"Avatar The Last Airbender - The Search" || Book Review & Book Discussion

 The ATLA series never disappoints! It is an amazing journey that I don't want to stop! If you'd like to see what I thought of the previous story ("The Promise") before reading this one, you can check out my full review here.

The Search talks about Zuko and Team Avatar's (plus Azula) adventure on the way to find Zuko's mother and discover the truth about her disappearance. I gave it 5* because it was simply perfect and it deserved it! This plot-line is probably the most expected after the show's end and it is definitely the one I was most eager to read.

I loved all three parts equally and gave them all 5*. I thought they were all very interesting and strong and I enjoyed them equally. The story immediately grabs your attention from the beginning of Part 1 and holds it firmly throughout the story with two strong cliffhangers at the end of Parts 1 and 2. The scenes go back and forth from Ursa's youth in her hometown, to Zuko's search on the current day and this makes it very interesting to read. Scenes full of action and suspense alternate with scenes full of feelings and this makes a very strong combination. I could repeat myself talking about the beautiful art, the great pacing, and beautiful storytelling, but I will try to speak about more and different things this time.

The Search, on the one hand, sheds light on the relationship between Ursa and Ozai and their troubled marriage. On the other hand, it explores the relationship between Zuko and his family, but, more specifically, with Azula. The two siblings have both been abused by their father and suffer from the absence of their mother, they are both still confused and both are still trying to figure out who they really are and what is their destiny, their purpose in life. They are in very different places in their journey, as Zuko has made a lot of progress and Azula still has a long way to go, but both of them feel the loss and pain, they both miss something to feel complete. They are very different but also similar in a sense and Zuko may be a lot closer to finding his truth and peace with himself, but I believe that he is also a step closer to understanding and helping his sister find her way as well. The relationship dynamics are perfect!

The story is full of feelings all the way through, it really touched me multiple times. I felt sad for Ursa being taken from her home, I felt mad with Ozai being even worse than I already thought, I felt sorry for Azula and her mental state. The time jumps were great; they were placed perfectly, they really worked with the story and complimented it and they were done beautifully. The story is structured perfectly and it manages to both unravel secrets but also to keep it interesting throughout.

Kiyi was really fun and cute and I loved the addition of her character! Her instant chemistry and bonding with Zuko warmed my heart. I really hope we get to see more of her and her relationship with Zuko in the comic books that follow and I'd also love to finally see Zuko have one healthy sibling relationship.

I loved how the story starts and ends with the same words from the conversation between Zuko and his mother, it was beautiful and impactful. The ending itself was wonderful, this story ended in the best way possible, the only way that would be right and acceptable for the build-up of this particular storyline. It would be so disappointing if we didn't get a proper pay-off after everything so far.

Seeing Zuko be able to hold off himself against Azula is very rewarding on its own. He has grown a lot not only in skills and talent, but he has also matured a great deal and is now much wiser. On the one hand, he can defend himself from his sister, on the other hand, he never hurts her, he tries to help and protect her as much as possible, and he tries to give her a sense of freedom, trust, and dignity. Even if he knows that she will take advantage of him and his kindness - cause that's what she always does - he still keeps giving her chances, he never gives up on her completely, he keeps trying, he doesn't lose hope. Why? Because he knows it can be done; because he managed to do it himself, he managed to throw off of him his father's toxic influence and harmful teachings, he rebelled against his father's corrupted values and found his peace of mind. Because he was given many chances too by someone who cared about him. He stands his ground, he doesn't back up from the throne, but also tries to improve himself and his family relationships.

It is very interesting to see the contrast between Zuko and Azula's relationship and Sokka and Katara's. These people and the relationships between them are so different, yet they have so much to learn from each other. I think that after Zuko talks with Sokka he realizes that he actually cares for his sister. He knows that she is not in a good mental state, he knows that she is not a great person, that she feels anger and jealousy, he knows that she could potentially do something bad and hurt someone, yet he still cares about her and tries to help her. He wants to be decent and treat his family with dignity. At the same time, he's really eager to get to know the parts of his family that have been missing for so long. He needs to explore that part of himself and find out the truth about his and his family's past.

