Eat, pray, read.
Knopf
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Could You Pass Your Potions O.W.L.?
There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
J.K. Rowling Just Revealed Three New Wizarding Schools And They Sound Incredible
She also gave the name for the American school we may learn more about in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Here's the deal: J.K. Rowling’s website, Pottermore, was redesigned and relaunched in September last year.
After months of waiting, on Thursday the site revealed its new version of the sorting quiz.
J.K. Rowling / Pottermore
That was great and the people cheered. But on Friday night, J.K. dropped something huge: the names and details of three all-new, never before seen wizarding schools.
Warner Bros.
The three schools are dispersed around the world: Mahoutokoro in Japan, Castelobruxo in Brazil, and Uagadou on the African continent.
J.K. Rowling / Pottermore
Aside from, you know, their existence, J.K. also provided all kinds of awesome details about these new schools. Like Uagadou is the largest wizarding school, accepting students from all over Africa and they specialize in wandless magic.
Warner Bros.
What New Book Should You Read This Winter?
It’s cold outside, so curl up with one of these new books.
Jarry Lee / BuzzFeed
Friday, January 29, 2016
Octavia Butler Wrote A Beautiful Handwritten Note To Herself As Inspiration
“I will find the way to do this! So be it! See to it!”
Octavia E. Butler (June 1947 – Feb. 2006) was a notable science fiction author who published titles like Kindred and the Parable series.
Beacon Press
The Huntington Library in Los Angeles is in possession of Butler's papers, and in time with the 10th anniversary of her death they're launching a series of events in her honor.
Via en.wikipedia.org
Yesterday, the library shared this photo of the back of one of Butler's notebooks on their Instagram. It's an inspirational, handwritten note the author wrote to herself.
Via instagram.com
Here's the full picture of the back of her notebook, which can be found on their website.
The Huntington Blogs / Via huntingtonblogs.org
Thursday, January 28, 2016
19 Invaluable Writing Tips For Actually Finishing That Novel
We asked writers what helps them stay motivated.
Maggy van Eijk
1. No cute coffee shop with notebook for me. It's all about snuggling up in bed with the laptop, a cup of tea and SoundCloud drip-feeding me music with the perfect ambience for the mood of the story.
And when I need to get out of my bubble, I go to literary events where authors talk about their writing and publication journeys. That always has me rushing back home abuzz with dreams and new inspiration.
— Chantal Lyons (Facebook)
2. Make a playlist that makes you think about the characters and the story, that way it keeps you motivated and fresh.
— Sol Fischer (Facebook).
Could You Pass Your Defence Against The Dark Arts O.W.L.?
Will you achieve an Outstanding, or are you more Troll?
The Pottermore House Sorting Is Back And It's Beautiful
The day we have been waiting for is finally here.
As all true Harry Potter fans know, J.K. Rowling's website, Pottermore, was redesigned and relaunched in September last year.
Pottermore / pottermore.com / BuzzFeed
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
A Lost Beatrix Potter Manuscript Is Being Turned Into A Book
Peter Rabbit lives on!
Beatrix Potter originally published the classic children's book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, in 1902.
Warne Publishers
And now, 73 years after the author's death, a publisher discovered a lost manuscript written by Potter, titled The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots.
BBC / Via bbc.com
According to BBC, in 1914 Potter sent the book to her publisher and described the character as, "a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life."
BBC / Via bbc.com
After Jo Hanks — who's a publisher at Penguin Random House Children's — noticed this fact in "an out-of-print Potter biography," she went on to find the unpublished book in the Victoria and Albert Museum archive.
BBC / Via bbc.com
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
This 11-Year-Old Girl Started A Project To Get More Diverse Books In Schools
“If you have something in common with the characters, you’ll always remember and learn a lesson from the book.”
Marley Dias, an 11-year-old from New Jersey, was tired of only reading books with white male protagonists for school.
Fox 29 / Via up.anv.bz
"I was frustrated... in fifth grade where I wasn't reading [books with] a character that I could connect with," Dias told the Huffington Post.
!["I was frustrated... in fifth grade where I wasn't reading [books with] a character that I could connect with," Dias told the Huffington Post.](https://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2016-01/26/11/enhanced/webdr04/enhanced-13215-1453827301-1.png)
Fox 29 / Via up.anv.bz
As a solution to the lack of diversity and representation in her books at school, the 11-year-old is organizing a book drive to collect children's books where black girls are the leading characters.
