[ SECRET POST #3896 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3896 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[Me Before You (film/novel)]


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03.
[Star Trek TOS]


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04.
[Persona 5]


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05.
[Andy Brennan and Lucy Moran from Twin Peaks]


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06.
[David Bowie, "The Man Who Fell to Earth"]


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07.
[Broadchurch]













Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #557.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Book club - August discussion post - So You Want to Be a Wizard

[(Anonymous)]

I read this book as a child and absolutely loved it, so it's hard for me to react to it in a way that isn't influenced by that. But reading it again, I still liked it, and it was easy to see why I loved it as a kid. The things it does well, it is really fantastic at.

For one thing, I found the characters really likable and relatable - looking back, some of them are relatable to an extent that seems forced, with how excessively bullied they are, but it worked for me as a kid. It was so easy when I was a kid to get drawn into caring about Nita or Kit. And Tom and Carl were very likabkle and wonderful, and Fred was fantastic, both as a concept and a character.

And all the stuff with magic and wizards - first of all, it's very clever. Second, it's very appealing and clever - especially the stuff with the initiation and how you become a wizard. When I was a kid, that was a much more appealing fantasy initiation process than Harry Potter's ever was. By simply noticing this book and saying the oath, you become a wizard. And then you're part of this secret world.

And something I noticed about the magic reading it again this time is how directly and immediately literate all the magic is. The way that Nita discovers magic is by haunting a library, skill at magic is basically a combination of bookishness and empathy, and the way that magic is depicted can so easily be read as a celebration of imagination and literacy and curiosity for kids. The idea that those things make you special and are important and good qualities is really powerful when you're a kid, and I think it's a good concept.

The last thing that I wanted to note about the book is how deeply empathetic it is. This is something that's present in the magic system as well which is one of the things that works about the magic system for me. But it really suffuses the whole book - a powerful sense of the virtue and importance of compassion and empathy and understanding. It's a deeply humane and loving book and that is something that influenced me a lot as a kid as well. It is a warm book.

Anyway those are just some scattershot thoughts, I didn't really plan this in advance so it's a bit all over the place. But I liked the book as a kid and I see a lot to like about it now, even if I can't really evaluate it fairly as to writing and stuff like that.

Re: Book club - August discussion post - So You Want to Be a Wizard

[(Anonymous)]

I'm anon from below and want to thank you for writing this. I tried to read it through the eyes of a child and just couldn't. (My failing, not the book.) It was specifically because I just really didn't like this book that I was trying to get an idea of what a child would think of it and you've done that for me.

I'm really glad you found happiness in this book as a kid and still can as an adult. Those are the best books!

Re: Book club - August discussion post - So You Want to Be a Wizard

[(Anonymous)]

I'm glad to hear that!

It's definitely a book that's stuck with me, maybe more than I realized.

Re: Book club - August discussion post - So You Want to Be a Wizard

[diet_poison]

This is all very fair, and a lot of those are reasons I think I also would really have liked it as a kid.

The rest is just a matter of preference, I suppose. ^^; I didn't think the characters were interesting, but kids don't see the tropiness as much. I didn't love the system of wizardry, but that's just a matter of opinion.

Re: Book club - August discussion post - So You Want to Be a Wizard

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it's definitely really tropey. It would be hard to deny that. But it worked for me as a kid so I can't criticize it too much.

It was an interesting choice for book to read - something like Book Of Night With Moon might possibly have worked better, but I wasn't the one who nominated this one so idk what whoever's reasoning might have been.