#character: arthur hillenbrand

[home-from-hogwarts]

Book Recommendations for Gryffindor

I'm just making these for fun! I'm looking for adventure books, or stories with a high emphasis on courage/chivalry/honor.

Nonfiction/Memoir:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. The story of Louis Zamperini, who was an Olympic runner prior to WWII. He was later drafted and survived both being on a raft for over 40 days at sea, and then being held in horrible conditions by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. In light of Gryffindor specifically- his childhood antics and pranks are hilarious, and might remind you a bit of Fred and George. But more than that, he showed incredible bravery throughout the course of world war two.

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford. I actually read this because JK Rowling said it was one of her favorite books! She's a socialite who rejected her (largely fascist) family in favor of communist politics, and ran away to marry her second cousin Esmond Romilly- who had himself left the family to join the Spanish Civil War. Basically everything about this book is hilarious, and I've read it multiple times. Bits of it will make you cringe, but it's absolutely worthwhile. After the book ends Jessica became a muckraker and worked in a civil rights organization. The story of a socialite running away and standing up against fascism (while at the same time being a bit young and immature) might remind you of Sirius Black, ngl.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Being real... it's his mother's story, almost more than his. But she's definitely a woman to admire in my book! The book follows Trevor's life growing up as a mixed-race child under apartheid, as well as living in the shadow of an abusive stepfather. It's written in a very episodic way, and things aren't necessarily recounted consecutively. As you'd expect from a comedian, it's written in a very humorous and exaggerated way.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. She was one of the Little Rock Nine, and her endurance during her years at Central High is amazing. I think on a conceptual level I understood the facts of what had happened before reading this, but I never really imagined what it would be like to sacrifice your high school years (and what should have been a happy time of your life!) to a cause greater than yourself like this. Her classmates treated her horribly, and reading this book makes you admire the entire group's commitment.

Fiction- Classic Lit + Modern:

Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green. Ok, the book was targeted at kids... But the charm of it is really in how old-fashioned the writing and sentiments are. It has a lot of emphasis on chivalry and courage, and both Robin Hood and Marian are the types of "paragon" characters who give you warm fuzzies to read about. Maybe try the Howard Pyle version if you want something that feels a little more adult- I've only read the L. Green edition, so that's what I'm recommending. (I'll add on that if you like this to try reading a version of King Arthur- it's the same Gryffindor feeling with its emphasis on chivalry and honor. I didn't want to recommend it because I haven't read it all the way through since middle school!).

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. Full disclosure- this is the only book in this list that I haven't finished. I'm reading it rn and I'm only a few chapters in, but I love it! This introduced the idea of a "masked hero" to literature, and the vibe of it- rebelling to stand up for the lives of other people- is very Gryffindor.

The Martian by Andy Weir. Wonderful story about an astronaut who gets left alone on Mars, and uses his ingenuity to survive. It could be a Ravenclaw book for that reason, but I think that the adventurous feeling will probably appeal most to Gryffindor type personalities.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I read this a few years ago, but I read it in just one day (which is a high recommendation!). The main theme is basically the intense rivalry between the greasers and the socs, and the fallout as a result of it. If I remember correctly the boys in it were all very loyal to each other, and I think the drama in it will probably appeal to those in Gryffindor house. You'll also understand this reference: "stay gold!"

Bonus: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Included for three reasons- a) another of JKR's favorite authors is apparently Jane Austen, b) the romance kind of reminds me of Jily, and c) Elizabeth is definitely a Gryffindor. I think this manifests mainly in her clear self-respect, particularly her commitment to only marrying for love even in the face of potential poverty. She doesn't try to be something she's not. This is a "bonus" because Jane Austen's subtle wit means that it could very easily be a Ravenclaw book.

#harry potter #book recommendations #gryffindor #bookblr #Hogwarts houses #hogwarts #classic literature #books #memoirs #fiction #novels #book recs #book recs by Hogwarts house #part 1/4

[wouldyouliketoseemymask]

This is a compiled list of some of my favorite pieces of short horror fiction, ranging from classics to modern-day horror, and includes links to where the full story can be read for free. Please be aware that any of these stories may contain subject matter you find disturbing, offensive, or otherwise distressing. Exercise caution when reading. Image art is from Scarecrow: Year One.

PSYCHOLOGICAL: tense, dread-inducing horror that preys upon the human psyche and aims to frighten on a mental or emotional level. 

