Currently Reading 11 August to 24 August 2019

Currently Reading

- QUEER by Kathy Belge & Marke Bieschke (66%)

- The Book Fix by Marydale Stewart (35%)

- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (08%)- IT by Stephen King (39%)- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (25%)- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (59%)

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Quite possibly doing a very silly thing. I have decided to participate (late) in the OWLS readathon and then the NEWTS readathon for the remainder of 2019. I have 3.5 months to read the chosen books. I will likely try to read all 12 of the OWLS books then decide what it is I want to go into for the NEWTS. I doubt I'll read all 36 books in the NEWTS lists in time, but a girl can dream right?

Let's see...the first one is the OWLs, with these prompts and books:

OWLS

• Ancient Runes – Retelling - Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
• Arithmancy – Written by more than one author - lluminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
• Astronomy – "Star" in the title/on the cover - The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
• Care of Magical Creatures – Animal on the cover  Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
• Charms – Adult book - Enigma by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
• Defense Against the Dark Arts – Begins with the letter R - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Divination – Set in the future - Scythe by Neil Shusterman
• Herbology – Plant on the cover - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• History of Magic – Published 10+ years Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
• Muggle Studies – Contemporary - Every Day by David Levithan
• Potions – Sequel - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Transfiguration – Sprayed edges/red cover - Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

I think this is a good list. I'll think of something for the NEWTs come time and post that as well. Here's hoping I can get through the OWLs I'll need to qualify to take the Librarian NEWTs!

I know it looks like I have DNF'd a lot of books. I haven't, I promise. I'm just saving them for OWLs next month, so I am not actively currently reading them. They'll get readded as I start them again for OWLs. I just don't think they should be on there if they aren't among the reading choices for the day. 

I hate that I enjoyed  Three Dark Crowns after complaining about it for so long. It started slow and sort of info-dumpy. But then a bit over a quarter of the way through it picked up. We were more concerned with what was happening and less with what had already happened and the history of a family that was only really rule by proxy by the grace of being on the council. I think they should institute a new edict where only two members of any given family can have council seats. Otherwise it stilts the council in the favor of the majority family. 

I am very excited to start my OWLs. I want to start them now, but I also don't want to rush JG and JC into start. I will try to read my other books that are not on my OWLs reading list. Starting with Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I'm just short of 350 pages into it. I think total it had 826? It was 827. I was off by a page. 

So, I've been thinking about bringing back the book hauls. If I do that, I may start doing monthly wrap ups again. I don't know....If I do pick it up again, it will be in September. I've already bought a large number of books for August. I also ought to be more selective in what I buy. I've so many books in my room that I'm beginning to have difficulty finding what I want or even getting to shelves. I'll see about asking my dad to put in floating shelves above my bed. So I can put the books up on the wall there as well and hopefully open up the floor again to be a floor instead of a substitute bookshelf!

Got approved for three of the five books I requested from NetGalley. So far (and I will read The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe to review it eventually) I have an 85% review rate. Only because I didn't like/didn't finish The Clouded Sky. Anyhow, I got approved for two books that fall somewhere in the LGBT+ spectrum. I got an advance copy of QUEER by Kathy Belge & Marke Bieschke, She's My Dad by Jonathan S. Williams, and The Weight of a Soul by Elizabeth Tammi. They all looked really interesting and I can't wait to get to She's My Dad. Now I just have to wait and see if I get approved for Lion's Head Revisited by Jeffery Round and The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow.

Not 100% on the logistics, but I accidentally bought a book the other day. I was putting my Kindle away and I guess I brushed against the purchase icon on the screen and then confirm. I don't know how I did it, but I did. I ended up accidentally acquiring The Fire Blossom by Sarah Lark, which from what I gather (from the original title: Feuerblüten) was originally published in German. 


Started painting the edges again of my books. I think I will do Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy in a matching petal pink? Just waiting for Shanghai Girls to dry. Then I'll probably move the fan or something and use the bar stool with a board on it. Make use of the tools I have! I forgot how much fun it is to do this and to pick the colors for the books. I wonder what color I would want to do The Priory of the Orange Tree? Probably orange or dark yellow to match the theme.