Teaser Tuesdays: Wish You Were Here

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.

• Let the book fall open to a random page.

• Share with us two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page.

• You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from, that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given.

• Spoilers not allowed! XD

I'm playing catch up with my Teaser Tuesday. It's already Wednesday my timezone. Should I call it Teaser Wednesday? =)  I'm reading 2 books at the same time. Since Deja Dead gets me psyched out when I read it at night, I'm reading it during daytime. To have something to read before bed time, I grabbed a light read with none of those description of decapitated bodies. I already did a teaser of Deja Dead last Thursday, so this time I'll share a teaser of the second book I'm currently reading.

"She's speechless," Lyssa murmured as she brushed by him, sly humor in her voice. "Remarkable."

Yeager smiled again. "Do you want me to come back?"

Wish You Were Here, Christie Ridgway

I added Christie Ridgway's books in my TBR list. It was suggested by one of the blogs I'm following but I forgot which blog, but thanks for the suggestion. I'm quite finicky in following the order of the books, so I got the very first longish book she released. Currently enjoying it so far. =)

Feel free to share your teasers!

Musing Mondays (August 23)

Musing Mondays is hosted by Miz B in Should be Reading.

For this week, Miz B's musing is inspired by her step-brother who is a firefighter.

"If your house was burning down –and you could SAFELY grab a book on your way outside to safety– what book would you make sure you ‘rescued’? Why? "

My answer would be like Miz B, no question. It's my black, hard bound NIV Bible. It might not be as expensive (it's only about 7.00 USD) like most of the books I own but the return is eternal, everlasting.

Happy Monday everybody!

Movie Meme: Prison Break

This is a weekly movie meme hosted by The Bumbles Blog.

Anyone can join. Just go to your blog and create a post on the topic linking The Bumbles Blog as the host of the topic. Visit back to The Bumbles Blog and leave a link to your post in their Comments section.

This week's topic is all about your favorite prison movies. Shawshank Redemption seems to be the big favorite of the The Bumbles and the movie is still in my TBW (To Be Watched) list. Don't judge me please. XD

I can't remember a lot of prison movies I saw and I'm trying really hard to think of one... Okay finally thought of 4... 

The Green Mile - Tear Jerker.

Chicago - This movie makes being in jail look cool. Pop! Six! Squish! Uh Uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!

Ernest Goes To Jail - Hilarious but for others they find it unfunny.

The Killing Fields - Is this considered a prison movie? Or a war movie? It will also show you the atrocities of Khmer Rouge.

Weekend Introspection #1

On Books: 

My TBR list is getting longer and I'm still stuck reading Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. It's not that the book is boring or uninteresting, but man oh man, Kathy Reichs is so explicit with her descriptions that reading the novel at 2am just gives me the creeps. To quote 2 lines from the book: 

"Margaret Adkins had been ripped open from her breastbone to her pubis. A jagged fissure ran downward from her sternum, exposing along its course the colors and textures of her mutilated entrails. At its deepest points, where the organs had been displaced, I could see the glistening sheath surrounding her vertebral column."

It was already around 2am, Sunday morning when I read the part mentioned above. I just had to put it down or else "Hello over active imagination." I fell asleep praying and asking God, "Guard my thoughts and guide my heart." Note to self: Read the book during daytime, with people around, and not before bed time.

On Music:

I currently have Ingrid Michaelson on repeat mode that she must be hoarse from singing over and over again. Not familiar with her? 

"I love the way you call me baby and you take me the way I am..."

Her genres are Indie Pop and Indie Folk. Most of her songs have been used in Grey's Anatomy. To learn more about her, click here.

On Movies:

I still have a hangover on Inception. When I start discussing the different interpretations of the movie to my friends, I either get the silent treatment or be told "Let it go." Seriously my friends, intellectual stimulation! Anyone willing to strike a discussion with me on Inception, my twitter is on the right side bar or PM me. My Skype and YM are also online most of the time. Anne... LET it GO! =)

On TV Series:

Anyone watching So You Think You Can Dance Season 7? It should have been called "So You Think You Can Get Injured" with the numerous injuries the contestants sustained. Two contestants (Alex Wong and Ashley Galvan) had to leave because of serious injuries. Billy Bell, Jose Ruiz and Lauren Froderman were also injured. Despite the ravings of the judges on Alex Wong, I'm pro-Billy Bell! When he was eliminated, I was then rooting for Kent Boyd. He did not win also. Tsk.

