O.W.L. Magical Readathon 2020 TBR

It’s time for another readathon. Yes, I just finished one readathon and am getting ready to start another. And it is The O.W.L. Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast over on You Tube. It runs from April 1st to April 30th. And as with all of my reading challenges and readathons I am focusing on reading books on my TBR pile. It is a Harry Potter themed readathon that is in two parts. The O.W.Ls are in April and the N.E.W.Ts are in August. Basically, like Hogwart’s students, you sit  “exams”/prompts that correspond to the career you have chosen in the Wizarding World. Rather than trying to explain it all myself, do click on this link and watch Book Roast’s You Tube video which explains the readathon in detail.

It may seem daunting at first, but when you read through the Wizarding Careers Guidebook it all begins to make sense. The career I’ve chosen is Seer. For my O.W.L exams I must complete three “exams” (prompts). And I have also chosen to add on a certification for Mermaid Linguistics which requires me to sit for one more exam. So all together I have four books to read in the month of April.

So here is my list of exams and the book I’ve chosen for that prompt.

• Ancient Runes: Heart on the cover or in the title. The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. (Heart on the cover.)
• Astronomy: Night Classes: read majority of  this book when it’s dark outside. TBA. I’ve a bunch of books on my Kindle TBR that I can read late into the night before I go to sleep.
• Divination: Third Eye: assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read. The book is number 209 on my Mt. TBR list on GoodReads. It’s The Daughters by Adrienne Celt.
• Herbology: Mimbulus mimbletonia: Title starts with an M. Mapping the World of Harry Potter edited by Mercedes Lackey. An appropriate book for a Harry Potter themed readathon, no?

After seeing all the work Book Roast does for this event and how creative it all is, it just makes me more excited about participating. She put together such a fun event. I will include links to the videos and google documents below so that you download and print what you need.

Here are a list of links to most everything you need for this readathon:

Click here for the You Tube Video.

Click here for the Magical Readathon website.

Click here for Owl prompts and Owl Letter

Click here for Wizarding Careers Guidebook PDF

Be sure to look at the video notes for links to Instagram and Twitter for Book Roast and the Magical Readathon. What do you think? Do you like readathons and have you participated in this readathon? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Reading!

 

Friday 56, #48

It’s time for  Friday 56!  It’s a book meme hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. Be sure to visit her blog if you would like to participate.

From Freda’s Voice The Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  (If you have to improvise, that’s okay.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post in the Linky at Friday 56. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple!

Here’s my contribution:

This has been on my TBR for a while now. I want to read since it seems to be about a fictional serial killer story. And do love a serial killer story, both fiction and nonfiction. Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to include your link to Friday 56.

Happy reading, y’all!

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon. This year it fall on April 29th which is this Saturday. This will be my third readathon and I’m really looking forward to it. Click on  October 2016  and April 2016 if you would like to see my plans for the last two readathons I participated in.

This is my final-ish stack that I’m planning to read for the readathon. Two of the stack are Harry Potter books because I’ve seen on Litsy that a number of people are doing a chapter a day rereading of all the novels. And I didn’t know about it so I could do that challenge too. So, to help scratch that itch, I decided to read books two and three of the series. Also, I’m reading books that will work for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I’ve fallen woefully behind in this reading challenge and I’m hoping the readathon will get me back on the wagon again. Also, all of the books I’m reading are eligible for the other challenge I’m doing this year #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks. All of the books were purchased before 2017. So! I’m ready, y’all.

If you would would like to participate in this Springs readathon, click here to sign up and if you would to read more about the readathon, click here. You can follow me on Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram and Litsy (follow me!) to see my updates and the occasional challenge. And I will be post updates through out the day here on my blog, of course.

So, are you planning on doing the Dewey’s Readathon? Are there other readathons I need to know about? If so, let me know in the comments below.

April TBR

April is shaping up to be a busy month on my blog. Not only am I focusing on a theme for the blog, but I’m planning on celebrating National Library Week , Dewey’s 24 hour Readathon the last weekend of the month, and it’s also National Poetry Month. I will post poems on all my social media and here on the blog. I hope I’m able to keep up.

