So many books to read, so little time.

Hi everyone! 2013 is about to end and 2014 is just around the corner. Have you finished the challenges you've set this year specifically the books in your "to-read" list? 

Sadly, I was not able to finish three of the books in my own list due to some circumstance. One advice: If you want something done, you must commit to it with all of your heart, soul, body, money, time, and effort combine. :)

Here is the line-up of books I’ve been wanting to read but cannot because I’m too busy these past few days. I hope I can include these reads on my 100-books-to-read challenge this coming year.

The Shack by WM. Paul Young

I borrowed this book from my Pastor and I've already read a few chapters of it already. I want to read The Shack because it has been years since I finished an inspirational and spiritual book. I hope this book goes to your "to-read" list because it's a book about reestablishing your faith to God. And I believe we can relate to the story in so many ways.

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his "Great Sadness," Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. 

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book! -goodreads.com

* book description from the back cover

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I’ve been hearing rage reviews of this book since the start of 2013 (from friends and officemates). But because I want to read trending and new released books I snob “To Kill A Mockingbird” and read other choices instead. Now that a co-worker of mine lent a copy of the book I’m planning to start reading it by 2014. 

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view .. until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Tomboy Scout Finch comes of age in a small Alabama town during a crisis in 1935. She admires her father Atticus, how he deals with issues of racism, injustice, intolerance and bigotry, his courage and his love.-goodreads.com

Para Kay B Nobela ni Ricky Lee

I remember borrowing this book from my office mate this April. I also did not finish the book due to reasons I already forgot (or was I lazy that time?). If I finish this on 2014 "Para Kay B" will be the second Filipino-authored book to ever land on my "to-read" list that I actually finished or even read (my first was Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco). 

image: mynihility.wordpress.com

Garnering international prizes and acclaim before its publication,Ilustrado has been called “brilliantly conceived and stylishly executed . . .It is also ceaselessly entertaining, frequently raunchy, and effervescent with humor” (2008 Man Asian Literary Prize panel of judges).

It begins with a body. On a clear day in winter, the battered corpse of Crispin Salvador is pulled from the Hudson River—taken from the world is the controversial lion of Philippine literature. Gone, too, is the only manuscript of his final book, a work meant to rescue him from obscurity by exposing the crimes of the Filipino ruling families. Miguel, his student and only remaining friend, sets out for Manila to investigate. 

To understand the death, Miguel scours the life, piecing together Salvador’s story through his poetry, interviews, novels, polemics, and memoirs. The result is a rich and dramatic family saga of four generations, tracing 150 years of Philippine history forged under the Spanish, the Americans, and the Filipinos themselves. Finally, we are surprised to learn that this story belongs to young Miguel as much as to his lost mentor, and we are treated to an unhindered view of a society caught between reckless decay and hopeful progress. 

Exuberant and wise, wildly funny and deeply moving, Ilustrado explores the hidden truths that haunt every family. It is a daring and inventive debut by a new writer of astonishing talent. -goodreads.com