A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'll force my younger cousins to read this one.

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The Note by Angela Elwell Hunt

The Note by Angela Elwell Hunt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was in a ship already when I got to the climax of this book. I was with my father during that time, and with a figurine called St. Uriel - my brother's angel. We were headed home and all fast crafts were in crap-mode and hence I had the chance to finish the book right there.

In The Note, an airplane crashed and a note was left signed 'Dad'. In my head I imagined what would my father do if we'd face the same terror in that ship. Would he write a note too? Nah, I bet he'd try to save me knowing I can't swim. He'll forget Uriel and fight for both our lives.

T- I love you. All is forgiven. Dad.

That was what the note said. I began thinking, if I would be given a chance to write a last note, what would be in it? I guess I'll write to my mother. I'll tell her that I'm fine. I'm fine, I love you. Perhaps I'd really write that had the ship sank.

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The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen

The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Haha, alright, it's quite funny.

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've seen the movie before reading the book. I don't think I'd understand it much though if I didn't see the movie first.

The book was consistently sad for me. I am not sure if it was all due to the fact that I know it doesn't have a happy-ending or it's just Ishiguro's way of narrating. There was a different kind of sadness though. It wasn't the kind that I felt pass through me...I only felt pity for the characters. The 'sadness' didn't really came to me.

I did not understand why and how it was possible that I couldn't relate to this certain kind of emotion. But when I reached the part where they came to Madame and several revelations pushed through, I sort of thought that maybe it was because the characters weren't exactly humans...just sort of modeled and was trained to be one of us. Perhaps, Ishiguro was trying to make the characters be 'limited' or something. Well if that is the case, I think the author had a success.

It was a good concept though. It might be possible, even. Although, if in the future, something like this would happen, I'd hope to not be able to witness such reality. My sympathy might translate to sadness successfully.

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think the book had a pretty awesome concept, but somewhere it made me gave it four stars instead of five. I think it's the part where Lindsey started to sound or look like a vain person, who's really self-centered too. I was supposed to give three stars, but because she was honest, it felt ok to give it four.

Ok, I don't really like Colin, but his mind's pretty interesting. Wait, very...very interesting. I think he'd be a great friend to talk to. I find his character very intriguing.

My favorite is Hassan. He's super cool, and super funny. I think Green made a genius move by creating him. He balanced the whole novel.

I did not expect K-19 to actually be... well her. It was a cool move, because it's just sort of nice that Green thought about making K-19...her.

And also I liked that Lindsey is Colin's first Lindsey, and Colin is Lindsey's second Colin.

Right, this is a lame review. Haha.

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Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This one exhausted me.

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The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This part of LOTR gave me all sorts of emotions.

Book V marked the beginning of the Return of the King. In this part, Pippin and Merry were separated. Pippin goes to Gondor with Gandalf, while Merry remains in Rohan with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas with their new found friends, Theoden, Eomer and Eowyn.

ROTK tapped almost everything a story could possibly tap. Overall, it is a magnificent fiction that tells heroism, romance, friendship, the good and evil, and others.

Aragorn, the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor had proven his quality to Middle Earth. He had gathered his courage to face Sauron. He led people to battle, and healed those who were ill. He was the perfect King. Tolkien did not do an exaggeration, in my opinion, when it comes to Aragorn's character. I think, he simply believes that this is how a King should be like.

Faramir, the steward of Gondor had also proven himself by being so consistently gentle. I admired that quality of him for even if he had the right and chance to be ruled by anger and hurt inflicted by his father, he preferred to remain steady instead.

Eowyn's my favorite hero though. I'm not taking her at the lead spot because she's a woman, but because she surprised me the most. I thank Tolkien for letting somebody like Eowyn exist in LOTR. In most stories, women get let behind, and always had the role of those who should be protected. I like Eowyn's guts and her ability to have more than just guts.

Merry and Pippin's friendship brought a different kind of emotion to me. It's good that Tolkien proved that they're no less than Sam and Frodo's. Whenever Merry thinks about Pippin and Pippin about Merry, I feel great and wonder, can this be for real? And at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, when Pip found Merry, and told him he would take care of him, it was really beautiful, it was so weird and yet...well beautiful. And I started to wonder where Frodo and Sam could be and how they're doing, even if I knew well they'll all survive, I just can't help but forget I knew all about that.

