Day: August 3, 2016

Back to Hogwarts

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, my owl Tabea and my time-turner... and my Gryffindor colours, of course! Back to Hogwarts! ©Literati Girl

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, my owl Thalia and my time-turner… and my Gryffindor colours, of course! Back to Hogwarts! ©Literati Girl

I don’t think I’ve awaited the release of a new book as excitedly as this since the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  I had my copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child pre-ordered via Amazon Prime, because I didn’t trust that my local, German bookstore would get the English-language version of this book.

Sunday came and went, so I thought it should arrive on my doorstep on Monday (because, as we all know, “there’s no post on Sundays”). Monday came and went, and I got a note saying it would definitely be delivered on Tuesday.

So I sat at home all day yesterday, eagerly awaiting the postie. He didn’t come. And I take it I wasn’t the only one without a Hogwarts Letter that day. Today, way past business hours, my little parcel of magic finally arrived, and I am beginning to think my post owl is called Errol.

It’s sort of strange to sit here with a new Harry Potter book. But the childlike wonder and magic is still there. So I’m turning my back on the Muggle world for a while and heading back to Hogwarts. Got my time-turner, wand and Gryffindor robes all ready, and my Hogwarts Alumni Association card in my pocket, though I’m sure McGonagall remembers me.

And yes, opening the first page of a new Harry Potter book, knowing the magic isn’t over after all, feels like coming home. Hogwarts, I’ve missed you!

Required High School Reading – Book List from a German Grammar School

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Lately I have been wondering about required reading in high school. Mainly because I re-organised my book shelves and grouped all the books I had to read in school together and realised that my list is pretty long.

There seem to be a few books and/or authors that are universal (Shakespeare, Orwell etc.), but many are down to a country’s preference.

In your native language, you’ll usually read and analyse books that originated in your country or were written in your language first (i.e. not a translated work). In foreign languages, you tend to start off easy and then get more complex reading lists as your language skills improve.

This makes me quite glad that I received my secondary education in Germany, as I feel I got a quite comprehensive reading list out of the deal. My Grammar School was bilingual and we were treated like native English speakers as well as native German speakers, so my reading list might be a bit out of the ordinary. Grammar School in Germany used to go from Year 5 to Year 13. It has since my graduation in 2006 been reduced to Years 5-12.

Which books were you required to read in school? Which ones did you keep? Which ones stayed with you?

Here’s my list!

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