On the 21st of April 2019, I posted a list of the first six books I’d read for the “O.W.L.’s 2019 Magical Readathon” – a Harry Potter themed reading challenge, created and hosted by ‘G’ on her YouTube channel ‘Book Roast’.
As mentioned in my last update, I’m not sticking to the time frame of the challenges – rather, using the prompts to get through the back catalogue of my to-be-read books 🙂
Using the themed suggestions definitely made me pick up books that I would have continued to skip over – so after finishing the final book for this particular challenge, I’m quite proud of the few I’ve managed to cross off.
The final challenges were as follows :
- Arithmancy : Read a work written by more than one author.
- “Welcome To Nightvale” – by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
This book was so weird! But a good weird 🙂 Then it turned into a good weird that got a bit same-same. Then it was good again. Worth a read for those of you with an unusual sense of humour. Kind of ‘Twilight Zone meets X-Files’. I also felt it gave me similar vibes to the awesomely nutty books written by David Wong. 4 out of 5 Fishbirds.
- Divination : Read a book set in the future.
- “Just One Damned Thing After Another” – by Jodi Taylor
I’m not sure if this book was set in the future, but the storyline was based on time travel and there were people FROM the future so I’m counting it 🙂 I enjoyed the dinosaurs and the ideas behind this book, but got pretty confused towards the end. The timeline seemed to jump forward really quickly in some sections (not in a time-travelly way). In places, I thought the behaviour and dialogue out of character for some of the lead figures, which was jarring. Unsure if I’ll progress with the series. It was a quick read though and I enjoyed the adventure. 3 out of 5 Fishbirds.
- Ancient Runes : Read a retelling.
- “Dare to Lead” by Brene Brown
I wasn’t in the mood to read some of the other myth retellings on my shelf – but thought this one would count, as Brene is stating a lot of things that I’ve heard before but that are good to revisit on occasion. She reminds us that sometimes courage needs to win out over comfort, and that often times the stories that you’re telling yourself about your image and place in the world, aren’t based on fact as much as your imagination and your brain wanting to fill in knowledge gaps. I skimmed over a lot of the business speak in the second half, but it made me think about my internal dialogue & how it can improve. 3 out of 5 Fishbirds.
- Astronomy : Read a book with “Star” in the title.
- “Stalking Jack The Ripper” by Kerri Maniscalco
Ok, so this was a bit of a stretch lol 🙂 I tried my best to find something with the word ‘star’ in the title, that was also something that I was interested in reading – but found nothing! I ended up with this book which is about the Ripper – who is kind of a star in a ghoulish murdery way. Also ‘star’ is in the title : Stalking Jack The Ripper. Shut up about it, it counts. Fast paced, it kept me reading to the end. While I enjoyed the fact that Audrey Rose was a strong female lead, I felt her ‘women can do anything’ agenda was very heavy handed. Women CAN do anything – and as such, don’t need to bang on about it in every single interaction they have. I’m unsure if I’ll carry on with the series … though I do like Dracula … 🙂 3 out of 5 Fishbirds.
- Defence Against The Dark Arts : Reducto – Read a title that starts with an ‘R’.
- “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier
Quite a twisty mystery! I loved the evocative imagery and descriptions of Manderley 🙂 I even gasped in places, just like a proper dowager! There were a lot of layers to this book, and although it took a little while for me to settle into the language – I think this is a story that will stay with me. Very enjoyable. 4 out of 5 Fishbirds.
- Transfiguration : Read a book with sprayed edges OR a red cover.
- “Snap” by Belinda Bauer
I didn’t have anything with sprayed edges, so went with the red cover. Despite the high ratings on Goodreads, I felt pretty meh about this one. I finished it, but skimmed a bit towards the end. I liked Jack’s character & his Oliver-esque burglaries, but found the investigation of his Mother’s disappearance to be fairly predictable. There were some pretty repetitive dream passages, and I took a dislike to Catherine’s character. 3 out of 5 Fishbirds.
And that finishes my list of prompts for this challenge 🙂 Thanks Harry Potter, you can now give me all your wizarding jewels and the key to Dumbledore’s potion cabinet.
For my next readathon, I’ve tracked down a 2018 list of reading prompts based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe! 😀
For those playing along at home, this challenge was created by Jamieson, and you can find details on his blog here : Jamishelves.
The Marvel-A-Thon is focussed around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and each of the movies have been split into their phases with one reading prompt per movie.
I’m not aiming to read through the prompts in the original month long time frame. I’ll just keep reading until all the challenges have been met.
Until next time, Happy Reading!
The Fishbirdium 