To shake up things a bit for my blog I’m focusing most of my bookish posts and memes on the Brontë Sisters and their novels. I am planning to write about TV adaptations of their novels and their poetry, too. I think it could be fun  for me to write, and hopefully read, about the Brontës.

TBR:

Here is my list of books I’m planning on reading this month. I’ve not included the books I’m planning on reading during the readathon because I’m still thinking about that final list. I’ll write more about it later on in the month.

The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff. Sigh. I’ve had this on my currently reading list since last October. I like this book, but I needed to set it aside to complete all my reading challenges in the Fall. I want to get back into it, but I’ll probably need to start it all over again.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams  I’m reading this for the Book Riot Reading Challenge this year.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell.  I’m reading this one too for the Book Riot Reading Challenge.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë.  I haven’t read any of Anne Brontë’s novels, so this is sort of a requirement for this month’s theme!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë It’s been a number of years since I read this and I need to read it for a bookish post later on this month.

What are your reading and blogging plans for April? Have you ever had a theme for your blog? How did it work out? Would you do it again? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Friday 56, #12

It’s time for  Friday 56!  It’s a book meme hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. Be sure to visit her blog if you would like to participate!

From Freda’s Voice The Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post in the Linky on Friday 56. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple!

Here’s my contribution:

From her struggle, cold river water splashes into the boat. That Girl shrieks. Malorie tells herself, Ask the man how far back he saw it. Maybe the madness hasn’t set in. Maybe it’s slower with him. Maybe he will perform one final act of benevolence before he loses all sense of reality.

This book is up next on my TBR, and I hear its a creepy, scary read that’s perfect for Halloween! So, what do you think? Would you read this book based on the excerpt? Have you read it? What are your thoughts about it? Let me know what you think in the comments below. And happy reading!

Friday 56, #9

It’s time for  Friday 56!  It’s a book meme hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. Be sure to visit her blog if you would like to participate!

From Freda’s Voice The Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post in the Linky on Friday 56. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple!

Here’s my contribution:

And I’ll give Mormonism this: They know which way the wind blows. When America decided polygamy wasn’t the way to go, the Mormons changed their ways and banned it. They had similar changes in policy when public opinion turned against the tradition of massacring pioneers and believing Black people are evil. Pretty much whenever the general populace decides the Mormons are a crazy, sinful cult, their leader receives a message straight from God that makes everything OK. This practice continues to this day; you can see it in the way Mitt Romney was pro-choice when he was running for governor of Massachusetts, but was divinely inspired to become pro-life when he was running for the Republican nomination for president.

Well, after finding this excerpt for the Friday 56, I’m pretty sure this book will count for the 2016 Read Harder Challenge task read a book about politics!

Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? Be sure to leave a link to your Friday 56 in the comments below (And Daniela, go ahead do your own Friday 56 in my comments!)

WWW Wednesday, June 29th

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme is hosted by  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? Just leave a comment. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? I’m trying to finish S. by J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst. Its really interesting with a fascinating idea behind it. It’s interactive! There are notes in the margins, stuff tucked between the pages which contribute to the whole story. It sort of reminds of Lost, if that makes sense. I want to finish it before I start a new book.

What did you recently finish reading? Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Such a good book. 5 Stars! Click here for my review.

What do you think you’ll read next? The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School in Paris by Kathleen Flinn. I need to read something for the Read Harder Challenge and this has been in my TBR pile for a while.

 

 

Have you read any of this books? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments. What are you reading?

 

 

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? June 20th

Last week I didn’t get much reading done because I needed to do stuff and I participated in #WeekofReveiws challenge hosted by Andi at Estella’s Revenge. And I manged two write seven reviews!  If you would like to read my reviews, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.  It was a really gun challenge and helped me jump start my writing.

This week I’m determined to read. And I’m reading a book Ive been looking forward to for  a year or more: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I’ve seen good things about it all over the interwebs and from readers in my own house. I love dystopian novels so much! Plus, this book will also count towards the Read Harder 2016 challenge. When I finish Station Eleven I plan on starting The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn.

