I promised my besties that I wouldn’t roast this book :) so I’m gonna try my very best :)


(s)

(the fan art in this fandom is effing gorgeous you talented peeps)

n  Recapn
-tHarry is still a live and breathing special snowflake
-tAll that happened was they drove a car
-tThat’s it
-tFor 150 pages
-tThe only event that took place
-tWas driving an effing car in the sky
-tOkay, right we said no roasting
-tUmmmmm, Hermione is awesome, I like her
-tRon is meh
-tMalfoy seems like the only complex character
-tThe second half was MUCH better than the first half thank goodness or else I would have dnfed for something
-tI wish the mystery aspect would have been introduced earlier
-tI love ron’s family so much oh my god
-tHis mother and father are G O A L S
-tAnd ginny is the cutest thing
-tDobby was also kinda cute
-tFreaky but kinda cute


(s)


t“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

2.5 stars!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

guess who's back at it again trying to relive their missed childhood????

Four stars!

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Second Buddy Read with my main gyalllll

As many of you are aware this is my first time reading the Harry Potter series. I know, I know. I REGRET EVERYTHING. This is one book I wish I’d of read sooner, because so far I’ve loved both of the books.

This time around we got more magic; Spells, cauldrons, defence against the dark arts, muggles, new characters, and lots of fun moments. I loved seeing a more magical aspect of the book which included more lessons, and Hermione rebelling against everything she actually wants to do.

Once again I partly listened to this on Audiobook and Stephen Fry is literally the King. The way he portrays the characters and emphasises everything really does bring the magic to life.

Fred and George Weasley are at the moment my current favourites of the series. I just find them so hilarious and like to tease the ones they care about.

What I liked?
- The Gnomes at the Weasleys!
- We got to meet Hermiones family and them exchanging real money at Gringotts
- THE HOWLER MESSAGE. Oh my god. I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved that part!
- I found Colin hilarious, he was just so adorable and desperately trying to get glimpses of Harry. Not only this but the signing of the photos oh god, I can’t.
- Deathday party! That was soon good! How ghosts made an entrance, loveeeeee!
- FAWKES!
- Dumbledores sweet tooth, I was like yep yep yep.
- How motherly Professor McGonagall is, I’m just like N’awww!
-Gilderoy Lockhart. His character was so well done! Everything he did had me laughing, the valentines day shenanigans with the dwarves and the wings and the songs
- The never ending rivalry between Draco, Ron and Harry
-In fact just how protective Ron is with Hermione melts my little heart!
- Hagrid still has me howling

What I didn’t like?
- Once again this is probably only me… we have such a build up throughout the book which is so well done, I just think that it all ends very suddenly.
Where was my boy Neville?!

Overall I’m still enjoying this series so much I can’t wait to start Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I need more!

"When in doubt, go to the library.”

Philosopher's Stone - 4.5 Stars
Chamber of Secrets - 4 Stars
Prisoner of Azkaban - 5 Stars
Goblet of Fire - 4.5 Stars
Order of the Phoenix - 4.5 Stars

I do not really like J.K. Rowling, Harry himself is absolutely useless and can't do anything on his own, this school is way too dangerous for little children and Qudditch rules don't make any sense what so ever but maaaan these books are entertaining and just make me feel some happy feelings.


Ps: Isn't it kind of fucked up that there is a house that basically sets children up to become assholes?
Rowling definitely was too biased to make a realistic school system.

I went into this with very very slightly less expectations as I couldn’t possibly imagine any other book being as up to par as The Sorcerer’s Stone. Was I wrong!!!!

Review to come later.
Por ahora sólo diré: Qué cosa tan bonita son estos libros <3.

دامبلدور:
"این انتخاب های ماست که حقیقت باطنی ما را نشان میدهد، نه استعدادهای ما."
اگزیستانسیالیسم در یک جمله...

