The Hogwarts Tag

I saw Catherine @ We'll Meet it When it Does do this tag and had to have a go at it myself!

Am I pure-blood, half-blood or muggle born?

Muggle-born.

Which wand chose me?

10" Beech wood with Unicorn hair core. Aw yeah.

‘The true match for a beech wand will be, if young, wise beyond his or her years, and if full-grown, rich in understanding and experience. Beech wands perform very weakly for the narrow-minded and intolerant. Such wizards and witches, having obtained a beech wand without having been suitably matched (yet coveting this most desirable, richly hued and highly prized wand wood), have often presented themselves at the homes of learned wandmakers such as myself, demanding to know the reason for their handsome wand’s lack of power. When properly matched, the beech wand is capable of a subtlety and artistry rarely seen in any other wood, hence its lustrous reputation.’

Did I take an owl, a cat, a rat or a toad?

It has to be an owl. Especially if I could have an eagle owl; I'd call him Apollo.

Where did the sorting hat put me?

Ravenclaw.

What house did I want to be in?

Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

What lessons are my favourite and least favourite?

I'm a huge history nerd so I think History of Magic would probably be one of my favourite subjects, and I think Divination taught by Firenze would be quite interesting (sorry Professor Trelawney). I was quite good at baking at school, so I think I could transfer those skills to Potions and I hope I wouldn't find DADA or Charms too difficult. Care of Magical Creatures sounds so fun, too, and I'd be great at Muggle Studies! I have a feeling Transfiguration is what I'd struggle with most on the basis that I was never very good at languages at school, so trying to transform something I know into something completely different is something I struggle with.

The form my patronus takes:

A snowy owl.

What does a Boggart look like for me?

I don't know and I don't think I want to know. I'm terrified of spiders, but I don't know if they'd be my Boggart considering Boggarts play on a person's biggest fear - for me that's probably more along the lines of failure.

Do I partake in any magical hobbies or school sports?

I've never been a big sports fan, but considering I'm a muggle-born and this is a sport that involves flying on broomsticks I'd have to give Quidditch a try - I was pretty good at badminton and tennis, so maybe I'd be a good beater.

Where would I find myself hanging in my free time?

The Ravenclaw Common Room's in the Astronomy Tower, so I'd have to try my hand at some star-gazing in my free time. Other than that I'd probably spend time reading in that cool library, hanging out with friends and exploring the school. I wouldn't mind heading into Hogsmeade for some butterbeer, either! I joke, we all know if I went to Hogsmeade I'd spend the day in Flourish & Blotts.

What would I most likely get detention for?

Probably not getting homework done - but I really would try!

What career do I want after leaving Hogwarts?

I mean if you're a muggle-born pretty much any magical career is going to be cool, right? I think I'd have to be a Historian of Magic, though, with my particular focus on the history of European witch trials.

If you want to have a go at this, consider yourself tagged!

Top Ten Tuesday | Things I Want My (Hypothetical) Daughter to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a Mother's Day freebie, which is weird for me as Mother's Day's in March in the UK. I remember doing something along the lines of my favourite mothers in fiction some time last year, it doesn't feel like long ago anyway, so today I'm going to talk about the books I'd want my daughter to read.

I don't have any children, and I don't know if I'll ever have any, but if I ever have a daughter I hope she reads these books:

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: If I ever have a daughter, I want her to know there's nothing wrong with the word 'feminist' and there's certainly nothing wrong with identifying as one. Feminism means equality, not misandry, and I want her to grow up fighting for the equal rights of everyone, in whichever way she feels most comfortable doing it. This little book is an ideal introduction to feminism, and I hope, if I ever have a daughter, she doesn't have to fight as much as I've had to, and her daughters after her have to fight even less.

How To Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis: I really, really enjoyed this memoir about Samantha Ellis's relationship with her favourite heroines throughout her life; she thinks about the effect these heroines had on her growing up, and returns to them to see if they still make her feel the way they once made her feel now. It got me thinking about the heroines in my life, and I'd love to share that with my hypothetical daughter, too.

