Edgar Allan Poe and a Series of Unfortunate Events

Edgar Allan Poe. Basically the writeriest writer out there. I mean seriously, once I understood "The Raven" I realized it was pretty cool. And "The Tell-Tale Heart"? Dang. He knows what's up. And then there's the Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. (And Daniel Handler is a COMPLETE genius because he made his pen name a character in his stories with like a story of his own. Dang, that is AWESOME.) If you've read those books, you may have noticed a few Edgar Allan Poe references, probably because Edgar Allan Poe is known for writing some pretty grim things. So if you haven't noticed them, then here are a few things that you should know. (Spoilers for A Series of Unfortunate Events.)
Let's start with the Poe reference in our main characters, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. I had to do a school assignment on Edgar Allan Poe once, and so that's how I learned this. But there was someone that Poe knew named Baudelaire. I can't remember exactly how he was associated with Poe, but I do remember seeing his existence. When I read it, I just thought, "A man named Baudelaire had something to do with Edgar Allan Poe? Oh my gosh! Another reference!" So that was pretty cool.
Then of course there is Mr. Poe, the banker. His name is Poe. So that's an obvious enough reference. But there's also his two sons named Edgar and Allan. Aha! Well played, Daniel Handler. Well played.
Then there's another reference specifically in The Vile Village. Our orphan friends go to live in the town of V.F.D. in the hopes of uncovering a mystery. But what do they find instead? Crow-obsessed villagers. Now, crows are black birds. So what? Well, ravens are also black birds. You might think I'm stretching this one, because it sure sounds like I am. But then you have to remember the tree they find the notes in. What is that tree called? Nevermore Tree. And what does a pretty famous raven like to say? "Nevermore." I'm pretty sure that wasn't an accident.
If there are any other Poe references that I've missed, tell me. I want to know. Dang, they are pretty clever guys.

It's Worth Reading Just to Read About the Food

First of all, guys, thanks for all the pageviews! That makes me feel pretty special :)
Secondly, I think we can all agree that food in books sound super good. Like, we could read book food all day. It drives you crazy sometimes. (Spoilers for The Lightning Thief, The Son of Neptune, Harry Potter and Hunger Games.)
We'll start with Percy Jackson. The way he describes his mom's blue chocolate chip cookies, it makes me want to make some myself. Who knows how we're celebrating Percy's birthday this year? And at Aunty Em's. Sure, she turned out to be Medusa, but she has the most delicious burgers, fries, and shakes in the universe. (And probably wax paper, but we'd have to ask Grover.) Seriously, I was reading The Lightning Thief one night and my mom went and got us some food because it gave me this huge craving for fries. Rediculous. And the food at the camps, the fruit and bread and barbecue at Camp Half-Blood, and the anything you want at Camp Jupiter. (I haven't read that book in a while. That's what it's called, right? I would look like a total idiot if that isn't what it's called.)
Then as for Harry Potter, there's the food at Hogwarts. Dang, house-elves, tell us your secret! We want to be able to cook like that. (At least I have The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: A Magical Christmas Menu on my Kindle. Time for me to be a house-elf ;) ) And the magical candies. Don't you want to try them all? And you can eat the floss mint candies after to make your teeth clean after all that candy-eating! And then of course there's the famous Mrs. Weasley! Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, we didn't forget about you, we just saved the best for last! Harry never fails to mention how much of Mrs. Weasley's wonderful cooking he gets to have when he visits the Burrow. She doesn't even deprive the kids of her amazing treats when they're at Hogwarts! She sends the kids treats at Christmas and Easter. Way to go, Mrs. Weasley. You're cool.
And I saved the most delicious for last. Hunger Games! Katniss gets to go and have many food adventures in the Capitol, and we're lucky that we're readers and not citizens of Panem (Power to District One), because that means we get to hear her talk about it! Do I need to say more? That Capitol food.
Sorry if you're hungry.

Mrs. Everdeen

This isn't really something that people think about a lot. She's not a character you would think to love. She doesn't play a tremendous part in the story. But I just think that Mrs. Everdeen is the coolest lady ever. (Spoilers for the Hunger Games Trilogy.)
She went through depression. A lot of people don't think this, but it was a mental disorder she had. She was really upset about the loss of her husband. Which is another thing I love about her. How much she loved Katniss's dad. Katniss at one point in the book, when she's trying to think of ways she can act in love with Peeta, thinks of some things that her parents would do for each other when her father was alive. It's really kind of sweet. Like, all of it.
Then there's her love for her daughter. Both of them, actually. Katniss didn't trust her mom for a while. She loved her a lot, but she didn't trust her. (That's something I love about Katniss. She had a hard time trusting her mom afraid she would go into depression again, but she still loved her so much to sacrifice her life even if she didn't want her mom to know it. In the end Katniss is really cool.) But she still loved Katniss the way any mother would. She let Katniss wear her old clothes. She was always kind. She was so sad when Katniss was going into the Quell. And by Catching Fire through the rest of the series, she and Katniss have a pretty good relationship.
She was pretty brave when her youngest child died. She couldn't go back to District Twelve because it was too painful. It must have been pretty hard for her to leave Katniss. She might have known Katniss wouldn't want to come with her so that's why she gave nothing but a letter of explanation and a phone number, if I remember correctly, so she could keep in touch with her daughter. And she didn't go into depression like she did the last time someone she loved a lot died. I think she was really strong about it. Instead she went to another district and became a doctor there and she helped other people through her work to distract herself from the things she'd lost. I think she's awesome.
So Mrs. Everdeen, even if I'm you're only fan, just know you have one. :)

