The Terror of Knowing

If you saw my previous blog post you will have seen that I’m taking part in this year’s OWLs Readathon 2020! Since my reading has been slacking a lot so far this year, this magical readathon came at exactly the right time and I am so excited to be joining in on all the fun at Hogwarts. (If you don’t know what the devil I’m talking about, have a look at my Sign Up post or the readathon website for more details.)

So, in the OWLs you choose a career path and then your reading prompts are based on the subjects you would need to pass in order to progress into that career. I chose the Librarian career path which means I need to read books for Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Transfiguration. Of course, me being me, my actual goal is to complete all of the subjects. So let’s see how I’ve done in the first 8 days of the readathon…

Career OWLs

Ancient Runes – heart on cover or in title
Arithmancy – read outside your favourite genre
Defence Against the Dark Arts – book set at the sea/coast
History of Magic – book featuring witches/wizards
Transfiguration – book/series that includes shapeshifting

Additional OWLs

Astronomy – read when dark outside
Care of Magical Creatures – creature with a beak on the cover
Charms – white cover
Divination – assign number to TBR then random no.
Herbology – title starts with an M
Muggle Studies – from perspective of muggle (ie a contemporary)
Potions – under 150 pages

Career OWLs

~ Ancient Runes – heart on cover or in title
Pages and Co by Anna James

✓ Transfiguration – book/series that includes shapeshifting
Soulless by Gail Carriger

Additional OWLs

~ Charms – white cover
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

✓ Muggle Studies – from perspective of muggle (ie a contemporary)
The Princess Diaries: Take Two by Meg Cabot

So, as you can see, I’ve read two books fully – one for my career and one… not for my career (which is just about typical but I knew myself enough to know this would happen), but I really enjoyed both of them. Both were re-reads because apparently a leopard really can’t change its spots that easily, but I’m trying to balance it out because the two books I’m reading at the moment (Pages and Co and Station Eleven) are ones which I’ve never read before and the latter in particular is one I’ve been meaning to read for years at this point. (Because, y’know, a book that starts with a pandemic is best read when facing a global pandemic in real life too… I worry about how my brain thinks sometimes.)

I really hope that by the time I come back with Progress Update #2 that I have read some more things towards my actual career OWLs but we shall see…

Are you taking part in the Magical Readathon this year? What career path have you chosen? Even if you’re not participating, let me know what you’re reading at the moment or what you’ve finished recently!

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