Favorite Group Routine: "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", Choreographed by Mia Michaels.

Favorite Duo Routine: "Mad World", Performed by Billy Bell and Ade Obayomi, Choreographed by Stacey Tookey

Best Performance in Season 7: "That's Life", from the Broadway Show Come Fly Away, Performed by Keith Roberts and Karine Plantadit

        --> They were the guest performers during the Week 1 Results Show and trumped all the performances combined.

There were also notable performances like Ashley and Ade's Dee Caspary routine and Travis Wall's routine dedicated to his mother. There was a change in the format of the show. They only selected 11 people and the contestants were partnered with a contestant from previous seasons, thus Ade. I'm hoping in the next season, one of the choreographers will create a dance (3 dancers in one routine) about adultery and how destructive it can be. Then partner it with Damien Rice's 9 Crimes song... I can just imagine it. Chills... Calling Mia Michaels, Dee Caspary, Travis Wall or Stacey Tookey...

One question: Why is it that Cat Deeley can effortlessly pull off the tousled-look but on me I end up looking like a hag? Another tsk. XD

On Blogging:

I just learned about this Follow Friday meme from one of the blogs I follow. I participated last Friday and two authors started following me! How cool is that! Thanks E.J. Stevens and Emma Michaels! And, of course, also to my new followers! =)

My favorite shot of the week:

I took a shot of our neighbor's dog, Chubby. He's posed for me, mind you. He's cute but I'm not really a pet lover. I'll just stick to "Oh, cute dog..." statements and not "I want to own one".

Goodbye weekend... Hello Monday and work...

Happy Follow Friday

This is my first time joining. Visit our host blogger of Follow My Book Blog Friday (wow, that's a mouthful!), Parajunkee.Com, to know the details on how to participate and start blog hopping!

Friday Fill-Ins: August 20

And...here we go! 

1. Laughter (okay, I'll go for the obvious) is the best medicine.

2. "No problem Chai" are the three words that started off the last email I sent.

3. What I'm most looking forward to today is to catch up on missed blogs like Meme of Reading.

4. Counting the down the days until the arrival of my bestfriend puts a smile on my face.

5. Where in the world is Carmen San Diego (remember this game?)

6. A kick on the butt by my boss is just what I needed!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading at least 2 chapters of Deja Dead: A Novel, tomorrow my plans include cleaning my room in preparation of my bestfriend's arrival and Sunday, I want to be so ready that I won't be conscious when I sing in front of my churchmates (yikes!)!

Thank GOD it's Friday! XD

WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

* What are you currently reading?

* What did you recently finish reading?

* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

Yes, I'm still reading this book and haven't got pass chapter 1. In the first few pages, the heroine was examining a dead body found by some workers and the author described it in such detail that it gave the creeps. That was about 3am and I had to put it down and promised myself to read it during day time. I can still imagine the decapitated head (chills).

What did you recently finish reading? For The Love of Pete by Julia Harper

I get to know her books when someone mentioned her in one of the blogs I'm following. She also writes in another name: Elizabeth Hoyt. Book is okay. Fun read but not really that deep.

What do you think you'll read next? Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I promised to read Kathy Reichs' next book after Deja Dead but Wicked has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite sometime and it's already sulking because I've ignored it for more than a year.

Feel free to participate especially if you're a book lover. Happy Wednesday!

Teaser Tuesdays: Deja Dead

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.

• Let the book fall open to a random page.

• Share with us two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page.

• You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from, that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given.

• Spoilers not allowed! XD

"Whoa. Whoa. Slow down. You're going about this all wrong. First of all, most of what you've described has to do with modus operandi."

from Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs

I'm still not yet done with the book because the description of the dead bodies is so graphic that I refused to read it at night. =)

Musing Mondays (August 16)

Musing Mondays is hosted by Miz B in Should be Reading.

For this week's musing:

What books are you wishing for MOST right now?

I'm currently wishing for the book Juliet by Anne Fortier. I have this fascination with Romeo and Juliet that's why I'm interested with anything about star-crossed lovers.

