My (Very Ambitious) Reading Rush TBR

Ayla’s doing in a readathon? And will actually participate all the way through? YES!!! I’ve only done a readathon once before and that didn’t go as planned… This time around, I’m much more prepared, though! The Reading Rush seemed like so much fun in previous years and so I felt like joining this year. The challenges are so exciting and I had the best time putting together a TBR. Whether or not I’m actually going to stick to it is a whole other thing, but we’ll see! Is it July 20th yet? I’m so excited!

I’ll be doing The Reading Rush while I’m also working about 30-ish hours that week. I’m actually scheduling reading time around my shifts, which sounds crazy! I really wanna cross off most if not all challenges, so I’ve got a lot of reading to do… 4 books in 7 days? LET’S GOOOO!

What Is The Reading Rush?

Just in case you have no clue what The Reading Rush is, it’s a week-long readathon hosted by Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay on YouTube (and Twitter). The readathon takes place from July 20th to the 26th (Mon-Sun). There’s reading challenges, sprints, a book club book, you can earn badges through the website, there are virtual read-ins and they even have merch! 

The Challenges

The Reading Rush has 7 challenges:

1. Read a book with a cover that matches the colour of your birth stone.
2. Read a book that starts with the word “The”.
3. Read a book that inspired a movie you’ve already seen.
4. Read the first book you touch.
5. Read a book completely outside of your house.
6. Read a book in a genre that you’ve always wanted to read more of.
7. Read a book that takes place on a different continent than where you live.

Aren’t they fun?! I’m definitely going outside my comfort zone with some of them, and I can’t wait. The ‘read a book outside’ challenge was updated a little bit, read more about it here.

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The books (AKA My TBR)

Naturally Tan by Tan France
The first challenge is to ‘read a book what a cover that matches your birthstone’. I’m born in November, which means my birthstone is Citrine (or – yellow/blue? – Topaz; that was confusing). Thank Goodness that Tan’s book has a yellow-ish/orange cover!

I’m crossing off two more challenges with this book; ‘read a book completely outside your house’, because I’ll be listening to the audiobook during my bike rides to work and during dog walks. It’s also a genre I want to read more of (nonfiction, memoir).

The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
Thank goodness my TBR cart had some books starting with the word ‘the’ in it! I decided on The Becoming of Noah Shaw, because I read the entire Mara Dyer trilogy in a crazy little amount of time, so this feels like a perfect readathon book.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
For the challenge ‘read a book that’s inspired by a movie you’ve already seen’ I’m going to read A Monster Calls. I saw the movie years ago and wanted to pick up the book, but never did. Now seems like a good time! I ordered a beautiful paperback edition and it doesn’t look too intimidating for a readathon!

Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi
Reading a book set outside my continent is incredibly easy, since I live in Europe. I originally wanted to pick something outside the Unites States or the UK, but I couldn’t find anything interesting enough for the readathon or easily accessible for me to buy/borrow/read online. Instead, I decided to pick something with a specific location, so a city to a state. I probably could’ve gone with any fantasy book as well, but that felt a bit like cheating!

I also wanted to cross of the ‘read the first book you touch’ challenge. I wrote down some titles of books set in places outside the EU, put them in a jar and took out Emergency Contact! According to Goodreads the story is set in Austin, Texas.

The Reading Rush is only a week away and I can’t wait! I have no idea how I’m going to work 30+ hours and read 4 books, but I’m excited for the challenge.

Will you be participating in The Reading Rush? What will you be reading?