This post is late but Happy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 release!!

(I wrote this on Thursday night, the night of the midnight premiere for Deathly Hallows but I guess I forgot to post it, so please excuse the confusing comments about "tonight"...) In honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 movie I decided to write a little blog post, and yes, I most definitely have a ticket and will be seeing it with some friends even though I know that tomorrow I have to go to school because I have to go to swim practice and lemme tell you something, swimming in the pool when you've only got 3 hours of sleep is never good. But since I have seasonal insomnia and its pretty much the usual for me, I guess it won't be too bad.

The Harry Potter series is incredibly hard to put into words.  I can not even express how excited I am for tonight's midnight premiere!!! All week has been Harry Potter week for me. I've worn the T-shirts, wrote several status' on facebook about how I can't wait for Deathly Hallows part 1, bursted out into "I love Harry Potter" in my terrible singing voice many times, etc. 

I'm a little uncertain on where I rank Deathly Hallows. It's definitely at least my 2nd favorite Harry Potter book but I think it may be tied with Half-Blood Prince for 1st. Although, I didn't get to finish rereading Deathly Hallows before I see the movie, I've been thinking back to the summer of 2007. The summer the final book was release.

Summer 2007 was the summer after 7th grade (and what a terrible year that was) and before 8th grade. I was 13 years old and it was when I really became addicted to the internet and I joined a bunch of forums that year. I became quite obsessed with Harry Potter fanfiction and mugglenet.com and I just breathed Harry Potter. I remember checking mugglenet.com, not once, but 2, 3, 10 times a day. I mean, I was OBSESSED. It would drive my mother crazy how I would stay up on the computer until 5 or 6 in the morning just reading all I could about Harry Potter after I had reread books 1-6 and was anxiously anticipating the release of Deathly Hallows. 

I can still remember how one morning in July, I'm thinking it was between 10-15th, it had been one of those nights where I stayed up until 6 am. My mom had gone to McDonalds to get me a sausage mcgriddle (first time I'd ever had one of those) and I remember this morning because my mom had to go to the hospital for something and I offered to go with her. When we got back home, the computer had caught a virus or something due to my older sister and it just completely shut down. I was devastated. I mean how else was I supposed to keep up with my daily news feeds for Deathly Hallow things. But as the days passed, I figured it was for the best because I didn't want to read any spoilers or anything but I actually ended up reading the first page of Deathly Hallows before it was release but we all thought it was just some person doing it. DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THAT HAPPENING?

Anyway, July 21, 2007 is still one of my favorite days ever. Although, my parents do not understand my love for books or anything they took me to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was so freakin' amazing! I got a keychain, some fake glasses, and a lot of other HP things. I met some fellow HP lovers and so many other things. I got my book at 12:16 am and quickly put a Harry Potter bookplate in the front as well as things like, "I TRUST SNAPE," because I just knew he was good. And of course, I cried.

Since, I posted this late and saw the movie on midnight I will tell you guys what I thought about it. If you haven't seen the movie don't read. 

- RON IS SUPER ADORABLE. Holy cow. I'm not exactly a R/Hr shipper but, man, every time Ron looked at Hermione that face he made was just pure awesome.

- The animation scene!!! I already love The Tale of Three Brothers but that scene just made it 10x more awesome. I told my artistic friends that even if they aren't into HP that much they should go see it because of this scene and that they would love it.

- Bathilda Bagshot. o.0 OMG. Can you say creepy? I'm not even going to lie, I jumped out of my seat more than once and screamed. 

- Hermione in Malfoy Manor. Oh goodness. SOOOOO FREAKIN' INTENSE. Teary eyes.

- DOBBY. Gahhhh. :(

- Fred and George! God, I love them. 

- The short scene with Neville was great! Of course, I wished we got to see more of him and the others.

- The scenes with the Malfoy's and other death eaters were fantastic. I wished more emphasis had been placed on Draco, espically when Hermione was being tortured. 

- The ending with Voldemort getting the Elder Wand out of Dumbledore's tomb. WOW. WOW.  SO crazily intense.

I don't know how I'm going to get through these next couple of months until part 2!!

10th Grade Required Reading List

A week ago, I made my 9th Grade Required Reading List. Here is my 10th grade.

Kate Chopin

 Short Stories Unit 

In my 9th Grade Required Reading List, I mentioned I adore short stories, I especially loved the ones my English teacher had us read! We actually read a few dystopian type short stories (There Will Come Soft Rains, By the Waters of Babylon) and I think I should really read some dystopian YA books because the short stories were awesome!

I think my favorite short story we read was Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Short book, but so emotional and so very good! Here is my review of NIGHT.

The theme for this unit was tolerance and we also had to make a powerpoint

 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

This wasn't actually a really serious unit. We read the play and took a test over it and then watched the movie.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

I'm really involved in theatre and have seen this play at a theatre convention (although I did fall asleep but it was a really good performance!) and I knew what it was about somewhat.

I really can't remember how I did on this book. I think I did okay. So yeah..

 Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This is definitely one of those books that I would've never picked up on my own. In fact this is one of those books that I thought I was going to have to spark note because I wasn't going to finish in time (I'm horrible with required reading, I know) because it is also rather lengthy. Even though, I only caught up right before the test, I still finished it on time. I loved the ending to this book!

Here is my review. Oh, and I did fantastic on the major test! SCORE!

 Poetry Unit

I didn't like the choices of the poems this time. Like last year, Mrs. C had us each  read about 2 poems each that she had already chose and give the class information about the poet and stuff.

