Hannah Just Read: It's Kind of a Funny Story

As per the recommendation of one of our fabulous pages here at the library, I recently finished reading It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. The book is about Craig Gilner, who due to the huge pressures of his super fancy New York City high school, becomes clinically depressed. After a particular bad during which he plots to jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge, Craig checks himself into the hospital and is committed to the adult psychiatric ward.
As the book started I didn't know if I'd like it. The plot starts out pretty non-linearly--things jumped around a lot, but as I got more and more into the story I really started to appreciate Vizzini's humorous take on such a serious subject. There were parts in the book where I was thinking to myself, "should I be laughing at this, because it feels wrong, but it is also really really funny."
There were definitely some cringe-worthy moments, too, like when Craig calls the girl he likes and then she shows up at the hospital to visit. Ughh.
So I would very much recommend this book pretty much for anyone, even your parents, because I think Vizzini does a good job of showing what being fifteen is like, I mean, if you're clinically depressed and in a psychiatric hospital and you're really funny.

Oh! Also, I almost forgot, the book was made into a movie this year starring Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis. Here's the trailer:

The Movie and Some Changes and More

Well, I loved the movie, and I confess: I saw it twice last weekend, once in IMAX and once on the regular screen. I won't say too much about it here for fear that people haven't seen it yet; but, I have to say, it was worth it. So congratulations to the winners of our Harry Potter ticket giveaway, because the IMAX is awesome. I wish I could see it again for the first time.

In other news, if you're really observant you might have noticed the labels tag cloud on the right sidebar of the blog. This is something I've been working on with my reviews as well as Mrs. N's old ones. I've been trying to label them with words that might help you delightful readers find a good book to read, so if you're into fantasy books, you can click on the fantasy label and see all of the books that Mrs. N and I have reviewed that were fantasy books. I went through a lot of old reviews on this blog, and I only wanted to label the books that Mrs. N and I have both read, so if you are ever looking through old blog entries and you see a book that you've read that wasn't labeled, let me know in the comments with what you think it should be labeled, and I'll get right on it.

I'm just finishing up It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, and I'll be back with my review of that next week! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Congratulations to our Harry Potter IMAX Ticket Winners!

This morning we drew the names of the four lucky winners of our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows IMAX tickets. They are:

Benjamin F. from Ravenclaw
Heather M. from Gryffindor
Corey H. From Ravenclaw
Austin T. from Gryffindor

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to the Whitaker Center for donating the tickets!

SPOILER ALERT!

I've been attempting to avoid spoilers thus far in my Potter posts, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to break with tradition as I post my last post before I see the DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 on Friday. So if you haven't finished book 7 or you just like to avoid spoilers in general, turn back now. I'll scroll down to below the dark mark and then start my actual post, but before I do that I wanted to remind you all of the giveaway we're doing at the Fredricksen for one of four pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at the IMAX in Harrisburg! Come in and enter ASAP! It is easy, you just write your name and Hogwarts house down! You barely even have to do anything!

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I spent last evening debating with my sister and a friend where the first movie would end and the second one would begin. It is hard to say, because the book is pretty bottom heavy--there is a lot of stuff that happens in the last third of the book, and a lot of wandering around in the woods before that. When I first started thinking about where the first movie would end (which, admitedly, was about four seconds after I found out that the seventh book was being made into two movies rather than just one) I thought that it would likely end on a sour note, just after Ron leaves, because it would be very dramatic and suspensful leading up to the second movie.

But now, probably because I am a bit more than half way through book 7 and remembering all of the little things that I forgot about, I realized that that can't be where they stop, because NOTHING HAPPENS before that. I completely forgot how long Harry, Ron, and Hermione wander around in the forest doing very little before they actually destroy the first Horcrux. So I have revised my thinking about where the first movie will end, and I predict that it will end just after the three find out about the Deathly Hallows from Xenophilius Lovegood, listen to Potterwatch, and are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor.

When do you all think the first movie will end? Do you think my predictions are right, or do you have another idea. Let me know in the comments, and I'll be back next week with my movie review!

