTube. I think my lack of 80’s music knowledge really lessen my reading experience. If I did, I’d probably be fangirling even more over this book. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy The Theory of Everything because I thoroughly did. The story itself is very relatable. I honestly really wanted to see where this journey would take these kids and the trippy episodes were always a pleasure to read. 😀

Would I recommend it?

Recommend! If you’re a paranormal lover like me and want to dive into contemporary, this is a good book to start with. But before you start, I also recommend embracing your inner 80’s as well.

Monthly Reading List | August 2013

So long July, it’s been real! For the month of August, I’m doing a lot of new things. I’m starting a new school year, moving to a new location and reading unfamiliar genres that are totally new to me. Also, as you can see from the title, I’m also starting a new feature on my blog: a monthly reading list!

The feature is pretty straight forward. On the first day of very month, I post a list of potential books I want to read during that month. Depending on my mood or how busy my IRL schedule is the list is subject to change, but my personal goal is to at least read something every month and write a review for it. And to spice up the feature I’ll try to give every month a theme.

This month’s theme is *drumrolls*…

Manga Monday #5 | Gurren Lagann Vol.1 & Vol.2 by Kotaro Mori

Gurren Lagann Vol.001

Story: GAINAX, Supervisor: Kazuki Nakashima, Art: Kotaro Mori

Original Title |Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破 グレンラガン)

Published in America on May 5th 2009 by Bandai Entertainment

Genre | Shōnen, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Mecha, Romance

Goodreads | Kinokuniya

In his skyless cavern of a village Simon toils daily, drilling holes to expand his stifling little world until one day he makes an extraordinary discovery: a small glowing drill-bit and the man-sized mech it activates. Before he can give it a second thought Simon’s dragged into a plot to break through to the surface by the local gang leader Kamina, only to have the ceiling come crashing down on top of them under the weight of a giant monster! It somehow falls onto the boisterous Kamina and cowardly Simon to defend their village, but once they defeat the monster what awaits the duo on the surface world? Get ready for buxom babes, beastmen, and giant mechs as only GAINAX can provide them! (Courtesy of Goodreads).

Review | ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Gurren Lagann has been around for a few years. Created in 2007 as an anime by studio GAINAX (the brains behind both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt) which later became adapted into a manga illustrated Kotaro Mori. I have yet to see the anime, so my review is solely on the first two manga volumes of Gurren Lagann.

The story begins with a bang, quite literally. Volume one of Gurren Lagann is consistently action packed, where there is never a dull moment. There seems to be a monster-of-the-week kind of format where enemy robots, called “gunmen”, appear and our heroes go kick butt. All in all, this series contains explosions, fighting robots, and heroism all around. That being said, it did take me a while to even understand what the heck was going on in the story. The pacing of the story goes by extremely fast. Any type of character back-stories or world development are briefly mentioned and do not get addressed further until much later in the volume.

While reading, I had a real need for plot that this volume didn’t provide. The premise of the story contains so much potential. In this futuristic world, humans are forced to survive underground. The surface is dominated by intelligent creatures, called beastmen, that pilot the gunmen to eradicate humans. Our two main characters are virtually clueless to the world above, allowing the reader to discover new information along with the characters.  Unfortunately, plot mainly fell to the wayside in favor for action and humor.  In fact, I felt that volume one valued action and funny one-liners over any real world building.

Team Gurren

Top: Gurren Lagann

Bottom (Left to Right): Kamina, Boota, Simon and Yoko

Kamina is the crazy, boisterous character that comes up with the team name, Gurren. Unsatisfied with living underground, he’s always coming up with schemes that manage to tick off the village chief. His main goal in life is to break through the “impenertrable ceiling” and reach the surface just like his father. He comes off as the “cool older brother type” that often incites to do the impossible with his crazy antics. Kamina is my absolute favorite character because he’s hilarious and comes with the best lines 😀

“Kick logic out and do the impossible!! That’s the way Team Gurren rolls, remember?!”

Also, my favorite line:

“Listen to me, Simon. Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in me! Believe in me, who believes in you!!”

Simon is the youngest member of Team Gurren and “soul brother” to Kamina. He’s a timid young man whose sole job is to expand his underground village by digging. It’s not a glorious job by far, but Simon finds pleasure in the little changes he makes to his village; sometimes resulting into unexpected treasures. Unlike Kamina, Simon isn’t heroic at all. Rather he has cautious and often fearful nature that stems from the trauma of his parents death.

There are more characters are introduced in this volume, such as Yoko, Leeron and the Black Siblings. But I feel that only Kamina and Simon were the primary focus in volume one.

Gurren Lagann Vol.002

Story: GAINAX, Supervisor: Kazuki Nakashima, Art: Kotaro Mori

Original Title |Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破 グレンラガン)

Published in America on August 25th 2009 by Bandai Entertainment

Genre | Shōnen, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Mecha, Romance

Goodreads | Kinokuniya

Review | ★ ★ ★ ★

Volume two picks up exactly where volume one left off, with an epic combining of the Gurren and Lagann.

I actually enjoyed reading volume two much more than the previous volume. Past plot complaints aside, I just went along with the flow of the manga and found myself appreciating this volume more. The slapstick comedy of the earlier volume multiplied ten fold in volume two, creating many memorable laugh out loud moments. If the covers of the first two volumes didn’t tip you off, you’ll realize that the characters have a severe case of lack of clothing. The clothing choice is not because of the hot climate of the Gurren Lagann world, but a purposeful character design by the creators. You never actually see anyone’s naughty bits, but this series is chock full of cartoon-like violence, skin exposure, bouncy boobs, and sexual innuendos (the obligatory hot springs episode, which is a common anime trope, is featured in volume two). This type of comedy may not suit everyone’s taste, but is definitely something to consider, especially since the humor is so ingrained in Gurren Lagann.

The problems I had with volume one were completely rectified this time around. Here we are able to explore another underground village, different from village Kamina and Simon came from. It was interesting to see the social constructs of this new village, and get a sense of what being forced underground has done to humanity. I also liked that we were being shown snippets of what it’s like on the villain’s side. Overall, this volume had some character development, the budding of a potential romance and a constant influx of new characters being introduced.

Would I recommend it?

Gurren Lagann may not be for everyone, but if you’re looking for something crazy and action-packed give this a shot.