Vlog: #SpookAThon 2017

Happy Halloween, friends! 
To celebrate, not only am I wearing my Georgie Denbrough costume to work today (see below), but I'm also sharing my #SpookAThon reading vlog with you all! This year's SpookAThon came at the tail end of a reading slump I was going through, so vlogging AND reading during the week proved to be a bit difficult for me. However, I did manage to snag a bit of footage over the weekend and was able to put a ~somewhat~ decent vlog together. I'm happy that this readathon pulled me out of my slump and will now remember to pick up a thriller or two if I'm ever feeling slumpy again in the future! ;) Click play to see what I got up to over the weekend of SpookAThon!

My Georgie costume, complete with paper boat!

I'm not supposed to take stuff from strangers...

#SpookAThon 2017 TBR!

Happy #SpookAThon everyone! I didn't get around to posting my TBR over here yet. The last few weeks have been particularly difficult for me (I talk a bit about it in my most recent Friday Reads video), so I've kind of been skimming by, trying to take care of myself to the best of my ability, and so things like social media posts, reading, and basically everything else in my life besides Netflix got placed on the back burner. Over the last few days, though, I've been really trying to change my attitude and put more effort into being happy. Things have since made a turn for the positive and I hope they continue to do so!

ANYWAY, I wanted to share my TBR for SpookAThon with you all, now that I feel well enough to sit down and write a blog post. SpookAThon is running today, October 16th, through Sunday, October 22nd and it's one of my favorite readathons because it focuses on ~spooky~ reads which I absolutely love! Here's what I'm planning to pick up and read this week:

Final Girls by Riley Sager

A book with a spooky setting

I Let You Go by Clark Mackintosh

A book that features a childhood fear

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

A thriller

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

A book with a scary word in the title

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A book with orange in the cover

Check out my TBR video below to hear me talk more about each title and why I chose them for SpookAThon! :)

Vlog: #SpookAThon 2016!

#SpookAThon was so much fun! I actually ended up working 6 out of the 7 days of the readathon which I didn't realize was going to be the case until the end of the week, but I still managed to get quite a bit of reading done over the course of the readathon and really got into the Halloween mood! I had a great time during this readathon and am thrilled that Paige, Lala, and Shannon will be hosting this again next year. Hooray for spooky books! I hope you all enjoy the vlog!

#SpookAThon Daily Progress Updates

It's readathon time yet again! This week I am participating in #SpookAThon and, as usual, I will be tracking my daily progress right here on the blog. I will be pinning this post to the top of my Twitter page like I have in the past, so if you're interesting in checking my progress each day, heading to my Twitter is the easiest way to find the way back here. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and good luck to everyone participating in #SpookAThon!

DAY 1 - Monday, October 17th

Books read today: You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (101 pages) & Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (61 pages)

Pages read today: 162

Challenges completed today: None

Books completed today: None

DAY 2 - Tuesday, October 18th

Books read today: You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (118 pages) & Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (21 pages)

Pages read today: 139

Challenges completed today: None

Books completed today: None

DAY 3 - Wednesday, October 19th

Books read today: You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (121 pages) & Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (44 pages)

Pages read today: 165

Challenges completed today: 3 (2016 Release, Thriller, Red on the Cover)

Books completed today: 1 - You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

DAY 4 - Thursday, October 20th

Books read today: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (130 pages) & Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (22 pages)

Pages read today: 152

Challenges completed today: None

Books completed today: None

DAY 5 - Friday, October 21st

Books read today: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (191 pages)

Pages read today: 191

Challenges completed today: None

Books completed today: None

DAY 6 - Saturday, October 22nd

Books read today: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (132 pages) & Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (36 pages)

Pages read today: 168

Challenges completed today: 3 (2016 Release, Red on the Cover, Creature)

Books completed today: 1 - This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

DAY 7 - Sunday, October 23rd

Books read today: Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (202 pages)

Pages read today: 202

Challenges completed today: 4 (Thriller, Red on the Cover, Creature, Scary Word in the Title)

Books completed today: 1 - Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke

Total pages read: 1,179

Total challenges completed: 5

2016 Release x2

Thriller x2

Red on the Cover x3

Creature x2

Scary Word in the Title x1

Total books completed: 1

#SpookAThon & Book BuddyAThon TBR!

