The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

I've never read a book that is so riveting, fast-paced, and very intriguing. I have read a lot of psychological thrillers, but this one was one of the best books I've read for ages. The Silent Patient is Alex Michaelides's first novel, and boy it did not disappoint! I first saw it on a book website and it claimed as one of the best books of the year 2019. Fascinated by its premise, I looked for a copy of it, but only to find out that it wasn't available at Fully Booked that time. Sad life. Anyway, I was strolling around Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne, and I finally found a copy of it. And yup, truth be told, the book did not disappoint.

The story is about a famous painter who murdered his husband and ended up at a psych hospital, unable to talk. A criminal psychotherapist got mesmerized by her case and decided to help her talk again.

A fast read, and a true definition of a page-turner. I am still reeling from that ending because it was totally mindblowing!!! It's like reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, but on steroids. It was THAT intense.

China Rich

With a heavy heart, I am done reading Crazy Rich Asians. I bought in around three days ago and I so hate myself being a fast reader. I tried to slow down and read at least a few chapters per day but God, I can't stop reading. It was a light read and at the same time, very funny. I never thought that I'd enjoy Kevin Kwan's debut novel. Well, I can somehow relate to this novel (not that I'm part of the nouveau riche family #wishfulthinking) because all events in the novel were set in Singapore.

Hopefully when I get home in Davao, I'll buy its sequel.

Project Bibliophile: 52+ Books in 2015

I am a certified bookworm. I grew up reading a lot of books and I spent most of my lunch breaks at our school library. My childhood was basically an adventure to the other side of the realm. Reading is fun as it takes you to other worlds for free. This is probably one of the reasons why I wear a -225 grade glasses now - the effect of too much reading. But then again, no one can stop me from reading!

In 2014, I didn't had the chance to read a lot books. During that year, I was still a new kid in town (lol, I didn't care if everybody loves me, lol at the reference though), adjusting to my new work environment. New Year 2015 came and one of my new year resolutions was to read more books.

Book Review: The Martian

Ilustration by Matt Taylor

I am a self-proclaimed science geek, and I am not ashamed of it. I have lived and breathed science since first grade, well until the year that I finally ditched the prospect of studying medicine in exchange of pursuing the road to my first love - aviation (well, it's still science, right?).

I started reading sci-fi novels at a young age of nine, starting with Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Since then, read most of his sci-fi novels. Timeline, State of Fear, Next, and Airframe were my four ultimate favorites. Until his untimely death in 2008, I thought that no sci-fi novels will ever surpass his works. Until James Rollins came. To be fair, both were good and they have different styles in presenting science to their novels.

You Win or You Die

Game of Thrones
Base from George R.R. Winston's A Song of Ice and Fire
Creators: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

Kings, queens, knights and renegades use schemes and swords to battle for the throne.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of movies or TV series that contains themes or elements from the medieval times, until I finished watching the tenth episode of Game of Thrones. The TV series is based from George R.R. Winston's A Song of Ice and Fire.

The cast members were perfectly selected. There's Eddard Stark (played by Sean Bean) who wanted to serve his kingdom the right way. Moving southeast, in the kingdom of Pentos, Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke) was forced to marry Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the warrior-king of the nomadic Dothraki tribe, in order to please his greedy brother, Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd). And oh, let us not forget the treacherous and ambitious Lannisters (played by Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and Jack Gleeson).

Despite the medieval theme present in the Game of Thrones, people would still love it and even crave for more since the elements were well represented in today's time. There are people who hunger for power and wealth. There are people who die because they were doing the right thing. More so, there are people who suffered from different kinds of injustice.

Expect violence, intense sex scenes (though unlike Spartacus, the sex scenes of Game of Thrones are just beautiful), blood and gore (beheading is their favorite sport, actually), frontal nudity and incest in this show. But despite these, the cinematography is superb, not to mention its opening theme, beautifully arranged by Ramin Djawadi. Very creative.

The show is wonderfully produced by HBO. The second season will be aired this spring 2012.

Off to read the first book of A Song Of Ice and Fire!

Start of Something New

School is imminent and I'm really excited. You know why?


Well aside from seeing my crush, chitchat with my friends and eventually drowning myself with those hardcore major subjects in Biology, I’ll be getting a brand new ‘activity cycle’. For the past few months, I tried to keep myself busy by indulging on books written by my favorite authors, photoshopping, blogging and web designing. In that way, I won’t be bored on a certain period of time since I am spontaneous. I am also getting tired on listening with the same headlines over and over again, from the anomalies of the government (Con-Asshole), the never-ending saga of Hayden and Katrina, the A(H1N1) Virus and the freaky weather that made some locals confused, whether classes in primary and secondary schools are suspended or not.


I don’t have a choice. Nakababaliw kaya kung pabalik-balik ang mga ginagawa mo. Nakababagot. Shoot.


Today, my latest read was Deception Point by Dan Brown. I already read this book almost four years ago though I just borrowed it from my friend. I think I didn’t finish reading it last time since I have to return it. I already forgot some significant parts and details of this novel. That’s why I bought it the moment I saw it on NBS. Phew. Only one copy left. Same story applies on Michael Crichton’s State of Fear.


And now, I’m broke. I want to buy Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and The Anansi Boys. And oh! I want to buy Robert Ludlum’s Covert-One Series (The Hades Factor, The Cassandra Compact, The Paris Option, The Altman Code, The Lazarus Vendetta, The Moscow Vector, The Arctic Event and The Infinity Affair). Oh! Dan Brown will be having a new novel this year. It will be released this September 15. Interestingly, this novel is going to be the third Robert Langdon book written by Dan Brown.

Okay, I got bored last night and I made something for Tumblr. LSS!