Whatever-You-Want-A-Thon, June 2021

Jumble shelf, Readathons, Sunday Posts by Liz

Hello everyone,

In June, I participated in the Whatever-You-Want-A-Thon by Maddie from Book Browsing Blog on Youtube (her channel). She was helped throughout the month by a ton of other booktubers for the reading sprints.

The concept

The length of this readathon was of one month, from the 1st of June to the 30th of June and during this time, you read whatever you want, hence the name.

This readathon has a competitive side and prompts, but you don’t need to follow them if you don’t want to. For the competition side, you have five teams that represents a genre and have their hosts. :

When you enter your team, you pledge a certain amount of books you want to read for this readathon and each time you finish one, you earn points for your team. The goal is to have a maximum of points to help your team to be the winner.

Here is how the points are allocated to your books:

picture made by Maddie and available in the folder of the readathon

Also, during your journey, you evolve from a mortal to a deity. Every time you reach a quarter regarding your number of books pledge, you change your level. It also helps you to earn more points.

picture made by Maddie and available in the folder of the readathon

The fact that there were many reading sprints during the whole month helps to go through your TBR. They were mainly in the evening and hosted by the different team hosts and some guests.

The prompts

For this whateverathon (his little nickname), you have fifteen prompts. You can use up to three prompts for one book, but you can reuse the prompts anytime for any book.

Here is the list of the prompts:

picture made by Maddie and available in the folder of the readathon

The books

I read a total of nine books during June, and all of them were part of the readathon. I tried to stay a maximum in the genre of my team to have points as it’s easy points to have.

Here is the list of the books I read with the total of the points earn per book and how I earn them:

  • One Last Stop by Casey Mcquiston: it’s an LGBTQ+ story, and it fits two prompts: reminds the pride flag and five stars. So I earn a total of 250 points.
  • The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow: you have LGBTQ+ representation; it’s a favourite book of a host and corresponds to the team genre. Also, it corresponds to two prompts: team colour and bookish creator’s fave list, which means a total of 325 points.
  • Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas: it contains LGBTQ+ representation, and it’s stick to the team genre. So for the prompts, I have three for this one: re-read, author’s debut and POC representation. I gave my team 300 points with this book.
  • Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor: I only had the team genre points and three prompts (TBR game, haul in the past year and for the poll.) I earn 200 points.
  • The Wicker King by K. Ancrum: LGBTQ+ and host’s favourite. For the prompts, it fits three of them: poll, buddy read and disability/MH rep. This book brings back 325 points to the team.
  • The House of Hades by Rick Riordan: this book is the one that gives me the less points with only 175 points. I had the team genre points and two prompts: haul in the past year and POC rep.
  • Ghosted in L.A. volume 1 by Sina Grace and Siobhan Keenan: you have LGBTQ+ representation, and it fits two prompts: TBR game and haul in the past year. It’s not a lot, but I earn a total of 250 points.
  • Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell: this book is the one with the highest amount of points which is 375. It corresponds to LGBTQ+ rep and three prompts: out of my comfort zone, author’s debut and TBR game.
  • A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair: fits three prompts (poll, indie/self-pub, TBR game) and the team genre, adding 300 points to my total.

I add a total of 2,500 points to my team total points.

My experience

Even if it’s a readathon for one month, I liked it. The most difficult for me was that the weather was good and that in my country we were freer and things like bars or museums reopened, so I always wanted to be outside. Also, the first week of June, I had my first jab, so I was utterly exhausted by it and read only one book. Due to these reasons, I realised in the middle of the month that I read three books out of eight as my goal was to be a deity and at least read the eight books I pledge. As I am competitive with myself, I didn’t want to fail, so I started to stress A LOT.

Other than that, it’s an excellent readathon, as even if you have the competitive side, I found that it’s still open. You can really do whatever you want. You have the structure, but after you do you. Another thing that I liked was all the reading sprints we had during this month. It was always in the afternoon on weekdays, but it still helps a lot to go through the TBR. It feels like you’re a part of something, and that feeling is duplicated with the Discord, especially with the poll channel.

This readathon shows me that I can do it for a month, but I need to be prepared to stress (self-induced). Also, it needs to be a great one that motivates, and if it’s a competitive one, that side needs to be clear and equal for all the teams. However, for now, I’m going to have a break with readathons and have my normal TBR.

I cannot wait to do a new readathon; I like doing those readathons as you surpass yourself. And you, have you already participate in one readathon? Or do you want to do it? Which one?

If you have any experience with this kind of readathon, don’t hesitate to share it in the comment.

Bye, bye

Liz.

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