Review: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Title: Kitchen
Author: Banana Yoshimoto
Publication date: March 1994 (first published January 1988)
Publisher: Washington Square Press
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From Goodreads:
'Two stories, "Kitchen" and "Moonlight Shadow," told through the eyes of a pair of contemporary young Japanese women, deal with the themes of mothers, love, transsexuality, kitchens, and tragedy.

There are some books that you pick up and know that you’re going to love them. You don’t even read the summary on the book jacket or care what the book is about – you set your eyes on them and you know you need to read it. I was lucky enough to experience it with The Hunger Games, Just One Day, Poison Study, and now with Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.

Kitchen consists of three stories: “Kitchen”, “Full Moon” (or “Kitchen”: part two), and “Moonlight Shadow”. The story of “Kitchen” deals with a girl’s loneliness after her grandmother’s death. Being left alone in the world, she finds solace in the form of kitchen and later, in the company of Tanabe family. I love the interactions between Mikage, the heroine, with the Tanabes. The Tanabes pick up Mikage as if she were a lost puppy, and they heal her heart like they water the plants in their apartment.

I loved the Tanabes’ sofa as much as I loved their kitchen. I came to crave sleeping on it. Listening to the quiet breathing of the plants, sensing the night view through the curtains, I slept like a baby. There wasn’t anything more I wanted. I was happy.

“Moonlight Shadow” is a story about a lover left alone after her boyfriend’s death. Her grief is so overwhelming she is almost drown in her sea of sadness. Satsuki, the main character, is coping by jogging in every dawn, while her boyfriend’s brother, Hiiragi, is coping of the loss of both her brother and her girlfriend by wearing his girlfriend’s uniform to school. The sadness is so profound in the story I almost felt I were the one experiencing it.

I love how Banana Yoshimoto-sensei seamlessly weaves tales of love, death, loss, and loneliness in her works but still manages to include threads of hope in the stories. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so attached to a character in 40 pages or so. I cared for them like they were my longtime friends, and I wished for their happiness in every page I flipped. Kitchen is so intimate, so beautiful. It was genuine sadness when the story was coming to end – why can’t it go longer? Like a real parting with friends, I don’t want to let them go yet. I even read the Afterword!

The gradual recovery of the characters is not rushed at all. It reminds me of plants, growing steadily with much love from sun and water. The writing might be deceptively simple, but it will touch your heart nonetheless. I guess there’s none of my words that can do justice in conveying the beauty of Kitchen. It’s the kind of book that you have to read yourself to find out. If you just immerse yourself in their world – you would understand why so many readers, including me, fall head over heels in love with Kitchen.

”With a cold”—she spoke evenly, lowering her eyes a little—“now is the hardest time. Maybe even harder than dying. But this is probably as bad as it can get. You might come to fear the next time you get a cold; it will be as bad as this, but if you just hold steady, it won’t be. For the rest of your life. That’s how it works. You could take the negative view and live in fear: Will it happen again? But it won’t hurt so much if you just accept it as a part of life.”

5 cups of tea!

I wish I could rewind the experience reading this over and over.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publication Date: December 2010
Publisher: Speak
Goodreads

From Goodreads:
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

4.5 stars

Oh sweetness! Fluffy in a good way, Anna and the French Kiss is the ultimate book for anyone looking for light reading. It’s just the right amount of sweet, funny, and hot French-British guy in one book! Sprinkle it with the Parisian setting, and mmm! Simply delectable!

Set in the lovely setting of Paris, Anna and the French Kiss told the story of Anna, an American girl who is transferred to France in her senior year. Paris is a great city, but short visit and living for one year are obviously different matters. However, Anna’s homesickness quickly disappears as she meets some new friends in School of America, especially the French guy with British Accent and US nationality, Étienne St. Clair. Anna totally swoons over Étienne, but Étienne already has a gorgeous, older girlfriend. Surely Anna won’t be stupid as to fall for Étienne despite of knowing it’s impossible… right?

I’m not good at summarizing the story so let’s forget the kinda-summary above. I think Anna and the French Kiss lives up to its hype. It’s not just a simple story about a girl and a guy going in circle before they finally confess their undying love to each other. It’s MORE than that. It’s also about adapting in a new environment with new set of culture and language, a guy’s struggle with his oppressed father and his dying mother, and friendship above love. And those issues, tackled gently without any cliché at all.

