This is probably going to be pretty rambly, so... prepare yourselves? IDK. Work with me here. Anyway, I tend to make beginning of the year bookish resolutions, but this year I decided to make goals across the board. I plan to make a video sharing these as well, but I wanted to do a blog post explaining first, since I can't film for about another week.
So, a bit of explanation here: One major struggle that I've had this year is that I've accumulated a huge pile of hobbies and interests and things I want to do, and it's gotten big enough that I'm finding it difficult to split my focus on a regular basis. I'm finding myself working on one or two at a time, letting the others fall by the wayside, and I hate doing that. So, I wanted to make some year-long goals that I can work toward. Instead of making tons and tons, I've decided to make a single goal for each hobby. Something to reach for that is attainable, but still a little challenging. That way, I'm not pushing myself too hard in any one hobby.
Without any further ado, let's jump into the list.
READING
I figured this was the best one to start with, given that it's the hobby where I give myself yearly goals every year. Usually, I give myself a challenge to read 50 books and to read 7 books with 500+ pages. And I'm not giving myself either of those this year, even though they're in the back of my mind because I do legitimately want to accomplish those this year. Instead, I've given myself a single goal to work toward year-long.
GET MY TBR DOWN TO 30% OF MY LIBRARY
My 2016 goal was to get my TBR down from 45ish% to 35%, and I accomplished that. My goal for 2017 was to get it from 35% to 30%. And now, at the beginning of 2018, it's sitting at.... 39%. Yeah, I kinda screwed that up. BUT I believe in myself, and given that it's my singular reading goal for 2018, I think I've got this.
I'm also doing a challenge based off of booksandlala's closet unhaul series, where I watch old hauls and have to read the books from them that are still on my TBR shelf. Technically, that's not a "goal" for the year, because either I read the books or I don't-- either way, books are probably getting unhauled. BUT, it does help me to accomplish this goal. So, win win. The first video in that series is embedded below!
YOUTUBE
One major change in 2017 is that I've started a second YouTube channel! My obsession with KPop that developed throughout the year led to the creation of a KPop-centric YouTube channel and many, many KPop videos. One of which got 100K+ views. Which is mind-blowing. My goal for the year is a pretty simple one..
MAKE 100 VIDEOS
Yes, that's 2 videos a week. Approximately. Which sounds like a lot, and it is. But I love making videos, and that's only 1 video a week for each channel, and I've been doing 2 per channel for the past couple weeks with very little difficulty. This challenge allows me to split it up however I want, so if I'm at a point where I'm working on a particularly time-intensive KPop video, I could easily make up for that by having 2 bookish video in a week, which isn't difficult at all. Really, all this challenge forces me to do is to be consistent with each of the channels, since I'll probably get burnt out if I make 100 bookish videos or 100 KPop videos.
WRITING
At the beginning of 2017, I was sitting on a freshly-written 96K word first draft of Flirting With Fame, my NaNo project. I worked on character development and outlining sporadically throughout the year, and then in October, I started a new fanfic project, which I worked on during NaNo. And then, right at the end of the year, I finished character development and outlining and prepared to start a second draft of Flirting With Fame. So... two projects. Both of which I like. Only one goal makes sense...
FINISH A FULL DRAFT OF EITHER FLIRTING WITH FAME OR MY FANFIC
Across the board, I really just want to finish A draft this year, regardless of the project, but I've decided that I want to restrict it to these two projects because I really shouldn't jump into another one until I've finished a draft of each. In reality, I would like to finish a draft of both of these, since I really love both of them, but I'm not going to give myself that huge of a challenge for the year. So, one draft. Of one of them. I think I'm going to begin with Flirting With Fame, but IDK for sure. I've been working on it, but not consistently. So, we'll see where that goes. I might need to set up some sort of writing schedule for myself but IDK for sure.
KOREAN
Another new thing that happened this year is that I started learning Korean. TL;DR: I've been wanting to learn a second language for a long time, and I was working on Spanish because I took Spanish in high school and college and was pretty good at it. But, when I started getting into KPop, I switched to Korean instead and have been learning Korean on and off since May. Given that it's a language, it's hard to have a definitive goal, but the one I've decided on is...
BE ABLE TO HOLD A BASIC CONVERSATION/ READ BASIC POSTS
I feel like I've simultaneously learned a lot and almost nothing at all with my Korean learning. It's incredibly frustrating. That said, I am able to understand some very basic phrases that I see popping up on posts, which I always love. But, I want to improve upon this. I'm less concerned about the conversing than with reading. Long-run, obviously I'd like to be fluent enough to be able to both speak and read the language, but obviously reading is going to be the easier one because conjugating is possibly the hardest thing about speaking a language. Anyway, my goal obviously isn't to be fluent by the end of the year, but I want to have a basic reading knowledge of the language by the end of the year. Maybe not to understand all of the conjugations or to be able to speak fluently, but I want to be able to understand enough that I don't have to tap the translate button on all of the things my favorite idols post.
MAIN BLOG
It's hard for me to come up with a goal for my blog, since I mostly just post whatever I want on here, but I decided to give myself a pretty simple one...