By the end of the story, Zuko is a changed person. He is more complete and fulfilled than ever before and new possibilities have opened up in front of him. In this comic book, most of the characters go through significant character growth and they all become better and more complete. In the end, this is a character-driven story about family relationships and friendships, about the nature of humanity, the ability to change and evolve. It is a story about discovering who you really are, your truth, and supporting it without shame or fear. It explores different characters' morals and motivations. But most of all this is a story that gives much food for thought and a story that truly inspires me both as a person and as an aspiring creator.

This was my favorite comic book so far and this storyline is actually the one I'd most love to see on screen (fingers crossed for that). As I said ATLA never disappoints me, it always manages to make me happy, it is truly a masterpiece of storytelling. I hope the next ones are just as good.

Thanks for reading! 

My Life In Books Tag

Hello, book friends!

I found this tag over in The Journeys of a Girl blog and I really loved it so I had to do it! So, here it is... My life in books!!!

1. Find a book for each of your initials

    My initials are FMM and for this one, I'll pick books from my TBR list.

    F ---> "Firestarter" by Stephen King

    M --> "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden

    M --> "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult


2. Count your age along your bookshelf: What book is it?

I am 28 years old, so I counted 28 books and I fell upon...

"The Raven Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater

I haven't read this one yet but it is very high on my TBR list and I really want to read it soon!


3. Pick a book set in your city/country

I am from Greece and for this one I'll go with "The Island" by Victoria Hislop. I read this one a long time ago and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a brilliant book, but I am sad to say I don't remember it well anymore, so I really want to reread it sometime.

4. Pick a book that represents a destination you’d love to travel to

I really want to visit the UK; all of it! I want to travel to England, Ireland, Scotland, all of the places in the UK and I cannot really pick which one I'd like to see most, so I had a hard time deciding which book I should pick for this one. In the end, I decided to pick "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, which is set mostly in Scotland but features quite a few other places as well. I chose it because it is one of the books I most want to read in the near future and because I absolutely loved the series and it totally makes me want to travel and see new magical places. 

5. Pick a book that’s your favorite color

I don't really have a favorite color. In my life, I love to have many colors on my clothes, my objects or my home, but in books, I really like black or white plain covers, so I'll go for a black cover for this one. I wanted to pick a book from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I really liked the covers of all the books in this series, even if the books are not my favorites. The two that always stood out the most to me were the covers for "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn". I'll choose "Breaking Dawn" because there's just something about this chess piece that I love and with black, white and red you can't miss with me.

6. Which book do you have the fondest memories of?

I couldn't possibly pick just one, but I'll go with the "Secret Seven" series since it was the favorite series of my childhood. I have a whole other post dedicated to my favorite childhood books where I talk extensively about them. If you want you can go check it out and read more about them over here 

---> My Favorite Childhood Books

7. Which book did you have the most difficulty reading?

This will have to be "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie. I thought that it was a difficult book to read and I ended up DNF'ing it.


8. Which book in your TBR pile will give you the biggest accomplishment when you finish it?

It is not a book, it is a series and it is the Harry Potter series and it'll give me a sense of accomplishment because it is a big series and I have been avoiding it for the longest time, so it's kind of a leap for me to finally finish it.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you liked this Tag feel free to do it, I'd love to see all your different answers! I want to tag my friend Elektra over at My Trending Books!

Thank you for reading!

"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.

Books I'll probably never read || Βook Tag

Hello friends! I was looking for something new to post and I found this Tag. It's a bit older, I've no idea if it is around anymore, but I still liked it and wanted to take part in it. 

I initially found this tag at Cat on the bookshelf's blog, but apparently, it was created by littlespider9 channel on YouTube.

 

So... Let's get started!

