As many of you will probably know, the Booktube-a-Thon ended a couple of days ago. This year I participated for the first time and I actually didn’t do as bad as I was expecting to. Keep reading to find out what I read last week!
Okay, so first of all I want to say that you can completely ignore the TBR I posted before the Booktube-a-Thon started. I honestly don’t even know why I make TBR’s, I NEVER stick to them! I am a huge mood-reader so compiling a list of books to read beforehand just doesn’t work for me. Now, without further ado lets get into the books I read!
Read a book with a person on the cover.
The first challenge was to read a book with a person on the cover. And I decided to read Gedichten van de broer van Roos by Tim Hofman. This is a Dutch poetry book and the title translates to Poems by the brother of Roos. Doreth has been in a poetry kick for the past couple of weeks and she got this book. And since I had heard pretty good things about the book I decided to start reading it while I was at her place last week (cause what else would you do at your friend’s house haha). I have to say I wasn’t completely sold on this book. It wasn’t bad, but the poems just didn’t really speak to me on a personal level.
Read a hyped book.
The second challenge was to read a hyped book. This is one of the challenges for which I kind of cheated. I chose to read Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis. I don’t feel like this book is very hyped, but it’s part of a classic children’s series and I always hear people talking about how much they loved the Chronicles of Narnia growing up. So I’m still gonna count it for the hyped book challenge. I have to admit I wasn’t actually the biggest fan of this book. I found it a lot more boring and hard to get through than the first book in the series. I don’t think I will be continuing on with these books.
Finish a book in one day.
The third challenge was to read a book in one day. For this one I picked a recent buy. I got Was She Pretty? by Leanne Shapton in Brussels when I was there the week before the Booktube-a-Thon. It was very much an impulse buy cause it had cool drawings inside and I liked the concept. Basically this book revolves around the idea that everyone is someone’s ex. The author describes people’s past relationships in really short passages (sometimes not longer than a sentence). It was an interesting book and definitely a very quick read but I didn’t like it as much as I had anticipated. Some of the passaged were fun to read, but I don’t think this book will really stick with me.
Read about a character that is very different from you.
The fourth challenge was to read about a character that is very different from you. Again I kind of altered the challenge. I read And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. This is a poetry book heavily centered around her life as a black woman in America. Now obviously Maya Angelou isn’t a character, she was a real person (that is where I strayed form the challenge) but she I still very different from me, not only in race but also in the fact that she grew up in the ’30s and ’40s. She has led a very different life from me and I am happy I decided to pick up this poetry collection. I found some great poems, my favourite was phenomenal woman, and I am sure I will come back to this collection many times in the years to come.
Finish a book completely outdoors.
The fifth challenge was to finish a book completely outdoors. Now I am putting the emphasis on finish because that is what I did. I finished a book outside. I was sick for the majority of the Booktube-a-Thon and it also rained for most of it. So it just wasn’t a good idea for me to sit outside and read an entire book. However the challenge said finish, so I picked up The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (cause I was in a very Harry Potter-mood and felt like re-reading this absolute gem of a book) and dragged my snotty and sneezing self to the garden when I reached the last page. So technically I finished that book outside. I know it’s kind of cheating, please don’t hate me.
Read a book you bought because of the cover.
The sixth challenge was to read a book you bought because of the cover and for this one I chose to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I didn’t actually buy my own copy of this book, but my friend bought it for my birthday cause she had seen me eyeing this book in the shop. And I was definitely eyeing it because of the cover. I have to say I wasn’t as impressed by it as I thought I was going to be. Doreth always raves about this book and I remember liking the movie, but I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. I found it to be a but confusing and I didn’t feel a connection with any of the characters. The only character I actually liked was the Mad Hatter.
Read seven books.
The last challenge was to read seven books and I clearly didn’t manage to do that. I’m not too mad about it though cause the entire goal of participating in a read-a-thon is to read more than you usually would. And I definitely accomplished that! There is no way I would have read six books in one week if it wasn’t for the Booktube-a-Thon so I am pretty happy with everything that I managed to read.
I will definitely be participating in more read-a-thons cause I absolutely loved this one! In total I managed to read 953 pages, six books and complete 6 challenges.
If you participated please let me know how you did and if you will be doing it again!
Lots of Love,
Lotte
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