That Hapa Chick: Harry Potter

Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Super Six Sunday: My Favorite Fictional Worlds!

I'M BACK GUYS!!!!

So you may or may have not noticed I've been on a blogging hiatus for over a month now. My sister got married, I was a day camp counselor, I was super lazy for about a week, and then school started. Ironic that I'm getting back into the swing of blogging now that school is happening and I have less free time ehhhhh?

To get back into the swing of blogging I figured I'd take part in my new favorite weekly meme Super Six Sunday hosted by the gals over at Bewitched Bookworms! This week the theme is Most Original World Building, but I decided to simply do a list of my favorite fictional worlds. That's pretty much the same thing right? Let's get started!

6. Any world created by
Dr. Seuss

I don't know about any of you guys, but when I was a kid I always dreamed of going into the world of Dr. Seuss. It's just so magical, and colorful, and who hasn't been intrigued when the Once-ler says that the truffula trees smell like fresh butterfly milk? What does that even mean? I MUST KNOW. And what about Whoville? or the Jungle of Nool? Can someone please build a Dr. Seuss theme park? WHY IS THIS NOT A THING YET?!?! Okay, so apparently there is a small Dr. Seuss section at Universal Studios in Florida, but I think we can all agree that that is just not enough.

5. Gallagher Academy from The Gallagher Girls series

Maybe it's because I grew up in the Spy Kids generation, but I've always wanted to be a spy. Yes, Gallagher Academy is set in the real world and not a fictional one, but the school is fictional one of my all time favorites so I had to list it on here. Sure, there aren't any guys that attend Gallagher Academy, but think of it this way: instead of spending all your time thinking about boys, you can put that time towards studying! The Asian in me loves the idea of being bilingual and studying extra hard to get straight A's all the time. Plus, I REALLY want to learn how to do hand to hand combat. Why don't they have those kinds of classes at community college?

4. Wonderland from Alice in Wonderland

Who hasn't wanted to fall down the rabbit hole with Alice? ONLY BORING PEOPLE. Okay, sorry to all you people out there who honestly have never wanted to travel to Wonderland, but seriously I feel like it would be an awesome place to visit. Except of course for the fact that there is an insane queen there who yells almost nothing but "OFF WITH HER HEAD" all day long, but you know other than that it seems pretty great. Plus, it looked so awesome and fanastical in the Tim Burton movie version. Leave it up to Tim Burton to make something already awesome even more awesome.

3. Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia

I'm pretty sure that everyone who has read the Chronicles of Narnia (or seen the movies) has walked into a wardrobe, closet, etc, hoping to magically walk into Narnia. Unfortunately, no matter how many wardrobes and closets I walked into as a child, I never did find my way into Narnia. DRAT. The closest I got was walking through a wardrobe replica from the movie into the Narnia exhibit that came to the Arizona Science Center several years ago. So close, and yet so far! Narnia is definitely one of the best fictional worlds ever created. C.S. Lewis is brilliant.

2. The Wizarding World from Harry Potter

One word: Hogwarts.

I didn't grow up with Harry Potter the same way most other people did (darn you parents and your need to shelter me from witchcraft!) so I didn't spend my childhood wishing for a Hogwarts acceptance letter, but now that I've read the books damn, I WANT THAT LETTER. Not only is Hogwarts a boarding school (not sure what it is about boarding schools, I just find them really intriguing) but it's a boarding school that trains you in magic. Plus, if you're a wizard you get to go to Diagon Alley. Take me there!!!

1. Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings

Middle Earth is without a doubt my favorite fictional world. Just look at that picture of Hobbiton guys. Who wouldn't want to live there? Seriously, I want to live in Hobbiton so bad. If I could go off into the wilderness and find some nice secluded grassy valley, I would build myself a hobbit hole and just live there happily forever. I was meant to be a hobbit guys. Since Middle Earth isn't actually real, I'll just have to settle for the next best thing and travel off to New Zealand. That is my dream vacation. I will go there one day! IT WILL HAPPEN. But yeah, Middle Earth is the bomb and I think we can all agree that J.R.R. Tolkien is a master of world building. He wrote entire languages for his world. If that isn't great world building, I don't know what is.

So those are my six favorite fictional worlds! What are some of your favorite worlds in fiction? Let me know, and if you also took part in Super Six Sunday be sure to leave a link to your post in the comments so I can check it out!

Julia :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

What makes a book "intimidating"?

This past week my Bloglovin feed was overflowing with Top Ten Tuesday posts all about intimidating books. I loved going through all of them and seeing all the different books people found intimidating (I particularly liked leaving comments trying to convince people to read LOTR...), but the biggest thing that stuck out to me was that there are so many different reasons readers get intimidated by a book. When I think of why I'm intimidated by books, I normally just think of size, but reading other blogger's lists made me realize that there are way more reasons for why readers can fear a book than I ever even realized.

So what makes a book intimidating?

That's the thing, you can't just put book intimidation into a box. There are countless reasons why a book can be intimidating to a reader, and the reason any one book is intimidating can change depending on which reader you're asking.

It's also important to note that being intimidated by a book is not the same thing as being disinterested in a book. Both are similar, but there is one huge difference.

The difference between disinterest and intimidation

Being intimidated by a book means you actually want to read it, you're intrigued by it, but you just can't seem to push yourself to start reading it because of a variety of reasons. For example, I want to read Moby Dick, but I'm just too intimidated to start because I've heard it's boring and long.

Disinterest on the other hand means that you're not interested in a book at all. Like being intimidated, it could be because of a variety of reasons, but unlike intimidation you're not intrigued by the plot, story, or characters. Not even a little bit. For example, I know that Fifty Shades of Grey is really popular right now, and I know a lot of people are reading it, but nothing about the story intrigues me and I just don't want to read it. Period.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about a few of the reasons that people can become intimidated by a book.

