Middle Grade Madness! discussion

The spooky season is here! And to celebrate it we're hosting a two-week-long readathon!

HOW IT WORKS:
- SIGN UP BELOW! Sign ups close: 11 October 2019 Let me know below that you would like to take part.
- Every participant will be messaged with a UNIQUE URL link and password that will allow them to access a CUSTOMISED random picker that will pick what book they will read first from the list of books.
- Once a participant has finished a book they can use the random picker to pick the next book they will read out of the list of books.
- If a participant isn't able to find a copy of the book that the random picker has picked for them to read next they are allowed to put that book to the side and use the random picker to pick the book they will read instead. However, ALL BOOKS MUST BE READ TO WIN.
- It's a race! First to finish all the books is the winner! Push yourself to read as many as you can but remember HAVE FUN! Don't be too competitive; it kills the fun.

THE BOOKS:
- You can check out the list of books for this readathon here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
- You can also add books to the list on the link above (as long as it follows the guidelines specified on the link) before the readathon starts.

Countdown to start of readathon: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

i'm planning to participate! the amount of books i read will just depend on the availability i have to them, but i've only read one book on that list so far so i'm excited for new spooky books!

Me too

🙌🏻I'll add you ladies to my list!

I want to do it!

Although I will say I rather do it for more than just a week so I guess I’ll unofficially do it for the whole month!

I also feel like maybe 1 week isn't enough to read 20 books which is how many are on the list right now. Should I extend the readathon to last 2 weeks? What are everyone's thoughts?

i think two weeks would definitely be beneficial

2 weeks it is then! I've changed the info above and on the poll...

I’m planning to do it for the rest of the month but that’s just for me personally! Are we still allowed to make suggestions?

Ilsen wrote: "I’m planning to do it for the rest of the month but that’s just for me personally! Are we still allowed to make suggestions?"

Yep, definitely! Add the books you like to the poll that I linked in the first comment. Adding to the list of books closes on the 10th.

But seriously this readathon sounds so cool and different! I’m super excited for it!

I'm in..

I'll join!

Yay! I'm excited for this too guys!

I'm in too! I don't have a lot of time these days, but I'll try my best!

Wendi wrote: "I'm in too! I don't have a lot of time these days, but I'll try my best!"

Yay! The great thing about this readathon being 2 weeks long is that you have time and don't have to rush read

I would like to sign up, I need to finish more books for the Goodreads challenge anyway :)

Great Shaunterria! I’m sending out the messages to each participant for the link for their personal random picker later today...

Only a couple of hours left until the readathon starts! Excitedddd

I've gone through and randomly generated the first few books in extreme excitement to start this!
I'll be starting with
Asylum (which works well because i'm borrowing it from my sister who has been in the mood to read it so now i can get it back to her faster lol)
and then i'll have The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and Truly Devious !

Kostas wrote: "I'm probably super late 😅
But I'm in (if possible )"

Not too late because I've still got all the relevant pages open! I'll send you a message with your link for the random picker when I've finished eating😊

jessica wrote: "I've gone through and randomly generated the first few books in extreme excitement to start this!
I'll be starting with
Asylum (which works well because i'm borrowing it from my s..."

I feel like if I used the random picker before I'd finished a book I'd forget which ones had been picked so I'm going to do them one at a time😂 I have a terrible memory

I'm starting with Not Even Bones... The synopsis sounds interesting but the reviews are very mixed so either I'm going to like this or I'm going to hate it

I've just realised this book is looong and I haven't read a full blown book in like a month. This is what I call diving back into it! I hope I don't end up dnfing this.

I'm reading Doll Bones. Really excited because this is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time now.

That one has been on my TBR for ages too! I hope you enjoy it, can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it😊

I'm starting The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein.

I’m planning on starting The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter! I’ve had my eye on that one for a while!

starting with Asylum right now!

and i wrote down what was coming up next bc there’s no way I’d remember either 😂 but that way if i didn’t have my laptop on me I’d already know what to go to next

I'm going to start Small Spaces today!

Aah it's so nice to see everyone starting different books like that random picker really worked😂 Hopefully we'll end up reading the same books later on in the week or next week...

I finished Doll Bones (it was so good), and now I'm starting The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein.

Wow Wendi you’re fast! I’ve started Not Even Bones and I don’t straight away hate it so this is maybe an accomplishment for me?😂😂

Hi, everyone! The first book I'm going to be reading is The School for Good and Evil and it seems like it's going to be pretty good.

i've finished with Asylum today and am now moving to The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein !

Let me know what you think about Elizabeth Frankenstein. I enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I'm starting Wicked Saints now.

Wendi wrote: "Let me know what you think about Elizabeth Frankenstein. I enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I'm starting Wicked Saints now."

i was a bit concerned at first because i wasn't too fond of the start, but the more i'm reading the more intrigued i am, so so far so good!

