Basically Readathon Round 5!

Last Sunday on 5th of April, I joined a 24 hour readathon hosted by Britt, namely the Basically Readathon! The prompt is to read a book that has been on your TBR forever. It's been quite a while since I've been able to join any Basically Readathon-- I think the last one was probably round 2-- so I was really happy to be able to join this round 😄

As mentioned in my previous post, I had decided to FINALLY read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. 

This is because of a few reasons which are:

1. I watched Britt and a few other booktubers crying really hard after reading A Little Life and I needed that

2. I love (and hate) books that can make me cry like that, so I need to read this book.

3. A Little Life had been on my TBR for.e.ver so it's finally time for me to read it

Basically Readathon starts at 6am in my country and I started reading at around 6:30am. I was sooo giddy and excited to finally read it, I updated everything on a twitter thread~

It’s 6am and it’s finally~~~ @BasicallyReadtn time! 🤩✨I’ll be reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara for the first time ever and I’m excited!! pic.twitter.com/KktQkhD5na

— Lily ✨💚 (@lilyisslytherin) April 4, 2020 

I usually set goals for myself whenever I join a 24 hour readathon and it's usually to read at least 250 pages. However, I expected A Little Life to be a little difficult for me and not a fast reading book so, taking into consideration that I'm a slow reader, I only set a goal to read as much as possible and to just enjoy!🌟

I didn't read the whole 24 hour and I didn't stay up the whole 24 hours. I mean, I wanted to, but I couldn't 😂 If I continued staying up all night, I'd just ended up "sleep-reading" and would have no idea what I'd been reading. So I slept!
To be honest, I still think I nailed the readathon. I managed to read about 108 pages and I found that A Little Life is actually quite easy to read! 😍 Of course I couldn't read until page 250 but I found A Little Life easy to understand and my reading actually went smooth. I did find some parts of it a little too long winded so I got really slow at reading those parts as I get a little to distracted with my surrounding whenever I'm reading parts that are long winded for me.

As of page 108, I'm already loving the 4 main characters and there's not a time that I'm not scared of what is about to happen to them.

Is anyone going to die? Is their friendship going to continue going strong?
Ugh a lot of questions.

I wanted to google about A Little Life, like... with "no spoilers" but I couldn't bring myself to do so as I don't want to be spoiled even just a little bit.

As for the readathon, Britt was a darling. She literally replied everyone's tweet to her during the readathon. I find that really sweet and nice, like, you're actually in this readathon together, reading together. So I really do recommend everyone to join Britt's Basically Readathon 😉

As for my current progress with A Little Life now that the readathon is over, I haven't yet had the opportunity to continue reading it because I'm currently reading for my O.W.L's. BUT, I really can't wait to continue reading it-- I'm even trying to quickly finish all my O.W.L's in order for me to continue with A Little Life.

Dear lawd, please don't let anything happen to them.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for the first time as a 24 year old.

A very intriguing story.

I've always felt that it'd be impossible for me to understand reading The Lord of The Rings-- so I've never wanted to try reading the trilogy. I never knew that it's a children's fantasy novel. I always thought it's an adult fantasy that's very complicated-- way more complicated than Harry Potter. So I've never ever planned on reading the trilogy at all.

But one day, a bookstagrammer's review of the first book of The Lord of The Rings : The Fellowship of the Rings and I fell in love with how she was feeling finishing the book. So I with no self control, went on carousell (thank god for second hands!) and got myself a good as hell The Hobbit & The Lord of The Rings box set!

They look amazing, the feel amazing and it's not expensive at all. Affordable. 

I wasn't really excited to read The Hobbit because I thought it's just a side book...? If that makes any sense. So I was looking forward to read the trilogy first. But I later found out that The Hobbit is the prequel and some even says that they enjoyed it better reading The Hobbit first.

So here I am.

Reading The Hobbit for the first time!

😍😭😍😭 

Sunday 5th of April, 4:15AM

I found out that Bilbo Baggins didn't really know Gandalf well except for the fact that Gandalf is his ancestor's good friend. Bilbo suddenly found himself to join the adventure of Thorin & Co. -- dwarves-- and Gandalf because the Took in him took over his decision. On this adventure trip, Bilbo got separated than the others and while that, he accidentally found the ring, not knowing what it is but thoughtlessly kept it in his pocket. While he was wandering looking for the wait out, he met the Gollum. The Gollum wanted to eat him and went to look for the ring so that he could sneakily kill Bilbo, but had found that the ring was missing. It's with Bilbo, but the Gollum didn't know that, although he had suspected so.