Smash Brothers Brawl!

Wow, what a BRAWL! It was a good size crowd today, coming to take home the Smash Brother championship! Twenty one people battled, but it came down to three, Ruben, Darren, and Derek. After a very exciting game, Derek won with Ruben coming in second! (And to think, Ruben almost didn't enter the tournament!) Congratulations, Derek, who took home an iTunes gift card! While waiting their turn in the tournament, many played Mario Kart on the Nintendo or Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube. Oh, and a lot of popcorn and soda was consumed! Look for a Smash Brothers Tournament in the future!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows IMAX Giveaway!

It is sort of last minute, I know, but the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg has just donated 4 pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at their IMAX theater downtown. We are passing on those tickets to YOU dear blog readers, and here is how to get one of them:

1. Be a teen currently in grades 6-12.

2. Come in to the Fredricksen Library Reference Desk

3. Fill out our Harry Potter IMAX Ticket Giveaway form and tell us what Hogwarts house you'd be in (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, or Gryffindor)

4. Enter it into our sorting hat for a chance to win one of

four pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg

The giveaway will begin today, November 10, and we will draw the four lucky winners on Monday, November 22.

Good Luck!

9 DAYS LEFT!!!!!

According to theleakycauldron.org there are 9 days, 12 hours, and 22 minutes until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 is released. This is simulataneously exciting (because I really want to see the movie) and terrible (because I'm only on page 32 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) for me. I'm not saying that I'm not going to finish the books in time, but... well... I'm getting a little nervous.
I finished Order of the Phoenix yesterday at lunch, and I was very satisfied. One thing (one of the many things) that I think that J.K. Rowling does really well throughout the series is aging her characters accordingly, and that becomes most apparent in the fifth book, I think, when Harry is SO ANGRY all the time. I mean, I like that, and I can appreciate it, because he has every right to be angry, and he is, and he lets people know.
One of the other strengths of the fifth book, an annoying strength of the fifth book, is Delores Umbridge, because, oh man, she is so much fun to hate. And the Weasley twins' exit from Hogwarts... I love it, every time.
I remember reading Order of the Phoenix for the first time the night that it came out. I stayed up all night just zipping through it, and I remember that at about 3 in the morning I got close to the end and (I won't actually say what happens, just in case someone, somewhere hasn't read it) just crying and crying about the... ahh... end. It is a good ending though.
Ok, enough reminiscing, here's a YouTube video I found. It is the trailer for Part 1, but it is the literal version. I thought it was hilarious:

Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix and What Not...

I feel like I'm way behind on my Harry Potter-ing. I'm about 100 pages into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5) and I'm starting to worry about finishing. I only have 18 days left, and that's counting today! Then I'll read something different, I swear.

It took me a while to get through book 4, Goblet of Fire, because that is absolutely my least favorite book. I might cause some controversy by saying that. I know a lot of people think that Chamber of Secrets is the worst, but I maintain... Goblet of Fire... too long... so many tasks! And I have a really hard time picturing Quidditch, so that crazy Quidditch World Cup at the beginning just completely looses me.

Of course there is a bunch of pivotal information in the fourth book. It is, after all, the central book of the series, so it would be expected that it is pretty important, and I confess that I cried quite a bit at the end, especially when Dumbledore makes his speech at the end of the year feast. That gets me every time, I swear. I think the most important stuff in the fourth book, though, is the information that we get about Lord Voldemort. Besides the apparition that we see of him as a teenager in book two, this is the first time that we actually see a glimpse of Voldemort as an actual human. We see his father's home if the first few chapters and at the end, we see him needing the assistance of his Death Eaters and Pettegrew, and we get parts of his life story. I admit, I think that Voldemort is one of the most interesting characters in the series--he is one complex dude. I actually think he might be my favorite after Dobby, on a purely academic level that is, don't get me wrong, he's totally evil, and as a Gryffindor myself I certainly do not approve, but you can't deny that he is interesting.