Alas! the 2016 BookTubeAThon has officially come to a close. As I mentioned in my TBR post, I was away on a camping trip with my family for about half of the week so I wasn’t sure how much reading I would be able to get done in actuality. However, I ended up surprising myself and had such a successful readathon!! Not only did I read a lot more than I was expecting, but I also read some amazing books. Without further ado, here’s how my week went!

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

{rated 5 out of 5 smileys}

I finished reading this play in one sitting on the first night of the BookTubeAThon and I absolutely adored it! It’s incredible how much humor, wit, and surprising twists Wilde was able to pack into this quick little work. Usually I’m not a huge fan of drama, but this is by far one of the best plays I’ve ever read!

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

{rated 5 out of 5 smileys}

I had one full day of nothing but reading during this readathon, and I seized advantage of all of that free time to tackle the last third of this impressive tome. To be honest, I was experiencing so many different emotions when I first finished this that I had to think about it for a day to let it all soak in. This is honestly a masterpiece of fiction and while the ending did throw me off a bit (SO. MUCH. HAPPENS.) I cannot say enough how much I loved this book! ❤

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

{rated 5 out of 5 smileys}

What a wild ride!! Although it was very different from the movie at certain parts, I really enjoyed the book nonetheless. To me, the book and the movie are almost two separate entities that don’t have to be in competition with one another; both are good in their own rights. I loved the way the narrator interrupted the story with his own commentary, as well as how there’s a whole history behind the story that the movie doesn’t even mention.

Sphere by Michael Crichton

{rated 5 out of 5 smileys}

I read the entirety of this book while camping and I literally could not put it down. I read it by the fire, by the beach, and even by the light of a flashlight in my tent at night before going to sleep. Not only is this book suspenseful, but it’s also fascinating, thought-provoking, and entirely unique. The story went in a direction I never thought it would, but that makes it all the more gripping and surprising. Jurassic Park will always have my heart, but this is a close second as far as Michael Crichton goes!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

I finished all of the other books by Saturday night, so I had a free Sunday to read a bit of whatever book I liked. My Spanish professor has been encouraging us to read this classic novel for ages and I decided I would finally give it a go. I only got about a hundred pages in, but I am already loving it. There are so many characters and so much has happened in a short span of time– it’s no wonder that people complain of its confusing complexity! If you really focus, though, it’s not so difficult to understand. I can’t wait to read more of it!

Over the course of the week I read a total of 1,356 pages, with an average of about 194 pages a day. A good reading day for me is usually around 100 pages, so I’m really happy with how much reading I was able to accomplish! I didn’t expect to get that much reading done, especially because I had quite a busy schedule last week.

While writing this post I just realized that I rated all of these books 5 out of 5!!! I haven’t given out many 5-star ratings yet this year, so to have them all read in a single week is such a wonderful coincidence! After reading a plethora of amazing books all in a row I feel energized and ready to read even more– let’s keep this ball rolling!

1/ Read a book with yellow on the cover. Fulfilled by The Princess Bride
2/ Read a book only after sunset. Fulfilled by The Importance of Being Earnest
3/ Read a book you discovered through book tube blogging. Fulfilled by Gone with the Wind
4/ Read a book by one of your favorite authors. Fulfilled by Sphere
5/ Read a book that is older than you. Fulfilled by The Importance of Being Earnest and Gone with the Wind
6/ Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation. Fulfilled by The Princess Bride
7/ Read seven books. 

I completed all of the challenges!! (Well, except for the seventh one, but I knew going in that I had no hope of completing it.) I like the challenges not only because they help guide my TBR, but also because they add a little pressure to actually read what’s on my TBR. Mission accomplished!!

All in all, I feel as though I had an incredibly successful BookTubeAThon this year. I love this event because it’s easy to participate no matter how busy you are during that particular week. It pushed me to read some books that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while, and it’s always fun seeing the community come together for a glorious week of reading. A huge thanks to Ariel Bissett for organizing yet another lovely BookTubeAThon!! ❤

 Did you participate in the BookTubeAThon? How did you do? What do you think of the books that I read? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY