My favourite readathon has returned!

If you have no idea what the O.W.Ls Readathon is, check out Gi @ Book Roast’s video where you can learn everything about it.

I’ve got off to a pretty decent start! I’ve actually been furloughed – which means I’m not working, but still getting 80% of my pay until the coronavirus blows over – so I have a lot more time to read than I thought I would.

I’ve ended up straying from my TBR quite a lot, but I don’t mind that at all. My main aim for this month is to get all 12 O.W.Ls like I did last year, mostly so I can concentrate on my career of choice when it comes to the N.E.W.Ts in August. (Am I overthinking this? Of course.)

My initial plan was to aim for History of Magic Professor like I did last year, but I was looking through Gi’s Careers Pamphlet again and couldn’t help being drawn in by the Librarian career because it basically sounds like becoming Evie from The Mummy – and I love Evie.

To be a Librarian I need O.W.Ls in the following:

• Ancient Runes
• Arithmancy
• Defence Against the Dark Arts
• History of Magic
• Transfiguration

As I said I am aiming for all 12 O.W.Ls ideally, and I think it’s doable, but these are the O.W.Ls I definitely need to become my (not so) inner Evie!

O.W.Ls Progress

• Ancient Runes – Heart Rune: Read a book with a heart on the cover or in the book/series title Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman
• Arithmancy – Magical qualities of number 2 (balance/opposites): Read a book outside your favourite genre The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde
• Astronomy – Night Classes: Read the majority of this book when it’s dark outside
• Care of Magical Creatures – Hippogriffs: Read a book with a creature with a beak on the cover
• Charms – Lumos Maxima: Read a book with a white cover
• Defence Against the Dark Arts – Grindylows: Read a book set at sea/the coast
• Divination – Third Eye: Assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read
• Herbology – Mimbulus Mimbletonia: Read a book with a title that starts with an M
• History of Magic – Witch Hunts: Read a book featuring witches/wizards
• Muggle Studies – Read a book from the perspective of a muggle (Contemporary) Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman
• Potions – Shrinking Solution: Read a book under 150 pages A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian
• Transfiguration – Animagus Lecture: Read a book/series that includes shapeshifting

I strayed away from my TBR for Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies after I treated myself to the latest copies of Heartstopper, after I enjoyed the first volume at the end of last year, and given the current state of the world this lovely, sweet, hella gay comic series was just what I needed.

Audre Lorde is an author I’ve been meaning to read for ages, so I also treated myself to the Penguin Modern Classics editions of her poetry collection, The Black Unicorn, and her essay collection, Sister Outsider. As I mentioned in my TBR poetry is something I don’t tend to read a lot of, so I read The Black Unicorn for Arithmancy and really enjoyed it – it’s definitely a collection I’ll be reading again in future!

Then I picked up Cat Sebastian’s A Little Light Mischief for Potions, which was such a sweet f/f historical romance novella. I’d happily read more historical romance by Sebastian in future. My aim has been to get as many subjects under my belt with my shorter reads as I can in the first week, and then I can focus on the books that will take a bit more time.

If I want to be a Librarian, then I still need to cross Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Transfiguration off my TBR, but I’m glad I managed to get two of my required subjects done and dusted on the first day of the readathon!

I’ll probably end up straying away from my TBR for a few other subjects, too. My initial plan was to read Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies for DADA – which I do still really want to read! – but I recently treated myself to a copy of TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea and I’ve seen so many wonderful reviews, and it seems like such a hopeful book, that I think that’s the story I need to reach for right now. I just want to read things that make me happy.

I’m also thinking of straying away from my TBR for History of Magic, too, to finally cross Truthwitch off my TBR. I’ve heard such good things about this series and I’d really like to make a start on it, and now that I’m not working I’ll have plenty of time to devote to it!

Are you taking part in the O.W.Ls Readathon? How’s your reading going?