You will love Anna when you meet her – she’s quirky, smart, and fun in the most possible way. Étienne, of course, is the guy you’re supposed to fall in love with (like it’s the hardest thing to do, duh!). Étienne. *le sigh* The gorgeous French guy with brilliant mind and polite British accent. Very good hair and kind personality as well. Oh Étienne please just be human already.

Reading this book made me wish I could get into the story and join Anna and her friends in School of America. I only worry that when I go to Paris, it wouldn’t be as lovely as it’s portrayed in the book. For one thing, Perkins seems to gloss everything in Paris – everything seems much lovelier. The cafeteria, the shops, the way people dresses, even the strangers’ attitude. I’m sure that Paris is a wonderful city, but it just seems unrealistic that everything is much better in that city. Another thing, I won’t have a gorgeous, kind, funny French-British-American guy like Étienne showing me Kilometer Zero Paris or Shakespearean bookshop. Obviously my experience later won’t match with Anna’s.

All in all, Anna and the French Kiss was a very entertaining book and I would recommend to it to anyone ready to get their heart strings tugged by this romantic story. I like how clever Perkins tackled issues like family and friendship, and even tough ones like cancer. I don’t want the book to end. We need more Anna, Étienne, and Paris! (Of course, there are cameo appearances of Anna and Étienne in the next book, Lola and the Boy Next Door, but no Paris! Boohoo.) I want so, so bad to book the next plane to Paris after I read this book. Anna and the French Kiss, with its great storyline, fun characters, and gorgeous setting, will definitely capture your heart.

Words are engraved around it: POINT ZÉRO DES ROUTES DE FRANCE.

“Mademoiselle Oliphant. It translates to ‘Point zero of the roads of France.’ In other words, it’s the point from which all other distances in Frances are measured.” St. Clair clears his throat. “It’s the beginning of everything.”

I look back up. He’s smiling.

“Welcome to Paris, Anna. I’m glad you’ve come.”

4.5 cups of tea!

A feel-good book that will cheer you up.

Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Title: Just One Year
Author: Gayle Forman
Publication Date: January 2013
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Goodreads

From Goodreads:
A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay.
 
When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

4. 5 stars

It’s so hard to write a review for a book you absolutely love.

Just One Day is exactly what I think it would be, and more. It is beautiful, heart-breaking, and just insanely awesome altogether. Really, I expect no less from such wordsmith like Gayle Forman. Similar to If I Stay and Where She Went, Gayle Forman sure knows how to play with your emotion. I lost count on how many times I gasped, squealed, smiled, and giggled to myself when I was reading it. This book messed out with my heart big time, and I loved every single minute of it.

The book opens with Allyson, an American good girl who’s supposed to have the time of her life. The European tour is nothing but a series of too-much-cultural-injections for her. But just when Allyson is ready to go home, she accidentally meets a charming and Dutch actor who introduces himself as Willem. Willem is mysterious, carefree, and he makes Allyson feel like someone different. Someone who is not her. When Allyson accepts Willem’s invitation for one day journey to Paris, she doesn’t know yet that such a short time can make so much impact in her heart.

I like Allyson. It takes time for her to develop into a strong character, but I really admire her determination. It’s so easy to identify myself with her character. Willem is a great character although he’s still a mysterious character to me. Words can’t even describe how much I’m yearning to read Just One Year. Dee with his awesomeness is exactly what you need as a friend.

It seemed like I went on a whirlwind journey when I read this book – up a hill, down a hill. You may predict what happen next, but it won’t loosen up the feels. The settings are lovely and it made me want to book the first plane to Paris. By the time I finished this book, I was suffering with a serious case of wanderlust. Just One Day is a wonderful read that I’d recommend to anyone with a love for YA, and I can hardly contain my excitement to read Just One Year.

It’s totally crazy. I don’t even know him. And I could get caught. And how much of Paris can you see in just one day? And this could all go disastrously wrong in so many ways. All of that is true. I know it is. But it doesn’t change the fact that I want to go.

So this time, instead of saying no, I try something different.

I say yes.

5 cups of tea!

I'm in love with the characters and the setting in this book. :)

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

You gave me forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.

