The Book Club ( plot people )

[Head Girl Andi]

The early afternoon found Catalina done with all her classes for the day and she was now faced with the task of finding something to occupy her time for the next few hours until dinner. That was not too hard of a task though as Catalina made her way to the student lounge. Her father had always bought her muggle books ever since the time she could first read. She now was fascinated by a new book her sister had found and had sent to her. She had read nearly a quarter of Dragon Doom and was thoroughly hooked. Every moment she had free she had her face buried in her book, which brought about many bookworm comments. This didn’t bother Catalina though, she didn’t care what others thought of her for usually the ones to pass judgment weren’t her friends and so their opinions didn’t register with her.

As she entered the student lounge she made her way over to a blue sofa and tossed her bag down on the carpet and sat down. Within seconds her shoes were off and her feet were tucked under her as she reclined on the sofa. Catalina was quite fond of this genre as she always wanted to grow up in a castle and be a princess. Many times when she was younger she’d drift off into a daydream and pretend she was in a castle and she’d managed to write several short stories about the time period though none of them were very good. She was fascinated with the social life of the times and all the mystery that came with dragons and magic. She found it quite interesting to see how widely varied muggle views on the two subjects were. Some authors were closer to the truth as she knew it than were others. In any event, none of that mattered at the moment as she was deeply immersed in her story about humans, a princess, dwarves, a dwarf prince, an evil wizard and the worst dragon to ever live…. She was so immersed that she didn’t realize there were others nearby her…<br>

[dana]

Dana stretched lazily as she finally got the approval to leave from madam Pomfrey. Dana had been down with a light case of flu, but even though madam Pomfrey had been able to remove that within a moment, she had told Dana to stay there for an hour or two and rest. It meant that Dana skipped her lessons for the day, but she had made it up with revising for the O.W.L.s, which would be coming up at the end of this year and as a Ravenclaw Dana naturally was revising already.

Glancing at her watch, Dana decided to grab a book and head down to the student lounge for some light reading. So in a matter of minutes Dana was down in the lounge, comfortably curled up on a couch with the book she had chosen this time – “Lovely bones” by Alice Sebold. It was a muggle book, but a rather interesting one, as Dana read muggle-books as well as magical books. Sometimes muggle books were even better. And this particular book had peeked Dana’s interest when she saw it in a book-store in muggle-london, so she had asked her grand-mother to send a copy of it to her. Dana grinned, thinking how lucky she was that her grand-parents owned book-stores. It gave Dana a chance to read the latest books as well as rare classics for free and she had a very wide over-view of all books.

But this book talked about a 14 year old girl who was murdered and how she watched everything that was going on back on Earth with her family from Heaven and talked about this. It was actually rather interesting. So Dana was a bit sad, when she ended the book with a quiet snap and glanced over at a girl who had entered mere minutes ago and sat down next to Dana.
Dana glanced at the title of the book she was reading and was intrigued – “Dragon Doom” was an interesting title. Dana glanced at the girl once more and recognized her as a sixth year Ravenclaw, although they hadn’t spoke before. Dana bit her lip, trying to stop herself from disturbing the other girl by asking what the book was about and glanced around the common room to see if any of her friends were there who would take her mind off the intriguing book. Dana didn’t notice anyone else there, so she hesitantly glanced at the older Ravenclaw once again – she was curious, but knowing how much it bothered herself when she was interrupted, when Dana was deeply immersed in a book, so she placed the book on a small table near her and closing her eyes let her head roll back with a small content sigh.

[ElinaHill]

Elina, having finished her book that she had decided to read, made her way towards the Student Lounge in a manner of happiness. She smiled and talked to a few classmates before, entering the Lounge itself which seemed to be less buzzing with activity then normal. Elina rarely found herself in the Lounge, really seeing no need to read or study in there when the Library or her dorm seemed to fit with her style and personality perfectly. It was one of those times when she just wanted to be able to converse with fellow students, but not really felt like approaching someone new and striking up a conversation.

