Category Archives: Book Recommendations

What Book Should I Give as a Gift this Christmas?

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Haven’t decided yet what book to give this Christmas to your book-loving friend? Or a gift for yourself?

Then you’ve come to the right place. These are my personal favorites and I hope you’ll like them too!

1. My True Love Gave to Me by 12 authors edited by Stephanie Perkins


If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with “My True Love Gave to Me” Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers (Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de La Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins, Laini Tayler and Kiersten White), edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there’s something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.”

2. What Light by Jay Asher

“Sierra’s family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon. It’s a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other. By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. Sierra sees beyond Caleb’s past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. But as disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra can’t help but wonder if love really is enough to overcome every obstacle…”

Book Review here.



3. Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle


Let It Snow is a compilation novel comprising of three separate stories that intertwine with one another. A trio of bestselling authors – John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle – brings all the magic of the holidays to life in three hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and kisses that will steal your breath away. The stories include The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson, A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green, and The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle.

Book review here.



4. Christmas Legends to Remember by Helen Haidle


Three tales of true Christmas spirit come alive in the hands of award-winning children’s author Helen Haidle. Legend of the Candy Cane opens with the lonely candy maker seeking the truth in the Christmas season. As he finds warmth in the laughter and bustle of the village children, a thought occurs: What can he give to show love for those in need? Unexpected inspiration leads to a sweet and meaningful answer.



5. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella


Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true a shopping friend for life! But it s trickier than she thought two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping.

She can create havoc everywhere from Harrods to Harvey Nicks to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favourite word is Mine , and she s even started bidding for designer bags on ebay.

On top of everything else, there s a big financial crisis. People are having to Cut Back including all of Becky s personal shopping clients and she and Luke are still living with Becky s Mum and Dad. To cheer everyone up, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party on a budget but then things become really complicated.

Who will end up on the naughty step, who will get a gold star and will Becky s secret wishes come true?



6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney


Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of.The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

Happy Holidays and cheers to more books! 😄🎄🎁📚❤
Love,

Flexi

Kanji Book Recommendations

What’s up readers? It’s the 24th day of Blogtober! If you don’t know what Blogtober is, it is a series I am conducting that starts from the first of October wherein I post on my blog everyday until Halloween. 🎃📚🍁📖🍂🍃❤

Whether you’re learning Japanese for work or as a hobby, learning Kanji is difficult. Here are Kanji books I recommend that can help you out in your studies.

Basic Kanji Book – Basic Kanji 500 Vol. 1 

Basic Kanji Book Vol. 2

Description

This book focuses on the use of kanji in writing and common Japanese words.

Genki 1: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

Description

Second edition of the most highly regarded teaching text book on the Japanese language, covering speaking, listening, reading, and writing to cultivate overall language ability. Each lesson in the revised edition features a new section dubbed Culture Notes,” and now includes the audio CD companion which is in mp3 format ready to install on any music player. In Japanese/English. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese II

Description

The Genki, Level 2 textbook continues learning for beginning students where Level 1 left off and furthers their education and practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Did you find this post useful? Want more posts like this? If you do, you can click on the follow button to be notified everytime I write a new post. 😄


Also, I’m doing an Instober (Instagram version of Blogtober) so if  you’re interested, you can follow me on Instagram @flexireads. See you there!  
😊

Don’t Miss A Day of Blogtober! 😄

Blogtober Day 1: October Book Releases 

Blogtober Day 2: Ask Me Anything

Blogtober Day 3: Q and A with Flexi Reads

Blogtober Day 4: Book Haul 3

Blogtober Day 5: September 2017 Book Wrap Up

Blogtober Day 6: Books to Read This Fall 2017

Blogtober Day 7: The Billion Dollar Spy by David Hoffman Book Review

Blogtober Day 8: Relatable to Book Lovers 

Blogtober Day 9: Tea Haul

Blogtober Day 10: Favorite Lines from The Billion Dollar Spy

Blogtober Day 11: Stationery Haul 2

Blogtober Day 12: Fall Decorations for Book Lovers

Blogtober Day 13: Favorite Lines From The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Blogtober Day 14: Why L. A. Pourquoi Paris? Book Review

Blogtober Day 15: Blogtober Update and Announcement 

Blogtober Day 16: Google Translates Harry Potter Titles 

Blogtober Day 17: Books to Read When Goong Through A Heartbreak

Blogtober Day 18: Book Haul 4

Blogtober Day 19: Chill Autumn Playlist

Blogtober Day 20: Find Your Aweskme by Judy Clement Wall Book Review 

Blogtober Day 21: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do But You Could Have Done Better Book Review 