DO A LARGE-SCALE RANKING
A couple years ago, I did a ranking of all of the designers who'd ever been on Project Runway. It was a huge series, and it took forever. And I loved doing it. And I want to do another one. I mentioned this several times throughout 2017, but have yet to do one, so I think I need to finally do it in 2018. I've been planning on ranking my favorite RuPaul's Drag Race queens for at least a year at this point, so I think that once we get season 10, I'm going to do that. But IDK. I gotta do some sort of a big ranking.
SPECIALIS REVELIO
This is my Harry Potter analysis blog, linked at the top of this blog, where I analyze the series chapter by chapter. I started it in 2016 and have been severely, severely slacking on it, and I want to get back to working on it. I don't want it to be my priority throughout the year, but I do want to work on it. So, I'm giving myself a pretty simple goal...
FINISH ANALYZING SORCERER'S STONE
I honestly don't remember how many chapters I've analyzed and how many I have left, but I think that if I do one per month, I can finish by the end of the year. So this isn't a big challenge that I'm giving myself. I just want to work on this blog in some form or fashion and not totally neglect it.
And, I think for now... that's it. 6 hobbies. 6 goals. Hopefully all of them are achievable. There are other things I want to do throughout the year that I'm not making as specific goals (some TV shows/movies I want to watch, some other reading goals, etc), but these are the only firmly in-place goals. They seem pretty manageable, so here's to hoping that I can complete all 6 of them in 2018.
Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See you soon!
On this blog, I've made it no secret that I love Harry Potter. I've gone on for hours and hours about how it's one of my absolute favorite things on the planet. However, as summer begins to roll around, another thing that I get really excited about is Big Brother. I'm a fairly recent fan (I started watching during BB17) but I've become super invested. I've gotten really into Rob Has a Podcast & listen to all of their BB coverage. I've gone back and watched a lot of older seasons. I even have the live feeds on in the background fairly regularly. It's something that I've gotten really invested in over the summer.
While listening to some RHAP coverage and getting really pumped for the new season, I stumbled across a podcast that Jordan Parhar (of the RHAP Rhappy Hour) guested on that got me so excited. He appeared on a podcast called The Real Weird Sisters, a Harry Potter podcast. I was so excited about this idea that I have yet to listen to any of their other podcasts, but I definitely intend to. They appear to be going through the Harry Potter series, talking about it chapter by chapter (much like I do on my other blog, Specialis Revelio). I'm super excited to listen to their coverage, butfirst, I wanted to throw in my two cents on this great idea that they had.
As you can tell from the title, on that podcast, they used the typical Big Brother casting stereotypes to cast a season of BB using characters from within the Harry Potter universe. I thought they did a great job and you can check out their podcast here, but I found myself creating my own cast, which didn't always match up with theirs. I'll be using the same casting types as theirs (potentially with one of my own thrown in), and I'll explain each type as I go along, as well as my reasoning for choosing each person. Also, after the official cast, there are some predictions as to how everyone will do, which I'll also get into. I've rambled long enough here. Let's jump into the list!
Sorority girl with nerd glasses
The "nerdy superfan" is a tried and true casting stereotype that we see every season. It's usually a guy, but if it does happen to be a girl, it's usually a girl who's pretty and not actually very nerdy; she just happens to wear glasses. A good example is Nicole from BB16 & 18. Not a knock on the players who fall under this category-- more a knock on the way that casting apparently refuses to cast legitimate female nerds. (Sorry Hermione...)
Anyway, the person who I thought was definitely the clear choice for this category is the one and only Cho Chang.
They chose Cho on the podcast as well, and I wholeheartedly agree. She may not literally have glasses, but she fits the stereotype. She's clearly smart, because she's a Ravenclaw, but the only reason we're really aware of her intelligence is because we're essentially told "Hey, she's smart!" rather than due to any of her actions. Plus, she's definitely the "pretty girl" in school, which is along the lines of a sorority girl. It just fits really well. Important note: I considered Ginny Weasley and Romilda Vane here, because they were Harry Potter superfans, so they would fit in that sense, but I thought that Cho fit a bit better. Also, we'll see one of those two again later...
Male Nerdy Superfan
Like I mentioned, we get this type every single season, especially since we saw Ian in season 14. These guys are always incredibly awkward and huge fans of the show. Think about a stereotypical nerd, and you've got the guy that they usually stick into this spot. And once again, I thought that they absolutely killed it on the podcast: Colin Creevey
I mean, is there any better person to cast here? He's a total Harry Potter fanboy, on top of the fact that he's incredibly over-enthusiastic and over the top. He would make some really interesting TV, because he'd be bouncing around and being silly the entire time. However, I do think he'd be a bit different than the "typical" superfan, because most superfans are very shy and self-conscious, but he's really outgoing and loud. I think it would be a really cool twist on the typical stereotype, but would rub people the wrong way just as much as the typical superfan.
The Old Guy
I found this one incredibly difficult, because literally the only indicators are an age and gender. We've seen so many different iterations of the old guy over the years that it's hard to zone in on just one person. We've had the BB16 Donny type, who's just super sweet and lovable, but we've also had people like BB10's Jerry who was super loud and antagonistic. In the end, I went with someone a little off the beaten path: Kingsley Shacklebolt.
