READING CHALLENGE | O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon

I have been wanting to participate in this reading challenge for so, so long but there was never enough time to do so in between (muggle) classes and exams. This is something I have been looking forward to for months and I am so happy it is finally that time of the year.

The Magical Readathon is a reading challenge hosted by booktuber, G. from Book Roast. Every year, as inspired by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, this challenge is split up in two readathons—one for O.W.L.’s in April and the other for N.E.W.T.’s in August.

Each readathon takes place over the course of the entire month and before you take your Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations, you get to choose a career path which will influence the subjects you have to take. All the subjects have challenges that you will need to complete in order to pass your exams.

G. also added so many amazing new things for Year 3, including more careers to choose from, courses and seminars, as well as platforms for us as students to interact with each other and to see how all of us are doing during the exam time.

If you would like to find out more about the readathon, make sure to check out Book Roast’s booktube for previous videos, her latest video (all the links to everything you need for the readathon will be linked underneath it) and the Magical Readathon’s website. Everything is explained in full detail and I am sure you will find all the answers to your questions.

Before I show you my TBR for the readathon, I would just like to thank G. for this amazing idea, for all her hard work and for bringing a little magic into our lives. Personally, I think this is one of the best ways you can feel part of the world of Harry Potter. It has been a while since I have been this excited about books and I love the Magical Readathon even more because of it.

MY O.W.L.’s MAGICAL READATHON TBR

I have decided to pursue a career as a Potioneer this year and will also be attending a seminar on Magical Shop Management. Knowing how to start and run a business will be exactly what I need to open my own shop where I will be able to sell all my potions.

The subjects I will be taking are: Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Herbology, Potions and again, Arithmancy (for the seminar).

ARITHMANCY — magical qualities of number 2: balance/opposites. Read something outside of your favourite genre.

☞ The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

This book is yet another one I have been wanting to read for ages. I chose it for this prompt because I almost never read historical fiction and thought it was about time I got to it.

CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES — hippogriffs: creature with a beak on the cover.

☞ The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

Even if Blue hadn’t been told her true love would die if she kissed him, she would stay away from boys. Especially the ones from the local private school. Known as Raven Boys, they only mean trouble.

But this is the year that everything will change for Blue.

This is the year that she will be drawn into the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys. And the year Blue will discover that magic does exist.

This is the year she will fall in love.

I have never read any of Maggie Stiefvater’s books. Not only did I find a fitting book for the prompt, but this reading challenge finally gave me the push I needed to get to it.

CHARMS — lumos maxima: white cover

☞ The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

So glad I could choose this book for the prompt. This is one of the most talked about trilogies in the book community and I have been dying to get to it.

HERBOLOGY — mimbulus mimbletonia: title that starts with a M

☞ My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker – and more difficult to get out of the carpet – than water…

When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This’ll be the third boyfriend Ayoola’s dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede’s long been in love with him, and isn’t prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other…

I have been wanting to read this book since it was first released. Slowly, I have been trying to getting back into the thriller genre. Hoping this book will bring back my love for a good mystery/thriller.

POTIONS — shrinking solution: book under 150 pages.

☞ Animal Farm by George Orwell

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

Mr. Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organized to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And something new and unexpected emerges…

The author’s other book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, is on my list of classics to read this year for the #ClassicsCommunity Reading Challenge. I think it would be perfect for me to get to this one too.

ARITHMANCY (FOR MAGICAL SHOP MANAGEMENT) — read something outside of your favourite genre.

☞ Becoming by Michelle Obama

G O O D R E A D S | S Y N O P S I S

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

I have always found Michelle Obama such an inspiring and empowering woman and I honestly cannot wait to read her book. From what I have heard of those who have read it, I just know it will bring tears to my eyes. Since I do not own a physical copy yet, I am thinking of listening to the audiobook as she narrated it herself. Autobiographies and non-fiction are also genres I have been wanting to read more of, so this one is just perfect.

Keep on reading and never stop telling stories.