Skip to main content

About

  About Amy Hello, I'm Amy, an aspiring motorsports writer and former blogger.  If you dig deeper enough, you find some very old blog posts, as this started as a book blog, but that's really where I got my start in writing: book reviews, hot book topics and as well as the odd personal essay.  After leaving university, I left the book blog behind, but continued writing and going in the world of social media, writing film reviews and promoting queer cinema, but after a tragic event in my personal life, I quickly discovered Motorsports.  What started as a love for Formula 1, while finally watching the Formula 1 film, Rush, and discovering Formula 1 TikTok, this love soon expanded to everything Formula E, IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, as well as F1 Academy.  I soon found the itch to write come back, with the fast-moving news of motorsport, to the drama, the competition, and the journey of drivers trying to find a race seat. I found that it was the people and storie...

April TBR: O.W.L.S. Readathon and Reading the YA Book Prize Shortlist

So I am normally one to do a TBR but I thought it would be interesting to post what I am doing this month because I am doing a couple challenges which overlap with each other. (You can clearly see this from the title though!) So let's get started...

Reading The YA Book Prize Shortlist

Every year I look to see how many books I have read on the shortlist for the YA Book Prize and while I normally do OK this year I knew that I was slacking. Even worse I have 8 out of the ten books on my TBR so I obviously had an idea. Why not read them all! What is cool about the YA Book Prize is that they have twitter chats to go along with each book so hopefully, I can take part. Here are the nominees: 

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson 
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge 
Furious Thing by Jenny Downham 
Meat Market by Juno Dawson 
The Deathless Girls by Karen Milwood Hargrave 
The Gifted, The Talented and Me by William Sutcliffe 
The Places I've Cried In Public by Holly Bourne 
Crossfire by Malorie Blackman 
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta 
The Quiet At The End Of The Universe by Lauren James



As I have already read The Black Flamingo and The Quiet At The End Of The Universe I will not be reading them again although I loved both of them. 

I have also not read all of the Noughts & Crosses series so don't feel comfortable reading Crossfire because spoilers so instead will be reading Knife Edge, the second book in the series.  

O.W.L.S. Readathon 

So I feel like a lot of people are doing the O.W.L.S. Readathon that is happening throughout April and I am now one of them! I felt like with me reading the YA Book Prize Shortlist, there was overlap so it seemed like the right time. I had also seen it over the last couple of years and always wanted to do it. 

So what actually is it? I hear you ask!

Set up by Book Roast on Youtube, it was designed to replicate the exams at Hogwarts that take place in April. There are 12 prompts and although you can do as little or as many as you want these can also lead to career projection which is what I am doing. 

I am taking the easy route which is a Journalist/Writer which means that I have to complete three prompts but I will do some more as well. 

For this I need to complete the following prompts and the books that I will be reading for each one:

History Of Magic- Witch hunts: a book with witches/wizards

The Witch's Kiss by Katharine & Elizabeth Corr

Muggles Studies- Book from a perspective of a muggle (contemporary)

Rebel With A Cupcake by Anna Mainwaring 


Herbology- Mimbulus Mimbletonia - A Book Starting With A M

Meat Market by Juno Dawson  

So those are the definite three but I can also do the following if I read the above books:


Arithmancy - Magical Qualities of The Number Two: Balances & Opposites: Read Something Outside Your Favourite Genre 

The Good Girl's Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson 


Charms - Lumos Maximus: Read A Book With A White Cover

The Places I've Cried In Public by Holly Bourne


Defence Against The Dark Arts - Grindylows: A Book Set At Sea/Coast  

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge 

I might even read a book under 150 pages which will fit the Potions prompt by considering I have a lot of books already. I might need to calm down. 

Anything Else:

If that wasn't enough I would love to read A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin as part of the LeGuinAlong hosted by AFrolicThroughFiction and I set myself the challenge of reading an audiobook at a month from my TBR Jar and this month it is Sweet Sorrow by David Nicolls. 

So I know this is a lot. But some of them are short and I have audiobooks (which will probably save me) so hopefully, I will read as many as I can! 

Who knows!


What are you reading in April? Are you taking part in any readathons this month? Let me know in the comments below! 

See you soon and stay safe,

Amy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Feature Articles

  FEATURED ARTICLES ---------------------------------------------------- πŸ“„ Do F1 Teams Still Underestimate Fan Events? Feature | Motorsport Culture A look at how Formula 1 teams engage with fans and whether current events match demand. [ Read Article → ] ---------------------------------------------------- πŸ“„ Motorsport is Always Political: IndyCar & ICE Feature | Motorsport Culture An analysis of how motorsport, including IndyCar, is shaped by political, cultural, and institutional influences despite its appearance of neutrality. [ Read Article → ] ---------------------------------------------------- πŸ“„ The Mexico E-Prix: A Debrief | Race Recap A debrief of all the on-track action at the Mexico E-Prix.  [ Read Article → ] ---------------------------------------------------- πŸ“„Breaking News: DS Automobiles Leaving Formula E After Season 12 Breaking News | Motorsport News Announcement of DS Automobiles leaving Formula E after the current season. [ Read Article → ] --...

Book Review: A Semi Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

* I have received this book for review from Readers First but this in no way affects my review * Title: A Semi Definitive List of Worst Nightmares Author: Krystal Sutherland Source: From Readers First Publisher: Hot Key Books Rating: 5/5 stars ( Goodreads | Amazon ) Book Summary from Goodreads: Ever since Esther Solar's grandfather was cursed by Death, everyone in her family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime. Esther's father is agoraphobic and hasn't left the basement in six years, her twin brother can t be in the dark without a light on, and her mother is terrified of bad luck. The Solars are consumed by their fears and, according to the legend of the curse, destined to die from them.  Esther doesn't know what her great fear is yet (nor does she want to), a feat achieved by avoiding pretty much everything. Elevators, small spaces, and crowds are all off-limits. So are haircuts, spiders, dolls, mirrors and three dozen oth...

Relighting My Fire (Part 1/3)

*This was written in October and is a series of three blog posts that I am publishing together. The thoughts in these blog posts may not affect how I am feeling now and it is safe to say that I do feel mentally better than I once did.* To be honest, this is the first time I've truly written something in months. It sucks. Like really  sucks but I don't think that I can do it if I don't really love it. So why now? Well, somethings changed. I have that spark again. My fire has been relit. This feels good again. Writing feels good again. I think another reason was that I finally have the motivation to do it again. Not for anyone else  but me. Because that is who I should write for. Me. Who you might be asking why I have been gone? Why have I not written anything in months? Well, that's a hard question and all I can say is that it is complicated. I wasn't OK and I for the  most part I am and when you feel like that writing something even a simple text ...