I finished Small Spaces and now I'm reading, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

jessica wrote: "Wendi wrote: "Let me know what you think about Elizabeth Frankenstein. I enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I'm starting Wicked Saints now."

i was a bit concerned at first because i wasn't t..."

Yeah, same here. I'm also not a huge fan of the original Frankenstein, but I enjoyed it overall.

Wendi wrote: "jessica wrote: "Wendi wrote: "Let me know what you think about Elizabeth Frankenstein. I enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I'm starting Wicked Saints now."

i was a bit concerned at first be..."

i ended up quite enjoying The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein! it's been a while since i read the original frankenstein, but i remember enjoying it? the dark descent was certainly not perfect, but it was really enjoyable.

I'm glad you liked it! I finished Wicked Saints, Nightbooks is up next for me, but I need to pick up a copy.

Wow you guys are getting through your books quick! Sorry I haven’t been so active, I’ve had a busy couple of days. I’ve also recently finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and I’m so sad with no idea what to watch next that this is the perfect opportunity to read the book I’ve already started for this readathon! I AM DETERMINED TO ACTUALLY PARTICIPATE IN THIS READATHON😂

Kadi wrote: "Wow you guys are getting through your books quick! Sorry I haven’t been so active, I’ve had a busy couple of days. I’ve also recently finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and I’m so sad wit..."

I LOVE AVATAR. and i definitely understand the sadness of it being over

Avatar was amazing. I tried so hard not to binge watch it so I could savour it but the fact that each episode was 20 mins made it so easy for me to watch like 4 episodes at once and I finished it in about 2 and a half weeks.

I reeeeally want to watch Legend of Korra now but I know I’m either going to be so obsessed with it that I won’t be able to focus on my work or even save time for reading or it won’t live up to Avatar and it’ll disappoint me. Even if I do end up loving it then I’ll only have like 40 episodes and then ITS OVER NO MORE AVATAR ANYTHING. And I don’t think I can live with that. Ok I can but I’m being dramatic. I have no idea how I’ve never come across this show before but recently having got so obsessed with animation I’ve been watching shows like Young Justice, She-Ra, The Dragon Prince and now Avatar and each one of these shows pushes me further and further from reading. Plus watching takes less brain power amirite?😂🤦🏻‍♀️
That’s why I’m so determined to participate in this readathon because I haven’t read a full book in ages and I don’t want to lose reading completely.

i 100% feel you. i'd watched some episodes of it growing up but was never really involved, but my boyfriend adores the show (and that's saying something because he is beyond critical of shows and films) and so we recently binged it and the obsession passed to me. and yah it goes by WAY too fast.

we started the legend of korra and got a few episodes in but got distracted with other shows so I haven't finished that one yet. it's certainly different, but i'd maybe give it a small bit of time because my biggest thing was that i missed all the characters from avatar too much😂 and yes watching requires far less brain power so it's super nice at times lol.

but with your current situation i'd definitely pause and wait for the legend of korra and try to get some reading done😂 cause i'm the same way, and have to push myself to read when there are shows i wanna watch lol.

also it's not completely over, although it's not animation. netflix (i think it's netflix) is making a live action avatar, and there's hope for it because the creators of the original animation are doing the live action so it should be beautiful. although if your adoration stems more from the animation side then maybe it's not as exciting news but i'm just excited to see the characters again😅

I totally get you! I was feeling that way for a while but then I started catching up on my current reads and I’m feeling better! You just have to take it little by little! But even after this readathon is over, I vote for this to be all the themed ones from now on!

I love the animation but really my love stems from the characters and there backstories. I swear if Avatar was a book I would be OBSEEEESSED because a lot of what I love about the show is what I also love about my favourite books.

I heard about the live action Avatar like I saw fanmade posters but I didn’t know it was actually happening I thought it was just something the fans wanted. If one of the people from the creative team is on the live action then I have faith it’ll be good because the head writer for Avatar is also the head writer on Netflix’s The Dragon Prince and that show is amazing so I know that writer is consistently good. Wow Netflix is doing so many exciting things for already established fanbases! They’re working on the Grisha show and they have a narnia project and now this live action Avatar show. Man I love Netflix😂😂

they're really on a roll right now! i honestly could not be more excited. although i didn't know they were working on a narnia project! so that's even more exciting.

and they'd made a live action avatar movie, but apparently it's the absolute worst. they whitewashed it completely, and apparently did not get the characters right in the slightest so it was a huge disappointment. BUT the fact that the creators are doing this live action, and the fact that they've done other amazing shows gives me so much more hope

@Ilsen you like this style of readathon? I like it too actually because sometimes you have no idea what books are good and here we are basically reading everyone’s recommendations so there’s a higher probability you’ll like the book. In my opinion of course😂

Also it’s really nice to hear that I’m not the only one who can find shows distracting especially considering you both read lots of books so it makes me feel like I can dig through this and get back to books if I really try.