Tag: Harry Potter

Iconic Places in Literature You Can Visit

Ever wanted to visit places you’ve literally only read about? Well you are in luck my friend. This is a list of iconic literary places you can actually visit.

 

Tom Riddle’s Grave

We first learn about Tom Riddle’s grave stone in the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Image via Off Exploring

The grave is in an actual cemetery in Greyfriars Kirk, Scotland. Obviously the cemetery exactly like it is in the book but JK was rumored to have walked the cemetery and got inspiration for other character names. Many Harry Potter come to the cemetery and Riddle’s grave is the most popular to visit.

 

Image via Flicker

 

The Kingdom of Arendelle

Arendelle is the fiction kingdom in Frozen and Frozen 2. The architecture and landscape was modeled after a real village in Hallstatt, Austria. It’s a small community of only a little more than 700 hundred people but the town is lively with up to 10,000 tourists a day.  The artists also got Arendelle’s name from an actual  city in Norway named Arendal.

Image via Earth Trekkers 

 

Image via Visit Norway

 

 

Bath

Jane Austen had written her most famous novel after her time in Bath, England. And the city inspired two of her books directly. Bath is famous for its ancient roman built baths that were mentioned by Austen. Tourism is large in Bath, thanks to The Jane Austen Centre, an exhibition that tells stories of her time there.

 

Image via The Crazy Tourist

 

Image via Visit Bath

 

Hobbiton

The Lord of the Rings has too many cool places we wish we could actually visit but thank goodness we can go here! The Hobbiton set was built in Matamata, New Zealand and 98′ Peter Jackson’s team came across Alexander Farm when they were location scouting. After nine months of building 39 nine hobbit holes were ready. Guided tours of Hobbiton started in 2002 and fans still can visit the hobbit homes.

 

Image via Hobbitontours

 

 

Green Gables

The Anne of Green Gables book series was inspired by real land and farm house that you can visit. Green Gables in a 19th century farm in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is an national historic site for its importance to literature and is on the most visited sites in the country. The author LL Montgomery visited the farm when she was young and got romantic inspiration form the house and surrounding areas for places i her books like The Haunted Woods, Lovers’ Lane and Balsam Hollow.

 

Image via Short Excursions 

 

 

Featured Image Superpower Wiki

 


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Explore Audible’s Top Picks of 2019

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that reading doesn’t always have to be you, a book and a comfy seat. More so than ever before, people are listening to their literature on laptops, on smartphones, and on the go. Audible is the best option for this, as it’s available across plenty of devices with a wide range of titles.

Audible has released a map that takes a look at 2019 listening data to see which titles were “more uniquely popular in some states compared to the rest of the country”. Our map below shows each state’s top Audible titles from 2019.

 

 

The shortest route across the US in a car would take four days or ninety-six hours. Forget about your killer soundtrack and instead, think about how many audiobooks you could get through in that time! If you wanted to do it properly, you could go state-by-state and take on each state’s favorite audiobook as you move. Luckily, Audible and Bookstr are here to help. The above infographic shows us which audiobook has been most popular (i.e. listened to more than any other) in each US state.

Let’s take a closer look.

 

Northwest

 

Midwest

 

Southwest

 

Southeast

 

Northeast

 

 

One thing is for sure, self-help is popular country-wide, with many states learning how to Stay Sexy, set Atomic Habits and Not Give a F*ck. George R.R. Martin reigns in several states, proving himself King of The North(east). Fiction and non-fiction are popular all over the country, with fantasy and celebrity novels not contained to any one region.

 

 

Now that you have all you need for a literary road trip across the United States, fill up the tank, download Audible and get moving. Happy listening!

