Hogwarts House Recommendations: Ravenclaw

“It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting along in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind “
First line in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

I’m back with the third post in this series of Hogwarts House Recommendations. This one is about Ravenclaw. I’ve previously done posts about Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

In case you’ve never read Harry Potter and don’t know anything about those houses with weird names, here are a few characteristics of a typical Ravenclaw:

Intelligent
Creative
Learning
Wit
Self-sufficient
Arrogant

I’ve picked out 5 books in which the main characters exhibit some of those traits. In that sense, this is a list of recommendations if you want to read books about Ravenclaws. You don’t need to be a Ravenclaw yourself. As I see it, one’s personality and one’s reading tastes don’t necessarily match in that way. But let’s get onto the books.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

A contemporary romance novel might not seem like the most obvious choice for a Ravenclaw recommendation. However, I believe Ravenclaw will appreciate Don Tillman’s rational and logical way of solving problems. Everything in his life is categorized and researched to give him the ideal living conditions. This means that he of course has come up with the most efficient way to find the perfect woman: The Wife Project. That is a such a Ravenclaw thing to do.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is a retelling of The Jungle Book with a horror twist. Bod grows up in a graveyard after his entire family is murdered. He miraculously escapes, and is brought up by the ghosts of the graveyard. Bod is curious about a lot of things and actively seeks out answers to his many questions. He’s not someone who will settle for half-truths, and this craving for knowledge makes him a Ravenclaw to me. Later in the book, he also uses creativity and quick thinking to get himself out of sticky situations.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

An urban fantasy novel in which a good part of the story takes place at a school. Yes, they are learning magic, and it’s highlighted how difficult this magic is. It’s not just saying a spell and waving a wand. The magic in The Magicians is more intellectual and complicated than that, and I think a Ravenclaw would appreciate this unique twist to a magic system. Several of the characters also exhibit a definite need to learn. There is no excuse for them not to do perfect magic and let’s just say that lesser magicians are beneath them. They might sound horrible when described like that, but it’s really just confidence in the best way.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

In Radio Silence, we follow Frances whose entire life revolves around academic achievement. She’s doing everything in her power to get into the best university because that is the ultimate goal in life, right? Frances is very smart but she is also so many other things (like Ravenclaws). In this book we see her struggle with the pressure from society to “do well in school” and what that has actually done to her life.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

A fantasy story with a Ravenclaw protagonist in Kvothe. In the book, Kvothe is telling his life story to a chronicler because apparently, Kvothe is a very famous and interesting person. We just don’t know why. Throughout his life, Kvothe is shown to have an immense craving for knowledge. There’s even a university involved which he is willing to fight himself into. He also has a bit of an arrogant streak to him but he’s still very capable and able to fend for himself.