Patriot Number One: American Dreams in Chinatown / The End of Blogging for Books

It is an end of a era for book bloggers such as myself.

     Though I am merely a hobbyist, a chance to receive a book for review is a great luxury that I will never forget. The website Blogging for Books shut down its doors today, April 16, 2018.

Goodbye, old friend!

      Though I prolonged the last review for a while more than necessary, on a more consistent time I reviewed a variety of books from fiction to art books from this website. With regards, I would like to thank Blogging for Books for their years of service and letting book bloggers--big and small--to review their books.

Now on with the review!

     Today's review is a different selection from my usual Young Adult/Middle Grade choices. I will be tackling the nonfiction novel Patriot Number One: American Dreams in Chinatown by Lauren Hilgers.

An intriguing read for today.

     The novel itself plays out like a well-written fictional story despite being a true story. Starting out with the novel, we encounter our subject Zhuang Liehong and the story of his journey from a young activist in China to the United States as an immigrant with hopes and dreams. Though her writing, Hilger gives history lessons from immigrants past of the early days of Chinese immigration. The relations of the struggles of the Chinese of yesteryear and the citizens of Zhuang's home village of Wukan both deal with oppressing governments and mistreatment of citizens albeit in different circumstances.

     Described in the story as Patriot Number One, Zhuang never stopped his fight for Wukan once hitting American soil. The novel's depiction of a working class couple finding their version of the American dream was enjoyable and thrilling to journey. The sacrifices that they made along with their hard work, makes for an inspiring tale for one to read.

I hope you enjoyed this review.

Thanks,

Dee

Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity

Today's post has been two years in the making from the time I received it in 2015.  

In today's post, I will share my thoughts and processes on Edward Slingerland's novel, 

Trying to Not Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity. 

In the summer of 2015, I ordered this book from Blogging for Books assuming its presence was a self-help book/advice book using ancient Chinese wisdom as a backing. After many attempts of glancing and skimming through the book, I was completely wrong. In Trying to Not Try, Slingerland explains that the concept of spontaneity is based on the concept of wu-wei . Wu Wei is defined as "non-doing". A main concept of Taoism, the notion of acting upon wu-wei is somewhat close to the phrase, "go with the flow".

My relationship with reading this novel was far from perfect. Though Slingerland uses many tales and Ancient Chinese texts to relate to how one can connect with wu-wei, I felt lost and confused reading this book. I would have personally wanted to see more on how to grasp wu-wei into daily use instead of how the Ancient Chinese obtained it. (No offense to the Ancient Chinese). Slingerland also had a heavy focus more on Confucius' teachings and concepts rather than Taoist philosophies. Prose wise, Slingerland's writing focused more on the academic explanations of wu-wei as a paradox instead of a method likewise.

While the concepts of learning Ancient Chinese philosophy can be intriguing for history buffs, the idea of reading it for the uncanny reader can be daunting. For myself, I felt very overwhelmed in retaining Slingerland's concepts of the book that during this read, I had to take notes in order to grasp his concepts. In coherence while doing some research about wu-wei, I found a link to a website that explains simply wu-wei and concepts of how to encounter or gain it in life.
http://www.myrkothum.com/wu-wei/

In turn, I end this review short and simple. Do I recommend this? Yes and no.

Yes, is best for readers who do not mind taking a contextual approach to the journey for the relationship and complexities of wu-wei.

No, for those who want  to achieve and incorporate the process of wu-wei in daily life since this is not a self-help book.

I hope you understand my opinions of this review.

Thanks,
Neko

Welcome Back...Me..?

Hi Everyone,

It's been so long since I have posted in this blog. After barely touching this blog for over a year sporadically, I can blame many excuses and reasons for myself not being able to post. With schoolwork, finding an internship and keeping my grades up, the art of posting was an impossible task for me to accomplish. As of now, I have graduated college and I am ready to take the plunge and start again.

Woohoo! Time to celebrate!

As we can know since the last time I have posted, things have changed in regards to me acquiring books. Since books are a somewhat expensive hobby, I have stopped buying books new unless it is a really heavy desire. Plus after stopping my buying of books at Barnes and Noble and Target, I started rediscovering the public library and continued to buy books new in Dollar Tree or a used bookstore.

