Bookish Besties: Which Character Got You Through Your Awkward Years?

Y'all know how I like to keep things fun and light around here on The Book Buff, but I'm about to change pace for a moment and get all deep and sentimental up in this piece.  

^^^^actual depiction of what I looked like writing this post^^^^

I remember as a kid I preferred my book friends to real friends.  It's true, and I know it's true for many of you.  Your book friends were there whenever you needed them and didn't care if you were an awkward preteen suffering through the agony that is puberty.  You didn't ever have to think of anything clever to say to impress them, and it didn't matter if your face had broken out terribly that day.  You could still be a co adventurer, a co conspirator or co whatever was happening in the story.  I know this may sound dumb to some people, but not to the people who get it, and those are the people I'm talking to.  I remember growing up and not understanding why I didn't quite fit in.  I wasn't a horrible outsider, but I wasn't an insider either, and that weird in between-ness was a terrible place to be.  I could always find solace in my books, the books themselves were my friends and the characters were my soul mates.  I think this connection early on in my life is why characters are so important to me now when I review a book.  

We all had characters that we connected with more than others.  These are our bookish besties.  Here are the ones I've had throughout my life....

First off are the girls in the series that introduced me to my life long love of history, The American Girls Collection.  These books really taught 6 year old me that people in the history books really were people with hopes, dreams and feelings.  I remember crying my eyes out while reading a book about Addy, one of their featured girls, who was a slave.  There was a scene where she had to eat slugs she missed while tending to the tobacco, and a scene where her brother was sold off to another plantation, these scenes taught me so much about compassion.  The books weren't perfect, but they taught me so much.  I felt like these girls were my own little historical clique.  Yes, I was a nerd from the very beginning.  So here were my bookish besties from my early childhood:

Kirsten Larson

Molly McIntyre

 

Felicity Merriman

Samantha Parkington

 

Addy Walker

Next up in my list of literary BFFs was the lovely little Lucy Pevensie from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 

Next came Hermione Granger (you know I had to fit a HP reference in here somewhere)  This girl had frizzy hair and was too smart for her own good sometimes, which described me to a tee at that age.

Next on the list is the always popular, Elizabeth Bennett.  Who doesn't love miss sassy pants Lizzie?

So that's it, that is my list.  

Who was/is your bookish bestie?

Memes Memes Memes: A Very Potter Halloween!

I'm not really into the scary aspect of Halloween.  I don't like horror movies, I don't like Haunted Houses and I don't like gory makeup.  Buuuuuut I do love the fun aspect of Halloween.  I love the trick or treating, the hordes and hordes of costumed children and best of all, all the Harry Potter marathons on TV!  Y'all know me and my Harry Potter, I can't resist sharing when I find something fun.  So in honor of my favorite witches and wizards on this Halloween day, check out the Best Harry Potter Tastes from a very funny website, Taste of Awesome...

 

 

 

 

 

My apologies to all the Twihards, I'm not really a Twilight hater (but definitely not a lover either!) but you have to admit these are funny :)

Which one was your favorite?

Happy Halloween, be safe and have fun!

The Book Buff's Halloween Countdown: In Which I Discuss Christmas, The Jolly Green Giant, and Big Budget Musicals

Well Book Buffs, it's getting to be one of my favorite times of the year..... Halloween!  I love creepy stuff (not too creepy, I suffer from night terrors) and to celebrate this fun time, I'm going to be highlighting a few of the spookiest books I've ever read leading up to the big day.

Up first is one of the creepiest books I've ever read.....

...............drum roll please....................

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Wait...Whaaaah?  Yup.  I said it.  A Christmas Carol is straight up creepy.  First of all, there are the ghosts.  Here are some of the representations of the ghosts over the years...

See. Creepy.  I told you so.  

