The BookTube-A-Thon 2016 is over! And I’m very sad! I’ve had a blast and I enjoyed each and every day! Let me take you through all the days and let’s just wrap it all up. I’ll have a look at how much I’ve read and I’ll try and investigate what could go better and what actually didn’t go half bad and I’ll just see if there are any improvements to be made! |
Day #1
Tony DiTerlizzi -- The Spiderwick Chronicles
Renée Ahdieh -- The Wrath and the Dawn
Sid Jacobson, Ernie Colón -- The Anne Frank Graphic Biography
Yes, I have read three books on day 1! The first book was finished during the first 50 minutes of the BookTube-A-Thon....It was a children’s book and I had no idea it was going to be that short! I really enjoyed it and was really happy to start with the second book in the morning. The Wrath and the Dawn, although pretty nice, wasn’t really my thing, unfortunately. I just really don’t enjoy reading books that involve relationships, yet still I read them a lot. Go figure! Besides, this has probably been the official BookTube-A-Thon book this year, so many people seemed to read it! I finished it not too late, so I picked up the Anne Frank Biography. It was a graphic novel, so it was quick and...well, not so easy! This one, although it may look like a harmless comic book, was actually hauntingly historically accurate and well, I have to be honest, I didn’t feel that good when I finished it and went straight to sleep afterwards.
Page count: 578
Day #2
Robert Galbraith -- The Silkworm
Day 2 was a beautiful day spent at the lake, where I managed to read a decent chunk of the book, eventually finishing the book at home. I love Cormoran and Robin and while I probably enjoyed Cuckoo’s Calling a little more, it was still as good as the first one. The writing was just on point and so was the general development of the story.
Page count: 455
Day #3
Leslye Walton -- The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Unfortunately, I had to go to work. And it wasn’t good. However, the bad stuff got counterbalanced by this amazing book. Easily - one of my favourite books ever. So reminiscent of Rabbit Back Literature Society for some unknown reason (they aren’t similar at all), I just savoured each word and each page. What was surprising was that my usual reading pace slowed down so much that it took me a whole day to read, although it wasn’t a very big book. It had just the right amount of all the things I love in books and just. I’m lost for words. Amazing.
Page count: 301
Day #4
Graeme Simsion -- The Rosie Effect
Another bad day at work, however, also a bad day for reading. I did not like this book at all, especially not after the ecstasy of Ava Lavender, this book was just a huge nope. While I somewhat enjoyed The Rosie Effect, although it is not a genre I usually like, this book felt like a forced sequel that was trying to build on the success of the first book. However, the magic was gone. The wannabe jokes just fell flat and the whole point and idea of the book felt so artificial that...I have to admit, getting through this was a pain. The only good thing about this book was the big writing and therefore the ‘fastpacedness’.
Page count: 420
Day #5
Virginia Woolf -- Mrs Dalloway
Friday. Work. Home. Acro. I didn’t have much time to read, that might also be the reason I couldn’t pay as much attention to Mrs Dalloway as desired, however, I still have to say that I really liked. The stream of consciousness was always advertised as ‘very hard to follow’ at uni, yet I didn’t find myself struggling as much as I thought it would be. I am pretty sure I have missed some minor plot points, because my reading in general was so scattered, it would have been much better to read the book during one sitting, but well, there’s always time to re-read! In the evening, I moved onto my last book as well!
Page count: 169
Day #6
A day full of chores, cooking and skyping with my nan, I felt pretty drained, so I wasn’t able to squeeze as much reading in as I’d like.
Page count: 216
Day #7
J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Last day *wipes tear* was a reading extravaganza. I basically read all day, slightly forgetting to eat and drink properly. However, I am immensely proud of myself for finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix *hem hem, while I’m writing this, I’ve still got a 100 pages left but unless I die, I’ll definitely make it* within the frame of the readathon, after all, it’s a pretty chunky book! And what can I say about this one...as brilliant as always!
Page count: 492
Total page count: 2,661
Twitter sprints: The reading sprints on Twitter were one of the best parts of the readathon. Generally, the Twitter reading community has been incredibly motivating and I found some new friends. I’m sad I couldn’t attend some sprints, but I can’t have everything! I loved checking in after like 10 minutes of reading and answering some questions, polls or sending emojis, it was always a lot of fun, definitely a great addition to the whole reading experience.
Youtube & Instagram challenges: Definitely something I would like to participate in next year as this time around, I was a newbie to readathons and I wasn’t even sure if I was going to keep it up and I really didn’t bother with the challenges. Next time, however, I definitely will!
Overall, I’m really happy with myself and very proud of how much I’ve managed to read in just a week. I’ve read 8 books with the average around 350 pages each. The only thing that I would fix is that I would dedicate even more time to reading, because I know it myself that I wasn’t spending all the time that I could reading. And another thing - maybe some wishful thinking - next time I’ll really try to schedule my working plan around the readathon. Especially on Thursday, work really had some negative impact on my mood and it didn’t really help me in the long go. However, that’s not always possible, but when there is a chance, of course, why waste it.
Other than that, I would like to thank Ariel Bissett for creating the Booktube-A-Thon and just being an amazing reading motivation. I truly admire her for setting all this up! And I would also like to thank the other people who have participated in the creation of the readathon, the reading sprint hosts as well as the hosts of the challenges on Youtube and Instagram! (Sorry I haven’t participated)
I really had a great time and expect me around next year!