I think pretty much every older guy that they cast for Big Brother has some sort of interesting backstory. Donny was this groundskeeper, but everyone thought he was in the army. Glenn, our most recent old guy, was a police officer and a dog groomer. I went through several different options (Remus Lupin- not old enough? Mad Eye- Interesting, but not my fave. Xenophilius- quirky but probably a bit too quirky for this role). But eventually, I landed on Kingsley. I think that he would be a really interesting, strong strategic player. I think that he fits the mold of the older man really well, but with a slight twist. Most "older guys" are not strong strategic forces. I think Kingsley would be.
Sassy Narrator
For this one, I went back and forth between a couple people, but eventually decided to go with Lee Jordan.
I mean, this was basically his job at Hogwarts. He was the commentator at the quidditch games, and he was fantastic at it. He was unabashedly biased and hilariously sassy. His commentary on the games was one of the best aspects of the first book. The quidditch matches were already pretty fun, but he made them even more exciting . He would give some hilariously snarky DRs and the viewers would absolutely love him. Plus, Big Brother likes to get diversity in their cast, and Lee Jordan would be a really interesting player that would also check that box.
Religious Fanatic
There were a lot of options of directions I could go for this one. Obviously, there's not really "religion" in Harry Potter, but there are things like Death Eaters and their near-religious following of Voldemort. However, it's still difficult to choose something like this, because these people would have to pass psychological examination, and I don't think many Death Eaters would pass that. Instead, I ended up going with Percy Weasley.
I was going to choose a girl for this spot to even out the guy/girl ratio, but I'll deal with that when we get to the recruits. When Percy popped into my mind, it was too good to pass up. He might not be a literal religious fanatic, but he fits the mold very well. He's definitely the "goody two-shoes" type, and is quick to try to tell other people that they're not doing what they're supposed to. I mean, he basically separates himself from his entire family because, in his eyes, they're not following the ministry as they should. We also see him give servant-esque respect toward his superiors. He fits this role to a T, and I think that he would certainly be really interesting as the antagonistic, holier than thou version of this stereotype (as opposed to someone like Jocasta).
The Meathead
This stereotype was the impetus for deciding to create this list, because this person immediately came to mind, and they didn't talk about him. They made a really great choice, but I thought it would be an absolute shame not to have this guy in the house, because he is the epitome of the type of bros you get in the BB house every single summer: Cormac McLaggen.
If you don't quite remember him, he first pops up in HBP, pining after Hermione in the most douche-bro way possible. Not only does he have the personality of the typical meathead, but he's super athletic as well. I feel like there are so many guys every single season that are very much like McLaggen, and since I've lost a recruit spot (due to putting guys in both of the gender non-specific casting spots), I think that he fits in very nicely here.
The "Offbeat" Girl
Admittedly, there's only one acceptable option for me here. On the podcast, they chose Tonks, and I definitely get it. But I just can't choose her. I don't hate her or anything, but I'm not a fan. And I think that these days, even the "offbeat" girl looks pretty much just like any of the other girls. So I had to go with Luna Lovegood.
I'm trying to avoid the most prominent characters in the series unless they fit really, really well, but this is definitely the only one that fits for me. When I thought of this stereotype, the first person who really came to mind was Christine from BB16. She might've had some piercings and tattoos, but she did look pretty geeky and didn't look too out-there. And I think that'll be Luna's place. She won't look really wacky, but she has a very offbeat personality and would definitely be a very quirky character, maybe along the lines of a Bronte. Plus, Big Brother tends to cast younger people, so I think Luna would be cast before Tonks.
The "Single Mom" Type
I tried to pick someone that they didn't pick on the podcast, but she was the only person who fit: Lavender Brown.
Obviously, she doesn't actually have a kid. But her personality definitely fits the mold of the single mom that they would cast. Even if they aren't in a showmance, they still definitely want a showmance, and get a little bit too invested in having one. That's Lavender to a T. We see her a lot throughout the series, but we don't really get any inkling of her having a crush on Ron until they're suddenly together 24/7 when they start dating in HBP. She was seemingly pretty down for romance regardless of any other factors, and that's kinda the stereotype with the "single mom." I also considered Ginny for this spot, because she's constantly going from relationship to relationship within the series, but I think that she's much stronger than the typical "single mom" types, who are pretty bland. Movie Ginny, on the other hand...
Token Old Lady
Usually, the Token old lady is pretty quirky. Like Renny from BB10. I thought about a few options, but I just couldn't say no to Minerva McGonagall.
Look, Minerva would be BOMB in the DR. Yeah, she's quite a bit older than people that they generally cast now, but think back to how great Jerry was back in BB10. She would be a likable version of Jerry. She would be smart, sassy, and snarky. I thought about going with a less mainstream character, but then I pictured Minerva in the DR and I couldn't help myself. I'm not sure she would necessarily want to go on Big Brother, but hey, I don't have the luxury of asking for her opinion. So, into the BB house she goes.
