Another readathon you say? Always I say. I still be finishing up Orilium in September since some of the prompts slowed me down but I’ll also be taking part in the pirate theme readathon lead by Scurvy Sal. I’m running as Captain Liza Deepsea, and here is a little bit more about how the Pirateathon is structured.
Reading Prompts for Pirateathon
Required
Acquire a Ship: Read a book that’s 200+ pages long. The bigger the book, the bigger your ship. This prompt only needs to be completed once.
200-300 pages: Sloop
301-400 pages: Schooner
401-500 pages: Frigate
501+ pages: Brigantine
Hoist the Colors: Read a book whose cover is predominantly one color. That’s the color of your pirate flag, matey! This prompt only needs to be completed once.
Name Yer Vessel: Read a book whose title shares a word in common with the book from Acquire a Ship and/or Hoist the Colors (this can be “a” or “the”). This prompt only needs to be completed once.
Optional
Figurehead (10 bonus points): Read a book with a female-identifying main character. This prompt can be completed multiple times.
Treasure Map (1 gold for every page read): Read a book you expect to rate as a 5-star read. This prompt can be completed multiple times.
Mutiny! (1 gold for every page read): Read a book with an ensemble cast (more than two MCs). This prompt can be completed multiple times.
Scurvy (1 fleet ship for every page read): Read a book you’ve owned for at least 3 (three) years. This prompt can be completed multiple times.
Port Royal (1 fleet ship for every page read): Read a book featuring a pirate (fiction, nonfiction, space pirates, airship pirates- as long as there’s a pirate featured, it counts). This prompt can be completed multiple times.
Cannon & Saber (1reputation point for every page read): Read a book written by a BIPOC author. This prompt can be completed multiple times.
White Squall (1reputation point for every page read): Read an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic story. This prompt can be completed multiple times.
NOTE: One book may count toward up to 3 (three) prompts!
Okay so I missed the Mid-Year Freak Out Tag however it is still summer and I have plenty of the rest of the year to panic. Here as my distribution of books you can spot where I got Covid in May and the Orilium readathon in April. This was done at the start of August so is not a true representation of the month.
1.) Best book so far in 2022
This was a tough one going with content over things you just love, hmm. But the Bone Spindle had to be my favorite it was both beautiful and wonderful in story. But at Mid-Year this book has to be my favorite. It’s a sweet gender flipped retelling of several fairytales worth a look for anyone who like that genre, I can’t wait to read the sequel, hopefully out next year.
Here are my thoughts on the book as well as an Amazon link for purchase.
Since it’s Mid-Year this wins over a sequel that comes out in September. The Genesis Wars was far and above one of the best books I’ve read and definitely the best sequel it also ends on a cliffhanger so we’ll be seeing more of the world so I can’t wait for that.
This has been one I’ve been trying to pick up but the library keeps taking it back before I finish reading anyone I need to focus on reading this is the point of it. It’s really witchy and very cool and I’ll probably get it read in the fall if nothing else. But I love Claribel A. Ortega and would love to finish it sooner maybe for Orillium readathon.
4)Most anticipated release for the second half of 2022
There is only one choice for this for this I’ve been waiting two years for this book. I did have a little sort of guide in between with a novella. But I’ve been waiting for the novel. Now only a couple months away. The ninth book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Stellarlune. As you see it’s beautiful, and it’s on top of the list of the series I can’t wait for, and I have a lot.
I thought this was going to be a good horror novel but it was more psychological and by that it was a girl manipulating everyone psychologically to avoid them finding out a secret, the real drama was a family drama. And while in had all the elements of a good horror novel it just wasn’t scary. A little horrifying maybe at what people can do but you weren’t ever scared of the main villain. A good possibility for horror lost.
I’d never read Rosie Thor before and I’d heard mixed reviews but honestly the cover on this one got me and then the story drew me in. It was a political allogory of the US 2016 election and the conclusion is amazing. It is was really one of my favorite books and I love the character growth throughout.
I’ve read a lot of graphic novels this year because they seem to keep me from slumping. So far I’ve discovered Johnathan Mayberry’s wonderful zombie fiction and Jules Machias’ excellent middle grade novel. Along with great political fiction by KayLynn Flanders and found great disability fiction from Monica Roe.
8) Newest fictional Crush
I don’t have any because I’m 31 and I’m reading YA and that would be weird.
9) Newest Favorite Character
Nix, Lilah and Riot from Rot and Ruin Series, Mandy from I am not Starfire, Jenna from Shielded.
10) Book that made you cry?
These two books made me cry but for two very different reasons, one made me cry because of its relation to real life and what the heroine does and what I’d like to be able to do.
The second because it’s simply sad, I was very invested in the characters and I won’t say spoilers but the outcome made me cry.
11) Book that made you happy?
This whole book made me happy though it’s only the first volume of the series I liked the friendships and the powers of the girls, it reminded me of Sailor Moon which always makes me happy.
12) Favorite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen so far this year?
Can it be comic book to movie? Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness was amazing despite my issues with how they treated Elizabeth Olsen’s character it was still a class A movie.
13) What’s your favorite blog post?
The book you seemed to like the most was the one where I did a post about books as scents. Here, there were also some readathon posts but that posts but that one seem to be the most popular. At mid-year I haven’t done as many post as I’d like so I’ll have to put some more energy back into that.
14) Most beautiful book you bought this year?
I mostly get books from the library. I’ve gotten some pretty ones but nothing I can really think of?
15) What do you need to read by the end of the year?
