Tag: Amreading

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Bout of Books Readathon TBR

Maggie Hemlock

I’m on track for my Good Reads reading challenge, but I don’t want to fall behind while I’m busy writing book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. So, when a friend asked if I was participating in Bout of Books I knew I was even when I said I wasn’t sure I’d have time. Like everyone, some days I get so busy I forget why I started writing. I started writing and continue to do so, because of my love of stories.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bout of Books you can check out the full information here.

Bout of Books is a readathon to encourage readers to read more than they normally would through the week of 5/13/19 to 5/19/19.

The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye by [Kirkman, Robert]

I never quite stick to my TBR for readathons. I’ll likely read the combined volumes of the Walking Dead Comics during the readathon. I’m on the second volume and really enjoying finding out where my favorite television show came from. They’re really different, but I’m loving them! If I haven’t devoured them by the time Bout of Books roll around I’ll likely spend the week finishing them up. There are 33 volumes. I’ll likely still be working my way through them.

I’ve also picked up a few novels in case I want to change things up during Bout of Books.

Rainbow Islands by Devin Harnois. I’ve wanted to read this alternate world LGBT book for a while.

Rainbow Islands by [Harnois, Devin]

The Devil Between Us by S.C. Wilson

The Devil Between Us by [Wilson, S.C.]

Let me know in the comments if you’re participating in the Bout of Books Readathon this year!

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O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon 2019 Wrap-Up

Maggie Hemlock

When I announced to my friends I was not only participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in April 2019, but also participating in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon and a month long readathon I got some weird looks. Ever since I was a kid, my life revolved around stories. Telling them, reading them, imagining how everything could be different if one thing changed. What I couldn’t predict was the drama coming into my life in April. I planned to read a book for all of the prompts in O.W.L.s Magical Readathon, but that didn’t happen.

The announcement video. This is full of information. Yes, schedule willing I’ll participate in the N.E.W.T.s as well in August 2019.

So What Did I Read for O.W.L’s Magical Readathon?

I’m happy to announce I did meet the requirements for my Journalist/Writer path. So, as long as I get my N.E.W.T.s in August I’ll be good to go. Let’s talk about the requirements for my chosen path first.

I needed:

History of Magic: Read a book published at least 10 years ago.

Muggles Studies: Read a contemporary novel

One other O.W.L. of my choice: I chose Astronomy which mean I needed to read a book with ‘star’ in the title.

History of Magic O.W.L.

For my History of Magic O.W.L. I didn’t have to look far. I read two books this month that met the requirement, but one also met my Herbology requirement.

History of Magic O.W.L. – Check!

I read The Downsiders by Neal Shusterman published in 1999. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound old enough to be for History of Magic, but that’s 20 years ago. I don’t often glance at publication years, because it has the habit of making me feel old. lol But for this challenge I made an exception.

Downsiders was a wonderful YA book about a city built under NYC. In many ways it was a coming of age novel that explored what we believed about ourselves and how complex societal beliefs evolve.

Muggle Studies O.W.L.

I don’t read a whole lot of contemporary fiction, but I do love novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde. She writes emotional fiction in my opinion. I’ve yet to read a book by her that I didn’t enjoy. She also has a few LGBT titles as well.

For my Muggle Studies O.W.L. I read Heaven Adjacent by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It’s another great book by this author. Her writing always pulls at the heart strings and digs into the soul.

Astronomy O.W.L.

For my astronomy O.W.L. I read The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. This was a modern take on Egyptian mythology that did not fail to entertain.

Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.s: Read a book with a land animal on the cover.

Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey

Charms O.W.L.s: Age line read an adult work (I went with non-fiction for this one.)

PTSD Recovery by David Craft

Herbology O.W.L.: Read a book with a plant on the cover.

The Boy Next Door by R.L. Stine

I had a lot of fun with this readathon and can’t wait until the second part rolls around in August!

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Not as much as I thought: Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

Maggie Hemlock

Nope! I didn’t read for 24 hours. I read for all of about 5ish over the course of 2.5 books. I had a few very happy interruptions, but also I’m horrible at sitting still all day. My brain was on my steps and other things. But with that said I did enjoy spending a huge part of my day reading.

So what did I read?

In all of 63 minutes I read:

176473 The Boy Nexty Door was a nostalgicread for me. It wasn’t as wonderful as I remembered R.L. Stine books being as a kid, but it was still a nice and short stroll down memory lane. The Boy Next Door also fulfills my History of Magic Requirement for my O.W.L.s Magical Readathon. (More on that after the month wraps up.)

639754

In just over 2 hours I read Downsiders which was the highlight of my day! It was an imaginative YA book that really brought the city under NYC to life! It had colorful characters and a plot that held strong until the end. It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

20681123 I nearly finished this book with the rest of my reader time. It’s a really interesting book of short stories all told from the point of view of a different animal. I’m just past the story of a turtle and I only skipped one. I won’t say which one, but I just couldn’t get into one of the stories no matter how hard I tried. I’m looking forward to finishing this one up next week. (It fulfills one of my O.W.L.s requirements too.)

So what happened? I was so amped up about Dewey’s this month! But…. I also had an air conditioner arrive early and it’s Camp NanoWrimo. My mind was definitely plotting my own book while I was trying to read. I love reading. It’s one of the reasons I became a writer. I think in the future I’m not going to overlap 24 hour readathons with Nanowrimo months.

How was your readathon?