The Best Thing You Will See Today

Stumbled Upon this gem, and had to share

Blog Hop (4) and Follow Friday (2)

This weeks Book Blogger Hop is available here (and for those who don't know what it is, she explaines it as well!)

The question is: “In honor of Banned Books Week, what is your favorite “banned or frequently challenged book”?” Click here for 2010-11 list in PDF format. You can also click HERE to view past years and choose from any of those titles!


To be honest, I had to peruse the lists, because to my knowledge, we don't get a lot of books banned here in Canada. I remember having our 6th grade teacher read "Underground to Canada" out loud in class, and I would say that's probably banned in some places. When I was reading over the list, I was so surprised! Things like the 4th Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants book - seriously!! Some of them I wanted to pick for this just because I couldn't believe they were there! But, I eventually settled on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because that is my favorite book from my favorite series. As a side note, these lists make me want to punch out a lot of parents. Sorry if that offends you. I presume I will now find my blog on the Banned Blogs list, if such a think exists.

For my Follow Friday Fix, I went to Alisoncanread.com this week and you can too by clicking here

This week's question is:

What book that hasn't been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character?

This is a pretty tough question! I chose "How I Paid for College" by Marc Acito because it is a HILARIOUS book, and would make a great movie. There are quite a few characters in it, and its been awhile since I read it, but I'll do my best to cast it (also, you may need to adjust age a little bit, I sometimes forget that stars get older...)

Edward - Jay Baruchel

Paula - Selena Gomez

Kelly - Ashley Tisdale

Natie - Kevin McHale

Doug - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Ziba - Megan Fox

Edward's father Al - Jon Hamm

Edward's Stepmother Dagmar - Gwyneth Paltrow

James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

Goodreads Summary: Based upon the characters and worlds of J. K. Rowling, this book tells the story of Harry Potter's son James, and his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


Why I Read This Book: Well, it obviously wasn't the fantastic Goodreads summary that drew me in... So, basically I read this book because I loved the Harry Potter series and was happy to see a little bit more. A little while ago I wrote a post about Fan Fiction and admitted that I had actually never heard of it before, so this was my first time reading it.


Review: I was surprised by how much I actually liked this book. I wasn't expecting to, but wanted to read it because I was so sad the Harry Potter era was ending. Lippert is a very good writer, if someone told me J.K. Rowling wrote this, I would be tempted to believe them. I has definitely made me add the other 2 he has written to my TBR list as well. I'll summarize the book myself, since the one above isn't that good. The story takes place 18 years after the last Harry Potter book (so one year prior to the books epilogue) and it is James Potter's (Harry and Ginny's older son) first year at Hogwarts. Some things have changed since Harry's days, but many old professors are still around. The premise of the story centers around Hogwarts doing hosting some American wizarding professors and students for the year. It also relies heavily on the way James feels being at Hogwarts in the shadow of his father. They feature characters from the Rowling books which give you a nice "at home" feeling, while still providing a very exciting plot which is very much like one that Harry, Ron and Hermione would have encountered.
I hear not all fan fiction is as good as this one... but not having any proof of this, I can't say much about it. All I really can say was that although it wasn't as good as the originals, I really enjoyed this book and I think every Harry Potter lover will as well (unless you are one of those people who will look for anything at all to be wrong with it because Rowling didn't write it).


Rating:

Fan Fiction - Good or Bad?

So between yesterday and today I finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (review to follow shortly), and began reading a 'J.K. Rowling approved' Harry Potter fan fiction book titled James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing by G. Norman Lippert. I am only a few pages in, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there on fan fiction. I have never read it before. To be honest, I have never really even heard of it... Is this strange? I'm not really surprised by it, but at the same time I am. There have been quite a few books I have LOVED, and as much as I may have wondered what happened later on, or prior to, I never would have thought to actually write it myself. So, what is your opinion on it? I don't have a lot of time today, so I will just have to leave today's post to this one question to discuss, Fan Fiction: Good Idea or Bad Idea?