Here is The Book Buff's synopsis of the plot.  Rich man takes cheap to a whole other level, let's his miserly ways ruin his life, having complete disregard for his family, his employees and their very sick children.  Man gets a nighttime visit on Christmas Eve from his long dead business partner.  Partner tells him in a super creepy way that he'll be doomed for eternity if he doesn't change his ways and that he'll be visited by 3 spirits to b-slap him into learning the error of his ways (I don't Dickens used that term, but I'm just going to go with it)  So the first ghost to visit him is the Ghost of Christmas past, a he/she candle looking ghost described thus:

"being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs, now a pair of legs without a head, now a head without a body: of which dissolving parts, no outline would be visible in the dense gloom wherein they melted away."

Right.  So.  This weirdo ghosty thingy shows him past Christmases that were happy, as well as the Christmas Eve where he was (rightfully) dumped by his rockin' fiancee he was totally in love with.

Moving on, the Ghost of Christmas Present, who seemed to be a borderline functioning alcoholic, and is described to be a "jolly giant" which, naturally, to my 11 year old brain the first time I read this story looked like this in my head...

Jolly Green Giant, or JGG as all the cool kids are referring to him, shows Scrooge what's happening in the present.  He shows Scrooge the depressing little Christmas scene unfolding at Scrooge's clerk, Bob Cratchit's, house.  He sees Cratchit's infirm child, Tiny Tim, who is deathly ill because his father cannot afford treatment on his awful salary.  The spirit tells Scrooge that if he remains untreated, he will die.  Scrooge's heart begins to crack.  *Sniffle sniffle*

Enter Spirit the Third.  More like Spirit the Creepy.  The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come is the dude who really pushes this story over into my creepy list.  

"The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. ... It thrilled him [Scrooge] with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black."

Here is a clip of one of the things Scrooge was shown by this ghost from my favorite version of A Christmas Carol (Scrooge, Albert Finney, 1970)...

You know you're a bad dude when a whole town dances on your coffin, jeez...The ghost also shows him that Tiny Tim kicks the bucket in a most decidedly depressing manner.  He also sees himself going down to the big bad place that starts with an H and ends with an E DOUBLE HICKEY STICKS.

After these harrowing encounters, Scrooge awakens a new man and changes his miserly ways, leading to the reprise of Thank You Very Much (and my favorite musical number in the whole movie).  The town dances off into the distance and all is well, but not before Tiny Tim proclaims, "God Bless Us, Every One".  The End.

Sorry guys, I grew up doing musical theater and I am a sucker for big musical numbers. Got an empty street?  Well fill it up with people dancing and singing and waving I always say :)

So that's that.  I'm not the biggest fan of Mr. Dickens, but this is one I really love.  Honestly, I think it is jolly enough for Christmas and creepy enough for Halloween.  What do you think?

What do you think of A Christmas Carol?  

What is your favorite creepy book?  

What creepy book do you think I should feature on my blog?  

Sound off in the comments!

Stay tuned for more spooky stories in the weeks to come!

National Hairballball Awareness Day

Well folks, it's that time of year again!  Break out the tuna flavored hairball medicine you have to glop onto your cats paw because it's National Hairball Awareness Day!  Now I hardly think that hairballs need an "Awareness Day".  I mean, yes hairballs can be a serious issue if you are a cat owner, but I'm pretty sure if your cat has hairball problems, you are plenty aware of the situation; no alotted day is necessary.  Anywho...in honor of this um...holiday? The Book Buff is featuring some famous fictional felines, starting with...

The Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

"`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on `And how do you know that you're mad?'
`To begin with,' said the Cat, `a dog's not mad. You grant that?'
`I suppose so,' said Alice.
`Well, then,' the Cat went on, `you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'"

Crookshanks from The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

We all hated him.  His bad attitude and his ugly face made for a pretty unlikable combination.  But then we got to know the ugly little devil, and when his half kneazle side helped us learn the identity of the true traitor, we all hated that squash faced animal a little less.  

The Cat in the Hat from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Honestly, I was never a big fan of this guy, he just seemed like a big ol' troublemaker to me.  I do love Dr Seuss though, I mean, who doesn't, right?  Hop on Pop was my own personal favorite of Seuss, that is until I actually jumped on my poor unsuspecting father as he innocently lay on the ground.  He banned that book for a while, and I can't say as I blame him :)

 

The cats of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Elliot

I think the awesome names of the cats alone are enough to make this book worth mentioning.  You've got Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, Old Deuteronomy, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, and Skimbleshanks. 

