A Virtual Library

By now you've probably noticed the new widget on the side of my blog that indicates I've joined Goodreads. This was going to happen eventually. I mean, a social networking site built around books? I'm surprised I resisted for as long as I did. But I finally bit the bullet and joined. Mostly because I wanted an easier way to track how many books I was reading in a year. Yeah, I could go through my blog and count, but this does it all automatically.

I imported all of the books I've reviewed in my blog into my goodreads bookshelf, and gave them stars based on my memories. It was fun to go through and remember little things associated with the books. I was occasionally surprised by what memories they triggered. I was also surprised by the books that haven't made it onto my blog yet. I thought I'd read The Hunger Games more recently than I did. And it's been a while since I re-read Harry Potter. But that just means that I still have a few old books that I can revisit and talk about on the blog.

Goodreads lets you review things through their site, but I think I'm going to keep everything on my blog for now. It feels a bit more personal. I can go off on tangents and talk about other things and not feel bad because it's my space. In an actual review, I'd probably feel the need to be a bit more formal. And concise.

I mostly signed up for the site for this challenge. Fifty-two books a year isn't exactly a stretch for me. It's essentially the rate I read at anyway, and you can see from that widget that I'm pretty far ahead of schedule. This is mostly because I haven't read any particularly long books yet this year. I've read two graphic novels, which don't take very long at all, and several YA novels. But there are some longer things sitting on my shelf. I also tend to slow way down in the summer. Mostly I'm just curious to see what the numbers tell me throughout the year. And maybe next year I'll try an actual challenge. Or maybe not. I enjoy books less when I don't take time to savor them.

If you have a Goodreads account, feel free to friend me over there. I'd like to see how some of the social interactions work on that site. But mostly, I'm in it for the organization and number crunching. I'm just a nerd at heart.

My Owl Finally Came

I didn't discover Harry Potter until the summer I turned 13, so I'm not one of those people who approached her 11th birthday with secret hopes that an owl would arrive with an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Nevertheless, the world captured my imagination and, in some ways, I grew up right alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But I was always doomed to be a muggle.

Well no more. With the creation of Pottermore, and my luck to be one of the early Beta testers, I finally got my letter! And now I can begin my journey to Hogwarts.

Pottermore is an interactive, online website that leads you through the books. There are a few neat illustrations for each chapter, done in layers. As you move your mouse side to side, the layers shift and you get a bit of a 3D illusion. There's also a few animations and hidden objects to collect. These object include everything from Chocolate Frog Cards to the salt and pepper shakers from the Dursley's breakfast table. Apparently Harry is a kleptomaniac? Because I cannot figure out why I would want to keep those in my trunk.

The part that has me the most excited is the plethora of new information. There are tidbits all over the place, explaining, among other things, how Vernon met Petunia, the history of the Hogwarts Express, and Wand Lore.

Then comes Diagon Alley. and the world just opens up. You get an account at Gringotts, along with a shopping list and access to all the stores. Well, half of the stores. I can only assume that the rest will be unlocked later on, probably in the third book. Buying the books and school supplies is fun, but the interface is a bit clunky; it works like the stores in a Zelda game. Each item must be bought and paid for separately, which got really frustrating in Flourish and Blotts. Eight books, purchased one at a time. I think the point of this is to give you the blurb about each book as you buy it, but it got a little bit frustrating.

There are also several items for sale that aren't on the school list, mostly advanced potions ingredients. You can buy water from the River Lethe, for use in forgetfulness spells, which made my inner geek squee. And then there are the standard snake fangs and such. I spent a long time trying to decide between a tawny owl and a screech owl for my pet. These are very important decisions.

The last item you buy is a wand, which involves a quick personality test. Once you buy your wand, the site provides a bunch of information about wand lore to explain what your wand says about you. I got an ebony wand with a phoenix feather core, 10 3/4 inches, unyielding. This seems to imply that I'm an outsider who doesn't much mind it because I'm comfortable with who I am and that I'm fairly resistant to external pressure to change. I think that's fairly accurate. Even though it also appears to make me susceptible to the Dark Side.

My only problem with the website is that it is unbelievably glitchy. It seems to crash every fifteen minutes and then takes a long time to come back. On one hand, I understand that this is the beta period. There are bound to be things that need to get ironed out. On the other hand it's seriously eating up a lot of time. As far as I can tell, the site has more downtime than uptime. It gets frustrating.

But I did finally get sorted (Gryffindor!) and learned Minerva McGonagal's epic and heartbreaking life story. Plus, Pottermore! I can't complain too much.