Category Archives: Booked

Book Reviews

Booked

Cindy Ella (Robin Palmer)

Rating: [rate 4.5]

Cindy Ella (Robin Palmer)Prom fever has infected LA—especially Cindy’s two annoying stepsisters, and her overly Botoxed stepmother. Cindy seems to be the only one immune to it all. But her anti-prom letter in the school newspaper does more to turn Cindy into Queen of the Freaks than close the gap between the popular kids and the rest of the students. Everyone thinks she’s committed social suicide, except for her two best friends, the yoga goddess India and John Hughes-worshipping Malcolm, and shockingly, the most popular senior at Castle Heights High and Cindy’s crush, Adam Silver. Suddenly Cindy starts to think that maybe her social life could have a happily ever after. But there’s still the rest of the school to deal with. With a little bit of help from an unexpected source and a fabulous pair of heels, Cindy realizes that she still has a chance at a happily ever after.

I love retellings. Ever since I read about this NaNoWriMo story about putting characters from Greek mythology into one story, I’ve always wanted to write my own retelling of something. I like to see how authors make an old story into something entirely new, but still sticking to the original story.

Cindy Ella is one of those books. I already liked Robin Palmer’s Geek Charming, and I was thrilled when I found Cindy Ella in National Bookstore. It’s obviously a re-telling of Cinderella, set in Castle Heights High, the same setting as in Geek Charming.

Here we draw the similarities with the original fairy tale:

  • Cindy Ella – Cinderella, obviously
  • Clarissa – her stepmother
  • Ashley and Britney – her stepsisters
  • Adam Silver – prince charming
  • Noah and Craig – Cindy’s fairy godmothers
  • Prom – the ball

The only people I can’t put into the original story are India and Malcolm, Cindy’s friends, and her dad.

But who cares, really? Cindy Ella is such a fun book that sometimes you forget that it’s based on the fairy tale. There are a ton of laugh out loud moments, especially with Malcolm and his gay antics, as well as some more “I crush on this guy but he turned out to be gay” quotes. The ending brings us right back to the original fairy tale, which felt a bit anticlimactic for me, but it’s still good with just the right amount of tingles. :)

It’s cute, fun and definitely enchanting. :) I definitely have Robin Palmer in my favorite authors list now. :)

Booked, Dear Diary, Say Cheese!

Light and Darkness

It’s Sunday night and it will be Monday in a few minutes, and I had a really short yet busy weekend. But it was all very interesting. :)

Last Saturday, I woke up late and rushed all the way to Makati to meet up with Cors at Greenbelt for our confession. I realized then how far Makati really was. Total rides I had to go to all the way to Makati from our place: 4. Gah. Well, at least it gave me a lot of walking time. :P

After lunch at Burger King, we roamed around at Greenbelt 5. We visited the new branch of Fully Booked and marveled at (what else?) the books and other items like greeting cards that greeting cards online cannot replace. I was on a mission to find a paperback copy of City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, but instead, I found Sarah Dessen books! Hope is not lost! I couldn’t leave the store without them, so I ended up swiping my card to get That Summer, Dreamland and Keeping The Moon, which I haven’t read yet. Talk about giddy. :P

After confession (yay happy forgiveness :D), Cors and I met up with her friend at Robinson’s Place Manila (it’s been years since I last went there), and then headed to MV Doulos.

Now it’s my third time to MV Doulos, and I wasn’t really expecting to get anything there, since the last time I was there, there wasn’t anything I liked. This time, though, they brought back the fiction area where I got my Francine Rivers books (that I have yet to read!) from my first MV Doulos trip. They were now selling three books for P200 there with a free bag. There were CDs I wanted to get but decided not to, a kid’s series that I wanted to get but it wasn’t complete (sometimes I hate that I have to complete a series to fully enjoy the books), but I still ended up buying something after a quick search over at the center table: Jake Thoene’s Chapter 16 series. I hear they’re like Tom Clancy books which I haven’t read yet, but I’m curious. :P So they’re now added in my growing TBR list.

