I have a new son, and his name is Prosper Redding.

"Being different was its own kind of bravery.”

If you know me enough online, you’ll know that I have a lot of fictional characters that I claim as my children. Prosper Redding is now one of them.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding follows 12-year-old Prosper who has to deal with a demon living inside of him. Said demon - who goes by the name Alastor - holds a grudge against the Redding family because he was betrayed by Prosper’s ancestor over a contract that was not followed through. I make it sound like it was No Big Deal but the betrayal pretty much caused Alastor to lose all his magic and powers, so basically he went from this big bad wolf to some nobody who had to go in hiding.

So, okay, I get it. I mean I’ve never had supernatural powers or anything, but I can imagine how demeaning that must have been for Alastor and his superiority complex. Let’s just agree that a betrayal is a betrayal whether you’re a sly demon from another realm or otherwise.

Back to Prosper. He’s a precious bean who loves his parents and his twin sister Prue, no matter how much he is overshadowed by the latter’s achievements and popularity. What I gathered early on was that Prosper doesn’t think much of himself, and this mindset is further perpetuated by the bullying he has to deal with at school. This experience makes Prosper very empathetic towards others who are made fun of, and while he struggles to stand up for himself, he definitely doesn’t back down from defending others, especially when they’re family.

Not only does this book delve into bullying and how important it is to stand up for both yourself and the people you care for, it also explores themes of self-acceptance (it’s really, really okay to be different, kids), challenging gender stereotypes, and simply celebrating who you are, no matter how much other people might try and bring you down. These are such important lessons anyone of any age can benefit from, but I think it’s especially crucial to the book’s middle grade target audience.

A big highlight of Prosper Redding is for sure the dynamic between Prosper and Alastor. The relationship these two share is essentially parasitic in nature, but their banter is very much entertaining and it somehow gives Alastor more depth. It definitely reminded me a lot of the dynamic between Naruto Uzumaki and the Kyuubi, or perhaps the one between Eddie Brock and Venom. I loved all the quips these two threw at one another; they added a touches of humor throughout the story.

Another strength of this book is how atmospheric it felt. I don’t live in a place that has an autumn season, but reading Prosper Redding made me feel like I was surrounded by fall leaves and pumpkins - just in time for Halloween! That said, given the premise of this book, the story does feel a little creepy at times, but it’s mostly in its ambience if anything. (The grandmother at the beginning definitely freaked me out a bit, though.)

I felt like the bits set in school took me away a bit from the story, but on the other hand, I feel like it was also there to show another side to Prosper: the side that shows what he’s like around other people his age and generally what he’s like as a regular boy, regardless of the fact that there’s a demon inhibiting his body and mind. It was also during these sections do we get to see Alastor’s perspective on other facets of everyday humanity and how his more aggressive, get-what-I-want personality pushes Prosper to break out of his shell.

Prosper Redding doesn’t dilly-dally and gets the ball rolling right off the bat. As this book is a bit of an urban fantasy, it benefitted from not having much world-building, which in turn allowed it to dive straight into the plot after some minor introductions to Prosper and his life. I do think the plot could have been stronger with just a liiiittle more meat in its backstory, but as this is a duology, I’m assuming more details are provided in the second book (which I’m currently in the middle of as of writing this).

I’ve heard a lot of people recommend Prosper Redding as a ~*~fall~*~ and/or ~*~Halloweentime~*~ read, and honestly, I have to agree. As I mentioned, the book is very atmospheric, so I can imagine how the season/time of the year could totally add to someone’s reading experience and overall enjoyment of the story.

This is my first Alexandra Bracken book, and though I’m pretty much indifferent towards her writing style, I absolutely love how she develops the friendships between her characters. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of middle grade books that have a bit of darkness to them but aren’t too heavy on the fantasy aspect.

Also, just read it for our boy Prosper.

#TheReadingQuest (or: Ina Tries to Read More Books)

What's this? Ina's making a blog post? About books, no less? TRULY IT IS THE YEAR OF OUR LORD

In any case, I found out about this reading challenge called The Reading Quest via my incessant Booktube-lurking. To be honest, I was never one for TBRs -- and readathons/reading challenges, no less -- but I was sold on this one in particular for its RPG elements. That alone pretty much got my stamp of approval.

It's interesting because it works like a sort of board game where players can move forward after every book read. In classic RPG fashion, it even has a set of character classes to choose from.