Fox 29 / Via up.anv.bz
The project, which is called #1000BlackGirlBooks, has a goal of collecting at least 1,000 books with black women as protagonists by February 1.
Fox 29 / Via up.anv.bz
This Stunning Harry Potter Coloring Book Exists And You'll Want To Buy It ASAP
Accio colored pencils.
Tired of waiting for the Fantastic Beasts movie to come out?
Warner Bros. Pictures
Well, this should tide you over: the official Harry Potter Magical Creatures Coloring Book.
You can buy it here ($9.59).
HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s16)
It features 96 stunningly detailed pages of centaurs, dragons, owls, giants, and more.
So you can fill Fawkes's wings with every color of the rainbow.
HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s16)
The coloring book (which just came out) is the second installation in a series of five coloring books.
The original Harry Potter Coloring Book is already available, Magical Places & Characters and Postcards comes out in March, and Artifacts hits shelves in June.
HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s16)
21 Tumblr Posts That Actually Make "Game Of Thrones" Funny
On a scale from one to Sansa Stark, how much do you regret your childhood crush?
This film poster, which hurts our souls.
Something all of us would like to do, especially after the S5 finale.
This heartfelt Valentine's card.
This heartbreaking Taylor Swift/Stark family duet.
19 Ways To Make A Next-Level Reading Nook
Everybody needs a nook.
This is Mara. Mara is the queen of reading nooks.
Her Instagram is just one long feed of book porn, all housed in the most adorable nook you will ~ever~ see. We got in touch and asked her to talk us through how to make the perfect reading space.
Here's what she recommended.
You can't have too many cushions.
"Pillows are the ultimate accessory for a reading nook. They don’t just look amazing but also help you stay comfortable while you’re going through all those weird reading positions. Pick out pillows in all shapes and sizes, in all colours and fabrics, but keep in mind: the more the merrier and the weirder the shape, probably the more comfortable.
My personal favourite options are pillows that have to do with reading or encourage me to read more - like this one from Bookworm Boutique"
Pimp your bookshelves.
"Treat your bookshelves like an extension of yourself. Add little gimmicks or figures or mugs as decoration. Try to display gorgeous bookmarks or pictures that you took with authors, fandom jewellery of your favourite series, or just things that mean something to YOU. Is there any better background to anything than books? I don’t think so."
Don't be scared of a little colour.
"The more colourful, the better. Your reading nook should be a reflection of your taste in books and stories, so why not add as many splashes of colour as possible? A good thing to do is go with either white or grey as a base and then add accessories and furniture that stand out from them.
Your reading nook should be light for reading though, so if you do opt for a dark wall colour, be sure to add some bright accessories and lamps to make it more cosy."
18 Lol-Worthy Tumblr Posts About Books
BAE: Books Are Everything
This DEEP AF realization:
These 100% accurate truths about reading:
This proof that evidently nothing is sacred:
This excellent idea that needs to be a real invention ASAP:
Which Is Better: "Harry Potter" Or "Game Of Thrones"?
Let’s settle this once and for all.
Harry Potter and Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) are two of the most beloved series out there, and for good reason.
Warner Bros.
Both are filled with unforgettable characters and fantastic storytelling.
HBO
Not to mention incredible world-building and engaging plots.
Warner Bros.
And despite the magical or fantasy elements in both series, their characters' experiences are often extremely relatable.
HBO
22 Confessions From People Who Write Erotica
“I’m turned on by…people using my words to get themselves off.”
This Artist Creates Police Sketches Of Famous Literary Characters
“In the world of crime and law enforcement the witness identification is the most unreliable part. If you transfer that onto the world of literature, we all have our own biases and impressions and we bring that to the story.”
Brian J. Davis, a Brooklyn-based digital artist and filmmaker, admits that he is "obsessed" with artwork that isn’t traditionally considered art.
facebook.com / Via facebook.com
"Police sketches are one of those," he told BuzzFeed News.
They aren't "considered true portraiture work" in the art world, he said. But "what if you can take a sketch program and find an alternative use for it?"