Too Broke for the Good Stuff

In my opinion, many new books I have encountered while buying regular or somewhat discounted have disappointed me and were worthy of a mediocre score between 3-3.5 stars. 

Since the blog is now back around, I will try to conquer my love for books by borrowing from the library, reading my unread books in my house or purchasing a used book. I will also review free books of the week from Riveted Lit. 

I hope to see you all around with my new book journey!

Thanks,

Dennise

Between the Sea and Sky

     Hi guise, this is a review of a book I bought in Dollar Tree two months ago. Astonishingly, I bought 10+ books costing $1 a piece.

So amazing. Ten books for the price of one!

     This post's book is a YA book as per usual. Honestly, it has a similar premise to a story I wanted to conceive, but it did it's job anyways. Beyond the Sea and Sky is a fantasy-romance young adult novel. It takes place in a somewhat fairytale world in the past where mermaids and flying people exist.

Yes, FLYING PEOPLE!!!!

Yeah, for real.

     The main character Esmerine is a young mermaid who becomes a siren.  While she is young, she is far from naive. She seems somewhat educated after a childhood friend, Alander teaches her to read. She makes her way to the human world after her sister Dosia, also a siren, has been missing for awhile. When she enters land, she encounters Alander, or Alan Dale currently. As she meets her friend again, she realizes that he is not the same boy she befriended during childhood. While they have their differences,  Alan strives to help his old friend find her sister. Can both find Esmerine's sister within the week she stays on land or will she never find the answer she look's for?

      Okay, I have a few things to say about this book. I honestly loved and enjoyed it, but it was very incomplete and somewhat rushed on the vital areas of the book. First of all, the book spent more time on Esmerine trying to be human and working and less time on her finding her sister. Second, the development seems to push every angsty person into a nicer personality all of the sudden. Third, Alan is a human who could fly was not well detailed. Maybe I read too fast or did it speed rapidly? I don't know! Fourth, Dosia just quickly adjusted to get married quickly. Honestly, Dosia does not really seem like she had a personality of a mermaid and was perhaps human in her whole life. Fifth, how Esmerine was rarely close to water on the human world. This is actually ridiculous due to the fact that she should have been aloud to bathe or at least soak in a tub to survive rather than just giving it all up.
     As much as I like this book, it was not the best written. Though it's a personal four stars for enjoyment, it's a three for actual plot and development. I hope you guys enjoyed this review.
XOXO,
Dennise

Royally Lost Review

Ok guise, it's time for me to review another book. It's been a while due to personal stuff, but I'll try to make up this month. I recently borrowed this book in my local library. It was on my to read list for a while but I decided to give it a go since it was practically in front of me.

Yay! I'm so excited to read this!

                                    The book I borrowed is Royally Lost by Angie Stanton.

Behold the cover!

     The book is about an American girl named Becca who is dragged on a family trip to Europe. Becca would rather spend her college-bound summer at home than at boring tours of European structures. Her father is emotionally distant, her stepmother is overeager and all her brother cares about is hooking up with European hotties. Becca is miserable until she meets Nikolai, a mysterious but caring guy. Enter Nikolai, heir to the throne and crown prince of a country. He is everything a girl wants but does not have freedom to be himself. When Becca and Nikolai meet, it's love at first sight.Unfortunately for both of them, the adventure ends as Becca's vacation ends soon. Will Becca and Nikolai say goodbye as his destiny catches up to him or will they change history together?

     I'm a complete sucker for any books about an average girl falling in love with a prince-like figure. Also, since it was short, I knew that this would be an easy read. I thought this would be a cute easy read in regards to the situations regarding the plot. But boy was I wrong.

Such a bitter disappointment.

    Okay.... this book is utter rubbish. Like seriously. Becca cannot do anything but whine and complain about how boring Europe is. She could not find at least one ounce of Europe to like but instead misses McDonalds and American food. She literally cannot stop whining about that instead of sucking it up. She literally whines about how her life sucks constantly and seems very uncultured for a typical American. I question how smart she is because she ends up in Northwestern University. Then suddenly at the end, she ends up being cultured by being in Costa Rica.