Earth HourI got home thirty minutes before Earth Hour. I joined last year’s Earth Hour and I totally forgot to turn off my lights but this year everyone was intent on making me remember. :D It felt like a New Year’s countdown when everyone was counting down to turn off the lights and then it was total darkness. Except for my iPod, laptop and the TV. :P

I watched some of the coverage of the Earth Hour, and I know this is incredibly sappy, but I started tearing up and blubbering when I watched Nat Geo’s video clip about how the world united as one during the 2008 Earth Hour because of what Sydney did in 2007. Did it make sense? I don’t know, something about people uniting for a cause always touches me and makes me blubber like an idiot. ^^;

The darkness was oddly calming, though, and it was really nice to be a part of something big. :) And this has totally made me think more of how I do things now, and how it affects the environment. Seriously.

Today was another day at the mall, where we heard mass and then went our ways to go shopping. I was still hunting for City of Ashes so I went to Powerbooks…and guess what did I saw? The rest of the Sarah Dessen books. Crazy. I couldn’t leave the store without it, especially The Truth About Forever. After lots of roaming around, trying to spot City of Ashes, I decided to get Someone Like You, This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever because I know I would totally regret it if I don’t. My credit card is definitely complaining though. :P

Dessen!

Weeee. Don’t they look pretty? :D Now I only need to wait for the paperback copy of Lock and Key and it’s complete. :P

And I can’t wait to re-read The Truth About Forever in print. ;)

Speak novels

I love that they all have that Speak logo there. The very last book (the one with the green back) is Robin Palmer’s Cindy Ella). I am now always on the lookout for these kinds of YA novels. :)

Now it’s already past midnight, meaning it’s Monday already and it’s back to work. I better get to bed now. :) Busy week up ahead!

Booked

A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity (Kathleen Gilles Seidel)

Rating: [rate 4.0]

A Most Uncommon Degree of PopularityLydia Meadows, a former lawyer turned full-time mother, is startled to discover that her daughter Erin is one of the popular girls, a tight foursome whose mothers are also great friends. Lydia has always thought of popular girls as ambitious little manipulators who enjoy being cruel. But Erin is kind and well-adjusted. Maybe this popularity thing wont be so bad after all. Then a new student ruthlessly targets Erin to boost her own popularity, and Lydia wonders what to do when her daughters phone stops ringing. And the uneasiness among the girls begins to affect the friendship of the mothers even though they are all grown women who should know better. Has their driven energy, once directed toward their careers, turned into an obsession with the social lives of their daughters?

So I got this on a whim because I thought the cover was cute. :P It took me a while to actually start reading it but once I did, I couldn’t stop.

A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity is actually a mom-book more than a teen book but in a way, it’s also a teen book. Did that make sense? It’s about a mom who’s so focused in the life of her daughter that her world revolved around her school, her activities and her friends who also have daughters in the same school. Life was controlled and at peace as much as they can tell, until they saw their daughters in matching drawstring skirts and realized that…well, they’re popular.

I couldn’t really relate to the entire popularity thing since I don’t think it’s really such a big deal back when I was studying, but I felt bad for Erin once the new girl came in and took the attention away from her. I identified so much with Lydia and how she felt antagonized by everyone else, even her friends, from what the new girl is doing to her daughter. I also liked how Lydia’s other roles in life were shown and how it meshed with everything else in her life. There were her friendships, her relationship with her husband (who is also a lawyer — not sure if he’s an offshore injury lawyer or something else), and also with herself as a woman who has needs. I also found it very clever that Erin the daughter hardly spoke in the novel and yet I felt her presence because of Lydia’s love for her. Kathleen Gilles Seidel made realistic characters that I felt like I was actually involved in the Alden community, like I was a part of the changes happening there.

The book is also as much as a social commentary as it is a mom/teen book, as it shows how ruthless some people can be to gain popularity, and how much lengths moms of teen girls will go to protect their daughters and to make sure they are not left out.

Overall, this is a good book, with somewhat of a sad yet hopeful ending. No one likes saying goodbye, and Lydia certainly doesn’t, but the final choice she made in the end is ultimately for the good of her children which is a very admirable thing to do. :)

Booked

Daring Chloe (Laura Jensen Walker)

Rating: [rate 3.5]

Daring Chloe (Laura Jensen Walker)When Chloe Adam’s fiance dumps her — the night before their wedding — two girlfriends from her book group decide a little adventure is in order for the three of them. After all, why let a perfectly good honeymoon cruise go to waste?

Adventure? Chloe Adams? No way! Chloe’s lived in one town her whole life. The closest she’s ever gotten to actual adventures is reading about them. But her girlfriends won’t take no for an answer.

