I Solemnly Swear That I am Up to No Good

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." - J.K. Rowling 

To every English's teacher's worst nightmare, I don't really like reading. Reading is a primary skill we've needed and learned about since the beginning of our lives, but I literally loath reading pages that seem to never end. Don't get me wrong, I do read often but it's rare for me to find a good, solid read. I have picked up numerous of books and read the first couple of pages and then decided it was not something I wanted to waste my energy nor time. When I do get into an exceptional book however, I can read it non-stop. My challenge for my stretch mark was to read a long book in a short amount of time and really commit to the plot. I chose the fourth novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because it is super long and one of my favorites to watch. Sorry to say J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, but I'm not a die hard fan of Harry Potter. I do know the plot line well enough though, to consider it enjoyable and to assume to novels are as equally, if not more, gratifying. A possible reason I may not enjoy reading as much as I should is because I'm a pretty slow reader. I decided to give myself the weekdays over spring break to read the whopping 734 pages. The beauty of any book compared to the movie, is the novel is filled with detail and little remarks that sometimes are overlooked during the production of a movie. Harry Potter's book was doused in the personality of the characters, and I really got a feel for the scenery and events. A picture I commonly see floating around the internet is the different between watching and reading. Although I had already seen the movie, the novel delivered a different type of outlook that brought the pages to life.

I got my book from the Pacifica Sanchez Library, and I started reading the Monday during spring break. I always like to plop down with a blanket and water on a couch in my living room, to reach full comfort before I commence of a scenery escapade. The novel has 37 chapters, so I established that I'd read roughly seven chapters a day for five days. I did make the very occasional Twitter and snack break over the week while reading, but I managed to read the entire book by Friday afternoon. I was also ultimately relieved that I finished a book and was also done spending like an hour a day flipping the pages. I constantly pictured what it would be like to go to Hogwarts. In a completely random way, Kohl Mansion is like a little piece of Hogwarts. It's sorcery really. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm really curious what life would be like if magic was a legitimate thing, and I could have an invisible cloak or fly a broom stick. No matter what novel I end up reading next, I'm glad I was able to set a goal and stick to it. I don't think I'l continue the Harry Potter series because I did basically start in the middle but this is like a guide for me to start and finish a book in a timely fashion. Maybe next time I'll read a book that is like a thousand page book but now thinking about it, is highly unlikely.