From here, I found that the ring makes you invisible, except your shadow. The Gollum found it many years ago on his birthday, which he then calls it "my birthday present!" and is obsessed with it. The Gollum uses it to sneak attack the goblins to eat them.

And that's how Bilbo Baggins has the possession of the ring.

4:44AM

There are wolves!? I didn't know that!  

Thursday 9th April, 5:30PM

I finished reading The Hobbit!

I googled for quotes from The Hobbit and I saw this quote and I really liked it, I made a bookmark out of it. Turns out it's not from The Hobbit. It's either google lied to me or I did a terrible googling ?

It’s 12:35am on 8th April and I’ve been saying “I want to read until I reach page 200” since 10am 7th April. I hate it when it’s like that, like I’m trying to read but... so many distractions and reading mood isn’t 100% switched on. So I made a lil something! pic.twitter.com/omoEIAOThy

— Lily ✨💚 (@lilyisslytherin) April 7, 2020

I was also excited to meet Legolas while reading The Hobbit but turns out,.... he's not in The Hobbit.
But, again, it's either google lied to me or I did a terrible googling ?? 😂

While reading The Hobbit, I just had a sudden curiosity on how Legolas looks like in The Hobbit movie. I mean, I've seen him in LOTR movies but that was yearssss ago, right? so I was like... does he... still look as breath taking as he had yearssss ago? And... omg😍 pic.twitter.com/dfsU1dJQUz

— Lily ✨💚 (@lilyisslytherin) April 4, 2020

Ahh it's okay because it has only made me super excited to start reading The Lord of The Rings and meet Legolas there. Look at this beautiful Elf!

Anyways, here are a few things that I found out after reading The Hobbit:

1. The Hobbit is me and me is The Hobbit

2. We both love to eat a lot

3. We love staying at home

4. Sometimes we're Tookish and most of the times we're Baggins 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've finally finished reading The Hobbit. Unfortunately, the italicized 'finally' is not a good thing 😥. I came to reading The Hobbit with really high expectations. The first few chapters were good and I really enjoyed them-- I even managed to read straight up to page 100 without any problems because I really enjoyed them. Reading The Hobbit really brings you on a lot of adventures. I'm happy that I read The Hobbit before the other LOTR series because now I know where the ring is from and all other infos. Oh I loved it!

BUT, the last few chapters were kind of long winded and I dreaded to finish reading it. I had about 100 pages left and I kept putting it off, only managed to read 10 / 20 pages at most. It really took a long time for me to finish the last 100 pages but I do think that the last 5 pages made me happy again though. I loved the ending.

Ok now, the conclusion is! I loved it and I loved the ending, but it did get a bit too long winded somewhere in there-- as Mr. Bilbo Baggins had said, "The Tookish part was getting very tired, and the Baggins was daily getting stronger"-- which then made me give it 4 stars only. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I honestly didn't expect myself to love and enjoy this book as I am now! I only expected "ohhh learning new things about the creatures!". But once I was listening to it-- oh yes! I listened to the audiobook, which made it 100% way more precious because it's also narrated by Newt Scamander himself!-- I loved it so much and I was so happy I listened to it. I'm also berating myself for all the times I had ignored the books whenever I saw them at the bookshops, stupid me lmao.

Listening or reading Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (Hogwarts Library), you'll learn about how they had the divided whether the creatures are human or beasts. For example, are the merpeople people or beasts? and our dear Professor Firenze, is he human or beasts??
Then you'll also learn about how the beasts are rated in regards to their dangerousness, the level of protected, etc.

Ughhh. So interesting. I loved it so much I'm not lying. :')

View all my reviews

24 Hour Readathon bombs! : Magical All Nighter & Basically Readathon

 

I went on a 33 hours readathon last weekend.

🙆

#BasicalyReadathon-- hosted by Basically Britt on youtube and Instagram-- made an announcement that her 5th round of #BasicallyReadathon will be held on Sunday April 5th from 12 am to 12am (6am in my time zone). Well, I decided to join the #BasicallyReadathon as mentioned in my previous post and had my tbr ready! 🌻

A few days later, G announced that the #MagicalAllNighter for O.W.L's Readathon 2020 will be held on Saturday April 4th from 2pm to 2pm (9pm in my time zone).