Excuse me while I’m crying in the corner because of the excessive amount of tearful moments in this book.

The Fault in Our Stars successfully becomes one of my favorite books in 2012. It’s beautiful, brilliant, and heart-wrenching. It’s freakintastic amazing and I just want to hug this book when I finished it. You don’t want to be anywhere within radius of three meters near me because when I finished reading, I was an emotional wreck. Um, I still am.

The Fault in Our Stars is like a small portion of diary of a real sixteen-year-old girl who is suffering with cancer. I like that the story moves forward as the time goes, and there is no flashback moment. It is as if Hazel’s life begins the moment she meets Augustus. And I believe the same applies to Augustus. From the moment they met at cancer kid support group, it is as if the universe has conducted so they can be together. So different yet so similar, I love the interactions between Hazel and Augustus. I love how cynical Hazel can be, and how cheerful Augustus is. They are clearly meant to be, and suddenly, I found myself getting too attached to characters in this book.

What I found interesting about The Fault in Our Stars is, the scenes in this book aren’t meant to jerk tears. When most scenes in other sad books are intended to make readers cry and become emotional, scenes in The Fault in Our Stars are very realistic and true. Things happened because, well, that’s the way the world works. We felt for characters in this book because we read and know their stories. They become our friends, and as the story progresses, I can understand Hazel very well without her needing to describe her thoughts in words. The characters have become something so real, with blood and vein and flesh and thoughts, that I don’t want to part with them, ever.

I love the beautifully composed writing and the well structured plots, but let me talk about the characters. Oh my gosh, Augustus. Fangirl moment here. Augustus-Augustus-Augustus. You’re such an amazing character. How I wish you were real. :’) Hazel. Oh Hazel, I also wish you were real so we can be best friends. You’re so smart and witty and quirky, and I love you even when you’re being stubborn and harsh. Augustus and Hazel are the kind of couple who should marry and have ten kids and get old together. They should have a future where they are holding hands and watching their grandparents playing in the backyard of their house. They are clearly meant for each other, and I just feel so happy that Hazel and Augustus experienced the kind of true love that everyone wishes for in their lives. Time they spend together feels like forever. :’)

In a nutshell, The Fault in Our Stars is like a chunk of life of real cancer girl, and reading it was a wonderful experience. Funny, sad, and ironic, this is the book that will always live in my heart. I encourage you to please, please read it. I hope that just like me, you would fall in love with Hazel, Augustus, and everyone else in the book. And maybe, just maybe… we can be more grateful of little things in our life. :’)

“I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.” 

 

 

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I rated this book:

Five cups of tea. Genius. Beautiful, haunting, and lively characters. Reading this is an overwhelming experience. Must read at least once in a lifetime!

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Come on. What are you afraid of?

It’s incredible, the moment when you’re halfway through a book and realize that you’re going to fall in love with it. It is the kind of book that makes you breathless when you’re reading it and in the end, all you want to do is just to hug the book and congratulate the author. I have the pleasure to tell you that Divergent is one of these books.

I came to Divergent with super high expectation and I’m really glad that I was not even slightly disappointed. The pacing! The worldbuilding! The characters! The well-written plots! Divergent is practically dripping with awesomeness.

Tris is a character I absolutely adore. She’s strong, smart, and brave beyond words. She’s amazing. I was so protective over Tris, and it enraged me that people around her underestimates her just because she couldn’t kick or throw punches well. You can’t judge a person simply by their brute strength.

The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy.

Oh, I want a bracelet with these words engraved! Never had I read a quote that speaks my mind most cleverly. There is such fragile, thin line that separates courage and simply suicide act. Divergent makes me think about the description of bravery and strength. In the end, I conclude that a strong person is someone who can control their strength, and uses it to protect innocent people around them. Someone who knows border between fearlessness and arrogance.

Divergent is harsh. There are so many moments when Tris and Four have to show the ruthless side of them. I like it that both characters are not perfect and their flaws make them even more real. If Divergent is ever turned into a movie, I’m wondering what the rating would be. There are too many contents that won’t be suitable for younger teenager. For example, the whole Dauntless initiation. I can see that Dauntless initiation has good aim but the implementation is horrible. There is great possibility of death in the initiation and in one way, it’s like the forest law when the weak one is eliminated from the picture because they can’t survive the fight and the killing.