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman: This is the first novel I can remember reading that made me bawl. Noughts & Crosses is something of a British children's classic now, I'm not sure how well-known it is outside the UK but I think it's fairly well-known, and it's the first book that really made me think about race and terrorism and how to see something from both sides. It's still one of my favourites.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: There are some books in the world that are perfect books, and Rebecca is one such book. Daphne du Maurier has quickly become one of my favourite authors after I started reading her work a few years ago. You can only read Rebecca for the first time once and it's an experience I think every reader should try.

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister: The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic, but the picture book I remember loving most when I was little is The Rainbow Fish. It's a lovely story with a lovelier message and I adored it.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling: Does this warrant an explanation? I was lucky enough to grow up as part of the Potter generation, it'd be great to share that with my children.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: This novelisation of the story of the last woman to be executed in Iceland is fiction, there's no way of knowing if Agnes Magnúsdóttir was simply a murderess or a woman who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this book is a brilliant reminder that there are two sides to every story, and sometimes people are forced into criminality by situations they can't help and are then punished for it. I want any children I might have to be able to consider both sides of a story.

The Good Immigrant ed. by Nikesh Shukla: I'm proud to live in a multi-cultural country and recent political events have frightened me a lot. I don't want to live in a country built on ignorance, discrimination and prejudice and if I ever have children I want them to be open-minded, kind and aware of the struggles other people might face simply because they're viewed as 'other'.

The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson: Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite writer growing up, she was never afraid to tackle issues like bullying, foster care, mental health, terminal illness and many others. The Illustrated Mum was always my favourite.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: The relationships between mothers and daughters are fairly toxic in this novel, which was my favourite read of last year, and if I ever have a daughter I'd want her to read this so she'd know that sometimes parents make mistakes, sometimes they make terrible mistakes, and it's okay for her to tell me how she feels and to pursue the things in life that will make her happy. It's her life to live, not mine.

What did you talk about this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Down in One

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a 'Read In One Sitting' theme, so, shockingly, I'm going to talk about the books I read in one sitting. Because I lack imagination today.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling: This arrived during the weekend, a blissful day when I wasn't at school and had nothing to do, so I holed myself up on the sofa with snacks and started reading as soon as this book arrived and finished it that same day. I had to know what happened, and I had to know what happened before the internet ruined it for me.

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: This little horror novella is the perfect read for anyone who loves horror movies, particularly found footage movies like The Blair Witch Project or Trollhunter. I read this in an hour or two, so it's a great book to pick up if you're in the mood to start and finish something in the same day.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli: My favourite book of 2017 so far, which I really wasn't expecting because I loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and I didn't see how this book could be any better. I was lucky enough to read it early thanks to NetGalley, and once I started it I couldn't stop and devoured it one evening after work.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: It's a very rare instance in which I don't read a graphic novel in one sitting, but I have such fond memories of this one because it took me on such an emotional rollercoaster. Like The Upside of Unrequited, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did and it ended up giving me lots of feelings.

Malkin Child by Livi Michael: I read this little book in one sitting while I was studying for my MA, and was lucky enough to meet the author and get a signed copy. The Pendle Witch Trials are one of the most famous witch trials in Britain, most famous for the fact that it was the testimony of a nine year old girl who sent ten people, including her own mother, sister and brother, to the gallows. That little girl, Jennet Device, has been depicted as something of a cruel child ever since, and I enjoyed Livi Michael's more sympathetic view of her.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood: Another one I read at uni, this time while doing my undergrad degree, and a book that also happened to be my very first (and so far only) Margaret Atwood read. I'm determined to read more of Atwood's work this year, but this was a brilliant introduction to her. If you're a fan of retellings I recommend picking this one up!

