It seems to me that the term "book worm" has been misunderstood.  People seem to apply it to anyone who reads more than the average number of books, and I rather disagree with this definition.  To me, a true book worm is not just someone who reads an impressive amount of books, but who reacts to the books as well. 

I can put books away pretty quickly but if I don't connect to them then it feels like I didn't do anything at all, may as well just have taken a nap for all the good it did me.  I believe a book worm is a person in whom a book can inspire an extreme emotion.  Good or bad, short-lived or drawn-out; these reactions are what book lovers remember the most about their reading experience.  To clarify, I am not saying that people who do not gasp or yell or cry do not connect to their books on a deeper level, everyone has their own way of showing (or not showing) emotion.  But I will say I am baffled at the fact that some people can read a certain part in Storm of Swords (which I will get to later) and not have, at the very least, a mild panic attack.

This train of thought led me to think about my own reactions over parts in books.  From small ones like eyes bugging out or gasping, to big ones like sobbing into a pillow or doing victory laps around my apartment (yes, this has happened).

So for no other reason than I really, really don't want to do my homework...

I give you: Mallory's Seven Memorable Book Reactions!   (Not exactly a snappy title but whatever)  Why seven? It's a good number. Why not "Top" reactions? Because I know I will think of more later on and then be like, "Hmm, that was actually a bigger reaction than the one I put on my list" and I'll feel weird so I'm being noncommittal...anyway

On with the Show!

READ ME : In this list I will be spoiling the entire The Hunger Games series, as well as several books from the A Song of Ice and Fire series, a.k.a the Game of Thrones series and some random classics.  If you want to read the books/see the Hunger Games movie/watch the Game of Thrones HBO series and do not want it spoiled for you then TURN BACK NOW .  I am not even joking when I say the things I will spoil are huge if not monumental in theseriesas a whole.  I will also be spoiling the Harry Potter books but honestly if you haven't read those yet and you still don't want to be spoiled then what in the hell are you doing here?

Oh wait I lied, Honorable Mentions! In no particular order...

Katniss, Peeta, and Nightlock: Screw you too, gamemakers.

Meeting Neville's parents: Tortured to the point of not knowing their own son? Great, now I get to be depressed for days...

I Love Big Brother: Winston gets beat down...thank you George Orwell that makes me feel fantastic

Ender goes through puberty: I always forget how young Ender is while reading Ender's Game ...probably because he acts like an adult, but it still continues to shock me when I remind myself of it.

The return of Lady Catelyn: SHE'S STILL ALIVE?!  Well kind of...and her mood has not improved.

Jon gets stabbed and we don't know if he survives: Fffuuuuccckkkk

"Tywin Lannister in the end, did not shit gold." Best line ever written...ever.

Now on with the Show!

Number Seven :  The Pearl Conundrum in The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Dear God, talk about playing hard-ball, Ms. Buck was not at all afraid to put her characters in such extreme emotional distress the book was hard to read at some points.  The one-day-away-from-dying-of-starvation section was hard enough but what really got my brain in a tizzy was when Wang Lung took O-lan's pearls to give to his new mistress.  Why did this bug me so much? Because that was the only O-lan ever asked to have for herself, everything else she sacrificed to her duty as a wife.  What's more is she's the one who found the damn pearls! She found more than the pearls, she found a whole bag of jewels in a wealthy family's home (there was a peasant uprising she wasn't the only one looting) and gave up every single jewel to support the farm, she only asked to keep the pearls.  At first Wang Lung agreed, why not?  But several years passed and WangLungfound himself falling hard for a woman in town, doing all sorts of extreme things to please her and finally demanding the pearls form O-lan to give to this woman as a gift.  O-lan could hardly refuse and gave them over with tears streaming down her face, confused and hurt but not able to voice her pain.  After O-lan died, Wang Lung admitted that he felt terrible for taking her pearls...shoulda thought of that before asshole!  That scene left a twisted feeling in my gut and the image of O-lan crying bitterly haunted me for days.  At that moment I hated Wang Lung, and while my hate abated by the end of the book, I never did entirely forgive him.

Number Six : Sansa gets her period in Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

If the way Ned Stark died was not enough of a hint, Prince/King Joffrey may be one of the more despicable characters in all the fantasy genre.  Throughout the second book and most of the third he terrorized Sansa Stark with cruel words, frequent beatings, and an ever constant rape threat.  Really the only thing that kept Sansa safe was their ages, Sansa was around 12, Joffrey at 13.  He was old enough to know what sex was but not yet old enough to get anything from it.  But every day brought him closer.  At one point he ordered Sansa to be stripped before she was beaten, a clear line between her pain, humiliation, and sex.  He started making more and more sexual comments to her face and said without hesitation he would get her pregnant when she "flowered" or got her period.  I believed him too. Joffrey's a little sadist who loves to have control over people, the very epitome of a rapist.  Once he decided he wanted sex Sansa would be his go-to victim, and she was truly powerless to stop him.  So when Sansa started getting dry mouth and headaches I got worried, when she woke up from a dream and found blood between her thighs I found myself saying, "shit shit shit shit shit..." and gripping my hair like a life line.  Sansa had a similar reaction.  Leaping out of bed she cleaned herself off and then stripped off all the sheets and threw them in the fire.  Only then did she realize the blood had seeped into the feather mattress.  She knew she couldn't throw the whole mattress in the fire so she used a dinner knife to cut out the blood-soakedclothand feathers and burned them as well.  The servents were attracted by the smoke this caused and found her half-crazed trying to hide the ashes, a new wave of blood already dripping down her legs.  Don't worry Sansa, I would've done the same thing.

