Over the river and through the woods....

Or, In the Woods, really but you get the picture....

The one problem I've always had with reading is that I can never just "read" a book....I have to devour it.

I can never just slowly read, digest, and enjoy a book because I'm just always itching to get to that next page and I'll usually finish a book that I had planned to read over the course of several weeks within a couple of days. Obviously, speed reading doesn't sound like a big problem (or a problem at all really) but sometimes, I just wish I had the ability to move slowly through a book and take it in long, deep strides.

That's why, when I read Tana French's In the Woods I was a bit taken a-back by how slowly I was moving through it. The back cover alone had caught my attention and when I started reading, I thought I would blow through it in a day but, somehow, despite how amazing the book was, I took me a few weeks to get through.

The story takes place in Dublin, Ireland where Detective Ryan finds himself working a case involving a young girl found dead in the woods surrounding his childhood home. As a young boy, he had also been lost in the woods with his two best friends, however, out of the three children, Detective Ryan was the only one ever to be found. Now, with the help of his partner, Cassie, Ryan must attempt to solve the mystery of the young girl's death while discretely trying to make sense of his own strange past.

Tana French has a unique style of writing that keeps her readers turning page after page, but still manages to keep a slow and steady pace. Every detail, story line, and description falls perfectly into place and forces you to read carefully, digesting each individual aspect for how amazingly brilliant it really is.

I think In the Woods reminded me of Harry Potter because of this style. There may not have been any elements of fantasy or magic, but when I would read the latest Harry Potter books, I would always get so frustrated with how quickly I would blow through them. Especially with Deathly Hallows, I so desperately wanted to slow myself down and savor every last moment, but somehow, I would still manage to be finished in a time that felt all too short. Whenever I see people, today, reading one of my favorite books for the first time, I find myself feeling so jealous of the awesome experience I know they are having. In this case, however, Tana French's style of writing forced me to slow down in a way that is usually foreign to me and, for that, I feel truly grateful. As a result, I got to prolong the awesome joy of discovering a new favorite book and, hopefully, you all will too!

Of course, In the Woods is not the only book that Tana French has written and if you want to check out her website, you will know that I always recommend doing so :). I have yet to read her other books, The Likeness or The Faithful Place, but I know they have definitely been put on my reading list!



If you've read any of Tana French's books, including In the Woods,  or any books like them, let me know what you think! I'm always open to new suggestions!


Until next time!!! xxx

Oh, heyy Kristina!

I've been obsessed with YouTube this week...

Actually, I've spent the past few years living with this very time-consuming obsession but, this week in particular,  I have been spending an inordinate amount of time reliving some YouTube nostalgia and re-visiting some of the awesome YouTubers who got me hooked in the first place.

So, I thought to myself, what better to post about this week than one of my favorite YouTubers? The truth is though, Kristina Horner is way more than just an avid YouTuber these days, but WAY BACK WHEN I started watching (you know, when school was a fifteen mile, uphill walk in the snow?) she was better known as italktosnakes or Monday on the FiveAwesomeGirls channel. She was one of the first people to introduce me to the concept of vlogging and the idea of a collaboration channel and, even though this was all new to me, I was hooked pretty quickly.

For anyone who doesn't already know, the FiveAwesomeGirls was a collaboration project started in 2008 in which Kristina and four other girls (Lauren, Kayley, Hayley, and Liane) posted a video on their allotted day of the week and, over the course of three years, got to know each other and eventually became very close friends. They talked about their lives, music, and, of course, the love for Harry Potter that brought them together in the first place.

What I didn't know at first, was that Kristina was is also involved in a ton of projects outside of the vlogging world. Her band, The Parselmouths, was my first introduction to Wizard Wrock and still remains one of my favorite Wrock bands to this day, even though they have taken a bit of a hiatus. Every once in a while, I still find "What Kind of Name is Hermione?" stuck in my head...

Most of her musical work, lately, has been with her band ALL CAPS where she and Luke Conrad collaborate and create awesome music. The best part? You can get it all on iTunes or on DFTBA records! Some of my favorite ALL CAPS music includes "Summer of '09" and their parody of "Fireflies" by Owl City, "Lumos Flies". ALL CAPS is definitely my favorite of Kristina's projects because, as you will obviously see when you click all of the links I've supplied :), her and Luke have great musical chemistry and sometimes I am literally unable to get their songs out of my head....like right now...

I've decided that Kristina's work has definitely been one of the greatest cures for Post-Potter Depression not just because she makes awesome music, or because her vlogs are adorable and hilarious, but because she sort of epitomizes how awesome the Harry Potter fandom has become. Joanne Rowling may have thought she was just writing a couple of books but, in reality, she created a world of friendships, music, and all around awesomeness. Millions of people have come together and worked towards making the world a better place and I've always felt that Kristina's music, vlogs, and recent work with Save the Children (explained HERE) is an excellent example of that.

If you don't already know about Kristina, the FiveAwesomeGirls, or ALL CAPS then you should defintely already be clicking on all of the links I've posted above or checking her out on DFTBA records or iTunes. Kristina is also a regular blogger so you can check that out HERE as well.

I've already had several posts on books and television so I thought a post about one of my favorite members of the HP community was definitely long overdue!

Hope I've turned you on to something awesome this week and if you have any favorite vloggers of Wizard Wrockers I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Until next time! xxx