Here's one editorial review in Amazon:

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Fortier bobs and weaves between Shakespearean tragedy and popular romance for a high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage--and possibly an inheritance--only to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Julie's hunt leads her to the families' descendants, still living in Siena, still feuding, and still struggling under the curse of the friar who wished a plague on both their houses. Julie's unraveling of the past is assisted by a Felliniesque contessa and the contessa's handsome nephew, and complicated by mobsters, police, and a mysterious motorcyclist. To understand what happened centuries ago, in the previous generation, and all around her, Julie relies on relics: a painting, a journal, a dagger, a ring. Readers enjoy the additional benefit of antique texts alternating with contemporary narratives, written in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling. Fortier navigates around false clues and twists, resulting in a dense, heavily plotted love story that reads like a Da Vinci Code for the smart modern woman. 

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Manic Monday: August 16

Manic Monday meme is hosted by Fleur of Manic Monday.

This week's Manic Monday asks:

What are 5 things you want to do in your life?
1. I want to work for Oprah.
2. Tour around the world.
3. Join in world missions.
4. Help out a cause on illiteracy and human trafficking.
5. Own a coffee or flower farm.

What are you saying goodbye to?
Temper, insomnia and procrastination.

What are you currently fascinated with?
Formula 1, blogging and creating different ways how to mix yogurt with pasta.

Happy Monday everyone! =)

Monday Movie Meme: John Hughes... How Do I Love Thee?

This week I'm hosting the Monday Movie meme at  The Bumbles. This week's topic is all about the films, written, directed or both by the late John Hughes.

Admit it. Once upon a time (in your life), you were bitten by the John Hughes bug. I haven't seen all of his movies, but those I saw still beat those chick flicks running around these days. Show how much you love John Hughes' movies by answering this:

John Hughes... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I would like to thank Molly for giving me my debut as a guest blogger. To see my choices, please go and visit The Bumbles Monday Movie Meme blog where I'm the featured guest blogger. Our usual host, Molly, already has her selections and I'm featuring it here in my blog.

Here are Molly's answers:

For letting me know I wasn't the only embarrassed and overlooked teen in the world, and giving me hope that "my" Jake Ryan just might notice me some day.

For letting me know that everybody should get their priorities straight and play hooky to take in a baseball game.

For letting the world know that Dads can take a turn raising families too.

For teaching me that not even bears, bats and uninvited in-laws can spoil a vacation.

For teaching me that not even busted lights, unpaid bonuses and uninvited in-laws can spoil the holidays.

For always giving me something to chuckle about to myself as I wait impatiently for my rental car.

Not familiar who John Hughes is? Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Home Alone, Curly Sue, Uncle Buck and if you're still not familiar, just go to Wikipedia to learn more.

Now it's your turn to play! Anyone can join. Just go to your blog and create a post on the topic linking The Bumbles Blog as the host of the topic. Visit back to The Bumbles Blog and leave a link to your post in their Comments section.

Happy Monday!

BTT: Evolution

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted here:http://btt2.wordpress.com/.

This week's question:

Have your reading choices changed over the years? Or pretty much stayed the same? (And yes, from childhood to adulthood we usually read different things, but some people stick to basically the same kind of book their entire lives, so…)

Reading, just like any natural process in this earth, is an evolution. You start from the most comfortable and when that becomes banal, you go seeking for new challenges.

I started with books that are thin. Easier to read. Remember those Sweet Valley Kids and Twins? Then I graduated to Sweet Valley High and SVU, then to the thicker novels: Johanna Lindsey and Sidney Sheldon. As time passed and on my way to reading maturity, my tastes changed and I look for novels with more substance and hook. I evolved into a book snob and would not read books with shallow plots no matter what they say that it is a fun read. About a few years back, I tried to balance my reading list by adding a few non-fiction books like those of John Maxwell.

Recently, I want to challenge myself to read the books of Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (Penguin Classics) & War and Peace: Original Version to name a few. I remember when I was in high school, my professor (God bless his soul) would push us to read the books of Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway and other classic authors. I think I've mention in my previous post that he gave us this list of 100 books to read. We asked him how come the books of contemporary writers, like Sidney Sheldon are not included in the list. He then harangued us and called Sidney Sheldon crap. Hahaha... but back then I'd rather read Sidney Sheldon than Leo Tolstoy. I've never read one single book from that list (even until today) because I think it will take me one year to finish one book. I'm still boosting up my confidence to even touch one of those books. Okay, that was too over acting, because I have The Picture of Dorian Gray lounging in my bookshelf and the book was part of that list (and yes I've never read the book).


