August Readathon Challenge!!!!!!!!

Hello pals of the internet, it’s been a while.

I’ve been a little slow on the blogging and reading train because I am participating in a program called Camp Nanowrimo. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it usually takes place in November where people write a 50,000 word novel in ONE MONTH. Camp Nanowrimo is just another installment of the challenge that takes place in April and July. I’ve been behind on this endeavor and I’ve been trying to catch up, making the reading process practically undoable…AND IT SUCKS! But last night, I had a revelation. I saw all these videos on Booktube (a community of vloggers on Youtube that read and review books) about a Readathon that they had participated in last week called BookTube-a-thon where they take on many challenges in order to read more than they usually do. In this readathon, they took on 7 challenges. One of them was to read 300 pages a day…what? I was thinking about doing this challenge but I got turned off by that challenge. Even though the creators of the challenge said that you don’t have to participate in the challenges and just read at your own pace, I just decided that participating in the week long challenge would not advance me in my word count for Camp Nanowrimo. Now that I’m sorta caught up with my fanfiction novel (not really), I’ve started thinking about how I would achieve in reading the books that I’ve wanted to read, but never got down to it. THEN IT HIT ME! A month long Readathon in August! Woooo! Last night, I stayed up until 6:00 am planning for this and I’m really excited.

Here’s what I plan on doing during my own personal challenge:

-Read 12 books

1.  HP and the Goblet of Fire (734 pages)
2. HP and the Order of the Phoenix (870)
3. HP and the Half Blood Prince (652)
4. The Deathly Hallows (759)
5. The Devil’s Highway (Summer Reading for School) (220)
6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson (304)
7. An Abundance of Katherines (229)
8. The Kingdom Keepers (326)
9. Pride and Prejudice (316)
10. The Fault in Our Stars (451)
11. Perks of Being a Wallflower (Reading this one again!) (213)
12. Paper Towns ( 305)

-Listen to 2 audiobooks

1. Looking for Alaska
2. Peter and the Starcatchers

-Read 171 pages a day

-Blog about it every week.

I think that this challenge would be a good idea to do because I would be able to read many books before it is too late and I head off to college. I heard that when moving into the dorm, you should limit the amount of books you bring.

Many of the books on my list, like the John Green books, I have read half, but I’m deciding to just start over from the beginning to get a fuller affect from the books (I don’t know).

I wanted to read more books but I calculated that reading more than 171 pages a day to read 12 books was going to make my brain explode, and in doing that to myself right before the first da of college is probably not the best idea if I wish to, you know, get good grades and all. Maybe when I have a break in school (Winter?) I’ll do another challenge, but for now, this is it!

I understand that it will be hard for me to finish 12 books in a month when I don’t even read 12 books in a year (#slowreaderproblems) , but even if I read four books (finishing Harry Potter), that’ll be pretty cool.

If you want to join in, you can! 31 days of reading? Heck yeah!

I’m Going to Azkaban

Guys, I did something truly wrong which the Ministry of Magic that presides in my mind will not tolerate…I DIDN’T FINISH HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN BY SUNDAY!!!! I’m throwing myself in Azkaban. What is wrong with me? It’s like I enjoy putting off reading these books! Well, to the tell the truth, by finishing it today, I had a full week to finish the book. However, I really am going to try and finish the next book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by Sunday so I can start the remanding books at the beginning of each week! I’m finishing the books by the end of the month! I shall keep this Unbreakable Vow (even though I haven’t gotten to the point in the series where I am supposed to know what that is yet)! Sooo my review of the book compared to the movie…I think I liked the book way better. Wait not think, KNOW. Now that I have started reading, I sort of like using my own imagination to read the story instead of a movie giving me the visualizations that also tell the story (But I’m still gonna watch the movies after I finish reading the books!). As Madam Trelawney said, you have to be able to “See,” with your mind’s eye. I believe the problem I have is that before I start reading, I have negative connotations about the act itself. Do I really have to sit here and look at words for hours? What’s the pleasure in knowing that you have 300 pages to go to finish the book? Who da eff is Peeves? He wasn’t even in the dang movie! But then I get into the story more, and my imagination takes over and I can see and hear the story in my mind. Look guys and dolls, I know this sounds like I’m a first grader just learning how to read, but when you’ve been watching television, watching movies, or surfing the internet most of your life and you’ve just gotten into the joys of reading…you get excited, okayyyyy? I mean, yeah I’ve read books for school, but I’d try to rush through them quickly to get them over with.  I’ve also read for pleasure before (I mean, Perks of Being A Wallflower is one of my favorite books. I just finished it two months ago and I started that puppy in September/October 2012!), but having actually finished a book within a week, even within a month, is a MILESTONE for me. I feel like screaming to the Heavens! HUZZAH! Another thing I like about actually reading the books is something I thought I dreaded: reading the words on the page! Think about it, if you watch the movie or listen to the audiobook, you don’t really know if the author wrote something like this, “Shut up!”, or like this, “SHUT UP!” I always crack up when I see all caps because it makes me happy that I can relate to J.K. Rowling a little…SHE’S JUST LIKE ME I DO ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME! If only I had her genius…Ahhh those would be the days, eh? I also enjoyed the little flirtatious moments between Ron and Hermione. I know there weren’t many since their still young and they were fighting for much of the book because of a cat and a rat, but sometimes I would just fall back into my chair, hold the book up to my chest and go DAWWW! all over the place. There were also many laugh out loud moments that made me feel cool because I feel like all the great readers around the world laugh out loud when they read. Overall, the book was great, it was like a weeklong movie in my head! I enjoyed it and so far, this is my favorite book of the series. Hopefully I’ll enjoy the next book so much that I’ll finish it by the end of the week. Wish me luck! Happy reading everyone! I’ll have another blog post up when I finish the book or sooner!