The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark: I think this book has to be read in one sitting to really feel the impact of it, and I recommend picking it up if you haven't already - I read it in January and loved it.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: I'm sure I read this as a child, but I remember reading it one sitting during a five hour coach ride; I had to study it at university, so it was a lot of fun to revisit it as a student rather than only a reader and there was so much in it that passed me by as a little girl.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman: It's easy to read this book in one sitting, it's not long at all, but this is one of those rare instances in which I enjoyed the film adaptation more than the book itself.

Woman Who Brings the Rain by Eluned Gramich: This teeny memoir made the English-language non-fiction shortlist at last year's Wales Book of the Year and it ended up being the first book I read this year. I enjoyed it, but I'd love Eluned Gramich to write a longer book about her time in Japan.

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Ten Bookish Facts About Me

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Facts About Me', whether they're personal, bookish or any other kind. So this week I decided to do something a little different: these are facts about me that I share with various heroines from various books!

1. Like Hermione, I loved school. I was also a bit of a know-it-all, but I think Hermione is far brighter than I ever was.

2. Like Mary, I was raised in Yorkshire. I was also born there, but I moved around to a few different places and had three different primary schools before we finally settled for nine years in North Yorkshire, which is a beautiful part of England.

3. Like Matilda, I love to read. And like Matilda I've loved to read since I was very young. I wouldn't have a book blog if I didn't!

4. Like Sofia, I was once religious. I really enjoyed Sofia Khan is Not Obliged because it's one of the only books I've read where a main character has practised a religion and hasn't been mocked for it, and the plot hasn't involved her losing her religion. I class myself as agnostic now, but I was christened Catholic and as a child I loved going to church with my mum; I still find churches to be very comforting places even now.

5. Like Nix, I love history. Sadly I can't time travel like Nix, but a girl can dream...

6. Like Violet, I'm short and stocky. I have big hands, big feet and big boobs, but I'm only 5'2". Trying to put together a whole new outfit is a nightmare.

7. Like Catherine, I'm a fangirl. I don't let my favourite books and shows influence me so much that I'd accuse another person of murder, but I can certainly empathise with Catherine's ability to get a little carried away with a good novel!

8. Like Jo, I have sisters. Jo is the second oldest of four sisters while I'm the youngest of three, and I'm the youngest by quite a few years; there's only two years between my big sisters, but there's ten years between me and my oldest sister and eight between me and my middle sister.

9. Like Meche, I've loved a friend.

10. Like Alexia, I mainly attend parties for the food. Omnomnom.

Which heroes and heroines from fiction are you similar to?

Top Ten Tuesday | My Favourite Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Favourite 2016 Releases So Far This Year', but I can't do that because I haven't read much so far this year, certainly haven't read many 2016 releases so far this year, and haven't read many favourites so far this year. So instead I'm going to talk about my favourite books of all time!

Childhood Favourites

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl: I had a real hard time trying to decide whether I was going to put Fantastic Mr. Fox or The Magic Finger on this list. Like many, many children all around the world I grew up on Roald Dahl, he's the children's author, and while I love so much of his work, for whatever reason it was always Fantastic Mr. Fox I requested at bedtime. In fact my dad read this to me so many times (at my request) that I knew it off by heart. I loved books about animals when I was a little girl, and I think I loved Fantastic Mr. Fox so much because it was about animals outsmarting humans. This book is always close to my heart, and The Magic Finger is a very, very, very, very close second.

Witch Child by Celia Rees: I think I've mentioned this book many times now on my blog, but it's Celia Rees I have to thank for first getting me into historical fiction when I read Pirates! when I was about eleven or twelve years old. I read Witch Child when I was around fourteen and just loved it. It's influenced so much of what I read and what I write to this day, and a few years ago I was lucky enough to meet Celia Rees and get my copy signed!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling: Obviously Harry Potter was going to get a mention on this list, how could it not? I don't think The Order of the Phoenix is the most popular book in the series, but it's always been my favourite despite the fact that it's the book in which my favourite character dies. I wrote a blog post all about why I love it so much here if you want to check it out!