Davis uses FACES ID, a computer software used by law enforcement agencies for quick witness sketches, to create portraits of literary characters.
thecomposites.tumblr.com / Via thecomposites.tumblr.com
"[The software] is not meant to be art," he said. "It's a tool for people who don't know how to make art."
Monday, January 25, 2016
Chloë Moretz On "The 5th Wave", The Importance Of Badass Female Roles, And The Need For More Female Directors
We’ve known the name Chloë Moretz for almost a decade, which is quite a feat given she’s only 18 years old. She’s already carved out a successful career playing numerous badass parts, namely as an 11-year-old Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. And her latest film, The 5th Wave, shows her taking on yet another strong role.
In it she plays the lead character, a regular teenager called Cassie who fights to survive following an alien apocalypse. It’s based on the YA novel of the same name by Rick Yancey. And rather than use her previous experience of action films, she actually had to train to be more “normal” and forget how to use guns. We invited Chloë into BuzzFeed UK’s London office to open up about the role. We discussed everything from how the “Wavers” will react to the film adaptation, to the pressure of bringing a much-loved book to life, to the importance of female roles in movies and the lack of female directors being used in the industry. Here’s what went down…
Laura Gallant/BuzzFeed
What was it about this film that first appealed to you?
Chloë Moretz: For me, it was when I first read the book. And what I liked about it is that she, Cassie Sullivan, the character that I play, she didn't feel incredibly masculine, she didn't feel incredibly feminine, it felt very much like a realistic depiction of the generation that we're living in. You know there's this "millennial generation" – it felt like a very adequate depiction of young women and me right now.
The book and movie is aimed at these millennials. Do you think a lot of girls and even boys the same age will see themselves in this movie?
CM: Definitely. I think that's the interesting thing about it is it kind of breaks the stereotypical, you know, being played to one specific gender and age range. I went to the movie and saw it with my whole family – which is four older brothers, my oldest brother is 34; my mom is in her fifties – and all of us, for completely separate reasons, enjoyed the movie. And I thought that was really interesting, that kind of tells you a lot about the project in the sense that it is a much broader spectrum than this incredibly concentrated, tiny focused group that it's supposed to be based for, but it's not.
It's based on the books. Is it weird being part of this kind of movie compared to your others because there's already such a huge fan base out there already?
CM: People have loved this book for much longer than when we decided to make it into a movie. I think it gives you a sense of good nerves. It's good nerves that you feel pushed to do it justice. You know the feeling – every fan knows the feeling of being a huge fan of a book series or a book and going to the theatre and sitting down and being so heavily disappointed. I think because I was a fan of the book predominantly, I put on my own pressure, my own fan-based pressure on myself to do Cassie justice. So I think that you can really see that in the film with all the characters and with the film as a whole.
There seems to be a big surge at the moment to turn YA books into movies. Do you think this one has the potential to be as big as The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner et al?
CM: I mean, I think the world is kind of changing and there's so many ways for things to go. I think we have seen a lot of projects that this movie looks like but the thing is that this movie isn't all that it seems. It's modern, it's real, it's really a great character-based story for young adults to be able to kind of fall in love with. And also it's sci-fi, there's fun thriller sci-fi wild elements to it and it's incredibly fearful – in a lot of moments you're left on the edge of your seat. So it's very different from the other films and I think it's hard for people to differentiate their brains from what we've seen over the past eight years – but if they did I think they could see the movie for more than what they think it is.
It was yet again quite an action-packed film for you. What was the most challenging thing?
BuzzFeed
CM: You know, it was funny, it was kind of an adverse amount of challenging for me because I had to, instead of being reminded to be more coordinated, more skilful, the whole time I was having to be reminded that I've never picked up a gun before, I've never been in combat. So kind of to be more uncoordinated and to fall more and to fumble more and to not really know where the trigger is, and so that was kind of funny. It was different to what I'm used to... It was pretty simple with the training, they actually didn't really tell me about the fight scenes until the day of because they wanted to keep me that natural. Because they knew if I had a week to train on it I'd be way too "on it".
So the training was actually to go backwards in a way?
CM: Exactly! Forget everything you know and then we're good.
