bianca

Sometimes, the greatest act of self-love is simply allowing yourself to be seen in all that you are.

A nice collection of poetry about moving on and learning to love yourself. I felt like some parts were just variations of each other, just told in different ways, that's why I couldn't give this 5 stars.

You don't get it. You're never going to get it. Because this is the problem with privilege. It's a blindfold with a pretty picture of the world painted on the inside. You think it's the truth. But it's just your truth. You think homecoming is something you can play with, be reckless about, never mind the consequences—because there have never been consequences for you.

— Ahhhh I love this. An awesome take on privilege and about realizing that you can't/shouldn't always be the hero in every story + the book tackles LGBTQIA issues. 5 out of 5 mozzarella sticks!!

How many times do your feet have to press down on a path before they make an imprint, before pieces of soul start sticking? What makes us belong in the place we call home?

— This is about a lot of things like fitting in, familial expectations, and cultural split. But mostly it's about a girl who liked a boy who liked her back. Sounds cliche, but the author handled it well that it didn't become one. It's a really lovely read.

— An oddly enjoyable book about high school seniors mysteriously exploding. This was a pretty good read at some parts, but was mostly so-so. I really enjoyed the main character's voice though.

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
27. ‪A ghost story ‬

You're alive. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.

mia's heart made a sound that no one heardexcept for mialate one night when she woke from dreams into darkness.

Quiet and lyrical. Of feeling lost and wanting to belong. And that feeling of disconnection when you realize that people are not who you thought they were or who you wanted them to be after all

Exasperated, Batman removed the mask and laid it carefully next to the little girl on the bleachers.David's jaw dropped. “You're a girl,” he said to Batman.“Yeah, so?” she said. She strutted back to home plate and sent a pitch sailing into the grass—the farthest hit of the day.He slapped her a high five as she crossed home plate. “I didn't know Batman could be a girl.”She huffed. “Well, Buckaroo, a girl can be anything.”

— About a group of friends trying to save a dying hometown tradition all the while growing up, finding their identities, and refusing to be contained in boxes and labels. Because we can't be contained!

...the awareness of something slipping through my fingers that no amount of wishing can preserve. I can't help but feel like a giant piece of my heart is breaking, knowing this part of my life I've loved so much is coming to an end.

This was a sweet story of friendship, of growing up, and of figuring out who we want to be. It's about having fears and worries about the unknown future, which I think is always relatable. ++ I really adored the childhood friends-to-lovers slowburn in this.

Do you think moons really lovethe planets they circle around—like in that poem we used to readto each other?I've been thinking: maybe they'rejust stuck. Maybe they don'tknow how to let go either. Maybegravitational pull is just code forI don't know how to be away fromyou—but on a massive scale.Like, baby, I know we don't worktogether. I just forget how to be amoon when you're not around.

Of love and letting go.

Don't you think everyone should have to come out? Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it should be this big awkward thing whether you're straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I'm just saying.

— An adorable and funny book about coming out. Loved the cute romance and how the main character had such a strong support system.

They are all innocent until proven guilty. But not me. I am a liar until I am proven honest.

— A raw and honest book about rape culture and the many ways people put the blame on the victim. This is just so infuriating and sad.

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
36. A book about someone with a superpower

It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.

I wonder how you're supposed to know the exact moment when there's no more hope.

— About losing faith in everything you believed. This was such a good read, and the main character was really relatable. I was just bothered that it kind of turned into a mystery/thriller at one point, but other than that it was really good.

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
35. ‪A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America‬

Totoong mahal pa rin ang galunggong at wala pa ring makain ang mga nagtatanim ng bigas. At iyon mismo ang dahilan kaya patuloy ang pagtatanim ng mga pangarap... patuloy ang pagsulong ng mga adhikain. Pero hindi isang lipunan ng mga desaparesido ang nalikha ng lahat ng pakikipaglaban... kundi isang buong magiting na kasaysayan.

you remind me of my favorite metropolis sparkling, loud yet hauntingly sad when the light goes outyour confidence; a popular skyscraper your sadness; an old orphanage your anger; a call of riotyour tears; an uninvited stormi cannot thank you enoughfor reminding me that cities too breathe and humans too carry a heart of concrete{my favorite metropolis}

I didn't think I would like this because the style isn't my cup of tea, but I found this collection lovely and I liked the illustrations too.

But how do we live with these secrets locked within us? How do we tie our shoes, brush our hair, drink coffee, wash the dishes, and go to sleep, pretending everything is fine? How do we laugh and feel happiness despite the buried things growing inside? How can we do that day after day?

— About the struggles of a poor immigrant family, and the consequences of secrets kept and expectations placed on the children. The main character is very unlikable, but very very relatable.

Today I am in control because I want to be. I have my fingers on the switch, but have lived a lifetime ignoring the control I have over my own world. Today is different.

— Takeaway: Your family background does not dictate your life. Just because they made mistakes doesn't mean you're bound to do the same. You can escape your “preset destiny” if you're willing to.

Guess that's where the tears came from, knowing that there's so much in this great big world that you don't have a single ounce of control over. Guess the sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll have one less heartbreak in your life.

(3.5) Explored themes like class differences, teenage pregnancy, and parenthood. I think it‘s a pretty okay book, I just couldn't really connect with the characters, this being a short book and with multiple POVs at that. The timelines were quite confusing as well.‬

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
32. ‪A book with a question in the title‬

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‬People like her think that they know what it's like to be lonely. They cast their minds back to the time they broke up with a boyfriend in 1975 and endured a whole month before meeting someone new. Or the week they spent in a Bavarian steel town when they were fifteen years old, visiting their greasy-haired German pen pal and discovering that her handwriting was the best thing about her. But about the drip, drip of long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. They don't know what it is to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to sit in a darkened flat on Halloween night, because you can't bear to expose your bleak evening to a crowd of jeering trick-or-treaters. Or to have the librarian smile pityingly and say, “Goodness, you're a quick reader!” when you bring back seven books, read from cover to cover, a week after taking them out. They don't know what it is to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand on your shoulder sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. I have sat on park benches and trains and school room chairs, feeling the great store of unused, objectless love sitting in my belly like a stone until I was sure I would cry out and fall, flailing to the ground.

What are they then, this horde, these women, if they are not the fawning lovers of their god? Who are they, free of the conditions they have accepted like layers of chains?

— A raw and honest examination of womanhood and what it means to be a female in our society: the objectification, expectations, etc.

Somewhere out there, beyond the boat, was more. She couldn't see it yet, but it had to be there. The alternative was too awful to imagine. So she decided she would believe in it. She would believe in it as hard as she could. Her future and her past were waiting. Out there were answers. She hoped she was ready for them.

— About 9 kids residing on an island, where every year a boat arrives carrying a new kid only to take the eldest kid away forever. A metaphor for growing up and facing our fears & worries of the unknown. Great read!

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
28. ‪A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie‬

— loss of innocence + fear of growing up

What they don't understand, they destroy.

— I'm not really into historical fiction, more so if it involves religious elements, but this was a really engrossing, powerful and terrifyingly real book about 13th century inquisition.

reread

2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge
03. A book that makes you nostalgic

My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted. It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I'd ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-la. We were going to the ocean, hundreds of miles away, because I wanted to see the ocean and my father said that it was about time the four of us made that journey. I remember asking, “What's the difference between a trip and a journey?” and my father said, “Narnie, my love, when we get there, you'll understand,” and that was the last thing he ever said.

— I wanted to like this but I just couldn't. I think the book was trying to do too much (dealing with immigration, drug trafficking, violence) and ended up with an undeveloped mishmash. I also didn't like how it normalized abuse. Just no.