BOOK REVIEWS! By Ava V. Aboy
12:01 AM
The past
couple of months have been me thinking about life and planning the future.
Since then, I have formulated a few activities to kill time while also being
productive – since I am very much the epitome of the definition of “Unemployed”
as of the moment (I have only recently finished university in June). So why not
do something useful while I have the free time?
I was
reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends & Influence People” when I had
this idea. Maybe because Carnegie’s book was written over 80 years ago (this
book was written in the 1930s if I remember correctly) and although it had been
revised to fit the current times, it is still hard for me to familiarize to
what he is saying because I don’t exactly relate to the setting.
Among all
the things I’ve ever read, Self-Help books are what interest me the most. I
also love reading novels (I absolutely adore Dan Brown), but as compared to
Self-Help books, I learn a lot about relating with other people, and how to
deal with everyday stuff; like for example, how to handle social encounters that
can usually be mistaken as something that can be solved through common sense,
but actually must be acted upon only by extensive logic, reasoning and above
all, self-control. But self-help books are actually quite long. Although
organized usually in a step by step or numbered sequence, there is still a very
long explanation in each and every chapter. Although I know that every
information is vital in understanding each principle, like in Carnegie’s book,
as a reader living in the Philippines in the 21st century of a text
which was written in New York way back in the 1930s, I have a hard time
understanding it. Let me repeat and emphasize that I love to read; but how
about the others that couldn’t read a long, old text due to whatever reason?
So I came
to a realization; “Hey I like to read books a lot, and I know a lot of people
don’t. Why don’t I write about the book I read?”
From now
on, I will write a book review of some sort on each book I read but with self-help
books, there will be a shortened explanation of each helpful chapter with
examples that are up to date, hopefully mainly on firsthand experiences.
Let me
emphasize that this is just a hobby of mine and I am nowhere near a
professional on this subject. I am not a psychology major but I am genuinely interested
in human relations and the way the human mind works. This is just me, reviewing
and interpreting books I read – although rest assured will always be written in
the most scholarly way I can write it.
I also read
a lot of fiction novels. Among my favorites are Dan Brown (author of Angels and
Demons) and Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club). With fiction novels, I will
write a brief description, rate it, and write whether or not I recommend it.
Sadly,
Romance novels do not interest me at all. I know most people my age love
reading Romance novels. When I see the point of reading it, maybe I will. I
have read quite a few; but I liked “The Best of Me” by Nicholas Sparks and “Everyday”
by David Levithan. The good thing about me writing reviews on Romance novels is
that if I recommend it, you can trust that it’s good. It means it has convinced
a severely unromantic person that it’s worth reading.
Thank you
reader! Hopefully my reviews would be of help to you!
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