Reading the Chamber of Secrets for the first time in my life at the age of 27:

> Ron stole his dad's illegal flying car to rescue his best friend. He broke Harry's window with the help of his brothers, and what drove him over the edge was the fact (and I quote) they weren't feeding Harry enough.

  

> When Ron and Harry were watching Snape and Lockhart duel, he said, OUT LOUD, Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off? And I think that's beautiful.

> Ron threw up slugs for HOURS, by accident, just because he wouldn't have Draco insult Hermione in front of him.

> Ron told Harry that if he threw Tom Riddle's book through Moaning Myrtle's stomach he would get 25 points.

> Ron followed the spiders even though he's terrified of them.

> Ron survived an entire semester with a broken wand.

> Ron was the first one to point out that If Dobby doesn’t stop trying to save your life he’s going to kill you.

> Ron called Lockhart a coward and insinuated that he was a pedophile for leaving Hermione, his 12 year old student inappropriate get well cards.

To sum up, this is now a Ron Weasley fan account now.

Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of weeks, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as someone who's just getting into Freudian theory.

From the very beginning, the true nature of this story is quite obvious - The Chamber of Secrets. There is only one "chamber of secrets" that is of any human concern, and it is no coincidence that the book of such a title was written by a woman.

By sending her young, immature male character, Harry (whose name, along with Tom and Dick, just happens to be one of the "universal" male names) into the mysterious Chamber, Rowling is exploring her memories of early childhood sexuality. The Chamber is filled not only with mystery, but danger and legend - its very existence is debated, which no doubt refers to the elusive female orgasm.

Ms. Rowling, whose sexual impulses have no doubt been unfulfilled over the years, is attempting to fulfill them by way of her own fiction. She has created a perfect sexual explorer in Harry Potter - a young, innocent and noble young man whose powers have not yet matured. Obviously a male that Rowling would feel comfortable with. This is especially interesting given the actual resident of the Chamber of Secrets - a huge, deadly serpent. And there's only one thing that a huge, terrible serpent can represent.

Rowling's sexual past is the fertile ground in which this book was grown. It is her cathartic attempt to win over the guilty feelings that she's repressed from her former sexual life, the one she regrets more than anything else, by manufacturing a hero. That hero, in Harry Potter, represents the type of man for whom she would "open" her "chamber - pure of heart and noble of intention and, most importantly, under her control. The vanquishing of the serpent-symbol is her victory, leaving her free to explore other aspects of her life, including the eventual resolution of the Electra complex that appears to have been built up around Professor Dumbledore...

The Harry Potter Saga continues when The Chamber of Secrets is opened at Hogwarts, landing some of Harry’s classmates in danger. Will Harry Potter be able to save the day?

The reading of the Harry Potter series has been quite interesting because I really liked the first movie but didn’t really care for the rest. It becomes too dark, but what does that mean exactly? So it has been an exciting process to document exactly how my feelings for the Harry Potter series evolved since the first book.

In the beginning of the book, Harry is whining and doing nothing to improve his situation. He is complaining about not hearing from his friends, complaining about the Dursleys, complaining about no magic, complaining about no quidditch. Instead of cross training for quidditch, he just complains. If I wanted to hear complaints, I wouldn’t need to pick up a book. Also, I feel that some of the extraordinariness was missing from the second book. One of the scenes that I loved in the first book was when Harry was receiving all his letters to attend Hogwarts, but this book didn’t have that. There was some animal cruelty in this book involving a firecracker, and I thought that Harry was incredibly impatient with Colin Creevey, the little boy who was asking questions. Harry, wasn’t that you just last year?

There were some portions of the book that I did enjoy, and I am grateful that the author didn’t force us into another Hogwarts Express ride and another sorting ceremony. My favorite character (although a bit overused) was Professor Gilderoy Lockheart. I was laughing so much when I saw this note, “To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockheart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly Most-Charming-Smile Award.” His various titles took up most of the note! It reminds of people who have PhD’s who try to get you to call them Doctor. Big eyeroll. Yeah. I’ll get right on that. I also loved when Gilderoy said thanks for the 46 Valentine’s Day cards, very similar to when people send themselves flowers for Valentine’s (Remember Clueless?).