So, knowing me who had been looking for 24 hour readathons to join since last March but had found non, I decided to join both! 🌟

Making it a 33 hours readathon. 

I decided to divide which time to read for #MagicalAllNighter and which time to read for #BasicallyReadathon and it went like this:

9pm until 6am: Magical All Nighter

6am until 1:30pm: Basically Readathon

1:30pm until 9pm: Magical All Nighter

9pm until 6:30pm: Basically Readathon 

The readathons 

#MagicalAllNighter started first, on Saturday and I started sharp at 9pm by.... starting THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien. Gosh. Best decision ever to have The Hobbit as one of the books to study for O.W.L's because I really couldn't wait to start the series. Anyways, I read diligently the whole night. I thought that it'd be hard for me to truly understand what every sentence means because it was written in... 1930's! but, I was on a roll and so the reading went really well and I managed to log in 100 pages for The Hobbit!

I then continued with 20 pages of The Outsider by Stephen King before reading 10 pages of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara for #BasicallyReadathon and then I waved the white flag, surrendering myself to sleep 😅 I really wanted no sleep but, I was so sleepy! 

I had a good 3 hours sleep, and then I woke up and continued reading A Little Life for #BasicallyReadathon, I think it went so so but it was a really slow reading for me. I didn't mean that the book is slow but I had to read slowwwlyy in order for me to truly understand. But I love the book the book so much I wish I'm a fast reader because I need to know what happens! Unfortunately, I only managed to read another 30 pages until it's time to push a few last hours of the #MagicalAllNighter!

At around 7 pm, I continued reading The Outsider for #MagicalAllNighter. The reading kind of went slow because I was distracted and did all the other life things, so I only managed to read another 29 pages of The Outsider until it was time for the #MagicalAllNighter to end... 🌟

By 9pm, I continued to hustle up for #BasicallyReadathon and really wanted to aim to read until page 200 of A Little Life but I was already so sleepy by 2am. I did managed to continue until page 100 of A Little Life until waving the white flag, surrendering myself to sleep again at around 4am 😂

I made a twitter thread of my progress, here for #MagicalAllNighter and here for #BasicallyReadathon 🌻

 Reading logs 

For #MagicalAllNighter, I managed to read 49 pages of The Outsider and 100 pages of The Hobbit.

For #BasicallyReadathon, I managed to read 108 pages of A Little Life.

So all in all, I read 257 pages in 33 hours!

Such a small number but! I won't give up and will join more 24 hour readathons and will read more and more! 😁

O.W.L's Magical Readathon 2020

Now, this readathon is something every readers should know about, and if you don't know, it is the 

O.W.L's Magical Readathon! 

I'm pretty sure it's one of the most anticipated readathon every year! Hosted by G, known as bookroast on youtube, O.W.L's Magical Readathon is hosted every year and takes place in the whole month of April. You choose a career from G's Magical Career Guide book and from there you'd read books according to the subjects and the prompts given in order for you to achieve you Magical career~

The career that I'm choosing this year is
Hogwarts Professor

This is how the Wizarding Careers Guidebook looks like

  

And this is the prompts for every subjects

I have a very interesting reason in choosing the career of Hogwarts Professor-- a very childish and dreamy one but reading is magical whether you're a child or a child at heart! and that's what I am :)

So anyways, the interesting reason in choosing this career is because my dream and plan after graduating Hogwarts is to renovate and to settle down at the Shrieking Shack. And to do that, I need a job and if I am to get a job, where's more important other than at Hogwarts? (Ehem, Prof. Trelawney, dat me?)

So, for me to be able to pursue my dream in becoming a Hogwarts Professor, I'd have to pass 7 O.W.L's in total! I had definitely planned my O.W.L's Magical Readathon TBR weeks before April came and here they are! :)

 

_______________________________________________________________________

A subject you wish to teach: 

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Defence Against the Dark Arts - Gryndylows, Set at beach / coast:

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere is literally the only book I have that is set at coast-- it's set at an island in the middle of the ocean where you'd go where people go after they've died. Honestly, that's super interesting to read.

