I am an avid reader, but I never was a fan of read-a-thons, because I like to enjoy reading a book at a pace that I choose. But looking at the booktube community I wanted to try it out for once and see what I think about it.
So, I did the booktubeathon, which was organized by Ariel Bissett. This read-a-thon is at it's second edition and came with an official YouTube channel:
BookTubeAThon.
The challenges were:
The Reading Challenges:
- A book with pictures.
- Start and finish a series.
- A book with red on the cover.
- A book someone else picks out for you.
- A book from the genre you've read the least this year.
- A book to movie adaptation
- Read seven books.
The Video Challenges:
- Day One: Show your top 3 book you read because of booktube.
- Day Two: Find the items on three covers.
- Day Three: Draw a better cover for any book.
- Day Four: Write a story using all the words from three titles.
- Day Five: Make a rainbow of you favourite books.
- Day Six: Find 5 things from one of the books you've read this week.
- Day Seven: Show us where you've read during the booktubeathon!
Because of these challenges and of the reading sprints, reading became a collective action and not a solitary activity, which I loved!
Now I didn't respect the challenges, because during that week I had other activities that were a priority and I didn't get to read every day, but I was pretty satisfied with what I managed to read. So here is my wrap up for my very first read-a-thon:
Day 1:
I managed to read 80 pages of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, getting me from page 100 (which I've read the week before) to page 180.
Total page count: 80
Day 2:
I continued reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, from page 180 to page 300, which means that I've read 120 pages.
Total page count: 200
Day 3:
I have started and finished Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. This book has 187 pages.
Total page count: 387
Days 4 & 5:
I did not read.
Total page count: 387
Day 6:
I have read Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling (109 pages) and Quidditch through the Ages by JK Rowling (105 pages).
Total page count: 601
Day 7:
I've read Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them by JK Rowling (88 pages) and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (155 pages).
Final page count: 844 pages!!!
Pro tip: for a read-a-thon pick action packed books, thinner books and generally any book that you love and has a fast pace, to make you feel that you are devouring them!
I absolutely enjoyed reading some JK Rowling books and I even managed to complete a few challenges:
- A book with pictures (Tales of Beedle the Bard)
- Start and finish a series (Hogwarts Library)
- A book with red on the cover (Breakfast at Tiffany's)
- A book to movie adaptation (of mice and men)
This being said, I would very much like to participate in other read a thons in the future!
