The heart wants what the heart wants, and our hearts want books.

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If you don’t know who Tom Felton is and you’re between the ages of 45 and 25, then have you been living under a rock for the past twenty years? Do you have no movie knowledge? Have you not paid attention to how Nikki and I are Harry Potter obsessed, both of the books and movie series? Thomas Felton was born in 1987 in Surrey, England, and is most famously known for portraying Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter Movie series.

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and the Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard is Tom Felton’s memoir of the years of acting as Draco Malfoy, plus his acting career before and some highlights of his life afterward. I was pleasantly surprised that in this Buzzfeed article Felton discusses his writing process for the book, and that it doesn’t seem that he used a ghostwriter. But, then again, I need to remember that he’s constantly writing his own music and performing on Instagram, so why couldn’t the words in this memoir actually come from his hand and his heart. I’m sure his editing team was spectacular because the way that Felton performed the audiobook, it did feel like he was telling the stories of memories he constantly re-lives. It was a lovely, and cheeky (one of Felton’s favorite words), aural journey of several hours while at home, doing other things. I love a memoir or autobiography performed by the author. It is the highlight of my audiobook experiences. My other top 3 are: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey, Open Book by Jessica Simpson, and Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick. I have heard only good things about Amy Pohler’s and Tina Fey’s memoirs, but both those titles are still sitting on my TBR and I can’t give a review of those. But, I digress…[Nikki here: Can confirm Tina Fey’s Bossypants is an amazing audio experience!  It’d make a nice flight with last week’s review, Romantic Comedy.]

Tom Felton brings the reader into the fun and adventure of the Wizarding World, while also tempering our experience by discussing his real-life wins and struggles. There are heavy themes of depression, drug use, and his several experiences in rehab for alcoholism. But, what I want to discuss is the way he talked about the ‘misadventures of youth’ like his attempt to steal a CD from a music store as a teenager. Or the way one of his elder brothers, who was supposed to be his chaperone on set, would take him out for all night fishing adventures instead of to sleep. There was also a story of the way he didn’t pay attention in school, instead barely getting the marks to move up levels. After much reflection on the way Felton explains these experiences away in a manner that states, this is just what a typical kid does growing up. And I just don’t think that’s anywhere near the truth, and I think that comes from a place of immense privilege. He may not have come from a family of wealth, but his work has earned him millions. He is a relatively attractive white man with solid acting talent, who was first an immensely adorable child when he was cast in one of, if not the, most popular franchises on the planet. I do not think a female, or a person of color, could have skated by with so few consequences as an adolescent. We as readers need to be aware of the writer’s biases when we bring any story into our imaginations.

I’m still giving Beyond the Wand: The Magic and the Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. It exceeded expectations with the writing and the performance. I learned new things about Felton’s life and career that I didn’t know before, and I would recommend anyone looking for some non-fiction Wizarding World entertainment to give it a listen. 

What is your favorite memoir and why?

~Ashley

Ready for some secret sauce?  Typically when we read and review a book, there’s text chatter going on all the while.  I don’t think we chatted much about today’s title (unlike next week’s… whoa), so when I sat down to read Ashley’s reflections and write my own, I had some ideas about what I was going to say and some assumptions about what she was going to say.  It’s really fun when we’re on the same page, but with a bit of a different spin on how it comes out of our fingers.  Here we go!

I had no idea who Tom Felton was before Harry Potter hit the big screens, and even then, not really.  I was clueless that he’d been in Anna and the King with Jodie Foster, and now I want to watch Planet of the Apes to see how he’s improved his craft from his Potter days.  His memoir, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and the Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, as read by him, is an incredibly fun, nostalgic hang for anyone who loves the movies.  It is also, as Ashley mentioned, an experience highly influenced by his white male privilege, then post Potter the addition of his rich privilege.  Does that detract from the experience?  Somewhat, just as it does in Greenlights, but overall, minimally.  

While I really enjoyed the nostalgic pieces when Felton discusses filming all the Harry Potter movies, I also really loved hearing about his acting start, his family life, how he was sort of accidentally cast as Draco, what it was like to be on set as a teen, how the Houses were pseudo clubs off camera, and still have some IRL competition, and what he’s done since.  My favorite part though, is his vulnerability in sharing about his move to LA, the spiral that followed, resulting in an intervention, and his first stay in rehab.  I especially liked his reminder that rehab worked for him when he decided it was time to go, not when his management decided.  I cannot imagine what writing that section, revising it with editors, and then performing it took from Felton, and I hope he’s proud of it, and hears of some of the impacts that makes in people’s lives.  

Overall, I’m giving Beyond the Wand: The Magic and the Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard four stars.  It’s gorgeously written and performed and felt very much like a conversation around a campfire roasting smores and enjoying some cider.  Felton’s affect is amazing and I could definitely see where Draco got some of his personality from, loved the family antics on set (although more his grandfather than his brother), and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.  I’m not likely to reread this, but I am likely to look up Felton’s music and explore that sometime following the 1980s music education my children are receiving currently, but that’s a story for another time.

