What Happens After the Book Ends | Winter Biannual Bibliothon Challenge Day 7

HARRY POTTER

All the students were zoning out, snoozing in their history class as Professor Binns went on about something – the Second Wizarding War. Whatever that was.

            “Harry Potter was born on July 31 1980—“ Gasps from the classroom interrupted the lesson. From lounging and heads laying on books, to every back straight and all eyes wide.  Urgent whispers and short outbursts like “finally something interesting!” were zooming around the room as if somebody was making paper airplanes fly across to friends. “Excuse me, well excuse me you… you there! Quiet down! This is a classroom not a circus!”

            It wasn’t very often that Professor Binns acknowledged the class. In fact nothing really had changed in the history classroom of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry.  Professor Binns started his classes by coming through the blackboard, and droned on and on about everything without so much as noticing whether there was a group of students in his seats or not.  But this particular class of first years had been anxiously awaiting to hear about Harry Potter since school started, some even before then if they had older siblings or extended family who liked to talk about the Boy Who Lived and the Chosen One to learn about the famous Harry Potter. They were just young enough to have missed any opportunity to see Harry Potter speak about the Defense Against the Dark Arts but old enough to have family who had shaken Harry’s wrinkled of old aged hand.  It had been years since he died, living to be 102, but the glamour of his name was far from distinguishing.

            “As I was saying, Harry Potter was born July 31, 1980 to Lily and James Potter.  Neville Longbottom was born the same day, and so there were two children who matched the description of the prochecy. But—“

            “What prophecy?!” exclaimed a student with the colors of slytherin on his ruffled tie, sitting near the back of the room.

            “Well Mr. … uh young man, if you’d been listening, you would know that it was the Seer Sybill Trelawney’s prophecy that stated "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies [...]” and it continued on but that is all the death eater told Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort in 1979 when it was prophesized.

            Moving forward, on October 31, 1981, Voldemort attempted to end the prophecy by killing Harry Potter.  He instead made the prophecy truth by marking Potter as his equal, by attempting to kill him with the Avada Kedavra curse; Potter is the only known wizard to survive this curse.  We now know the reason Potter survived was because of the power in the magic Lily Potter left on her son, sacrificing herself for him.  Potter was also turned into a living horcrux; an 8^th of Voldemort’s soul rested in Potter until the night of the Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the second Wizarding war.”

            A girl sitting toward the front  whispered to her friend, “what the bloody hell’s a horcrux,” and in other circumstances, students may have snickered, but they all wanted to know the answer so badly they just looked to Professor Binns for an answer.

            “That is a question for your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. I only deal with the history. As I was saying….”  And so it went.

             

Top 14 Books I Read in 2014

14. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

            I just recently read (and saw the movie adaptation) of Gone Girl. It was amazing! The story is riveting and it has so many great plot twists. I do have to say that it is not something I would probably ever feel the need to reread though.

13. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

            This is the non-fiction memoir by Piper Kerman that the tv show (which I also love) by the same name is based on.  The memoir was much less sexual and much more “dry” – not as much exciting story line – than the tv show is, but I found that listening to the audiobook was still entertaining while I drove on long car rides.

12. The Giver by Lois Lowry

            This was a reread for me this year, because I hadn’t read it since I was in 7^th grade and knew that I loved it. I didn’t remember the main characters being as young as they are, but the story is such a classic, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.

11. Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

            This was such an unexpected story for me! The main character is young, and so some of the language he used was odd, but ignoring that, I absolutely fell in love with the very real and painful living situation he lives in, and I love the fact that art plays such an important role.

10. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

            This book was overhyped, and so there is some stigma surrounding it, but I found that the plot twist and the big reveal of what happened with the group of main characters was so shocking, that I was just so emotional. And that is always a very good thing for me.

9. Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

            The world building in this first novel of the Heir Chronicles is glorious! I loved the protagonist, and his friends who play a big role in the story. There are some hilarious moments in the story as well as dramatic moments.

8. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

            This was a book that I started without having ever heard of it, I was just looking for a Jennifer Donnelly book. And I was most definitely not disappointed. 

7. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

            This was just a feel good book to the max.  The main character and most of the other important characters are very young – in 6^th grade – it doesn’t feel like only young children should be reading it.  It was for me.

6. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

            This was a beautiful story.  It was weird, and it crossed between the real and an unnatural world and it was fascinating for it.

5. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

            This plot was glorious! They went into such detail, talking about the evolution of the language used on the ship years after they’ve left earth, and about how nobody looks like different races and everything else.  I just couldn’t get enough.  I cannot wait to continue with the series.

4. Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

            The writing in this story was beautiful.  I’ve said it before in videos but it was like reading a dance.  That’s how it felt. There wasn’t much of a plot, it was more about the descriptions of the circus that only came at night and what magic went on there. It was amazing.

3. Winger by Andrew Smith

            This one was heartbreaking for me, but it was wonderful nonetheless, and it just hits hard.  The characters were very real to me and it was beautiful.