A really hyped book you're not interested in reading?

I tried reading "Paper Towns" a while back and I really couldn't get into it. Even though I usually like John Green's books and I think he is a good writer in general, I didn't like this one. I tried watching the movie as well and I found it boring as well, so I completely gave up on it and I'm probably not going to be reading it.

A series you won't start/won't be finishing?

I can say with confidence that I won't be reading "The Mortal Instruments" series. I pretty much knew what it was about, but I was never really interested in it. It doesn't sound like the book I usually pick or enjoy reading. Still, the hype around these books was (and still is) overwhelming and this made me curious to see what the fuss was about, so a few years ago I decided to give it a try. I started reading "The City of Bones" but I DNF'd it. I couldn't get into it, I thought the writing was weak and the plot didn't seem very interesting to me. So I most probably won't try reading it again.

A classic that you're just not interested in?

I don't have any comments about this one... It's "Romeo and Juliet". No interest whatsoever to read this classic book and I probably won't ever try it.

Any genres you've never read?

There is no genre that I don't read at all, no book that I refuse to read just because it is said genre. I want and try to read a large variety of books, authors, and genres. However, there sure are certain genres that I prefer and others that I don't. I've read a little bit of every genre so far and plan to do so in the future as well, so the closest answer I can give to this question is a genre that I don't usually pick up, or it's one of my last choices. So the genre I don't usually reach for is paranormal... it's just not really my thing and out of all the genres, it's the one I'm least likely to pick.

A book on your shelves you'll probably never actually read?

"The eternal ones"... I bought this book a while back mostly because it had a beautiful cover, but I never got to read it. Many years have passed since and even though I still have it on my bookshelves and I still love the cover I don't think I'll ever read it.

I really loved this tag and I want to tag my friend over at My trending books because I'm really curious to see her answers. 

Thanks for reading!

"Avatar The Last Airbender - The Promise" || Book Review & Book Talk

These were the last things I read in 2020 and it was the best way to close the reading year. If you're interested to see my review of the prequel story that I read before this one, you can check it out here.

The story takes place right after the ending of the show and it follows the heroes as they try to restore balance to the world.  

***SHORT REVIEW***NON SPOILER***

The art is absolutely stunning. At many moments I had to pause reading just to stare a bit more at the beautiful art. The story flows perfectly and the pacing is great. The plot is rock-solid, it makes sense and it is realistic, but at the same time, it is unique and engaging. The story doesn't shy away from truths and important messages, but then again when did the "Avatar" ever do that? Never. Even though it is a kid's show (and comic books in this case) it is consistently very strong in themes, messages and successfully handles very mature content. Avatar continues to give great material not only from an artistic and creative point of view but also thematically and morally. It is thought-provoking and rich in content, and even though it may be handling heavier, more serious subjects at times, it does it perfectly without the main plot ever losing interest or pace and what helps with this is that the action and non-action scenes are evenly and beautifully spread out through the books. The conflicts are set right from the beginning in Part 1 and then we follow each plotline as they all gradually lead to their resolution in Part 3.

If I really have to say something about each part individually, I'd say that:

• Part 1 was great. It established an immediate connection to what has been previously going on in the story (in the series), as well as set a solid ground for the beginning of this new story. It was interesting and engaging. The introduction was both familiar and new and it felt like a great way to start. It set the atmosphere and themes.
• Part 2 was my least favorite. Even though it was a bit stronger in themes compared to the first part and Aang, Katara, and Zuko's storylines were great, Toph and Sokka's storyline was weak, boring, and somewhat irrelevant. I couldn't care for it and the story would have been the same (and actually better) if the whole "metal-bending school" subplot was removed or reduced significantly.
• Part 3 was my favorite of all and of course, it would be since it's the part that has the whole climax of the story which is by definition the most interesting part. I loved it, I can't find anything wrong with it, really, it was great! It was a great continuation and the outcome of the story was really good, it felt realistic but also exciting. It foreshadows the next parts of the story ("The search" comic books) and it looks really interesting, you can see that things are about to go down makes you really eager to see how everything is going to turn out.

