Weekly Lists #87: Books for your Hogwarts House

So a miracle’s happened: I’m doing one of the Top 5 Wednesday topics. And I’m actually doing it on the day that it’s supposed to go up! Basically: You’re supposed to show your Hogwarts House Pride. In other words: choose the top 5 books that represent your house. Now, for full disclosure: I’m something in between a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. However, as many people around me can bear testimony: the amount of knowledge I want to absorb at any given moment made me a Ravenclaw before I even new what it really was. So, you know. Here’s 5 books for my Hogwarts House.

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1. Uncle Albert, Russel Stannard

This is basically the series that got me into physics.
I got these books from my godfather, either for my 8th birthday, or the Christmas just after that. Along with it, he gave me some of those stars to stick on your ceiling that light up after a long day.
The man was on a mission. The mission worked
Sure, I may have gone on to study languages, but I still love sciences, and this book is to thank for all of that!

2. The Private Life of Mona Lisa, Pierre La Mure

This book is basically the best thing ever.
The author just goes along and imagines what Mona Lisa’s life might have been like, following her from her life as a young girl, al the way up to and including the moment Leonardo da Vinci paints her. Now, it’s that “all the way” that makes this book so amazing. Think war, think intrige, think the de Medici.
Oh, and also think: you can’t find this book anywhere anymore. Our library had it, but put it up for sale because nobody actually went and got it from the library anymore. Which is, naturally, how we came across it – and still treasure it, by the way!

3. A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present, Ellis Wasson

Along with A world by Itself: A History of the British Isles by J.C.D. CLark.
In my third and fourth year of college, I took two classes on the History of the British Isles, these two books were the manuals. They manage to go into all the details, without ever getting to be too much or too overbearing. And they also include some counterfactual history, which I think any true Ravenclaw with a passion for history should appreciate. Literally: every “what if” from history, but discussed in detail and with such thoroughness.
I love it!

4. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I know I’ve already discussed this novel at length, but you know what? Have some more about it. In my mind, a true Ravenclaw is someone who appreciates facts, someone who knows how to handle dogmatics, and someone who can also cope with being told they are wrong, that their point of view isn’t correct, or just plain old: to laugh at a joke. This book does that to so many different types of world views, and in such a brilliant, detailled, using-that-which-it-mocks-way, that I cannot help but appreciate it.
(Also, this book, to me at least, illustrates perfectly why Hermione couldn’t be a Ravenclaw: sure, she loves learning and knowledge. But she doesn’t know how to distance herself from said “facts”, enough that she can actually figure out the truth behind them. Such as: history is written by the winners.)

5. Narnia, Chrestomanci, Dalemark, Harry Potter, Pippi Longstocking, Mallory Towers, …

In one way or another, I really do thing that every Ravenclaw had their “gateway-thing”. The one object, or show, or book, or… that made them realise they wanted more of this. More knowledge, more of that genre, more of that kind of experiment… For me, these books were the ones that made me a reader. They’re the ones that grabbed me from the get-go, made me go “oh” and never really let me go again. They’re the ones I still grab to whenever I feel I need the mental pick me up.

And there you have it, 5 (and then some) of the books that, to me at least, define my Ravenclaw-ness! What house are you in? Do you have any books that you feel are typical for your Hogwarts House? Or even just for the way you feel about / in it? Any fellow Ravenclaws reading this blog? Be sure to let me know below!

-Saar