Character designs by CW of Read, Think, Ponder

There's a bunch of rules that explain more on the mechanics and points system here. Participants who reach the highest EXP and HP at the end of the quest (it runs from August 13 to September 10) actually win a prize, which is cool.

Honestly though, I'm participating mostly to get through so many of my unread books than anything. I have an embarrassing amount of them, and yet, I continue to buy books anyway. Seriously, it needs to stop. (Knowing me though, will it really?)

I've pretty much penciled in the titles I'll be reading for each character class, and a lot of them are old books bought some years ago that I've left unread up to this day. I've been pretty horrible with my book buying lately (then again, when am I not?), so I'm hoping that this reading challenge will really help me read more of my books.

The class I've chosen to start with is the Knight role:

• The first book of a series: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
• A book with a verb in its title: The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
• A book with a weapon on its cover: Heartless by Marissa Meyer
• A book with a red cover: As Old as Time by Liz Braswell
• A book that has a tv/movie adaptation: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

(Post to be updated as quest progresses.)

I AM EXCITED AND TERRIFIED. My TBR for the whole challenge is fairly ambitious -- at least for me -- so it's just a taaad risky, but hey, WHAT'S LIFE WITHOUT LIVING ON THE EDGE AMIRITE???

I highly doubt that I'll be able to complete the entire quest, but I really do hope that I don't just give up halfway like I do with the rest of my life whoops. Ultimately, my goal is just to read more of my unread books. And maybe accomplish my 2017 reading goal of 50 books...

Thanks again to Read at Midnight for hosting this challenge! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE PARTICIPATING WOOHOO

EDIT 100217: I FAILED MISERABLY HAHAHA THE END

24: The World Is Quiet Here

I turned 24 years old yesterday, and it felt like any other day of the week. (It didn't help that my birthday fell on a Monday.) Maybe because I had already celebrated my birthday in advance, so when the actual day came, it felt like just another ordinary day. I spent my last few hours of being a 23-year-old by reading Solanin by Inio Asano -- something I've been meaning to do ever since I went to the Manga Realities exhibit at Ayala Museum several years ago.

I even had a drink to further spur on my feelings (spoiler alert: Tanduay Rum Cola tastes like soy sauce), but more than that, I made it a point to read Solanin before I turned another year older because I knew it would resonate with me -- much more now, at this point in my life, than when I first encountered it as a college student who still had some light in her eyes.

I feel like most of that light has died out by now.

It was inevitable that my reading session would end in tears, though I was taken off guard by how I was destroyed by a particular event in the story. I thought I would be ultimately be taken apart by how relatable Solanin was, and while it spoke to me with how much I saw myself in its pages, the turning point in the story -- brought on by a certain character -- was what left me sobbing in my room whilst the clock slowly neared midnight.

This was the last picture I took of myself before I turned 24. I wanted to remember that moment in time; swollen eyes brought on by crying and staying up late that night, my hair being all over the place, that random water pitcher just waiting for me on my desk.

The next day -- my actual birthday -- I spent some of my afternoon in solitude, basking in the anonymity of being just another regular citizen of the world. There's a curious sense of silence that can be found in solitude; sure, it can get lonely at times, but the past few years made me realize how much I enjoy that little nugget of quiet peace that comes from being by yourself.

My birthdays have always been something I look forward to, and that hasn't changed until now. It might not have felt like anything special, but I'd like to think it was substantially better this time around, especially since I did so much crying around my birthday last year. I had considered it to be my worst birthday thus far -- and I still do -- so it was a relief to find myself in a better place as compared to last year. Though, in the broad spectrum of things, I'm nowhere near where I want to be at this point in my life.

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday with my parents. We had a quaint little dinner (Japanese, noms), before retiring for the night. It was a normal day; nothing extraordinary, nothing considerably noteworthy, but it was -- for the most part -- pleasant.

I'm only disappointed that I didn't get to watch Captain America: Civil War for the third time because the cinemas were no longer showing it.

23

Hello. I turned 23 nearly a month ago. For my birthday, some friends got me books and makeup. Mostly makeup. I also got other things (Thanks, friends!), but I'll only be sharing the books and makeup part, since I usually only talk about those two things whenever I make 'haul' posts.

