#TBRTakedown Announcement/ TBR

Hey guys,

So the Twitter has enlightened me once again, with Shannon (@leaninglights) announcing the fourth TBR Takedown Read-a-thon! I just missed out on the last one and was gutted, I love the prospect of this read-a-thon because it focuses on what you really want to do- get that TBR pile down!

Of course, like most read-a-thons, there are several challenges that you can participate in. Alongside all of the wonderful book chats, discussion, and reading sprints over on Twitter. But lets look at the challenges and how I plan on conquering them!

The Challenges:

1. A book that has been on your TBR shelf for more than a year (majority of my books then!)
2. An unread sequel sitting on your TBR shelf
3. A first book in a series sitting on your TBR shelf
4. An ‘out of your comfort zone’ book on your TBR shelf
5. A book from your most recent haul

So, I have decided to give myself two options for each challenge. Yes, that means that there are 10 books on my TBR but I only plan on getting through five of them (okay, once I finish all the challenges I may go back and read some of the others).

Onto the books!

A book that has been on your TBR shelf for more than a year

I really had free reign with this challenge because 4/5 books on my shelves were from last years huge buying binge (thank you uni money…) but the two I decided to set aside for this challenge are…

My first option for this challenge is The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani which I believe is a middle-grade read, around a school where you are taught to either be the good guy or the bad guy. It follows two friends, Sophie and Agatha, and it looks awesome!

My second option is continuing the Chronicles of Ixia Series with Spy Glass by Maria V Snyder, I finished both Storm Glass and Sea Glass during the Tome Topple last week, and decided I really want to move on with this series. I know that this could class as read a sequel but it has been on my TBR shelf that long that I am putting it under challenge one.

Read a sequel sitting on your TBR shelf

Both of these are books that I should have read ages ago, and I am quite ashamed that I haven’t read them yet!

So my first option is to finally carry on with the Hunger Games Trilogy because I adore the films but never made it through the books, so as I read The Hunger Games last month I decided that I needed to pick up Catching Fire by Susan Collins this turn around. Funny enough, I plan on finishing the series in the next read-a-thon too!

My second option for this challenge is to complete Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas, the fourth instalment in the Throne of Glass Series. I love this series, and the only reason (well there’s two really) that I haven’t read this yet is because its rather large and well, I would have had to have waited almost an entire year to find out what happens next and I am not good at waiting.

A first book in a series on your TBR shelf

So this read-a-thon does overlap with the Duodecathon for June, so there will be a slight overlap in TBR piles as well (only by one book I think- at the moment any way!).

So both of these should look familiar to you, they have both frequently been on my TBR piles (one for this my current read-a-thon) and it is about time I get to them!

My first option is to start the Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan, with The Lost Hero, now this was on my Tome Topple until today. When looking through the challenges I decided I wanted to keep the start of this series for this challenge because it would lead nicely onto the rest of the series for my upcoming read-a-thons.

The second option is to complete one of the challenges for the Duedecathon with a book with my name on the cover (and so it will probably be one of the last books I read during this read-a-thon). It is the start of the Wall of Night Trilogy and follows a soon to be Queen in her discovery of magic and her battle to save her kingdom. Sounds amazing.

Read an ‘out of your comfort zone’ book.

I am a fantasy girl. YA usually. Adult sometimes. I have only found a handful on contempary reads and fewer works of general fiction that can hold my interest till the end of the book. So lets see if these two are any better.

Okay, I have borrowed A Night on the Orient Express by Veronica Henry purely to complete this challenge, I don’t own many books that I class as out of my comfort zone. Apparently it is a mystery romance, following a group of passengers on their journey from London to Venice and antics ensue. This is literally all I know about the book, I have heard of the Orient Express and know that there are many works of fiction based around the happenings on board, but this will be interesting I hope and may even persuade me to read more contemporary romance- stuff.

The second option once again come from my brother, I mentioned wanting to see The Martian (book by Andy Weir) when it was released as a movie and he took that as wanting to read the book- my movie and book tastes are extremely different! But now he is getting slightly offended that I still haven’t read the book, so here it is. This is the story of an astronaut that is essentially left on Mars, he isn’t exactly knowledgeable of the science behind being on another world and he is left to keep himself alive. It sounds quite comical and it isn’t very long (just over 350 pages) so I am hoping to power through it.

A book from your most recent book haul

So, I posted about my haul I did while on holiday and that included:

So I have already completed The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan so I have decided to choose between Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb or Malice by John Gwynne. Both of these are high fantasy reads, with Assassin’s Apprentice being much shorter. If I do decide to pick up Assassin’s Apprentice I may do so during the overlap because this is constantly recommended to me and would fill another challenge. Although Malice is quite intimidating 628 pages, its a fantasy with war and giants, which sounds fascinating!

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So those are the ten books I have set aside for this TBR Takedown, I want to get through at least five of them- but as always, if it is part of a series and I really want to continue on, I will because cliff-hangers! It is extremely ambitious, and my next few TBRs are reliant on several of these books being complete this week so I have set myself a huge task!

How is your TBR Takedown for this year going? Are you on target to reach your desired number of reads? I will be evaluating my progress so far this year in my six month review!

Good luck all who are taking part, and if you are not, I hope you manage to get plenty reading completed!

Until next time,

Helen x