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman: I'm pretty sure I read this book around the same time I read Witch Child, maybe a year later, and it broke me. If you haven't read this book yet, you need to; Blackman addresses racism in such a clever way, and I adore Sephy and Callum.

Sabriel by Garth Nix: Another book I first read when I was around fourteen. I love Lirael and Abhorsen too, and as far as readers go I think Lirael tends to be a little more popular, but I'll forever have a soft spot for the very first book in this series, with a heroine who first introduced me to the idea that a fantasy book about a woman doesn't have to have a romance at the heart of it.

Recent Favourites

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters: Sarah Waters is one of my favourite authors, and while Fingersmith is also a fantastic book it's The Little Stranger I love most. It's slow and spooky and so well executed, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since I read it.

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Here we have one of the only books partially set during high school that's actually reminded me of how it felt to be a teenager. This book means an awful lot to me for reasons I'm probably never going to discuss on here because they're just too close to my heart, but as well as that personal affinity I felt to this book it also just so happens to be a fantastic story with fantastic characters. If you love magical realism, music and misfits, you need this book in your life!

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: This is the kind of high fantasy I love. It's not about the end of the world or defeating a dark lord, it's a coming of age story mixed with courtly intrigue and some of the best fictional characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I love this book.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers: To me, this is the sci-fi equivalent of The Goblin Emperor. It's a bit funnier, a little like reading Firefly, but it's science fiction that doesn't involve the future of the galaxy being at stake; instead the story revolves around a group of people on a journey in an enclosed space, and Chambers uses this setting to explore ideas about gender, sexuality, family and what it means to be human. This book is exquisite.

Feed by Mira Grant: I sobbed when I finished this book. I'm still not over it.

Which books made your list this week? I'm looking forward to some 2016 recommendations!

Top Ten Tuesday | Mum's the Word

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a freebie, and I'm always a little reluctant when it comes to freebies because I feel like there's so much pressure to do a really cool topic, but it's only pressure that I put upon myself because I'm actually insane.

It was my mum's birthday on Saturday, so this week I thought I'd share my top ten mothers, and mother figures (because let's face it, so many characters have dead mothers), from fiction!

Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Come on, Molly is the ultimate mother. She's a Mother with a capital 'M'. She'd mother the world if she could, and she certainly gives it a good go throughout the series. I love her.

Kat Hall from If I Stay by Gayle Forman: I thought Kat and Denny were such fun, fantastic parents. Kat seems so laid back and wise, and I love how she was portrayed in the film adaptation, too.

Auntie Barbara from Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson: I loved this book when I was a little girl, and I have such fond memories of Auntie Barbara. I almost feel a little cruel putting her on this list when Jayni - or Lola Rose, as she prefers to be called - has her mother, but Auntie Barbara is amazing.

Marmee from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Like Molly Weasley, I think Marmee is another staple of fictional mothers. She wants her daughters to do well and grow into accomplished young women, but she wants them to find their way in the world their way; she supports Jo when she wants to write, she supports Meg when she chooses to marry for love over money, she supports Amy when she decides to pursue art in Europe, and she supports Beth by letting her take each day at a time, and never forcing her into anything that will make her uncomfortable.

Alana from Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: What I love about Alana is that she's the heroine of the story, not the heroine's mother. Just because Alana has a child it doesn't make her any less Alana, and it's good to see the struggles that come with parenthood (especially if half the galaxy is trying to murder you) rather than a saintly mother figure.

Grace Goodwin from The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe: I love Grace because at first it seems like Katherine Howe is doing something stereotypical with the hippie, new age mother and the studious daughter who just doesn't understand her, and then it's revealed that Grace is a lot wiser than people assume, she just shares her wisdom in a different way.

Hannah Thornton from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell: She might not be particularly likeable, but any woman who can survive in the 19th century, and raise two children well, after her husband loses all the family's money and then commits suicide is a pretty good egg in my book. This woman's got steel in her blood.