 I bought this book many years ago and haven't had the chance (or mood!) to read it. And now that I've finally have the chance to read it, unfortunately the book is at someplace else, and with all these movement control order due to COVID-19, there is no possibility that I'd get the book in my hands. Ughh. Anyways, if I still can't get the book, I'll just have to read the ebook 😞

5 additional subjects of your choice:

Potions - Shrinking Solution, under 150 pages:

Hogwarts: An Incomplete & Unreliable Guide by J.K Rowling

A short and simple way to learn more about Hogwarts! I'm reading the ebook and it's less than 150 pages. Definitely the best way to learn about Hogwarts, the witches and wizards in Hogwarts and other creatures in Hogwarts!

Transfiguration - Animagus lecture, shapeshifting!:

The Outsider by Stephen King

As soon as I found out that The Outsider is about shapeshifting, I was determined to read it for O.W.L's that I immediately broke my 'no buying' rule! So I shameless went out the same day I was planning for my O.W.L's TBR and bought this book. I'm super excited to read this and once I've read it, I'm definitely watching the series!

The Outsider is the thickest book I have for O.W.L's and I'm not kidding but I am kind of worried that I wouldn't be able to finish it in time but, I'll pull through! All nighters if I need it!

Charms - Lumos Maxima, white cover:

The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton

I literally have no books that have white cover and so I had looked and looked and The Island of Adventure immediately caught my eye!! The white cover caught my eye and then the facts that it's by Enid Blyton confirmed my choice to read it 😊

Care of Magical Creatures - Hippogriffs, beak on the cover!:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Hogwarts Library) by Newt Scamander

Good lord. Isn't this the perfect book for Care of Magical Creatures!? Try to tell me otherwise and fight me :') I'll be listening to the audiobook since I've been an idiot for ignoring the book whenever I see them in the bookshops and now I'm berating myself as to why I've never bought it before this so yes. Anyways, listening to this will definitely be more precious since it's narrated by Newt Scamander himself! 💚

History of Magic - Witch haunts, books featuring witches / wizards:

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

I actually wanted to read this in April but then O.W.L's came and so I thought I'd have to put it aside and will read it in May. AND THEN, change of plans! Saw on the O.W.L's recommendation document and a lot of fellow students had recommended The Hobbit to be read for History of Magic. And since I'd been complaining of how much I feel like I'm cheating because my study list consists of audiobooks and short/thin books only, so why not!? And now I'm really excited 😍

I'm also taking Animagus Training and Legal Defence of Fantastic Beasts Seminar! The subject required are mostly overlapping except, for Animagus Training's Arithmancy!

Arithmancy - Magical Qualities, balance / opposites, something outside your favourite genre:

The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace

Something outside my favourite genre??? DEFINITELY poetry! I wanted to try one of the hyped poetry books but The Princess Saves Herself In This One caught my eye. I'm excited to read my first poetry book and I really hope it'd open my eye to read more poetry in the future!

_______________________________________________________________________

I joined O.W.L's Readathon 2019 and it went well and I had super fun! But I went for Auror last year and it required lesser books than Hogwarts Professor. But this time, I have to read 7 books! Knowing the ~slow reader~ me, I humbled up and included 2 audiobooks on my TBR. I also made sure that the books weren't so thick but... still thick. I want to enjoy myself, so I made sure to know my level in reading. I am worried but I am confident with my TBR and will continue to try hard while also just enjoy! and not beat myself up if I couldn't read them all 😅

HAPPY MAGICAL READING!

#BasicallyReadathon : 24 Hour Readathon

Britt. One of my favourite youtuber and my to go to for 24 hour readathons!

Britt is Basically Britt on youtube, and she is hosting round 5 of her 24 hour #BasicallyReadathon on 5th of April, Sunday!

BasicallyReadathon's prompt is to read the book that has been on your tbr forever! Now, I couldn't think of another book that would fit this prompt better than.....

A LITTLE LIFE by HANYA YANAGIHARA

This book's been on my TBR forever and I don't even remember when I had bought it so, sounds right for the prompt right? Britt's & Ciara's (Ciara Foster on youtube) reactions when they finished this book is also one of the reasons I'm going to read this-- the same reason why I decided to read The Book Thief after watching Zoe Herdt reading it-- which is them crying so hard at the ending. If you don't know me, I cannot not read a book that would make me cry so hard reading it, so, I'm definitely reading A Little Life!
I have no idea how well I'm going to be because it's a Sunday and with my parents around, there's so many things to do together! but anyways, I'm going to try and read as much as possible! And if I can't read physical books as much, I'll listen a lot! ANYWAYS, I'm super excited to finally read A Little Life. I've got my reading journal ready and all!

Well, I'm excited! Now who's with me!?