I chose to read Sonnet 18 from Shakespeare and The Waking by Theodore Roethke, both of which I really liked! Also, we had to right a couple of poems like last year but only 5 this year. I wrote about feminism, running, fear of mirrors and two others that I can't exactly remember. Our teacher picked the overall themes.



The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I knew even before I picked this book up that I was going to have trouble with this one.

I mean, I liked the first page, and I actually did like the dialogue (once you start reading it it's not so bad and I did find it kind of funny) but I don't know. We read this in the middle of soccer season. And soccer just happens to have to really far away and long games. Not a good combination if I want to get reading done.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I didn't do so good on the test. I got a freakin' C! I will go back in read this book one day. I hear the ending really makes you think or something.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles

Then, we had our Greek Theatre lesson and read this book. I am really good with theatre, so I knew, pretty much, all of the terms and where to label the things on our stage map we had on our test. Now, the play itself isn't too long. Here's what happened. I was gone for about 4 days (which is pretty much the time we had to read the play) and my teacher told me that I would have no problem with what I had read over the weekend and I only needed to study a couple of other things.

I didn't do too horrible on the test but I definitely would've done better had a read the play. Ah, I think I'll finish it up one day and read Antigone, the next play in the trilogy.

OVERALL GRADE: B+ One thing that we also did that we didn't do freshman year was have weekly test over hard vocabulary words. But it was kinda easy for me. In some ways I feel that this year was easier than freshman year, except for Huck Finn! UGH! 

Also, Sophomore year I was in APUSH– AP US History and we were required to read a book each quarter and to be honest, all of them for the most part were books that I would've never even thought about reading. Here's what I picked:

• 1776

• Uncle Tom's Cabin 

• The Jungle

• On The Road 

I am a terrible, terrible student, lemme tell you. I am just damn horrible. These history books were basically sparknoted. Although, I did like On The Road and will be buying it soon, so I can actually read the whole thing. The Jungle wasn't too bad (gross but not bad). Uncle Tom's Cabin was just okay and 1776...Well, I don't even know why I chose to read it. 

I AM NOT READY FOR ENLIGH 11 HONORS THIS YEAR! Well, actually it's called composition/American literature. Books such as The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, Cold Mountain are on our reading list. 

School starts tomorrow. YIKES! 

I will be a better student this year. I will get all A's. *repeats mantra*

Books That I Want To Read More Of (Part 1)

I have been meaning to put a list together for quite some time now. Below are some of the things I enjoy reading in books. However, I can't seem to find a lot books that fit theses categories and need some suggestions. At the end there will be a form to leave suggestions and after I post the 2nd part for this, I will compile a list of suggestions I get!

EDIT: I posted this a couple weeks ago but did not get the response I was hoping for, so I'm posting it again if you missed it!

1. Boarding Schools

No. I'm not talking about books where the girl goes off to a boarding school and suddenly she becomes wicked popular and/or posh and a snob. I enjoy reading the ones where the MC finds herself/himself making new friends, experiencing new things and really in depth stories. Maybe it's because I've always longed to go to a boarding school (crazy, I know!) or the fact that I got accepted into this fancy-smancy private school but the tuition was 16k but I can't help it! I like reading these kind of books. Books that feature boarding schools: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, Viola In Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani, Looking For Alaska by John Green

2. Cross Country/Running and other sports

Anyone who follows my twitter or has checked out my sports blog knows that I am on the cross country team and have a passion for running. I have read very few books that feature the main character on the XC or track&field team. Actually, I really haven't read books with the MC is on a sports team...at least ones that are female. I would prefer books that have the character working hard to become the best at whatever his/her sport is. Sometimes, it annoys me when the MC Books where the MC is a runner: Smart Boys & Fast Girls by Stephie Davis, I also read another book last March where the MC was training for the San Diego (or some city in Cali) Rock and Roll Marathon. Throughout the book she was looking for her father, who might've been in a band. I can't remember the title or author! So if you know the title, please leave it in the box below!

3. Pregnancies

I haven't really read a book that deals with a teenage pregnancy. I don't know why but I want to read novels that feature the MC getting pregnant and seeing how she and the people deal with it. I see so many girls at my school that are pregnant and are barely 16 years old. I want to get an insight, as much as I can, on what goes inside the head of the girl. Leave suggestions of your favorite, or most realistic book that deals with a pregnancy.

4. Surprise Endings

The fact of the matter is, I am really entertained with books that have twist endings! Books that can leave my mouth hanging open and I never saw whatever happened coming are awesome (usually!) Unfortunately, I can't seem to recall a lot of books I've read that are like this. Please leave me suggestions! These can fall under Adult if it has the cross-over appeal. Book endings where I've been shocked by: Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult, Life of Pi by Yann Martel

5. Body/Weight Issues

As someone who used to have a low self-esteem when it came to my body and weight (heck, I still do, but not as much as I used to) I love reading books where I can kind of relate to the characters. I'm not exactly looking for eating disorder type books but I would love suggestions on books where the MC is trying to lose weight (I know this is cliché, but I absolutely love really good ones) or tries to fix her appearance somehow.

6. Tearjerkers

Call me insane, but I absolutely love a good novel that will make me bawl my eyes out. Not too many will make me cry. They might make me sad and all but it doesn't cause tears. Of course, this is an entirely different story when I read a Jodi Picoult novel (but I've only read, like, 4.) Of course, I understand that usually books that make people cry are ones that have MC deaths but it's fine, I'll have my tissue ready! Books that have made me cry: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks

Please leave suggestions!

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