Miss Honey from Matilda by Roald Dahl: Who doesn't love Miss Honey? I always loved that Matilda ended up with the kind of family she deserved, and that Miss Honey did, too.

Narcissa Malfoy from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: I think Narcissa's a fascinating character, and I love that we can never quite place her. She's not good or bad, she's many, many shades of grey, and she's a pretty fantastic mother.

Michelle Benoit from Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: I really wish we'd learned a little more about this lady! When I realised Marissa Meyer would be doing a sci-fi retelling of Little Red Cap I was curious about how the grandmother would be handled, and the fact that she used to be a military pilot is just so cool. Michelle was amazing, and I thought her relationship with Scarlet was lovely.

What did you talk about this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds'; this includes characters who read, characters who write, characters who work in a bookstore... You get the idea.

This will be my last TTT post for a few weeks, as I'm going on a sort-of hiatus to get some much needed writing done!

Oddly enough I did struggle with this list a little. I have a lot of books about readers on my shelves, but I haven't read a lot of them yet; Among Others by Jo Walton, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly are all books I still need to read.

While I often find myself reading about readers, I think writers have a tendency to gravitate towards readers, I also read a lot of books about people with other interests. As an avid reader I already know what it's like to be an avid reader, so I like to read about people who enjoy music and maths and science and food.

Anyway, in the end I actually ended up with eleven rather than ten. I tried to narrow it down, but I didn't want to cut any of these characters from my list!

So let's get the most obvious choice over with first...

Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Of course Hermione was going to be on this list, and I wanted to include her because she seems to read more nonfiction than fiction, particularly while she's at Hogwarts. I don't read about enough characters who enjoy reading history books and academic books, so I couldn't leave Hermione out!

Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Jo reads and writes voraciously, and she's always been one of my favourite classic heroines because of it. The book can be a little sickly sweet at times but I love the March sisters, and I particularly love the 1994 adaptation starring Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Christian Bale!

Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey is a fairly recent read for me, and I loved Catherine's obsession with Gothic Literature. I ended up studying a lot of Gothic while I was at university, so it was fun to revisit so many of the tropes with Catherine. I'd love to think that if Catherine were to live in the 21st century she'd be a big SFF fan, dragging Henry Tilney to Comic Con so they can cosplay as Han and Leia.

Sebastian from Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Did you really think I was going to miss an opportunity to mention this book? You thought wrong! I fell in love with Meche and Sebastian when I read this book, and it was nice to see Meche as the science-minded character while Sebastian took up the role of book lover, as so often it's women who are portrayed as artsy and men who are portrayed as logical.

Dee from Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch, and Stjepan Šejić: I think any introverted book-lover could relate to Dee who, while at a party, was much more interested in reading her book than being hit on.

Haroun from Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: If you haven't read this book then I highly recommend that you do, especially if you're a fan of retellings and books about books. Haroun learns to love stories all over again when he goes on an adventure to save the Sea of Stories, which is being poisoned and putting his father Rashid, a storyteller, out of business.

Matilda Wormwood from Matilda by Roald Dahl: Matilda is another character who just had to be on this list. I think Roald Dahl will always be remembered as one of the best children's authors of all time, and one of the reasons he was so brilliant was because he wrote for everyone. Not only is Matilda a fun story, but it's also a deeply hopeful story for the people in this world who, sadly, are born into families that just don't appreciate them.

Lirael from Lirael by Garth Nix: Another introverted bookworm, I first read Lirael when I was around fourteen and I've loved The Old Kingdom series ever since. Both Lirael and Sabriel are quite bookish, but Lirael is similar to Matilda in that books help her to feel less alone.

Dash from Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: Really I could have used Dash and Lily for this, but I decided to go with Dash because, if I remember correctly, he liked to collect dictionaries. If that's not a book nerd then I don't know what is!

Maddy Whittier from Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon: When you're allergic to basically everything and you can't leave the house, you have a lot of time to read.

