Book Review #2 - Little Brother

Synopsis:
Marcus aka “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, his injured best friend Darryl does not come out. The city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: “M1k3y” will take down the DHS himself.
from: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/954674.Little_Brother

My review:
In a modern world where media and technology made people too skeptical for traditional monsters, one of them is still haunting us. Doctorow’s Little Brother shows us that fear is the most terrible of monsters, no matter how cliché that sounds.
Fear is what leads many characters in this story, and also what creates many of the conflicts. And this feeling is familiar to anyone who lived or watched big riots or resistance movements. Doctorow shows us many different characters of such movements - the nonconformist young people, the too-scared, the ones that believe it is wrong to fight the authorities and so on. I saw many assemblances to the period of riots in Brazil earlier this year, and even if you don't have the same political view as the author it is a very interesting topic to think about.
To soften such serious and grave topics, the story brings lots of very didactic (but also very interesting) facts about computers, hackers and even History. It also shows us moments of a regular teenager's life, which sometimes feels a little annoying (it may be boring to read about the sexual adventures of a 17 year-old when there's kind of a civil war going on), but at the same time makes the characters more realistic and captivating.
It is a believable and well written story, with very tense and also light and fun moments. Worth reading!

My rate:
8/10

Book Review #1 - The Hunger Games

For a long time I had the wish to talk about books on this blog. But there was never enough time or I didn't feel encouraged to. But the last books I've read kind of asked me for a review, for I had so much to talk about them. So, I decided to start, no matter what. I am planning to do more posts about the books I read, and I would be very thankful to have a feedback from any reader of this blog. :)


Writing about the newest launches is not my purpose, for I don't keep up with all the news on the bookstores, so I'll write about any book I read, no matter if it was published last year or two centuries ago. I hope you enjoy it!

And, for my first review...

The Hunger Games

the cover of the edition I've read

Synopsis:
In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: Kill or be killed.
When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister’s place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature. 
from: www.scholastic.com/thehungergames

My review:
 I must admit that when I first heard of this book it wasn't much appealing to me, so I only decided to read it because so many friends recommended me to. So, it wasn't with much expectation that I first opened the book.
While reading, what actually started to win my attention was the fact that I simply couldn't guess the plot. I always thought that the next facts would be the very obvious, but then the book surprised me with something completely different from my expectations (but please note that I'm not very good at guessing plots). Then I got involved with the plot and realized a couple of things about it.
Suzanne Collins shows us a society that worships these Hunger Games, what means they worship war and killing. They love the Hunger Games. And my first thought about that was that they were shameful brainless people.
But, as the book goes on and the game starts, many times Katniss saw an enemy on arena and all these times I thought "go there, kill him/her right away!". After some time, I realized that I had my favorite tributes and I that was hoping that they would kill the others and win the games.
Then it came to me that I had actually become one of the Hunger Games watchers! Just like all those cruel and brainless people in the Capital.
What I think Suzanne Collins does very well on this book is to show us how we, too, are thirsty for blood and war, no matter how disgusting we know that is. I think that she can address especially to Americans, her first readers, for they are a country that worships soldiers and war heros (in a way I have never seen in Brazil, for example). She also talks of oppression and builds a country that is sick, in need for justice and for freedom - ideas that are very important to every country, but that Americans widely speak of.
By realizing this I got quite involved with the book and, though some parts were kind of boring - for instance, some of Katniss's lonely moments in the arena - and some characters were too obvious - like Gale, he was useless to the plot so far -, I just couldn't wait to finish it and know how it was going to end.
So, I am very curious to read the next books, and I hope they will thrill me and teach me something about myself just like this one did.

My rate:
8/10

My reading list in 2012

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had great holidays! I sure had, mainly since I spent reveillon with friends and having lots of fun. I hope 2013 will be a great year for everyone and that we will be able to reach all of our goals.

For 2012, I didn't set a list of goals. But I did set a goal for reading: I planned to read 20 books, and at least 5 of them should be in English. Now I want to share with you all the list of the books I read, kind of in the order I did.

Please note: the first title I'll mention for the book is on the language I read it. If it's a translation, then the original title will follow in parenthesis.

Here is my list:

Books I read in 2012

Luka and some of the books of this list

1. O senhor dos anéis: o retorno do rei (Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), by J. R. R. Tolkien. Rate: 5/5

2. World War Z, by Max Brooks. Rate: 5/5

3. A agência nº 1 de mulheres detetives (The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency), by Alexander McCall Smith. Rate: 2/5

4. Eeee eee eeee, by Tao Lin. Rate: 4/5

5. Três sombras (Trois Ombres), by Cyril Pedrosa. Rate: 5/5

6. Eusébio Macário, by Camilo Castelo Branco. Rate: 1/5

7. O guia do mochileiro das galáxias (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), by Douglas Adams. Rate: 5/5

8. O restaurante no fim do universo (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe), by Douglas Adams. Rate: 4/5

9. How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell. Rate: 5/5

10. Desesperados (Desesperate Characters), by Paula Fox. Rate: 1/5

11. Persépolis (Persepolis), by Marjane Satrapi. Rate: 4/5

12. A vida, o universo e tudo mais (Life, the Universe and Everything), by Douglas Adams. Rate: 5/5

13. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. Rate: 3/5

14. Tia Júlia e o escrevinhador (La tia Julia y el escribidor), by Mario Vargas Llosa. Rate: 5/5

15. Dexter: a mão esquerda de Deus (Darkly Dreaming Dexter), by Jeff Lindsay. Rate: 3/5

16. Até mais, e obrigado pelos peixes! (So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish), by Douglas Adams. Rate: 4/5

17. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Rate: 4/5

18. The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling. Rate: 5/5

19. Looking For Alaska. Rate: 4/5

Reading Looking for Alaska on my tablet, during the reveillon trip

So, as you see, I didn't reach my mark of 20 books, but 7 out of 19 books were in English, so I'm proud enough. For 2013 I'll keep the mark of reading 20 books, and at least 7 of them must be in English. Wish me luck with that!

