Reading books by Black authors for the Hogsmeade Mini Magical Readathon (#HogsmeadeReads2020)

Book Roast has organized another mini Magical Readathon, and it’s happening in June! This is a one week (22-28 June) readathon with reading prompts based on the shops in Hogsmeade (the town near Hogwarts in Harry Potter). You can find a link to the map of Hogsmeade that G made with all the reading prompts and everything else you need to know in this video on Book Roast.

I know this is Pride month, but Pride wouldn’t have happened without Black women. So, for this readathon, I decided to create a TBR of books written only by Black authors. The point of this is to normalize Black stories by Black authors. There are books written by Black authors that fit every single one of these prompts. Multiple books. Reading a book by a Black author doesn’t have to be the one book you read to fill the “read a book by a POC author” prompt in a readathon. If you don’t believe me, check out this Twitter thread list of almost 200 (or more?) books by Black authors for more inspiration. I guarantee you’ll find something amazing to read.

Because there are so many options, I decided to try to stick with books that were already on my TBR. I started there because I’m trying not to buy more books right now. But there were two prompts where I didn’t have books that fit: horror/thriller and steampunk. I don’t usually read those genres. So, I did a bit of searching and reminded myself of two books I’d seen before but never officially added to my TBR. Luckily, both were available to borrow at the library, and my readathon TBR was complete.

Below, I’ve listed each of the reading prompts from G’s Hogsmeade map along with a book from my TBR that is written by a Black author and fits the prompt.

• Read a book with a map <– A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy
• Read a book that’s part of a trilogy <– A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
• Start a read with a cup of tea <– TBD, but right now I’m thinking I’ll read Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
• Not the most popular (book has < 10k ratings on Goodreads) <– honestly, any of these books could count for this prompt, but I’m planning on reading David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
• Pink or green on the cover and/or has sweets or baked goods <– Intercepted by Alexa Martin
• Humorous read <– It’s Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan
• Read a horror or thriller <– Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
• Book written by a person of color <– again, technically all of these books could count for this prompt, but I’m going with Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
• Book you got via post (or last book added to your TBR) <– Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction by Sami Schalk
• Steampunk read <– Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus

Ten books in one week is a LOT of reading for me. I tried to pick books that were shorter, or that I think might be faster reads, but still think it’s going to be a challenge to read all these in one week.

Total page count for this TBR is 2866 pages. That means I’d have to read about 410 pages per day on average to read all these books in one week. I highly doubt that’s going to happen. But, as I said, (almost) all these books were already on my TBR. So, I plan to keep reading until I finish this stack of books, even if it takes me longer than this one week readathon.

Are you participating in the Hogsmeade Magical Readathon? If so, did you make a TBR? What are you reading? Let me know in the comments, or link me to your blog post or video so I can check it out.