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You by Caroline Kepnes. Book & Lifetime Series Review.

September 24, 2018 / OTHER STUFF / 0 comments

“Every day I close up without finding anyone like you. Look at you, born into my world today“. Excerpt from the novel “You” by Caroline Kepnes.

Hey You, ever wonder what’s inside the mind of a stalker? oh well, let’s just say, a very romantic stalker that doesn’t really seem to realize that he’s actually a stalker or he doesn’t want to admit that he’s one. This book by Caroline Kepnes called “You” is all about the story of Joe Goldberg. A smart bookstore manager in New York City who seems harmless, seemingly kind, and likes to keep to himself with a serious passion for books. Joe seems like any other guy, romantic and cool, but Joe has a secret, in fact, he harbors a lot of secrets, and when he’s in love, he’s the type that goes all the way.

Joe met Beck at the bookstore and he was so captivated that began googling everything about her. She became the subject of his obsession, passionately knowing and trying to find things about her through the instant access of the internet and today’s incessant display of social media. Meanwhile, Beck seems like the ideal, pretty and likable girl that every guy would want to have. She’s everything that Joe desires and he has fallen madly in love with her, to the point of obsessively imagining and following her. He’s determined to do whatever it takes to make her fall in love with him, and nobody can stand in his way.

This book is giving me the whole Dexter meets Pretty Little Liars with a Gone Girl vibe. It’s giving me all the “feels” (LOL, whatever that means) and it’s beautifully written in the sense that it would make you really get into the mind of a stalker and sort of realize what it must be like to fall head over heels crazy in love with someone so bad that you’d actually do anything to make that relationship happen. There is something likable and strangely relatable about Joe. He’s just like most of us when we fall in love with someone, we do get obsessed with that person and we do feel the pain if that person does not reciprocate how and what we feel, even more so if that person doesn’t even realize that we exist, right? But loving and crushing are not the same as stalking. Stalking is wrong and it’s creepy. We don’t act out on our emotions and do crazy evil things when we have feelings for someone who doesn’t seem to be interested in us. We move on and find someone who can truly love us back the way we want to. That’s life, that’s what’s normal and that’s healthy. But then again, this book will take you inside a hopeless romantic psychopath’s mind and see what it’s like to fall in love with someone so obsessively to the point of being mad.

The series adaptation of this book is currently being aired on Lifetime every Sunday night. The latest episodes are uploaded online for the viewers to watch. It’s kinda weird that Lifetime made an adaptation of this. I’ve always thought of Lifetime as the channel that contains Golden Girls, Romance films, and all the feel-good movie type, but anyway, I think the series itself is just as well-done as the book. It has all the vibes and atmosphere of the novel’s story. Penn Badgley is great as Joe Goldberg and so are most of the actors. It’s as haunting and intriguing as ever.

I listened to the Audible version of this book, and I couldn’t stop. The narration is captivating and superb. It made me feel claustrophobic, strangely in love and was always on the edge. A real page-turner and true to what they say, this book is not your usual boy-meets-girl story.

To purchase this book online, click HERE

To listen to the Audible version of this book, click HERE

To watch the LIfetime series adaptation of this book, see it HERE

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Book Review.

August 28, 2018 / OTHER STUFF / 1 Comment

Outlier – a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set. Ex. people whose achievements fall outside normal experience.

I’m not quite a fan of self-help books, and I don’t really know why. Perhaps because I haven’t really found the one that really inspired me. Although I do have a thing for Psychology books, especially the Feeling Good book by Dr. Burns. I’ve read countless self-help books in the past, but I always seem to just forget about them right after finishing the last page. Recently, I was wandering around at my local Barnes & Noble and I stumbled at the Psychology area when I found this minimalistic book by Malcolm Gladwell called the “Outliers”. I immediately read the back part and was truly intrigued by it. Then it dawned on me, a friend suggested this book to me before but I didn’t really pay that much attention, so, this time, I know I’ve got to read this book. I was so intrigued about knowing the people we consider Outliers, and the whole term is sort of news to me. So, I bought the book in Amazon since it’s cheaper there and I started reading it non-stop.

