(by katya mamadjanian)
Are there people who don’t reblog this?
More you might like
Reblog if you’ve ever yelled at a book.
I can only assume that the ones who haven’t aren’t reading the right books.
FUCKING BOOKS.
If it doesn’t make you mad, it’s not good enough.
I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I’d written.
Barbara Kingsolver (via amandaonwriting)
Magnificent 19th-Century Library Shelves 350,000 Books
Feast your eyes on the elegant grandeur of the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (known in English as the Royal Portuguese Reading Room or the Royal Cabinet), a 19th-century library in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Constructed from 1880 to 1887 under the direction of architect Rafael da Silva e Castro, the magnificent library has the distinction of holding the largest and most valuable collection of Portuguese works outside of Portugal, with over 350,000 volumes filling its countless bookshelves.
When people say these books are children’s books, as if to demean them, I balk. These books dealt with themes that adults do not fully understand or wish to. It dealt with racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, prejudice, and general ignorance. These books taught us that it doesn’t matter how you were raised, but that you get to choose to be kind, loyal, brave, and true. They taught us to be strong under the pressures of this world and to hold fast to what we know to be right. These books taught me so much, they changed me as a person. So just because they’re set against a fantastical backdrop with young protagonists does not mean that their value is any less real.
This.
First book: Starts with the double murder of a pair of twenty-one year olds who were much missed and leaving their baby son a war orphan. A child growing up in abusive conditions that would give Cinderella the horrors. Dealing with peers and teachers who are bullies. The fickleness of fame (from the darling of Gryffindor to the outcast.) The idea that there are things worth fighting and dying for, spoken by the child protagonist. Three children promptly acting on that willingness to sacrifice their lives, and two of them getting injured doing so.
Second book: The equivalent of racism with the pro-pureblood attitude. Plot driven by an eleven year old girl being groomed and then used by a charming, handsome older male. The imbalance of power and resultant abuse inherent in slavery. Fraud perpetuated by stealing something very intimate.
Third book: The equivalent of ableism with a decent, kind and competant adult being considered less than human because he has an illness that adversely affects his behaviour at certain times. A justice system that is the opposite of just. Promises of removing an abused child from the abusive environment can’t always be kept. The innocent suffer while the guilty thrive.
Fouth book: More fickleness of fame. The privileged mistreating and undermining the underprivileged because they can. A master punishing a slave for his own misjudgment, and the slave blaming herself. A sports tournament which involves mortal risk being cheered by spectators. A wonderful young man being murdered simply because he was in the way. A young boy being tortured, humilated and nearly murdered.
Fifth book: PTSD in the teenage protagonist. Severe depression in the protagonist’s godfather, triggered by inherited mental health issues and being forced to stay in a house where abuse occured. A bigoted tyrant who lives to crush everyone under her heel, torturing a teenager for telling the truth in the name of the government (and trying to suck his soul out too). The discovery that your idols can have feet of clay after all. An effort to save the life of someone dear and precious actually costing that very same life. The loss of a father-figure and the resultant guilt.
Sixth book: The idea that a soul can be broken beyond repair. Drugs with the potential for date rape are shown as having achieved exactly that in at least one case, resulting in a pregnancy. Well-meaning chauvinism trying to control the love life of a young woman. Internalised prejuidce resulting in refusing the one you love, not out of lack of love but out of fear of tainting them. The mortality of those that seem powerful and larger than life.
Seventh book: Bad situations can get worse, to the point where even the privileged end up suffering and afraid. More internalised prejudice and fear hysterical terror of tainting those you love. Self-sacrifice and the loss of loved ones, EVERYWHERE. Those who are bitter are often so with a reason. The necessity of defeating your inner demons, even though it’s never as cool as it sounds. Don’t underestimate those that are enslaved. Other people’s culture isn’t always like your own. Things often come full circle (war ending with the death of a dearly-loved pair of new parents and their orphaned baby son living with his dead mother’s blood relative instead of his young godfather). Even if ‘all is well’ the world is still imperfect, because it’s full of us brilliant imperfect humans.
So… still think that Harry Potter is a kid’s series with no depth?
fuck it’s three a.m. and I’m having feelings about Harry Potter
This post is the reason why I love tumblr.
The track listing has been announced for the two-disc deluxe soundtrack of the Golden Globe Award-winning film “Les Misérables,” starring Hugh Jackman and Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway, which will be released March 19. The track listing follows:
Disc One:
“Look Down” (Hugh Jackman)
“The Bishop” (Colm Wilkinson)
“Valjean’s Soliloquy” (Hugh Jackman)
“At The End Of The Day” (Hugh Jackman)
“The Docks (Lovely Ladies)” (Anne Hathaway)
“I Dreamed A Dream” (Anne Hathaway)
“Fantine’s Arrest” (Anne Hathaway)
“Who Am I?” (Hugh Jackman)
“Fantine’s Death” (Anne Hathaway)
“The Confrontation” (Hugh Jackman)
“Castle On A Cloud” (Isabelle Allen)
“Master Of The House” (Sacha Baron Cohen)
“The Bargain” (Isabelle Allen)
“Suddenly” (Hugh Jackman)
“The Convent” (Hugh Jackman)
“Stars” (Russell Crowe)
“Paris/Look Down” (Daniel Huttlestone)
“The Robbery” (Sasha Baron Cohen)
“ABC Café/Red & Black” (Eddie Redmayne)
“In My Life” (Amanda Seyfried)
“A Heart Full Of Love” (Eddie Redmayne)
“On My Own” (Samantha Barks)
“One Day More” (Full Cast)Disc Two:
“Do You Hear the People Sing?” (Aaron Tveit)
“Building The Barricade” (Aaron Tveit)
“Javert At The Barricade” (Russell Crowe)
“The First Attack” (Eddie Redmayne)
“Little Fall Of Rain” (Eddie Redmayne)
“Drink With Me” (Aaron Tveit)
“Bring Him Home” (Hugh Jackman)
“The Death Of Gavroche” (Aaron Tveit)
“The Final Battle” (Aaron Tveit)
“The Sewers” (Sasha Baron Cohen)
“Javert’s Suicide” (Russell Crowe)
“Turning” (Full Cast)
“Empty Chairs At Empty Tables” (Eddie Redmayne)
“A Heart Full Of Love (Reprise)” (Amanda Seyfried)
“Valjean’s Confession” (Hugh Jackman)
“Suddenly (Reprise)” (Eddie Redmayne)
“The Wedding” (Sasha Baron Cohen)
“Beggars At The Feast” (Sasha Baron Cohen)
“Epilogue” (Full Cast)
A minute of silence for all the good books with bad movie adaptions.
A minute of silence for all the bad books that are getting movie adaptations.
A minute of silence for books with the movie adaptation on the front cover.
A minute of silence for The Last Airbender.
Ten minutes of silence for The Last Airbender.
Two hours of stunned horrified silence for The Last Airbender.
Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up, heart and soul.
Joanne Harris (via a-thousand-words)
“Reading on e-readers isn’t actually reading.”
“You’re just now reading that? I read that forever ago. You’re so behind!”
“Oh that book is going to be the next *insert popular book title*.”
“Well I’m a bigger fan because I’ve liked it longer.”
butterfly-project