No, Elina thought, There is no need for me to speak, in my own world, I am grand. Though, that thought didn't change the way Elina felt about her lack of socializing. Her littler sister, Ashley, was more social then herself and that was a bit scary for Elina. Elina was the 16 year old, Elina was to be outgoing but, all she did was lock herself up in her room, waiting for day to break on her sorrowful life which she condemned to herself and no one else. Elina didn't really have many friends, Maria Fleming was really her only one. That didn't mean that she wasn't friendly to those who spoke to her, she had talked to many students, but none bothered to speak to her again. Elina didn't mind though. She felt it was fine, considering she found that she didn't do the same.

One glance around the Lounge and she spotted Dana Coran, one of those who didn't speak to her again nor did Elina speak to after their small conversation in the Common Room about books amongst other things. She took a step in Dana's direction but, withdrew once she realized that she would have to speak. That wouldn't be so horrible, would it? How hard and cruel could it be? Upon that thought, Elina smiled and made her way to Dana, noting that another girl was sitting near. Elina recognized her, but had never spoken to her, which wasn't surprising at all. Elina sat, however, and looked at the book that was on the table by Dana,Lovely Bones. Lovely book. Elina thought, not daring to utter a word, that was until she decided to greet Dana, "Hello, how's your day been?" She asked with a small curteous smile.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora stretched out lazily and collected her books after class. Standing up sluggishly she didn’t feel like going all the way up to the seventh floor. Instead she dragged her bag down the hall in the direction of the student’s lounge. She perked up as she swung open the large doors and was greeted by the murmur of students already there and smoke being emitted by the cozy fire. Smiling broadly Lenora looked around the common room but only saw one familiar face; Dana. Her grin only became larger as she saw Dana was sitting with two other girls who she didn’t know.

With a spring in her step Lenora walked over to the small group and plopped down in front the fire with her back to it. “Hello all.” She said with a cheery smile. Noticing a book in front of Dana and the girl who she only recognized as the head girl reading Lenora couldn’t help but withdraw her book as well. ‘Catcher In The Rye’ she was reading once again because she had loved it so the first time. She found Holden such a compelling character, very easy to identify and sympathise with. She flipped it open to chapter 21; she was at the part where Holden had snuck into his family’s apartment and was looking over his sister’s schoolbooks; such a peaceful scene.

Lenora laid back on the ground and stretched out; often preferring the ground to a seat for some reason. Not to say she always choose the ground over the couch but… she had a tendency to. She lifted her book in front of her face and began to read while keeping her ear open lest someone strike up a conversation.

[dana]

Dana had been sitting on the couch feeling rather content as the warmth of the fire engulfed her. It was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable and Dana didn’t feel like moving any time soon.
Hearing a familiar voice speaking to her, even though Dana had spoken to the girl the voice belonged to only once, Danas grinned. She had impeccable memory for faces and voices.
“Elina! It really has been way to long since we last talked!” Dana greeted happily straightening up a little and opening her eyes, “But guess life’s been a bit hectic lately. I started revising for the O.W.L. – and you know how those can be - and have had some detentions.” Dana accented her words with a grimace - the O.W.L.s were nerve-wrecking and the detentions weren’t usually a party either. But that didn’t stop Dana from moving around after curfew or obey8ing to every single rule of the school.

Dana smiled as Lenora joined them and the younger girl laid on the floor. “Hi Lenora, good to see you as well. Elina – meet Lenora, Lenora meet Elina,” Dana made a quick round of introductions and nodded towards the head-girl sitting next to her with the nod, as both Elina and Lenora seemed to think they were there together, “I would introduce more, but I don’t really know the person.” Dana smiled at the head-girl and turned back to Elina: “And as for today I’m just relaxing. Finished my book unluckily, so I have to wait till the day after tomorrow to get the next ones form my grand-mother. Until then – any of you read anything interesting lately?”<br>Dana looked towards Lenora and the book she was reading: “I have to say I liked ‘Catcher In The Rye’ though. Holden was an intriguing character and I’m partial to him or rather even like hi. However most people I know seemed to dislike him.” Dana wasn’t worried about boring the other girls with the question, as she knew both Elina and Lenora loved books. And obviously so did the head-girl.