Number Five : Barty Crouch...Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

In the Harry Potter books there has always been one constant villan, Voldemort.  It's no surprise when he's involved with whatever shenanigans are happening at Hogwarts, the real mystery comes with whoever the hell is helping him and in what way.  In the first book it was "Professor Quirrell?!" in the second, "Ginny did WHAT?" the third, "You mean he was the rat the entire freaking time?!" but for some reason none of those shocked me as much as Barty Crouch Jr. making a reappearance as Professor Moody and setting Harry up for a serious case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Honestly it was his backstory that was more surprising than the reveal.  The fact that that scared young man (Barty Jr.) crying and begging his mother and father to not send him to Azkaban was actually a death eater-and a pretty nasty one at that- and that he did not dieinprison but was rather smuggled out by his father via polyjuice potion while he mother took his place, and that he was living with his father under the invisibility cloak and mental stasis, and that he was able to escape, and find Voldemort, and carry out his plans, and was right next to Harry the entire year and and and and and...Run on sentence I know but the craziness of this situation was not one I easily forgot.  The horrible fate of that entire family stuck in my throat and I often couldn't help but think what Barty Crouch Jr. was like as a kid and what their early family life was like.  Birthdays, Christmasses, loving kisses from Mum and cold converstaions with Dad...all resulting in a serial murderer for a son, a sick mother dying cold and alone, a boy killing his own father and disposing of the body with no regret.  It still makes me feel a little ill, the only thing that makes it worse is that they had practically none of this in the movie.  Don't letthehappy cover fool you, this book has some pretty fucked up moments.

Number Four:   A girl is greedy in...Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

I know, I know. Again?  Well yes because now we're talking about Arya.  I'll try to stop myself from gushing but holy crap do I love Arya Stark!  Anyway in Clash she saves the lives of three men, one named Jaquen H'ghar, who promises to kill 3 people of her choice in repayment.  The first two Arya chooses are horrible people and it's very satisfying to see them die but they aren't really part of the bigger picture.  Arya realizes this and tries to think of someone truly significant to kill.  As she's agonizing over this decision about 100 of her brother's men are brought in as prisoners in the castle where she is currently disguised as a servant (long story).  Arya wants Jaquen to help her free them and over-take the poorly-manned castle forherbrother.  He refuses saying he will only kill the person of her choice.  She agrees and leans in to tell him the name of her last victim, she whispers, "Jaqen H'ghar." So now Jaquen has to kill himself (yes, has to), and the only way Arya will take it back is if he helps her free the men.  He does, the castle is overtaken, victory for Arya!  This had me clapping and giggling and secured Arya's position as my favorite character.  A 10 year old girl just overtook a freakin' castle!  When this happens in the HBO series there better be trumpet fanfare, a glorious sunset, the Stark banner flying in the background, and someone had better point at Arya, scream "I HAVE SEEN GOD!" and then collapse on the ground in happy convulsions.  I would.

Number Three:   Katniss goes postal in Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

President Snow was really asking for it when he brought Katniss and Peeta back into the arena for a second Hunger Games.  The people had love for the other victors as well, but they were practically rabid for the young couple who had survived the last Hunger Games together (despite the fact that two victors from one game had never happened before) and were planning on getting married and starting a family.  But President Snow was not so much of a fool, he knew a martyred Katniss would still be better than a live one, and so brought her in for the express purpose to kill her.  Katniss knew this, and left for the arena fully prepared to die, her only wish was to save Peeta.  Little did she know that her followers had much bigger plans for her than that, and were going to go to extreme measures to get her, Peeta, Finnick and whatever rebels were left alive outofthe arena.  Things didn't go as planned however, and probably would have failed if not for, you guessed it, Katniss Everdeen.  Using lightning, wire, and her trusty bow and arrow Katniss did the only thing that made any sense, and destroyed the entire goddamned arena.  Well what else did you expect her to do with those things?!  This scene is etched so clearly in my head; the complete chaos of battle, Katniss figuring things out, that odd calm when she made up her mind, releasing the arrow, and then all hell breaking loose.  Like Arya in the last part I was exhilirated that one character with all the odds stacked against them were able to change the fate of their worlds.  Not with a fizzle, but with a bang...a very, loud, bang.

