Category: Trang’s Corner

Top Fcked Up Books

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I was going to put up a review today but I feel like sharing my fcked up books instead haha 😉 The fcked up genre for me group the taboos, psychological thriller and weird plots that make you go omg…WHAT AM I READING.

The Whole Collection of Chuck Palahniuk Books

chuckpalahniuk-15 My favourite book from him is Invisible Monsters but all the other books are pretty fucked up to be honest. Haunted has some of the most disturbed short stories while Choke provide us with a solid story about sex addiction and the lies we tell ourselves and Rant is still about the extravagant and crazy imagination of Chuck while toying with the timeline.

 

 

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Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

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MY RATING: ★★/ 5 

“It’s easy to lose yourself in the idea of a person and be blinded to their reality.”
― Jay Kristoff, Stormdancer

I was very excited to read this novel giving the fact that I’ve loved AIDAN in The Illuminae Files and I knew that Jay Kristoff was the one behind it. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me.

At first, I found it weird  that I couldn’t like it because the concept and ideas are VERY GOOD. We have a bad-ass heroin set in Japan, telepathic samurai, a search for a griffin, super skills in martial arts, may mystical creatures and a worldbuilding out of this world.  Continue reading →

What To Do in Singapore

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Hi guys ! 🙂 I just came back from my trip in Singapore and since you guys asked for the pics, I figure why not make a post about it instead ? 😀 I’m currently in Vietnam taking a break from all the travels and also having some spare time to share you my amazing experience in Singapore. If you got the chance to visit this city-state one day, please go. It’s one of the most futuristic cities I’ve been to !

18622665_10155568023862780_8204064526677184101_nFirst off, we stayed in a space pod hotel near Clarke Quay and lucky for us because, there was a little road there where the nightlife is insane ! People walking down the streets, live concerts open space and on top of that, it’s all beside a river! I could hear people singing Shape of You or Starboy form my balcony 😀  Continue reading →

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

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MY RATING: ★★★  

“Because,” said Thor, “when something goes wrong, the first thing I always think is, it is Loki’s fault. It saves a lot of time.”

This novel was very hard for me to rate because I’ve never rated a mythology translation/retelling before. Therefore, you can’t really rate a book based on the plot or the story since the author didn’t decide it by himself. It was a tradition passed on from oral stories to poems. Then I tell myself, how would rate or review a book like Norse Mythology?

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Book Blogging – Marketing (ft The OrangUtan Librarian) | Discussion Post

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*Warning: this is going to be a long read*

Hi guys!! 😀 So this post was inspired some experiences I had so far regarding the book marketing programs. As a book blogger, I always enjoy sharing my thoughts about a book, rate it and hear what other people think about it. But sometimes, misleading book marketing can be frustrating and also the blogging and marketing misconceptions by other bloggers and readers.  Addressing these issues, I decide to resume it in this post with the help of my co-blogger Lashaan and.. THE ORANGUTAN LIBRARIAN WOO!

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CARAVAL // SPECIAL GIVEAWAY

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Hello everyone ! 😀

I know all about the buzz surrounding Caraval and I partnered up with Flatiron Books to giveaway not 1 but 6 sets of Caraval goodies- 3 winners with 2 sets each ! I’ll be putting my review up soon enough (also read-along with OrangUtanLibrarian and believe me you’ll want to see this LOL)   but here are my  other fellow bloggers reviews 😉 If you reviewed Caraval too, do not hesitate to link yours so others can read it 😀

Well, where to begin? Caraval is on many, and I mean many, people’s most anticipated lists for 2017, and it was… well, it was good (in fact pretty damn great at some parts) but it was not as good as I wanted, and those two are very, very different things […]

As as setting, Caraval was simply whimsical. Nothing is quite as it seems in this world, and since the magic has no real rules, anything and everything can happen. Garber’s writing was immersive, vivid and lush with details, a delight to all senses. It wasn’t quite ‘un-put-down-able’, but it was compelling enough for me to want to read on, and I really enjoyed visiting this world of hers. – Reg @ She Latitude

Honestly, I could go on and on about how amazing the plot was and how completely engrossed I was by this novel. I mean, I did read it in 24 hours. But all I’m going to say is that this book completely pulls you in and doesn’t let you go until the very last page. The hype is real, y’all. However, I did have a few issues with this book even though I enjoyed it so much that they did not affect my overall rating of it. – WonderfilleReads

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Books review: Exit West & Men Without Women

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EXITWEST

For when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.

