Book Talk Reading Challenge April 2025 || RESULTS P.100|| - Page 87

Originally posted by: ssttuuttii

See... if you had read the books first (or at least read them before getting into the HP fandom and spaces online), you would like the Weasleys and find Hermione fairly irritating. It's because the books are from Harry's PoV and he finds Hermione boring while Ron is his chilled out / sporty best friend who is almost always loyally stuck to his side (I know Ron has his jealous / insecure moments but for the most part, he is very supportive of Harry). Hermione on the hand is always getting on their nerves - harping on about homework, exams, following rules, etc. When Harry has a fight with Hermione, he and Ron go their jolly way and don't miss her except when they have to do their homework by themselves... but when Harry and Ron have a fight, he and Hermione have nothing in common to talk about and he continuously misses Ron.

[The above is not my viewpoint, just the vibe you get from the book... which is from a teenage boy's PoV so it makes sense.]

But then you got the movies where Ron is side-lined and reduced to a stupid jock while Hermione is made out to be this super-cool witch instead of a nerdy know-it-all who has the theoretical knowledge but always fumbles at the practical application in times of need. Movie Hermione is intelligent, bold and badass... and the actress good-looking... so you see how the narrative changed?

Now, Hermione was too good for Ron, so who else could you pair her with? Well here's this other good-looking and cool guy... and the actors are friends too! That's how Dramione started... and if you want to turn Draco into a good guy, someone else has to take the blame... which lead to Ron bashing.

Subsequently, Snape and the Blacks including Regulus Black (who is barely characterized in the books) caught everyone's interest... Slytherin turned into the go-to house... and so on. This made Weasleys (Ron-Ginny and sometimes whole fam) and Dumbledore the punching bag.

If you have been in the fandom long enough... you can practically make out this accession in the form of posts and fics. That is not to say I dislike Draco or Snape and love Dumbledore... I merely believe they are gray characters and should be allowed to remain so. JKR put in so much effort to give the characters life... they all have their virtues and vices... there's no need to turn them into one-dimensional cardboard caricatures.

That is the reason I've stopped reading HP FFs. I don't mind someone's mistakes being called out... Was Dumbledore manipulative? Sure. He was a politically oriented man and had to look at the greater good (classic trolley problem)... but he still tried his best to turn the odds in Harry's favor. He keeps trying to look out for everyone around him as much as he can... this is a war, you can't really expect everyone to get out unscathed. But this was their only chance at winning against someone who is almost immortal... so what choice did he have? It's easy to forget this in the frame of FFs that can make people like Bellatrix seem like misunderstood kittens... but these were death eaters who were committing Genocide of sorts. If we were to compare Dumbledore to someone like Churchill or Roosevelt.... fighting against the Nazis... does that put things in a better context? Now do his actions seem more justifiable..? If causing more trauma to some kids could end a war, who wouldn't make the same choices? Mind you, he never sacrifices them. Near-death experience yes... but since Harry had Voldemort's soul inside him, that was a given. The fact that he made it out alive at all was because of Dumbledore (and some luck).

I'm not saying I agree with every action that Dumbledore takes. But then, is there any character in the book that you could stand behind 100% of the time? They all have their faults... so why pick on one more than the rest? If it's someone like Umbridge... then I can understand Turn her into a full villain all you want . But for most of the other characters... I like them the way they are... no need for either bashing or glorification. And without this balance, I find it tough to read any FFs. I've actually had a better time reading some cross-overs that utilize the world-building aspect of HP but with other characters as protagonists. Those are more fun and not colored by the extreme views of the fandom .

P.S. Sorry for the long-ass post.. I'm just sad about how the HP fandom has fallen so far from it's source material. But I'm hoping for better times in the future when the new series comes out and revives the interest in OG books. Perhaps the series might even stay more true to the characterizations (or is that too much to hope for ).

P.P.S. Completely forgot to mention... yeah I agree that Ginny and Harry was a little sudden and rushed. He was probably better off left as single in the end... he is a seventeen year old boy who just came out of a war where he lost so many people and nearly died himself. He doesn't need to have his life set in that very moment... aise hi chod dete to chalta . Like I said, I don't read HP for shipping... but if he has to be paired with anyone.... then Ginny, Cho or maybe even Luna are all good choices acc to me.