I think what Veronica Ross did in this book is very brave. She makes me questioned many things after reading this book. Virtue, selflessness, bravery… everything seems blurry and gray suddenly. I keep feeling that there is such a thin line between brutality and what you have to do. Everyone has their own reasons for their doing. Each person protects on what they believe most, and I just wish that some people in this book can see things from different perspectives.

Divergent is an amazing read and I’m completely in love with the world in this book. This book is highly recommended, especially to fans of Dystopian genre. I think I might get myself three copies of this book: one to reread over and over, one for display in my bookshelf, and the last to lend to my friends so I can spread the wonderfulness of Divergent.

As we walk toward the Pit, I repeat the line Will quoted to myself so I don’t forget it.

I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. 

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I rate this book:

Five cups of tea. Genius. Beautiful, haunting, and lively characters. Reading this is an overwhelming experience. Must read at least once in a lifetime!

Review: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

 I don’t give out 5 stars lightly.

Wanderlove deserves every bit and pieces of the five stars. I love, love the book. Enchanting, this book will make you smile when you’ve finished the last line. Sometimes, there’s just a book you can identify yourself easily, like the moment when you’re reading and you’re thinking: Gosh, this is so me. Story of my life.

It all begins with a question and follows up with a crazy idea. Are you a Global Vagabond? Bria, dumped by his ex-boyfriend and lost her purpose in life, decided that she will prove her friends that she can travel alone in a foreign country. She signed up to be a Global Vagabond. Her destination: Central America! Exotic places, beautiful Mayan ruin, and cool strangers! Who cares about things like ex-boyfriend, art school, or clueless parents!

It’s her first day in Guatemala City and it seems like things have gone wrong already. Her traveler companions are way older than her, and they don’t seem to take interest in Guatemala’s scenery. Her camera is stolen in the Guatemala market. And, worst of all, she doesn’t feel any different than when she was in California. But everything starts to change… when she meets Rowan, the experienced backpacker. Their short encounter leads to three weeks backpacking, where they learn about dependence and honesty… and most importantly, moving on from their haunting past.

Bria is a wonderful character, and I like her very much. She’s smart and she can be cynical sometimes, but it’s really easy to connect to her character. She doesn’t want to lose and she jumps to conclusion quickly, but throughout the book, her character is greatly improved. You can tell that this traveling makes her more mature. I also love Rowan. He’s really cute, especially when he feels guilty to Bria. All you want to do is just holding his hands and get on the hammock with him. Yeah, there really is a hammock in this book where you can see stars blinking at you! That’s easily one of my favorite parts in this book.

The story flows smoothly, and it seems so real. You can’t question the plot in this book. There are beautiful drawings created by the author herself in this book, and it’s much easier to imagine characters in Wanderlove. Like a teenager, I squeaked and gasped in delight whenever Bria and Rowan is doing gestures that imply more than their platonic relationship.

This book makes me want to grab my backpack and catch a plane to Central America. I’m not exactly a backpacker girl, in truth I’m too fond of shower and hand sanitizer. But this book makes me want to drink licuado in a café in Guatemala, try diving, or attend a Lobsterfest in an exotic island.

Definitely a recommendation for anyone who is suffering from wanderlust, I hope that this book can be your temporary cure! This book is also for anyone who loves reading amazing book with enchanting and beautiful story: you really should check out this book!
 
Maybe I’m doing the same thing right now, this very minute—just escaping by plane, chicken bus, and boat instead of by car. Maybe I’ve been a Wanderlove wannabe all along, without ever knowing it existed.

I rate this book: 

Five cups of tea! Genius. Beautiful, haunting, and lively characters. Reading this is an overwhelming experience. Must read at least once in a lifetime!

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Review: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

I'm giving this book: 5 out of 5 stars


The story is set in Britain and Ireland before the time of Christianity. The framework for Daughter of The Forest is a Germanic tale, The Six Swans, a wonderful story from the collection of the Grimm Brothers. Daughter of the Forest is a beautiful and tearful tale, and I find myself crying in many parts of the story. 