Tony DiTerlizzi -- The Spiderwick Chronicles
Renée Ahdieh -- The Wrath and the Dawn
Sid Jacobson, Ernie Colón -- The Anne Frank Graphic Biography
Yes, I have read three books on day 1! The first book was finished during the first 50 minutes of the BookTube-A-Thon....It was a children’s book and I had no idea it was going to be that short! I really enjoyed it and was really happy to start with the second book in the morning. The Wrath and the Dawn, although pretty nice, wasn’t really my thing, unfortunately. I just really don’t enjoy reading books that involve relationships, yet still I read them a lot. Go figure! Besides, this has probably been the official BookTube-A-Thon book this year, so many people seemed to read it! I finished it not too late, so I picked up the Anne Frank Biography. It was a graphic novel, so it was quick and...well, not so easy! This one, although it may look like a harmless comic book, was actually hauntingly historically accurate and well, I have to be honest, I didn’t feel that good when I finished it and went straight to sleep afterwards.
Page count: 578
Day #2
Robert Galbraith -- The Silkworm
Day 2 was a beautiful day spent at the lake, where I managed to read a decent chunk of the book, eventually finishing the book at home. I love Cormoran and Robin and while I probably enjoyed Cuckoo’s Calling a little more, it was still as good as the first one. The writing was just on point and so was the general development of the story.
Page count: 455
Day #3
Leslye Walton -- The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Unfortunately, I had to go to work. And it wasn’t good. However, the bad stuff got counterbalanced by this amazing book. Easily - one of my favourite books ever. So reminiscent of Rabbit Back Literature Society for some unknown reason (they aren’t similar at all), I just savoured each word and each page. What was surprising was that my usual reading pace slowed down so much that it took me a whole day to read, although it wasn’t a very big book. It had just the right amount of all the things I love in books and just. I’m lost for words. Amazing.
Page count: 301
Day #4
Graeme Simsion -- The Rosie Effect
Another bad day at work, however, also a bad day for reading. I did not like this book at all, especially not after the ecstasy of Ava Lavender, this book was just a huge nope. While I somewhat enjoyed The Rosie Effect, although it is not a genre I usually like, this book felt like a forced sequel that was trying to build on the success of the first book. However, the magic was gone. The wannabe jokes just fell flat and the whole point and idea of the book felt so artificial that...I have to admit, getting through this was a pain. The only good thing about this book was the big writing and therefore the ‘fastpacedness’.
Page count: 420
Day #5
Virginia Woolf -- Mrs Dalloway
Friday. Work. Home. Acro. I didn’t have much time to read, that might also be the reason I couldn’t pay as much attention to Mrs Dalloway as desired, however, I still have to say that I really liked. The stream of consciousness was always advertised as ‘very hard to follow’ at uni, yet I didn’t find myself struggling as much as I thought it would be. I am pretty sure I have missed some minor plot points, because my reading in general was so scattered, it would have been much better to read the book during one sitting, but well, there’s always time to re-read! In the evening, I moved onto my last book as well!
Page count: 169
Day #6
A day full of chores, cooking and skyping with my nan, I felt pretty drained, so I wasn’t able to squeeze as much reading in as I’d like.
Page count: 216
Day #7
J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Last day *wipes tear* was a reading extravaganza. I basically read all day, slightly forgetting to eat and drink properly. However, I am immensely proud of myself for finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix *hem hem, while I’m writing this, I’ve still got a 100 pages left but unless I die, I’ll definitely make it* within the frame of the readathon, after all, it’s a pretty chunky book! And what can I say about this one...as brilliant as always!
Page count: 492
Total page count: 2,661
Twitter sprints: The reading sprints on Twitter were one of the best parts of the readathon. Generally, the Twitter reading community has been incredibly motivating and I found some new friends. I’m sad I couldn’t attend some sprints, but I can’t have everything! I loved checking in after like 10 minutes of reading and answering some questions, polls or sending emojis, it was always a lot of fun, definitely a great addition to the whole reading experience.
Youtube & Instagram challenges: Definitely something I would like to participate in next year as this time around, I was a newbie to readathons and I wasn’t even sure if I was going to keep it up and I really didn’t bother with the challenges. Next time, however, I definitely will!
Overall, I’m really happy with myself and very proud of how much I’ve managed to read in just a week. I’ve read 8 books with the average around 350 pages each. The only thing that I would fix is that I would dedicate even more time to reading, because I know it myself that I wasn’t spending all the time that I could reading. And another thing - maybe some wishful thinking - next time I’ll really try to schedule my working plan around the readathon. Especially on Thursday, work really had some negative impact on my mood and it didn’t really help me in the long go. However, that’s not always possible, but when there is a chance, of course, why waste it.
Other than that, I would like to thank Ariel Bissett for creating the Booktube-A-Thon and just being an amazing reading motivation. I truly admire her for setting all this up! And I would also like to thank the other people who have participated in the creation of the readathon, the reading sprint hosts as well as the hosts of the challenges on Youtube and Instagram! (Sorry I haven’t participated)
I really had a great time and expect me around next year!