I wouldn’t call this a self-help book, it’s not really, but more like a non-fiction inspirational book about understanding the people we call as Outliers in this world. Most of our understanding of the path to success and about very successful people are defined by the misconception that you have to have an innate talent, or that you have to be hardworking. Truth is, in this book, talent and hardwork are indeed parts of success, but these two qualities are not enough. Yes, you have to work so hard and have a talent, but you also need to be born at the right circumstances. These circumstances are very important in achieving success and that is how we can understand that the Outliers of the world didn’t just start from scratch or came from nothing and then became very successful. Further, this book will answer why there are no star hockey players born in the Fall, or why the smartest man in the world is not necessarily the most successful in life.

This book is an eye-opener and will change the way you view life. It puts everything in perspective and will make you realize why such very successful people exist. The answer is pretty much right there, you just have to make sense of it. With that being said, it doesn’t mean that nobody can be successful, the book will tell you that if only we’d applied what we know of success in all its complexities and elements, then we’d have more Outliers in this world, and in that sense, there won’t be such thing as an Outlier at all.

I highly recommend this book, as well as some other books by Malcolm Gladwell. He’s definitely my favorite author now and I just like the way he writes and explains things. He is very keen on observing our society and its occurrences. So, for that, I’ve already started reading his other books like “The Tipping Point” and “Blink“. However, this Outlier book holds a special place in my heart. It’s a fascinating read that will inspire you to learn about people’s success stories and realize that success truly doesn’t happen overnight or from scratch, it’s a much more complicated event that happens when all the right circumstances and all the forces of nature combined to make a dream a reality.

The Outliers book by Malcolm Gladwell is currently available at http://www.amazon.com or at Audible as an audiobook.

Kevin Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians” Book Review

July 26, 2017 / OTHER STUFF / 0 comments

“I have no idea who these people are. But I can tell you one thing— these people are richer than God” – Peik Lin, character from Crazy Rich Asians.

Here’s a bold satirical book that will surely crack you up. This book is purely entertaining and fun to read. It’s a romantic comedy that will not only make you chuckle but it will also touch your heart, especially towards the end of the book. It’s an interesting fast read with a no-nonsense type of writing. Each character is very well developed, so much so that even if you’re not rich, filthy rich or crazy rich, you will still find this book to be a great summer read.

I found out about this book when I read an article that talked about an upcoming romantic comedy film with an all-Asian cast. I thought, now that’s gonna be interesting, and of course, the upcoming film is entitled and based on this Crazy Rich Asians book by Kevin Kwan.

In the first few pages of the novel, you’ll find a family tree of The Young Family, The T’sien and The Shang Clan. It’s a great reference as to who the characters are, where they came from, and in which family they belong. You will find yourself constantly coming back to this for reference while reading the book. This means to show that there’s a lot of characters involved. But there’s a few main ones that are the main focus of the story. Don’t worry, I won’t be spoiling the entire story here, but I’ll give you a glimpse of what the story is all about.

Rachel Chu is a Chinese-born American and an NYU Economics Professor living in NYC with her boyfriend Nick Young who hails from Singapore and is also a History Professor at NYU. Nick’s best friend Collin, is getting married in Singapore and Nick is invited, so is Rachel. She’s never been there and she has no idea about Nick’s family history nor his complete background. Meanwhile, Astrid, Nick’s cousin living in Singapore is a jet-setting lady with troubles of her own. She warns Nick to tell Rachel about who and what their family really is. Also, Eleanor is Nick’s mom who loves him dearly and only wants the best for him. She’s eager to meet her son when he arrives in Singapore but changed her mind when she found out that he’s coming with his Chinese-American girlfriend, whom she’s never met before. Su Yi is Nick’s grandma who also loves him dearly but she has her own mind and sets of standards. Peik Lin is Rachel Chu’s former classmate and best friend from Singapore. Read how their lives will come together in one big funny mess, especially when Rachel finds out who Nick really is, his entire family and relatives’ history and background.

This novel depicts the lifestyle of the crazy rich Asians in a larger than life way, It’ll shock you to the bones and you’ll find yourself being transported to their world while laughing at the same time. It’s a lighthearted take on the lives of the people who have too much for their own good and also a tearjerker towards the last few chapters. There’s moral lessons to learn and several insights to ponder.

The Crazy Rich Asians Book is a trilogy by the author Kevin Kwan. It is available in amazon.com

The Book 2 (China Rich Girlfriend) is also available at amazon.com as well as the Book 3 (Rich People Problems)

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