I read the first book when it originally came out and watched the movie when it released as well and never been at any HP fandom places.

I didn't read them but my friends group did, they read the books first then watched the movies. My sister only watched the movies and not all of them are pro Draco-Hermione. But all of them are anti-Ginny and from the excerpts that I have heard and read, I don't like her either

I can even accept Ron's character, with all his flaws he seemed real but not Ginny, never her. She is the one I hate the most.

In fact, I can understand every other characters motives, flaws, passion, obsession but Ginny gives me the eehh yuck feeling

I am tempted to take this as a challenge. I am going to read all the HP books and see if it impacts my opinion or not.

Originally posted by: Bee222

Next month onwards, ye ek team mein aur hum sab alag team mein

Tab jaake fair competition banega

meine bhi yehi kaha tha

Originally posted by: Bee222

I read your summaries and didn't want anything from your current reads, that's why I was asking for more recs from your past faves I will definitely check out the writers you mentioned, esp memoriaeterna bcz I love canon div fix-its (God only knows how many of them I gobbled after watching Endgame )

Mostly I love fics where Pete is still a capable Spidey and does his stints on his own (as per his character) but Tony being Tony still keeps tabs and steps in when he needs to. Like their relationship in the MCU was so beautiful and so full of love and respect 😭 I love fics that preserve that essence for them, but sadly I get very few like that in so many of them it's just Tony mollycoddling him and Peter behaving like a helpless defenceless kid or else they turn May into some kind of villain/negligent/abusive towards Peter to turn Tony into the parent. Like bruh, that woman literally raised him up, you can't just vilify her like that

I like when they spend time together as regular humans at the Tower, and when Peter gets to tinker around in Tony's lab and Tony realises just how smart Peter is, and also just keeps getting fonder and fonder of this kid and I love when Pepper is involved one bcz she makes the Ironfam complete and two bcz without her calming presence and steady handle on things, I fear these two could set anything on fire

I also don't like it sm when Peter calls Tony dad, I prefer it when he calls him Mr Stark or Tony. In my eyes it's part of what keeps their bond special

So yeah, as you can see I'm quite picky about my Irondad Spiderson fics that's why bohot gine chune pasand ate hai mujhe

OMG! This post could have been written by me!! I've the exact same clauses attached... in fact, while searching on AO3, I filter out so many of the unnecessary ships and other stuff in tags to keep my feed more curated. Even so, I specifically look through the "BAMF Peter Parker" tag every once in a while... when the babying gets too much for me

Aunt May being abusive, Tony mollycoddling an incompetent Peter and Peter calling him dad - I dislike all these tropes too . Ab to pakka go and read memoriaeterna's stories ("The Other Side" and "Z to A" are the best in my opinion). And when you want a bit of break from all the time-space conundrums in those fics, shift to Bergen's AU stories - competent Spidey with worried Tony + good May, supportive Pepper, and at least one other Avenger if not the whole lot are present in most of her stories. And she has around 50 works!! My personal fav are "Catch and Keep" and "Lies of Omission" but there are so many to choose from... I'm sure you will find something worth your while. Have a blast

Originally posted by: itsShonali

Fine, I accept I is a book demon Now, I am going into short hibernation, will take a break, write reviews and begin reading on Sunday

jokes apart, I am seriously in awe of your book reading speed and the way you are so committed to reading.. after work and life, it is sometimes difficult to settle down and read a book unless I put up my mind to read one.
Reminds me of a time when I used to be a book monster too honestly even then the count was never as much as yours is lol

* reminds me I am supposed to edit my own book tally.

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Love the loyalty and the team spirit.

We’re going down but we’ll still be proud doing it

Hey but having fun and a good team is more important than winning na

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

You have it?? Gosh then READ it!

It’s really good. Yeah it’s a mystery but it involves a time loop

I will try it but not sure if it's my type. I don't usually read this genre. I downloaded this author's newest book too, Famous Last Words.

