BookTubeAThon: a read-a-thon hosted online by various BookTubers.
BookTuber: one who makes videos on YouTube about books.
December 27-29 this year was the holiday BookTubeAThon, in which you were challenged to read 3 books in 3 days: a smaller, less-pressure version of the regular BookTubeAThon, which takes place during the summer over the course of a full week. This year’s holiday BookTubeAThon challenges were:
- Read a book with white on the cover
- Read a book as a follow-up to something you enjoyed (an author, a series, a genre, etc.)
- Read a gift
- Read 3 books
I participated in the regular BookTubeAThon this year (you can read about my experience here and here!), so I was looking forward to this one quite a bit. However, as it turns out, the holiday BookTubeAThon was much more challenging to participate in because, well, holidays. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way; there were definitely fewer participants this time around. For me, it wasn’t only because of holiday-related busy-ness that I ended up half-assing this BookTubeAThon. I realized it was actually because I am on my phone MUCH less when I’m staying at my parents’ for the holidays than I would be alone in my own apartment. I love participating in the Twitter sprints, but I didn’t want my phone to be blowing up the whole time, so I only turned my notifications on a few times. I didn’t interact on the Twitter nearly as much as I did last time because I don’t use my phone as much on “vacation.” I did participate in the Instagram challenges, which I’ve included in this post.
I actually ended up starting my BookTubeAThon a day early because I had a family party on the 27th. I did end up reading 3 books, all very short to accommodate family time as well as the fact that I am also trying to get through the 990-page Goliath that is The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Here’s what I read:
- Improbable Libraries: A Visual Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Libraries: a book with white on the cover and a Christmas gift, so a 2-for-1 challenge! This is a book mostly comprised of photos, though each chapter has an introduction about the unique libraries featured in the book. It was fascinating! There’s a whole chapter on libraries carried around by animals (elephants, donkeys, camels). There are also some personal libraries featured that I would give up my first born for. Anyone remotely interested in books/libraries should give this a look!
- Harry Potter: Magical Places from the Films: also a Christmas gift. This is one of the many film companion books that WB has come out with regarding the making of the Potter movies. I own quite a few of them now, and this is one of the most recent ones. It’s all about the film locations and creation of the sets from the films. It’s got lots of photos and concept art, as well as interesting anecdotes and details.
- Exquisite Corpse by Pénélope Bagieu: challenge 3, a follow-up on the genre of graphic novels, which I’ve been very drawn to lately. I picked it up at Barnes & Noble without ever having heard of it before. The artwork is gorgeous, which is one of the main reasons why I picked it (the other reason was because the inside flap said the plot had something to do with a literary scandal). Turns out the book is French and was recently translated to English this year, though the book is 5 years old. It takes place in Paris and stars a young girl who meets a famous author. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though the pacing seemed a bit odd and rushed at times – I actually think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it in the original French; you could tell that the humor and style of the writing is very French. Still a cute and entertaining read.
And that’s it! BookTubeAThons in 2015 are done! I’m glad I participated in both and look forward to the ones in 2016.
Rose Read 
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