N.E.W.T.s readathon TBR

Hi booklovers

Even though I'm still participating in both the MedievalAThon and the IronTomeAThon I want to talk about the N.E.W.T. readathon that will be taking place in August. This will take place during the entire month of August and is hosted by Book Roast. You can find the announcement video here.

After completing 9 exams for my O.W.L.s I am allowed to sit the exams for the following subjects:

*Ancient Runes

*Arithmancy

*Charms

*Defence Against the Dark Arts

*Herbology

*History of Magic

*Muggle Studies

*Potions

*Transfiguration

I was able to sit all the exams needed for my career as a librarian. To succeed in becoming a librarian, I have to get the following grades in these subjects:

O in Ancient Runes: 

A: Ehwaz (partnership) read a book recommended by a friend. 

E: A book written in the past tense. 

O: A book that has been on your TBR for ages. 

E in Defence Against the Dark Arts:

A: A book that's black under the dust jacket.

E: Gilderoy's memory charm. (Take a pen) A book that you just remember from your TBR.

E in history of Magic:

A: Read a fantasy. 

E: Read a book that includes a map. 

Since I'm already doing two readathons, I'm just going to focus on the subjects and grades I need for my exams. I already require 7 books for that :-s

I'm not really going to do a TBR except for some books I was already going to read.

Ancient Runes:

A: The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks. The whole Lightbringer series has been highly recommended by Nadine.

E: Quite a lot of books on my TBR are written in the past tense.

O: Most of my books have been on my TBR for ages.

DADA:

A: I'll have to check which of my books are black under the dust jacket. Maybe I'll pick one of my unread Fairyloot books for this.

E: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. This is one of the most recent additions to my TBR and I really want to read it.

History of Magic:

A: Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff (this will be a reread in preparation for the release of Darkdawn.)

E: Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. The advantage of reading mostly fantasy books is that most of them have a map :-)

Are you taking part in the N.E.W.T.s readathon? Are you aiming for a career? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

WWW Wednesday July 17th - Readathon updates

Hi booklovers

"Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!"

I found this on Nadine's blog.

The Three Ws are: 

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently reading

This is the third week of both the MedievalAThon and the IronTomeAThon.

On Monday I started King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence and I'm currently on page 306 out of 597. 

I feel so slow because it took me nearly 20 chapters before I realised that when it says 'Four years earlier' the entire chapter is a flashback and when it says 'Wedding Day' it is the present day *insert face palm emoji here*.

Now that I've figured it out, I'm actually enjoying the book a lot more!

I'm alternating between listening to the audiobook and reading the physical copy.

This goes towards the prompt of King's Landing for the IronTomeAThon and the prompt that will earn me a crown in the MedievalAThon and grant me the rank of knight (meaning I've read three books).

This is only the second book I'm reading for the IronTomeAThon.

Recently finished

The first book I read for both readathons was Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. 

This is the second time I've read this and it is still a very solid 5 star read. I'm rereading NN and Godsgrave in preparation for the release of Darkdawn in September. I'm going to want to read that one as soon as it comes out, even though I know my heart is will be ripped to pieces and I'll probably suffer from a major bookhangover.

I love this book, it's dark, it's gritty, it's graphic and it has tons of humour. And even though I knew what would happen towards the end it still got to me big time!

MedievalAThon: I earned the rank of peasant and my daggers with this book.

IronTomeAThon: Oldtown + 428 points.

Because I knew nothing fantasy related would live up to NN immediately after finishing it, I decided to pick up a contemporary NA story: Masquerade by Nyrae Dawn. 

I enjoyed it and it was just what I needed to not go into into a reading slump. This is the final book in the Games trilogy and we follow Maddox, Layne's (the MC from the second book) brother. All three books are companion novels with appearances of the characters from the previous books. Since this is the third one, I can't say much more about the plot. What I can say is that both MC's have their pasts haunting them and they need to find ways to deal with it. This one leans heavily on the one-night-stand turning into something more trope. It was the right balance between angst, drama and sexy times (without the sexual content being too graphic).

Then I read my second book for the Medievalathon, Legendary by Stephanie Garber. 

Even though this is also a reread it took me much longer to finish than I'd anticipated :-s I also didn't enjoy it as much as the first time around. I think my reading tastes have changed a lot over the last two years. This makes me fear for Finale, the last book in the trilogy. I've chosen that one for the prompt to earn me a cape, but I'm not sure if I'll be picking it up this month.

MedievalAThon: I earned the rank of squire and a breastplate with this one.

IronTomeAThon: nothing because this is YA.

What's next?

I still have a few books I want to read for both readathons, but I'm not sure which one I'll be picking up. Here are some of the most likely ones:

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks.

Malice by John Gwynne.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell.

Any suggestions on what I should pick up first? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Medieval-A-Thon TBR

Hi booklovers

I have only one more week of the schoolyear left and then I have a two month break in which I'm going to spend a whole lot of my time reading :-)

That's why I was over the moon when Holly over at HollyHeartsBooks on BookTube announced her Medieval-A-Thon readathon.

This is a month-long readathon which will take place from the 1st of July 'till the 31st of July.