As a whole, I absolutely loved it! I rated parts 1 & 3 with 5* and I gave part 2 4* on Goodreads. My rating for the story as a whole would be 4,75* if I had to be exact, but since I really loved it anyway, I'm still going to give it 5*.

***LONGER REVIEW***SPOILERS***BOOK TALK***

I loved seeing Yu Dao, how the people have mixed and become this new thing, and how this city thrives by being a beautiful combination of 2 different nations. I really liked Kori and her story and how she represents her people. Those people who are made from 2 different nations, they've been born and raised in this situation where for more than two generations these two peoples have coexisted (they have worked together, they've created families) this is their reality, their life and apparently it works well for most of them. Of course, they wouldn't want their whole lives shattered for the second time in their recent history. They are now caught between two rival nations who have conflicted interests about their home and who are about to change their lives forever. It is hard but beautifully realistic.

Zuko's subplot is the main one and it is easily the best one compared to the others by far. I absolutely adored the interactions between Zuko and Ozai! These kinds of scenes really help to get deeper into the characters, to get to know and understand them better. It was strange and so nice too that even though Ozai is wrong about a hell of a lot of things, he was right about some of the things he said to Zuko and he had a point like for example about Zuko's indecisiveness and his lack of self-confidence and lack of trust in his own abilities. Not that he meant to help him of course, no way, he meant to mislead and confuse him even more and he even succeeded it to a certain level. These meetings always leave Zuko more complicated, lost, and tired than before, they don't really have much to offer to him. Ozai's views are corrupt and he tries to give them to his son, but he shows resistance to that, but Ozai does have a point and I think Zuko knows that as well (and if he doesn't by that time, he definitely has realized it by the end of Book 3 after everything that's happened) that he cannot be a Fire Lord if he is so insecure and so doubtful. He has to give himself some credit, he has to start trusting his instincts and believing in himself. He has to become a little bit stronger and more decisive and more certain about his opinions and choices. He shouldn't need "promises" and safety nets as he put it.

This promise they made was wrong from the beginning and even more than that, Aang's reactions on the matter and his whole stance to it was quite annoying to me. I mean he didn't even kill Ozai, of course, he wasn't going to kill Zuko which makes, even more, annoying the fact that he is considering it so much! He seems unable and unwilling to face the harsh reality that they cannot possibly go through with the Harmony Restoration Movement, they cannot destroy these people's lives like this at least not with what they'd planned so far. It is painfully obvious that they'll have to change their plans, yet Aang (and some of the others except Katara) just refuse to see it, they are so blinded to the reality and to the people's wants and needs. Aang was being so annoyingly stubborn I wanted to scream at him. I expected them to have a little more faith in their friend who's proved to be good and have good intentions, he's also proved to be capable and fair, he has proved that he cares about the people and is willing to help and listen to them. I guess I expected the others to be as open to listening to the people's needs and wants and more openminded to another solution, as well as more willing to trust and co-operate. Katara was the only one who showed some understanding of the whole situation and tried to say it at many points and I respect her for her stance. Then again, if it was only up to Aang, things wouldn't have gone so south, it was the Earth King who made everything worse, a completely clueless and incompetent king who has no idea about the world outside his palace who is now called to make important decisions.

I was also annoyed with Roku and I think that Aang was right to not listen to him. Even though I was annoyed with Aang for the first 2 parts, he at least made up for it in the end, by doing the right thing and making the right decisions. I particularly loved how he articulated his opinions to Roku and Zuko towards the end of Part 3. He was also a bit unfair with the air acolytes during the first 2 parts, which is maybe partly understandable, but still, I thought he was overreacting. Thankfully by the last part, he changed his mind, he came to understand and accept them and he also helped them. Aang of Part 3 is the Aang that I've come to know and love: happy, optimistic, acceptant, and open-minded.

