Thanks to the courage and bravery of Lily Nott (Litha @ Victorian Soul Critiques), who earned 40 points and won the Diagon Alley Scavenger Hunt, the House Cup goes to…
Thank you for participating! It was lots of awesome Harry Potter fun!
It’s #HarryPotterBookNight! From now until 9 pm CST (10 pm EST), I’ll be here and on Twitter chatting about all things Harry Potter and responding to commenters. Below are a bunch of activities that you can participate in, as well as some other fun HP related links, but first up, we all need to find out our Harry Potter names. Head on over to the Harry Potter Name Generator to get your name. My new name is:
For tonight, I’ll be going by my new name. Let me know in the comments or on Twitter what your new name is as well as the House you belong in (mine is Gryffindor), and don’t forget to use the official hashtag, #HarryPotterBookNight. If you need to be sorted, hop on over to Pottermore.
Now, on to the games and other fun stuff:
Here are a bunch of ways to earn points for your House. You have until 8 pm CST to complete the various games, and I will announce the winning House, along with the individual winners of the scavenger hunt and Potion Masters contest at 9 pm CST tonight.
This is going to be a great Harry Potter Book Night! Enjoy the games and fun links, and let me know what your favorite is, or if you’ve got any of your own Harry Potter Book Night links to share.
I GOT A JOB!!!
Due to this, I’ve been celebrating with the Boyfriend and texting back and forth with friends and loved ones instead of writing today’s book review. I got the call first thing in the morning yesterday after I got home from my part-time job. My head has been somewhere in the clouds since I got that phone call, and my shoulders are back where they’re supposed to be, so I can only assume that they were anchoring my head while connected to my ears for the past month and a half of job hunting.
Anyway, my life is no longer on a semi-hold, and starting in two weeks I’ll be earning a higher salary than I was expecting to be offered right out of college, even with my work experience. I’ll also be doing something that I’ll (hopefully) enjoy, and the benefits are excellent. I’ve been doing a happy dance and randomly jumping up and down while simultaneously freaking the cat out with my exuberant behavior. I don’t think he knows what to do around me right now.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten that tomorrow is Harry Potter Book Night! I’ll be spending the day making sure that’s all in order, and everything is ready to go by 5 pm CST tomorrow 🙂 Until then…
This is one of the many Classic novels I got for free from Barnes and Noble for my Nook so many years ago. It was mentioned in Bibliotherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives by Nancy Peske and Beverly West, and so I added it to my TBR. Daniel Defoe’s introduction stated that this was the story of a woman who led the life of a criminal and then repented. Instead, the story reaffirms the abysmal state of women during the 18th century, especially poor women without a family name and reputation to fall back on.
While I understand that, for the time, the story was considered scandalous and full of intrigue, the first part of the book was rather dull, and I kept wondering how Moll getting taken advantage of by seemingly every man she came into contact with was somehow indicative of her being a criminal. I felt sorry for her and her naive trust in wealthy men who only wanted to turn her into their personal whore. The second part was a little better, and the criminal activities she participates in so she could cobble together a living for herself only made me feel that much more sympathetic towards her and women of her time. Also, I didn’t see Moll’s escape from a life of crime as a repentance for past sins and her transformation into a morally upstanding English citizen so much as taking the opportunity to get out of England and start a new life with a considerably higher chance of not dying in prison. However, she’s still too trusting and ends up with a d-bag of a husband. The more things change…
I think Charles Dickens would have written this story much better than Daniel Defoe did. Yes, there’s a hundred years difference between the two authors and their writing styles, but Defoe knew how to take his time getting to the point. Throughout most of the story, I was either bored or wondering when the real criminal behavior would begin. Towards the end, I just wanted it to be over with already. The only thing I’m happy about is finally being able to cross this Classic off my list.
Yep, that’s right! The photo above of my bookcase is my TBR mountain for Feel the Paper Love February. Why? Because, with the exception of three books I want to read this month, I don’t have a plan. It depends on the weather, my mood, and how quickly I get through the other three books.
What are those three books?
One thing I did decide is that, since I’m choosing to read nothing but physical books this month, but I usually listen to audiobooks when I’m in the car, I’m going to catch up with the ridiculous number of podcasts I’ve been neglecting instead. They’re not books, so I’m not breaking my commitment to the printed page. I’ll return to my audiobooks next month.
“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life. All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.
Finished:
Challenges:
Total pages read: 603
Total # of books for the year: 9. I signed up for Litha’s Feel the Paper Love February, so I’ll be reading nothing but the physical books on my TBR shelf this month. I forgot this is the last month of COYER, though, so I guess I won’t be making my goal of 10 books. Oh well, at least I got seven ebooks/audiobooks off my TBR.
My Top Commenters: It’s a tie between Terri @ Second Run Reviews, and Felicia @ The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog.
What are you reading this week?
This is it! We’ve come to the conclusion of the Harry Potter series, and, therefore, the end of my HP re-read. My eyes kept getting watery while reading this book, just as I suspected would happen. Those pesky allergies. We’re not completely done with all things Harry Potter, though. Oh, no. We’ve still got Harry Potter Book Night, A Night of Spells! Join me on February 4th to celebrate the series and the Boy Who Lived! There will be a post chalk full of links to games and other fun activities, and maybe a few of my own creation. I’ll also be on Twitter, using the official hashtag #HarryPotterBookNight. I’m kicking everything off at 5 pm Central Time (6 pm EST), and the party won’t be over until 9 pm. That’s FOUR HOURS OF AWESOME!
Since this last book of the series causes all the feels, especially reading it after Alan Rickman passed away earlier this month, I’ve listed some less emotional but still interesting links after the discussion questions.
Discussion Questions
Fun HP-Related Links
Will you be joining me for #HarryPotterBookNight? Let me know in the comments below and feel free to share any of your Harry Potter-related posts as well!
A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over–and see everything anew. – Goodreads synopsis
I had heard nothing but great things about The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and so I bought the book with every intention of reading it soon after I got it home. As with many of the books I’ve bought before I joined the #ShelfLove challenge, it sat on the shelf for a couple of years. Then I read The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald. Reviews frequently suggested that anyone who enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry would love this book too. I loved The Readers of Broken Wheel, and so it wasn’t long before I finally took The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry off the shelf.
Like The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, I couldn’t put this book down. Both stories involve a bookstore and an unexpected death, and both are mostly light-hearted, feel-good reads. However, you can’t read one and say you’ve read the other because that’s where the similarities end. The closest story to The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry I’ve come across is the movie Jersey Girl, at least superficially. Regardless of its similarities to other stories, it’s well worth the short time it takes to read it.
I will be adding this book to my list of go-to comfort reads along with The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. If life is getting you down, or you just need to relax into a book that isn’t too heavy but isn’t pure brain candy either, then I recommend The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
