Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Jokester Characters

Something new on the blog again! I know I used to do just review, but I figured that gets a bit old and boring. I'll still do reviews, but I'll try to mix it up with more fun and random posts - like the Top 5 Wednesday's posts that can be found in this Goodreads group.

So in honour of April 1st, here are my top 5 Jokester characters (which are honestly just the funniest characters I read, not the pranksters):

 

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1. Astrid Krieger from Firecracker by David Iserson

Oh my gosh. At the time of writing this post, I've only read a few chapters of this book and already she is my number one. This narrator is hilarious in a total not trying to be hilarious way. She's funny and spunky and 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Frankie Landeau-Banks from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

I mean, does anyone do pranks better than Frankie? Yeah I think not. Frankie is the ultimate prankster and does it with a feminist agenda as well - what is not to love?Some of my favourite moments in the book are the pool prank and of course the final prank - which is a massive spoiler so I'll stay hush - that really shows the whole school that you cannot mess with Frankie.

 

 

 

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3. The Weasley Twins from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I think these are on everyone's list. They even opened a joke shop because they are known to be so funny. My favourite moment is when the twins finally decide to leave Hogwarts and literally go out with a bang. I thought (and hoped) poor little Umbridge would pee herself! 

Though this list is not made for prankster and joke-tellers, Fred and George Weasley are both normally funny and pranksters.

 

 

 

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4. Percy Jackson from the Percy Jackson series by R.R. Riordan

I know. I can't make a single list without including Percy. He might not do pranks or really joke all that much, but he has sarcasm  down. Like perfectly down. He made me laugh several times while reading the series and I think it's one of the main reasons why so many people love the books.

My favourite moment? I don't have one. It's just every single thing he says. Especially when he tries to be romantic - and fails miserably at it.

 

 

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5. Levi from Fangirl

Oh Levi - you are such a cutie. Your sense of humour made Cat, and every Fangirl reader, fall in love with you. You might not be the funniest character ever, but your sense of humour combined with your amazing personality means you deserve a spot on this list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's my list. Who did I forget? Who shouldn't have been on here? You can always let me know in the comments :) 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

RATING: ★★★★

I might be the only person in the world who has publicly announced that she hated Harry Potter. I've read the books when they were first released and I thought they were "okay", but then I saw the movies. And I started to hate Harry - honestly why wasn't Neville the chosen one?

But as always, the lesson is to not judge a book by its movie. And in the case of the first Harry Potter book, the movie is a so-so and the book is pretty great.

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The best known story

Do I have to explain the story or plot to anyone? I think most people have either read the books, often obsessively, or seen the films, which follow the story pretty damn closely. 

What I do want to highlight here is the depth of the story. I knew it was a children's book and everyone told me that the first book REALLY is written for children. I'm 24, so I saw some issues that could arise from that fact. Truth is, I really barely noticed it. Yes, the language is quite easy and the moral of the story is explicitly explained, but the details in the story were amazing. All characters, whether minor or Harry, get quite a lot of background information. I mean, even Uncle Vernon (though he might be the most boring person alive) had a few pages devoted to him.

Most importantly, Fred and George get more "screen-time". I already loved the twins from the movies, but they are so much better in the books. They help Harry, they are friends with their younger, definitely less cool, brother Ron and give the comic release the reader needs after a while. All I want is MORE FRED AND GEORGE. I don't think I'll ever have enough. 

Harry's Challenges

I only had two annoyances with the book (besides the fact that I was it was called Neville and the Philosopher's Stone or Fred/George and the PS). 

1. Dumbledore, you can't leave a baby outside a British house for a whole night. It's England - there is rain and snow and wind and overall crap weather. I'm pretty sure that could have killed Harry. Why didn't he ring the doorbell and then *poof* away?