Sam and Frodo were just as great as Pip and Merry. I really admired Sam's loyalty to his Mr. Frodo. And even if Frodo had his grumpy moments, I feel great every time I'd read "sorry Sam, it's the ring...". I am glad he's aware every time his tone changes to rude. Also, if Sam wasn't there at Mt. Doom with him, all would have been in vain. There would've been part 2, I think. If not, it would've been a disastrous ending.

Eomer also made a great impression. Since I've always wanted an older brother or sister, I did not skip a word from his lines. He was such a good character and when he thought Eowyn was dead along with his King, I was so affected by his line: death take us all. It's like I could hear him and he's just the kind of character you'd want to comfort.

Gandalf was consistently awesome and strong in this part too. He's a very important asset and it's like he represented the race of everyone who's not from the line of men. Maybe his existence is the reason why Tolkien thinks it's not necessary to involve most of the Elves and Dwarves in the battle. Middle Earth had Gandalf and his Eagles so... :)

Gimli and Legolas didn't make much appearances, only when battles are happening and such but they were still both so cool and whenever they're mentioned, the story feels lighter. I'm not sure if that's because Gimli's just really funny and witty or is it because Legolas just so cool and elvish.

I also found my favorite chapter in this part of LOTR. It's "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields". This is the chapter where Theoden died, and Eowyn killed a Ringwraith. This was the chapter that affected me the most, as proven by how many pages I folded.

I do know I didn't do justice in reviewing ROTK but well one does not simply get over the fact that Frodo is now separated from his fellow hobbits especially from Sam. T_T

That's all. I just- well I'll just end it here. T_T

P.S.: ROTK is my favorite part.

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Movie: Gravity

source: IMDB

5 out of 5

The story was a simple survival story set in an extraordinary setting. 

Dr. Stone was separated from her comrades after a disaster met them in space. Shortly, after minutes of rolling into space, she was joined by veteran astronaut and together they went back to the destroyed shuttle only to find that they were the only survivors.

What happens when you get trapped outside Earth? It was the same as being trapped in water with no means of going above the surface.

Dr. Stone was lucky enough that she was found by colleague Matt Kowalsky. However, misfortune remained to follow her.

With a low level oxygen to support her, they need to get to another shuttle to get one. Time wasn't at their side, nor was Matt's resources.

They were both close to surviving, entering the shuttle and all, however, Stone who was hanging literally by a single strand seemed bound to be left alone. Matt, seeing how bad the situation could be for both of them if he won't let go, decided to do the ultimate sacrifice, leaving Stone alone, as he drifted away, and into the unknown.

Stone made it inside the shuttle, but it wasn't still easy. There was a fire, and there had been a problem with her parachute. When she went out to fix it, another disaster befell on her. Nonetheless, the woman succeeded in doing what seemed to be the impossible.

However, she faced a serious trouble in the near-end of the film. She has a trouble with the landing. She cannot get anyone from Earth to answer her calls. Instead, a chinese man who seemed to be having fun with his dog was the one she was hearing. Slowly, Stone closed her eyes and she seemed to give up, saying that nobody would pray for her if she dies here, having a child who is dead already anyway.

But at the spur of the moment, Matt returned and with that playful attitude still. He told Stone to get it together and to do something to survive. Stone insisted that the fuel left is for launching only, but Matt said that she could use it for landing as well. Stone said her landing always turn out so bad. But Matt said she should still try.

Just like that, Stone opened her eyes and realized it was just a hallucination. Matt wasn't there, he never is coming back just like their other colleagues. But she had enough motivation to keep going and try anything that could work, even with the Chinese-charactered keys before her.

She was able to land on Earth, and she made it out alive safely.

In my own opinion, Gravity is the kind of sci-fi that is rich in vocabulary (seriously, half of their terms were foreign to me) and strong on the plot. What made me remain sitting on that cinema is the fact that it kept me guessing whether she'll make it or not. One moment you'll be convinced that she will make it alive, but in the next it'll confuse you once again. It was amazing how it all happened in just less than two hours. It was, of course, one of the most impossible things to happen in human history, but the movie was so convincing you'd doubt the impossible. :)