#ReadThemAllThon

For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been taking part in the Pokemon-themed #ReadThemAllThon! It’s hosted by the lovely Aentee @ Read at Midnight, and it’s been running from the 14th of Augist to the 4th of September. (Handily still coinciding with my summer holidays. I’d never actually participated in a readathon before so this was pretty cool for me, and I enjoyed it SO MUCH. It allowed me to tell myself that my continuous reading was, in fact, extremely productive. 😛

The readathon is based on the Pokemon Indigo League so I’ve been attempting to read books that fit in with the badges. Comparing what I read to my TBR, I managed to gain 6 of these badges — missing the first and last ones, alas! I got a bit distracted by reading other books instead haha. 😛

badges gained

Cerulean Gym: A Book That Might Make You Cry

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill: +34CP for pages, +20CP for badge completion = 54CP total

Okay, I actually did cry whilst reading Asking For It. Wow. This was a pretty intense book — great, but intense. In many ways I felt it built upon the author’s first book Only Ever Yours to become something…similar, but also kind of different and better? Yeah. I am still a little angry and sad thinking about it.

Vermillion Gym: A Book With Thunderous Hype

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, JK Rowling: +34Cp for pages, +20CP for badge completion, +20CP for review = 74CP total

I had somewhat mixed feelings about the Cursed Child. I…didn’t really come out of it that more enlightened than I was before? The more I consider it the less I like it, but it was pretty enjoyable to read. (Except for me being super angry about the totally insane plot points and NO THIS CHARACTER WOULD NOT DO THAT.) Scorpius was cool, though. And like approximately half the internet I now also lowkey ship Scorpius/Albus… Whoops? I actually wrote a longer review for this one, though, so feel free to check that out!

Celadon Gym: A Book That Focuses on Diversity

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo: +28CP for pages, +20CP for badge completion = 48Cp total

I enjoyed this one, but I didn’t feel like it was the best book ever. I liked Amanda more than I was expecting too, and also HURRAH for female friendship. But to be honest, I think I am just not that keen on The Traditional Coming Out Story? I don’t know. There are so many tropes out there which suck. But: I do think this was a worthwhile book.

Fuschia Gym: A Book With A Great Romance

Sappho’s Leap by Erica Jong: +35CP for pages, +20CP for badge completion = 55CP total

Alas, this wasn’t quite as good as I was expecting — I don’t know, it just felt really disconnected? But I loved reading from the POV of Sappho and there WAS lots of awesome romance. I mean, Sappho is basically the love poet, so. There was some cool stuff about her being a reincarnation of Aphrodite or something as well…? Anyways, I am like, beyond here for bisexual Greeks.

Saffron Gym: A Book With Fantasy/Supenatural Elements

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas: +64CP for pages, +20CP for badge completion = 84CP total

I didn’t particularly enjoy the first book in this series, but PEOPLE WERE RIGHT. I enjoyed ACOMAF a lot more! I mean, the plot didn’t particularly grip me, but I loved the new characters and the slightly less, like, controlling relationship dynamics. Even though there were still lots of problematic things within in that. Yep.

Cinnabar Gym: A Book With A Red Cover

What’s a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne: +43Cp for pages, +20CP for badge completion = 63CP total

YAY, this was so wonderful. Activism! Friendship! Changing the world! There was so much to love here, but I did wish there had been more about intersectional and diverse feminism.

Soo my total for all of these books was 384CP — I also tweeted under #ReadThemAllThon twice to get another 4CP. My Tepig gained +50CP from evolving at 150CP and then +50CP from evolving at 400CP! Which brings me up to a total of 482CP. (Not including the 10CP I started with, oops. JUST IMAGINE IT’S THERE.) I could probably haev got a few more points if I’d stuck to the badges but overall I’m really happy with my score! 😀 I had a fabulous time participating in my first readathon.