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Showing posts from December, 2015

Of finer sensibilities

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I often claim that I was raised by/with books which I think is the most accurate description I could ever come up with. From as early as three years old, I’ve always felt that there is an enchantment that engulfs the words written across the pages of any book. I would also listen to my parents take turns reading to me growing up, and neither of them knew then that these simple bonding moments with their eldest daughter will inspire her to become a storyteller someday. For two decades since I devoted everything that I am as a person by finding it in books, as well as building who I will become through the authors I admire and characters who became childhood heroes. I was a prolific reader on a quest, challenging myself to acquire phenomenal, innovative and eye-opening literature until one day two years ago I realized that I was able to amass a collection I’m very much proud of. I decided that the time has come to share these books with you. THE NOVELS I'VE READ AND REVIEWED T

"This case has become a conspiracy of lies"

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I started my Book Diet novels 2015 by reading four Sherlockian anthologies during January, which is also the said Great Detective's birthday month, so I thought it only appropriate to finish this year with a Sherlock Holmes novel once more, and this time it's something written by writer Larry Millet. It's the first time I encountered his Holmes series. In fact, I purchased this book by luck while sifting through boxes of a second-hand bookstore months and months ago. I'm always on the look-out for any Holmesian story I can get my hands on so I immediately bought this and knew I had to read it soon enough. And it wasn't a disappointment. Millet's series, from what I can tell, are focused on Sherlock Holmes' travels and subsequent cases in America, and The Rune Stone Mystery  is no exception.  Once again chronicled in the first person by his constant and faithful friend Dr. John Watson, this story takes readers into Minnesota where a farmer uncovered w

"The world opened up for me once I embraced who I am"

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I stumbled upon Felicia Day almost four years ago when she first appeared in the CW's Supernatural  during its seventh season. She played the role of the queer computer expert and all-around geek  Charlie Bradbury , and has since continued to reprise that role in the subsequent seasons of the show. I absolutely enjoyed her portrayal because I found that I can relate to her as Charlie, so I researched about the actress online and found out that she has written and produced her own webseries called  The Guild , a rather funny slice of life story concerning a bunch of gamers and their eccentricities and struggles both on and off their roleplaying games. I was instantly hooked by the first two seasons and utterly mesmerized of the confidence and talent that Felicia has displayed as herself and as the co-founder of her company Geek and Sundry that has a channel in YouTube featuring the mos t nerdgasmic content about gaming and other related stuff.  As an independent woman who

"To the tolling of the bells"

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No other writer evokes horror in its rawest, most human form like Edgar Allan Poe. Sometimes his stories are a blunt force trauma while others are drilled into the mind using precision instruments of terror. His themes and depictions of people's greatest fears are very diverse and uniquely constructed, more visceral in some aspects but also cerebral in execution for a select few. This anthology The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings   is comprised of his finest works in short story and poetry forms tackling what is readily terrifying, certain terrors that elude the psyche, and the unfortunate ways human beings transform into the very monsters they fear.   With seventeen gruesome tales and sixteen morbid poems, this anthology is a must-have for any aficionado of the genre. The prose that Poe crafts in each of his pieces is spellbinding; we get descriptive ramblings of mad men and women, psychologically layered instances and premonitions, and frightening yet subtle symbolis