One good adventure calls for another as Chloe’s friends try to coax her out of her post-dumping funk, and soon she finds herself living ut the adventures in her book club’s latest selections. Hiking. Sailing. River rafting. Traveling to new places and eating exotic food. The play-it-safe Chloe begins to blossom into a new, daring Chloe. A Chloe who just might be ready to take on her biggest adventure of all.

Laura Jensen Walker is one of my favorite authors, hands down. Her book, Dreaming in Black and White was the first Christian chicklit I read and I love reading it until now. She also has a knack for humor in her books, which I can see even in her more serious novels, like Reconstructing Natalie, which talks about breast cancer.

However, this one just didn’t really cut it for me.

The book did not have the same story flow that Reconstructing Natalie or Miss Invisible had that made me kind of not like it as much. The flow of the story was more or less fluid, almost like the Phoebe Grant series. However, the entire plot felt like it was lacking something. The premise was there and it’s really a big conflict but I felt like it wasn’t really delved into. Okay, so romance wasn’t really the main point of the book, but then the some sort of romance between Chloe and the other guy shouldn’t have been hinted.

Don’t get me wrong, the story was nice and it had a pretty nice lesson. It’s all about the great adventure that is life, and I’m still learning that. I just felt like the story lacked an overall conflict that is there in other Laura Jensen Walker novels.

But plus points on mentioning Switchfoot, though. :) And the book list and the mention of yummy food. This book makes me want to go to Paris too.

Apparently, this is a part of a series, and knowing me, I’d most likely get it. Probably. Seeing the blurb of the book from Amazon, I think there just might be more conflict there.

Booked

Geek Charming (Robin Palmer)

Rating: [rate 3.5]

Geek Charming (Robin Palmer)Dylan Shoenfield is the princess of L.A.’s posh Castle Heights High. She has the coolest boyfriend, the most popular friends, and a brand-new “it” bag that everyone covets. But when she accidentally tosses her bag into a fountain, this princess comes face-to-face with her own personal frog: selfprofessed film geek Josh Rosen. In return for rescuing Dylan’s bag, Josh convinces Dylan to let him film her for his documentary on high school popularity. Reluctantly, Dylan lets F-list Josh into her A-list world, and is shocked to realize that sometimes nerds can be pretty cool. But when Dylan’s so-called prince charming of a boyfriend dumps her flat, her life — and her social status — comes to a crashing halt. Can Dylan — with Josh’s help — pull the pieces together to create her own happily-ever-after?

Don’t you just love the cover of this book? It screams young adult/chick lit! No wonder I wanted it! Okay, fine, I’m not such a fan of how they cut the head off (at least it’s not at the neck — big no no!), but it’s so pretty, and the actual cover has glitters on it. Talk about whimsical. :P

I’m glad that this book is really good inside too, aside from having a pretty cover. I’m starting to get really fond of re-telling of fairy tales and old stories I know, much like Jasper Fforde‘s Nursery Crime series. Geek Charming is a retelling of The Frog Prince, set in the bright, sunshiney and somewhat materialistic world of Castle Heights High. I don’t know why, but I could somehow imagine the setting even if I haven’t ever been to Hollywood. And then again, I imagined everything just bright and sunshine-y too — maybe it’s a personal stereotype I have.

It’s a really cute and charming story, much like it’s title. Told in alternating point of views between the protagonists, it’s somewhat cliche, but not really. Then again, it’s a re-telling, so what can you expect? Dylan was really annoying at the first few chapters and I really wanted to sock her for being so stuck up. I mean, yeah, you’re rich, and you could probably afford one or more car insurances for your BMW, but do you really have to be so selfish? However, she started becoming more human after some time, and I started sympathizing with her. I liked Josh from the beginning, being the geek that he was, although I kind of felt that his “sickness” is kind of exaggerated.

It’s really more of a friendship/self-discovery story more than a love story, which was refreshing in a way. I liked how Dylan and Josh’s friendship developed throughout the book, and it gave the characters more depth. The other characters were just as amusing, especially Sandy, Josh’s mom.

It’s a quick and light read (I read straight it over the weekend), something that helped me get over the darkness that is Adam. :P It’s cute, but not exactly stellar or life-changing. It’s something I’d recommend someone to read but not really get something really deep, unless if you’re around that age, I guess. But it’s good, just not as good as say, Flipped. I can’t wait to get a copy of Cindy Ella, and all other books that Palmer will come up with. I think I just found myself another author to watch out for. :)

Booked

Adam (Ted Dekker)

Rating: [rate 4.0]

Adam (Ted Dekker)Do you believe in evil?