"Offbeat" Guy
I feel like this could go in many different directions. Someone like Johnny Mac from BB17 fits this really well, but I would also say that someone like Zach Rance from BB16 would also fit, because he was the "loose cannon" of that season. Other guys who would fit this are Paul from BB18, McCrae from BB15 and Frank from BB14. They're all completely different people and are considered "offbeat" for a variety of reasons. However, in the end, I couldn't help but throw in my favorite characters of all time: Fred and George Weasley.
I almost put these two as the sassy narrator. In fact, I did put them there, and then moved them. They fit both roles, but I think that they're best suited here, and I'll explain why. First off, there aren't too many people who would fit this role from the series. And those who would fit are on the older end of the spectrum-- people who would only be cast in "old people" roles. And the "offbeat" guy is often the one giving funny DRs or just generally being silly or weird. And that's definitely Fred and George. They would give amazing DRs, and they would be actually funny rather than just jumping out at people in the dark and playing other "pranks" that no one likes. They're so likable, but on top of that, they're really clever. They're smart. They could pull off a twin twist much better than the most recent twins on Big Brother, and they would do it while being legitimately likable. There isn't really anyone who dislikes Fred and George. Even Hermione, who gets sick of confiscating their items, still really likes them. I could definitely see them being people who are well-liked both inside and outside of the house.
The "Obvious Recruits" (2-3 apiece)
I'm going to be going with 4 female recruits and 2 male recruits to even out the players a bit here.
Fleur Delacour. Fleur is basically the obvious first choice when picking recruits. The female recruits are always really pretty, and that was definitely Fleur's thing. However, I think her personality also really fits. She clearly has a bit of a fame-bug, because she decided to enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And if not, then she certainly did it for the competition, and if she's competitive, that's also a plus on Big Brother. She could definitely use her veela charms to make people do what she wants, and I think that she would be pretty decent at manipulating people. She'd also probably be really underestimated. I think she'd be a really interesting player.
Angelina Johnson. Although it's not a solid "type," it's really common for there to be at least one female recruit who's the sporty one. And that's definitely Angelina. She's not an incredibly prominent character throughout the Harry Potter series, but she's a constant presence and has shown herself to be a capable and intelligent leader, while also being athletic. I think that she could definitely be a really interesting recruit who picks up on the game quickly and could potentially do really well.
Romilda Vane. Look, I hate the girl. But it's so much fun to have a hateable character. And given that she fawns over Harry just because he's famous, she's clearly a bit of an attention-seeker, so she would be down to be on Big Brother. Plus, she's shown that she can be manipulative. I think that she would be a super interesting villain for the season. I get more and more excited about the idea just talking about it.
Pansy Parkinson. I think I'm using these recruit spots to get some sort of antagonists into this cast. I feel like a lot of the people who fit into the defined "types" are pretty rootable characters, but without some obnoxious people in the mix, it wouldn't be a very fun season. So throw in a couple good antagonists and you've got yourself a good show. I think Pansy could've possibly fit into the sassy narrator role, except she's completely unlikable. So she finds herself here, among the recruits, and I'd hope for a really snarky few weeks before everyone gets sick of her and evicts her.
Cedric Diggory. I mean, he's the epitome of a Big Brother recruit, right? He's good-looking, athletic, and probably not the sharpest tool in the shed. And like with typical good-looking recruits, he seems like a decent guy and has a pretty vanilla personality. He's not necessarily an alpha bro, but he could definitely fall in with the brolliance.
Draco Malfoy. I originally had Oliver Wood in this spot, but I couldn't help but put Draco Malfoy here. While we certainly have some unlikable people in this cast so far, we don't have any true villains, and Draco would fit that spot perfectly. First of all, he's a young, good-looking guy. Those get cast a lot. Plus, he's just unabashedly willing to sneer at people, call them out, and just generally berate people. If you take the Death Eater/Voldemort aspect out, he's such a great antagonist for a season of Big Brother.
Our cast is now complete, so here's a quick recap of the players before we jump into my predictions.
Females: Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Lavender Brown, Minerva McGonagall, Fleur Delacour, Angelina Johnson, Romilda Vane, & Pansy Parkinson.
Males: Colin Creevy, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Lee Jordan, Percy Weasley, Cormac McLaggen, Fred & George Weasley, Draco Malfoy, & Cedric Diggory.
Most likely to be first out
Trying to logic this out is a bit difficult, because I'm trying to figure out which of these players would be at the crossroads of "doesn't fit in with the other players" and "most likely to annoy everyone." While people like Kingsley and McGonagall are clear outliers, I think that they would be able to be likable and personable enough to at least make it to week 2. So I think that in this spot, I have to go with Luna Lovegood.
Honestly, I think people would just be a bit weirded out by her. Looking through the cast, I struggle to find a good landing spot for her. She could potentially work with Colin, but other than that, I think that no one else would be down to be in an alliance with her. Percy Weasley would also be at risk for this position, but he has Fred & George there. While they would probably not want to work with him, I think they would recognize the inherent leg up they would have on the competition in that case. So I think Luna would have to be the first boot.