The author also overly relied on fan favorites, heavily leveraging Hogwarts and the former cast of characters. I am more impressed with some other fantasy writers when they developed an entirely new set of characters and wove them into the storyline. This is a test for greatness from authors. Can they write a subsequent book without leaning so heavily on the fan favorites? In my opinion, JK Rowling didn’t meet that challenge.

Overall, it is a decent fantasy book with a system that isn’t too hard to understand. It isn’t embarrassing, but it isn’t great.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”



Like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, reading JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was another great walk down Memory Lane! And we get introduced to Dobby! Very happy I decided to revisit Harry Potter's world after all these years. Great storytelling and fun experience!

“I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there.”

"My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen,"
"The best of us must sometimes eat our words,"

Every time you loved the first book of a series, and then start reading the second - eagerly waiting for the story to continue - there's always the apprehension, that things might not be as great as the first. Well, Chamber of Secrets will convince you otherwise: everything keeps getting better.

"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?"

I was glad to find everything I loved about the first book still applicable to the second. It'll be a bit redundant if all those plus points were to be repeated here, but still, I cannot refrain from mentioning how easy it is to read the story. In no way I'm implying that the narration is plain or just too simple - for it is definitely not the case - but it is just one smooth flow. The story itself is much more detailed than the first one, mainly because setting up of environment and characters were done in the original. Though I didn't feel so before, in retrospect, the first book now feels like an introduction to the series, and this as the first real adventure.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

And again, it's impossible not to start reading the next one immediately.

"Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Hm. Okay. So I didn’t love that one. I liked it, I did! But it didn’t have the same irresistible charm as Sorcerer’s Stone for me.

I’m being vague but I don’t know if I can specify. Let me try to.

https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

For one thing, this didn’t have the same mastery of language as the first. It seemed in Sorcerer’s Stone that every word was a careful choice. Here, the phrase “after all” was used three times in one measly paragraph. It wasn’t poorly written by any stretch of the imagination...but it could be a bit sloppy.



Two: not as exciting. The second act plot-line may have been better than the first book’s, but it took forever to get to that point. The first two-thirds or three-quarters of this book dragged for me, really. And I needed some excitement to break up the endless studying and work of finals week!



Three: as I mentioned in my HPSS review, my favorite part of this series is the worldbuilding. Every aspect of this world drips with magic, and it’s so lovely. I’ll never tire of reading about Diagon Alley, or Hogwarts feasts, or Quidditch - and I cannot wait for Hogsmeade! There was a lot less discussion of the world here. God, how I wish there was. Is there more in the other books? It seems there’d have to be in Goblet of Fire, no?

Four: I missed Hermione! I didn’t realize how much of the appeal of this series for me was based on her. At least this book really confirmed my adoration of her. Absolutely one of the best YA characters ever, in my opinion. I missed Neville, too! At least Hermione had a reason for not being there, but where was the lovely Neville this whole time?



Five: In general, this book seemed a bit...stuck. Sorcerer’s Stone has a great variety of characters, and features different classes and aspects of Hogwarts life. This installment gave me cabin fever. The whole thing is limited almost entirely to Harry and Ron. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, but...I wanted there to be other people too. Hagrid wasn’t here much, nor Fred and George. Quidditch only happened, what, once? The only class truly described was Lockhart’s, which made me want to bang my head against the wall. In short, I missed everybody. All the new characters introduced here are just unbearable. (Colin, Lucius, Gilderoy...even Dobby at some points. Sorry.)

On the bright side, I don’t think this is anybody’s favorite Harry Potter book. I’m a bit deflated, but overall rather excited to get on with this reread. (Once a few of my finals are done with, though. Shiver.)



Bottom line: every series has its weak points. I’m still thrilled to be doing this reread, and am sure I’ll love the next one!