Did you read any of the books on my list? Although I didn't write a review for any of them, I'm always willing to debate and comment everything I read. So, please comment if you have an opinion on these books! :)

New goals...

Hello everyone!

I pretty much forgot to post my goals yesterday (and my last Top List Tuesday as well), but, hey, I'm very busy! Well, I'll make it up by posting today and you would all make me very happy if you could pretend it's still Sunday. :)

Last week's list was:

- read 50 pages on The Casual Vacancy - Ok!
- proofread my thesis - Ok!
- drink 2 liters of water per day - failes (so I'll repeat it this week and keep trying...)
- put a new wallpaper on my office computer's desktop - Ok! This was the wallpaper I chose from my personal photos:

Vancouver, 2011

Now, to a brand new list:


- drink 2 liters of water per day
- ride a bike
- print my thesis
- finish reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By the way, I'm really enjoying The Casual Vacancy, and a few people said they're also reading. I'm curious to know everyone's opinion, so please write to me when you finish it. =) I still have a long way before I finish it, and I'm a slow reader, so I'm alternating it with other books. Do you guys do that too?

Oh, Sundays...

If I could use a picture to summarize my Sunday morning, I would sure pic this one, which has an incredibly weird angle, because Holly's arms were over mine while I held the camera:

 Anyway, my books and cats moment is over and I have to go out to that horrible sunny day. Wish me luck!

Before that, though, I'll take a look into my lists on...

4 Things Sunday

This was last week's list:

- write 2 letters - wrote only one. :(
- watch 5 episodes of my favorite TV shows - Ok!
- set the design for my thesis - Ok!
- go swimming twice - Ok!

I think that wasn't bad for my first try! Let's go on with new goals for a new week, then!

- read 50 pages on The Casual Vacancy
- put a new wallpaper on my office computer's desktop
- proofread my thesis
- drink 2 liters of water per day

I wish everyone a great week, and good luck with your goals!

Top List Tuesday #3

Top 9 reasons to smile in September
(a personal list)

1. The beginning of a new rainy season (after so long).

2. Going to the park with my boyfriend to learn how to ride a bike.

3. A Luna Lovegood page on my Harry Potter calendar.

4. Playing Portal 2 for the first time.

5. Finishing the first half of my thesis.

6. Reading my first ebook.

7. The long waited release of Dexter's 7th season.

8. Going to a few university parties.

9. Having lots of letters to reply.

It's really nice to list your reasons to smile. What about you, what have you been smiling for?

Penny, the bookcrosser

Hello there!
Have you ever heard of Bookcrossing? It's a very interesting way to share books with other people, consisting in basically three steps: you read a book, label it and leave it on a public place for another person to find it. It's a good idea to give your old books a good use, and also to share their stories with the world.
I had tried it this weekend, and found it a nice experience. Here it is, in three steps:

1. You read a book

I must admit I'm not very fond of giving my things away, mainly when it comes to books.
But I had this series, and readed only the first book. I didn't like it much, it was a nice story, but definitely not my style. So, I wasn't going to read the next two.
Wasn't it unfair to keep three books, one of which I don't like, and two that I would never read?
I thought it was. So, after realizing that the books wouldn't match any of my friends' taste, I decided to try bookcrossing.

"Nº1 Ladies Detective Agency" series

2. You label it

In order to track "your" (it's not yours anymore) book, you can register it at Bookcrossing.com. Then they will give you a code to write on the book, using a label with instructions, so that the next person who finds it, and the person after that, can put the code in the site and tell you what they think of the book.
In Brazil, it is a particularly complicated process. There are a few "Bookcrossing spots" around my city, and I was suposed to live my books at one of these places, where people who know bookcrossing would leave/look for books. I didn't like that idea. I wanted my books to be found by someone who wasn't expecting it, someone who maybe wasn't even looking for any culture on that day.
So, I didn't register them. Instead, I just wrote a note telling whoever founds the books to enjoy it and to please leave them to someone else after reading.

The outside part of my note says "Found these books? Take them!"

3. You free it!

Finding a place was hard. I wanted the books to be safe, and at the same time wanted them to be seen by enough people, so that they could find their destiny.
I ended up choosing the subway on a saturday afternoon, when people are probably going out to meet friends or else, and not on a hurry to work.

The last sight I had of them.

It was quite hard to leave them there. Not having registered it, I would never get to know who found them and what happened next. I wish I could hide somewhere close to watch until they were found, but I couldn't. So, I only left them behind, hoping they would follow a good path. I don't know if someone is reading them right now, or if they were sold to a second hand bookstore. All I know is that it is a good feeling to leave this mistery and some good energies for some stranger.

It was a really nice experience. Would you try that too?

For booklovers

One very important thing about me (okay, maybe not THAT important, but, well, a thing) is that I smell books. I can't buy or read a book before opening and smelling it, it seems that it's just as addictive as drugs. So, I've got pretty happy to find out that other crazy people like me are worried about spreading the book smell all around. Someone created a perfume with new books odor!

I wonder how I would love hugging someone that smells like a book. Ten times better than Victoria's Secret or else!

And here's some other impressive creation for lazy booklovers who, like me, have too much books and keep postponing reading them.

Anybody else feeling desesperate for the readers of these books?