The Book Hangover

The Book Hangover is a place where we share the YA/NA/MG books we read, the thoughts we have and generally wax poetic on our 'Books We've Read' pile. This is not your typical book review blog--we dive in deep, take double shots of feels and wake up the next morning with a pretty legit book hangover. Follow us for discussions, contests, challenges, book news, writing thoughts, live tweets and more! Have recommendations for things we should read or discuss? Leave us a comment in our ask box or email us at [email protected]. Happy Reading! - TBH

[thebookhangoverblog]

She was not a lynx or a spider or even the Wraith. She was Inej Ghafa, and her future was waiting above.

Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

[qinevra]

Hermione Granger “You’re saying it wrong. It’s Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, make the “gar” nice and long.”

[thebookhangoverblog]

When she looked up at him, the expression on her face was a bleak map of loathing and fatigue. In it, he saw the shame that came with gratitude, and he knew that in this brief moment, she was his mirror.

Matthias Helvar, Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

[annushorribilis]

[thebookhangoverblog]

Lunar Chronicles/Handmaid’s Tale Parallel

I’M SHOOK

[sneakypigeon]

[thebookhangoverblog]

My father still isn't ready to admit I have a boyfriend, and it would be too exhausting living in a place where I have to pretend I'm not a vampire or hopelessly queer.

Baz, Carry On, Rainbow Rowell.

[nypl]

We have a whole pile of book recommendations for you on our The Librarian Is In podcast with Literary Disco.

[thebookhangoverblog]

Hufflepuff and Teaching

So, I’m a Hufflepuff. I got it on both Pottermore quizzes, and even the majority of those unofficial ones from back in the day. I’m also now in grad school for teaching, which has given me a new perspective on the house system in general and Hufflepuff hate specifically.

The biggest piece of evidence for why Hufflepuffs suck is because while the other founders were specifying what types of students they did and did not want to teach, Helga was like “....I’m going to teach all of them and treat them just the same.” Apparently, this is evidence of Hufflepuffs being, like, so extra, because they don’t fit in anywhere and have no personality HA HA HA.

No. It’s actually evidence that Helga Hufflepuff was the only good teacher among them--the only one you’d actually want to have in your classroom.

Because here’s the deal. If you’re a teacher, you should be teaching everyone and treating them just the same. Or with the same amount of respect, dignity, and attention, anyway, as students do learn differently and instruction should, therefore, be differentiated. But at the core of differentiation is the idea that you will teach all students, that you won’t segregate them by skill level to different parts of the school building--or castle, in Hogwarts’ case--and that all students are capable of learning.

Now, let’s say I’m on my first interview for a full-time teaching job, and I say to the principal, “Look, this all sounds great, but just one thing--I only want to teach the smart kids. No one else. Ever.” Or “I only want the outgoing, bold kind of kids.”

Guess what would happen? I WOULDN’T GET THE JOB. I mean ffs one of the New York certification exams is called “Educating ALL Students.”

Or let’s say I want to open my own school, but I only want to accept ambitious white kids. And I don’t even do this surreptitiously through racist admission processes while throwing in a few POC or just generally non-ambitious white people in there to cover my butt. No. I put it right on the website “Ambitious whites ONLY.”

Guess what? I’D BE SLAMMED WITH A CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT. 

So, really, Helga Hufflepuff was a visionary by rejecting the favoritism and elitism that’s still present today, but was probably downright the NORM back in the Middle Ages when Hogwarts was founded. None of this is to say that some teachers don’t play favorites or that they don’t harbor internal or even external racism. But simply that Helga Hufflepuff--because she did not do these things--is the IDEAL that teachers should aim to be. Her views don’t make Hufflepuffs “extra,” her views on education should be freakin’ MANDATORY.

[andruwminyrd]

books read 2k16. i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson

maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.

[thebookhangoverblog]

I'm going to die kissing Simon Snow. Aleister Crowley, I'm living a charmed life.

Baz, Carry On, Rainbow Rowell

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

Last day of the dissertation.

[thebookhangoverblog]

He probably thinks pixies are a lesser species. Half-sentient, like gnomes and Internet trolls.

Simon Snow, Carry On, Rainbow Rowell

[thebookhangoverblog]

Hi! I've heard a lot about NA as a genre, but every NA I grabbed was first person narrative. I happen to really dislike first person and it's kind of turned me off the genre a little bit. Any recommendations? I'd appreciate it! <3

Hey! I actually haven’t read too much New Adult! In terms of YA, you might like the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer, because it’s written not only in third person, but in multiple points of view as well. The Diviners by Libba Bray is also written in third person, multiple POVs. I love both of those series–The Lunar Chronicles is probably second only to Harry Potter in my heart :)

For NA, I know Rainbow Rowell kind of crosses into that territory sometimes, and she writes primarily in third person, so you might want to check out her stuff! Attachments, I think, is considered NA, but I haven’t gotten around to reading that yet. Fangirl could maaaybe be considered NA, since it’s about a college student instead of a high schooler. Either way, that’s a fun book if you liked Harry Potter, since it’s basically about a girl who writes fan fiction for a series very pointedly meant to be like HP.

Any other NA suggestions from followers?

[craving-freedom]

[thewinterfairytale]

When you forgot your book at home and you’re just sitting here like

[outros-her]