July TBR (three readathons!)

My June reading was really good, but I didn’t successfully complete the Olympic Games Readathon (we all knew I wasn’t going to read The Stand, okay?). That being said, for some reason I decided three readathons (although primarily two) are a good idea for July.

One of these readathons is one I’m hosting myself from July 5th to July 11th called the TBR Smashing Readathon focused on reading books from your physical TBR. I haven’t fully established my TBR at the moment (since I’m letting myself mood read more in July), but this is what it looks like right now:

1. Read one of the shortest books on your TBR: Either Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot or The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. I’m more excited about the poetry, but the latter has been on my TBR for much longer.
2. Read a book that is part of a series: I think I’ll be reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown since my friend said it’s fast-paced and it’s surprisingly short (around 400 pages) for a sci-fi book. We’ll see if I stick to this one haha.
3. Read one of the oldest books on your TBR: For this one, I’m choosing Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. This has been on my TBR for a long time and despite being a heavy read about WWII, it seems like something that wouldn’t take me very long.
4. Read a book by an author of color: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender fits this challenge really well and is one that I really, really want to read! I’m so looking forward to delving into this Carribean-inspired fantasy tackling colonialism.
5. Read a book gifted to you or recommended by a friend: I’m thinking of picking Night Shift by Stephen King, recommended by my mom! I’m not sure I’ll end up reading this for this challenge, but at the moment it doesn’t seem too bad, especially because it’s a short story collection that I can drag out through the week.

At the end of July, there’s the Reading Rush, which I’ve been looking forward to for months! My TBR for it is in the works as well, but some are definitely set in stone.

1. Read a book the same color as your birthstone: My birthstone is Peridot (I’m an August baby!), which is a vibrant green, so for this I’ll be reading The Waking Land by Callie Bates. I’m not looking forward to this book that much, so worst case scenario, I end up reading The Sea of Monsters and saying it works because it’s got green at the bottom. (I have to read it anyway for Demigodalong this month!)
2. Read a book starting with the world “the”: This one’s pretty easy to finagle since I have a lot of books on my shelf that start with “the” but I’m thinking The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, The Sea of Monsters, or The Nightingale. 
3. Read a book inspired by a movie you’ve already seen: For this one, I’m definitely reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society! It’s short, the movie is amazing, and the book looks wonderful!
4. Read the first book you touch: While picking out my loose TBR, I closed my eyes and poked a book on my TBR shelf and ended up with The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows. Unfortunately, this book is a little on the longer side, but I think I’ll manage.
5. Read a book completely outside of your house: This one’s loose too, but I’m thinking Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi since it’s not all that long and seems really good! We’ll see if I change this one, though. For the “outside of my house” bit of this challenge, I intend to sit on my back patio!
6. Read a book in a genre you’ve always wanted to read more of: I’ve had i, Robot by Isaac Asimov on my shelves since I was in eighth grade (for reference, I’m a rising sophomore in college) and I really enjoyed the movie, so I’m thinking this one. It’s short and it’s a sci fi book (which I’m looking to get into more.)
7. Read a book that takes place on a different continent than where you live: I don’t have it in my possession yet, but I preordered Loveless by Alice Oseman, and if it arrives by the Reading Rush, I will 100% be reading it for this challenge! If you know me at all, you know Alice is one of my all-time favorite authors, so it should be no surprise that Loveless is on my July TBR.

The last readathon I’ll (hopefully) be participating in in July is The Reareadathon hosted by @lethereads on Instagram! I’ve been wanting an excuse to reread some books so here’s this one!

1. The Virgin: Reread a book you haven’t reread before. For this I’ll be rereading Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine in order to read the rest of the series!
2. The Second Chance: Reread a book you’ve read before but weren’t too big a fan of. I’ll be reading The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan this month for the Demigod-along hosted by @febrvaryfriday and in all honestly, I wasn’t the biggest PJO fan when I first read them! But now I’m getting totally invested 🙂
3. Love at Second Sight: Reread a favorite. For this I’ll either pick up Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, or The Raven King by Nora Sakavic. Or all three. (Please don’t let me do that.)
4. The Classic: Reread a book you haven’t read in a while. And for that I’ll be rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by…uh…I can’t remember her name right now…Daniel Radcliffe maybe?

The rest of my TBR for the month include two ARCs from Netgalley including The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks and The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life by Dani Jansen. I’m so excited for both of them! I also intend to read, or maybe just start, The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. We’ll see if any of those books actually happen, though! (Fingers crossed at least one of them does haha.)

I have high hopes for July, especially because I’m going back to college in August so I can’t continue tackling a lot of my physical TBR from Pennsylvania (although I can tackle the bit that I left there and whatever I’ll be bringing, but ya know, not everything.) And I do have this pathetic goal of reading the entirety of my physical TBR by the time my family moves out of state next June. We’ll uhhh see about that one.

Have a wonderful July. Here’s to me actually reviewing some of the books I’ve read! On the queue right now is a mini review post for some of my recent reads, a review of both Foundryside and Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett (my favorite reads of the year), and something else probably!

-Book Hugger