There are different prompts with which you can build your own armour. You can also choose your weapons and raise your nobility the more you read.

I made these pages for my book bujo and every time I finish a book, I'll colour in the corresponding clothing item or weapon.

As usual I'm going to give myself some choices for most of the prompts, just to make sure I feel like reading at least one of the books.

Since taking the photos this week, I've already made some changes.

Hopefully I'll be able to read 10 books, but I might end up using one book for two prompts. We'll see.

Now on to the TBR.

Build your armour:

Crown:

A book where a character fights for the throne.

*Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

*Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake.

Helmet:

A book with a dragon on the cover.

*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron.

Breastplate:

A shiny book.

*Legendary by Stephanie Garber (this would be a reread).

Leggings:

A thick paperback.

*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson.

*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks.

*The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks. (I still need to get this one.)

*Malice by John Gwynne.

*The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett.

(*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence)

(*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron)

Boots:

A book that has yellowed over time.

At first I didn't know which book would fit this prompt, but when I took the photo for the previous prompt I noticed that the edges of Malice have yellowed.

Cloak:

A book with red on the dust jacket.

*Finale by Stephanie Garber.

*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

Choose your weapon(s):

Sword:

A book with something pointy on the cover.

*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell (there is a slight possibility that I (re)read this before the readathon starts).

(*Malice by John Gwynne)

(*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence)

(*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson)

(*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron)

Daggers:

A book with assassins.

*Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (this would also be a reread in preparation of the release of Darkdawn).

(*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence)

*Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence (if I've read Red Sister for another prompt).

Bow and arrow:

A book with elves.

This will probably be the prompt I won't get to.

*De Elfen by Bernhard Hennen (this one is in Dutch).

Axe:

A book with mercenaries.

*Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames (I still need to get this one as well).

(*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell (if I haven't read it before the readathon).

*Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell.

As for the nobility, I'm aiming for Queen which means I need to read 6 or more books. We'll see how it goes, because a lot of the books I can choose from fit the 'Leggings' prompt because they are over 500 pages.

Are you interested in taking part in this readathon? Any recommendation on which of these I should definitely read or pick up first?

Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now.

Annelies

O.W.L.s readathon / April - wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

April 30th was the last day of the O.W.L.s readathon, so it's time for my wrap-up.

I didn't think it would go as well as it did, so I'm very pleasantly surprised.

I wanted to take my O.W.L.s for the career of Librarian and so I needed to read books for the following subjects: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Transfiguration.

I'm happy to say that I succeeded in taking all of these exams and then some :-)

Ancient Runes: a retelling.

I only had one option for this which was The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins. Although, at the end of the month I realised that Wintersong - which I have on my TBR - is also a retelling.

Arithmancy:

Work written by more than one author.

I decided to read Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan.

Defence Against the Dark Arts:

Reducto: Title starts with an 'r'.

For this I chose Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi.

History of Magic:

A book published at least 10 years ago

I listened to The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. This was originally published in 1991. I highly recommend the audiobooks for these as well, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading do an amazing job narrating these stories.

Transfiguration:

A book with sprayed edges or a red cover.

I read Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell.

3.75 stars to be precise.

Since I was apparently on a roll I decided to go for a few more subjects.

Charms:

Age-line: read an adult work.

For this I actually steered away from my TBR. This was the last exam I wanted to take and there were only a few days of the readathon left so I needed a shorter book. That's why I went for The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.

Herbology:

A book with a plant on the cover.

Even though I was planning to use this book for another subject, I decided to read Brieven van Marie by Lize Feryn for this subject.

Muggle Studies:

A contemporary book.

Since I was on Easter break, I decided to pick up a New Adult contemporary, which was The Destiny of Violet and Luke by Jessica Sorensen.

Potions:

Next ingredient: a sequel.

For this I also didn't stick to my TBR, but I went for Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi. After finishing Restore Me, I really wanted to read this novella from Kenji's POV.

Those were the 9 books I read for the O.W.L.s. I even managed to squeeze in one more book that didn't count towards any of the subjects.

The Probability of Violet & Luke by Jessica Sorensen.

I've never read 10 books in a month so I'm calling this readathon (+ 1 extra read) a big success.

Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think of them?

Did you take part in the readathon? How did it go?

Bye for now

Annelies

Sequelathon wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

Yesterday was the last day of the #sequelathon, so here's my wrap-up.

This was my original TBR:

1) Read the sequel you've been putting of the longest: Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell.

2) Continue with a series that you started last year: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi or Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb.

3) Finish a series: Again: either Ship of Destiny or Ignite Me.


And this is my wrap-up:
1) Girls: Emergence by the Luna Brothers. I read the first volume back in 2017, so it's safe to say I've put off reading volume 2 for quite a while.

2) Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi. I finished this one yesterday morning. I'm glad I did, this way I can read Restore Me for one of my O.W.L.s.

3) Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel. I listened to the final book in the trilogy on my commute and while adulting. (Technically, I only finished it today, but I only had about an hour left of the audiobook, so I'm counting it.)

I'm definitely calling this readathon a success :-) Let's hope my O.W.L.s will be just as successful!

Bye for now

Annelies