Here are the titles by state:

Maine The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

Maryland  The Woman in The Window by A.J. Finn

New Hampshire The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Vermont City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Virginia Call Sign Chaos by Jim Mattis, Bing West

Massachusetts Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand

New York Principles by Ray Dalio

Pennsylvania The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Connecticut Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Delaware Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Ohio Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Rhode Island Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Kentucky Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

West Virginia Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Tennessee The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron, Suzanne Stabile

Indiana Shortest Way Home by Pete Buttigieg

Illinois Life Will Be the Death of Me by Chelsea Handler

Iowa Take Control of Your Life by Mel Robbins

Missouri The Institute by Stephen King

Oklahoma Killers of The Flower Moon by David Grann

Kansas A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Nebraska #IMOMSOHARD by Kristen Hensley, Jen Smedley

South Dakota Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

Wyoming Wolf Pack by C.J. Box

Colorado Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Utah Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Nevada Unf*ck Yourself by Gary John Bishop

Arkansas Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Mississippi Cemetery Road by Greg Iles

Alabama It’s Not Supposed To Be This Way by Lysa Terkeurst

Florida How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Georgia 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

North Carolina Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Michigan A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Wisconsin Heads Will Roll by Kate McKinnon, Emily Lynne

North Dakota Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Montana The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Washington Dune by Frank Herbert

Oregon Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgarrif, Georgia Hardstark

California Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss

Arizona The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin

New Mexico Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light by Stan Lee, Kat Rosenfield

Hawaii Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

South Carolina The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

Minnesota Neon Prey by John Sandford

Idaho Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Texas Atomic Habits by James Clear

Alaska Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

Louisiana A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

New Jersey Unfreedom of The Press by Mark R. Levin

District of Colombia Becoming by Michelle Obama

 

You can explore it even closer below: 

Created by Parisha Patel, who you can find here and here.

lite blue-book map

All images via PARIsha patel


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A Harry Potter Store Is Coming to the Big Apple!

Magic is upon us! A Harry Potter flagship store is coming to New York City this summer! Warner Bros is promising a new and unique experience that will not only be dedicated to the Harry Potter universe but to the Fantastic Beast universe as well!

 

Image via Slashgear

The store will be located next to NYC Landmark, the Flatiron building, which is located at 935 Broadway. It will have the largest collection of Wizarding World merchandise under one roof. Fans will be able to fully immerse into the Wizarding World experience, with Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans, personalized robes, and even hand signed artwork! How cool is that? There will also be some rare finds that will be a must have for your Potter collection. So be sure to save up some money between now and the summer because once you step into that store, it will be hard to restrain your wallet.

 

According to Senior Vice President of Worldwide Tours and Retail at Warner Bros, Sarah Roots, states, “This will be the largest dedicated Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts store in the world and will become a must visit fan destination where Wizarding World enthusiasts can engage with an interactive experience and numerous photo opportunities as they step into the magic.”

As of right now, concept designs are still in the works, but have no doubt, this store is going to exceed all expectations. The Wizarding World is literally going to take New York by storm, and we can just count down the months until the summer when this amazing store will finally be open for business.

 

Featured Image via NYDailynews


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Ranking “Harry Potter” Covers from Best to Worst

Ready to judge Harry Potter books by their covers? Some of them are great, and some of them are definitely not (what were you thinking, Sweden?), but they’re all worth critiquing.

 

New USA

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via Flipsnack

 

These are great. We’ve got CREATURES. We’ve got ATMOSPHERE. We’ve got great art—look at that dragon! And it looks like the artist actually had any idea what the books were about. They’re pretty, and I want them.

 

10/10

 

 

 

New UK

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via The Washington Post

 

A very close second! Fewer cool animals though, so it loses a point. The dragon isn’t as good, he looks like he’s about eight on the Deathly Hallows cover, and someone got too excited about hair and beards. There’s also a lot of fire? Same good concept, but very different energy.

 

9/10

 

 

Classic US

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via Goodreads

 

It’s good, but it’s not great. These are the covers I grew up with, so I might be biased, but I like the strong color choices, especially in the later books, and the faces look pretty normal. Hermione does have red hair for some reason, which is the worst, but overall decent.