Person who tries to hide their profession
I mean, that has to be Kingsley Shacklebolt, right? He's an auror, which is one of the most highly regarded positions in the wizarding world. We know from Harry's schooling that the classes are difficult and it's hard to even get into the classes you need, so clearly Kingsley is very smart, and he also clearly seems to be very skilled at his job. Telling everyone he's an auror right off the bat would be like Derrick telling everyone he's an undercover cop-- not a good idea. He'd certainly be a game player in BB and he would definitely have the instinct to cover up his true profession.
Most likely to go on a POV streak
POV comps can be so varied, so you typically have to be both a mental and physical force to be able to go on a POV streak. I think the best fit for that would have to be Angelina Johnson. She's certainly a physical threat because she is one of the more athletic players, but I think she's also proven to be someone with a cool head who's intelligent and can think under pressure. I see her definitely being capable of going on a POV run.
Showmance?
Well, we have a few already set pairs in the house: Pansy & Draco, Fred/George & Angelina (because if you remember, George marries her but Fred was the one who dated her at Hogwarts so that could be interesting to watch), and Cho & Cedric. I think Pansy & Draco would be the dramatic one- Draco would probably stab her in the back pretty early. The twins and Angelina would probably be the "actually skilled" showmance, potentially downplaying that aspect and being able to use it to their advantage. And then Cho & Cedric would be the cute showmance who end up throwing away their games for each other.
However, I think that people like Lavender Brown and Romilda Vane will absolutely be looking to showmance, and I could see them just honestly bouncing around and picking up whoever they can. I don't think they really have any choices left, but I could see either one of them trying to vie for Cedric or Cormac at the beginning. I could easily see Cormac playing one of them like a fiddle and ousting them quickly.
Biggest blindside?
Definitely one of the twins, most likely Fred. I think that the twins will be super likable in the house. Yes, they're really goofy and play pranks, but unlike a certain BB17&18 player, they're clever and would know if they were getting annoying. But, given that they're twins and potentially have a showmance, I think that they would be on everyone's radar as someone to split up. So I could see it getting down to the second double eviction of the season & someone taking that opportunity to knock out one of the twins. And it would probably be Fred, because he's usually the dominant one of the pair.
Screwed by a twist
It would probably have to be a strategic player whose game gets completely derailed by something dumb. I'm beginning to realize that I don't have a ton of strategic powerhouses in this, so I think someone like Kingsley Shacklebolt will have to fit here. He's likely to be one of the most strategic players in the house, but I think that he's also likely to be one of the more obvious strategic players in the house. And I'm not sure how good he would be at adapting to a twist thrown his way. So I have to think that he would be the one screwed over in that situation.
Villain of the season
I mean, it has to be the Pansy/Draco showmance, right? With Draco as the clear villain of the two? I mean, viewers will hate them because we'll have another Aaryn/Gina Marie moment with them calling everyone derogatory slurs. But on top of that, if Draco cuts Pansy at some point, I think he would be seen as even more of a villain.
Biggest meltdown/freak out
I think the person who's clearly the most likely to have some sort of freak out is Lavender Brown. She'd get turned down by a guy that she wanted to showmance and it would be so upsetting to her that she would lose it and either end up yelling at someone or sobbing to one of her alliance partners.
Make jury and have mean jury speech
Definitely Percy. Need I say more? He's incredibly willing to speak his mind very candidly and has a bit of a mean streak, even toward family. I could definitely see him falling into this slot easily.
Final 2- winner & goat or potential ally next to them
I'm probably a bit biased here, but I really see George making his way to the final 2. Like I said earlier, I really think that Fred, as the dominant twin, would be the one targeted and potentially taken out in a double eviction near the end of the season. But I think that George would be able to make his way to the F2 even without Fred. However, I think the clearest path for him to make it to F2 is with Angelina because I think that she's the one who's best at comps. I can't really see him being able to make it there with a goat. Yes, it's a showmance and I have a lot of reservations saying that a showmance could make it to the end, but I think that George will be likable but clever, while Angelina is the comp threat of the two, which will push them to the end. Because of this, I think the vote will be really close but I have to think that George would be the eventual winner because likability usually wins out when it's close.
America's Favorite Player
This usually goes to the sassy narrator, so I think that Lee Jordan has a real shot at this, but I could also see viewers really loving someone like McGonagall. Also, given that I think Cho and Cedric will be the cute showmance of the season, I could see one of them getting it. IDK, I'm a bit torn on this one. I think the top 3 will be Cedric, Lee Jordan, and McGonagall, with Lee Jordan pulling out a win. I think he'll have really funny DRs, and I can't really see anyone being very put off by him.
So, that's it for my Big Brother cast made up of Harry Potter characters! Let me know down in the comments if there's anyone you thought should have been included on this list and what Harry Potter character you think would have a good shot at winning a season of Big Brother.
Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See you soon!
It's been a while since I did anything other than a ranking or list on here, so I thought it would be fun to do something that used to be a regular series on here-- an entire 30 day tumblr challenge in a single post! AKA: a One Day Tumblr Challenge. If you want to see more of these type of challenges, there's a page linked in the sidebar to the right with all of the One Day Tumblr Challenges I've done.
