It’s that time of the year again! It’s very difficult to believe that this is the third year of this incredible readathon, but here we are, I guess. Time flies. This readathon was created by the incredible G @Book Roast, and you can find all the information about the readathon in their announcement video here. Essentially, this readathon is based on the OWLs examinations from the Harry Potter series. Through taking the OWLs (by reading books) and later NEWTs you can work towards the career of your choice. As I said, all the details can be found in the announcement video which I am sure is a lot more cohesive than my explanation.
Last year I worked towards the career of a Wandmaker and I achieved it! This year a few new careers have been added and I think I’m going to be working towards the career of Mage of Visual Arts. For this, the subjects Astronomy, Charms, Divination and History of Magic are required, but I’m going to be aiming to complete as many subjects as I can.
There are also extra challenges this year, including Animagus Training, Merpeople Linguistics etc. I think I want to try to complete the Animagus Training, for which you need Arithmancy, Potions and Transfiguration. Unfortunately these don’t overlap with any subjects for my main career, but I don’t think it will be too hard to complete them all.
I believe that’s all the information I really need to put down, so here is my tentative tbr (because we all know I never stick to these things anyway).
ANCIENT RUNES
Prompt: Read a book with a heart on the cover/in the title
For Ancient Runes I think I’m going to finally read The Heartforger by Rin Chupeco. It’s been so long since I read The Bone Witch, which is the first book in the series, so hopefully I haven’t forgotten so much that reading this book will be impossible. The first book in the series follows a girl named Tea, who lives in a world where different types of witches exist, and at the beginning of the novel she discovers that she is a Bone Witch, something feared by society but essential to their survival. Rin Chupeco’s writing is absolutely stunning and although I didn’t love the first book completely, I hope that the sequel really brings the series to a new level.
ARITHMANCY
Prompt: Read a book outside your favourite genre
I would say that my favourite genre is fantasy (of all kinds), so for this prompt I’m going to read A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena. This is contemporary book set in Saudi Arabia, and to be quite honest I don’t know much more about it. I read another book by this author very recently (The Beauty of the Moment) which I really enjoyed, so I’m hoping that this one will be as good, or even better. Though I say contemporary isn’t my favourite genre, over the last year I have begun to read a lot more of it and I certainly have an appreciation for it which I didn’t before.
ASTRONOMY
Prompt: Read this book when it’s dark
This could essentially be anything, so this is the most subject to change, but I think I want to pick a slightly shorter read as I won’t be able to simply pick this up whenever I feel like it. At the moment I’m leaning towards A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison. This is a middle-grade fantasy story about ‘three sisters trapped by an ancient curse’. I don’t read a whole lot of middle-grade, so I’m not sure if this will be for me, but seeing as I have a copy I really want to give it a try.
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES
Prompt: Read a book with a creature with a beak on the cover
The only option I think I have here is to read Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto but this actually looks so good so I don’t mind! This is a YA fantasy centred around Phoenix riders and fierce warrior queens. I love books where there is a bond between the main character and some sort of mythical creature – I was obsessed with Eragon when I was younger – and I think the reviews for this have been pretty positive. I’m really excited!
CHARMS
Prompt: Read a book with a white cover
Unfortunately it seems that most of the books I own with white covers are huge, and that’s really not something I’m in the mood to tackle right now. I think for this challenge I’m going to read Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. I really love the Nevernight series but I know there are mixed opinions about this earlier series. Still, I’m excited to find out what this is all about I guess. I understand its a sort of Steampunk Japanese inspired fantasy, and Jay Kristoff is an incredible writer, so this should at least be a little bit good.
DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS
Prompt: Read a book set at sea/the coast
Wild Savage Stars seems like the perfect book for this. The first book at least was set by the coast or at sea (so hopefully this one will be too!). I love this Celtic inspired romantic-fantasy story and I really need to continue the series, something I am sadly terrible at doing. The first book, Sweet Black Waves, is inspired by the legend of Tristan and Eseult, and I think is really underrated. I guess this post is also a sneaky way to recommend great books to you haha.
DIVINATION
Prompt: Random number generator
So for this subject you have to choose a selection of books that you want to read and let a random number generator decided for you. The book that I will be reading is Eclipse the Skies by Maura Milan, the sequel to (yes, another sequel) Ignite the Stars, an extremely underrated but extremely good YA sci-fi. I’ve had this for too long – I am so terrible at continuing series – but this time I will read it. It’s sure to fabulous and I know I’m missing out.
HERBOLOGY
Prompt: Read a book with a title that starts with ‘M’
I have chosen Maurice by E M Forster, a classic which I started reading earlier this year but didn’t have time to finish. This follows Maurice in the early 20th century exploring his sexuality, but wasn’t published until after Forster’s death in the ’70s. I’m really excited for this but it may change depending on my mood, because I have to be in a very specific mood in order to read classics. Hopefully I will love this, and I definitely need to be reading more classics.
HISTORY OF MAGIC
Prompt: Read a book featuring witches/wizards
For this prompt I could only really think of one book that specifically featured witches and that is The Familiars by Stacey Halls. This is a historical fiction book, so I’m not sure whether this is actually magical or whether is just deals with the idea of witchcraft at the time, but either way there are witches featured in this. I know I’ve said this a lot but I am really excited for all of these books, including this one, and I especially hope I love this seeing as it was a gift from a friend.
MUGGLE STUDIES
Prompt: Read a book from the perspective of a muggle
I’m guessing this could mean anything with a non magical protagonist. I’ve decided to read Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which is about a fictional band (which everyone claims feels real) in the sixties and seventies, told in interview format. I haven’t read anything by this author before, and there are mixed opinions about this – you either love it or find it disappointing compared to the very popular The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Seeing as I have nothing to compare it too, I really hope that this is one I enjoy.
POTIONS
Prompt: Read a book under 150 pages
I struggled to find a book for this prompt, but I realised I do have two books for school reading under 150 pages that I need to read at some point, so I can make that work. Depending on how I feel, I’m either going to read the play My Boy Jack by David Haig, or The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. One is a classic I know nothing about aside from people either hail it as The Great American Classic or they hate it. The other is about Rudyard Kipling and his son at the beginning and during WW1. I really genuinely hope I like these seeing as I’m going to have to study them for ages.
TRANSFIGURATION
Prompt: Read a book involving shapeshifting
It’s hard to know whether a book involves shapeshifting or not before reading it. I’m hoping Crescent City does, because in the little list thing of creatures at the front it says there are shifters in it, so let’s hope they at least do a little bit of shapeshifting. I’m hopeful for this, but also wary. This could be very good or it could be objectively good but also bad. Either way, Sarah’s books are always entertaining, so at least it (hopefully) won’t be 800 pages of boredom.
So those are all the subjects. I’ve never managed to get to all of them before – although I have read more than twelve books (but not recently). Hopefully I will fulfil all the challenges, even if not with these books. I love this readathon a lot, and the work put into it is incredible. Let me know if you are participating, and what you’re aiming for.
Thanks for reading!
The Bookish Courtier 