    Enter Nikolai. The crown prince of Mondovia. After his parents decision  to send him to military school, he decides to run away from responsibility. (Actually, I would honestly run away this instead of staying.) It seem like his parents seem like to only care about their country by holding lavish state dinners instead of caring about the welfare of the country. (Though in reality, most countries think of abolishing monarchies due to them being symbolic leaders.)

    Regarding Nikolai himself, his relationship with Becca is unrealistic. Literally, he crushes on her at first sight and somehow follows her to every city she passes in Europe. How about creepy stalker alert! It's really creepy! In reality if this ever happened, local authorities or Interpol should have been called.

Creepy much? Nah, it's love at first sight.

      Overall, the book was all cliche and lacked in character development. Let's see, we have a stepmother/mother like figure who wants to keep everything. The father who seems cold and only having an extremely perfect life, a girl with the typical perfect personality and a brother who is a play boy. Also, a prince who wants to get out of his life and a sister who wants to rebel like her brother. I love that this book is very original. Not. I've watched better films that portray this situation a lot better than what this book did. That is why I rated this book two stars on Goodreads. I had difficulty keeping up with the book due to character development but also the situations that happened in the book were completely generic based on previous forms of media I've seen.

     I hope you guise enjoyed the review. Ttfn,

Dee

How to Get Dressed - Review

     Hi guise, this is really late. I should have posted this review weeks ago, but I kinda became neglectful of this blog as usual. 

Yeah, lack of inspiration.

     Due to finals and overload of work, my current content is reviewing how-to books due to the ease of their content. I hope by soon that I can get back to reading normal fiction. But I won't be posting anything in July due to school. 

      On wards to today's review.  Today's book is How To Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing by Alison Freer. This book was sent to me by Blogging for Books.

Really nice display.

     I chose this book because I am an avid shopper trying to improve the way I dress. So, I decided to give this book a go. The book follows sections of advice from Freer's experiences as a costume designer. The book provides advice on how to wear something according to your body type or how to wear something properly. Though most of the content of this book is quite helpful, it can often be redundant at times. The book emphasizes the importance of tailoring a lot. Despite this, I think it is a good read for those who want some advice from time to time for how to get clothes properly fitted rather than personal style.

Just Add Watercolor Review

Hi guise,
Today's review is a book I received from Blogging for Books. I will be reviewing Just Add Watercolor by Helen Peck. In light of my previous review of Daily Painting, this is also a painting book. Unlike Daily Painting, this book focuses on painting with watercolors.

Such a pretty cover!

     Just like the previous book, I ordered this in hopes of possibly having inspiration and perhaps learning some techniques with watercolor painting. The cover itself makes a pretty first impression of what to expect with the book. But I was a little surprised with the book.

Really surprised with the content

    Okay, I honestly cannot say bad things about this book but I have to give some criticisms. First of all, the book is tinier than what I thought it was. Not that there is a problem with tiny books. It was a little unsettling for a how to book teach some watercolor techniques. But it's quite convenient with this size when you are on the go. But overall, the size of the novel does not bother me. I'm just pointing out that it's somewhat surprising compared to other painting how-to books.

   Secondly, are the main points. While the book shows different styles of techniques and paintings, I feel that the book fails to truly draw in a person with instructions on how to paint. When opening the pages of Just Add Watercolor, you notice the pages are filled of stunningly beautiful paintings on the right pages with a brief paragraph on the left side of the pages. Though there are little hints and explanations on how to paint these paintings, I feel that this book is more of a book to provide an inspiration rather than to instruct someone on how to paint. (Additionally in the back of the book, there's a materials list.)

    Though the book's purpose is to inspire, Just Add Watercolor is not an instructional how-to book. I initially expected to learn techniques, but you would have to look deep within the surface to find instruction. Personally, I would not recommend this for beginning painters or those wishing to learn how to paint.This book would be suited for artists who are more familiar with painting with watercolors to find a style or for non-painters to have a stunning art-style coffee table book. But this book is not a blunder as it showcases 50-ish stunning works of painters of different calibers and styles. Still, despite the blunder, I still will take a look at it for inspiration.

Thanks for reading,

Neko