The Hype-A-Thon Readathon: Mini November Wrap-Up and December Announcement & TBR

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Hello Hello! How are you?

Thank goodness it’s the weekend, I have so much university work to do right now I just feel like I never get a minute to just relax. I’m giving myself tomorrow off before I jump back into the crazy crazy on Monday. Tell me how your week has been and what you’ve got planned for the weekend!

Noly and I have come up with a lovely, cosy, Christmassy theme and some great books we are going to try to read in December, but first I have to talk to you about what we have been reading, although, we still haven’t finished anything. Yes, we are the worst ahah!

NOVEMBER WRAP-UP

We didn’t really know what theme to go for in November, but we eventually settled on #NostalgicNovember, deciding to go back to one of our favourites for a cosy reread, and it was a lovely month, even though we still haven’t gotten that far into the book.

We have been reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas for just over a week now I think. I mean, we have about 6 books on the go from previous Hype-A-Thon TBRs, so we should probably just stop and have a massive catch up month. But, rereading ACOTAR has been such a great idea. We both hate Tamlin for an obvious reason now (not going to spoil anyone), and it’s also fun to finally get to chat about it with someone, and I wonder how many clues we will notice this time around. We might not finish it for quite a while, but I am definitely going to enjoy it while it lasts.

So, there we are, we failed again aha. But we are really excited about the December theme and books we picked to read!

DECEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

You probably know this already if you follow Noly and read her blog The Artsy Reader, but she absolutely adores, and I mean ADORES, anything that has to do with Christmas. I couldn’t tell you how many Christmas books and movies she has already read and seen this year, a lot more than me for sure (I’ve only watched 2 movies so far lol).

We wanted a theme to celebrate the essence of Christmas and to really have fun and read some books with proper festive cheer, so we picked the theme #MerryDecember. Together, we are going to be reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss and Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien. For the December theme, I’m also going to be reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Noly is going to reread it along with me if she has the time.

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Now, I’m pretty sure we are going to manage to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas because it’s about 64 pages long, and I’m possibly going to be able to finish A Christmas Carol because it’s also fairly short and I know the story from having watched multiple different on-screen adaptations. We will just have to see how far along we get in our third book.

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS

How Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Looking quite out of place and very disturbing in his makeshift Santa get-up, the Grinch slithers down chimneys with empty bags and stealing the Whos’ presents, their food, even the logs from their humble Who-fires. He takes the ramshackle sleigh to Mt. Crumpit to dump it and waits to hear the sobs of the Whos when they wake up and discover the trappings of Christmas have disappeared. Imagine the Whos’ dismay when they discover the evil-doings of Grinch in his anti-Santa guise. But what is that sound? It’s not sobbing, but singing! Children simultaneously adore and fear this triumphant, twisted Seussian testimonial to the undaunted cheerfulness of the Whos, the transcendent nature of joy, and of course, the growth potential of a heart that’s two sizes too small.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge opens on a Christmas Eve as cold as Scrooge’s own heart. That night, he receives three ghostly visitors: the terrifying spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Each takes him on a heart-stopping journey, yielding glimpses of Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit, the horrifying spectres of Want and Ignorance, even Scrooge’s painfully hopeful younger self. Will Scrooge’s heart be opened? Can he reverse the miserable future he is forced to see?

Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply? For more than twenty years, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien received letters from the North Pole – from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures, and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house, and many others.

I’m sure there are so many other Christmas books that would fit for #MerryDecember. As long as it is hyped currently, or has been hyped in the past, then it works, and just make sure to pick a book that is either merry or Christmassy!

As always, you know that the BOTMs are never mandatory books to read, this readathon is a really laid back one intended to help you get through all those hyped books. You can read the BOTMs with us and chat with us about them using the hashtags #MerryDecember and #hypeathonreadathon.

You can read as many or as few books as you want for the Hype-A-Thon Readathon, as long as it has some kind of Christmassy vibe or merry feeling and it has been hyped in the past or is still hyped. Don’t forget to give us updates throughout the month!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx