The Reading Rush 2019 Evaluation

This year's reading rush is finally over! I had a fun, but also stressful week of reading, reading, reading, aaand some more reading. In the end, I actually managed to meet the goal of reading 7 books in one week. How crazy is that?! I'm super proud of myself! Every book I read was matched to a challaénge (of which there were 7 as well). Here's the list:

1. Read a book with purple on the cover
I read "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse for this challenge! My edition has some purple flower petals on it, and I was in total luck, because that was pretty much the only short book with something purple on it that I had at home. I finished this on the Friday, aka day 5. I wasn't a big fan of it, tbh. It's a philosophical work of 116 pages, and I just felt that it had nothing to offer me at all. Check out my review for more details.

2. Read a book in the same spot the entire time
I changed my pick for this from a memoir about the Holocaust to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, simply because I needed a book that I could go through quicker. This was a tricky one, since I decided to start reading this on the Thursday, when I had work in the evening, so I couldn't bring it with me on the train. I ended up not finishing this book until the day after. I liked the book, but had a bit of a hard time getting into the world and writing. When I got a bit further into the story, though, I started enjoying it more and more. I look forward to continuing the series!

3. Read a book you meant to read last year
For this one, I read "The Copper Gauntlet" by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, and I read it on the Saturday. This is a middle grade fantasy book, and it's the second instalment of the Magisterium series. I bought this back in 2015 shortly after its release, but ended up never reading it until now. Certainly, this was a book that I meant to read not only last year, but for several years before that, too. Overall, I'm enjoying this series. It's quick paced, magical, and has a slightly dark twist to it that I really appreciate. This is also a series that I look forward to continuing reading.

4. Read an author's first book
I ended up choosing to read "Rör mig inte!" (aka "Shatter Me") by Tahereh Mafi for this challenge. This was also the book that I started the week with, and I guess it was a decent one to begin with. I definitely liked the first 100 pages or so of the novel most, and after that I felt that it just didn't go in the right direction and it was lacking good character depth and world building. It was a fast read, but definitely not the best one of the week.

5. Read a book with a non-human main character
I wonder how many people decided to read "Animal Farm" by George Orwell for this challenge. At least I know I'm part of that group. "Animal Farm" was my second read of the week, because that day I went on a several hours long day trip with a friend, so I didn't get a ton of time to read. I managed to finish this one, though! It was pretty good, for what it is. I liked it!

6. Read a book that has five or more words in the title
I also believe a lot of people decided to read "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for this challenge. I did, too! This was my seventh and final read of the week, and it was also my favourite. This is a book that deserves the hype it's gotten over the years. I really felt for the main character, and there were certain parts of the book that I felt I could truly connect to. All in all, this was a wonderful end to the week <3

7. Read and watch a book to movie adaptation
On the Wednesday, I decided to pick up "The DUFF" by Kody Keplinger. It was an ok read, but not one that will stick with me for very long. The movie wasn't my type of film, so I watched it on almost double speed just to get through it. Of course, the book was better than the movie, but not a super lot.

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So! That's a wrap up of what I read, so let's rank these bad boys from worst to best!

7) "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse

It just wasn't very good, was it? :/

6) "The DUFF" by Kody Keplinger

I definitely wanted more than I got from this :(

5) "Rör mig inte!" by Tahereh Mafi

Started out good, but ended up worse :'(

4) "Liftarens guide till galaxen" by Douglas Adams

Charming and fun, but a bit slow to get into :)

3) "The Copper Gauntlet" by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Thunder and lightning, this was exciting! ;P

2) "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

Thought provoking and well written! :D

1) "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

Purely fantastic <3

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I came up with a few tips and tricks that helped me some this year, so I thought I'd share my strategy!

1. Don't get too ambitious; pick short books, preferably under 300 pages.

2. If you plan on reading 7 books, make sure to create a schedule where you read one book per day. Getting behind schedule even one day can make a huge damaged to your progress, and you only have that one week to complete your goals.

3. Try to keep your TBR varied. I made sure to include a variety of genres this year, such as contemporary, fantasy, classic, philosophy, middle grade, young adult, dystopian, etc. If the majority of your books are young adult contemporaries, you might quickly get bored of that consistency.

4. An hourly schedule might be necessary. I figured out that it was reasonable for me to read about 33 pages in an hour. That way, it would take me about 3 hours to read 100 pages. However, I gave myself 4-hour periods to finish 100 pages at a time. That way, I got to rest in between periods, and I could finish a ca. 200 page book in eight hours, giving me plenty of times to sleep and take breaks.

5. Don't underestimate the power of snack. Keep something sweet or salty by your side, and something to drink (if you're the kind of person who is in need of hydration). But make sure not to get too energised; I noticed that if I had too much coffee at once, I became too restless to focus properly on my reading, which slowed me down. You want to find a nice state between tired and restless.

6. STAY MOTIVATED! You entered the readathon with a clear goal, and you must remember how much you want to achieve it! A good way to keep that motivation is to try you best to really stick to your reading schedule. Like I said, falling behind can be anyone's doom, and feeling like you'll surely fail is (shockingly) not very uplifting.

7. Be mentally prepared. Know before going into the readathon that it will take up a shit ton of your time and energy, and that you won't be able to do much more than read for the entire week (depending on the size of your TBR).

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That was all for me and my Reading Rush 2019 wrap up and evaluation. See you in the next post! <3