Character Qualities

I once saw a picture that said that the characters you like the most share some of the same qualities as you, and the same is true of the characters you hate the most, and that's why you like/hate them. Well when I saw that I was like "Oh no what qualities do I have that I don't like?" I thought of how Annabeth said Percy and Thalia were exactly alike so they would either be best friends or worst enemies. (Personally, I didn't think that Thalia and Percy were that much alike. I mean, a little. But I think Percy and Jason were practically the same person.) And how Peeta said that Katniss and Haymitch hated each other because they were exactly alike. But still I was pretty nervous about that but I didn't see how it was true. But now I do. (Small spoilers for Mockingjay.)
I really like Luna Lovegood. And I think that I share her quality of how I don't really care what people think of me. (That's probably evident enough because I share all this stupid fangirly stuff with you guys.) That took a while for me to develop. But I think that I now have Luna's amazing talent for being herself and not caring what people think.
Buuuuut, the same also goes for the characters I hate the most. Dang, do I hate President Snow. There's all the horrendous little things he does, and that's enough to give you the feeling of, "Oh, you despicable little man." But then I think of Peeta......... And I'm just like "OHHHHH, President Snow, YOU JUST MESSED WITH THE WRONG FANGIRL." But sadly, yeah, I realized I do have something in common with President Snow. And it's the hunger for power. You might not believe it, but a lot of things I do are based on me having to have superiority. And President Snow? That's why he does everything too. When he said the system was fragile? It's only fragile because he thinks he has to have the power up there in the Capitol. Give the people a small bit of power, of say in anything, the power isn't his. Or at least not completely his. President Snow is an all or nothing kind of guy. He has to be in charge, and the people don't have a say at all. In the United States, President Snow, the people have a lot of say but there's still a president and it works out just fine! It's really a good system! It's totally okay!
But sadly, I guess I have that quality. Think about it. Your favorite character from any book, your least favorite character from any book. And you'll probably have something in common with them.

Tribute to the Fallen Characters

You know, everyone's favorite characters tend to be the ones that don't make it. (That luckily wasn't the case for me in Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. [I like Luna and Percy.] In Hunger Games most of my favorite characters died, though.) Since we love them so much, I thought let's recognize our friends that passed on during their adventures, and thanks, favorite characters, for making our reading experience so much better. (Spoilers for Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Percy Jackson.)
Bathilda Bagshot
Regulus Black
Sirius Black
Amelia Bones
Charity Burbage
Frank Bryce
Colin Creevey
Dirk Cresswell
Cedric Diggory
Albus Dumbledore
Arianna Dumbledore
Kendra Dumbledore
Percival Dumbledore
Merope Gaunt
Gregorovitch
Remus Lupin
James Potter
Lily Potter
Severus Snape
Nymphadora Tonks
Ted Tonks
Fred Weasley
Dobby the House-Elf
Hedwig
Primrose Everdeen
Finnick Odair
Marvel
Glimmer
Cato
Clove
Foxface
Thresh
Rue
Gloss
Cashmere
Brutus
Wiress
Mags
Blight
Woof
Cecelia
Chaff
Seeder
Madge Undersee
Mr. Everdeen
Mr. Mellark
Maysilee Donner
Mayor Undersee
Mrs. Undersee
Darius
Cinna
Boggs
Messalla
Castor
Bonnie
Twill
Zoe Nightshade
Bianca di Angelo
Castor (son of Dionysus)
Charles Beckendorf
Ethan Nakamura
Silena Beauregard
Also to the unnamed wizards, Muggles, magical creatures, tributes, district and Capitol citizens, Avoxes, Peacekeepers, demigods and mortals.

