Category: literary holidays

🎂Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!🎂

On By FelicityIn books, literary holidays1 Comment

IMG_0063I finished work at midnight, kept awake when I got home by a little buzz of excitement. As each Harry Potter book was released, it became tradition for me to take the day off school, race to the book store as soon as it opened and spend the rest of the day in bed devouring it as quickly as I could. And so today, nine years after the Deathly Hallows was published, I revived that tradition. On Harry’s birthday, of all days – it seemed like a wonderfully apt way to celebrate! I took the day off work and arrived at Dymocks just as the doors opened, feeling very underdressed amongst the host of witches and wizards eagerly awaiting the unboxing of the books. We counted down the seconds until 9:00, when the boxes could be opened, and with the book in my hands I experienced a blissful rush of nostalgia, the anticipation of re-visiting a world that inspired my childhood. Ever since The Cursed Child was announced, I was curious to know how the story would read as a play, and what kind of world readers would be invited to step into nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts. With only the snippets revealed by blurbs on the internet to go by, I looked forward to a story that would combine the adult concerns of Harry, Ron and Hermione with the sense of childhood adventure that I grew up with.

I won’t spoil anything about the book, as I appreciated the secrecy surrounding the plot leading up to its release. Needless to say, I could not put it down, and consumed it in one sitting. It was equal parts surprising and familiar, the unexpected built on the foundations of the earlier books: the strength and loyalty of friends and family. I fervently hope that the play comes to Australia – I can only imagine how spectacularly it would translate to the stage. (There are a few spoiler-free photos on the official website for the curious.) I can’t wait until more people have read it so that I can gush over it with them!

all-cursed-child-cast

Has anyone else bought The Cursed Child today? Were there celebrations at your local bookshop? Did you find it as un-put-downable as I did? Please share your experiences!

happy towel day, you hoopy froods

On By FelicityIn books, literary holidaysLeave a comment

I wish I had more time to write about this, but alas, I have two assignments due over the next couple of days and I’ve barely had time to squeeze in a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster before breakfast!

towel day 2016

Today marks the 15th annual Towel Day, celebrating the life and works of Douglas Adams, most renowned for his foremost guide to inter-galactic hitch-hiking. I read and fell in love with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when I was in high school. Over ten years later, the trilogy of five still holds a very dear place in my bookshelves. There’s something timeless, and – dare I say – universal, about Adams’ humour, warm and very aware of humanity’s foibles, that keeps it relevant and beloved by so many after all these years.

So, wherever you are in the galaxy, don’t panic, make sure you know where your towel is, and have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters or two (but never three, unless you are a thirty ton mega elephant with bronchial pneumonia) for the great Douglas Adams. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Is anyone else celebrating Towel Day? If so, please share!