Mo Folchart from the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke: There were so many characters I could have picked from this series for this topic, but I ended up going with Mo because he was one of my favourites. It certainly doesn't hurt that I picture him like Brendan Fraser in my head. (Yes, I know, the film adaptation was terrible, but Brendan Fraser is very pretty, okay?)

Who made your list?

Be, Room, Cliff | Harry Potter Month

Harry Potter Month continues! Hosted by Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows and Faith @ GeekyZooGirl, Harry Potter Month is taking place throughout July - you can find out everything you need to know about it here!

I'm a little bit behind schedule with my posts; this post was supposed to go up last Friday, but last Friday I was in Italy and I completely forgot to schedule anything because I'm a moron. So let's try that again...

Today I'm doing something that's just plain, good ol' fashioned fun. Many of you are probably familiar with the Marry, Kiss, Cliff Tag, and the Be, Room, Cliff Tag is much the same, only it's more along the lines of bromance than romance.

So, if you're a heterosexual lady you'd talk about some fictional fellas for Marry, Kiss, Cliff, but for Be, Room, Cliff you have to decide between three different female characters. Pick one to be, one to be your roommate, and one to throw off a cliff.

My favourite wizarding family in Harry Potter is the Black family so, naturally, I thought I'd do Be, Room, Cliff with Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa!

Be

I thought long and hard about this one. Now obviously I don't want to be Bellatrix - she's cray - but I like both Andromeda and Narcissa. Ultimately, however, I think I'd have to be Andromeda. Now obviously out of her and Narcissa we could argue she gets the short straw, she loses her husband and her only child while Narcissa does not, but I don't think I could live with the few prejudices Narcissa has. That's not to say Andromeda isn't prejudiced - obviously she has no problem with muggleborns because she marries one - but I've never been fond of the fandom's way of her painting her as this saintly figure who loves everyone for who they are on the inside. We know from the way Tonks talks about her that she's not always easy to live with. But that's one of the reasons I love her despite the fact that we see so little of her; Andromeda, like Narcissa, is on no one's side but her own.

Room

If I'm not going be Bellatrix then I'm sure as hell not going to share a room with her, especially if I'm the sister who married the muggleborn. I like to imagine that Narcissa would be quite a fun roommate; maybe not in a 'let's eat Ben & Jerry's and watch Bridget Jones's Diary' kind of way, but certainly in a 'let's judge the rest of the world together' kind of way. And frankly most of my friendships have been formed over a mutual dislike of other people. I'm painting a lovely picture of myself, aren't I? Plus I really love Narcissa, I think she's a fantastic character, and considering how much of a neat freak she is I think I'd go mad if Andromeda was my roommate. I like a bit of organised chaos.

Cliff

Don't get me wrong, Bellatrix is another fantastic, fascinating character, but out of the three she's the one I'd have to kill. I don't want to be her, I certainly don't want to live with her, and ultimately she killed my favourite character; if she's going to go around throwing people through suspicious looking upholstery, I'm going to take pleasure in throwing her over the side of the cliff. Besides, knowing her, she'd probably be fine.

So what would you do?

Why I Love The Order of the Phoenix | Harry Potter Month

It's Harry Potter Month!

Throughout July Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows Reviews and Faith @ GeekyZooGirl are hosting Harry Potter month, and I just couldn't resist signing up and joining in. I mean, come on, it's Harry Potter!

I'm a very proud Ravenclaw this month, and if it weren't so warm I'd be wearing my Ravenclaw scarf to show off my House pride, but if I put it on now I think I'd spontaneously combust.

So this month I'll be posting several Harry Potter themed posts. For those of you who aren't fans of Harry Potter or who just aren't interested in it, I will be posting other things as well but I'm not going to apologise for my Potter enthusiasm. I really love this series.

Within the Potterhead fandom there are a few questions that tend to arise quite regularly, one of which just happens to be: Which of the books is your favourite?

Though I love all the books - I don't dislike any of them - I do have a favourite: 

The Order of the Phoenix.