One thing that never changed though: books that are way too explicit still don't have a place in my reading list. Again, when I was still in high school, some of my friends would push me to read Harold Robbins. Ick Factor to the highest level. Read one and never again.


I thinks others would agree that our reading preference have changed over time. Change is inevitable.


What are your thoughts? Feel free to share.

Thursday 13: Musicians/Bands Worth Hearing or miss 1/16th of Your Life

To quote William Congreve: "Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." It's music time again for my Thursday 13. Whether I'm sad, angry, inspired or in need of inspiration, music never fails to give me transcendence.

Here's 13 musicians or bands that you should hear to make your existence more worthwhile. Keyword: more worthwhile (I'm not saying your existence is not already worthwhile... smile). I'm naturally a music pimp, so if an artist is worth listening to, I promote them with zeal.

1. Nina Gordon - "My hero said you can't hold the hand of a Rock n' Roll man, but what if I can?"
2. The Sundays - "Hope I'll never wake when I'm thinking about you..."
3. Dan Mills - "She may not know the finest wines but she knows a fast way home."
4. Damien Rice - "If you don't shoot it how am I suppose to hold it."
5. Tori Amos - "I won't hold on to the tail of your kite."
6. The Temper Trap - "Oh, reckless abandon like no one's watching you."
7. Regina Spektor - "We're living in a den of thieves, rummaging for answers in the pages."
8. Feist - "He's my Brandy Alexander always gets me into trouble."
9. Florence + The Machine - "A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes."
10. Skunk Anansie - "So you should be by yourself instead of here with me... secretly."
11. Morcheeba - "It's all part of the process. We all love looking down."
12. Charlotte Martin - "I have only stalked a couple guys but they were not about surprises. Don't run away 'cause baby I'm your dream."
13. Dishwalla - "Download my dread. Disarm my mind. Make it dry."

What's your 13? Feel free to share!

WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

* What are you currently reading?

* What did you recently finish reading?

* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

I had this book as my next-book-to-be-read two weeks ago but since I'm not loyal to my reading list, I ended up reading 5 books that were not in my list. I've always promised not to stray but promises are made to be broken hehehe...

What did you recently finish reading? Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery

The synopsis held such teaser but the story kind of disappointed me. I thought there will be more drama and there was only little. Fun read but I was looking for more.

What do you think you'll read next? Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs

This is her second book and though I'm still in the first chapter of her first book, I've already planned to read this one next. Let's see and maybe I'll be compelled to write a book review.

Waiting on Wednesday: I Can't Take My Eyes Off You

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill of Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm highlighting the highly anticipated book of Judith McNaught: I Can't Take My Eyes Off You. The release date has been pushed back many times and last I heard it's on December 2011. People said that Judith's mother was sick and she helped in nursing her and then her mother passed away which pushed the release date further. Ms. McNaught's books are always worth the wait so I just have to be patient with this one. =)

Here's some information about the book from Judith McNaught's site:

One of the most popular authors is set to dazzle readers again. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You is the story of a complex, charismatic man and a successful, spirited woman who in their youth fell in love, married, and divorced--but years later are given a rare second chance to rediscover that love can rekindle their relationship.

A brilliantly written, triumphant tale of love lost and regained--with appearances from popular characters from her previous books-- Can't Take My Eyes Off of You will remind millions of fans exactly why her books have won their hearts.

What's your pick this week? Feel free to share.

Teaser Tuesdays: Match Me If You Can

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.

• Let the book fall open to a random page.

• Share with us two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page.

• You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from, that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given

• Spoilers not allowed! XD

Try as she might, she couldn't get past what she'd come to think of as the "ick factor". She'd made love with a man who wanted to be woman.

from p. 119, Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Note: I've actually finished reading this book way back. Since I'm not currently reading anything at the moment, I scanned my bookshelf for my Teaser Tuesday entry and here's another one from Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

What's your teaser for today?