In the mind of FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark, there is no Good and no Evil. All that possesses him is the pursuit of the serial killer known as ‘Eve’. A pursuit that will lead Daniel to his own death.

But he is miraculously resuscitated — twenty-one minutes after flatlining — and it soon becomes clear that the only way to stop Eve is to recover those missing minutes by dying…again.

Daniel’s pursuit of Eve descends deeper and darker than ever before. Soon — in circumstances he could never have imagined — he will find himself re-evaluating everything he ever believed.

It’s been a long time since I have read a Ted Dekker book, and I have been eyeing this one ever since I saw it at National Bookstore. When I saw the smaller print (the one above with the bright green back cover), I immediately snatched it up.

I have read a couple of reviews of this book, and most of them said something about this being Ted Dekker’s darkest work yet, and that some slept with their lights on, so I was kind of wary about this. Somewhere halfway into the book, I started wondering if all those dark stuff is really some kind of hype. Even when I finally finished it (more to the ending later), I wasn’t particularly stunned.

Until last night. I’m not saying something supernatural happened, but I woke up in the middle of the night and the first thing that came into mind was the last scene in the book…and boy was I suddenly terrified. I had to think of other thoughts fast, keeping my eyes closed so I won’t imagine anything in the room.

Talk about haunting.

In a way that’s how this book was — haunting. I described it first as disturbing, but I realized haunting is the better word. The story was flawless, as far as I’m concerned: the story — both the newspaper articles and the actual story — are tightly woven together, and the terminologies seemed authentic as far as my knowledge was concerned. In fact, it kind of felt like I was reading a novelized CSI episode with all the mention of AFIS, CODIS and all the protocol they followed. I even learned some new things that I somehow never picked up in the CSI episodes I’ve watched, like did you know that when they say ventricular fibrillation, it meant heart attack? And that electric shock thing with paddles is called a defibrillator?

But I digress. What I liked about this book was how Dekker managed to connect the physical/scientific world of crime solving with the spiritual aspect. At first I had a hard time trying to connect them when it was finally brought up — perhaps it was my exposure to all those CSI episodes that followed the motivations and the scientific stuff made me numb to thinking about the faith aspect — but after some time, it made sense. I remembered that there’s the body and the soul, and Dekker merges the soul aspect here in a creepy albeit effective way. He manages to tie everything effectively in the first question of the blurb: do you believe in evil? Because evil exists, and it’s not something you can hide from in locked doors or fence installation can keep away.

As always, the ending brought a little twist that I really didn’t expect, so props to that too. Nothing is as surprising as Thr3e‘s ending, though. ;)

My only gripe about this book is how dark it was. Yes, it’s one of the “good” aspects of this one, but it’s definitely not for someone who’s early in his/her Christian walk. It’s not for teens, for sure, because the themes are too heavy and the ending didn’t have a very solid resolution, just the solving of the case. It presents a side of our spiritual life that can be scary to some people if not understood properly.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good book. Just make sure you’re ready for its after-effects. :)

You will learn that evil tends to target those who are least suspicious of its power. (Ted Dekker)

Booked, Randomnities

BTT: Collectibles

Today’s Booking Through Thursday (done on a Friday :P) is all about Collectibles. :D

  • Hardcover? Or paperback?
  • Illustrations? Or just text?
  • First editions? Or you don’t care?
  • Signed by the author? Or not?

One of my “dream collections” is to have a vast collection of books. Kind of like a library or a bookstore, which is why I dream of having my own library in my dream home, or owning my own bookstore (nothing like earning from something you love, right? :P And no need to invest on Anoretix!). But those dreams are still in the works, so while my room is still a mess with all my books…that will wait. Haha.

Anyway, I’ve mentioned a couple of times before that I love paperbacks. Hardbound books never really had its appeal to me, and I only buy them whenever it’s the only copy left, or when I couldn’t wait for the paperback version to arrive (usually I can wait, though, except for the case of Harry Potter 7, Eclipse and Love, Stargirl). I just find hardbound books so hard to carry, plus I get all paranoid about their dust jackets. Paperbacks are the way to go for me, and I’m always careful with my books, so it’s not really a problem for me.