Did I miss your favorite literary feline?  Hit the comments to inform me of my egregious error!

100 Greatest Children's Books

Do you have Junior Book Buffs at home?  Trying to raise a good solid reader?  Me too, and I stumbled upon an awesome list to arm you with some great material to get your child reading.  The folks over at Scholastic have put together a great list of what they believe to be the 100 Greatest Books for Children.  It's a really cool page, you can also search the list by age to effectively find exactly what you are looking for.  Some of my childhood favorites made the list:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Who doesn't love a good story about a suicidal tree?

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

 My intro to dystopian literature, and I never looked back! (Check out my Giver post here)

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Still a favorite I enjoy re-reading to this day.  The White Witch still freaks the crap out of me!  How about you?

See if your favorite made the list: http://www.scholastic.com/100books/

Don't see your favorite book on the list?  Maybe it made the "15 Books that Almost Made the List" list.  Here are some of my favorites from that list:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I understand why this one didn't make it.  Yes, I believe it to be one of the absolute greatest and most important books of all time, but it isn't a kid's book.  In fact I find it a bit odd that it was even considered for the list.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

As a kid I always felt Roald Dahl was a kindred spirit, good-natured and happy, but still a tad twisted :)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

See commentary on To Kill a Mockingbird, p.s. who is getting pumped for the new movie!?! *raises hand enthusiastically*

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

One word describes my opinion on the fact that this book was left off of the list: travesty.

For the rest of the list, click here: http://www.scholastic.com/resources/collection/15-books-that-almost-made-it

You can also see the Reader's Wish List on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150722011392952.457697.41884262951&type=1

And lastly, here is the list, with covers, on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150519316007952.428537.41884262951&type=3

What did you think of the list?  Hit the comments!

Betcha Didn't Know: Harry Potter Edition

I love Harry Potter.  Well, that's an understatement if I ever made one!  I'm proud to say that I've loved them from the beginning, before they became the world wide phenomenon they are today.  I waited in every midnight book release line and saw every movie at midnight with long-suffering mother, then later husband, in tow.  I love these books.  So, how does a die hard like me get their Harry Potter fix now that all books have been read dozens of times, the movies have been viewed ad nauseam and no access to the beta Pottermore website?  Read random Potter trivia of course!  So here are some facts I've gleaned from my regular scouring of the interwebz...

In no particular order of interesting-ness...

Natalie McDonald, a character from the 4th book, Goblet of Fire, was a real person.  You can find her on page 159, as the names of the new batch of 1st years are being read off.  Little Natalie was a 9 year old from Toronto, Canada who was a big Harry Potter fan.  She was dying of leukemia but wanted to know what was going to happen next in the saga of our favorite lightening foreheaded boy.  J.K. Rowling did write her back, but sadly, Natalie had passed before receiving her reply.  In honor of this brave little girl, she was named a Gryffindor, which was a wonderful fit, as it is home of the brave and courageous.  In addition to putting her in the book, J.K. Rowling made a point to visit little Natalie's family while touring in Canada.

If a muggle ever wanders onto the grounds of Hogwarts, all they will see is ruins of an ancient castle with unwelcoming signs all over the place saying "keep out, dangerous building".  Of course, this totally works in Europe, where castles abound.  I wonder what they do to cover up the American school?

There are roughly 3,000 wizards in Britain.  Which means approximately 1 person out of every 20,001 is a wizard.

There exists a magical quill which records the birth of every magical child in a book.  Professor McGonagall then sends an owl to each child when said child turns 11.  A very shocking message, to be sure, for those magical tykes who happen to be muggle born!

