Stay Home Reading Rush - TBR

Hey there!

You would think that I have given myself enough of a reading challenge this month with participating in the Magical Readathon to become a Healer (check my previous blog post for more information!). However I, disagree!

Each year two wonderful ladies, Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay host a readathon in July called The Reading Rush. Each year the girls create a website for anyone to join and participate in The Reading Rush and you earn badges for your profile for each challenge you complete. It is so much fun! This month, because we are all stuck at home, the girls decided to host a Stay Home Reading Rush and I instantly wanted to take part.

The Stay Home Reading Rush is running from April 16th until April 19th and there are both reading challenges and Instagram challenges. As this readathon is only small, there are only four reading challenges to complete. 

As you can see, each challenge has a badge attached to it. Once you complete each challenge, you earn the badge and can attach it to your profile later in the year when The Reading Rush begins in July.

I love this challenge because right now, I wish I could go anywhere that isn't my home or place of work! For this challenge I have chosen a book that I am also reading for my Magical Readathon Transfiguration class and that book is:

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Who doesn't want to visit Shadowhunters and the Shadow World right?

I also really like this challenge because its simple. Plus, all books make me smile so it was going to be an easy choice! For this challenge I am choosing to read:

HeartStopper Volume 3 - Alice Oseman

This graphic novel makes me smile, fills my heart, makes me happy and gives me all the LGBTQ+ goodness that I need in my life.

This is the prompt that I found really difficult. I wanted to chose books or graphic novels that would allow me to complete all of these challenges and I couldn't find one with a house on the cover for ages! Finally I had a lightbulb moment and I am going to be reading:

Goldie Vance - Hope Lawson, Brittney Williams & Sarah Stern

I think I will find this challenge quite easy! The only places I have been reading at the moment are in my bedroom, conservatory or at work. Seems easy enough? The book I have chosen to read for this challenge is:

The Lost Sisters - Holly Black

This is a short prequel story involving the two sisters, Jude and Taryn from the Folk and Air trilogy. I loved all three books in that trilogy so I can't wait to dive back into the world, even if it only is for 50 pages.

Another thing I love about The Reading Rush is the fun challenges Ariel and Raeleen create to break up the reading challenges. These challenges are usually Instagram or Twitter related and for the Stay Home Reading Rush, they are Instagram related. Each day of the readathon, you are challenged to upload a photo of something they want to see.

I love these Instagram challenges and I think they are going to be so fun to do! I just need to remember and do them! I have been trying to use my bookstagram a lot more recently so this really is the perfect challenge for me this weekend! Come and check out my Instagram and see what photo's I upload for each challenge! I will leave links at the end of the blog!

So there we have my entire TBR for the Stay Home Reading Rush and I will be disappointed with myself if I don't complete it! I deliberately made my TBR completely doable alongside my Magical Readathon challenges so I have no excuses! I am really excited to read and review all of these books and graphic novels. Let me know if you are participating in the Stay Home Reading Rush and what you are reading!

Ariel Bissett: https://www.instagram.com/ArielBissett/

Raeleen Lemay: https://www.instagram.com/RaeleenLemay/

Reading Rush: https://www.instagram.com/thereadingrush/
                                https://twitter.com/TheReadingRush
                                https://thereadingrush.com/stayhome

Me: https://www.instagram.com/bookswithlauren/

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Lauren

Magical Readathon - OWLs TBR

Hey there!

Confession number one: I am a massive geek.

Confession number two: I am a massive Harry Potter Fan.

Those are the two things you need to know about me before you continue reading this post otherwise you will probably think I am crazy.

If - for some crazy reason - you are not familiar with the wonderful world of Harry Potter, in the fifth year at Hogwarts, students have their first set of exams: Ordinary Wizarding Levels (OWLs). In seventh year, they then have their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWTs). 

