In My Mailbox (8)

This is a compilation of all the books I got during the blog-break I took.

Bought

Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Vintage Classics) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Éxodo by Anissa B.Damom

I’m gonna give you three tips which nobody gave me.

This is the first one: <<Forget all you’ve been told: Vampires don’t exist, wolfs are only animals and the magicians, faeries and goblins are locked inside big books of worn pages>>.

I want to show you the other side of the world. A World where danger is hidden behind perfect porcelain faces, love is like a bloodthirsty savage beast that lurks and pulls out your heart while you’re asleep and happiness… happiness is a crime that is paid dearly.

Canciones para Paula by Blue Jeans (Songs for Paula)

Paula, a young girl about to be 17, has decided to meet Ángel in person, a 22-years-old-boy who she has met chatting. She is nervous and excited. Minutes pass and the boy doesn’t arrive so she decides to enter a nearby cafe. There she has a funny encounter with Álex, a stranger, who is casually reading the same book as her. Both are young and good-looking… Álex has to leave hastily because he has a commitment. When Paula is about to leave, Ángel appears and apologizes for being late. He is a journalist and this afternoon he has interviewed Katia, a popular singer…

Borrowed

Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, book 1) by Louise Rennison

Not much but enough for a while. So, what did you get?

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Willow by Julia Hoban

Willow by Julia Hoban

Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Dial Tags: Cutting, Romance, Grief, Family

Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow’s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy —one sensitive, soulful boy—discovers Willow’s secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the “safe” world Willow has created for herself upside down.

Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl’s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy’s refusal to give up on her.

Review

WOW! This was the first word that slid from my mouth after I finished reading Willow. And it’s taken me time to write this review ‘cause I didn’t really know how to express how I felt while reading it.

This book is powerful; cutting is a sad topic, as well as grief and solitude, so you would expect a depressing story, but the author added a sweet romance to the mix. The result? An amazing story that touches a very serious and doleful issue but that instead of making the reader feel sorrowful it makes him/her hopeful. HOPE. I think this four letters sum up pretty well the main message of this book (at least this is what I felt).

Writing the story in third person from Willow’s point of view was a very wise idea. This way we get to see that chain of sad memories and thoughts in Willow’s mind and what leads her to cutting.

I liked the romance as well. Specially Guy because he isn’t the kind of boy that confesses his love and comforts the girl, no. Guy is determined to stop Willow from cutting herself even if it means having big arguments with her or even losing her.

Also, the design of the book is cool. I like how with the title of every chapter appear some cut marks, and evrery chapter you read is a line that disappears till there are no more.

Willow is a wonderful book, and even if you don't like this kind of stories you will enjoy it.

Waiting On Wednesday (14)

Quick update because I have to go. I’m going to a shopping mall near where I live to watch “Krabat y el Molino del Diablo” (Krabat and the Devil’s Mill). I’ve searched the net but I haven’t found any information about the US (or any other place) release so I ask you: Has it been released were you life? Or just in Germany and Spain?

 

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Gimme a call by Sarah Mlynowski

Hardcover: 320                                       Delacorte Books for Young Readers                April 27, 2010

A new life is just a phone call away!
Devi's life isn't turning out at all like she wanted. She wasted the past three years going out with Bryan—cute, adorable, break-your-heart Bryan. Devi let her friendships fade, blew off studying, didn't join any clubs . . . and now that Bryan has broken up with her, she has nothing left.
Not even her stupid cell phone—she dropped it in the mall fountain. Now it only calls one number . . . hers. At age fourteen, three years ago!
Once Devi gets over the shock—and convinces her younger self that she isn't some wacko—she realizes that she's been given an awesome gift. She can tell herself all the right things to do . . . because she's already done all the wrong ones! Who better to take advice from than your future self?
Except . . .what if getting what you think you want changes everything?
Fans of Sarah Mlynowski's Magic in Manhattan series will love this hilarious new novel with a high-concept premise .