– MOHSIN HAMID

EXIT WEST BY MOHSIN HAMID- MY RATING:  ★★★★

I love this book and honestly even if it’s a small book and a fast read, I think we need more readers for this kind of book. It’s a work of fiction of course but there is some magical realism into it. We follow the journey of Saeed and Nadia, yes there’s some romance starting but it’s a very deep relationship, where they need each to be connected emotionally and intellectually in a time of wars. The character development was amazing.  What’s magical is the writing of Mohsin Hamid allows us to spread some magic dust on those two lovers as they struggle to survive the attacks.   Continue reading →

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2 – Cinedote

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MY RATING: ★★★ (3.4) /5

There’s this unspoken myth that the sequels can never top the first movie? But somehow, Marvel succeeds to eradicate that myth because in some of their movies, the sequels were actually better or vice versa. It’s hard to tell for me when I finished watching the vol.2 of the Guardians of The Galaxy. It was better in a way but also less amazing in another way. Let me explain.

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My first thoughts when I come out of the movie:  I LOVE IT. I mean wow, BABY GROOT?! I think this CGI alone can win everyone’s heart. Marvel knew it and even the villains couldn’t get pass his adorable face. It’s a family friendly experience and they did right by their target. I couldn’t stop laughing and giggling about how adorable Baby Groot was, because omg I don’t want to spoil anything but he was so precious in the opening scene. 

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Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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“And that’s how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.” 

Lazlo Strange is an orphan who got the most beautiful and interesting mind, he was attracted to stories, fairytales, the books were telling him all their secrets and he just kept coming back. Everybody was calling him Strange The Dreamer because his head was always in the clouds, in the books about a city that no one was interested : The Weep City.

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I fell in love with this book in the first pages, Laini Taylor’s writing was on point. She wanted tell us the story with a fairytale point of view, from a far away observation. She crafts a strong beginning like most tales start with Once Upon A Time, Laini Taylor made sure that her novel started with a bang. A strong beginning also includes an amazing intense atmosphere, where the reader can imagine himself being in the story, observing it like  watching a movie in his head. The details of her world-building and the character’s introduction are her strongest points. It’s an experience I’d invite anyone to witness. Lazlo Strange is a character you want to to get attached to, because he has such an unique perspective of his life, of his place in the city. We have enough information on his childhood, when he grew up, the pace was believable and not weird transactions like some YA novels. As a reader, I’m very satisfied with all the the beginnings and half of the book, which is the introduction to this new world. IMG_6054 Continue reading →

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

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MY RATING: ★★★★/5

“Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.”

― Paula Hawkins

To be honest, I was one of those who didn’t like The Girl On The Train. But with Into The Water, Paula Hawkins has shown me her brilliant cinematic writing. I now understand why she got her first book adapted into a movie so easily.

Into The Water transports us into the mysterious deaths of young girls in the Drowning Pool, a name of a river in Northumberland. The young girls’ deaths has a pattern of The Roanoke Girls. But when you start this novel, the author wanted it to be shocking, and it was. We gradually get introduced to our narrator Jules who came back in the town after her sister’s suicide.

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13 Reasons Why TV Show Review |Cinedote|[Giveaway]

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I think everyone has heard about this TV Show for a while now, but for those of you who haven’t, here’s a brief summary: Clay Jensen discovers a box of 13 tapes recorded by Hannah Baker. She committed suicide before recording those and explained to him the 13 reasons why she ended her life.  And of course, it was a book adaptation! *thumbs up for book magic * There’s a lot of controversies surrounding this show and I think this post was much needed to express my opinion about it.  I came to an agreement with myself that in this particular situation, I won’t read the book before watching it. Simply because I wanted to have an unbiased opinion of the TV show without having to compare the books vs. the movie feeling. I want this review to be only about the TV show.

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MY RATING: ★★★★★/5

Thirteen Reasons Why, as a cinematic piece, is an EXCELLENT show. I think the acting of the teenagers were spot on, and on point.  They master the odd, awkward and ugly reality. Maybe that’s the reason people didn’t like watching it, because ”hey, reality sucks” and this show makes it happen in front of your eyes. I even cried in a particular scene because of how very difficult it was to watch. You can feel the struggles of the character, their pain and the injustice surrounding their situations. The central plot is very clear from the start, you have 13 tapes divided in 13 episodes (you can feel that some actions are repetitive but you can understand that they didn’t have a choice to make it as gap fillers). As Clay discover the truth about what happened, he decides to act on it and even seek revenge for Hannah.