Back in 2014, I did a different 30 Day Book Challenge. Oddly, many of the questions are the same, but either way, that was quite a while back and my answers are going to be pretty different this time around (trust me, I checked!). If you do want to check that out though, you can do so by clicking here.
1) Best book you read last year
Seriously, this book was amazing. Generally, my all-time favorite books are series. When I think of my favorite books, the first ones to come to mind are always books from my favorite series. But this book rose well above everything else that I read in 2016. It was everything I could ever want in a book-- amazing world, complex characters, intriguing plot, plus a cool magic system. I found it so easy to sit down and binge read it, but it wasn't one of those books where its addictive quality was the only good thing about it. It was just overall awesome.
2) A book that you've read more than 3 times
Although I really enjoy re-reading books, this question actually made me realize that there aren't a ton of books that I've read more than 3 times. I wanted to choose something that wasn't obvious (AKA Harry Potter & And Then There Were None). So, I ended up going with All-American Girl by Meg Cabot. This is one that I first read back in elementary school, before even reading Harry Potter. This quickly became my favorite book and I read it over and over. It's been a while since the last time I re-read it, but I've probably read All American Girl upwards of 20 times.
3) Your favorite series
I wasn't going to go for the obvious, but I found that (for once) my second-favorite series was getting a lot of love on this list, so for the sake of variety I decided to talk about Harry Potter. It is, has been, and will always be my favorite book series. It's sheer perfection in every way and holds a very special place in my heart.
4) Favorite book of your favorite series
Piggybacking off of the last question, I have a tie for my favorite book in the series. When forced to choose, I often say Half Blood Prince is my favorite, but occasionally Deathly Hallows wins out. They're just both really amazing in different ways. HBP gives so much backstory to Voldemort and it just enriches the entire world and story and Deathly Hallows follows an entirely new and unique structure from the other books. They're just both absolutely phenomenal.
5) A book that makes you happy
This entire book is just really cute. I'm not necessarily saying that the ending made me happy (it might have, or it might not have-- no spoilers here!) but pretty much the entire way through, I found myself smiling at everything from the characters, to the plot, to Simon's voice. Overall, the book was just fun and happy throughout.
6) A book that makes you sad
Once again, no spoilers for the ending-- I'm not trying to tell you whether or not the ending made me happy or sad. But this is just one of the most emotional stories I've read. The entire premise of the story is that our MC, Naho, is trying to save her new friend Kakeru from a seemingly negative fate. So, the entire story is full of emotional low points, tears, and just generally emotional people. I considered putting this in the happy field because a lot of the tears were happy tears throughout, but despite the fact that it's generally a heartwarming story, there are some really low, low, emotional points that can hit home in very sad ways. So I put it here.
7) Most underrated book
I considered several books for this one, but settled on Coda because it had the least reviews/ratings on Goodreads. This is a dystopian novel in a world where the only legal music is addictive, government-sanctioned music. But, our MC, Anthem, is in a band and regularly performs and creates illegal music. It's just a really interesting plot and a really intriguing world on top of that. Some other criminally underrated dystopian novels that I considered mentioning here were The Chimes by Anna Smaill (long-listed for the Manbooker, and also dealing heavily with music), as well as The Body Electric by Beth Revis (a sci-fi dystopian that personally gives me Lunar Chronicles vibes).
8) Most overrated book
OK, hear me out. I considered listing several popular YA trilogies here, but the majority of them were series where I've seen many people with dissenting opinions. Series like The Selection (which many people do dislike), Divergent (I think we all hate book 3), and Shatter Me (which has pretty mixed reviews across the board) are all ones I considered. But everyone loves The Hunger Games and my general opinion toward it can be summed up by: *shrug*. I did enjoy hunger games, but it goes downhill from there. I didn't hate it by any means, but I just didn't see why everyone loves it so much. And I think most people have mixed or negative feelings about Mockingjay. The series is fine, but if you want a Hunger Games-esque story, check out Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, which did it both first and better.
9) A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
If I don't think I'll like a book, I typically just don't read it. Life's too short to read books you aren't interested in. So for this one, I turned to a re-read. I loved the Pendragon series, but this book, the finale, was a major disappointment the first time through. So, when I re-read the series, I wasn't really expecting to enjoy it. But the second time through, I really loved it as a conclusion. I'm not sure what changed between the reads-- maybe I was just more mentally prepared given that I already knew some of the explanations. But overall, the re-read really took it from a disappointing conclusion to a book that I gave 5 stars.
10) Favorite classic book
Once again, I wanted to avoid the obvious (And Then There Were None). I don't read a ton of classics, but when I do, I read dystopia. It was a hard choice between 1984 and Brave New World, but I chose 1984 because the world terrifies me even more. Every single thought and word are monitored by Big Brother. It's just a terrifying reality to think of, and the book explored this world in such an interesting way. It's really awesome.