[Head Girl Andi]

Page after page Catalina read in her book and as the minutes went by she was completely lost in the book, totally unaware of the on goings around her. She was however, rudely shaken from her book by the someone of someone yelling. Catalina immediately jumped startled and instinctively raised a hand to her heart. Looking quickly about she found that 3 girls had congregated close to her and that it was Dana, a Ravenclaw who had been shouting, she was speaking to Elina yet another Ravenclaw. “Gobdaw!” Catalina said as she looked over Dana, “ye tryin’ ter scare me!? W’at ye carryin’ on fer anyway?” The other girls each had a book in hand or nearby and Catalina looked at the titles, none of them had she ever read before and she didn’t recognize any of them, muggle books no doubt she thought as she listened to Dana talking about a catcher and an eye or something, she didn’t quite understand it fully. “W’ats t’at about? Te Catcher in te eye?” She inquired as she looked over at Elina, whom she had rarely heard speak in their 6 years.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora lowered her book and gave Elina a smile and nod as she was introduced before lifting the book once more. Multi-tasking she listed as Dana explained that she had just finished her book and questioned whether either of them had read anything interesting lately.

She then mentioned having enjoyed ‘Catcher In The Rye’ and the character of Holden. At this Lenora couldn’t help but put the book down and smile at Dana. She was about to respond that she loved his character as well and found him very personable. To be honest though Lenora’s favorite characters tend to be the antagonists for some reason. She found protagonists tend to seem very built up the majority of the time and it just makes them so hard to relate to. Its rare to find a really good author who makes it seems the character simply won a lottery but instead of being stoned to death they get the story told from their perspective.

Lenora was cut off before she got to speak though by the girl who had been reading jumping in her seat. She began bawling Dana out for scaring her and asked about something that sounded like catcher in the rye. Assuming one of them had misheard and she was referring to her book Lenora smiled at her. “Hey, I’m Lenora. And ‘Catcher In The Rye’ is an absolutely marvelous muggle book about the sixteen year old boy named Holden and he’s telling a therapist or something about these few days between being kicked out of his prep school and Christmas break. He leaves school earlier than he was supposed to and goes home to New York but doesn’t tell his parents because he doesn’t want to ruin Christmas by letting them know he failed out of yet another school. It’s really just a glimpse into his life, but he’s such an interesting character…” Lenora provided the very basics of the book not sure what she could say about it to do the story justice yet not give it away at the same time.

[dana]

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Dana said with a bit sheepish grin, as Catalina jumped suddenly, “I’m just glad to see Elina. She literally saved my head some time ago in the common room, but unfortunately we haven’t had much time to talk after that.”<br>
Tilting her head Dana listened as Lenora gave a brief summary of ‘The Cathcer In The Rye’: “I liked the end though. Holden seemed ready to start again in my opinion and that takes guts. I liked him – he had some rather rough times, but he survived still. At one point I was really almost angry at destiny, it was almost as if it kept kicking a guy already down. I liked Phoebe though. Phoebe is Holden’s sister.” Dana explained to the people, who hadn’t read the book or didn’t remember it that well.

Dana looked into the flames and smiled thoughtfully: “I like books that talk about humans – human mind, psychology, everything connected to humans and to something that might happen in reality as well. Things that explain some rather complex relationships between people, even though I don’t really like sappy love-novels.” Dana didn’t really bother to comment any more – Lenora and Elina knew that she actually read every genre, as they had talked about books earlier as well although not at the same time, and Catalina could probably guess it. Most Ravenclaws loved reading and they weren’t very picky as to what they read.

[ElinaHill]

Elina sent an acknowledging smile towards Lenora, new faces were good. Then she listened to the three talk about "The Catcher In The Rye." Elina hadn't read that book, which was surprising, and didn't feel to enter the conversation. So she quietly listened, anticipating what to say next. She smiled when Dana said she had saved her head, which was true. Dana had fallen down the dormitory steps and Elina had healed her head which would have probably been horrible if she hadn't. Then they were back on the subject of the book and Elina spoke, timidly though, "Well, I haven't read the book. Which I find quite surprising seeing as I normally read a lot of books. I just finished reading 'Oliver Twist.' For maybe, the tenth time. I honestly do need to read some newer books. Maybe I will give 'Catcher In The Rye' a try." Elina smiled a small happy smile and looked down at her hands. She wasn't much for speaking with a lot of people. Dana and Mia were exceptions, they had met coincidentally. This was a rather large group, for Elina's taste.

