Make Me Read It Readathon: Sign-Up & Voting

Thanks to Kay over at It's a Book Life, I found out about this really fun readathon that just so happens to be taking place while I'm on vacation at the beach. There will be a lot of family wanting to take turns playing with the little man, so I'm thinking the timing is perfect. Plus, I am TERRIBLE at picking out books for travelling, so I can use all the help I can get! Here's how it works:

More info/sign-up here or here.

Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you've borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I'd pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten.

Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read.

When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there's a tie, then it's your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible.

The read-a-thon will take place from the 9th to the 16th of July in your timezone. You can start anytime you want on the 9th, so just fit it around whatever works for you! As for the voting, that’s up to you too!

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I usually over-pack books for vacation because I am, 1. overambitious and 2. so unsure of where to start that I tend to bring an excess of options. I can pretty much guarantee I will not read more than 5 books on vacation, even considering the types I'm choosing for this event -- novels in verse, uniquely formatted books, middle grade -- i.e. quicker reads. So help a girl out and vote for up to 5 books from the choices below (titles link to Goodreads). Voting will end on July 6th and then I will simply pack up the top picks, thus eliminating the second-guessing and last minute agonizing over my shelves. THANK YOU fellow readers!

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THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Created with Poll Maker

Thank you to everyone who voted!

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P.S. I am not factoring audiobooks into this event. I am in the middle of Diana Gabaldon's The Fiery Cross and will soon be taking a break and switching over to Libba Bray's The Diviners for book club. Wherever I am at with these two, I plan to carry on during the readathon for travel hours and other times I am on the move or want to give my eyes a break.

(Updated: 7/7/2016)

April/May #ShelfLove Update

These days, time to do anything that requires me to be sitting still is at a premium. I've been itching to blog more, but it's getting harder to even find time to read anything that is not an audiobook (reading on the move!) or a picture book (though I seriously love those too!) My little guy recently started walking, sorry I mean running, so he's been keeping me busier than ever. Since I have some rare time for an update, I thought I'd do a little catch-up for the past two months...

April's discussion topic was Libraries. In short? I freaking love my library. They have story-times for "tiny tots" up through school age, plus all sorts of other fun programs. I can take out stacks of picture books so I don't get bored to tears of the same old stories over and over again. And let's be honest, at just over 1 year old, I am enjoying these books more than my son is! Thanks to my library, I have expanded my reading repertoire and branched out into comics/graphic novels and audiobooks. And though I still like to buy books, I've culled a lot and I am trying to be much more deliberate about what I choose to add to our collection. The library is always there for me to try a new author or genre on a whim or learn more about a certain topic (like how to feed a toddler...) without defaulting to making a purchase. I also met my book club at the library! We do our own thing now, but I am grateful to have met some great bookish friends though my library.

May's discussion topic was Literary Dream Trips. Well, I had the most amazing opportunity a few years ago to visit Scotland, aka home of JK Rowling and the setting of Outlander. I don't think I could top that if I tried, but I would love to visit other smaller/local literary sites (houses of authors, etc.) or events someday. And I would also really love to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts -- maybe when the little guy is a bit older.

As for my progress with the #ShelfLove challenge? In April and May, I read the following books that were on my shelves prior to 2016:

The Winner's Crime, by Marie Rutkoski (had print, but switched to audio)

Drums of Autumn, by Diana Gabaldon (re-read; mostly on audio this time around)

April/May TOTAL: 2 books read from my shelves
2016 TOTAL: 19 books read from my shelves

It seems I read mostly from the library in April and May. See, I told you I love my library! But as we approach the halfway mark of 2016, I think it's a good time to reexamine my shelves and prioritize some books I've been meaning to get to for ages. Wish me luck!

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How has your 2016 reading been going?