What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.

Title: Paper Towns

Author: John Green 

Synopsis: Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew. 

Review: I was expecting amazingness when I picked up this book simply because it was written by John Green and his books are like my babies - I adore every single one of them and I'm sure I will enjoy the ones he writes in the future. Even though I had no idea what the book was about even by reading the synopsis, I really, really enjoyed it from the start. Two of the things I liked the most about this book were the characters and the concept of paper towns. I need to connect to the characters in the book to enjoy them because that's what gives me the motivation to finish them and I certainly connected to the characters in this book. I didn't necessarily relate to every single aspect of their lives, but I enjoyed reading about their adventures and how they developed throughout the book. For example, Margo Roth Spiegelman. My opinion of her slowly started changing as Quentin's opinion of her was. She starts of as this amazing, mysterious girl and Quentin realizes that he wanted to believe that she was that and she definitely wasn't. Even though she wasn't my favorite character, I still liked reading about her because the book revolves around her, to be honest. Ben, Radar and Lacey are awesome secondary characters that have interesting stories of their own and are not pushed aside and ignored or clichés like in other books. I think that the best way to describe this book is unique, I haven't read anything similar to it yet. I think books with a tiny hint of mystery are the ones that I like the most, I just love the feeling of trying to guess what's going to happen next. Good job, John Green. 

Rating: ★★★★★

Until next time, 

Ana Lucía. 

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

Title: The Catcher in the Rye  

Author: J.D. Salinger 

Synopsis: Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. 

Review: I've been wanting to read The Catcher in the Rye for the longest time now, simply because I could just feel it would be a book I'd enjoy. I love books cynical main characters simply because I can connect to them in some way. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye, is the perfect example of cynical teenager. I must admit that I felt a little scared while reading the book, finding out that I had thought the same things he thought and done the same things he does. I don't admire him, but I am like him in some way. This is definitely a character-driven book and it doesn't have a concrete plot, but I felt like it was amazing nonetheless. Maybe a bit boring in some parts, but never boring enough to make me want to put the book down and stop listening to Holden. While reading, I felt like he was actually telling me a story, like two people talking. I enjoyed his opinions on things even though he often didn't give the reader time to formulate an opinion of their own. How he felt about girls, about school, about the people he met by constantly changing schools. It was interesting.  I think this books is not for everyone, it's easy to hate Holden and since this book revolves around him, it wouldn't be fun to read for those people. I know people out there that would really enjoy this book, like me, because they feel the same way as Holden about some aspects in life. I know I did. 

Rating: ★★★★

Until next time, 
Ana Lucía. 

2013 Reading & Writing Resolutions

I'm usually someone that refuses to make resolutions every year simply because I don't want to be disappointed because I didn't accomplish what I wanted. After thinking it through, I realized that this time was going to be different. So without further ado, I present to you my 2013 reading + writing resolutions.

• Read 50+ books throughout the year. This means that I will have to read approximately one book a week. I'm very excited for this because I feel like I could've read a lot more in 2012 but I didn't out of pure laziness. If I see that I'm close to my goal long before the year is over, I will bump it up to 75. I want this to be a challenge, which means it's not going to be easy. 
• Read more classics. I got the chance to read classics that I actually enjoyed this 2012 and I would like to continue doing that on 2013. Reading YA books is easy for me, but classics are a bit more tough but much more rewarding. 
• Review every single book I read. I truly enjoy reviewing books and I want to be as active as possible on this blog. Sometimes I bottle up a lot of my feelings and opinions about a certain book simply because no one else around me has read it. I can finally express myself on this blog. 
• Write on my journal at least three times a week. Someone close to me gave me a journal for Christmas and included a letter with the gift. He encouraged me to write about my life because it's the greatest trip one can take. I want to try to write on it every day, but I know I need to start out slow and stick to three days a week as a minimum. 
• Work on improving my writing. I know that I can be better with a lot of practice and I think that writing on my journal will help. I need to practice, practice, practice and read some articles that I've collected throughout the year about writing. 
• Participate on NaNoWriMo. I've been interested on participating on NaNoWriMo for the past two years and I finally decided that I would do it in 2013. I really want to win, I don't care how many sleepless nights and cups of coffee it takes. 
• Start working on my first novel and a few short stories. When I'm writing stories, I have the bad habit of just writing and writing without revising afterwards or drafting before I start working on it and I want to start writing more serious stuff. I want to sit down and write down my ideas and start working off of that instead of starting to write right away. 

And that's it! I have a few other personal resolutions, but I wanted to leave those for the first entry on my journal. I hope everyone who reads this has an amazing 2013. 

Until next time,

Ana Lucía. 

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Title: Pride and Prejudice.  

Author: Jane Austen. 

Synopsis: Spirited Elizabeth Bennet is one of a family of five daughters, and with no male heir, the Bennet estate must someday pass to their priggish cousin William Collins. Therefore, the girls must marry well—and thus is launched the story of Elizabeth and the arrogant bachelor Mr. Darcy, in a novel renowned as the epitome of romance and wit. Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s masterwork, an entertaining portrait of matrimonial rites and rivalries, timeless in its hilarity and its honesty.

Review: In need of reading some classics after limiting myself to YA books only, I decided to pick up Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, one of the most famous books of all time and the one that made me fall in love with the wonderful Jane Austen and her writing. I was a bit worried that I might not like the book at first, but after reading and completely delving into the story I enjoyed it a whole lot. It took me a while to get into the book simply because I needed to adjust my brain to more complex language. I must say that I loved the Bennet family from the start and it reminded me of my mother's family because I can safely say that Mrs. Bennet is my grandmother. I really like it when I can connect with the main character and I really did connect with Elizabeth. In fact, I could even relate to her in some aspects. I found myself wishing for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth to finally get together from the minute the reader is introduced to him, because I saw him as a misunderstood character from the start. I knew deep down he wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was. What I liked most about the book is that it is timeless. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be as popular as it is today, right? I would recommend this book to anyone, even if they aren't into classics. I'm pretty sure they will regret ever thinking that after reading this. 

Rating: ★★★★★

Until next time,
Ana Lucía. 

All that is gold does not glitter.

I believe I should start by introducing myself. Who am I? I'm just a girl that absolutely adores reading and writing and combining the two seemed like the perfect idea. I'm Ana Lucía, from Panama and I will be reviewing books in this blog. I will also be posting hauls and surveys, all related to books. But enough about books, I feel like I should really introduce myself. I'm quite an awkward and shy person, but I do have friends and I enjoy spending time with them. I love quotes and music, so expect most of my blog's entries' titles to be lyrics from my favorite song at the moment or a quote from a book I'm reading. I also really love photography, so expect to see some pictures of my books occasionally. Back to books, this is how I will be reviewing them: 

Title: This is self-explanatory. 

Author: Same as above.

Synopsis: I will provide a short summary of the book, trying my best not to include spoilers.
Review: I will state my opinion and observations of the book, why I liked it or why I didn't.

Rating: I will rate in a scale of one to five stars. 

So, welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy my reviews. 

Until next time,

Ana Lucía. 

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