Sounds funny doesn’t it? Although the paranormal books predominate in my bookshelf, lately I’ve been reading more chick lit (though this one seems to have some magic in it).^^

So, what are you waiting for this week?

Waiting On Wednesday was started by Breaking The Spine.

So Random: TV (1)

One of the things I’m addicted to right now is Merlin, the TV series by BBC. I’ve never been a big fan of the story but not long ago (about a month ago or so) while I was looking for a new TV series to watch, I came across Merlin. I don’t exactly know why it called my attention, maybe it was that the story was different from all the other, starting with the fact that this one is based in Merlin’s and Arthur’s youth. Whatever it was I’m glad I started watching it ‘cause I loved it and in less than two weeks I watched the 26 episodes it has right now (1^st and 2^nd season).

The story sets in the years before Arthur becomes king and it is mainly about the relationship between Merlin and Arthur. The series start with the arrival of the young warlock to Camelot and how he meets Arthur. In the first episode Merlin saves for the first time (believe me, during the series he saves his neck a lot) the prince’s life and so, as reward, he is named Arthur’s personal servant (with which Merlin won’t be very happy). From here on, we see in the next episodes how the two of them become closer while fighting monsters, ghosts, witches and many other magical creatures.

The bad thing is that magic is forbidden in Camelot by order of the King Uther Pendragon and any act of magic will be punished with the death sentence, so Merlin has to hide his powers, which is already pretty difficult without having to save the entire kingdom in every episode.

I like the actors, they really fit into their roles and if someone asked me to, I wouldn’t be able to think of any other actors that would look better than they do in the series. And as in every series there has to be a crush, here mine is Merlin/Collin Morgan because I really like his voice. Here they are:

What I like the most about this series is the script. I especially love the conversations between Arthur and Merlin; they are a very funny couple. Here you’ve got some quotes from the first episode “The Dragon’s call”:

And here’s one more quote. This is from episode 2x02 “The Once and Future Queen”. I have to write it ‘cause I just love it:

I really enjoyed this series (and still do whenever I have some time to spare) and while waiting for the third season (I read there’s going to be 5 or 6), which I suppose will start around September or so, I’m going to buy the books. There are the books(left) and the graphic novels (right), plus activity books and things like that. Who knows, maybe I also buy the graphic novels; since they are for children the English vocabulary won’t be heavy so I could lent them to my 12 year old sister to practice and to make her read something because she doesn’t even give books a chance.

So, have you watched Merlin? If not, I highly recommend you to do it right now. Go watch Merlin and fill your life with a little more magic!

Related Links:

Official Web Page

Fan site

Back on the net

So it's been around three months sincec I last posted and I'vev missed my blog a lot, but I have a good excuse. As almost always school is to blame; i had a to do a very important ans difficult (and thick) research project for my school.
This research project ("treball de recerca" in catalan) is very important because even if I had an A+ in all my subjects, if I don't get a good mark I won't pass my senior year and I'll have to repeat this course.
Here in Spain, it is only done in Catalonia. It is compulsory for all catalan students to do this research project during senior year. At the end of junior year we have to choose a topic for our project and a teacher is assigned to each of us so he/she can guide us during all the procecss of searching information, writing the project and expose it.
In summer we start searching for information, during Christmas we have to start writing the project, and then we have to finish it in January and in February we have to expose it with a power point in a conference room in front of a jury of three teachers and anybody who wants to come. The exposition should last between 15 and 20 minutes (althought it took me 40 minutes) in which we have to introduce ourselves, explain why we choose this topic, who we made the project and explain the contents of it.

My project was about how mass media manipulates the information and I did in english, which means I had to expose it english (I think I'm the first in the story of my high school in doing it in english) and although I was really nervous, when I started talking it all went perfectly.

Now, after all the work I'm happy 'cause I've learnt a lot of vocabulary and I'vev improved my english so I don't regret spending all these ours and days doing it.


But well, the good news are that I'm back^^
Right now I was rembering how it felt when I started writing this blog, with all the insecurities, doubting someone would ever read it and I've realized that I feel that same way now all excited just thinking about writing here!