#BorrowAThon Round 4 Announcements!

It's the most wonderful day of the year! 

#BORROWATHON ANNOUNCEMENT DAY FOR ROUND 4!

I'm so excited that Round 4 is just around the corner! We will be hosting Round 4 from May 20th at 12AM in your time zone to May 27th at 11:59PM in your time zone. #BorrowAThon holds such a special place in my heart and it's something that makes me SO happy every time it comes around. The community is just so fantastic and I can't help but smile my face off during every round. Seriously. #BorrowAThon people are the greatest! SO without further ado, let's hop into the announcements.

HOSTS

First up, HOSTS! We have a stellar team of 7 hosts this round, 6 of which are returning and 1 who is a brand new addition to the team. I'm so thrilled to have all of these amazing people on board with me this round, and I hope they're just as excited to be back! For round four our hosts are....

Riley - @rmfickfack (me :D)

Alyssa - @_booksandcats
Andie - @andie_reads

Megan - @Lightening_Boot

Izzy - @PunkRockGirlPA

Lisa - @LadyBookDragon

Becky - @BecksnBooks

LIVE SHOW

We had such a blast doing the live shows last round that we definitely wanted to bring them back for round 4! We will only be doing one this round, but it will be so much fun and we hope to see you there. Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 26th. Timing is still being worked out, so be sure to follow the @BorrowAThon Twitter page for a time announcement as we get closer to the readathon!

SPRINTS

Of course, we will be bringing back sprints this round! We will be sprinting every day at different times, so take a look at the schedule for each day (below) so you know when we'll be sprinting. Hosts also like to hold random sprints throughout the day, so make sure your notifications on the @BorrowAThon Twitter pages are turned on so you don't miss a session!

Day 1 (MAY 20) - 7PM-10PM, Riley @rmfickfack
Day 2 (MAY 21) - 7PM-10PM, Riley @rmfickfack
Day 3 (MAY 22) - 8PM-11PM, Andie @andie_reads
Day 4 (MAY 23) - 5PM-8PM, Lisa @LadyBookDragon
Day 5 (MAY 24) - 7PM-10PM, Megan @Lightening_Boot
Day 6 (MAY 25) - 7PM-10PM, Becky @BecksnBooks
Day 7 (MAY 26) - 7PM-10PM, Alyssa @_booksandcats
Day 8 (MAY 27) - 8PM-11PM, Izzy @PunkRockGirlPA

READING CHALLENGES

Aaaaand last but not least, READING CHALLENGES! As usual, these challenges are *completely optional* and if you'd like to double or triple up on the challenges, you are definitely allowed to do so! These challenges are just for fun, so if you're not interested in utilizing the challenges to build your TBR, do not feel pressured to do so!

1. A book award nominee or winner
2. A book with your initials on the cover (title, author name, etc.)
3. Someone else's favorite book
4. A book that everyone else has read but you
5. A book from your favorite genre
6. Read a book that features a library

Keep an eye on the @BorrowAThon Twitter page for ALL of the latest information on Round 4, and make sure your tagging all of your BorrowAThon related posts with #BorrowAThon! We hope to see you joining us on May 20th! <3

(P.S. Here's my announcement video! :D)

O.W.L.s Readathon 2018 | Week 2 Update

Week 2 of the O.W.L.s exams went fantastically and it's honestly thanks to the April round of the #ReadYourFaceOff readathon! I managed to marathon my way through two graphic novels as well as finish up the last book in a duology. It's been a fantastic reading week and I hope to keep the good reading vibes flowing into week 3! I hope you all are doing well on all of your exams!

WEEK 2 STAT BREAKDOWN

Books completed this week...

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

510 pages

Completes the TRANSFIGURATION exam: A book that deals with transfiguration/shape shifting

Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 1-3 by Hiromu Arakawa

568 pages

Completes the POTIONS exam: A book featuring alchemy

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

329 pages

Completes the MUGGLE STUDIES exam: A muggle non-fiction book

Books in progress...

None! Currently finishing up some #BookBuddyAThon reads...