A Wanna Be…A Harry Potter Fangirl

Okay…Hi. I’m Virginia. So listen…I never…read the whole Harry Potter series before. DON’T ATTACK. This might not be a big deal to people who don’t care to read these magically fantastic books that make the world go round with imagination and fun times. This might not be a deal to people who have banned the books from being read in their libraries and schools AND to people who (God forbid) burn the books that MUST NOT BE BURNED. This even might not be a big deal to say…the President of the United States of America because he might have other things to care about like the country and foreign policy and I just lost my train of thought what where we talking abo……OH YES, HARRY POTTER. Growing up, I was raised to love movies. I mean who doesn’t love movies? They’re fantastical! Seeing things on a screen that you don’t see everyday is a dream for your eyes. With this relationship in mind, I found a love for the Harry Potter movies. When I met people, I would ask them if they liked Harry Potter? Ya gotta love the characters, settings, and TeamStarkid’s musical productions right? I thought I was a super fan with the knowledge that I had of the stories. Then the worst would happen, they asked me if I read the books. “I don’t really like to read…,” I would say. In return, they would turn to me, and everything went black and everyone went slowmo…”You’re…not…a…fan.”  But…but…but but but….whyyyyyyy??? I thought I was? How could that be? I mean, A Very Potter Musical and its sequels are some of my favorite theater productions of all time and I’m a theater nerd! They told me the solution to my problem was simple: read the books. Read? For pleasure? It was a foreign concept to me. I had a firm relationship with television, movies, and the internet. I wasn’t a reader, just a story lover. But then again, most stories started with a book! If I wanted to be a super fan, I had to do it. I had to read the Harry Potter series, but how? When? There are so many episodes of (Insert Awesome Television Show Here) on Netflix that I have yet to watch. But then, the opportunity of a lifetime came: my vacation to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, where stood the majestic Wizarding World of Harry Potter. My friends said that reading the books before going was the best way to enjoy it. THIS WAS THE START OF MY JOURNEY TO BECOMING A HARRY POTTER SUPER FANGIRL! So I cracked open the first book, and I liked it, it was nice and had some new minor characters that weren’t in the movies. Peeves? Who da thunk it! I finished the book before I got on the train to Florida (yes I took the train and it was fun.) Then, on that long ride to the orange State, I started Chamber of Secrets. That my friends, was in March…it is now July, and I JUST finished the book. I obviously put it off too long. It takes some people one sitting to read a book. What? TEACH ME YOUR WAYS! This can never happen again. This summer (now), I am going to do my darndest to finish the Harry Potter series by reading one book in a week or less. I started Prisoner of Azkaban this week and now I’m halfway through. I must finish BY TOMORROW or my contract with myself with be broken and I’ll be sent to Azkaban…by me, because I am the Minister of Magic, but of my mind. When I finish the series, I will be like, “I finished the Harry Potter series! Woo! I thought it would never happen, like getting my driver’s license…wait.” So I need to hurry up! There are so many other fandoms that I need to be a part of! TO INFINITE AND BEYOND!