Top Five Tuesday: Ravenclaw Books

All right, it’s Top Five Tuesday hosted by the one and only Bionic Book Worm, and today is the next Hogwarts house recommendation list!  Today’s topic is on books for Ravenclaws, who are best described as people eager to absorb information and learn as much as possible about the world around them.  Today, I will highlight five books that fit the Ravenclaw house, but check back later in the week for a corresponding set of video games!

In general, the mystery genre is perfect for members of the Ravenclaw house.  These books are built upon the premise of using logic and deduction to try and figure out who committed the crime before the author reveals it.  A perfect example of this concept at work is And Then There Were None.  Ten people are trapped on an island and they start dying one by one.  Who is the culprit, and why would he or she do this?  Trying to piece together the trail of clues leading up to the big reveal is a great exercise for the brain.

Homegoing is one of the most unique books that I have ever read.  The premise of following two separated sisters and their offspring from hundreds of years ago to the present day weaves a complicated narrative thread.  Only a small snapshot in time is given for each character, leaving readers to speculate and attempt to fill in the gaps themselves as they move through the generations. Determining the fates of each character from scattered clues amongst each chapter makes this a great book for Ravenclaws.

Here is a book series for the young Ravenclaws out there, or maybe just the young at heart.  A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series comprised of thirteen books following the Baudelaire children.  The series is known for increasingly wacky characters and plot twists, as well as a writing style from Lemony Snicket that gravitates towards purposefully using large words and then defining them in the text for readers that may not have encountered the word previously.  The crazy plot that requires a lot of theorizing to follow and the introduction to new vocabulary words means that this book is perfect for adult Ravenclaws to read with their children.

When talking about books for Ravenclaws, at least one epic tome has to be included.  When a book is over one-thousand pages, it is going to have so many different characters that anyone with a love for analyzing literature is going to have a lot of fun.  In this case, The Stand reads like it is an entire trilogy of books in one.  The world dies of a terrible plague, humanity starts to rebuild, and the forces of good and evil begin a war.  There are deep themes at work about the nature of humanity, whether people are destined to make the same mistakes of their predecessors, and what makes someone truly evil.  Pondering the big questions of both morality and mortality makes this a must-read for the Ravenclaw house.

Finally, I like the idea of recommending at least one classic for each Hogwarts house.  For Ravenclaw, there are a number of older titles that I could recommend, but I ultimately decided to choose Frankenstein.  Between the interesting format of the book, in which the story is being told within a series of letters, and that Victor Frankenstein himself is looking to solve the mysteries of life and ponder deep questions about the meaning of existence, it is difficult not to see this as a perfect read for any Ravenclaw.

What books would you recommend for Ravenclaws?  Let me know in the comments below!