TOTALS AFTER WEEK 2

Pages read: 1,848

Books completed: 5

O.W.L.s Passed: 5/12

Current Marks: Outstanding

GOALS FOR WEEK 3

1. Start Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (CHARMS, 734 pages)

2. Read More Than This (ASTRONOMY, 480 pages)

O.W.L.s Readathon 2018 | Week 1 Update

GAH! This update is coming to you way later than I intended. I was hoping to post updates every Sunday, but the weekend was spent preparing for a larger personal event that happened yesterday, and now that the dust has settled a bit from that, I realized that I totally forgot to share my first O.W.L.s update with you. I'm sorry about that! With the craziness of my life at the moment and all the stress that has come with it, I've been finding it hard to concentrate on reading. I feel so brain dead at the end of the day! Such is my life in the month of April. However, I did manage to read two graphic novels and make a bit of progress in my Transfiguration exam. Hooray! 

This weekend I will be participating in the April round of #ReadYourFaceOff (24 hour readathon from 9AM Saturday to 9AM Sunday in your time zone!) so I'm hoping to put some serious pages down. I'm also in the middle of Book BuddyAThon, so I'll be concentrating on those books, but I think I can throw in some of the graphic novels on my O.W.L.s TBR during the weekend to get through a few more of my exams! ✨

WEEK 1 STAT BREAKDOWN

Books completed this week...

Collecting Sticks by Joe Decie

160 pages

Completes the HERBOLOGY exam: A book with a nature related word in the title

Barefoot Gen, vol. 4: Out of the Ashes by Keiji Nakazawa

281 pages

Completes the ARITHMANCY exam: A book with a number on the cover

Books in progress...

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

TRANSFIGURATION exam: A book that deals with transfiguration/shape shifting

TOTALS AFTER WEEK 1

Pages read: 605

Books completed: 2

O.W.L.s Passed: 2/12

Current Marks: Acceptable

GOALS FOR WEEK 2

1. Finish Our Dark Duet (TRANSFIGURATION, 346 pages remaining)

2. Read The Best We Could Do (MUGGLE STUDIES, 329 pages)

3. Read Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 1-3 (POTIONS, 576 pages)

Movie Review: Ready Player One

I got to see Ready Player One recently, one of my most anticipated movie releases of the year! Ready Player One made my favorite books of 2017 list, so I was very excited to see this video game story come to life on the big screen. Because of this, I knew that I would want to write a movie review after seeing the film with my reactions and overall rating. If you don't really want to be ~spoiled~ on how the movie differs from the book, don't read on, but other than that I hope you enjoy this review!

I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the adaptation despite how much was changed from the book! There was a LOT that was different in the movie, but I honestly think the adaptation was better off with the changes than it would have been if Steven Speilberg adapted the novel exactly how it had been written. 

As is typical of most novels, Ready Player One can be a bit slow to start as the author is tasked with building the world for the reader and explaining its intricacies in a way that allows readers to see the world as the author intended it to be. Building a world in a film is a much faster process and it's more of a "show, don't tell" kind of process. You don't need to spend hours explaining what a world is like you can just show the audience. Because of that, we are able to hop in with both feet into the OASIS as well as hop right into the competition laid out by James Halliday.

I also really enjoy how quickly we are introduced to all of the main characters. Aside from Wade, we get the chance to meet Aech and Art3mis within the first 15 minutes of the film which is so great. Sho and Daito are also introduced to us quite early, but they don't really have major roles in the film until later on. It's always great, in my opinion, to meet our heroes early in films and stick with them throughout the story. I love me some long-term character development!

As I referenced in the beginning of this review, a *lot* of things are changed in this movie to make it a more visually pleasing movie experience. While the main overall premise and characters are the same, 2 of the 3 challenges are different, some of the character situations are different, the climax in "the real world" is done much differently.... there's just a lot of differences. HOWEVER, I really enjoyed these differences. What makes sense on the page doesn't always make sense on the screen, and what was done with the adaptation did make a lot of sense and I was really happy with it.

I also think that the film did better with the issues that I had with the book (you can find them in my book review - there are spoilers in this review so... fair warning!). There were a lot more stakes with the movie, things weren't as ~convenient~ for the characters, and I don't think I heard Wade say "get the hell out of dodge" one time. :P I was just really pleased with the way that those issues were solved, in my opinion, with the movie.