Every Day by David Levithan and Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, both from Jam. Magonia doesn't have its dust jacket in the picture because I was still reading it when this was taken. Every Day is special because it's Jam's own copy, and I've always associated Levithan with her, probably because the first ever Levithan book I read was How They Met and Other Stories, which Jam had lent me some years ago.

Inglot pigment from Alex! It matches with the liquid eyeliner my grandma coincidentally got me as well.

Said grandma also gave me a couple of her Revlon lippies. She's been an advocate of Revlon for 48965734896 years.

Eyeshadows from Camille! Who finally came to my house last month as well! Miracles do exist!!!!!

Sephora palette from my aunt and her family. Didn't bother swatching because I never really swatch palettes I guess...?

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!

---

In other news, I went back to grandma hair again.

~*~spastic gif time~*~

It's a subtle duo-tone, where one side is grayer than the other. As of this post, my hair color has faded and is less gray now and more ash blonde, I think.

---

I have been unwell. I thought I was okay in April, but by the beginning of May I had a complete relapse. I haven't been able to recover since then, and I feel myself continuously falling backwards in a downward spiral. I thought turning 23 would be great, considering how that's also my favorite number (how naive), but so far my days have been obscured by a dark filter that I can't seem to look past.

I don't know what happened to me.

I don't know what to do.

toilettereads: February 2015

I may have gotten into a bit of a reading slump.

I have a sinking suspicion as to what has caused this, but said cause has not only affected my reading, but a lot of other aspects of my life. The problem has calmed down a bit, but I'm still having a hard time plowing through this struggle. These days, it takes me f o r e v e r to finish just one book, to the point of utter frustration. But I digress.

Uzumaki was my first Junji Ito read, though I have heard of him (and his infamous Tomie) and how great he is. The hype is well-deserved because Uzumaki was amazing. As I mentioned in the video, I am a big scaredy cat; manga, books, and video games are the only mediums I'm capable of ingesting when it comes to the horror genre. However, I've only come across a handful of entries in the print format that have given me the spooks. (Then again, I prolly haven't read enough.) Uzumaki was definitely something that went beyond gruesome and creepy. It made me shudder at times, both because I was getting grossed and creeped out. So, so good. I bow down to Junji Ito.

Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley was something I picked up from Booktube. I've never read the Scott Pilgrim series (though I want to -- I'm just stingy) nor have I seen the film, but I know everybody loves it so I figured something from the same creator would be good. I saw an open copy of Seconds at the bookstore, skimmed through it, felt a tug on my heartstrings, and it was then did I decide I was finally going to get it. The whole second chances theme and wanting do-overs really struck me, and it really made me thinking about a lot of things and the mysteries of the universe, especially at the point I am in my life right now, so I ended up enjoying Seconds much more than I had anticipated.

Plus, it has a pretty sweet cover and dust jacket, so you can't go wrong with that.

Also mentioned in the video was the fact that I got myself an e-reader! One of the books I read with it was I'll Tell You a Secret, Jackalope by Matthew Vandrew. It was more of a short story than anything, and only took me a few minutes to read, but it was definitely something different. It was so... weird and loopy, with slightly similar vibes to Alice in Wonderland, except with werewolf-esque scenarios and a gay couple at a museum.

One of the books I was really looking forward to reading on my e-reader was Valentine's Day of the Undead by Stacey Jay. This is a novella to the Megan Berry series, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I had a lot of fun delving back into that universe. While it was great getting to meet up with Megan and co., it still wasn't enough to sate my desire for a true conclusion to the saga, especially since this was only a novella. I still want more, but ah well, what can I do...

The Labyrinth was something I acquired from the author himself. I was really drawn to the premise of four, dysfunctional main characters, and how each of them have their own special quirk that involves one of the five senses. My favorite character was definitely Zack, because he's such a cocky piece of wit with the best comebacks. These four main characters eventually find out that they all had a history with one another, having been reincarnated over the years (this isn't a spoiler -- it's totally in the book summary), all while continuously trying to escape their impending doom by the hands of the Guardian (a.k.a. the main antagonist).

Some parts of the book felt a little rushed, especially when the characters find each other, though I do understand it was all part of the 'omg-we-shared-a-past-life-once-upon-a-time' thing. The Guardian's characterization felt a little shaky; he didn't seem very consistent, though I'm not sure if this was intentional in order to show how messed up he is. I felt like the plot could've been just a little bit more developed, but overall it was a pretty interesting read. Thanks again to Dorian Zari for providing me with a digital copy of this!

