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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

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Full disclosure – I can never get through this movie. Literally, I’ve never watched it the whole way through without falling asleep. The good thing about this is that I had no idea what to expect from the book!

I did feel like this book dragged a bit until the end. I didn’t know what happened to Mr. Weasley at all, that was horrible. I felt so bad! Also, Umbridge is the worst. I thought I hated Lockhart, but she’s worse.

I did know that *SPOILER ALERT*

Sirius died. I felt so bad for Harry every time he thought about living with him and finally to be with someone who cared about him, knowing that he was going to die. It was horrible when it actually happened and there was so much action leading up to it. It was actually kind of hard to follow.

I did really like this one, it’ll probably never be my favorite, but it was still a good one.

 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

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Okay, so I didn’t remember this movie at all. Why did I think that Neville’s parent’s were dead? I must have just overlooked that in the movie, I actually can’t remember if they ever say whether they’re alive or not.

Anyway, WOW what a crazy book. Not remembering the movie well actually made me keep questioning what I thought happened, and I felt like maybe they changed things in the movie.

I’m not gonna lie, I kind of had to drag myself through the first half of the book. It felt very slow and I really loved the last one so I thought this one would be exciting, but once it got to the the Triwizard Tournament it really picked up and was really good.

It really makes you think that no one can be trusted. It could’ve been anyone who put Harry’s name into the goblet. I felt bad for Harry, that he didn’t know who had put him in this situation and that he was forced into it and people acted like he was just doing it for the fame.

The Voldemort scene was intense and some amazing writing. I was so sad about poor Cedric, the scene was devastating, especially after Harry had told him to take the goblet with him.

I really liked that Harry gave all the money he won to Fred and George, that was a nice little thing to end the story with.

I know what’s coming next and I’m so worried about how I’ll feel reading it. There was so much more in this book than what I remember from the movie, but that’s why I really love reading books that have inspired movies. Even if you know the gist of the story, it takes you so much deeper which is really fun.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

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Okay, okay…I know I said I really liked the first two…but this one is my favorite out of the three BY FAR. It was so so so so good.

I LOVED that Harry finally gets to learn more about his parents. It seriously made me so happy for him to find out how similar he is to his dad. It really makes you think about the times that you have with your parents and the common interests that you have and how heartbreaking it would be to not experience those things. I seriously loved it.

There was so much more to this book than what they had in the movie. I’ve actually been watching each movie after I finish the book to compare, which has been really fun to see and to compare it to how I’m imagining things in my mind. You also catch little details in the movie that you may have missed before because you just didn’t know about it before reading the book. I really like that.

I’m so sad that it’s taken me this long to read this series. I’ve really missed out, they’re so good.

I’m also sad because I’ve seen the movies and I know how things are going to end for some of the characters. Reading about how happy Harry is when he thinks he can go live with Sirius makes me feel so bad, knowing his fate. I hate that, but I’d actually rather be prepared for it than shocked and upset when it happens in the book.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

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Just like the first book, I thought that this one was very similar to the movie and I really enjoyed it. I like that these books so far have been so easy to read. I get that they’re “supposed” to be children’s books, but they’re great for adults also. You just want to keep reading, it’s hard to stop. I’ve actually been staying up really late just to keep reading.

Lockhart is seriously so annoying though. If I had to pick something that I didn’t like, it would be him. He’s the worst part of the book.

I like that we’re starting to see the relationships forming between Harry and Ginny, and Ron with Hermione. I’ve always heard people talk about how if you’ve only seen the movies you won’t understand why these couples end up together, but that the books do it way better. I feel like I’m starting to see that and I’m happy about it.

I also would’ve loved to see the death day party in the movie. I think that would’ve been fun, even though it maybe isn’t essential to the story.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

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Okay, so when I was realllyyyyy little I was gifted the first Harry Potter book. It took me over a year to finish it the first time and I definitely was too young to really pay attention and know what was going on. I got the book before the movies were made, so it really wasn’t this huge sensation to me yet and I never read the others.

As an adult, I’ve seen all of the movies and really love them. I know so many people who have read the books and adore them, so I figured it was finally time for me to get on board.

I seriously can’t believe that I’ve never really read these books before and I’m really excited to have them all finished.

Re-reading the first one was so good. It was a lot like the movie, I feel like they did a really good job adapting it. I seriously loved it so much, it was so easy to read. I finished this one super fast.

Usually I hate knowing what’s going to happen, but in this case I actually loved it because there were so many hints throughout the book and little things that foreshadow what’s to come. I love being able to pick up on that.

Anyway, it’s really good and I’m really late to the game. Better late than never though right?

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

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Before I started reading The Perfect Storm, I read some other book reviews. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve seen the movie, and the reviews were mostly positive but they did mention that it wasn’t exactly written like a story. It was more of a collection of interviews alongside technical information about what happens to a boat in the middle of a storm.

What I really liked about this approach was that it didn’t try to romanticize the story. In the movie, it’s very much about Mark Wahlburg’s character, Bobby and how he’s dealing with the situation while his girlfriend is home waiting to hear news. The book has a lot about how she was feeling during the whole ordeal, but it felt more like a factual re-telling of the events rather than the emotional story of their relationship and the loss that she was experiencing. It was different, but I liked it.

As someone who studied journalism, I kept feeling like I was reading a long form article on the whole event. The majority of the story was about what happened around the Andrea Gail during the storm, like what other boats were experiencing at the same time and how they didn’t think they were going to make it.

I do think it spent wayyyy too much time discussing the other ships. There were so many details about them that I didn’t care about, I found myself reading/glimpsing through it quickly just because I didn’t care.

I also now know way more about swordfishing than I ever thought I would. Some of the technical stuff was definitely hard to get through, mostly because I wasn’t really interested in it and I really wasn’t trying to learn about it. I couldn’t tell you anything about it today.

While I did like the approach, I really yearned to know what was happening on the Andrea Gail. I know that the author wanted to stay factual, so couldn’t fictionalize scenes from the boat, but it really felt like something was missing from the whole story.

Overall, I think that the book is a good partner to the movie. This gives you the facts and more insight into the technical world of fishing, while the movie gives you the fictional reenactment that you really want after reading this. It definitely makes you care more and understand what it could have been like.

I definitely think that people who like the movie should read the book to have a full understanding of the whole story. It makes it much more than a sad movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlburg.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

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5d48a3b2d3087918cb66bd5e6cc24704So, as it turned out this was the last book I finished of the year. I’m really proud that I even (sort of) kept up with reading and posting about it on this blog.

Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl was funny, smart, and incredibly well written. I felt like she was one of my friends telling me all of her embarrassing stories and what she’s learned from those experiences. She made me feel like my life and my embarrassing moments and moments when I felt crazy weren’t too bad after all.

Even in some of her darkest moments, she showed us her humor and her ability to share basically everything from her life. I would hate/love to be one of her friends.

Her ability to write is very good and you can tell that her show Girls is directly coming from her mind. No one else would be able to write those experiences in that way. She’s a total inspiration for young women writers and she’s definitely one of my heroes.