Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been absent. I’ve been stressed with everything going on in the world these past few weeks, and I’ve struggled with finding inspiration for blog posts recently. I also haven’t finished a book since the beginning of March, so that could be part of my lack of inspiration.
Because I’ve been struggling so much with all of that recently, I decided that maybe a readathon would help kick my reading back into gear, if not my blogging. And it just so happens that the Reading Rush is hosting a mini, stay-at-home edition of their readathon this weekend, starting tomorrow, April 16, and going to the 19th. I’m participating, and for once I made this decision almost an entire week before the readathon actually starts (if you’ve been around before, you know normally I decide these things the day before readathons start, or sometimes even the day that they start).
Anyway, there are four reading challenges, so let’s get started.
1: Read a Book with a House on the Cover
For this challenge, I spent a long time walking around my room staring at my bookshelves, trying to find a book with a house on it—and I came to the realization that none of the books on my physical TBR have houses on the cover. So I’m stretching the definition of house a little, and for this challenge, I chose Entwined by Heather Dixon.
If you look up in the top right corner of the book cover, there’s a (very blurry) castle, and since this is a book about princesses, I decided that a castle counted as a house. I don’t know very much about this book, but I think it’s a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses, and it’s been on my shelves for a very, very long time. I don’t know exactly how long because I got this book long before I got a Goodreads account, but let’s just say it’s been a while.
I have one other book on this list that I might end up counting for this challenge if I don’t end up reading this book, but this one was the one that most clearly fit the challenge (though apparently I need to step up my game and get some books with houses on the cover).
2: Read a Book in the Same Room the Whole Time
This is not going to be a difficult challenge for me to meet. Honestly, I’ll probably end up reading most of these books in the same room, because my bedroom is really the only place I read. I’m not going to pick a specific book to do this with, but I’ll probably end up counting at least one of the other three books for this challenge.
3: Read a Book Set Somewhere You Wish You Could Go
For this one, I’m going with The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. This book is a historical fiction set in Austria. I spent a lot of time last spring traveling around Europe, and I visited several different countries, but not Austria. One day, I think I’d like to go there—but then, I’d kind of like to go everywhere.
I don’t know very much about this book, but it’s pretty short, at least compared to other books I tend to read, which is good for a readathon. It follows Nannerl Mozart, who was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sister and who was also very gifted in music, but no one really knows about her. And it’s by Marie Lu. I have a lot of mixed feelings about most of Marie Lu’s books, but I keep buying them, so I bought this one too. I don’t read a ton of historical fiction, but I figured it was a good idea to start with an author I’m familiar with.
4: Read a Book that Will Make You Smile
For this one, I chose Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. This is a middle grade novel about a girl named Morrigan Crow, and Morrigan Crow is cursed. All the people in her town blame her for all the bad things that happen, and to make matters worse, Morrigan is supposed to die on her next birthday. Then she meets a man named Jupiter North, who sweeps her away to a magical place called Nevermoor, where she must compete in trials in order to be able to stay.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, and I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it. I’ve heard it’s cute and fun, which is exactly what I need at the moment. I think I’m probably going to start off by reading this one, because this is the book that I want to count for the house challenge if I don’t end up reading Entwined. The cover shows several kids floating down on umbrellas in front of a building. I don’t know if that building is actually a house or not, but I figure it would be good enough for the challenge.
There you have it! Three books, four challenges. Four days.
We’ll see how this goes.
Let me know if you’re participating in this Reading Rush session. If you are, what’s your TBR looking like? I’d love to talk with you down in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Ariel