Elina's eyes lifted to look at Dana's book once more, "That is also a lovely book. Lovely Bones made me cry. I didn't expect it to be so wonderful." She told her friend with a smile and a sad twinkle in her eye. If the other two had read the book they would understand but, if they hadn't then maybe not so much. When Elina had first begun reading Lovely Bones, she hadn't liked the beginning that much. But, the more she read into the book, the more she enjoyed it. Elina never put aside a book when she had begun reading it. No matter how dreadful it was. Elina had sworn to herself that she would read as much as she could, fill her life with wishes and dreams of places and people she could never see or know. Yet, some books Elina sometimes found herself wishing she didn't ever meet or see the place in question. For example, To Kill A Mockingbird was Elina's favorite book of all time. Yet, she had no want to meet those who made fun and ridiculed Arthur Radley.She had no urge to see Maycomb during that ugly and horrendous time. There were times she enjoyed living her life which she sometimes hated.

[kaitlynrobbins]

Katie had just arrived in the student lounge with one of her favorite books. She had read "Little Women" quite a few times already, but she still loved reading it. Searching around for a place to sit, Katie noticed that Elina, Lenora, and Dana were congregated over by a couch with another girl whom she did not know. She walked over to greet them. "Hi," Katie said smiling, then added to the girl she didn't know, "I'm Katie, by the way. What's up?"

((Sorry, not in the mood to write a long post at the moment. The next ones will be better.))

[dana]

Dana looked up and smiled broadly as Katie joined the, also with a book in her hands. “Hi, Katie, what are you reading? Found the right people though as we are discussing different books. A real book club.” Dana added with a small giggle before looking to Elina and agreeing with her option: “I know what you mean about ‘Lovely bones’. I mean it must be hard to write from the point of view of a dead 13 year old girl, but I think that the author really pulled it off this time. I was really hesitant to pick up for the first time, but the happenings were life-like and really well written. I didn’t cry – I never cry while reading. I laugh, but never cry. But the book was very pleasantly surprising and good.”<br>
Dana frowned thoughtfully thinking at Elina’s words: “I have to admit hat I don’t like Oliver Twist. Oliver just seemed so… whiny in it. Whiny isn’t really the right word, but the book just didn’t fit me. The only characters who I did like form the book was one of the pick-pocketers. Nancy wasn’t it? And the old lady that took Oliver in. But I really disliked Oliver himself. And I don’t have a clue why. I just didn’t like him.”<br>Dana suddenly grinned broadly at the others: “A character I absolutely ADORED and still like form children’s books is Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn was alright as well, but my long-time favorite is Tom Sawyer. He was active, fun-loving, clever nad still had a good sense of right and wrong. And off course a prankster.” Dana grinned and wondered idly whether he liked the character because she herself possessed a care-free attitude much like Sawyer himself had.
Dana’s eyes twinkled with mirth and mischief as she looked at others with a grin: “Now that I recall exactly how much I liked the book, I’ll have to find it from my suit-case once again to reread it.”<br>

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina listened intently to the other girls as they discussed their favorite books. The descriptions were rather good and gave her a good idea about each book. They all sounded interested, but wasn't really her cup of tea. "I t'ink I get te books now, but t'is not me type of book." Soon a few more girls joined the group with their books. Th discussion of books seemed to draw the similar type of people together. "Fer me, I dun like ter read real stories ter much ye kno? I prefer ter read about te fantasy stuff like vampire, werewolves, muggle dragon stories and such. If ye read te muggle books about magic and dragons tis actually really fun. But ye haf ter look pas some of te t'ings t'at tey write. Like t'ey make lots o' stuff up about us like tey tink wizards are all evil and killin' and tat we want to take over te world all te time."

Catalina then flipped through her book to an illustration and held it open for the others to see. "Ye see, t'at wizard is evil and he has te big staff, but we don't need te staff, only a small wand." Flipping some more she found a picture of another wizard casting magic and bringing down fireballs. "See t'at, muggles t'ink we can do t'at stuff ter, tis funny. But I still like te stories, t'ey are fun ter read."