Originally posted by: Bee222

Same... I've read so many short fics in this month but can't add any of them

Rn 3-10k is my sweet spot for fics ❤️

For me, it depends wholly on my schedule. Right now, I prefer the shorter ones that I can finish while having lunch / dinner... or waiting around during an experiment in lab (we have incubation period and stuff so I can have a quick read during that time). I tend to get pulled into fics that I like and can't put them down mid-way... so when staying up reading the whole night is not an option (like right now), I avoid the longer ones. Even so, I've read at least 5-6 fics that crossed the 10k limit (2 of them going past 16k)... but alas... 18k is the limit so none of them count .

Hume milkar protest karna chahiye... to lower the word limit for online fics

Originally posted by: itsShonali

I read the first book when it originally came out and watched the movie when it released as well and never been at any HP fandom places.

I didn't read them but my friends group did, they read the books first then watched the movies. My sister only watched the movies and not all of them are pro Draco-Hermione. But all of them are anti-Ginny and from the excerpts that I have heard and read, I don't like her either

I can even accept Ron's character, with all his flaws he seemed real but not Ginny, never her. She is the one I hate the most.

In fact, I can understand every other characters motives, flaws, passion, obsession but Ginny gives me the eehh yuck feeling

I am tempted to take this as a challenge. I am going to read all the HP books and see if it impacts my opinion or not.

Haha! I didn't mean it as a challenge but I guess you are in your book monster phase... so reading all the HP books is only like a matter of couple of days for you Jokes apart, I doubt it will impact your opinion on Ginny much... since you seem to have developed quite a strong hate for her... and she is a fairly under-developed character in the book. All we know about her is her crush on Harry and love for Quidditch, practical jokes / pranks just like Fred-George.

Why I like her with Harry is because he clearly has a type - he likes people who are sporty and fun-loving, those who can make jokes in the direst of times and remain light-hearted on the whole (bcz there's enough serious stuff going on in his life so he needs a break from it). He dislikes anyone prone to tearworks or extreme show of emotions (again understandable with the kind of upbringing he had). And from descriptions in the book, both Cho and Ginny (the two girls Harry canonically dated) are conventionally pretty and popular. Ginny fits the rest of the criteria too... so I feel their pairing is good.

Even though I said I didn't mind Harry with Cho, it is also clear they wouldn't work out. Harry is not a good listener, while Cho needs someone who is much more patient and understands subtleties. On the other hand, Harry can't deal with her crying.

I threw out Luna as a suggestion, but honestly as supportive and understanding she might be as a friend, they wouldn't work out as a couple. What would they even talk about? They hardly have any common interests... same prob with Neville (if we are considering gay ships).

Ron and Hermione are both too bro/sis coded (in the books, sometimes it almost feels like Ron and Hermione are parenting Harry... especially in #5) to be considered at all... so who else remains? I remember reading a fic long back where Harry was paired with Fred or George... don't exactly remember. That is an option... but then Ginny is almost like their female version only... so fark kya bacha . For me, Ginny is a result of elimination of all other choices, leaving her as the only candidate. She is direct enough to be able to put across her opinions or needs in front of Harry who is bull-headed and can't really understands signs. She can also stand up for herself when required (bcz Harry can be quite rude and self-immersed at times). With his bucketload of trauma, anyone who has to deal with Harry long-term is going to have a difficult time of it... so the other person needs to be strong and self-sustaining. If an FF writer were to pair Harry up with a better written OC, I wouldn't really mind it... but given the characters available, I find Ginny the best pick.

That said, if you do end up reading the books, Ginny ka pata nahi but I'm quite sure it will make you see Ron in a new light .

I noticed this only just now.. Maybe you are interested.. 😊

Originally posted by: ssttuuttii

Do any of you guys read "Watching the Movies" / "Reading the Books" kinda FFs? Asking for both HP and MCU content. Hit me with some recs if you do

Are you referring to fanfictions where characters sit together and watch movies featuring themselves, reacting to them?

I have read few MCU and Stranger Things fics like that, but it’s been a while since I read them, so I’ll need to find the links.

There was this one MCU fic where the Avengers haven’t even officially formed yet, and they’re forced to sit down and watch the future movies together. Their reactions were quite hilarious