The Terror of Knowing

Hello witches and wizards and welcome to my second progress check-in for the NEWTs Readathon! You can check out my first progress update here.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about – and so likely think I’ve finally given into the delusion that my Hogwarts letter is just lost in the post – you should probably check out my NEWTs Sign Up & TBR post to see what’s what.

In short: throughout August, I’ll be taking part in the Magical Readathon, a Harry Potter themed readathon based around the examinations students sit at Hogwarts. This is the second round of the readathon this year (the first one, for the OWL exams, were sat in April) and is themed around the NEWTs, the final exams sat by seventh year students.

The Magical Readathon is always super fun, if a little challenging when it comes to the NEWTs, but I was a huge swot at school so it’s no surprise that I love the idea of this and enthusiastically take part. This year I’ve tried to be realistic with my TBR (as, let’s face it, I’m not likely to read the 36 books needed to complete every challenge) and so I figured doing progress updates for the week previous every Monday might be a nice thing to do. So, without further ado, here’s the first update:

NEWT Requirements for Hogwarts Professor

Must achieve:
O in subject you wish to teach (Charms)
E in Defence Against the Dark Arts
+ at least 2 As in secondary subjects of your choice

TBR

✓ = read
~ = currently reading

Charms
✓ A – Read a book you think has a gorgeous cover
Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood
✓ E – Read a comic/graphic novel/manga OR book under 150 pages
Giant Days, Volume 6 by John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Liz Fleming
~ O – Spongify (softening charm): read a paperback book
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Defence Against the Dark Arts
✓ A – Book that’s black under dust jacket
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
E – Gilderoy’s memory charm: first book you just remembered from TBR
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
O – Cornish pixie!: book written by an English author or set in England
State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

History of Magic
~ A – Read a fantasy
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
E – Read a book that includes a map
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
O – Tom Riddle’s diary: reread a favourite OR read a classic
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Muggle Studies
~ A – Cover that includes an actual photo element
The Furies by Katie Lowe
E – Book set in our world
The Paper & Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
O – Book written by a person of colour
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

You remember how last week I said Sorcery of Thorns was a pretty hardback so I wouldn’t be taking it to work? Yeah, I caved. It turned out to be not that heavy and I have many a padded book sleeve so I figured it would be well looked after. I also started listening to the audiobook for it since I had a couple of mundane, monotonous tasks to do in work a couple of days in the week and that really helped me to get properly into the story. I finished it over the weekend and it was such a lovely adventure of a story based around libraries and the idea of magic books becoming evil creatures if they become corrupted. Plus, the hero character was the softest boy ever and I love me one of those.

Since my last weekly check-in, I made a couple of changes to my original TBR. Firstly, my work has started a book club and their first pick is My Sister, the Serial Killer – I need to read this for September so I figured I might as well work it into my TBR, so I’ll be using it for achieving an Exceeds Expectations in Muggle Studies. I’ve also realised that I’m not hugely in the mood for contemporary at the moment so it’s probably not a good idea for me to try to read The Paper & Hearts Society as much as I really want to get to Lucy’s book! On a similar vein, I’ve substituted Radio Silence and Eliza and Her Monsters with The Silence of the Girls and The Poppy War respectively. I only read a little bit of The Poppy War over this past weekend but it’s already extremely dark and I’m intrigued to see where this story is going to go so that bodes well!

Are you taking part in the NEWTs/Magical Readathon this year? How are you doing so far? Even if you’re not participating, let me know what you have been reading this week because I’d love to know. Leave a comment below!

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