I don’t really mind about illustrations, or what edition or publisher the book is (although having the same editions/publishers for a series of books would look really pretty in a shelf, haha!) either. I hardly get my books signed because all the authors I love don’t really go here, but owning signed copies are nice (the last signed book I got is from Camy Tang), but it’s not such a big deal. Basically, the only thing I look at my book collection is if it’s paperback. I don’t event care if it’s Trade or Mass Market (what is the difference, anyway?) — as long as the story’s inside, that’s really fine with me. :)

Booked

Only Uni (Camy Tang)

Rating: [rate 5.0]

Only Uni (Camy Tang)Senior biologist Trish Sakai is ready for a change from her wild, flirtatious behavior. So Trish creates three simple rules from First and Second Corinthians and plans to follow them to the letter. No more looking at men as possible dates, especially non-Christians. Second, tell others about Christ. And third, she will persevere in hardship by relying on God. And just to make sure she behaves, she enlists the help of her three cousins — Lex, Venus and Jennifer — the only Christians in their large extended family.

But Trish’s dangerously tempting ex-boyfriend, Kazuo the artist, keeps popping up at all the wrong moments, and her grandmother, who has her eye on his family money, keeps trying to push the two of them back together again. Then there’s Spenser, the hunky colleague at work who keeps turning Trish’s thoughts in the wrong direction.

It just isn’t fair! She’s trying to hard, but instead of being God’s virtuous woman, she’s going nuts trying to stand firm against two hunky guys. Trish thought following her three rules would be a cinch, but suddenly those simple rules don’t seem so simple at all.

So I finally got my hands onto this book — much thanks to Camy for her e-group contest and the free books! This book is signed too, so I’m definitely keeping this.

Anyway, so I read the Sushi series out of the original order, and it really doesn’t matter, except if you don’t want to know what happened to Trish at the end of this book. Nevertheless, reading Single Sashimi first didn’t spoil me of the details in this book, so it was still a fun read.

If Lex is kind of boyish and Venus stays away from boys, Trish…well, she embraces them. She’s the flirtiest among all the cousins, and it came to a point that she let her cousins down because she chose a guy over them (that was foreshadowed in Sushi for One?). This time, though, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf by making three rules based on the book of Corinthians. She can do this, right?

If only life were so easy, then maybe everyone could make up a set of rules in their life and avoid sin at all times. But life isn’t like that, and Trish had to learn it the hard way. From a roommate who gets her kicked out of her place to finding a new place that is basically a dump (with mutant mold and discount sinks)  to her ex-boyfriend wooing her again to her hunky colleague and to churchmates who couldn’t understand the way she worships (and there’s more, actually), this book is such a fun read, just like the two other books in the Sushi series. There was never a dull moment, and the faith issues were realistic and tackled head on.

The ending was quite surprising (but of course, since I’m already spoiled, it wasn’t that surprising, but I bet other people would think it is surprising for Christian fiction), but it presents a reality of life, where we have to face the consequences of our actions and be responsible for it. It’s something all Christians — be it a new one or one who has been a Christian all his/her life — should remember.

Oh, and to actually get how the ending happened, you’d have to pay attention to the smaller details in the book. I was kind of surprised when it was sprung on to Trish, but reading the past pages showed that Camy left enough clues about it. :P

So far, out of the entire series, my favorite female character is still Venus, but my favorite male character is Spenser, hands down. He’s second to Kevin Novak from the Ashley Stockingdale series. :D

I’m kind of sad that the Sushi Series is over (save for the novella about Jenn which is exclusive for Camy’s e-group — so join now!), but I can’t wait to read the other things that Camy will write! I’m sure they’d just be as awesome. :D

Booked

How to be Single (Liz Tuccillo)

Rating: [rate 1.5]

How to be Single (Liz Tuccillo)Following a disastrous night out that began with steaks and martinis and ended in hospital, Julie Jenson decides that she and her four single friends, Georgia, Alice, Serena and Ruby, are doing something wrong. Between them, there’s more dysfunction and disappointment than she can handle.

So Julie quits her job and sets off to discover how women around the world deal with the Single Life. From proud Parisiennes to intense Italians, ice-cool Icelanders to brazen Brazilians, Julie attempts to learn the secrets of these women’s success.

Will she come back with the answers? Or will her jouney of self-discovery take her in another direction entirely…?

