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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Notes from the Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Notes from the Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5 of 5 stars

Damn it, this one gave headaches...and stomachaches - from laughing.

Dostovyesky's a man who likes to think so much, I think. His lead character has natural queerness, and we could be friends, in fact, best of friends.

If all men would think like this man, well I don't really know, I'll have a hard time picking who's the best lol.

Seriously speaking though, it's easy for him to be disagreeable, but at some parts, I can't help but agree in his views. The book didn't really follow a plot like the usual ones, but it was consistent in telling thoughts freely.

After 10 years, or more, I shall re-read the book and see if I'd still feel the same for the lead.

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A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

5 of 5 stars

It was so nice to read something so light after such a heavy feeling. T_T I almost wanted to go back to ten years before.

I think, Frances Burnett is one hell of a story-teller, she must've been a good child herself. I feel ashamed for not remembering she's the author of The Secret Garden, the first novel I've read that was authored by her.

I didn't also recognize that this is actually the novel where 'Sara, Ang Munting Prinsesa' was based. The movie altered a few, but it maintained the Sara Crewe Burnett created. It was proven in the story that Burnett indeed loved to read, and maybe, just maybe, we have similar tastes. She liked The Count of Monte Cristo, it was funny and damn entertaining how she made Sara Crewe such a darling intelligent girl to have all her imaginations so strong that the attic was considered a Bastille, and she and Becky, prisoners, Miss Minchin - the jailer.

It was so simple, and I think this should be included in Reading classes for elementary students. Had I met this book while I adored dolls, I might've turned out differently. Lol.

All in all, I love the story, and everyone. It's a good read especially after a bad day, or after reading heavy books.

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

5 of 5 stars

When my favorite character died, I suddenly wished the story was told from his perspective. I kept on wondering - What if Heathcliff told the story? Is his mind that brutal? Although Ellen Dean told the story with justice for all sides, it still didn't give a great detail of how that man's mind works.

I think Bronte is quite exceptional. Given the fact that this is not the kind of home she grew up with, it was amazing how she managed to weave her characters. I, honestly, enjoyed it despite the darkness and sadness that enveloped the story.

Emily's character were all sad in their own ways. But I noticed they were all sad because they loved somebody so deeply. I blame Catherine Earnshaw for that - had she chosen Heathcliff and not 'status', the story would direct to another ending. But of course, Emily's plot made everything entertaining and the book was hard to put down. Such a shame this was her only novel. I would've read another from her right away.

All in all, it seems to tell a story about love, but more than that, it is a story about a great kind of love - for family, honor, important people, and to one's own self.

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

4 of 5 stars

The book reminded me of some film (local) that I watched way, way, way back.

So there's such potion that auto transforms you as somebody else. I never thought the story was all about some chemical. It kept me guessing, and I never was able to guess it right.

All in all, it's weird and Stevenson's very descriptive. However, I liked that he revealed it all in one great bang. That didn't let me sleep at once last night.

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The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Stranger by Albert Camus

5 of 5 stars

The lead character looks nuts on the surface but he showed so many shades in the middle to last part.

He got me wondering on the first few pages when he was in his mom's funeral. He did not express that he loved her, but I did feel that at one or two points in his life, the woman mattered.

He never showed any signs that he was rushing or trying to accomplish anything. His kind of character implied a zero sense of ambition. But on many pages, he seemed like a lost man - a wanderer, thinker, philosopher - but would take none of these labels.

The last two chapters were obviously the best since Camus obviously exhausted a lot of my brain cells. The book requires open mindedness, else, you'd find yourself hating the whole novel. There were some parts which I found were disagreeable but Camus has a way of stating his points.

It is one hell of a tragedy, and yet, not sad at all for me. There was not much to feel, as I was left wondering why the thoughts and views stated make sense when they shouldn't.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

5 of 5 stars

Orwell...is clever and I couldn't think of anybody who could've done this story better.

On the first few parts, I wondered right away why somebody would write a story this long with animals as characters. As I progressed, I came to the realization that this is a way to convey a message about politics.

This last line: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." was simply hard to ignore and disagree with.

The plot was all in all a representation of a mask that fell off from a liar.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2 of 5 stars

The book was straightforward (or at least that was how it looked like to me) despite the series of guessing games. It was a natural thing - Nick's way of being curious about a man who likes to throw parties and yet a 'bad host'.

It wasn't exactly sad, but there were signs of loneliness.

All the while, I was looking for somebody in the book that I could love. I didn't reach the love part, but I would pretty much go for Gatsby, the Great.

Gatsby started off as somebody mysterious without much to hide. The moment he revealed his love for Daisy, I sort of got ready for the guessing game as Nick narrated.

The colors, richness, golden-aura - these are the stuffs that made me conclude The Great Gatsby's a novel for the high-class society. There are times when this novel made me sort of feel so lost with the pool of names, words, places... I simply found myself wondering at times what the hell is Fitzgerald saying.

All in all, I didn't like it much, but Fitzgerald's way of narrating a story is absolutely classy.

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