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Unpopular Book Opinions – WTF Was That

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I’ve seen a tag going on about this topic recently, so I was thinking about talking about the books that I found not so my liking as opposite to all the hypes. I’m usually what you call a nice reviewer, the books I read always end up having 4-5 stars. But not today. Maybe some of you will be like, oh my god I’m not the only one!? Or this might shock you or enrage you but my opinions are very subjective so are yours 😉 Let’s keep it that way!

*Disclaimer : I will rage a lot ahah so don’t take it personally.2015-05-16-1431809026-4581001-thewrathandthedawn

THE WRATH AND THE DAWN BY RENEE AHDIEH 

I even titled my review as Why I didn’t like it  LOL

I think it was a joke to the original story, from the characters to the plot , nothing was to my liking.

An excerpt of my review: The way she tells the stories at night is supposed to be mesmerizing and enchanting. But I didn’t feel any connection. In fact, it was so dry and fast, I was surprised that  kind of story would keep a prince awake until dawn. Like I’ve read it in 10 mins.. I’m pretty sure she can do better than that. AND THOSE CLIFFHANGERS SHE LEAVES AT THE END ?? If I were the prince I would be like Avada Kedavra!! Continue reading →

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

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MY RATING: ★★★★★/5

A father protects his daughter from the legacy of his past and the truth about her mother’s death in this thrilling new novel from the prize-winning author of The Good Thief.

“Everything breaks if you hit it hard enough.”

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Isn’t it weird how you love a book too much but you just run out of words to describe your love? This is the case for this novel. I don’t think I can ever express how grateful and deeply touched by this novel I am. If you liked the movie Logan, you’ll love this novel. It has the same father and daughter vibe but the dynamic is very special. We have a father Sam, who doesn’t know what’s good for his daughter Lou, because he always lived in the dark sides of criminal activities. The death of his wife is the turning point of his life and where he decides that he would never go back to those dark activities again and take care of Lou instead.  Continue reading →

The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley

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MY RATING: ★★★★/5

Hi guyss 😀 I’m back with a quick review ! (I’M ON FIREE)

Goodreads Blurb: Star D’Aplièse is at a crossroads in her life after the sudden death of her beloved father—the elusive billionaire, affectionately called Pa Salt by his six daughters, all adopted from across the four corners of the world. He has left each of them a clue to her true heritage, and Star nervously decides to follow hers, which leads her to an antiquarian bookshop in London, and the start of a whole new world.

Goodreads rating: 4.43 with 1,572 ratings 

This novel is the 3rd in the Seven Sisters series. But, I haven’t read the other two and I still got to enjoy this one. The novel can easily be a standalone novel because every book describes the perspective of a specific sister. The author makes it easy for you to follow, and as their stories are completely different, you don’t miss a lot of what’s been going on before. Continue reading →

Top Spring Books 2017 | Science – Fiction

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Hi guys ! 🙂

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The survey from the last Top Spring Books came out and the winner category is… SCI-FI !! I know that Bookstoge is happy gahha. Here are the scifi books that I would want to read this spring 🙂

I noticed that a lot of them are sequels as well, so I’ll be posting about the 1st novel as well 😉 scifibanner
legionThe Stars are Legion  by Kameron Hurley

Zan wakes with no memory, prisoner of a people who say they are her family. She is told she is their salvation – the only person capable of boarding the Mokshi, a world-ship with the power to leave the Legion.

They also mentioned Hyperion and Dune in the description which was a big attraction to me 😀 And from a Hugo Award Winner author  too !

Buy it here @Amazon Canada!

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The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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MY RATING: ★★★★★ /5

Capture d_écran 2017-04-10 à 00.42.28Pulitzer winner,  Viet Thanh Nguyen came back with yet another amazing novel, a short stories collection depicting the lives of the Vietnamese refugees.

For those of you who didn’t know already, I’m Vietnamese. Born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City #REPRESENT. Reading this collection has made me extremely nostalgic about my childhood roots but also extremely grateful for my parents, my family and all my Vietnamese people out there. This novel reminds us of our own traditions. Somewhere between our everyday lives in America and dealing with obstacles in life, there’s always our cultural root that remains and embodies us. Continue reading →