As much as The Goblet of Fire is the book in which the series begins its descent into darkness, it isn't really until The Order of the Phoenix that shit gets real. Harry's coping not only with Voldemort's return and Cedric Diggory's death, but with PTSD, being attacked by dementors, being subsequently expelled from Hogwarts for repelling said dementors, having to go through a trial led by a mentally unhinged politician, being called a liar by the media and half the school when he's cleared of all charges, being tortured by the latest DADA teacher, thinking he and Voldemort might not be so dissimilar after all... Basically, the kid struggles with a lot.

I've seen a few people over the years saying that The Order of the Phoenix is their least favourite of the series - which is fine, by the way, we're all different and we all have different tastes! - but it's always been my favourite. Despite the fact that it's the book in which my favourite character dies.

I'm still not over it.

So, why is The Order of the Phoenix my favourite?

I'm not sure I could sum up everything I love about this particular book in the series in just one blog post, but there is one person in this book that meant it was inevitable it would be my favourite:

Now before you start to worry about my sanity, I can whole-heartedly assure you that I do not like Dolores Umbridge. In fact in terms of villains I probably hate her more than I hate Voldemort, and that's saying something.

What I love about The Order of the Phoenix is how the students fight back when Umbridge takes over Hogwarts. There's something so satisfying about seeing Harry and co. take justice into their own hands, especially when it's clear that nobody else is going to help them, and when I was 15-16 -around the same age as Harry and his friends in Book 5 - this story was just what I needed.

I don't want to turn this into a sob story, but when I was in school I was very lucky in that I was never bullied by any of my fellow students. During my GCSEs, however, I was bullied by a teacher. To this day I still don't know what I did to irritate her so much, and looking back I wish I'd been brave enough to stand up to her and tell her that how she made me feel was not acceptable. It got to the point where I would pretend to be ill so I didn't have to go into school on the days when I had her lessons. It wasn't good.

She seemed to take pleasure in belittling me in front of the rest of the class. She'd punish me for things other students did, knowing that other students had done whatever it was she was dishing out a punishment for, and she never passed a chance to snap at me and make me feel like an idiot. I already had low self-esteem during my teens, and she made me feel so unbelievably small.

The worst thing was there was no one I could tell. Who would the school believe, me or one of their teachers? Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and I broke down in front of my dad, and though I initially didn't want him to for fear it would only make things worse, he rang the school and spoke to my Head of Year. After that she left me alone, to the point that she just passed me on to another teacher, but not before she'd made it seem like it was the lessons I was struggling with, and not her, in front of the whole class.

In summation: she was vile, and I don't know why she became a teacher.

Real life isn't like books. Sometimes the people who wrong us pay and sometimes they don't. I didn't have enough confidence to stand up to that teacher, but Harry and his friends did have enough courage to stand up to Umbridge, and for me reading The Order of the Phoenix feels like justice. When Harry fights his Umbridge, he fights mine, too.

Don't Judge a Book by its Author

Prepare yourself for a little rant: this is something I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while.

We all have our favourite authors. These are those rare breeds of writers whose books we'll always buy regardless of what they're about because we're certain it's going to be amazing, but of course that isn't always the case. I have a few favourite authors myself - I'd like to read as much of Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire's work as possible and I love a lot of Neil Gaiman's stuff - but for the most part I've never been the kind of reader who will blindly buy something purely because it has that author's name attached to it.

Some readers will buy something without really knowing what it's about, only knowing that they like that author, and that's fine! In many ways I admire their dedication to show their love and respect and admiration for the author of their choice, but what irritates me are the reviews that come afterwards.

Not 'Harry Potter and the Casual Vacancy'

The best example I can think of is the response J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy received upon its release. I haven't read The Casual Vacancy because the premise doesn't really interest me, and it definitely didn't interest me upon its initial release. I will get around to it at some point now because I have a copy which my parents picked up for me when I was ill, knowing how fond I am of J.K. Rowling, but it's not my priority.