I really wanted to like this book. The title is sassy, and I knew I would be able to relate to it. The blurb seemed interesting enough, and when I saw that the paperback copy is already available at National Bookstore, I immediately swooped in and bought it (and it turns out the book isn’t in their system yet because it can’t be scanned, haha).

Like I said, I really wanted to like it. I promise, I wanted to. But after I got into a few chapters of it, I started to get bored. And I wanted to start strangling the characters — if they had enough life, that is. Why?

  • None of the characters felt real to me. They’re either too flat (Serena) or too extreme (Ruby) or just plain psychotic at some point (Alice/Georgia). The main character is not any help too, I didn’t feel any connection or sympathy to her at all.
  • The story felt too much like Eat, Pray, Love. Traveling around the world to write a book, meeting people and getting to know singles. The last item is not really a part of Elizabeth Gilbert’s goal in Eat, Pray, Love, but that book contained a story of self-discovery. The only self discovery I figured out here is she’s desperate, she fell in love and went into an adulterous relationship with a married guy, and she’s desperate (I’m sure there was also a mention of some sexy lingerie somewhere, but I can’t remember anymore). How about that for self-discovery?
  • The situations just seem…exaggerated. I don’t know. Or maybe it’s just because the entire book went everything I believed in that I had a hard time believing everything. Or I just refused to believe them. I know I’m not their age (35-38), but I hope I’m not that desperate (bordering on pathetic) if I get to their age and their situation.

Maybe I expected too much. Or maybe I shouldn’t really have picked it up anymore. I mean, it’s not like anything I’ve read before, and I’ve never read a book that just dripped of  desperation in almost every page. Like I said, I don’t know how it feels to be in their shoes. But I really refuse to believe that you have to go through all that to know how it is to be single!

But you know what’s funny? The last two pages of the book kind of saved this one for me. I find it funny that it would take them 400 pages for the characters to really accept the first lesson that they all know at the start: love yourself. They were just too convinced that it’s not enough to attract a good guy that they turned to other things. The last two pages somehow made the book almost okay, which is why it gets two stars. If you’d rather not go through the fluff, just read the last two pages and you’ll get the gist of the book.

If you’re feeling a bit…well, sad about your singlehood, I don’t really think it’s much a of a good read (except for the last two pages).

Oh and I just remembered. The writer of the book is also the co-author of He’s Just Not That Into You and a producer of Sex In the City. I haven’t read the other book (or watched the movie yet), and I’m not a fan of SATC, so maybe that kind of influenced my thoughts on the book. There’s the chick lit factor in the book, definitely, but it’s just not my kind of chick lit.

Booked, Randomnities

BTT: Storage

Here I am, taking a break from all the work stuff that I have to finish, so I could answer this week’s Booking Through Thursday, the one that has a special mention on me, too (thanks Kat!):

How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?

Since I’m still waiting for The One Bookshelf, I haven’t really found a way to store all the books in one place. Then again, I don’t think I’ll be able to store them all in one place. Haha. Anyway, I have three…wait, four…okay, five places in my room where I store my books:

  1. My favorite books sit in this small shelf on my desk. I have one of those classic study tables, where there’s a small shelf space inside, so I have them there. It can only carry a few of my favorite books though, and it really doesn’t fit. :P I have it arranged by author.
  2. The next storage space is inside my headboard. They carry the books that I haven’t really read. No specific order there though.
  3. The next one is a small make-shift shelf space beside my desk. That stores some of my Harry Potter books and then a small cute striped Keds shoe box that stores all my inspirational/Christian non-fiction.
  4. The biggest space I have is above my dresser, where there’s two rows of books (one on top of the other) and there’s more above. I know it’s hard to visualize, so I’ll just have to take a photo later when I get home. Anyway, that place stores all my old and miscellaneous book collections, mostly series — Sweet Valley, Baby-sitters Club, Animorphs. I hardly touch them now, since it’s a hassle to bring them out. Below that is a smaller shelf with the books I haven’t read yet, which I bought about two years ago.
  5. Finally, there’s this small bag I got from the book sale that stores all the new books I’ve bought/acquired. No order, except that there’s still books I haven’t read. :P

Imagine the mess that is my room! Haha. I can’t wait to finally have a shelf so I can put them into a proper home! When that happens, I’ll probably be storing it alphabetically by author since I’m really particular about that. It’s so much easier to look for the books when you know the authors, right? :-)

Now please, give me my book shelf. :( I hope it arrives before my birthday. *cross fingers*