“The Frolic” by Thomas Ligotti, 1989

“Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, 1970

“89.1 FM” by Jimmy Juliano, 2015

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892

“Death at 421 Stockholm Street“ by C.K. Walker, 2016

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1973

“An Empty Prison” by Matt Dymerski, 2018

“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood, 1906

CURSED: stories concerning characters afflicted with a curse, either by procuring a plagued object or as punishment for their own nefarious actions.

“How Spoilers Bleed” by Clive Barker, 1991

“A Warning to the Curious” by M.R. James, 1925

“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” by Stephen J. Barringer and Gemma Files, 2010

“The Road Virus Heads North” by Stephen King, 1999

“Ring Once for Death” by Robert Arthur, 1954

“The Mary Hillenbrand Cassette“ by Jimmy Juliano, 2016

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, 1902

MONSTERS: tales of ghouls, creeps, and everything in between.

“The Curse of Yig” by H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, 1929 

“The Oddkids” by S.M. Piper, 2015

“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by Richard Matheson

“The Graveyard Rats” by Henry Kuttner, 1936

“Tall Man” by C.K. Walker, 2016 

“The Quest for Blank Claveringi“ by Patricia Highsmith, 1967

“The Showers” by Dylan Sindelar, 2012

CLASSICS: terrifying fiction written by innovators of literary horror. 

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

“The Interlopers” by Saki, 1919 

“The Statement of Randolph Carter“ by H.P. Lovecraft, 1920

“The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Pierce, 1893

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, 1820 

“August Heat” by W.F. Harvey, 1910

“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

SUPERNATURAL: stories varying from spooky to sober, featuring lurking specters, wandering souls, and those haunted by ghosts and grief. 

“Nora’s Visitor” by Russell R. James, 2011

“The Pale Man” by Julius Long, 1934

“A Collapse of Horses” by Brian Evenson, 2013

“The Jigsaw Puzzle” by J.B. Stamper, 1977 

“The Mayor Will Make A Brief Statement and then Take Questions” by David Nickle, 2013

“The Night Wire” by H.F. Arnold, 1926 

“Postcards from Natalie” by Carrie Laben, 2016

UNSETTLING: fiction that explores particularly disturbing topics, such as mutilation, violence, and body horror. Not recommended for readers who may be offended or upset by graphic content.  

“Survivor Type” by Stephen King, 1982

“I’m On My Deathbed So I’m Coming Clean...” by M.J. Pack, 2018

“In the Hills, the Cities” by Clive Barker, 1984

“The New Fish” by T.W. Grim, 2013

“The Screwfly Solution” by Racoona Sheldon, 1977

“In the Darkness of the Fields” by Ho_Jun, 2015 

“The October Game” by Ray Bradbury, 1948

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison, 1967 

HAPPY READING, HORROR FANS!

#horror #horror fiction #horror literature #short stories #ash reads #recs

[noteology]

Lots of people, including myself, have included “read more books” on their list of New Year’s Resolutions. So I thought I’d compile some book recommendations to provide you guys with inspiration! In no particular order, here’s a list of 101 books I’ve read and loved.

FICTION

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (my all-time favorite!)

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith (an underrated but oh-so-beautiful book)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (duh)

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

The Odyssey by Homer (I recommend the Robert Fagles translation)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It by Stephen King

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (even better if you can read it in the original French!)

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Savvy by Ingrid Law

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

The World According to Garp by John Irving

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (love, love, love!)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

1984 by George Orwell

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (a book whose message is especially relevant in light of the recent election)

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran

NONFICTION/POETRY

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni (a must-read for anyone stressed out about college admissions and the Ivy League hype)

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

salt. by Nayyirah Waheed

Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O'Reilly

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Night by Elie Wiesel

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (this is the memoir that baby memoirs want to be when they grow up)

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

How to Become a Straight‑A Student by Cal Newport

The Color of Water by James McBride

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Road to Character by David Brooks

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (all of Gladwell’s books are great tbh)

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay

Our Numbered Days by Neil Hilborn

P.S. If you’re trying to read more in 2017, check out my posts about goal-setting and habits!

Thanks for reading! If you have questions, feedback, or post requests, feel free to drop me an ask.

+Click here for the rest of my original reference posts!

—Sophia :)

#books #book recommendations #reading #bookblr #bookworm #bibliophile #noteology #mine #studyblr #studyspo #studying #school #strive-for-da-best #365text #academla #cmpsbls #etudiance #tbhstudying #getstudyblr #intellectus

[auidobooks-blog1]

Recommendations: 10 Audiobooks for Listening While Running

Have you tired of listening to the same music playlists for hundreds of times? Nowadays, it is a popular trend for people to listen to audiobooks while they are doing exercises, especially running. As we known, choosing the suitable audiobooks to enjoy while running would motivate yourself to insist on doing this exercise. If you haven't try one, get some ideas from my post.

