#thereadingrush

This is a tag created by the reading rush hosts Ariel and Raeleen so I'm doing it in the form of a tag post for people on booklr because the questions looked interesting!

1. Warm Up: A book that stretches your mind

For this I would definitely go with Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This made me sit back and think a lot of times and it was a crazy ride.

2. Start Line: What's a book that you started but never finished?

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I know this book is extremely hyped but I had to DNF is at 40%. It was getting really confusing and I was not able to concentrate on a particular story because of the infinite amount of different stories going on in this.

3. Sprint: A book you read really quickly

Quarantine has given me a lot of time on my hands and there are many books that I've read in a single day. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer and I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman are some examples.

4. Marathon: What's your favorite long book?

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It's the longest book I've read (1066 pages) and I loved every minute of it.

5. Hurdles: What's a book that had ups and downs?

The King of Crows by Libba Bray. It's the conclusion to The Diviners series. It wasn't the strongest book in the series because it had it's ups and downs but eventually I loved the ending.

6. Finish Line: A book you were proud to finish

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara was a book I was glad was over when I was done with it. It was depressing with zero hope and I didn't enjoy it at all.

7. Gold Medal: Best book you've read during a readathon

I read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware during the OWLs readathon earlier this year and I loved it. It was a 5 star read and it was a thriller set on a cruise ship. It introduced me to Ruth Ware's books and I'm glad I read it.

8. Participation Ribbon: An underrated book you wish got more attention

London Belongs to Me duology by Jacqueline Middleton! I realized not enough people have read her books and I was surprised! These books had the most relatable character ever and I loved the romance in it too. Highly recommend!

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

People Like Us by Dana Mele

Again But Better by Christine Riccio

Help me choose:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Final Girls by Riley Saggar

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Little Fires Everywhere by Celest Ng

For more info check out my newest video.

Reading rush tbr

I am so excited about this year's reading rush! In case you don't know: the reading rush used to be called booktube-a-thon, but the organisers rebranded it to make it more accessible to everyone outside of booktube (i.e., me). It's giving me some NaNoWriMo vibes with its new website (add me @esther if you want)

These are the challenges this year:

Read a book with purple on the cover

Read a book in the same spot the entire time

Read a book you meant to read last year

Read an author’s first book

Read a book with a non-human main character

Pick a book that has five or more words in the title

Read and watch a book to movie adaptation

It has been pointed out that "Harry Potter and the philospher's stone" COULD count for all of these challenges if you're desperate, so I have an illustrated edition I can dive in if all goes wrong. However, I did compile a list of books I want to read for these challenges that were on my tbr anyway.

Het Gilgamesj Epos (challenges: 1, 5)

This is a Dutch Translation of the original twelve tablets of the story of Gilgamesh. This is the only book on the list in my native language. It has been four years since I last read this material, and I am excited to go back on adventures with king Gilgamesh and his good friend Enkidu.

The O'Brien book of Irish fairy tales and legends (challenges: 3, 5 ,6)

Another book in the mythology realm, with stories I haven't visited since I took a mythology course four years ago. I got this as a present in Dublin and haven't gotten around to reading it (despite it being very short).

Again, but better (challenge: 4)

What I know about this book is that Christine wrote it and it's about a girl who is disappointed in college life because somehow you have to actually go OUT into the world to meet people? Sounds like me. This being almost 400 pages is going to be the main read of the week. To be honest, I am not sure I will be able to finish it, but the important thing is that you read more than you would normally read, right?

For challenge 2, I think I'll be reading the Irish myths in one place (my bed), because it's not a book that's comfortable to carry around but short enough to read quickly. I think I will skip on challenge 7. I am generally not a big fan of adaptations anyway and decided it would be more fun for me to ignore this and read what I want than try to fit my reads into every single challenge. (Might still watch HP, but that is unrelated.)