Tag: read

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

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This was one of those movies that I saw a while ago and reflected on while I was going through a rough patch with a guy. I felt like my feeling for him were consuming me and it made me feel like I was worthless because he wasn’t returning the same feelings.

I decided to read the book and I’m really glad that I did. This book and Cheryl’s story really helped me. I know that our stories weren’t the same at all and she had it much worse than I did, but I think that when you find something like this that helps you, it’s really special.

Things get better and life is going to be full of situations and issues that you’ll have to overcome. It’s important to work on yourself and to not blame yourself for the things that happen to you. Sometimes, it’s just completely out of your control.

I like that this book really made me feel like anything is possible and to never let yourself believe that you can’t do something. Cheryl wasn’t a hiker, she had hardly any experience on this trek and she did it, even though people doubted her and she doubted herself. She did it, and that’s so important.

I’d be lying if I said that i didn’t want to do a hike of my own after reading this book. It’s so inspiring and it just sounds so amazing to make that decision to change your life and do something for yourself.

If you haven’t read this book, I would highly recommend it. Seriously, it’s a good one.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

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Before I Fall was one of those movies that really makes you think about your life and the way that you treat people. There are things that I said and did in high school that I 100% regret and wish that I could take back, and in this story Sam got the chance to change how she treated the people in her life.

It’s one of those stories that really makes you realize that everything you say and do can affect someone in a way that you didn’t intentionally mean, and that you should do your best to be good to others and honest about your feelings because you never know when it will be your last day on this Earth.

Basically, I really like this movie and I loved the book even more.

Even though I knew how the story would end, while I was reading I couldn’t help but hope that it would be different and that somehow both Sam and Juliet could be saved.

It’s definitely a sad story and I’m not going to lie, it was hard to read about a girl killing herself over and over again. But it’s a good story and it has a good message.

Seriously, why are people so afraid to live their lives the way they want? We should be able to speak our mind and tell people how we really feel without worrying about being judged for it by others. Why do people care so much about what others do? It doesn’t make sense.

Live your life the way you want, tell the people that you love that you love them, be a good person, and read this book 🙂

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

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Here’s yet another book that I decided to read because I was obsessed with the movie. Don’t worry, I promise it won’t be the last 😉

When I decided to read Love, Rosie I had no idea that the entire book was made up of letters, emails, and instant messages. At first I was a little put off by it, but it actually made it a lot easier to read and it was a good way to show the personalities of all of the characters.

Man, this book was frustrating. They loved each other for SO long and it took SO long for them to finally be together. At least in the movie they were still pretty young when the ended up together.

I guess this story really resonates with me because I have a “friend” in my life right now who for awhile was someone I only communicated with through text messages. We seriously went for about 9 months texting every day before meeting and so love stories like this remind me of it. I hope that if I’m going to end up with this person, like Alex and Rosie *eventually* did, that it happens faster than it did for them.

I was glad that Alex’s kids were grown up by the time he finally ended up with Rosie. It would’ve felt wrong if Rosie had broken up his family so that they could be together.

I did have to re-watch the movie after I finished reading and I just have to say, it’s so crazy how much they sped the whole story up! I mean, I totally understand why they did it, it’s just insane how quickly they went through everything!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

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After reading The Order of the Phoenix, I needed a break from the Harry Potter world. Like I said, that movie was never my favorite, and the book was just as hard for me to get through. It was a good book and I did have a better appreciation for it by the end, but it is not the best one of the series.

I took a break and read a few other books, as you may know if anyone actually does follow this blog, but I’m not one to give up on something I’ve set my mind to!

I’m so glad I decided to pick the Harry Potter books up again and read the Half-Blood Prince. This book was sooooo much better than the last one. It was way more action-packed and I was excited to read it every day. I actually finished this one pretty quickly once I really got into it.

I thought it was interesting how the romantic relationships really started to develop in this book. It makes sense that as these characters get older they’ll start developing romantic feelings for each other. I actually really like Harry and Ginny together in the books. It’s funny, because I always see how people say they shouldn’t have ended up together in the movie, but with the book it totally makes sense.

The one thing that did annoy me was how obsessed Harry became with stalking Draco. Like, I know he was right, but it was just so annoying to have to get through.

I know it’s a major story line in the last book, but I wish that Dumbledore would have taught him more when they were hunting for the horcrux. He just did it all by himself and didn’t really explain it all to Harry, which wasn’t helpful at all.

I think because I knew that Dumbledore was going to die, it didn’t really upset me when it happened in the book. I’m sure it would have been shocking and upsetting for anyone who read it before the movies came out, but I was more upset about Fang being in the burning hut.

This book definitely made up for the last one, and I’m so excited to read the next one!

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

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Okay, so I love love loved this show. Everything was so good – the acting, the plot, the relationships. Literally everything.

I was really surprised when I started reading the book because it actually takes place in Australia. I have to admit, I didn’t think that people from Australia would be as gossip-y as Americans, but I guess that’s kind of a dumb assumption to make. Everyone gossips and everyone lies sometimes.

There were a few other differences from the show – Madeline and Renata both had more kids, there was no Madeline affair, and as always there were way more details to the story.

The book was really good. I found myself picking it up just to read one or two chapters and not being able to put it down. Just one more, I kept telling myself.

When I read this there was a lot of talk about a second season of the show and how they would continue the story after the book ends, but I think there’s a lot that they could do with this next season. The characters are amazing on their own and I would honestly watch them just hanging out and gossiping about each other. I also think that there is a lot more to explore with Renata’s character and with Bonnie’s character. We didn’t get to see too much with them this past season and they’re both very interesting characters.

I loved it. It was sad, but good, while still being sad. I’m very excited to see what’s to come next season and to have these characters live on for a little while longer.

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 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.

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.