Happy Friday, people! Today over on YouTube I am sharing my TBR piles for both the #SpookAThon that will be running from October 17th to October 23rd and the Book BuddyAThon that will be running from October 22nd to October 28th! I'm so excited to participate in both of these readathons. Both of these events have reading challenge prompts (my fave) that are so much fun and perfect for some fun autumn reading! I will be vlogging through both of these readathons (per usual) and sharing my daily challenge updates (per usual) so keep an eye out for those posts!
Click play on the video if you'd like to learn a bit more about each of these readathons and to find out my picks for each of the reading challenge prompts!

#SpookAThon Picks

Instensity by Dean Koontz

The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Book BuddyAThon Picks
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Skin by Roald Dahl
The Humans by Matt Haig
Lumberjanes, Vol. 2 by Noelle Stevenson et. al.

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

October 2016 Goals

Happy October everyone! It literally feels like I just sat down to write out my September goals. But here we are in yet another new month and it's time to set a new handful of goals to keep ourselves motivated as we head into one of the busiest times of year! October is always an exciting month for me. For the last 3 years it's been the month I've run a marathon in. It's the month we celebrate Brett's birthday. It's the month of my favorite holiday - HALLOWEEN! And it's the month to cozy up, enjoy the changing colors of the leaves, yummy warm food, football, and scary movies. I really love October and I'm pretty positive it's tied with July for my favorite month of the year! <3

1. No book buying!

September.... I went fairly crazy in the book buying department. It seems like with every paycheck I was perusing Book Outlet for new deals and filling up my cart to the brim with new reads. I feel like I'm in a place where I should cool it when it comes to book buying for a while and focus on the books that I have unread on my shelves. I have plenty! I do have a couple of pre-ordered books that will be coming throughout the rest of the year but no more book buying at least through the month of October (save for books I plan to purchase as birthday gifts for others)!

2. Finish the Green Mountain Marathon

Gah! The Green Mountain Marathon is happening in just 5 DAYS I'm feeling super nervous and not really feeling all that prepared, but I'm pretty sure that's how I feel before every marathon that I've run. Again, the goal is to finish. I was toying around with the idea of hitting a sub-5 hour marathon this time around but considering how the tail end of my training has gone (read: not great because September eats my whole life every year) I'm again, just shooting to finish. (Though beating last year's PR of 5:08:24 would be icing on the cake!)

3. Read 6 books

I have 6 books I want to finish this month (which does not include the books I plan to read for the readathons I have planned for October):

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  

A reread originally intended for Tackle Your TBR

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Originally intended for Tackle Your TBR

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Buddy reading this with Shannon!

What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren

A non-fiction study of dogs who work with police and in other investigative capacities

Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath

For the PopSugar prompt "A murder mystery"

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

This has gotten such positive reviews AND it's about monsters so totally appropriate for October

4. Participate in Inktober

I'm going to try my hardest to participate in Inktober this year. Inktober is a month long challenge that prompts you to create one drawing using ink each day. I've been sharing my drawings on my Instagram so make sure you're following me there to see my progress! I'm not sure if I'll complete all 31 days, but I'm definitely going to try to do as many days as I can!

5. Participate in SpookAThon & BookBuddyAThon

These are the two readathons I will be participating in this month! SpookAThon will be taking place from October 17th to October 23rd and encourages you to read (you guessed it) spooky books! There are a few prompts to this readathon which follow the theme of reading thriller/horror novels and include:

-Read a thriller
-Read a book with red on the cover
-Read book with a spooky word in the title
-Read a 2016 release
-Read a book with a paranormal character/creature

BookBuddyAThon is a readathon that you participate in with a buddy! My friend Shannon and I will be participating together. This readathon overlaps with the SpookAThon by two full days and will be running from October 22nd to October 28th. There are also several prompts for this readathon which include:

-Read a book with a title that starts with the same initial as your book buddy's name (since I'll be reading with Shannon I have to choose a book that starts with 'S')
-Buddy read a book with your book buddy (We'll be reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn throughout the month and have chosen to count it as our buddy read for this readathon as well!)
-Read a book with pictures in it
-Read a book that you really want to read
-Read 5 books

TBRs for both of these readathons will be going live the week before they begin, so be on the lookout for those! I'm looking forward to another month filled with reading and getting to know people in the bookish community!

6. Prepare and officially announce BorrowAThon

I've been mentioning this in my YouTube videos and very briefly in my Reading Challenge Update that I posted last week but I am hosting a readathon in November called BorrowAThon! You'll be getting all of the information about this readathon on both this blog and my YouTube channel this month but please go follow the BorrowAThon Twitter page for more information for the time being! :) Hope you can all make it in November!

And those are all of my October goals! I hope you all have a fabulous month and accomplish everything you want to in the first official month of fall! <3

To read my update on my September goals, click "read more"!