Intervention Time

Guys, don't worry, I haven't betrayed you. I'm not saying it's time to have an intervention on your obsession with the fandoms. It's about the characters. And I'm not saying you're not allowed to obsess over the characters. I'm saying let's be honest with ourselves: Our favorite characters, no matter how completely awesome they are, do have some flaws.
(Spoilers for The Last Olympian and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And I guess Mockingjay a little)
Let's start with something we can all agree on: Harry. We love Harry. But let's admit it: in the fifth book Harry is having some serious moody teenager problems. That kid has anger issues like nobody's business.
And the way that Katniss is treating Gale and Peeta in Mockingjay, as I have heard from myself and other readers, is not our favorite. Someone said she was starting to dislike Katniss. Now I love Katniss, and it has taken me a while to get to that point. But she doesn't always think before she acts.
They say Percy's flaw is his love for his friends and how he'll do anything to help them. Us, the readers, of course, know that that is absolutely stupid. We love the fact that Percy is willing to help his friends. We just keep saying to the book, "Come on! Don't you know anything? Love is not a fatal flaw! Just because it gets him in a lot of trouble doesn't mean it isn't the right thing to do!" But Percy also could learn to control his temper. He gets too angry too fast, before he can think, and it tends to get him into a LOT of trouble. (Teenage boy? Black hair? Green eyes? Has a prophecy about him? Anger issues? Will do anything for his friends? Dang, the similarities between Harry and Percy are endless!)
Then there are the flaws that are so dang arguable that they pretty much aren't even flaws at all. Like Snape was working for Voldemort and did so much to help him. But he was really on the good side and did it all to protect Harry and save the wizarding universe. And the fact that Katniss and Peeta have killed people. But they were thrust into the Hunger Games, it's not like they went on a murderous rampage. The Stoll brothers are thieves. But they're the sons of Hermes. There isn't much you can do about that one.
Then there are the ones you could debate about all day long. The Malfoys worked so hard for Voldemort and never even said that they regretted it or did anything about it after he died, and didn't go to Azkaban for it. But you can tell by the end of the story they were just doing what it took to survive. But plenty of people had survived by being on the good side. But they had gotten too close and it was too late to go back. See? You could debate about that all day. (Personally, I think the point was that they were only doing what was best for survival, and Draco especially was thrust into that life. That's my view on it.)
Then Cato? Cato's a horrible kid, training his whole life for the moment he could kill people left and right. But he was trained to be that way since he was a kid by his district, so it isn't really his fault. But he still chose to live that lifestyle. But what would have happened to him if he didn't? (And I think that Cato is relatively innocent too. You're supposed to pity him. It's not his fault that he was taught that the Hunger Games were the best things that could ever happen to him and that was what his whole life was throughout his entire childhood. It's supposed to show how the Capitol uses the citizens.)
And Silena Beauregard. (Excuse me if that isn't spelled right.) Silena was a traitor. How could she just give all her friends to Kronos like that? But Luke used her into thinking it was right. But she's the daughter of Aphrodite! She should be able to resist stuff like that! She should be using him to help them! But even daughters of Aphrodite fall sometimes, and once she was in there was no way out. (I know all the fans feel the same way about Silena. There's no need to say that she was a really great person.)
And then there's Luke. He did so much against the camp. He led a battle against them, used many of them, told them his way was right even when he himself thought he was wrong. But in the end he made himself a hero, and we all kind of respect Luke for that one. So that one's just confusing.

Personal Problems

You know how you tend to talk about your life, and like your problems or whatever? And then you think in your head "What am I doing my friend that I am talking to has problems too I should probably help them with their problems"? You know that? Well I realize we read books and there's the big conflict that involves everybody. And other conflicts that you know who they involve but then we just hear the speaker talking about everything they are worried about, and everything that makes them sad/happy/angry/frustrated/any other emotion you can think of. But then we don't really see all the other personal problems that happen in the other characters' lives. The authors probably don't even go into thought of their personal lives, especially since sometimes the plots and problems are so big that the characters spend so much of their time dealing with the big things we know about they don't have much time to worry about everything else. But what if they do have other problems? I mean, they're often a little different than us but they're still normal people. Like, everyone's a person. They could be worrying about totally normal things! Like, what if Peeta is stressing out one day because he has a test in school the next day? And his mom is so mean and she hit him really hard once what if at school he worries about having to go home and if his mom will do something bad again? And yeah he has to work but luckily I don't think they have homework in Panem so his schedule doesn't really conflict but yeah what if he worries about work? And he had friends at school! And you know he had friends to worry about too!!! Ahh! He had problems! And then Annabeth her little demigod mind is going like 109,823,790,816,358,972,398,457 miles per hour all the time! And I realized when she goes to her mortal school she had to worry about monsters attacking her what if she keeps her knife on her for protection and she has to worry about getting caught? And did she have mortal friends how did her social life go down? Did any boys like her there was she just not saying anything to Percy because she was embarrassed and she liked him and she didn't want him to know? And seriously the Weasleys though! I'm not sure if they have taxes in the wizarding world or bills and stuff because when you build your house and have running water you can do it all by magic and they don't have electricity because they have magic. But if they do have to pay taxes then oh my gosh how the heck are they going to get by they have a whole family to raise not to mention the Order and Harry and Hermione! I mean the Weasleys have to seriously worry about money. Sorry. That's all.