Blogtober Day 22: BookTubers to Follow 

Blogtober Day 23: Why LA Pourquoi Paris? Favorite Lines 

Thank you for reading and cheers to more books! 🍷📚💕😄

Love,


Flexi

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do But You Could Have Done Better Book Review 

Find Your Awesome by Judy Clement Wall Book Review

What’s up readers? It’s the 20th day of Blogtober! If you don’t know what Blogtober is, it is a series I am conducting that starts from the first of October wherein I post on my blog everyday until Halloween.🎃📚📖🍁🍃🍂😄

Today’s post is another Book Review from an eARC I received from the author and publisher of Find Your Awesome via NetGalley. I hope you enjoy it and have a nice day! 😄❤

Description


In a perfect world, maybe you wouldn’t need a 30-day challenge to find and fall in love with your most playful, imaginative, and colorful self, but we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a fast-paced, high-octane society where feeling lost in the jostling crowd is the norm and finding our own significance is oftentimes the biggest challenge of all. 

Fearless love champion Judy Clement Wall will guide you through this challenge–to fill your well for 30 days and tap into the miracle that is you! When you learn to love and value yourself, your relationships with everyone else will change, because the person that you bring to the world will be the fullest, truest, best-loved version of yourself.

Using a stimulating mix of coloring, creative prompts, and other daily activities, master writer, artist and doodler Judy Clement Wall will help you uncover the undeniable awesomeness that is you.



My Thoughts on Find Your Awesome:

I like how it’s a challenge but in a fun way. I also like how there are activities where you draw stuff and color them which are so cute!

I like the idea of designing a book cover for my life story because according to the author, my life story is the one I’m writing every single day, from scratch, armed with nothing but my wits and big curious heart. She tells you to “Own it. Love it fiercely. And don’t let anyone else try to write it for you. Oftentimes, we let others dictate our lives without realizing it.” 

Doing this activity made me realize and itconstantly reminds me that I am the boss of my life and the author of my own life. 

It is a 30-day challenge and it won’t take much of your time in a day. All you need to do is carve out a few minutes each day to fully engage with yourself; reflect, and unwind. 


About the Author

Judy Clement Wall is a writer-illustrator who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her words have been published in numerous literary journals and websites such as the Huffington Post, Mind Body Green, and The Rumpus. She is an illustrator for HCI Book’s popular Inkspirations coloring book series, and her doodly art is set to appear in lots of fun places, like lampshades and wine labels. She has a website – judyclementwall.com – where her mission is to make art, do work, and engage in shenanigans that inspire fearless love, soulful evolution, and wild creativity as a way of life. And if, in the process, epic quantities of cheesecake are consumed, all the better. 


Did you enjoy this post? Want more posts like this? If you do, you can click on the follow button to be notified everytime I write a new post. 😄

Also, I’m doing an Instober (Instagram version of Blogtober) so if  you’re interested, you can follow me on Instagram @flexireads. See you there!


Don’t Miss A Day of Blogtober!

😄

Blogtober Day 1: October Book Releases 

Blogtober Day 2: Ask Me Anything

Blogtober Day 3: Q and A with Flexi Reads

Blogtober Day 4: Book Haul 3

Blogtober Day 5: September 2017 Book Wrap Up

Blogtober Day 6: Books to Read This Fall 2017

Blogtober Day 7: The Billion Dollar Spy by David Hoffman Book Review

Blogtober Day 8: Relatable to Book Lovers 

Blogtober Day 9: Tea Haul

Blogtober Day 10: Favorite Lines from The Billion Dollar Spy

Blogtober Day 11: Stationery Haul 2

Blogtober Day 12: Fall Decorations for Book Lovers

Blogtober Day 13: Favorite Lines From The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Blogtober Day 14: Why L. A. Pourquoi Paris? Book Review

Blogtober Day 15: Blogtober Update and Announcement

Blogtober Day 16: Google Translates Harry Potter Titles 

Blogtober Day 17: Books to Read When Goong Through A Heartbreak

Blogtober Day 18: Book Haul 4
Blogtober Day 19: Chill Autumn Playlist

More Book Reviews:

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

What Light by Jay Asher Book Review

Book Review: Counting Wolves by Michael F. Stewart

Book Review: All Things New by Lauren Miller

Book Review: A Short Border Handbook by Gazmend Kapllani

Book Review: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami translated by Philip Gabriel

Book Review: All the Wrong Chords by Christine Hurley Deriso

Book Review: Beginning French by les Américains

The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman Book Review


Thank you for reading and cheers to more books! 🍷📚💕😄

Love,

Flexi

Books to Read When Going Through a Heartbreak 💔

What’s up readers? It’s the 17th day of Blogtober! If you don’t know what Blogtober is, it is a series I am conducting that starts from the first of October wherein I post on my blog everyday until Halloween. 🎃📚🍁📖🍃🍂❤


We’ve all been through some heartbreaking encounters in our lives, especially in the love department. If you haven’t then that’s great! Lucky you. But if your heart has been played, broken, or shattered, then you are not alone.

