I read Rowell's Fangirl and really liked it; I'll look forward to your thoughts about the sequel. The HP parallels were a lot of fun.

I did have a little trouble with what seemed to be an overall message of the book: that fanfic was an unhealthy escape from real life. It certainly can be, and one can see why it was in Cath's case, but it can also be just as "real" and healthy as any other activity. Still, the book wasn't horribly judgmental (though I think the prof was wrong about fanfic in and of itself being "plagiarism.")

All this is making it sound as if I didn't like the book, but I did! I listened to the audio version as I was driving from NYC to Rural Hamlet (12 hours), and the reader was excellent.

I quite enjoyed Fangirl as well! Not without its issues, as you mention, but overall I liked it! I remember quite enjoying both Carry On and Wayward Son, the first two books in the Simon Snow trilogy, but the 2nd book ends on kind of a cliffhanger so I'm excited to read the whole trilogy together and get the conclusion!

Aww haha, you should have read the Moomin books by Tove Jansson! Moomins are so popular in Finland, but for good reason. (They are more for younger people, but screw it. The stories are great regardless of age, IMO. :P )

Somebody actually recced me the Moomin books! But part of my ~requirement~ is that the book should be set in the country as well as be written by an author from there, and iirc, the Moomins are all in a fictional place or something? It's still on my list just to read for fun because I'm quite curious and I've heard good things!

Ahh yes, that's right, they take place in Moominvalley. :P Which - it's too bad it's not real! There's a cartoon series as well (all the eps are on youtube) that's very nice and nostalgia-inducing.