2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

            This entire world was just – wow – I still can’t believe how real it seemed, and there were so many layers to the world, the characters, and everything else that’s involved with this story. It really makes you think about where our future is headed.

1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

            THE SUPERHERO STORY.  I thought this was going to feel too young for my taste, but it was an adult superhero story at its finest.  The characters are well developed, twisted, and there were no good men in the game. There were no black and white good or bad guys.  Everyone was a little fucked up and it was simply a matter of who was more fucked up. Amazing.

BONUS: The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

            This is a written play of short stories that Eve Ensler heard from real women and then performed as a one woman show all together in one play.  I think every woman, but really every human should read (or go see it live!) this book! It just tells a whole lot about women and how well we may or may not know our vaginas.

Reactions to Mockingjay Part 1

When I went to see this movie, I was blown away. And although the movie was amazing, and it was a great adaptation, and the actors did great, that’s not what did it. 

There’s a scene where Katniss goes to district 8 and goes into the make shift hospital for those who were wounded in the capital’s bombing of the district. And somebody in the crowd of people asks, “are you here to fight with us?” and she says, “yes” and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the audience.  Someone put their arm up in the three fingered salute, and right after everyone on screen did the same. 

The first thought that flickered in my mind was “how silly this person sitting in a comfy theater watching this movie is, doing the revolution’s symbol of the movie. And then I had an OH SHIT moment. Because this movie is dangerous.  Not in this country where we have democracy. But all over the world, this movie could be seen as dangerous.  It could be a REAL spark for revolution all around the world in countries where there is corrupt leadership.

So when I got home I did a search. “Mockingjay Part 1 banned”

I found this on tumblr that I then reblogged. http://misssassykassie.tumblr.com/post/103504091406/secondstartotherae-there-are-countries-that

“There are countries that have banned Mockingjay for fear their people will finally rise up against them and start their own revolutions. There are people in Thailand that have been arrested for doing the three fingered salute.

If you still think these books about people standing up to their governments are just fads for teenagers you are blind and mistaken.”

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/573620/20141122/hunger-games-mockingjay-part-1-three-fingered.htm#.VHPRzb5Hb04

It turns out that in Thailand, protesters against martial law there used the three finger salute themselves as an act of defiance, which resulted in the ban of the movie when it was released.

It feels unbelievable that this trendy piece of writing can have real life effects.  But its happening! Here in real life! That is amazing!  I often forget that living in the United States, I have a lot of freedom that not everyone in the world is privy to.  That what just may simply be entertainment to me is a spark of a revolution somewhere else in the world, today in the same exact moment.

 So I guess I’m writing this just as a little reminder to keep my eyes open about the rest of the real world that I’m sharing my experiences with. 

How will we continue to shape history?

I recently came across this link to a wonderful photo museum of some very important instances that have happened in the last fourteen years.

I strongly encourage you to take a look at the photos before continuing reading this post, so you can see what I saw.  Because as I was scrolling down, reading the captions of these immensely emotional photos from the last 14 years, all I could think was “How will people reflect on what we have done?”

Here in the United States, we spend hours of our days for at least 12 years learning about the past.  We sit in a classroom and listen to teachers tell us what happened from the times of Mesopotamia all the way up to the Civil Rights Movement (usually).

And eventually this present will be the past that has to be taught.  And what will they say about us?

What we do is important. The choices we make are important.  And so with every step, I’d like to make a reminder to everyone, including myself, to remember that we are all humans of the 21^st century on this planet.  We all matter.

American Horror Story: First Impressions (s04e01)

So American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 1 premiered a week and a half ago. 

Since I did a trailerreaction on my channel, I thought I’d update you on my thoughts about the first episode of the season.

I really enjoyed it!  It was weird, and a little bit of a mind fuck, the visuals are beautiful in the creepiest ways, and it just was all around riveting.  I don’t know if it’ll live up to the first two seasons, (the second of which is my favorite) but I think it will definitely surpass the third season (The Coven) which I was not a fan of.

SPOILER ALERT:

I am really enjoying the dynamic of Sarah Paulson’s two headed character, and the sisters’ mind talking thing.  Its giving us a nice insight into their own thoughts.

The whole clown thing throughout the show, was probably the freakiest part for me, and I loved the choice of keeping us in the dark of whether or not he’s part of the group until the very end.

A negative here: when Evan Peters “fingers” the woman at the little party the housewives throw, all I could think was… there is no way it would be that easy, she would have screeched if he just straight up put his hand up there like that.

I also thought the mother and son customers at the end were creepy as fuck!  I’m very interested in learning more about they’re relationship, because it seems like it could definitely get weird between the two of them, let alone what will happen in the show as a whole with them.

Lastly I want to say that I’m so glad Jessica Lange shows off her “freaky” bits at the end, revealing she doesn’t have legs.  I’m interested to know if the rest of the group knows that she is “one of them” too or if they think she’s “normal.” 

What were your thoughts on the AHS premiere? Do you have a favorite character yet?  Do you have any complaints about the first episode?