January 2017 Book Haul & Wrap Up

Hi there! It's been a while since I last posted anything on this blog. Well, it's not exactly something new from me, right?

So this time I'd like to show you the books that I got on January. I bought some of them on December, another one on January, and I also got the Markituka's gift from Kak Essy (I guessed her correctly! Yay!).

January 2017 Book Haul

1. Harbolnas (BukaBuku.com)
    I bought 5 books on Harbolnas sale. Only 3 of them are available. So I tried to change it to 3 other books. Only 1 of them are available. It drove me kinda crazy because I wanted those books. So in the end I got 4 new books. Here's a picture of them:

2. Markituka
    Like I said wrote earlier, I got my Markituka gift from Kak Essy. Thank you so much for the wonderful books you pick! Unfortunately my target can't guess me right. I guess I made the riddle too hard. Hopefully I'll be better next time! And oh, here's a picture of the gift as well as the riddle:

3. Hematbuku
    I got a very bad experience regarding this order. I don't feel like talking about it, but it is definitely an experience that I hope taught me in the future to be able to keep myself from discounted books.

So... here's the complete list of the books that I acquired this month:

• Finding Dory
• Sitta Karina - Magical Seira 2: Seira & Abel's Secret
• Prisca Primasari - Lofe Theft #1
• Prisca Primasari - Lofe Theft #2
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince
• Orizuka - The Chronicles of Audy: 4R
• Shienny MS - Ther Melian: Discord
• Shienny MS - Ther Melian: Genesis
• Paulo Coelho - Mata Hari
• Tere Liye - Bumi
• Tere Liye - Bulan
• Tere Liye - Matahari
• Tere Liye - Hujan

That's a pretty small amount of books, compared to my December book haul of course. I really really can't help myself when it comes to discounts and promos. I just love purchasing books. 

So instead of making a book-buying ban, I'll just read more instead. That should work, right?

January 2017 Wrap Up

I started 2017 with a very good reading material. I either liked, loved, or completely blown away by the books that I read this month.

1. Enid Blyton - Semester Pertama di Malory Towers
   I meant to finish this book last December but I didn't have the chance to finish it last year. So it got carried away to this year. I really liked the story, the translation is very good, the characters are funny and I liked to read more about them in the future.
   
2. Tere Liye - Tentang Kamu
   I picked this book without having any expectations whatsoever. I know that Tere Liye is a very beloved author that has written so many books. I just didn't know that it will be THIS good. I love love LOVE this book so much, I can't help to use capital words. I liked the story, the characters, the history aspects of the story, the moral values, everything! Even though I realized that there were times when things just conveniently 'happened', I still love this book so much. Definitely one of my favorite book this year. And also the start of my obsession with Tere Liye's books :p
   
3. Jenny Han - The Summer I Turned Pretty
   This is a very weird book to be read on a windy and rainy January. But I'm going with it anyway because I'm looking forward to read the trilogy this year. I liked Jenny Han's writing style, I think it's very easy to read. The translation are okay, I didn't love or hate it. The character's development is the one that I liked the most about this book, even though I can't stand Belly's behavior so many times. Overall, a pretty promising start towards the rest of the series.
   
4. Jostein Gaarder - Cecilia dan Malaikat Ariel: Kisah Indah Dialog Surga dan Bumi
   This is a weird book. I can't say that I hate this book, but I didn't love or even liked it. I just read it, think that it's interesting, and that's it. There are some dialogue that I think is way over my head, but there's also so dialogue that are pretty nice. A very weird reading experience for me.
   
5. Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince
   I really really enjoy this book. It's fascinating and full of funny/satirical content. I liked the little prince's POV of the world, of the people in the planet that he met (especially about these people), and so on. I personally has a similar mindset with one of those people and for some reason I didn't feel offended when the little prince thought that he/me is a weird grown-up. It actually makes me take a step back, look at myself and how I made my decisions, and start to think how to improve myself. And it feels good to do so.
   
6. Finding Dory
   I haven't watch this movie even though I've watched Finding Nemo so many times. I honestly started to like this movie-to-book adaptation because it made me easier to digest a story even when I don't feel like watching an 1 hour (or more) long videos. After some trials, now I can finally feel the atmosphere of the books that I read. I think it's a pretty nice book to read and certainly a nice movies to watch if I had the time to do so.
   
7. Windhy Puspitadewi - Touche
   Finally, after several months (or years?) passed since I bought it, I picked this book up from my shelf. I really enjoy the 'fantasy' aspect of this story. The writing style is so easy to get through, but the story itself didn't have that wow factor or even remotely memorable for me. And the twist in this book... I simply disliked it. I didn't hate this book, but I am definitely didn't love it either.
   
8. Windhy Puspitadewi - Touche: Alchemist
   Unlike the first book, I think the story in this book offers a very interesting plot with a very nice twist at the end. I also liked the characters in this book much more than the previous one. Hiro is so cute, reminded me of L from Death Note as well as Shinichi from Detective Conan. Not exactly sure why, though.
   
9. Tria Barmawi - The Beautiful Geek
   This is a book that I picked out on a whim. I simply liked the cover and even though there's a Teenlit sign in the book cover, I have faith in Tria Barmawi to offer more that that. And she delivers! I always liked how Tria Barmawi made her main character a very intelligent woman/girl. It always fascinated me. And this book, even though it's more heavy on the romance aspect, also have that coming-of-age vibe that I think made this a great book for teenagers these days.
   
10. Nadya Prayudhi - U-Turn
    I bought this book a few months ago because of the interesting synopsis. And it is a very interesting book. I didn't exactly love this book from cover to cover. But there's definitely some parts in this book that really liked a lot. So many things are being included in this book, and even though I didn't know whether they're a good representations or not, I still enjoy reading it. It is, without a doubt, a very enjoyable read.

As I re-read my post, I realize how 'happy' I seemed in this post. Well, honestly, I'm not. Happy, I mean. Last month, my Dad passed away. And... it was hard. There are some easy days, where I can be happy and praying for him. But there are also some days where I just wanted to cry but I stopped myself from doing so. I want him to be calm, now that he didn't feel sick anymore. There are some things that I wished I had done, some things that I wished I had not when he was still alive. But... I guess now I can only devoted myself to make my mom happy, right? Because she's the only parents that I got left.

I'm so sorry for this sudden emotional outburst from me. I think after some time I just needed a channel to express my emotions that I keep to myself. It's not healthy, I know. But... it's the only way I know how.

I guess that's it for me now. Hope you have a nice day!