11) A book you hated
Hate is a really strong word, and I'm hesitant to use it to describe books. But ugh, I really don't like this book. I hated the characters. Alaska was a manic pixie dream girl stereotype and I was not here for it. I thought that the book was pretty predictable and I honestly can't think of a single thing that I actually liked about it. Even though I liked The Fault in our Stars, Looking for Alaska has dissuaded me from picking up any more John Green books.
12) A book you used to love but don't anymore
I mean, I'd have to go back and re-read it to be sure, but I think all of us have dealt with a huge shift in opinions when it comes to this book and series. Bella is such a pathetic character, and HOW did I not think that Edward was creepy to watch her sleep? I still totally recognize the inherent addictive quality to these books, but I think that's really the only good thing about it. That being said, I really do want to go back and re-read the series to see what my opinions are now. I mean, the books are super easy to find at used bookstores for $2, so maybe that'll happen.
13) Your favorite writer
I picked up my first book by Brandon Sanderson almost 2 years ago, and I've never looked back. I've enjoyed every single one of his books that I've read so far, and many of them are among my favorite books that I've ever read. His magic systems and worlds are always so interesting and complex, his writing is well-done but easy to read, and I always find it difficult to put his books down. I've read 9 of his books so far, but I still have so many more that I still need to get to, because the guy publishes multiple books every year. It's just so impressive and overall, he's definitely become my favorite author.
14) Favorite book of your favorite writer
The Final Empire absolutely blew me away. Not only is it my favorite Brandon Sanderson book to date, but it's my favorite book that I've read (for the first time) since discovering BookTube. Everything about it just really clicked with me and I fell in love with both Sanderson as a writer and with this book and series. Everything from the characters, to the world, to the magic system impressed me. It's such a good book and I really want to re-read the series sometime in the near future.
15) Favorite male character
Per usual, I decided not to go with the obvious (Fred Weasley), so I went with my second favorite, Magnus Bane. Magnus is such a fun, snarky, sassy character who makes me laugh every time he pops up in a Cassandra Clare book. I haven't read the Dark Artifices yet, so I don't know if he's in that series, but he's popped up in all of the other Shadowhunter books I've read, and that's always one of the most fun aspects of Shadowhunter novels for me.
16) Favorite female character
Once again, avoiding the obvious (Hermione Granger). I had such a tough time with this one, because I have a lot of female characters that I really like, but don't necessarily consider to be my favorites. I have some beef with the way female characters are written sometimes. However, eventually I landed on Paige from The Bone Season series. Paige is such a strong female character, but she has a lot of depth to her as well. I love her voice within the series, and I just think she's overall a really awesome character.
17) Favorite quote from your favorite book
It's not my favorite book ever, but my favorite book quote ever is from my favorite series so I'll let it slide. And that quote is:
"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here."- Albus Dumbledore
Not just that one line, but the entire scene surrounding it. This happens in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at the opening feast. The school sings the school song, with each student singing at their own tempo until only the Weasley twins are left, singing at a funeral march tempo, and Dumbledore conducts them. It's just such a wonderful moment, and that quote perfectly book-ends it.
18) A book that disappointed you
The first book that came to mind was Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse. I was so excited about this book that I drove to Barnes and Noble (which at the time was a 30 minute drive) and bought it at full price. But in the end, I was really underwhelmed. The book is a collection of short stories that progress through the future, but for me everything remained at surface level and never got deep into anything. There were some other books I considered, like The Leveller by Julia Durango or Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, but with those books I'd already considered the possibility of disliking them. This one came out of left field.
19) Favorite book turned into a movie
So this question is a bit vague to me. Is it my favorite book that has a movie adaptation, regardless of the quality of the adaptation? Or my favorite movie that is an adaptation, regardless of whether or not I liked the book? Or a book-to-movie adaptation where I loved both? You see my dilemma here, right? So, because of that, I've gone with the easiest answer. Harry Potter. Specifically, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'll be doing a ranking of the movies in the series soon, so I don't want to spoil that, but when considering both the book at the movie and averaging everything together, this one typically comes out on top for me. Not sure that'll be the case in my actual ranking (there are a couple others that are really high up there), but that one wins out today.
20) Favorite romance book
I don't really read "romance" romance books... if that makes sense. But as far as books where the central plot is a romance (AKA YA contemporary), my definite favorite is I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson. There are multiple other plots going on within the book, but the romance is always the one that stands out in my mind. Another book that came to mind was The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols, but this one is definitely higher on my favorites lists and stands out more to me in the romance department.
21) Favorite book from your childhood
Once again circumventing the obvious, I'm going with the Charlie Bone series. This is a series that I really enjoyed as a kid. It combined the dark tone and quirkiness of the Series of Unfortunate Events with the magic school intrigue of Harry Potter and it was just a really interesting and unique series. It's probably for kids around the age of 10, but this is a series that I really want to go back and re-read and finish. I was reading it when the series was incomplete (by the time I caught up, I think that the 4th book had just been released), so I kept up with the series for the next couple books, but have yet to actually finish the series. It was popular at the time, but it's not a series I've heard many people talk about since then, so I definitely think it deserves a bit more attention, because it's really awesome.