Sometimes when we get our hearts broken, we only focus on how we are feeling and tend to ignore the people around us and we end up feeling so alone. We forget that there are other people out there who are experiencing the same heartbreak. We torture ourselves with endless whys and could have beens instead of accepting and letting go. 

Moving on is hard, it’s never easy so I’ve compiled a list of books to read while going through a heartbreak to remind you that you are not alone in this endeavor. That the end of your relationship is not the end of you, it is just the beginning of something new. 



1. Breaking Up Is Hard to Do But You Could Have Done Better by Hilary Campbell

Anonymous break up stories from men and women, old and young, serious and silly and the cartoons that inspired them. Author and artist Hilary Campbell turns the painful into the hilarious, validating emotions from forgotten middle school tragedies to relationships that ended only hours ago.


2.  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

A celebrated writer’s irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.


Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want—a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.


To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world—all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way—unexpectedly. 


3. Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds

In this wise and intimate new book, Sharon Olds tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom.


As she carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending, Olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love’s sight; the surprising physical bond that still exists between a couple during parting; the loss of everything from her husband’s smile to the set of his hip; the radical change in her sense of place in the world. Olds is naked before us, curious and brave and even generous toward the man who was her mate for thirty years and who now loves another woman. As she writes in the remarkable “Stag’s Leap,” “When anyone escapes, my heart / leaps up.  Even when it’s I who am escaped from, / I am half on the side of the leaver.” Olds’s propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever, and there is a new range to the music—sometimes headlong, sometimes contemplative and deep. 


4. He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt


Everyone can use a daily wake-up call.

Now in bite-size mantras, the abridged empathetic wit and wisdom of the number one New York Timesbestseller He’s Just Not That Into You will recharge and inspire your dating outlook one wake-up call at a time.

For ages women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men. Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo are here to say that —despite good intentions— you’re wasting your time. Men are not complicated, although they’d like you to think they are. And there are no mixed messages.

He’s Just Not That Into You —based on a popular episode of Sex and the City— educates otherwise smart women on how to tell when a guy just doesn’t like them enough, so they can stop wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationship. This book knows you’re a beautiful, smart, funny woman who deserves better.

5. Move On. Walang Forever! by Marcelo Santos III

Move On Walang Forever!

Nag-I love you siya sa’yo tapos friends lang.

Kayo na raw forever pero hanggang three months lang ang tinagal.

Hindi ka raw niya kayang saktan pero ito ka ngayon,walang humpay sa kakaiyak.

Ikaw lang daw ang mamahalin niya pero nabigla ka sa katotohanang mayroon pa pala siyang iba.

Magbabago na raw siya para sa’yo, pero pauli-ulit ka pa rin niyang sinasaktan at ikaw naman itong si Tanga, paulit-ulit na naniniwala sa mga sinasabi niya.

Payo ko sa’yo: Mag-MOVE ON ka na!

May forever pa bang naghihintay sa’yo o habang buhay ka nang bitter sa naging love life mo?

Did you enjoy this post? Want more posts like this? If you do, you can click on the follow button to be notified everytime I write a new post. 😄


Also, I’m doing an Instober (Instagram version of Blogtober) so if  you’re interested, you can follow me on Instagram @flexireads. See you there!

Don’t Miss A Day of Blogtober! 😄

Blogtober Day 1: October Book Releases 

Blogtober Day 2: Ask Me Anything

Blogtober Day 3: Q and A with Flexi Reads

Blogtober Day 4: Book Haul 3

Blogtober Day 5: September 2017 Book Wrap Up

Blogtober Day 6: Books to Read This Fall 2017

Blogtober Day 7: The Billion Dollar Spy by David Hoffman Book Review

Blogtober Day 8: Relatable to Book Lovers

Blogtober Day 9: Tea Haul

Blogtober Day 10: Favorite Lines from The Billion Dollar Spy

Blogtober Day 11: Stationery Haul 2

Blogtober Day 12: Fall Decorations for Book Lovers

Blogtober Day 13: Favorite Lines From The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Blogtober Day 14: Why L. A. Pourquoi Paris? Book Review

Blogtober Day 15: Blogtober Update and Announcement

Blogtober Day 16: Google Translates Harry Potter Titles 

Thank you for reading and cheers to more books! 🍷📚💕😄

Love,


Flexi