Before you choose an audiobook for your running, you have to pay attention to that not all audiobooks are suitable. Different types of audiobooks should be chosen to different level of running like jogging, long-distance running, or marathon training. Look at the list below to see some recommendations.

CONTENTS

Part 1. For Jogging Part 2. For Long-distance Running Part 3. For Marathon Training

Part 1. For Jogging

As for jogging, runners would require the audiobooks that are funny, smooth, and relaxing, which could help them enjoy jogging better. Here are the recommendation list:

#1. A Midsummer Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)

Length: 2 hr 7 min

A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in mythical Athens. The theme of the story is that love has no laws and is blind and unpredictable. William Shakespeare wrote many great comedies and tragedies. This story, an entertaining fantasy, takes the reader through a romantic farce on a midsummer's eve, during a time of great rejoicing amongst the elves and fairies who live in the woods.

The humor and fantasy elements added in the novels by William Shakespeare would make you feel like running in the fairyland.

#2.  The Little Lame Prince (by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik)

Length: 1 hr 41 min

The stories occur in The Little Prince are recorded by the pilot-narrator. The words used in the book content lots of fantastical and unrealistic elements. Besides, the whole logic of the story is based on the imagination of children instead of from the adult side. When you listen to The Little Prince during jogging, you could impressed by the fantastic expression of author. Through some thinking when listen to the audiobook you could make yourself smoother.

#3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams)

Length: 5 hr 51 min

This would be a longer one. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction created by Douglas Adams. It narrates the misadventures of Arthur Dent, the last surviving man, who is rescued from the Earth's destruction. While listen to this audiobook when you are jogging, you would have a feeling that you are just following Dent to explore galaxy!

#4. The Importance of Being Earnest (by Oscar Wilde)

Length: 1 hr 54 min

The Importance of Being Earnest is a famous play written by Oscar Wilde. It mainly describes the characters trying to maintain the false identities and escape from their social obligations. The words of this book are full of wit and humor, which could help your jogging full of interest.

Part 2. For Long-distance Running

A long-distance running would be harder to tolerate. For these runners, some kinds of encouraging audiobooks would be fitter.

#5. Bridget Jones's Diary (by Helen Fielding)

Length: 3 hr 0 min

Bridget Jones's Diary describes Bridget Jones, who always wants to improve herself and reinvent her life. In the book, Bridget Jones narrates the personality, hobbies, career life, the relationship between her and her friends or family members, etc. in an humor sense. You would be inspired by her positive attitude towards life and gain the power to continue your running.

#6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (by Stephen Chbosky)

Length: 6 hr 19 min

The Perks of Being A Wallflower describes the stories of a 15-year-old boy, Charlie. There are lots of conflicts in the book such as school bully, drug taking, homosexuality, etc. Charlie's life is filled with heartbreaking events, but you can still gain the touching, funny and hopeful parts from the book. It is perfect for you long-distance running.

#7. Hippie (by  Paulo Coelho) 

Length: 7 hr 52 min

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo refers to a fiction which is about the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of a wealth family in Sweden, and his octogenarian uncle who is determined to know the truth about her murder. The book is full of intensity and makes you want to keep on reading, which could help you forget the tiredness while running.

Part 3. For Marathon Training

If you are a marathon runner, you would be better to choose the audiobooks which can motivate you better.

#8. Overwhelmed (by Brigid Schulte)

Length: 12 hr 8 min

Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has The Time is a map of the stresses which have ripped our leisure to life. You would gain the ideas, or inspiration from the book of how to release your stress. It may help you to forget the tiredness while doing marathon training because you have fallen in your thoughts.

#9. Life of Pi (by Yann Martel)

Length: 11 hr 43 min

A realistic but fantastic adventure of Pi Patel is written in the book, Life of Pi. It describes the transformative nature in the story. You would be inspired by Pi's brave, courage from the book, and gain the power to continue your running.

#10.  Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (by Laura Hillenbrand)

Length: 14 hr 0 min

The whole name of this book calls Unbroken: A World WarⅡStory of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. This book follows the story of an Olympic distance runner, Louie Zamperini, from 47 days on a raft at sea to being a prison of war camp during World WarⅡ. You would be inspired and motivated by his stories.

All of the audiobooks above could be found from audiobooks.com. You could download them for listening while you are running.