Jackie at Death By Tsundoku and I are hosting a Thanksgiving Read-A-Thon this weekend (Wednesday through Sunday) to encourage ourselves and others to enjoy this free time to read. Join us on your blog, Twitter and Instagram by posting your reading intentions like I have, and/or using the hashtag #ThanksgivingReadathon. You are also welcome to include the image I created above in any of your posts and tweets. No pressure! Just follow along on Twitter and participate as much as you’d like.
I love having long stretches of vacation in which I really have the opportunity to make a good dent in my reading list. I’ll be spending Thanksgiving dinner with my best friend’s family, but because I’m Italian and my family is in Milan, I’ll have the rest of the weekend pretty much to myself if I choose.
I’d really like to use this holiday weekend to get a head start to stockpile some blog posts. I typically end up reading the book for a post only 2 or 3 days before the post is published, and also writing the post itself the night before (or morning of, eek!). In order to be less reactive in my blogging, I need to make some headway on my reading first.
The books I’ve picked for the Thanksgiving Read-A-Thon are ones that I will be reviewing on the blog in the next two weeks. It’s all fiction, which is not necessarily the norm for me, but I’ve been reading lots of nonfiction for #NonfictionNovember so I’m fine with it.
I’m actually planning to read a book per day so I’ve organized my Read-A-Thon list accordingly – we’ll see how that goes. I think we know based on my Fall 2016 TBR List that I’m not always realistic when it comes to how much I expect myself to read. For a quick update on that, I’ve only read 8 of the 40 (!) books I listed, but to my credit I have also read at least 15 books that were not on the list.
WEDNESDAY
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
Published: October 18th, 2016
Pages: 304
*The Other Einstein is on sale for only $2.99 in ebook format on Amazon and many other ebook retailers through Saturday November 26th, 2016. See the promotional flyer at the end of this post for more details.
The Other Einstein is a fictionalized account of the life of Mitza Maric, who became Einstein’s wife and who it has been argued had a significant role in Einstein’s mathematical and scientific discoveries. I’m expecting a well-written historical fiction novel with a strong and unconventional female protagonist, struggling to have her contributions recognized.
I received a copy of The Other Einstein a few weeks ago and have the review of the novel scheduled for next Tuesday, November 29th, 2016. I’m actually getting out of work at 1PM on Wednesday (thanks to my job for always giving us half-days before a holiday), so I’ll have the afternoon to get into my first Read-a-thon title.
THURSDAY
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
Published: October 11th, 2016
Pages: 301
Hag-Seed was written by Margaret Atwood as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, for which Shakespeare’s plays are retold by modern authors. In Hag-Seed, Atwood creates a play within the play. The novel’s plot is a modern retelling of The Tempest, and the novel’s characters also enact the original version of the play as part of the story.
Hag-Seed was actually my most recent pick from Blogging For Books and I was excited to receive it last week. The Tempest is my favorite Shakespeare play and I was lucky enough to watch it at the reconstructed Globe theater in London several years ago. Due to my love for The Tempest and also because this will be my first Margaret Atwood novel, I’m really excited about this one.
My review of Hag-Seed will be posted on Thursday of next week (December 1st).
FRIDAY
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Published: October 11th, 2016
Pages: 288
Everyone is raving about Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers, so I knew I had to include it in my most recent Book Of The Month delivery.
The novel is about Nadia Turner, a seventeen year old living in contemporary Southern California who ends up pregnant through her relationship with the local pastor’s son Luke. Bennett explores the repercussions of this pregnancy and of the choices Nadia and Luke make on their lives, as well as the lives of those around them.
I’ll be reviewing all three Book Of The Month titles included in this Read-A-Thon in my Book Of The Month November Delivery post on Monday December 5th.
SATURDAY
Rich And Pretty by Rumaan Alam
Published: June 7th, 2016
Pages: 304
After seeing Rich And Pretty among the past selections on the Book Of The Month website, I heard Modern Mrs. Darcy and one of her podcast guests praising the novel on What Should I Read Next.
Rich And Pretty is about two best friends, Sarah and Lauren. The two were inseparable from childhood to their thirties but have spent less and less time together recently, which is changing the nature of their friendship. I remember from the What Should I Read Next podcast that I was intrigued because Modern Mrs. Darcy’s guest mentioned how surprised she was that despite being a man, Rumaan Alam was able to capture female relationships so authentically.
The book has pretty polarized reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads so I’m expecting to either love it or hate it.
SUNDAY
The Trespasser by Tana French
Published: October 4th, 2016
Pages: 449
The Trespasser apparently is the sixth installment in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series. It’ll actually be my first book by Tana French but I’m happy to know I’ll have plenty more books by her to add to my TBR list if I end up liking it.
In this thriller, Antoinette Conway and Steve Moran are partners on a police murder squad and are assigned a case that seems like a run-of-the-mill domestic violence situation. They slowly discover that there’s so much more to the case than initially meets the eye, of course, as the drama unfolds.
I’ve recently developed a taste for thrillers and hope The Trespasser will keep me on the edge of my seat enough to hold my interest at the end of the Read-A-Thon.
Will you be participating in our #ThanksgivingReadathon or setting some extra time aside this weekend to read? What titles are you planning to tackle? Let me know in the comments!
And make sure to check out the ebook sale for The Other Einstein which is going on through Saturday!
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Please note this post includes affiliate links from Book Depository.
I wish I was off to join in. Enjoy – a great mix of books.
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Oh man! You are so much more ambitious than I! At least I can fake it with a few shorter books. 😉 Good luck! I am cheering for you!
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Thanks! I’m only halfway through The Mother so far, I should be able to finish the first 4 but probably won’t get to The Trespasser, which is okay 🙂
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What an incredibly ambitious reading list! I am not a fast reader and didn’t have much time to read while I was away visiting my family, but I got some reading done this Saturday now that I”m back.
Good luck and read like the wind!!!
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Thanks! Lol what were you reading ?
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I read the novella The Terracotta Bride by Zen Cho and am still chipping away at A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
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