 

7/10

 

 

 

Swedish

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via Reddit

 

These have a real grim vibe, but I dig it. The thestrel looks like a nightmare, the dragon is fierce in stead of cute, and that ring of ghosts is pretty alarming. Harry also looks his age on all of them. Some of them are just ok though, and Dumbledore could be cooler.

 

6/10

 

 

New 20th Anniversary

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via Bustle

 

Why would you make this? They’re overworked and creepy, and I don’t have any idea why you’d use black and white, the design is weird, not everyone’s face needs to be on every book. Harry looks like seven different people. Dumbledore is the worst.

 

3/10

 

 

Original UK

Image result for harry potter covers
Image via Flipsnack

I’m sorry, but the illustration style is condescending and the faces are bad. And does harry have a spray tan on the last cover? The hyippogryph is pretty cool, but the dragon is terrible and the phoenix is so so. Sorry people who grew up with these, but they’re no good.

 

3/10

 

Danish

Image result for bad harry potter covers
Chasing the Turtle

These are terrible, obviously, but in a surprisingly retro way? This looks like a bad fantasy or sci-fi cover from the sixties or something. Like, it’s not WEIRD MAGIC BOOKS for WEIRD PEOPLE, it’s Harry Potter. Why would you do this to yourselves? And is that photo harry on an illustrated background in the first one? Yikes.

 

2/10

 

 

German

Image result for german harry potter covers
Books, Writing, and Other Things

 

What is this. Those glasses aren’t in front of his eyes. I don’t understand the attitude. I don’t understand the frosted tips. These look like ebook exclusives I wouldn’t buy. My eyes are angry. And why is he just sort of leaning into every frame? Thanks. I hate it.

 

0/10


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The Very Best Very Potter Musical Memes

What is there to say about A Very Potter Musical? It’s one of the greatest works of all time. If you’ve seen it, you’ll understand, and if not, you should probably just go watch it right now. Not even to enjoy these memes better, just because everyone deserves to experience it. Anyone who likes Harry Potter, though, can appreciate the show’s genius, whether they’ve seen it or not.

Watching it the First Time

Image via Narvii

This really captures the humor of the whole thing. It’s already there in the source material. It’s very close to the surface. And yeah, the Harry Potter books are wonderfully funny when they want to be, but there’s SO MUCH there that can be brought out. And boy does Very Potter Musical find all of it. They spent a full quarter of their budget on a giant chocolate bar. Go watch it.

 

Cannon?

Image via Meme Center

When I tell you that Malfoy is the best part of this play, I want you to understand how seriously I mean this. Voldemort tap dances. The sheer physical comedy, I simply cannot describe the genius. Half of Malfoy’s time on stage is spent rolling around. It’s genuinely dazzling. And I’m also pretty sure this is just cannon. Malfoy throws around his father a lot, but do we think his father actually cares?

 

Wisdom

Image via Meme Center

Listen. Listen. It may seem like that’s a bad name for a school. But like. Hogwarts. When was the last time we thought about that? Certainly not this decade. Maybe not this millennium. Also, this is another Malfoy thing, and you know how I feel about Malfoy. I’ll try and stop. But seriously, a wizard school on Mars? That’s basically the best place I can think of. Why did they throw sci-fi in there? Because they’re geniuses.

 

Seems Fair

Image result for very potter musical snape

Image via Static

This may be another Malfoy thing a little! Let’s talk about Snape. He throws his cape around, he takes points from Griffindor, and I think that’s valid as it gets. And look at that wig. Honestly I could just go on forever. If you think Snape sounds good, just wait until you see Dumbledore. He’s the absolute most, and I’m amazed all the memes weren’t about him.

 

Zefron

Image via Pinterest

As someone who’s never had an opinion on Zach Effron in my life, boy do I have opinions about the Zefron poster in a Very Potter Musical. It’s so, so funny. Dumbledore would rather be defeated by Voldemort than destroy it. And Voldemort turned a poster of Zach Effron into a horcrux. They don’t explain this! Zefron poster horcrux. Of course. Makes instant sense.


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Image via Judgmental Observer