It's a challenge!

While browsing several book blogs I've learned a few things:

First, there's a running feature/ weekly meme created by the broke and the bookish called Top Ten Tuesdays.  I used to think that its just a feature crated by one blogger for her blog turns out almost all the book blog I've been to is running the same feature and decided to finally know what the fuss is about. I wish I could join but honestly, I don't think it would sound smart to just bring up the same books over and over again every tuesdays as my choices are far diverse from many but very limited in comparison to other book blogs. And as much as I would like to share insights of my own, when class begins and it will soon, every tuesday is going to be a huge drain from my energy reserves. (I checked my schedule that day: Pharmacology, Microbiology and Surgery all in the same day! Those are big and major percentage of my grades by the way.) 

Second, woah! in the span of four freaking years of my stagnant and non-reading phase of high school that is, I missed so many books that would have been in my prized possession did I not stop. And I am slowly just slowly beginning to catch up with all those books and during these times may not be best for Reading and Relaxation, I am in the most critical phase of my career, please! 

Thirdly, so while I was really sad about not being able to join and devastated by my lack of knowledge for a vast number of beautifully published novels, I learned another project that book bloggers can also join. Its entitled The Fill in the Gaps. Now the slightly sad news is I'm kind of drifting away temporarily from doing YA book reviews. and the slightly better one is that since, after much deliberation, I've decided this is gonna be worth it at the end, I'm practically adopting this project. 

The mechanics was to pick approximately 100 books which you have always meant to read but haven't gotten around yet, and make a list and allow five years to complete the reading challenge. BUT instead of choosing the books, I had BBC chosen it for me. Read the article here. Its a win win situation actually: I get to read the 100 Books that will make my existence complete and full, and I get to finish this challenge which though maybe a bit everything but effortless, given the time allowance is very feasible. Truth is, when I went through the list, only 13 out of the massive 100 books listed made it into my Read shelf which is not only self deprecating but a bit embarrassing as well. And to think, here I am blogging my way through different book reviews not having read 87 of the greatest books ever published. Who was I to judge right? So I gave my resolve. Here's my 100 books to read:

Start: June 2014

Finish June 2019

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4. A Brief History in Time  - Stephen Hawking

5. A Long Way Gone: Memoir of A Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

6. A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket

7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare

15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk

18. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett

19. The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20. Middlemarch – George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Caroll

30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34. Emma -Jane Austen

35. Persuasion – Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres

39. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

40. Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

41. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50. Atonement – Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52. Dune – Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson

65. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

66. On the Road – Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72. Dracula – Bram Stoker

73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses – James Joyce

76. The Inferno – Dante

77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78. Germinal – Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession – AS Byatt

81. The Sun also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87. Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

88. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94. Watership Down – Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100. Are You There God? It's me Margaret - Judy Blume

Wish me Luck!

Updating!

I've been lagging with my posts lately by worrying how I'll be able to come by once Academic year begins. But fret not, I'm not in the midst of such turmoil to shut down. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share this short of information I just learned while attending Mass last Saturday:

If I remember it right and heard correctly there are three different levels of Eucharistic celebration and if my memory serves me well, in  descending order, Solemnity, Feast and Memoriam. Pentecost which was celebrated last Sunday is one of the highest celebration in the Church Calendar and there are ways to recognise these events and the most evident would be the number of candles lighted on each side of the altar (3 for Solemnity and so on.) I also learned that The Descent of the Holy Spirit is the starting point of the Acts of the Apostles and therefore the birth of the Church. Now why am I sharing all of this facts? I'm a devout catholic to all of you who doesn't know but more than that I believe that if we understand something a little better, we learn to believe a lit bit firmer. Its hard to keep the faith to something that we understand so little about and I guess, that's what the Church is for. More than preaching the Word of God and continuing the tradition, its the Church who is tasked to enlighten people so they too would follow Christ. 

I know its kind of out of the blue but I've been dying to share that piece because I just felt the need to. and now its all out. So, moving on friends, I've got some list for you that you might not even notice I was gone. 

Actually, its similar to #100happyday project which I never get to do before because I don't need to see or do things to make me happy because I already am. I mean this is the experience of a lifetime. Medschool. Books. Sleep. Food!( I guess that was what I was thinking.) On the other brighter hand, this project focuses more on the individuality of each person. More like a vitamin boost. As I've said earlier, acknowledging what you are capable of makes the difference. I'm calling it the #imremarkable project. what makes an individual, you, remarkable? unique in a world where everything conforms to the trend? At the beginning I thought its going to be solely for the benefit of women. but as my list progress, I think Men can also start to relate. its a good workout for the mind and the spirit.

and lastly, I know you guys are tired of hearing my thoughts, however it is relevant that I announce that I'm finally, finally after much resistance that I caved in to the TFIOS bandwagon and I'm actually in the phase wherein I am doing my best to eliminate good bias about the book but so far, I am not jerking any tears. I will reserve all my comments for the book review but do know that the only reason I am reading it is not out of curiosity for the too good to be true reviews but because I want to have read the book before seeing the film so I can justify my well worth claim that there are certain books that should stay as they are because they lost sanctity when they're interpreted for you. (still not a fan of Shailene Woodley btw and I am still opposed to her being Mary Jane. Emma is my girl!) 

I guess I'm boring you to death. anyway, you still have all my love readers!

Word of the Wit

Finally had the time to create this side banner for my blog. its long overdue but I hope I was able to deliver. I've never used photoshop for quite a while and it took me this long to make something out of it. I liked how it turned out. I hope you also did!! I'm crazy rambling now I know!

                                
                                

PS. posting for future reference! Love you all.

Drumroll Please

I once read that if i want to be famous, successful and booked 'til forever, I must operate like the world is listening. Never holding back. and sooner will people gather to bask on my own light. 

So from a Ranting Rampage Page that my blog used to be, I finally have the courage to re-open and restart my way into sharing what I've learned from my life adventures. I was thinking along the lines of a travel diary. I've read and followed so many travel blogs, and browse through a lot of travel magazines as well, and I realised, I am damned if was to pursue this kind of life. My life mission was to be a physician and I'm already one step ahead to the road of becoming one and I am not to give that up, yet and at the same time I still want to provide information to mankind. So I said, why not a book blog. I mean, i can manage to read 50 books a year, or more, what's holding me back? O yeah, time restraint. 10 out of my 12 months is spent reading textbooks and meager time to even have a me-time. I only get to finish my reading challenge in Goodreads in the whole span of Summer. So with all those factor already in mind, my friend suggested why not just write about MedSchool Life and help other doctor dreamers to their path. Be the inspiration. i could go all out. write to my hearts content. That was the purpose of it all right? to be able to touch lives by my writing. But this is where I draw the line. It may sound selfish but my life isn't open for public. I think that was the mistake that lead to my previous demise. I want this blog to be a reliable source of reviews, a place to discover new hidden gems and most especially a place that people go to so they can get a random Love punch or even just a slight push and confidence boost. 

That's when everything falls into place: I want it to be a lifestyle blog. Its a mixture of everything. Music + Movies + Food + Books + Roadtrips and even a hint of Love and Courage to push through. 

I learned from the same woman that Courage is Love under Pressure and I have been living to this mantra since forever. and you know what, my love and passion for writing has been fuelling my courage to this whole blog to come up and start running again while showering people with Love this time around.