BookTubeAThon!

It's time for another readathon! (Warning: this is kind of a long post. Prepare yourselves) If y'all don't know what a readathon is, it's akin to a reading marathon and they usually last about a week, and this year's BookTubeAThon readathon will be from July 14-July 20! I didn't get to participate in this readathon last year because of classes, but I'm free as a jaybird this week so I thought why not? I mean, most of my favorite booktubers are participating and even leading this event and it looks like a lot of fun.

This year's BookTubeAThon challenges include both youtube and reading challenges. I won't be doing the booktube/youtube challenges but I will be doing the reading challenges, even if some of them seem a little out of reach (7 books in a week?! I don't know about that one...).

Here's the video from the BookTubeAThon youtube channel (and one of my favorite booktubers, Ariel Bissett, here's the link to her personal youtube channel) about the readathon challenges from one of the hosts of the readathon.

Well if you couldn't tell, I'm pretty excited! So without further hesitation, here's what I'll be reading for the BookTubeAThon challenges! (All links below lead to each book's respective Goodreads summary page).

Challenge #1: Read something with pictures in it
For this challenge I chose to read Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan. I have had this book for years, but I've never had the urge to read it until this summer. It's a steam punk book and there are illustrations of the various machines, gadgets, and vehicles throughout it which makes it qualified for this part of the challenge! Never having read steam punk before, I thought that this book would be a wonderful way to start. I've only heard great things about it and I cannot wait to start it!

Challenge #2: Start and finish a series
This is one of the few challenges that I don't think I can feasibly complete. I don't own any series that I haven't already started or want to reread AND complete within a week, so I'll probably just pass on this challenge.

Challenge #3: Read a book with red on the cover
This is one of the challenges that I decided to double up on. I plan on rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, and when I finish it I'll watch the movie adaptation as well thus completing change number six. I've been meaning to reread this series and thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

And if I have extra time on my hands during this readathon, then I'll read the second book of Kimberly Derting's The Pledge trilogy, called The Essence, which is a social class based dystopian that also has a red cover. I loved the first book of the series, The Pledge, but I read it almost two years ago. However, this series is not overly complicated where you can't go too long between books, so I'm hoping I'll be able to jump into The Essence as easily as I did with The Pledge. And if you haven't read The Pledge but are interested in social classes, languages, dystopian societies, and matriarch led monarchies, then you've got to check it out, it was amazing.

Challenge #4: Read a book someone else picked for you
I asked my sister to pick out a book for me off my shelf that she would recommend to me, and she chose Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. And since this book has pictures in it I decided to double up and make this my "read something with pictures in it" book as well! I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on this one, and I'm pretty sure I'll be reading this book first for the readathon. My sister has raved and raved about this novel for years, so I'm finally caving and plan on reading it this week.

Challenge #5: Read a book from the genre you've read least this year
 I had a surprisingly hard time picking something out for this challenge. At first I thought about having Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone be part of this challenge considering I haven't read much middle grades books, however I have read a bunch of paranormal books this year and I think that Harry Potter goes under that category. (Also, I'm pretty sure you can't triple up on challenges because where's the fun in that!)

Then I thought about making Leviathan triple up as well by having it be a part of this challenge, too, with it being a steam punk novel (I've honestly never read steam punk before).  But I want to challenge myself by beefing up my TBR pile this week and get into the true spirit of the readathon, so I will be reading a mystery novel, and more specifically an Agatha Christie book. I'm not quite sure which one I want to read, though, but I think I'm leaning towards And Then There Were None, one of her more famous novels (which just so happens to also have read on it's cover SCORE!).

Challenge #6: Read a book-to-movie adaptation (and watch the movie afterwards)
As mentioned above, I'll be reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for this challenge. With this month's opening of the new Diagon Alley at Universal Studios in Orlando, I've been inspired to revisit the world of Harry Potter, starting with this book. It's one of my favorite series of all time and I loved the books so I can't wait to dive right back into this world, wand at the ready!

But if I have enough time after Harry Potter, then I'll read Tim Tharp's The Spectacular Now. I watched the movie when it first came out without reading the book, and sort of regret not reading it first because I found the movie to be a little lacking.  I rarely feel that way when it comes to book to movie adaptations, though, so we'll see how I feel about the movie after reading the novel.

Challenge #7: Read 7 books or an average of 300 pages a day
Okay, this is another part of the readathon that I don't think I'll be able to complete. I don't have the attention span nor the time to read seven books in a week, but I think I can manage with the five books I've chosen above.

That is my BookTubeAThon TBR pile! I don't know if I'll be able to stick to this list but I'll post a wrap-up later to let give an update of what I ended up reading at the end of this month. And keep an eye out for book reviews on some of these books, too! If any of y'all decide to do BookTubeAThon, let me know what your TBR pile consists of in the comments! I'd love to see which books you choose for which challeges (TBR piles fascinate me)! Good luck and happy reading!