22) Favorite book you own
OK, so this is obviously the most vague question on this list, because I own almost every book on this list. So, I'm going to focus on my favorite copy of a book I own. The ones at the top of the list are my copies of HP 6&7 because I got them the day of their release, but next on the list is probably my copy of The Diviners. I bought a signed copy online, so it's not like I got to go to a signing and meet Libba Bray, but it's one of my favorite books and I have a signed copy of it, so that's probably my favorite. But I also have a signed copy of The Song Rising so I might have to go with that once I read it.
23) A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
I think that one would have to be Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I've had it on my TBR since I first started watching BookTube, and it's still one that really intrigues me... and yet I still haven't read it. The more I think about it right now, the more intrigued I get to pick it up, so maybe I'll pick it up sometime soon.
24) A book that you wish more people would've read
I feel like this is kinda similar to the "underrated book" question, but I'll throw another one out there for good measure. I'd have to go with The Body Electric by Beth Revis. Out of all the books that I've loved, this is the one that's not super well known that I think a lot of people would like. Especially YA readers, and especially people who really love the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I read this book first, and when I finally picked up Cinder, I found myself constantly seeing (good) similarities between the two. The stories are rather different, but the worlds are intriguingly similar.
25) A character who you can relate to the most
The part of me that likes to see myself as a cool person reeeeally wants to say someone like Jace Wayland because I really like being snarky, sarcastic, and over humanity. However, realistically I think I'm some combination of Hermione Granger and Cath from Fangirl. I can be a huge know-it-all like Hermione, but I think that if anything, Cath is the one I relate to the most. She loves writing fanfiction and staying at home by herself and being on the internet all day. If that doesn't describe my life, I don't know what does.
26) A book that changed your opinion about something
I really struggled with this one, because I don't think that I've had too many major changes in opinion because of a book. But the one that eventually came to mind was the Death Note manga series. I read my first comic series (Locke and Key) back in 2015. After that, I read a few more trade comics and was incredibly focused on the art style and colors, and less on the story. I generally enjoyed the trade comics but they never really hugely resonated with me. And then I picked up Death Note, and I fell in love. And it was in black and white, something that I didn't think I'd be interested in. Not every volume blew me away, but the series as a whole did, and it gave me a totally different perspective on visual books/storytelling as a whole.
27) The most surprising plot twist or ending
Well that would just be really spoilery, so I'm not answering that. I hate when people even mention that there's a plot twist in a book because then I just find myself figuring out what's going to happen and looking for little hints dropped throughout the book to confirm my suspicions. So instead, I'm going to mention a series that constantly kept me guessing and on my toes. And that is the Mistborn trilogy.
I've mentioned it already a few times in this post, but this trilogy (and honestly, all of Sanderson's books) gives you so many twists and turns that you didn't see coming. He keeps you constantly guessing as to what's about to happen, and often takes you in directions that you could never have guessed... ever. This is why I love both this trilogy and his books overall SO MUCH.
28) Favorite title
I haven't really talked about it too much in this post, so I'm finally going to shout out my favorite standalone, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. The original title of the book was really awful-- if you didn't know, the original title included a racial slur that I'm definitely not going to repeat here. However, I love the title And Then There Were None. It captures the mood of the book so well and is just overall a really cool and foreboding title. Definitely my favorite title ever.
29) A book everyone hated but you liked
I've said this a few times, but typically if everyone hates a book, I also dislike it. Not because I'm trying to agree with everyone, but because if most people think a book isn't very good... the book probably isn't very good. However, when I was scrolling through Goodreads, I discovered that one of my favorite books from last year has a rating of 3.4/5, which is embarrassingly low. Typically, even the most mediocre books fall somewhere around 3.6-3.75, so seeing such a beautiful book with such a low rating makes me sad. And that's why I typically don't think that this is a book for everyone. I think it requires a real appreciation and knowledge of music. Not that I think music novices wouldn't like it, but rather that the prose flows really simply and beautifully when you understand the musical terms that she's woven into the text as part of the language of the world. I dunno, I absolutely love this book and am sad to see that it has such a low rating on Goodreads. Both 3/5 and 4/5 are more common than 5/5 for The Chimes, which makes me sad.
30) Your favorite book of all time
This one is super difficult. I typically try not to figure out my favorite book of all time, because it's so hard to compare a book in a series to a standalone. My favorite story of all time will always be the Harry Potter series. That's something that I find incredibly easy to say. But that's an entire 7 book series that spans thousands of pages. If I'm being honest with myself, my favorite book is probably:
Part of me really wants to declare a tie again, because realistically I always have trouble deciding between Deathly Hallows or Half Blood Prince when naming my favorite Harry Potter book. But when it gets down to the nitty gritty, Half Blood Prince feels like home every single time I pick up the book. Just reading the first few chapters brings me back to the first time I read it almost 12 years ago. The quote "Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home" always rings most true when I pick up Half Blood Prince.
So, that's it for this 30 Day Challenge! I had a lot of fun doing this again. I can't say that this is going to for sure be the return of the "One Day Tumblr Challenge" series, but I definitely do want to do some of these again, as well as some normal book tags, so keep an eye out for more of these in the future!
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