"Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope" by Mark Manson || Book Review

I read the "Subtle art of not giving a f*ck" by the same author a few months ago and I really enjoyed it (you can fine my review of it here), so I was very excited to read one more of his books. 

Unfortunately, this one did not live up to the quality of the other one and it didn't have as much of an interest or hold on me and this is the reason I'm rating this one lower. I gave this book 3* while I had rated the subtle art with 4*. The narrator was great and this really helped me get through the book more easily. I'm not sure if I'd like it as much if I had to go through the effort of actually reading it.

My main problem was that it felt repetitive and at a few points it tired me out. I think this was partly because it was actually repetitive, but also partly because some of the ideas were also introduced and talked about in the previous book I read so maybe that added to this feeling.

I liked some of the stories it included like about Nietche's friend Meta (pretty sure I butchered both of their names and I'm not even going to try to write their full names) and her life and about the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire. I felt like I learned quite a few new things and it made me go and research more details about them.

It was interesting to read his views about religions - all kinds of them - about people and about the thinking and feeling brain.

Even though I didn't love it, it was still a good read. It may not be as enjoyable or attention-grabbing as the subtle art, but it is still a good read and it gives you food for thought. It helps you reconsider life and your ideas and learn some new things about life and about yourself. Overall a good read but not great.

Thanks for reading!

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" || Book Review & Book to Movie Comparison

Hello friends!

Today I'm here with a review of the second book in the Harry Potter series. If you'd like to check out my full review of the first book ("The Philosopher's Stone"), you can find it here.

I've always liked the second Harry Potter movie more than the first one so I entered this book with more expectations and hope. Luckily, my expectations were met and I liked the second book of the series much better than the first one. The story of the Chamber of Secrets always seemed more interesting to me and I was very eager to read it. I started reading this book back when I was a teen but I only got halfway through it. You see, I had borrowed it from a friend of mine and she had to leave and take the book back before I could finish it. Many years passed since then and I can say that even though I knew what it was about and remembered a thing or two, for the most part, I didn't really remember much so it was like reading it for the first time.

***RATING***

I really enjoyed this book and it deserves a good rating. I also was sure that I was going to give it a higher rating than the first book which I rated 3*. It wasn't perfect, I still found a couple of small flaws so I couldn't give it 5*, but it has definitely earned 4* from me.

***NON SPOILER REVIEW***

The book was very good, Rowling's writing is brilliant for once more, the atmosphere is magical and the worldbuilding impeccable. One of the things I've come to really admire in her writing is the rich vocabulary. The imagery is vivid and the descriptions are strong. 

Something I really loved about the book was the humor. There were so many funny scenes throughout the book even in the tragic moments and those funny moments were coming from all the characters. I caught myself laughing so many times.

For one more time, I had my objections with the pacing. The first half of the book was a bit slow, while the second half is much faster, more interesting and it goes by easily. It felt like the actual story took a bit to get started and it was quite a long way to get to this point. The book is generally quite long, longer than it should be. There are a couple of scenes that aren't necessary, you could remove them and the story would stay the same, it wouldn't change at all, and it would, in fact, be even better. Then there are a couple of scenes that are important to the plot, but still, they go on and on and they drag so long to the point that it becomes tiring. I believe that if these scenes were trimmed down and if the book was a bit shorter, the story would have been much stronger, more solid, and compact. This is one complaint I had for the best book as well and it is the main reason I removed a star from my rating in both cases.

It starts to look like a pattern now that each book ends with a talk between Harry and Dumbledore which results in a beautiful lesson. This is something I've come to love and hope to see in the other books as well.

***REVIEW & BOOK TO MOVIE COMPARISON***SPOILERS***

I loved that we got to see a bit more of Voldemort and we got to learn more about his life as a young student. Tom Riddle's story was dark and mysterious and it really grabbed my attention. I loved learning what he was like and how he turned into Voldemort.

It was great to finally see Ron's house and life and having Harry be with them like it was his actual family was heartwarming and beautiful. It was also the first time we actually got to see how an all-magical family actually lives and goes through their routine. We've seen plenty of the muggle life with the Dursleys, but now that Harry got to spend time with Ron and his family we got to explore a whole other reality and this is so exciting.

The more I read these books the more I grow to love Ron and I start to see what people have been talking about movie-Ron versus book-Ron. Book-Ron is awesome, he's not just funny, he is smart, helpful, and loveable. Movie-Ron is mostly just goofy, just a character to provide comic relief and this is annoying. I could already see a couple of Ron's lines that were given to Hermione in the movie and not only does this ruin the character, but it makes absolutely no sense. There are certain things that logically only Ron should know being pureblood and raised by wizards, on the contrary, it makes absolutely no sense for Hermione to know those things. Even if she reads a lot there are some things that she and Harry could not have known since they were raised by muggles. Book-Hermione on the other hand is far less likable than movie-Hermione who is in fact pretty awesome.

One thing that the movie did better than the book in my opinion was the chamber of secrets scene. In the book, it was way too much talking and so little action. It felt like they were talking for so long and the action was too short. I get that Riddle was trying to delay the whole thing to make sure that Ginny would die and he would return to life but it felt so disappointing that when the time of action came it wasn't even much of a fight. In the movie though, the scene is much better, there is some talking and then quite a bit of action. Harry runs a little bit, tries to get away from the snake, tries to outsmart it and when the snake attacks him it feels like quite a threat so when he kills it, it's much more satisfying.

On the other hand, I loved the final chapter of the book and I thought it was so much better than the final scenes in the movie. I loved the part where they talk to Dumbledore about what happened and I also loved when Harry and Dumbledore confront Lucius. In the movie this scene was more subtle, it was more implied, but in the book, everything was said out loud! In the book, they looked him in the eyes and confronted him with no fear or doubt whatsoever and just talked to him straight and it was so awesome! I loved it! I also liked the scene where Doby gets freed more in the book. Oh, Doby was just so annoying most of the time but I really felt sorry for him and it was so sweet and heart-warming when he was finally free.

I really liked the addition of Lockhart. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was an incredibly annoying character and a horrible person, but his presence in the book was so funny and entertaining. He was written perfectly to be this incompetent, obnoxious idiot. His character feels as real as any other in this book. I enjoyed him but I'm surely glad he is gone.

***END OF SPOILERS***

So, these were my thoughts about it. Overall, it was quite an enjoyable read. I liked it and thought it was better than the first one. I'll soon read the third book in the series and I'm really curious about it.