At Mid-Year I’ve read no where near the amount of books I need to read I had Covid this year so it really put me behind for I’d say the whole summer. I know I won’t make my 100 book goal but I’d like to get at least 20 more books maybe closer to 30 read. I’m really behind this year.
So were back to the Frozen universe and I couldn’t be happier with Jen Calonita, and Mari Mancusi at the helm I’m never worried about my post Frozen 2 books. Some people may not thinks the post Frozen 2 books are cannon, but they are so wonderful I really don’t care one way or another. They are cannon to me. This book Frozen: Polar Nights was especially good because it was a mystery.
This book start off like most of the other with the characters doing something adorable. This time Sven, Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa and Olaf are on a camping trip and as you do on a camping trip are telling scary stories. They are on this camping trip to give Anna a break from her preparations from the important Polar Night festival in which the sun disappears from the sky for awhile due to Arendelle being in the arctic circle.
As they are telling tales Kristoff tells the tale of two sisters one that wanted the power of the other and pushed the other over a waterfall, now the sister who was wronged has come back as vengeful spirit called a draugr—an undead creature that steals memories in an effort to make others forget the misdeeds it committed when it was alive. And it is supposed to come back if you tell the tale on the night it was wronged exactly what Kristoff is doing.
At first only Olaf is scared but when things start going wrong a people start forgetting Anna and Elsa start trying to get to the bottom of what turns out to be a true story of two princesses much like themselves who their family is tied in with.
I won’t spoil the ending but they find out the truth about the draugr and the two princess, and the darkness in their own past. They are able to make things right for another who they think is an enemy as well. And even though things haven’t been prepared Anna’s first Polar Lights celebration is a memorable one because she has her family with her.
So another week in August. I’m working on the readathon slowly but I think I’ll make some real progress this week. I’m doing the quests first and then doing my classes. Not terribly responsible but hey I was responsible in school, and my character was very responsible first equinox.
So Fable focusing on getting guild points and moving up in her guild this semester. This was actually a class read, the first class Fable finished. This book was for where I had to spin a color wheel to get a random color on the cover. I got teal. And this cover fit perfectly. Just Roll with It was the perfect book to get my class reads started and also my required book for.
Spells and Incantations
As for the plot itself it appealed to me for several reason. One I’ve recently gotten big into D&D which the game in the book is clearly based off of. In the book the main character Maggie carries around a D20 which she has to roll to see if she can do things, low rolls mean no, high rolls mean yes. she rolls the D20 for just about everything.
She also has rituals when she comes home. Her parents suspect that she has a mental health issue, however Maggie makes friends and focuses on her grades, but still the gossip of a monster around the school starts to get to her. Her obsessions and compulsions get worse she blows up at her parents when they mention the idea of therapy to her. Her fears show up in her dreams as a great white dragon.
When her school sends her and her friends to the zoo to prove there isn’t a monster she encounters albino animals that remind her of her dragon, but the zookeeper points out that they are in danger in the wild because they are easier to see and more often die because they can’t camouflage themselves. After learning all this Maggie returns to the school with her friends she sees something moving in the grass and even though she rolls a low number she uses a net one of her friends had that the were planning to use to catch the monster.
It turns out to be a baby albino alligator. They get it to the zoo and ignoring that roll inspire Maggie to face down her inner dragon, who turns out just to be a scared version of herself, she goes down to talk to her parents and agrees to therapy the book ends with her talking to her therapist and what her illness means and what it doesn’t and how it will affect her life.
If you remember back to April, you may not it’s kinda foggy to me. I did the Orilium Magical Readathon. It had linked back previously to the Novice Path where you created a character by going through a wilderness to go to a magical school. The Orilium Magical Readathon picked up where you were at the school and choosing your major so to speak, I chose to be a Dream Walker, they basically work with people’s dreams to especially if they are hurt or injured to help keep them happy and peaceful.
Also not completely ethical they can Dream Walkers can also manipulate it, influencing their next moves and planting the seeds of ideas the dreamers will think were their own, subtly influencing their actions. Once again, there are ethical concerns about meddling with such things. Though my Dream Walker is definitely on the sweeter side.
In the Orilium Spring Equinox we had to read a certain number of books based on subjects. This semester we have to read books to a certain level Ordinary, Qualifed or Distinguished. So we have more books to read because of this. Plus there are always the awesome quests.
As for my character here is their Orillium school ID.
We also have my Autumn Semester TBR.
I’m very excited to get back into this readathon I enjoyed it. I liked the community that came with the readathon the first time around. If you are looking for more information about the Discord and the Pateron of the Book Roast’s the readathon’s creator, check out the announcement video.
You know SAD, seasonal affective disorder that thing everyone gets in the winter. Nope not me I get it in the summer. If you look at the blog every year I have problems posting in the during June, July and August. I’ve tried different things to help. But I think I’m just going to have to end up taking summers off. I’ve had no motivation since May. Now it’s coming back. I don’t know if it’s the heat it has been pretty mild for summer where I am. It might be part of my schizophrenia as I just saw a poll where people voted that their symptoms get worse in the summer.
Mine sure do, plus I had, this summer, COVID for a month, a stomach virus from hell, and messed up my meds so I was out of it, this came to me being sick the whole summer. So posting wasn’t my first priority but I was reading and while I don’t think I’ll reach my goal of 125 books this year. I’m going to keep reading a try for 50 with a 75 stretch.
So it wasn’t the worst Summer when it came to reading I read some great books, all of which I plan to review here. Still personally it could have been better, on the upside though I got into D&D which has really been fun and has improved my life. So that was one positive from the summer. Tomorrow we will look at my TBR for the Magical Readathon which I’m so excited to be a part of.