---

In other news, I have several Peter Pan books and I haven't touched any of them. Way to go, Ina.

toilettereads: January 2015

Look! A totally late upload! What else is new?

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk was the very first Palahniuk book I ever saw/took notice of at bookstores way back when. This was sometime in my high school life, and one of the things that really drew me towards it even all those years ago was the very mention of a porn star. (I've probably always been a secret pervy sage.) I finally got around to it, and as I mentioned in my video, it really made me wonder if anyone managed to contract an STD while on set. I mean, this was one woman's goal of having 600 sexual acts caught on film. Surely having that many sexual relations in such a short period of time (the entirety of the whole filming process that takes place in the book is just the span of a day) could lead to something, right? (Spoiler alert: DEATH.)

I liked how this was told in different perspectives -- about three of four, three of which were the perspectives of men who were participating in the whole 600 project. What really blew me away was the plot twist at the end; you think the first plot twist was the climax of the story and the rest of the book was just a matter of tying some loose ends here and there, but lo and behold, there's even a bigger plot twist that totally debunks the former changes everything altogether. I totally didn't see it coming.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Other Stories by Karen Russell was something I brought with me on an out of town trip because I wanted a light read on the beach. Thing is, a lot of the short stories in this book were a little twisted -- sometimes kooky -- where the very last story got totally dark and somewhat eerie. That last story used bullying as a central element, and that kind of got me in the gut. There was a sense of cruelty that seemed so unfair yet so real, and anybody who ever got bullied in their lives could probably relate.

Besides the books photographed above, I also wrapped up The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch as part of my reads for January. Between Snuff and Vampires, I began reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (hence my wanting to read something 'light' for the aforementioned beach trip), but as of this post, I have yet to even get halfway into the book. I keep on putting it down and never reading it continuously for some reason. I really hope to finish it before my birthday, at least.

toilettereads: December 2014

ALWAYS LATE 2 DA PARTAY!!!!

More under the cut (spoiler-free, hurray!) for the actual reads of last month.

toilettereads: November 2014

Also, a video showing other books I got in November:

Not that I read a whole lot or anything. I fell sick for the first week of November, and while you might think that such a situation would've been a perfect opportunity to catch up on my reading, whooo boy, lemme tell you, it totally wasn't. This was the kind of sick with a high fever that induced a migraine for two days. It was not cool at all. Nevertheless, I at least still managed to get some reading done.

Deets under the cut, and no spoilers, so it's all safe.

In which there is a video of me showing some recent book acquisitions.

I've never filmed a book haul before -- or any haul, for that matter. The extent of my ~*~hauling~*~ has always just been on this blog, and it typically involved makeup. Somehow I feel just a little more comfortable talking about books than makeup, at least verbally.

Editing this was such a nightmare though. There was just... so much... of my face... I wanted to puke. Seriously, and I think this needs to be said, but YouTubers who make videos of themselves talking or whatever for a living have got some serious self-confidence. Maybe they're just used to it, but I do believe you've got to have at least some degree of self-love to edit videos of yourself without it being extremely uncomfortable. I hardly have any love for myself, but the fact that I managed to put this up in one piece should at least be saying something, right?

I'd also like to reiterate that most of these books were not bought at full price nor were most of them brand new. Out of the pile, about 6 were brand new, one of which still had a small discount. So I think that explains the excessive number of books (and I need not repeat my Battle Royale story, though mentioning it is enough of a perpetuation). Compared to a lot of other booktubers though, this number of books in three months is nothing. I've seen several others who have amassed so much more than this in just ONE MONTH. (In one other person's case, just THREE DAYS. Let that sink in for a moment.)

I dunno about you, but talking about books is really enjoyable. I also feel like book hoarding is a lot more justifiable/a lot less susceptible to judgement than makeup hoarding, because at least books are more... brain-stimulating, so to say. And books have a much longer shelf life, too. Literally, because unlike makeup, books have no expiration date.

toilettereads: Heartbeat, Heartbreak

I read a lot in February. Or maybe just more than usual, and I have a lot to say about it. More under the cut, which is mostly spoiler-free as I tried to keep deets as vague as possibru.

toilettereads: The comfort of kitchens and cats and other stories

There's something about me that you need to know, and that's the fact that I have hoarding tendencies. PFFT betcha you already knew that, so this is totes old news.