Oh my freaking gosh THAT BOOK IS HUGE

Size is the biggest intimidation factor for me, as witnessed by the Does Size Matter post I did a few months ago. If a book is absolutely ginormous (like War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy) then I am so intimidated. Huge books scare me, and it's especially bad when the type is small. If a book is huge you can bet I'll put off reading it for as long as possible, if not forever. I'm clearly not the only person who feels this way because a huge number of people were citing length as a reason for book intimidation in their Top Ten Tuesday posts. What is it about length that's so darn scary? For me it's the fact that I know it will take me so long to finish. Plus, there's always the fear of not finishing the book at all. I'm the kind of reader who finishes every book they start (okay, 99% of the books they start) and because of that I hate starting a book and never finishing it. There's something so unsatisfying about it, and I honestly feel like a failure every time I do it. That's the biggest reason why size is intimidating to me.

But what if I don't like it?

I was really surprised by the number of people who listed hype as a reason that a book intimidated them. I was even more surprised that Harry Potter was one of the main culprits of hype intimidation. Maybe it's just because it was banned in my house as a kid, but as soon as I turned 18 I jumped on reading Harry Potter, hype be damned. Personally, hype never really plays a role in whether or not I'm intimidated by a book. Does it raise my expectations? Yes. But does it make me intimidated? No. In fact I'd say that hype normally makes me even more excited to read a book or series. However, I can understand why someone would be afraid that a book or a series couldn't live up to it's hype. That being said, I think everyone should just dive in, hype or not. You'll never really know if you'll enjoy something unless you try it! And if something doesn't live up to the hype or you don't enjoy it like everyone else, big deal. At least you tried. :)

That book is just too (insert adjective here) for me

Too sad, too edgy, too sexy, too violent, these are all things I saw people saying about books in their Top Ten Tuesday posts. I find this element of intimidation interesting because I would normally put books with too much of something in my disinterest category, not my intimidated category. I think it's strange and a little bit sad that some people will avoid reading books simply because they're afraid it might be too sad or too edgy. I think one of the best things about reading is being able to experience those kinds of emotions and having the chance to become educated on difficult subjects. I think if you're really interested in a book you should read it, regardless of the content and what emotions might arise because of it. For all those people out there who are intimidated by The Fault in Our Stars or The Book Thief because of their content, read them. Regardless of the crying that these books might cause I promise you the truth they hold are worth every tear.

So those were the three big reasons for book intimidation that really stood out to me. Size and the fear of not finishing a book are the two elements that really play into my book intimidation. What about you? Do you get intimidated by size like me? How about hype, or a book having too much of something? Or are there other reasons that lead to your book intimidation that I haven't even thought of yet?

Julia :)

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Does Size Matter?

This past week when I went to the library I checked out a TON of books. This isn't unusual, but this week I ended up getting a lot of big books. You know the ones: tons of pages, weigh close to 5 pounds, and they seem to stare at you from the shelf with their intimidating size and demeanor as if to say "Come on, read me, I dare you."

In fact, when I was checking out all my books all I could think was "Dang it, what have I gotten myself into? THESE ARE SOME REALLY THICK BOOKS." I then proceeded to find a nice and non-intimidating contemporary novel that had less than 300 pages. You know, just to even everything out. :P

So this brings me to the topic of this post.

Does size matter?

When you're at the bookstore, or at the library, or even just picking the next book to read of your shelf, does the size of the book matter to you?

I know that normally when people think of big daunting books they think of classics. Books like:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

But long and somewhat intimidating novels can also be found in the YA genre. Some examples are:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

All three of these books are really quite hefty for YA clocking in at 550, 578, and 870 pages (according to Goodreads). That's no light reading!

Personally, when I see a really huge book on the shelf, I do get intimidated. I know I can finish it, but I also know that it will take me more time and effort to read than the average novel. Furthermore, I don't know whether or not my investment in the novel will actually pay off in the end. What if I hate it? What if it's just so so? Then all the time I spent will not have even been worth it! And what about my yearly book goal progress? It's gonna take me nearly twice as long to finish a long novel as compared to a shorter novel. If I read this book, I'll fall behind on my goal! And yes, these are actual thoughts that run through my brain when picking out the books I want to read. Embarrassing I know. :P

So for me the answer is yes, size does matter. Of course this doesn't mean I blacklist all of the imposingly thick novels I run across. I do read big books, I just have to spread them out because if I don't and read too many in a row I tend to get burnt out.

That being said I do have a book confession to make: I CAN BE DISCRIMINATORY AGAINST BIG BOOKS. *sigh* I feel so guilty! There have definitely been a few books that I decided not to read partly because of their long length. What books were these? Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, and Going Bovine by Libba Bray immediately come to mind. Sorry Jennifer Donnelly and Libba Bray! Maybe I'll get around to reading them eventually.... :P

So how about you guys? Do you tend to avoid reading bigger books? Why or why not? Do you find yourself constantly reaching for the thinner looking novel on your shelf simply because it's less intimidating and will help you reach your reading goals faster? Have you ever consciously avoided reading a book simply because of its length? I'm so curious to hear your responses! I hope I am not alone in my big book intimidation. >.<

Now I'm off to go read The Diviners by Libba Bray. It's a biggie guys, but I will conquer it. I WILL.

Julia :)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Harry Potter Hilarity

I was on Twitter the other day and ran into a bunch of hilarious Harry Potter images so I thought I would share the Harry Potter hilarity with everyone!