You said before that you felt Cassie wasn't too masculine or feminine, but the female portrayals seem quite important in this film because they go against the stereotypes. Two of the main females are quite badass. Do you think that's quite important to have those portrayals?
Laura Gallant/BuzzFeed
CM: I think it's important that we make movies that we can look up to in a sense, at least that's the way I look at it. I want to be able to make a movie that I can go to the theatre and go, "That's a cool character, that's a character that I can relate to, that my brothers can relate to, that we can all relate to," in a sense. And I don't want to get too concentrated on the fact that it's just a female role for females, because I think that's what's happening right now.
It's now shifting from really great roles for women to just "oh great, we have one female lead, now it's a feminist's tale," but it's not. So I think instead of just saying it's a feminist story and it's a story about a young woman, it truly is a story about a young person, who against all odds perseveres. And it's a human story and it happens to be a young woman at the lead of it. I think it's more interesting right now to see young women and women in general in these lead roles because for the past 50 years we've seen the masculine stereotype, which is a stereotype in itself. But what we want to see and I think what is more interesting to the eye and to our brain, because it's different to what we've seen in the past, is these young women in leads. These strong, realistically depicted, within-our-actual-society roles.
There's also a lot more empowering roles around for younger people as well. Do you think it's also good that films are now having this voice for your generation?
CM: Definitely. I think that they're not just Young Adult stories for young adults, it's not concentrated on that. They are adult stories that just happen to take place with younger people. Which I think is interesting and it's fun to see that because at that age you do deal with a lot of things that are very adult, it's just not depicted on screen normally. And if it is depicted on screen then it's in a very small, independent film. So I think it's nice to see on a broad spectrum a film that can be seen by millions, something that is realistic and something you can grasp and go, "Oh, I'm going through that too." It might not be the alien apocalypse but it might feel like that!
You've obviously done sequels before, but does it feel different being part of a potential trilogy? (The 5th Wave is the first of three books in the series).
BuzzFeed
CM: I just hope that people go and see this one and enjoy it because I'd love to make a second one, I think it would be a great idea. I loved the second book and I would love to show where Cassie goes and where the team goes but, you know, it's up to fans. It really is.
Aside from The 5th Wave, you've got another busy year coming up. You've got other projects like filming the live-action The Little Mermaid, which is getting a lot of attention at the moment. It's with female director Rebecca Thomas – do you think there's been a shift in the industry with more females leading projects like that?
CM: Definitely. Our director for Little Mermaid is Rebecca Thomas, who is a woman, and it's really exciting to be able to go on this big journey with this huge female lead of a story that we've known for so long. And also depicting this story in a modern-day world, as modern-day women we're depicting a story that is a very, very, very, very old story and making it modern for women so that we can look at it and go, "Oh cool, she's still a badass, she's still owning her own life and choosing her own path."
BuzzFeed
And going through it with someone like Rebecca Thomas is exciting because I think we, as women, we kind of, we're able to see things in a different light sometimes because of the adversities that we've seen – and I'm saying that as a white, blonde young woman who hasn't seen any adversity compared to [others], but we're going to go on a journey together to create our perfect mermaid in a sense and our modern-day mermaid. Which is exciting, it's female-driven. I think more projects need to be with female directors because there's a plethora of brilliant female directors out there and they aren't used. And it's sad.
And finally, what's your message for the 5th Wavers who are looking forward to watching this movie?
CM: I hope they fall in love with the movie as much as they fell in love with the book. I fell in love with the book and now I love the movie as much, and I hope that they enjoy it enough to go and see it the second and third time. And you know, it's up to them whether or not we make a second one. So go buy tickets, bring all your friends, go take all your family members and you'll see more.
BuzzFeed
The 5th Wave is at cinemas NOW. Go see it.
What Book Sparked Your Sexual Awakening?
*licks finger, turns page*
Fact: Reading is sexy.
Don't even try to tell me that old book smell isn't an aphrodisiac.
Paramount
It's so sexy that for many of us bookworms out there, it was a big part of discovering our own sexuality.
Followed by obsessively reading more books for further ~research~.
Universal
And there's no denying that you never forget the first page-turner that turned you on.
You've probably got THAT ONE BIT completely memorised.
Warner Bros
Maybe it was a particular character who made you weak in the knees....
And more importantly weak in other places...
Starz