What’s a book you’ve really enjoyed partially because of how the story is told?

~Nikki 

PS: Check out Felton’s music on Spotify. There are some fun songs to be found!

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The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

I don’t know where I first heard about today’s title, but I guarantee you that the second I heard Curtis Sittenfeld wrote a book titled Romantic Comedy I was recommending that title to my library SO. FAST!  We read and reviewed Eligible way back in our first month of blogging, and I stand by my statement that it’s my favorite Pride and Prejudice retelling.  Sittenfeld is a magnificent writer, and today’s title solidified her season pass for me.  It is no joke when I have to limit myself because the writing and the pacing are propelling me through a book!  Yes, I did take four days to read this title, but after my first hour, I knew if I wasn’t purposeful, I’d stay up until stupid dark thirty to finish it.  And that was not an option with back to school chaos looming.  

What made Romantic Comedy so bingeable?  Well, the characters and their depth, the dialogue, the snark, the nostalgia, and the reality of it, all wrapped up in an unrealistic, celebrity bow!  Sally Milz, our narrator, is a tenured comedy writer at The Night Owls (read not Saturday Night Live).  She is only a writer, and not also a cast member.  We join her in 2018 as she’s about to go in for a week of her favorite chaos – work!  Here she meets Noah Brewster, a dreamy singer-songwriter who’s close to her age, and has been a success for over a decade, and is the musical guest and the host that week.  We walk through the whole week with Sally, from pitch meetings through the after-after party and what a ride it is!  Fast-forward to July 2020, and I want to say more words about the rest of the novel, but I don’t want to spoil the fun, so I’ll leave it with Romantic Comedy is truly a romantic comedy and a really fun hang.   

In case you’re not connecting the dots here, I adored Romantic Comedy!  I’m giving it four and a half stars and rounding up.  It’s a fun plot, well executed, gorgeously, snarkily written, and I really appreciated the deep dive into TNO and the nostalgia for the days when I would stay up to watch SNL and typically flip between that and Mad Men trying to soak it all in.  (I wasn’t much older than my oldest, and that is slightly terrifying.)  The half point off is for how the relationship develops in the space created by the summer lockdowns with all the plentiful financial resources of the characters, and minimally encumbered lives.  I’m frustrated by that, while also understanding that was real life for many, just not me.  Truly, Romantic Comedy would make an amazing beach or escape read, giving you an engaging, fast-paced several hours of a really fun hang!

What is a book that you adored, but still a piece of it frustrated you in your soul?

~Nikki 

PS: If you’ve read Romantic Comedy and have theories about real celebrities Noah is modeled on, please please comment or DM us!  

Curtis Sittenfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of seven novels including, as Nikki mentioned above, Eligible, a Pride and Prejudice retelling (my favorite one!), Rodham, Prep, American Wife, and Sisterland. Her nonfiction can be found in such publications as The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and Time. She has been the guest editor for The Best American Short Stories, and her short fiction has also been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Washington Post Magazine. She earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. However, the highlight of her career is that she has been a Jeopardy! answer not once, not twice, not thrice, but FOUR times!

Darling Readers, I too binged Romantic Comedy in some possibly unhealthy way. I loved how Sally is a late-thirties divorcee fighting her attraction to pop-star, heartthrob Noah. One of my favorite things in the entire book was the premise for one of the sketches Sally wrote for Noah’s week on The Night Owls. Entitled, “The Danny Horst Rule”, Sally was pointing out how men of middling attractiveness but high comedic skill at TNO could and did often date and marry celebrity women more attractive than they are – but that it didn’t work out/ was an unwritten rule/ that it couldn’t happen for a middling attractive woman to hook a hotter man. The backbone of the entire novel is that Noah is this heartthrob and Sally is just your basic wicked smart and funny brunette. I also loved how Sittenfeld broke up the story timeline and gave us the backstory of the characters’ lives in epistolary form. Have mercy do I love a good email chain. If there was anything that Fifty Shades of Grey taught me, it was to pay attention to the subject lines, timestamps, salutations, and sign offs when authors include them in the novels. You will find so much characterization in those few little words and characters.

I’m giving Romantic Comedy a 4.5 star review. The novel was so well-written, I was invested in every single character, Jerry is the name of Sally’s father-figure, I would recommend this gem in a heartbeat, and Sittenfeld is a season-pass author if I could ever get around to reading her backlist. I’m taking off a half point because I really don’t know if I will re-read this book, even though I could see myself re-reading it as a comforting and relaxing read where I already know what’s going to happen.

Go get’yoself a copy of this 2023 summer release!

~Ashley

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