Number Two: Death to the crazy ladies in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling and Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

Bellatrix Lestrange was an awesome villian.  Sadistic, threatening, and oddly pitiful all in one go.  But when Molly freaking Weasley stepped right in that bitch's path and said "Not my daughter you bitch!" I, and most of the Harry Potter fans in seems...lost. their. shit.  After he torturing the Longbottoms into insanity, killing Siruis, killing Tonks, killing Dobby, it was simply wonderful to read her death.  I laughed out loud when I read it, and cheered with the rest when I saw it.

Lysa Arryn is a different story. She is also crazy and oddly pitiful.  But she has none of Bellatrix's threat, she was a bit foolish and paranoid, and seemed oddly unfazed that her sister and nephew had been murdered in cold blood, and that her brother was being held captive.  My respect for her was at less than zero and sank even further when she got insanely jealous over the attention her husband Petyr paid Sansa.  Despite the fact that Petyr is the one who made a move on Sansa, Lysa almost killed Sansa , who also happens to be her niece (Sansa seems to always find herself surrounded by phsycos, girl just can't catch a break).  Petyr has no love for Lysa, always preferring her sister Catelyn (Sansa's mother) instead.  But when Petyr was trying to calm Lysa down after her almost-killing-Sansa escapade, it still came as quitethesurprise when Petyr said he had only ever loved Catelyn...right before pushing Lysa to her death.  And while I hate Petyr with enough passion to hope he dies a slow death by getting eaten alive by rats, I still can't help but be grateful for what he did, nor can I help but feel he will be a powerful asset to Sansa.  But after his usefullness has run out he can die...but getting eaten...alive...by rats.

Number One: Storm of Swear Words and Harry Potter and the Weird Crying Girl in...the last two I just mentioned. Noticing a pattern here?

The events of The Red Wedding tore me to pieces.  Robb Stark wasn't even one of my favorite characters, I always liked him but he was never that precious to me.  But the events leading up to his death, his actual murder, and the desecration of his body had me crippled with anger and pain.  Upon reading that part I had three immediate reactions; one was to fly into a rage and break anything that was in my path, the second was to scream my head off in the fashion of a truly insane person, the third was to sink to me knees and cry myself out.  Alas, I was in a public place when I read this part and could do none of those, I had to contain my emotions, one of the most difficult moments of self-control I've ever experienced.  My stomach hurt, my face was white as chalk, I felt physically ill, I didn't sleep very well that night.  Hewasbetrayed for petty, selfish reasons, attacked when he was unarmed and unaware, hit with many arrows and run through with a sword...after this his head was removed, replaced with the head of his direwolf companion, had his crown hammered to this, and his body was paraded around in front of his enemies.  I feel sick thinking of what happened to his bones, I am sick as I type these words.

This powerful reaction is only rivaled by the one I felt when Harry went to give himself up to Voldemort.  Similar to what happened with Robb Stark, it was a combination of things, and not just one thing, that led to an outburst of unbridled emotion.  The fact that Harry was going to die, that he didn't tell his friends because he was worried they'd try and talk him out of it and he'd back out, his fear of death but going anyway, his last words with his parents, Sirius, and Lupin, the great sadness that came when I realized the boy I had grown up with was going to die...it hit me like a tidal wave.  There have been many times when a book has made me cry, there have been many times when I have had to shut a book because I was getting too nervous or excited, but this out-stripped them all.  My eyes were so flooded with tears I couldn't see, asobwas fighting to get out of my throat with so much ferocity I thought for sure my esophagous would tear.  Before even getting to the part when he dies, I closed my book, grabbed my pillow, and full-on sobbed into it.  Back-heaving, hand-shaking, weak-kneed sobs.  Never before or since, has a book caused me to turn away and cry like that. 

The rest of this list may change and change again, but these two will always remain at the top spot for making me react so extremely I didn't recognize myself.

As you can probably see almost all of these (including the honorable mentions) are from a series, mostly Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Hunger Games.  Yes, series' have more of an effect on me because they have a much longer time to build up their characters and main plot.  Each book gets more intense, and the wait between the books (which can take years) is excruciating.  These reasons are probably why most of my extreme reactions come from series.  To be clear I do not believe a series automatically has better plot/characters than books on their own.  I have read very unfulfilling series' that are completely over-shadowed by short, independent books.  I'm thinking Prep, Down and Out in Paris and London, Heart of Darkness and many others when I say this.

As I have said, twice, this list (with the exclusion of the top spot) is not definite and likely to change.  It should also be repeated that these reactions were ones I am remembering at the time.   And I gaurantee you tomorrow afternoon I'll think of another reaction I had which was 3 times more powerful than some of the ones on this list.  We clear?

Cool.

So yes I can be a bit of a weirdo when it comes to books.  I bet half of you are wondering what happened to me as a child that would make me so invested in these fictional worlds.  Not sure really.  But what I do know is that while these books may cause me great joy or crippling sadness, I would not give them up for anything.

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