Prex J.D.V. Ybasco's Blog, page 35
September 13, 2016
Review: The School for Good and Evil
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Presidential Rating:
Date Read: 8 August 2016
President’s Favorite Character: Hester
[image error]Summary :
The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.
This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?
The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.
Verdict:
It’s a different kind of fairy tale, a series that breaks every notion of happy-ever-afters we have gotten accustomed to reading. Anything is possible: girl kissing another girl, a boy kissing another boy, princess making friends with a witch. Just when you thought you have an idea of who’s going with who, the novel dives into a whole new twist, encouraging you to turn to the next page until you finish it. Yes, the series is gripping.
In the first installment of the series, the prince does not get the chance to kiss his princess and friendship evidently overpowers the distinction between Good and Evil. There is charm, humor, and wit in the story that can send anybody to fits of laughter–or giggles– wherever they are reading and this happened to me when I was in a public transportation, earning myself curious and even scandalized stares from other passengers.
What I like about this first book is how realistic the personalities of the main characters are. I can relate to Agatha when she gets frustrated with a self-absorbed and self-professed-epitome-of-goodness Sophie. Then again, I understand how Sophie gets too involved in what is happening in her own life to care about her friend. Hester, on the other hand, although is not a main character in the story, is my favorite owing to the consistency of her character.
Apart from the characters, I have immensely enjoyed my ‘stay’ in The School of Good and Evil, not that similar to living in Middle Earth nor getting educated in Hogwarts, but still a great experience. I can imagine staying in the library with the good old tortoise or having a friendly banter with my reflection on the bridge. I can also see myself seeing the deans of Good and Evil, Professor Dovey and Lady Lasso in their office. Truth be told, I want to see Augustus Sader’s paintings and see the Master himself.
The first novel of a series should be able to set the standards and encourage readers to continue to the installments and I’m quite happy that this book has delivered to my expectations.
A はBほどCない
日本語は英語ほどうまくはなせないんです。 (I speak English better than Japanese)
韓国語は日本語ほどうまく読めません。 (I can read Japanese better than Korean)
日本料理はフィリピン料理ほど上手に作れません。(I can cook Filipino food better than Japanese food)
日本のドラマはアニメほど好きじゃない。(I like Japanese anime more than drama)
私は友達ほど美しくない。(I am not as beautiful as my friend)
September 11, 2016
A true philosopher never seeks to subvert the order of t...
A true philosopher never seeks to subvert the order of things. He accepts it. He asks only to be allowed to cultivate the thoughts that comfort a strong spirit.
-Saint Savin, Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before
September 10, 2016
Blog Feature: Now Brewing
Love Esios
ESL instructor. Frustrated writer. Trying hard to be a blogger but still “confidently beautiful with a heart”.
1. Who are the writers? Contributors?
>>> Now Brewing was actually the brainchild of not just one person but a circle of four friends who love to talk about movies and books over cups of coffee.
2. What does your blog offer?
>>> We actually offer our own take on movies and books that we have already watched and read. The movie or book doesn’t have to be newly released. When we feel strongly about a book or a movie, we blog about it.
3. What inspired you to put up a blog?
It was actually an idea that just popped out while we were talking about a movie that I couldn’t remember anymore. (Hehe
September 9, 2016
160909 Student of the Week
“Every night, I have to fight with zombies on my own.”
September 8, 2016
Author Feature: Segilola Salami
I’m honored to have Ms Segilola Salami , host of The Segilola Salami Show and Self Publishing strategist, for this site’s very first, Author Interview. She is also the founder of Segilola Salami Book Club, which yours truly is a member of [check #SegilolaSalamiBC in Twitter for more]
What encouraged you to become an author? I think of myself as an accidental writer. Writing just sort of fell into my laps. I write the types of books I would like my little girl to read
What writing habits do you have and how do they help you be more creative or efficient? I don’t think I have any laid out habits per se. As a mom to a one year old, my little girl takes up most of my time. So I find myself writing in the wee hours of the morning when I should be sleeping. What also helps is that scene by scene of what I want to write has played itself several times in my head. So it’s simply a matter of writing it all down in a way that flows then editing and re-editing
If you were to choose the most inspiring line you have written, what would it be? Death is wicked . . . [Prex: That. Is. Inspiring.]
If you could have a cup of coffee with a fellow author, who would it be and why? It would have to be Ola Rotimi, he’s one of my favourite authors. I would like to pick his brains on how he felt writing ‘The Gods Are Not To Blame’
What is your book all about and how did you come up with the idea for the plot? What did you enjoy the most in the process (drafting/writing/editing)? IYetunde: An Ode To My Mother follows baby Yetunde narrating her mother’s ode to her grandmother. My mom is no more and saying I miss her would be a massive understatement. One day I was thinking about her and how she never got to see my daughter even though she was looking forward to being a grandmother. In my head, I had a massive fight with death. I said to death you are wicked . . .Death is wicked, iku ma ni ika. Then I thought to honour my mother by writing a short story dedicated to all mothers. The most enjoyable part was definitely the initial writing. It felt like I was having a midnight chat with my mom like we normally used to. My dad would call me in the morning and ask what my mother and I were talking about in the wee hours that made my mom laugh out loud all the time disturbing the whole house.
You can visit Ms Segilola Salami and get to know her more in http://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/
September 6, 2016
Re: Book Reviews- still relevant?
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I do read reviews from time to time BUT I often read them AFTER I finish reviewing a book. Let’s just say, I don’t want to let other reviewers influence how I react on a novel –this on the other hand is considered a cliche by many but then that doesn’t stop them from reading other blogs, does it? In my case, just as much as I hate it when people speak and interpret things in the movie theater, I detest the buzzing — and sometimes annoying– commentaries of book reviewers in my head, blocking the author’s [and the book’s] voice which after all IS what I have to review.
Why then, do I review books in my site? Believe it or not, I like listening to myself, reading my own interpretation of things, and I am a big show-off as many teachers are. It gives me immense satisfaction that people get to understand the way I think. Isn’t this the primary purpose of a blog after all?
Millions claim that internet is at our mercy-we use it as a tool to get information in the fastest way possible. Then again, we use the internet to feed our ego, to tell people what we know, the fastest way, yet again, to self-publishing.
What then is the relevance of reviewing books online? It is another strategy to calm the raging sea of thoughts in your head after reading a well written work or an extremely poor one– another version of journal writing to those who cannot be bothered to use the traditional pen and paper.
In short, the way I personally see it, we review books, not with the purpose of informing people what they want to know. How many of us think, “I need to write about this because my readers want to know!”? They have Google for that and I certainly believe not all of us are humanitarian. We review books because we have already committed to ourselves that we must analyze and deeply understand the works of these authors and what better way for us to show our appreciation than to write what we understand and how we have come to understand? That in itself gives way more satisfaction to me than gaining followers and earning stars for like. At the end of the day, whether people read my reviews or not does not matter. At all.
Nihongo101: ためる (tameru)
ためる- ru verb, to save (money)
私は兄弟にお金をためてほしいです。- I want my brothers to save money.
来年に結婚式のためにお金をためています。- I am saving for next year’s wedding.
新しい車を買うために、お金をためていればよかったのに。- I should have saved money to buy a new car.
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Note:
I would like to express my profound gratitude for those who corrected my sentences in Lang-8.
