O.W.L's Magical Readathon 2020: TBR

Firstly, I just want to start this post off by letting you know, in case you don't, that "TBR" stands for To Be Read. It is a list of books that you intend to read. Thus, "To Be Read." It took me a good year of following various people/accounts/channels in the Bookish community on social media to realize this, so I'll save you the trouble and just come out and say that right now. You're welcome.

So anyway, if you are into books, reading, Harry Potter, or any combination thereof, this post is for you my friend!

Last year while perusing the inter webs I discovered G who runs Book Roast over on YouTube. With it, I learned about the the annual Magical Readathon she hosts that's based on the Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations (O.W.L) that students take in their fifth year at Hogwarts. This is a thing that happens in book 5 of the Harry Potter series but you don't have to be a Potterhead to follow along in this readathon. The purpose of this blog post is to share with you my TBR for this year's readathon! But before I do, here's how the readathon works: It's kind of hard to explain but I'm gonna do my best and include some links for you (that probably explain it way better than I do) in 3...2...1...

Hogwarts students take their OWL exams in order to determine what career path they'd like to pursue after they graduate. The career path you intend to pursue as a young witch or wizard, depends on how many/what OWL's you may need to take. So, in the fictional story of Harry Potter one subject = one OWL exam (e.g. Potions). For the purposes of this readathon in the real world, one book = one reading prompt (e.g. read a book with a white cover).

Check out the original OWL's announcement here:


Check out this year's OWL's announcement here:

Now, find the Wizarding Career Guide HERE
Next, find the OWL's letter and reading prompts HERE

You can follow along this readathon a couple different ways:
1.) Pick a Wizarding Career and you'll follow the prompts that are required for that career, or
2.) Don't use the Wizarding Career Guide at all and just look at the reading prompts, find some that sound like fun to you and go with those!

I've chose to go with the former and pick a career out of the guide - Wandmaker!

In order to become a Wandmaker I need to pass the following OWL's:

• Ancient Runes
• Arithmancy
• Care of Magical Creatures
• Charms
• Herbology

So for Ancient Runes the prompt is: heart rune - heart on the cover or in the title. I've chosen to read "Love and Other Words" by Christina Lauren

Y'all know I love a good love story (if you don't now you do), and I've read a couple other books by this author and I really enjoyed them both! I got this one for my birthday last month so thank you, past Rissa, for picking out a book that fits a Magical Readathon prompt. Present Rissa thanks you.

Arithmancy: read something outside your favorite genre. I've chosen "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow

I picked this book out with Christmas money back in December for a couple reasons: firstly, HOW PRETTY IS THIS COVER? And secondly, this book was getting good reviews on social media so I thought yolo let's give 'er a read. My favorite genre is typically a contemporary rom-com (you can judge me for that, it's fine) so this fantasy book is definitely outside of that!

Care of Magical Creatures: creature with a beak on the cover. Because this is a Harry Potter themed readathon (but mostly because I had a reeeaaaalllly hard time finding a book with a beak on the cover that sounded good to me), for this prompt I'm going to read "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling.

Beak on the cover. My favorite Harry Potter Book of them all. Boom. Done.

Charms: white cover. "One of Us is Lying" by Karen M. McManus

This is a YA (Young Adult) murder mystery that I keep hearing people talk about and that I really want to check out but does it have a completely all white cover? No. Does it have a mostly white cover - enough that I can fit it into this prompt? Yes. I checked with the overlords of the readathon rules and they said it's fine. Also Abigail's Cup of Tea is also using it for this prompt and I am nothing if not a follower so yay for that.

Herbology: title that starts with an M. I'm going with "Maybe in Another Life" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I haven't yet read a book by this author but I have only ever heard raving reviews. Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote Daisy Jones and the Six, and also The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - two little ditties that were massively successful that you may or may not have heard of. Neither of those start with an M though, so this one had good reviews on GoodReads and I liked the synopsis so I'm gonna buckle up and board the Taylor Jenkins Reid train and hope I love it as much as everyone else!

So at the end of all this readathon do I win a prize or do I actually become a Wandmaker you might be asking? No. I don't. And neither do you should you participate. It's all just for fun. But that's the thing - it is freakin' fun and it's totally free and G spends SO. MUCH. TIME. and energy putting all of this together for us. The Career Guide, the prompts all the extra resources - she puts all of this together just for us at no cost.

There's a spreadsheet for buddy reading HERE, there's a spreadsheet for book recommendations if you're stuck on a prompt HERE, there's a form for giving book recommendations HERE, there's even a master spreadsheet (HERE) to log/view when you've finished a book so we can keep track of how many pages alllll of us have read at the end of it. I meeaaannnn, fun right?!

So anyway, if you made this far - you're a champ and I am long winded so sorry about that. This is the first time I've done a TBR post...or any bookish post really, so let me know if you liked it or wouldn't mind seeing more of them! The OWL's start April 1st and last the whole month long! See you at Hogwarts!