Speaking of muggle born, Hermione's name was nearly "Hermione Puckle."  However, thankfully, J.K. Rowling felt that "Puckle" had a sour ring to it and changed the name to something which she felt better suited our favorite ginger-loving book worm.  Rowling always felt a close kinship to Hermione, as she considered herself a know-it-all as a kid.  The rather annoying trait of know-it-all-ness is also the reason I relate to Hermione.  At least that's what my siblings would say.

  Ginny's full first nameis Ginerva.  Her name is erroneously, yet commonly, assumed to be Virginia.  Her name doesn't come as a surprise in the world of Harry Potter where names such as Bathilda, Aberforth, Bellatrix, Alecto and Mundungus don't warrant a second thought.

 Hermione's patronus is an otter.  Why does such a dynamic and key figure in the books have such an unassuming patronus?  Simply because J.K. Rowling, as stated before, relates to Hermione, and J.K. really likes otters.

 Members of the Order of the Phoenix are the only wizards who can communicate using their patronuses (patroni?).  This method of communication was invented by none other than the fearless leader and beloved mentor of The Boy Who Lived, Albus Dumbledore.  The best thing about communicating with the patronus is that no other wizard can mimic another wizard's patronus, so one always knows from whom their message hails. ***Bonus fact-Dumbledore's patronus was a phoenix***

Crookshanks, Hermione's (formerly assumed) pesky pet, is not a normal cat, but half-kneazle.  Kneazles are cat-like in appearance and are very intelligent.  They are like living breathing sneak-o-scopes, able to sniff out suspicious people and respond badly to them.  Kneazles make great pets, in addition to having a built in BS meter, once they take a liking to a witch or wizard, they are very loyal and loving.

Can't recall your favorite character's full name?  Here are a few:  Harry James Potter, Hermione Jane Granger (Weasley), Ginerva Molly Weasley (Potter), Ronald Bilius Weasley, Sirius Orion Black and the man with the most long winded parents: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Hope you learned something, albeit useless in the real world of day to day living, but interesting nonetheless :)

Better Book Titles: Round 2

A few months back, I did a post on an awesomely irreverent blog called Better Book Titles.  Basically the blog takes reader submissions on names that they feel suit the book better than the original.  It is hilarious!  As I stated in my Better Book Titles: Round 1, the original blog is not family friendly, strong language and sexually charged titles are not uncommon, but don't worry, my favorites that I've selected for Round 2 here on The Book Buff are family friendly :)  Read on intrepid Book Buffs!

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

I'd be willing to bet that anyone who read this book in high-school still takes a second thought when eating prepackaged food.  I find myself completely unable to even think about what is in that ubiquitous cereal dust at the the bottom of every cereal bag.

The Princess and the Pea

I have to say, I've never really cared for this story.  Even as a little kid I often wondered why the prince would want such a whiner for a wife.  I'm sorry, but speaking as a person who has born children, I cannot understand why a man would choose a woman who can't even sleep due to a pea, as the mother of his children.  Just sayin...

Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce

Yup.  That about sums up my experience with the book.  Has anyone reading this ever finished the book?  I'm dying to know a.) how you managed to muddle through and b.) what did you think of it?

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This one basically made me spray my drink all over the place.  Having a reference to the uber secret "terrible awful" thing mentioned only in whispers throughout the entire book right there on the cover was priceless.  Hilarious!

Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

I'm not poking fun at the belief, just at that prophet that keeps making all of the doomsday predictions, and that people keep believing him.  I understand the first time, but fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...well, you know :)

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

I have a funny story to tell you guys about a certain guy I'm married to having a certain club where they did stupid guy stuff back in high-school, but of course, I can't tell you said story, because it would be breaking rule #1. Y'all know what I'm sayin' *wink*wink*elbow*elbow*

 The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Great book, but as pointed out here, a misleading title indeed.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Best.  Books.  Ever.  (tied with Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Pride and Prejudice, and Hunger Games but shhhhhhhh!  don't tell my favorites that they share the #1 spot, I don't want them to think I'm cheating on them!)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Sadly, the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer was better than the Demi Moore's version of The Scarlett Letter.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

And still, with all the musical numbers and dancing gangs, I still found West Side Story to be twice as sad.