But anyway. Usually, towards the end of the year, I end up hoarding a lot of books, mostly thanks to Christmas money. Except this time, for some ungodly reason, the hoarding has not stopped. It's already February, and my pile of unread books has just grown. I won't disclose just how many, but it's probably enough to last me the year (or over.)

I'm pretty sure I've been hoarding books a lot now because of my long struggle in finding a copy of Battle Royale some time ago. (Long story short: I found a copy of the book, didn't get it because it was damaged, struggled to find another copy for the next 9 months. THEN SUDDENLY THERE'S BEEN AN ABUNDANCE EVER SINCE HUNGER GAMES WEEP.) Something similar happened a while later with Parasite Eve, and while it wasn't as severe, both instances have probably already left me scarred. Ever since then, I always think I might regret not buying a book once it has caught my interest because I may never see it again. So sums up my book hoarding.

That, and there's just something so comforting about being surrounded by books. I've had to make a conscious effort to stop myself from entering book stores now because I am SO BROKE AND I BECOME EVEN BROKER AFTER STEPPING INSIDE A BOOKSTORE. It is horribru.

One of my resolutions is to finish at least two books a month. That number may or may not be pushing it, depending on my own availability (because, for all I know, I may not have as much time for recreational reading as I think I do), but it's a start. Once upon a time I read with so much fervor, but somewhere down the road of high school, that flame flickered and I became lazy for some reason. As much as I want to get back into the groove of reading without any hiccups, I've just become much more distracted over the years, so this resolution is my attempt at focusing more on my stack of books than, say, the internet. (As of this post, I haven't been doing a very good job.)

Honeymoon and Other Stories was a fast read. I don't hold any special feelings for it, but I guess it's a good companion for killing time, like most short story collections. I think I just have a natural inclination towards short stories, as they're an easy read. There wasn't anything special about this book though; I mean, none of the stories particularly struck me with EUREKA or anything I could emotionally invest myself to.

I've always heard of Banana Yoshimoto, and I think I saw a copy of one of her books here once, but I never really tried her out until I found this in Hong Kong from my last trip. Now that I think about it, I hardly ever see any Banana Yoshimoto books here anymore. Kitchen is her first book, and it has a lot of themes of coping with the death of a loved one and seeking comfort in those who share your pain. I wanna try out more Banana Yoshimoto, but the thing is finding another book of hers here is pretty rare.

Is my cat lady showing yet? The Cats of Moon Cottage is about a feline-loving couple and how their older cat adapts to their latest kitten. I was practically crying towards the end of the book because of what happened, and it made me want to give Tofu a really big hug, except he was hiding elsewhere in the house. I sort of cheated with counting this one in the January pile because I started reading it last November, but I didn't take it with me when I went traveling so I only got to finish it last month.

I think sharing what you read to the world is similar to having your iTunes library out in the open: both collections say a lot about you, I guess. I dunno what kind of person my iTunes makes me though as it's mostly Japanese with a side of Korean and just a cup full of English.

Anyway, I dunno, letting people in on what you read feels like you're opening up yourself to a lot of scrutiny. I mean, like music elitists who take a glimpse at your iTunes and sneer at your taste (or in my case, lack thereof) in music, letting people know what you read almost feels like informing them of your intelligence level and reading capabilities. I dunno. I used to read a LOT of chicklit when I was younger, so does that say something about myself? I like children's books; does that make me immature? I have this unhealthy obsession with reading books by Japanese authors/books set in Japan; does that make me a... wait what does that even make me?

Actually, I really don't know where I'm getting at here HAHAHA. I'm taking steps towards trying to make myself more literate (I promise I'm a lot smarter than what my Twitter sounds like); my vocabulary is hardly what one would consider broad, and that makes me disappointed in myself sometimes. Also, whenever I try to go all ~*~srs bznz~*~ in my blog posts, I tend to make a u-turn and go all derpy and sarcastic again. I guess it's just not in my 'blogging personality,' so to say, to be all dramatic-sounding with inspirational words that get your minds all tingly. I guess I'm just more casual when it comes to blogging and stuff, as I've always been over the years. No biggie. I like my 'blogging voice' as it is SHRUG SHRUG TL;DR I HOARD BOOKS AND IMMA SHARE WHAT I'VE BEEN READING LATELY!!!!!