Read-a-thon Wrap Ups

 Welcome back to the reading world!

Today I’m going to talk about the books I read during the 1000 Doors Read-A-Thon and Nonfiction November. These were the only read-a-thons I did this year, so if you have any fun reading challenges you’re participating in for 2021 let me know!

The 1000 Doors Read-a-thon is a Booktube event hosted by Meg With Books, Drinking by My Shelf, and Tea Books and Tamzyn. This is a super unique read-a-thon experience because you follow different videos to link to the next cue for each book you read. 

For my experience, I’ll write out the prompts I got as well as what books I read to complete them!

Prompt no. 1: “History”

I found this prompt particularly fitting as I was picking back up the book The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

This is a biography of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, focusing not on the murderer but on the social and life circumstances that led the five victims to Whitechapel. It’s a commentary not only on how society treated women at the time, but how the media and history misrepresented the women. I’ll be sharing a full review on this on the blog in the future!

Prompt no. 2: “I’m Back”

For this, I picked up Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.

This book explores family, the concept of home and homecoming, and more. It’s a novel that had a lot of things I didn’t expect, but the writing keeps you engaged with the story and the themes connected the threads of both stories well. Again, this is one I’ll share more on in the future.

Prompt no. 3: “Marvel”

I’m not going to lie. This prompt stumped me. I haven’t seen most of the Marvel movies past Age of Ultron, and as I still have a small TBR, I had my work cut out for me. 

Now, quick disclaimer: spoilers for a Marvel movie right here. (Sort of.) I know one Marvel movie has something to do with time travel. (And by know, I mean I’m 70% sure…) and so I went with a book that goes back in time:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book is one I still struggle with and ultimately I had to set it down. There are definitely facets of this book I like, but this book also touches on some very tough topics that I want to be more prepared for going into it. 

I’m hoping to finish this one later on, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on it when I pick up the book and finish it in the future.

Prompt no. 4: Panic at the Disco

After not finishing my last book (which the read-a-thon still has prompts for, so never fear if a book isn’t the right one for you at that time!) I wanted to pick up a book that I had “High Hopes” for, to tie into the prompt and to shake off the potential reading slump. 

I turned to Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner

This book is a LGBT romance that I really enjoyed. Since I was trying to shake the reading slump and having quite a hectic week in grad school, I read this book without taking notes/annotating/all the usual things I do when I’m putting my reviewer hat on. Instead, I just enjoyed reading this book and connecting with the characters.

So, no review for this one but definitely one I enjoyed! It’ll definitely be making a guest appearance on my monthly wrap up for November, and at least a Top Ten Tuesday or two!

Prompt no. 5: A Weapon

My 5th prompt was to read a book with a weapon. This one I actually thought of based on a new-to-me book, All Systems Red by Martha Wells.

Science fiction is a genre I don’t tend to read a lot of, but I wanted to pick up this story since I’d heard the protagonist is a witty and engaging narrator.

Now, for Nonfiction November, hosted by A Book Olive. I’ve read a decent amount of nonfiction for fun but I definitely haven’t read a ton lately. 

This year for Nonfiction November, I read:

You can see my notes on this one up above!

I also started 2 biographies/memoirs, which is one of my favorite genres of non-fiction so I’d love recommendations: 

Conversations with RBG by Jeffrey Rosen

RBG is someone I have a lot of admiration for. I’m really looking forward to reading more about her and her life with this book and hopefully a few others in the future.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

I ended up listening to this book for a bit in November on audiobook and loved hearing this story. It’s one I’m excited to continue.

So there was my experience blogging the 1000 Doors Read-A-Thon and Nonfiction November! Many thanks to the amazing hosts for setting these up for us! 

Thank you for stopping by!

-Rae