As I said before, Toph's storyline was clearly the weakest. It was the least engaging, the smaller characters (Toph's students) were not interesting at all and the whole metal-bending school sub-plot seemed insignificant and irrelevant to the overall story. I couldn't care about it. This was my only and biggest complaint about this comic. I think it was mostly there to give room for Sokka to be himself (smart and hilarious) and to provide much-needed comic relief what with the whole story being a little bit heavier and more serious. Sokka was indeed funny and I loved him like always, but I can't say the same about the rest of the characters of this storyline.

I wasn't very excited about Zuko and Mai's break up, it made me sad and I didn't want it to happen, even though it made sense plot-wise and it was like their characters to act this way, I still love them together and want them to end up together.

One of the reasons I love Avatar is its characters. They are interesting and relatable, but most importantly they are real people. Real people with flaws and advantages, people who make mistakes, who get confused and struggle sometimes, but they always work and try to become better and end up in a better place, being better people. Which is why even if there are moments that I dislike some of them or get annoyed with them, I still love them in the end, because in the end they find themselves and their truth or at the very least they still have some redeeming qualities and most importantly they have reasons and motives for their actions. They are perfectly fleshed out characters, with layers and depth.

The ending was perfect! It was so satisfying to see the two friends be back together again, just drinking tea and planning their next moves together in unity. It is also very endearing to see them finally understanding each other a little bit more. Uncle Iroh was perfect and I loved seeing him and his tea shop again. What was even more awesome was the ending part with Azula. It's the first time we see her after the ending of the show and perfectly plants the seeds for the next comic book in line ("The Search") and it is incredibly interesting! 

***SO...***

I've been rumbling and going on and on endlessly about this and this post has turned out huge, so to cut the long story short, I loved it! I absolutely loved it and I can't really find something seriously wrong with it! I have a couple of tiny complaints, but they cannot make me not love the overall story! I enjoyed it very much and I recommend it without a doubt. It is a perfect continuation from all points and it's worth your time. I'm going to leave it there, but I'll surely be back with one more post about these comic books because I still have a lot to say about it and I'm not nearly over discussing it. Avatar gives very much food for thought and discussion and I love it for this!

Thanks for bearing with me!

See you soon!

My Bookish Goals for 2021

Hello and Happy New Year to Everyone!!!

As a kid and a teen, I was always an avid reader, I used to read insane amounts of books every year. Even as a student at University I still managed a good number of books, but adulthood is kinda hard to manage and we are not always warned as to the extent of this difficulty. I never thought that balancing a full-time job, a family, other responsibilities and a hobby (reading in my case) would be so hard and that my reading expectations would be so low, yet managing them would feel so satisfying.

For the past 3 years, I've been setting low reading goals (10, 12, 15 books a year) and for the first 2 years, I didn't even manage to reach those goals. Even though I felt happy for whatever I read I was still a bit disappointed, not because I didn't meet the numbers, but because this number was an indication that I didn't get to do what I love as much as I wished. It also meant that I had very limited time for myself and the things that I enjoy. But finally, last year was the year that I made it! Not only did I reach my goal of 12 books a year, but I read 2 more, reaching a total of 14 books. I was unbelievably happy and excited about this accomplishment because this also means that I can now manage my time and program a lot better and I can invest it a lot better and do a little bit more of the thing that I love.

So, naturally, my reading goal for this year is going to be just a little bit higher, just enough to make it a challenge, but not too high so that it won't unmanageable. 

1. Read at least 15 books. 
2. Read at least 1 classic book.
3. Listen to at least 1 audiobook.
4. Read at least 1 non-fiction book.
5. Finally read and finish the Harry Potter series (I read the 1st book last year).
6. Keep writing my reviews and posting on this blog everything book related.

I feel very optimistic and positive about the next reading year and I really think that it's going to be even better than the last one. 

I wish you all to have a very nice year and enjoy your reading and whatever else you'll be doing!