I would give anything to be a student at Hogwarts, live in the Wizarding World and yes, even take my OWLs and NEWTs. I did say I was a massive geek, and I am not the only one! Thus, the Magical Readathon was created by the wonderful G! Here is a link to G's announcement video for this years Magical Readathon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRuZ4EBkiKA 

G is known as BookRoast in the Bookish Community and she has put an incredible amount of effort into creating this Read-a-thon for everyone. She has made authentic looking letters, career guides and certificates for everyone. The idea of the Magical Readathon is that in April you pick a Wizarding Career you would like to have and that career will have specific subjects found at Hogwarts that you need to take. Each subject has a reading task you need to complete in order for you to gain an OWL in that subject. In August you can either continue with the career you selected for your OWLs or pick a different career. Similarly to OWLs, each career has specific subjects you have to complete and specific grades to achieve to gain a NEWT in that subject. Each subject at NEWT level has three reading tasks to complete. Each task gains you a different grade: Acceptable, Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding. 

As it is April, I will be participating in OWLs. Here is a link to the Magical Readathon Website where you can find links to the career guides, letters and tasks: https://www.magicalreadathon.com/copy-of-induction-to-magical-readat 

G is always adding to the career options and currently has over twenty to chose from! Auror, Broom Maker, Wand Maker, Hogwarts Professor, Astronomer and Mazoologist are just some of the amazing careers you can pick! This year, my chosen career is Healer. 

I chose the career of Healer as it is very similar to the work I do in real life and I love helping people. It is one of the more challenging careers as I have eight subjects to study. As you can see from the picture, my compulsory subjects are Herbology, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration. I also have to pick an additional three subjects. I have picked Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic. I would love to be a student at Hogwarts and study these subjects but for now, G's Magical Readathon is as close as I am going to get! As I said before, each subject has a task to be completed to gain an OWL. These are the tasks G has created for this years OWLs.

I really liked the look of all the tasks but I knew I would find some a little trickier to complete than others. It took me a little while to decide on which books I was going to read for each subject but I got there eventually. 

Herbology: Mimbulus Mimbletonia - Read a book with a title starting with M

For this subject, I will be reading Mirage by Somaiya Daud.

Charms: Lumos Maxima - Read a book that has a white cover

For this subject, I will be reading Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Defence Against the Dark Arts: Grindylows - Read a book set at sea or the coast

For this subject, I will be reading A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

Transfiguration: Animagus Lecture - Read a book that includes shape shifting

For this subject, I will be reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Potions: Shrinking Potion - Read a book that contains 150 pages or less

For this subject, I will be reading Life Hurts by Elizabeth McNaught

Care of Magical Creatures: Hippogriffs - Read a book with a creature who has a beak on the cover

For this subject, I will be reading Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

History of Magic: Witch Hunts - Read a book featuring witches or wizards

For this subject, I will be reading Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Muggle Studies - Read a book from the perspective of a muggle (a contemporary book)

For this subject, I will be reading Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

This year, G has created additional training and seminars that you can also participate in alongside your chosen career which also have subjects you have to complete to gain the training. However, if you are already completing a subject for your chosen career that is required for your training you don't need to duplicate it. The training I am hoping to do is Animagus Training and Merpeople Linguistics.

Animagus Training will allow me to become a full Animagus and who doesn't want that? The subjects I have to do for this training is Arithmancy, Potions and Transfiguration. I am already doing Potions and Transfiguration for my career so I only have to complete Arithmancy.

Arithmancy: Magical Qualities 2, Balance and Opposites - Read a book that is not your favourite genre

For this subject, I will be reading Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend

The Merpeople Linguistics training only requires the subject Herbology and I am already taking Herbology for my career so technically I don't have to complete anything additional to take this training. However, if I have time, I will be completing the Herbology task for this training as well as my career!

Herbology: Mimbulus Mimbletonia - Read a book with a title starting with M

For this subject, I will be reading More Than Just a Pretty Face - Syed Masood

I am really looking forward to participating in OWLs this year! If all goes to plan then I will read ten books in April and 3,829 pages! With everything going on in the world just now, I am really hoping to complete all of my OWLs and work towards becoming a Healer since I am spending a lot more time at home. 

Is anybody else participating in the Magical Readathon this year? I would love to know and good luck if you are!

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Lauren