                     

 

 

 

Review of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

This is day seven of the #WeekofReveiws #Reviewathon challenge hosted by Andi at Estella’s Revenge.  If you would like to read my earlier reviews click here , here,  here, here, and here. And click here if you would like to see my star rating system. Also be sure to visit Estella’s Revenge to read Andi’s reviews and links to #WeekofReviews by other bloggers participating in this challenge.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach     

• Pub. Date: 2005
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
• Format: Kindle
• pages: 321
• Source: Amazon
• 3 1/2 stars

Mary Roach is known for her well-researched, nonfiction books. And they are fascinating by all accounts. In Spook she asks the question is there life after death? And the book is her answer to this question. As a researcher she knows that getting background information is important. So she examines what religion says about it, including Egyptian beliefs, reincarnation,and Christian beliefs. And she examines the beginning of mediums and speaking to the dead. This last bit is fascinating. The story of the Fox sisters and the industry they spawned is beyond belief. She also examines how science has attempted to discover if there is life after death.

This is a fun read. Roach’s writing is fun and easy to read. This is not at all like reading a dense scientific journal article or college textbook. There is a wryness without being too snarky. And she treats the subject seriously without being too serious. And she does a good job of explaining the more difficult concepts without writing down to the reader. Now, you must have a strong stomach because she does not shy away from gross or nasty details. I’m still not right after reading her description of how mediums in the 19th century made and deployed ectoplasm. I’ll say no more. But it is all fascinating.

 

 

 

 

Reviews of Beautiful Ruins and Rooms

This is day six of the #WeekofReveiws #Reviewathon challenge hosted by Andi at Estella’s Revenge. I missed posting a review yesterday, so I’m doubling up today. If you would like to read my earlier reviews click here , here,  here  and here. And click here if you would like to see my star rating system. Also be sure to visit Estella’s Revenge to read Andi’s reviews and links to #WeekofReviews by other bloggers participating in this challenge.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters

• Pub. Date: 2012
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Format: Trade paperback
• pages: 337
• Source: bookstore!
• 4 stars

I’ve had this book in ye olde TBR for a couple of years. I bought it because I love, love, love gossipy old Hollywood stories. And this one is just that. Now, let me be clear. It is fictional. Richard Burton shows up, but that is about it. There are mentions of Elizabeth Taylor, too. But this is a novel. The main characters are all fiction.

In April of 1962 Dee Moray escapes her dangerous on set love affair with Richard Burton to a small hotel on the coast of Italy owned by Pasquale. The two are both fragile and need kindness from someone. Both are rejected by their loves, you see. In spite of their difficulties in communicating, they find that understanding with each other.

Skipping 40 years forward, Dee’s son Patrick is searching for himself. He is a half-assed musician who goes through women by the score. He needs to find himself. Around this same time, Pasquale’s wife has died and he travels to Hollywood to find his lost love Dee Moray. And at the same-time A young man from Northern California is traveling to Hollywood to try and sell a script. All of these stories  come together and make sense at the end. And do it all beautifully, too. This is a perfect read for a hot weekend when you can’t get out of town. And it’s gossipy. Which for me is always fun.

Rooms by Lauren Oliver

• Pub. Date: 2014
• Publisher:  Ecco an imprint of Harper Collins
• Format: Hardback
• pages: 305
• Source: bookstore!
• 3 stars

I like this book for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest one is the ghosts. Did I mention that this is a ghost story? No? Well, it’s a ghost story. But these ghost are free floating, chain rattling ghosts. These ghosts, Alice and Sandra,  are embedded in the house. The are everywhere, and they crowd each other. They whisper to each other and the inhabitants almost hear them. They are uncomfortable and make the inhabitants uncomfortable, too.

Minna and Trenton return to the haunted house to clean it and pack up the beings of their recently deceased father. Amy, Minna’s daughter, and Caroline, Minna and Trenton’s mother, join them in this endeavor. Naturally, all of this stirs up bitter feelings between the adults and give the ghosts plenty to discuss as well. This book is not chock full of horror, but instead full of the regrets of everyone living and dead within the house. It’s a nice read for someone who wants to read a ghost story, just not a Stephen King or Peter Straub ghost story.