I saw a LOT of Harry Potter fans immediately buying this book, and then being somehow surprised that The Casual Vacancy was nothing like Harry Potter. Because of course it wasn't, and Rowling never said it would be.

The Casual Vacancy has ended up getting some pretty shoddy ratings that, to me, seem completely unfair because they're ratings given by people who didn't really seem to acknowledge what the book was about. All that seemed to matter was that it had Rowling's name attached to it.

I'm sure I'm generalising a lot here; there are plenty of people who didn't buy The Casual Vacancy, and then there are plenty of people who bought it because the premise did interest them and it was a story they wanted to read. This is something I've seen happen a few times, however, and it's always grated on my nerves.

If you love an author, that's great, but if you read all of their books expecting them to be just like one book/series then you're always going to set yourself up for disappointment, and you're probably hindering the author more than helping them with a negative review.

What are your thoughts?

The Unpopular Opinions Tag!

Today I'm here with the Unpopular Opinions Tag. This was originally created over on YouTube by TheBookArcher, and you can find the original video here!

A Popular Book or Series You Didn't Like

I feel like there have been quite a few, but I'm going to go with Divergent by Veronica Roth, which I ended up DNFing. Me and that book just didn't click. I thought the protagonist had zero personality and the world was entirely unbelievable; I haven't gone near any dystopia for a while because with the whole hype around it I just got sick to the back teeth of looking at it, but for me a good dystopia has to be threatening. I have to believe that the events in the book are possible - that's why The Hunger Games works so well, because we are obsessed with violence and reality TV and celebrity culture. Sadly the society that Roth created just didn't do it for me, but props to her for finishing the trilogy the way she did - that takes guts!

See? Even Tris doesn't believe it.

A Popular Book or Series You Love but Everyone Else Hates

I'm not sure if there is one. I tend to be the grumpy person who doesn't like the popular book/series, so I have no idea.

A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with

I'm still really mad that Katniss ended up with Peeta. I didn't want her to end up with Gale, either, I just wanted everyone to leave the poor girl alone. I wrote a post about My Problem with Peeta if you're interested in hearing my thoughts!

A Popular Genre that You Rarely Reach For

Contemporary I guess? I mean I think the genre I read the least of is horror, but I don't think horror is hugely popular amongst the other readers I know anyway. I don't mind contemporary, but it's not my first choice.

A Popular/Beloved Character You Do NOT Like

I was going to say Peeta again here, until I remember how much I hate Snape. I know Snape is a favourite amongst quite a few Harry Potter fans, but I hate the guy. I hate that he's a teacher who bullies his pupils (seriously what kind of adult bullies children?) I hate that Neville hates him so much that Snape is his boggart (really think about that for a moment; Neville's living during an incredibly dangerous time of wizarding history and he's seen what the cruciatus curse can do firsthand, but what terrifies him most in the world is one of his teachers) and I hate that everyone dismisses his horrific behaviour as okay because he was in love with someone who didn't love him back. Boo-fucking-hoo. I'm glad he died.

A Popular Author You Can't Seem to Get Into

I tried reading Throne of Glass and just couldn't get into it, and A Court of Thorns and Roses doesn't interest me in the slightest. I know she's hugely popular, but I'm sadly not a fan.

A Popular Book Trope You're Tired of Seeing

I loathe love triangles with a passion. I really, really, really hate them.

A Popular Series You have No Interest in Reading

The Shatter Me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi. There's another love triangle in this trilogy, and I know everyone loves Warner but I hate it when a character's shitty behaviour is excused by daddy issues.

What movie or TV adaptation do you prefer to the book?

For the most part I do think books are better than their movies, but I also like to look at the two mediums separately and I'll always find adaptations fascinating, but one film I liked more than the book would have to be Henry Selick's adaptation of Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

The book is wonderful, but the film just adds more and it's marvellous. Plus Henry Selick also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas so he's always going to be one of my favourite directors.

I tag:

Anyone who wants to do this tag!