Overall, I thought this was a great adaptation. If you're looking for a visual carbon copy of the book, that's not something you're going to get with this movie. But if you're looking for a fun adaptation that takes the premise and builds upon it, definitely check out Ready Player One, and DEFINITELY watch it while it's still in theatres. The big screen is perfect for this film!

I'm going to give this movie...

5/5 Stars!

Have you seen Ready Player One? If so, what'd you think of it?

Let me know in the comments!

Read Your Face Off Book Club & Read Along Announcement!

Today I'm really excited to be announcing the launch of the Read Your Face Off Book Club over on GoodReads! Basically, I wanted a place where I could host buddy reads and read alongs and it would be easy to have a discussion about the books we read. I've found the GoodReads is the easiest place to hold large group discussions so I thought why not start a book club! There will be three components to this book club: 1. Monthly 24 Readathons: You guys are already familiar with the #ReadYourFaceOff 24 Hour Readathon that I've hosted a couple of times this year. Becky made the suggestion to host one every month which I'm super into! There will be announcements on the Events section of the book club page as to when future rounds will be, so be on the look out for that.  The next round will be Saturday, April 14 at 9AM in your time zone to Sunday, April 15 at 9AM in your time zone.
2. Monthly Buddy Reads: Each month I will post a poll of four books to pick between for the following month's buddy read. The poll will close about 10 days before the end of the month to give folks time to acquire a copy in time for the start of the buddy read. Be sure to vote in the Polls section of the book club page! The poll for May is open now, so go and vote for the book you'd like to read! 3. Read Alongs: This is the main reason why I wanted to start this Book Club - I want to host read alongs of longer books or series so they're less daunting to get through! It's always much more fun to take on a bigger series with a group of people. The first read along we will be tackling is the A Song of Ice and Fire series! We will start in May and will have two months to tackle each of the five books that are currently released in the series. Here's the schedule if you'd like to see how everything breaks down:

I hope you guys are able to join the book club!
I think it's going to be a lot of fun. :)

bit.ly/ReadYourFaceOff

March 2018 Reading Wrap Up & #Emojiathon Spring 2018 Final Stats

March & the #EmojiAThon are over and HOLY MOLY did I have a fantastic reading month! Out of the 13 books that I managed to finish, 12 of them were 4 or 5 star ratings. WHAT. That doesn't happen. Unfortunately I was only able to complete one BINGO for Emojiathon, but I'm damn close to getting a couple more on the board, so I'm pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish this month! I really enjoyed my time with Emojiathon and I'm definitely thinking that I'll be participating in another round in the future!

WEEK 5 STAT BREAKDOWN

Books completed this week...

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

391 pages

Completes the TWO DANCERS emoji: A buddy read

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
303 pages
Completes the TALKING HEAD emoji: A book that everyone has been telling you to read

Books in progress...

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
64/256 pages
BALL emoji: A book involving sports

FINAL STATS FOR #EMOJIATHON

Pages read: 5,134

Books completed: 12

Challenges completed: 12/22

*please note that these stats do not include the 3 books I read prior to the readathon

READING STATS FOR MARCH

Particpated in 2 readathons (#ReadYourFaceOff & #Emojiathon)

Completed 3/10 books from 10 Book TBR #1 (10/10 total)

Completed 3/10 books from 10 Book TBR #2 (3/10 total)

Started 1 series

Continued 2 series

Completed 2 series

5,448 pages read

13 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Physical copy, 5/5

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologizes by Fredrik Backman

Physical copy, 5/5

TBR Jar pick from 10 Book TBR #1

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Physical copy, 4/5

Book 2 of 2 of the Six of Crows Duology

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Physical copy, 4/5

Eat Only When You're Hungry by Lindsay Hunter

Physical copy, 4/5

Book of the Month pick from 10 Book TBR #2

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Kindle eBook, 5/5

Kindle pick from 10 Book TBR #2

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Physical copy, 4/5

Buddy read with Anita

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Physical copy, 5/5

Book 3 of 3 of The Illuminae Files

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Kindle eBook, 5/5

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Physical copy, 5/5

Book 3 of 7 of the Harry Potter Series

Buddy read with Michael

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Audiobook, 2/5

Book 1 of 8 of the Outlander Series

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Physical copy, 4/5

Buddy read with Michael

Book 3 of 4 of The Raven Cycle

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Beck Albertalli

Physical copy, 5/5