2. I didn't like the last chapters of the book. Once Harry starts his journey towards the stone, everything goes extremely fast. He whizzes past Fluffy, grabs the flying key with only a paragraph of trouble and within three-ish chapters is with the stone. That's really quick. I love the challenges, and the creativity that went into creating them, but I couldn't feel appreciate it, because the pacing was just off for me. I would have preferred less detail about Harry's pre-Hogwarts life (especially since we get more of that in later books anyway) and more focus on the challenge.

Harry as a character

So has this Harry-hater converted? Not completely. I definitely adored the book more than the movie and book Harry is a whole lot less annoying than movie Harry, but still. Harry is kinda daft isn't he? He's not very focused on school, doesn't really try hard to get better and when it comes to the challenges, he needs all the help he can get to figure stuff out. You're good on a broom, great - very airhead footballer stereotype. I wish Harry would have been more of a hero in this story and would already show why he's special. Maybe that will happen in the later books.

Rating

I'm a bit conflicted about what rating to give this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the story. There were so many wonderful details that really sucked you into the story and made you believe in the magic. On the other hand, Harry did kind of let me down. So it's not a perfect 5 - I'll go for a 4.

 

Celebrating Books Are My Bag

The moment she entered the store, the smell of books infiltrated her nose and made her brain fuzzy. This is what drug addicts must feel like right before they have their first hit of the day. This is what book addicts felt like the moment they entered the store.

A trail of books read just this month, a trail of books that haven't been read at all and the history of all the books she has read fill her house. People joke that it often literally looks like a trail - like she just dumps a book on the floor the moment she's done with it. She's not sure if she does. Usually the ending of a book makes her feel so sad to leave the book world behind that she doesn't really remember what she does with the book.

But all the trails couldn't prevent her from coming to this store again and picking up more books, more highs, more worlds that she can dive straight into. 


My gorgeous new Harry Potter books.

My gorgeous new Harry Potter books.

This is a fragment I found in one of my notebooks, clearly written down after I had an amazing trip to a bookstore. Not sure when that was, because all my bookstore trips leave me on a high. Doesn't matter if I buy one book or twenty - seeing all the books in a store make me feel wonderful. 

And today it's all about that. It's Books Are My Bag day - a celebration of bookstores in the UK. It's a motivation for people to buy more books, but also to buy more books in stores instead of online. 

Because I am a major book lover, and bookstore lover, I support this day fully. (Technically I supported it yesterday when I bought all these Harry Potter books at Hatchards, but today I'm supporting it by this blog post)

As you have seen, there are post on my blog reviewing book stores and on my Twitter you can read all about how I'm constantly buying books, though I really shouldn't.

But what makes bookstores that great? I'm sure it's personal for everyone, but for me it's this : I always find books that I didn't know I needed in my life.

Whenever I buy books online, which was basically my only way to get the books I wanted when I lived in Belgium, I always search specific books. For example: Rebel Belle. I saw that book on Tumblr all the time and knew that I needed it. The cover is perfect, the title is perfect - I loved loved loved it. So I looked it up on Amazon and ordered it.

But then there are other books, like the Harry Potter books (displayed so very beautifully by my roommate for this picture).

Thanks to my creative roomie!

Thanks to my creative roomie!

I never really liked them before. There's a vague memory in the back of my head that I was reading them as a young child and I even remember buying book 7 on the day of release - it was a hype and I wanted in. Now I live in London and I see the books in every book store. Every time I walk by them, there's someone (often my roommate) who is talking about how great the books are and how much they meant for them.

I never knew I needed these books, but the beautiful covers present in each book store made me want them. Made me feel like I needed to give them another chance.

This would have never happened with online shopping - I wouldn't even look up Harry Potter books.

Bookstores always open up new worlds to me, worlds that I might have closed myself off from before. And for that, I'll be extremely grateful for the rest of my life. So today, I hope everyone is celebrating these stores and the people working there. They devote their time and energy to make sure that you are exposed to new ideas, new feelings, new characters,... 

Thank you bookstores.