“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” EVANESCENT GREEN Overview Set in the Roaring 20s or the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby, follows the story of a mysterious gentleman, Gatsby, whose name became well-known for arranging and organizing grandiose parties. The novel was […]
Life lessons you won’t forget: Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
“In other words, being born with a certain ability does not mean we are obliged to use it, and in rare cases, we are obliged no to. All.” Personal Rating: Everyone with different abilities, maybe just a mundane possession or filled with peculiarity, could lead to different consequences. That’s why for every action we made, […]
Quest of a Life-time: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
BOOK VS FILM *This review contains spoilers.* INTRODUCTION Ready Player 1 is a dystopian science-fiction YA hybrid debut novel by author Ernest Cline, about an adventure quest for three keys leading to the game creator’s massive fortune hidden inside a worldwide virtual reality called OASIS. It was originally published in 2011 and was adapted to […]
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
Personal Rating: An Enthralling Tell-All Tale of Race to Victory From an iconic brand logo of a swoosh that conveys motion, designed with a cheap price of only thirty-five dollars to a multibillion-dollar company name that revealed itself from a midnight sleep, named after the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, comes an inspiring success business story […]
The Butterfly with the Broken Wing: Young Elites By Marie Lu
Personal Rating * Spoilers Alert * “A newborn babe takes its first breath, And creates storm that rains down death” Young Elites Trilogy is a popular YA fantasy novel written by Marie Lu. It is set in a Renaissance-like era after a deadly plague called blood fever ravaged the land and left a mass of […]
The Ultimate Virtual Reality Beyond Imagination: Warcross Duology by Marie Lu
Personal Rating Warning: it contains spoilers. The Warcross duology (Warcross and Wildcard) is a young adult fiction novel written by Marie Lu and nominated for several awards for Young Adult. It is reported that the book rights had been optioned for a TV adaptation by Made Up Stories and John Cameron. It is about the […]
The Antithesis of Romantic Comedy: Beach Read by Emily Henry
Personal Rating Sixteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list, Beach Read by Emily Henry (2020), dubbed as contemporary romance fiction, is actually more of a novel that encapsulates the realities and complexities of an adult life — where there are money problems on trying to make ends meet, health concerns of parents arise who are either battling […]
Porch Reader Bookstore in the Philippines on Step Up PH
Porch Reader Bookstore in the Philippines was included in Step Up PH’s June-July 2021 Spotlight which focused on the diversity and independence of modern literature. The highlight was on the importance of different aspects of writing and readership that provided avenues for everybody to take part in literary culture across various communities. What is Step […]
Finding a Family in an Unexpected Place: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Personal Rating A book should not be judged by its cover, but who would not be tempted to read TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) when it has an enticing artwork that speaks for itself? Not only is it a treat for the eyes, but simply looking at it already gives an idyllic nautical […]
A Tapestry of Tricks: Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
Story Time Asia is an ex-journo, freelance writer, and lifelong bookworm. You can find more book reviews and musings at www.storytimeasia.com. Personal Rating Ilustrado begins in New York with the apparent suicide of a gilded yet divisive figure of Philippine literature, Crispin Salvador. At the time of his death, he was writing an incendiary novel […]