Sorcha (pronounced: Sor-ra) is the youngest child and the only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. After her mother’s death, Sorcha and her six elder brothers live freely. Quiet abandoned by her father, the seven siblings become so dependent on each other. Together they learn the secrets about their forest and the mythic tale which surrounded it. 

One day, their father comes and tells them that he brings a new mother for them. Lady Oonagh is a beautiful woman with proper manners, but all the siblings know that she is dangerous. She is not even human. The seven siblings try to destroy her dark power using the forest power, but Lady Oonagh knows what they try to do and catches them. Sorcha is able to escape, but her six brothers must suffer Lady Oonagh’s curse. She turns them into six swans, and the only time they return to their true shape is on the day of midsummer and midwinter. 

Sorcha, with help from mythical creature of the forest, knows that there is a way to break the spell. She has to sew six shirts, one for each brother. The shirts must be made from a thorn bush, and she has to suffer the thorns cutting through her hands while she sews the shirts. She must tell nobody about her brother’s spell, and she has to sacrifice her voice until the curse is lifted. If she says even one word before the curse is undone, then her brothers will remain swans forever. 

I find the story is really beautiful, and there are times I find myself drawn deeply into the story. The meeting of Sorcha with a guy from her enemy land plays a great part of the story. Red, the red-haired man who saves her when she is almost drowned, happens to be one of the leaders from her enemy land, Britain. The story of Sorcha and Red is really fun to read. I love most about the way Red protects Sorcha and understands her even though Sorcha can’t say anything at all. 

Daughter of the Forest is a really good book and I really recommend it, especially for people who loves remake of fairy tales. Sorcha is a wonderful heroine and she has my sympathy. I admire her dedication and love to her family and her land. Red is a suitable hero to balance Sorcha with his strength and his patience. In short, a must-read book! 

Finally I fell asleep, still staring into the candle flame, curled up by small Alys for warmth, with my brothers’ names sounding over and over in my head, as if by saying them I could keep them alive a little longer, just a little. Just long enough.

Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I'm giving this book: 5 out of 5 stars

This book is definitely what you call amazing. Fast-paced and beautifully written, I can’t help but falling in love with the story.

Yelena is so close to dead. She’s awaiting executioner, and finally her time comes. But Valek, the Commander’s personal security chief and leader of the vast intelligence network for the Territory of Ixia, has different agenda for her. He offered her a job as a Commander Ambrose’s new food taster.

A chance to live and Yelena is not a fool. She accepts the job, despite the chance that death will come with the next bite. Valek is in charge of training new food taster, so Yelena gets to spend many times with him in her first days in castle. As days pass, she begins liking her job. She can learn as much as she wants in Library, and somehow, Valek is always there to protect her from her enemies. Without fully realizing it, Yelena has been dangerously drawn into her assassin boss.

Valek is not the least of her worries. Her enemy General Brazell will come to visit the castle. Yelena has killed his son, and Brazell won’t let her slip away. No one knows the truth about Brazell and Yelena, and she can’t trust the knowledge to anyone yet. Yelena has tried her best to maintain her fragile peace days in castle, but when a magician from neighbor country comes to kill her, she finally gets to know the truth about her nature. The reason of Brazell and his son’s experiment to Yelena, and a chance to escape to neighbor country, even if it means leaving Valek...

No need to say that I love the books! The characters are simply loveable, and awfully captivating. Yelena is admirably smart, and it’s a fresh break to take from reading too much not-so-brilliant heroines. She’s also very brave and strong-willed, and I love that she can make people admit her skills. Through the story, Yelena gets a chance to study about self-defense, and as you may already guessed, she becomes amazingly skilled in fights.

It’s very fun to read Yelena interacting with other characters, such as Valek, Ari, Janco, and Irys. Her relationship with Ari and Janco is one of the most pleasant aspects of Magic Study. In short, I love everything about this story. It gets everything you ask: adventure, friendship, tension, and nice touch of romance. A definitely must read!

Could the strange buzzing sound that erupted from my throat and saved my life really be the same as Irys’s power? If so, I must keep my magic a secret. And I had to gain some control of the power to keep it from flaming out. But how? Avoid life threatening situations. I scoffed at the notion of evading trouble. Trouble seemed to find me regardless of my efforts. Orphaned. Tortured. Poisoned. Cursed with magic. The list grew longer by the day.