July 6th, 2010 by Jhay · Best-Sellers with 225 views
Curious as to what books were selling hot this past month? The Wall Street Journal has come up with their own list and here it is:
FICTION
1. “Sizzling Sixteen” by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s Press)
2. “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
3. “The Overton Window” by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)
4. “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
5. “Family Ties” by Danielle Steel (Delacorte Press)
6. “Dark Flame” Alyson Noël (St. Martin’s Griffin)
7. “The Kane Chronicles, Book 1: The Red Pyramid” by Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books)
8. “The Lion” by Nelson DeMille (Grand Central Publishing)
9. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books)
10. “The Passage” by Justin Cronin (Ballantine Books)
11. “Whiplash” by Catherine Coulter (Putnam)
12. “Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer” by John Grisham (Dutton Books)
13. “Frankenstein: Lost Souls” by Dean Koontz (Bantam)
14. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5: The Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books)
15. “The Spy” by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott (Putnam)
NONFICTION
1. “Sht My Dad Says” by Justin Halpern (It Books)
2. “The Why of Work” by Dave Ulrich, Wendy Ulrich (McGraw-Hill)
3. “Women, Food & God” by Geneen Roth (Scribner)
4. “Medium Raw” by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco)
5. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself Book” by Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
6. “Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang” by Chelsea Handler (Grand Central Publishing)
7. “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh (Business Plus)
8. “Spoken From the Heart” by Laura Bush (Scribner)
9. “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton & Co.)
10. “The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary” by Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
11. “StrengthsFinder 2.0″ by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
12. “Uncharted TerriTori” by Tori Spelling (Gallery Press)
13. “War” by Sebastian Junger (Twelve)
14. “The Last Stand” by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking)
15. “Empire of the Summer Moon” by S.C. Gwynne (Scribner)
“Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer” by John Grisham really got my attention so I Googled for it and most of the reviews I’ve read give it a below-average rating. It seems that Grisham is not yet ready for a younger audience.
Though it has not completely killed my interest, hopefully I could fish a copy from Book Sale or some other used books store.
Tags: John Grisham·Wall Street Journal
June 28th, 2010 by Jhay · Daily Dose with 95 views
Have no fear, I’m still reading books. It’s just that in the past two months, I can’t get myself to focus on reading just one book. As can be seen on the side bar, I have two books that I’m “officially” reading.
Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is actually a re-read, the first time I’ve read it was about 6 years ago during my junior year in high school. I’m re-reading it as a refresher and to help me in my social commentary blogging.
The second book, The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is a super slow progress. I’m currently stuck at Chapter 11 wherein the book is going deeper into the politics of story, which took place in Renaissance Florence, Italy. Right around the time Niccolo Machiavelli was still alive!
So it’s probably because of my short-attention span and extreme interest in history, politics and philosophy that made me drop ‘Venus’ and pick up Machiavelli’s The Prince from my bookshelf. And I can’t help but smile to see that the two books are intimately connected.
Both books deal with the politics of 14th and 15th century Florence, Italy! The Prince dealing strictly with the politics side, while The Birth of Venus provides a personal and intimate glimpse of the politicians’ lives even though it’s just fiction.
Now I have a feeling that the other books in my collection also share some intimate link or another. Hopefully though, all of this would help me finish these two books I’m currently reading so that I can move on to the others.
I’m sure you other book lovers had a similar encounter like this before. Having two or more books that are not in the same series yet they share some intimate connections with each other. Care to share the story?
Tags: Renaissance Italy·The Birth of Venus·The Prince
May 30th, 2010 by Jhay · Reading Challenges with 192 views
Apart from the busy school work as a student-volunteer, consultant to various student organizations and being a "big brother" to many friends, my short-attention span has prevented me from finishing a book I’ve started to read.
I’ve joined the TBR Challenge of 2010 and at present, I’ve only finished reading two books in the list. The third one, "The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant is stuck at Chapter 11. Remember that I’ve started reading this last March which was two months ago!
[Read more →]
Tags: reading problems·TBR 2010
March 24th, 2010 by Jhay · Daily Dose with 220 views
It’s been more than a month since I last updated this blog and I kind missed it around here. Talking about books and reading it all feels relaxing and fun. School and extra-curricular work is the primary culprit in keeping me from updating this blog but it has not stopped me from reading books.
Speaking of reading books, or more accurately, my to-be-read books, I’ve managed to finish reading two books from my TBR list for 2010.
I’ve finished Richard Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution” last February while “Dead Air” by Bob Larson was quickly done with during the first two weeks of March. So I owe everyone two book reviews, which would be coming real soon.
I’m currently reading Sarah Dunant’s “The Birth of Venus” and so far it has been a colorful and passionate journey for me in 15th century Florence, Italy through the eyes of Alessandra Cecchi the book’s protagonist.
With the summer break officially open for me, there’s more time for reading, bargain book hunting, and visiting book blogs! I’ll be back for more.
Tags: book blogging·TBR 2010
January 25th, 2010 by Jhay · Reading Technique with 723 views
How many words can you read in a minute? If you know the answer to that question you’d have a pretty good idea of how long it will take for you to finish that novel that has been languishing in your to be read list for months even years on end.
My reading speed is average, roughly 200-300 words per minute. So besides the ton of things I must do besides reading, my reading habit suffers a lot because of my average reading speed. With so many books that we all want to read and literally little time to do it, speeding up the process would do some great help.
[Read more →]
Tags: how-to·Reading Technique·speed reading
January 20th, 2010 by Jhay · Daily Dose with 606 views
Asides from bloggers’ block, a reading block has apparently hit me. I’m on the second to the last chapter of Richard Dawkin’s “The Greatest Show on Earth” but my reading progress has gone down to nothing all thanks to the non-reading things I need to do at school.
Student elections are coming up and I’m once more on the front lines for my party. Being a volunteer is burying me with more paper work and less actual volunteer work. And with half of January already had passed by, it seems that my ‘to be read’ list would grow again by a couple of books.
So how do I deal with this? Time management is the key and of course, I have to simply get back to reading the books I have lined up for this month. And of course the book blogs that have become a regular staple of my regular feed reading habits.
How about you? How do you get back to reading books when things get sticky and a bit more burdensome for you?
Tags: book reading·time management
January 8th, 2010 by Jhay · Reading Challenges with 592 views
This is officially the 1st-ever book reading challenge I’d join and it’s quite exciting, a bit daunting if I may add, the 2010 TBR (To Be Read) Challenge.
The objective is simple, finish reading 12 books this year, 1 per month, so by the end of 2010 I’d be able to remove 12 books from my perpetually growing reading list.
Here’s my original list for the 2010 TBR Challenge:
- Makamisa: The Search for Rizal’s Third Novel by Ambeth Ocampo
- FAT by Rob Grant
- Dead Air by Bob Larson
- Military Errors of WWII by Kenneth Macksey
- Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln
- The Associate by John Grisham
- A Season of Grace by N.V.M. Gonzalez
- Po-On by F. Sionil Jose
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis
- Inspirational Thoughts and Stories of Bloggers from All Over the World
- The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
- The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
The alternate list, is still incomplete as I’ve only got 4 books on it and I’ve yet to get copies of each one, so I’ll just post them whenever it gets completed. Oh yeah, the purpose of this alternate list is a remedy in case I lose interest in reading any or some of the books in the original list, which I can no longer change by the way according to the rules. This would be a fun reading year and though I have the whole of 2010 to complete the challenge, I feel a bit pressured because I may not accomplish it. Nah! In fact, I feel that the TBR list would only grow each month. Either way, it’s going to be a great 2010.
Tags: Reading Challenges·TBR 2010
