Stranger Things

The BookTube-A-Thon is an annual event that's happening next week, from August 3rd to August 9th. While I don't actually have a BookTube, I don't make videos on books, I participated in this last year and had such a good time. There are 7 reading challenges that I'll be trying to accomplish throughout the week. Here's my TBR!

For information on the BookTube-A-Thon, check out the Youtube channel.

Challenge 1: Read a book with blue on the cover

BZRK by Michael Grant

This hasn't got much blue on it, but it's enough! I'm actually already half way through. I started reading it earlier this year but I was never able to really get into the story. I'm hoping this will help me push through it. I would probably just give up on it otherwise, but I borrowed it from a friend who really wants me to read it.

Synopsis: Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind.  Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal:  to turn the world into their vision of utopia.  No wars, no conflict, no hunger.  And no free will.  Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human.  This is no ordinary war, though.  Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain.  And there are no stalemates here:  It’s victory . . . or madness.
    BZRK unfolds with hurricane force around core themes of conspiracy and mystery, insanity and changing realities, engagement and empowerment, and the larger impact of personal choice. Which side would you choose?  How far would you go to win?

Challenge 2: Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name

Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Both our last names start with M. This was my mother's book before she handed it down to me, so it's very worn and quite special to me. I grew up with these stories so it will be very nice to read it again. Plus, it's nice and short, perfect for read-a-thons!

Challenge 3: Read someone else's favourite book

The Madness of Hallen by Russell Meek

This is one of my brother's favourites. I already started it but only got a few chapters in so I'll continue with the read-a-thon. It's a high fantasy, and of what I read, I was very intrigued. My brother usually has excellent taste in books, so I'm expecting great things!

Synopsis: Battle raged on the desert sands of the Great Depression. A land of tribal warriors, scattered and leaderless, was finally united under one mind, a man proclaimed as Husam al-Din, the Sword of the Faith.

On the dark day of his death, al-Din’s priests tore his mind apart, preventing his treacherous wife, Maymunah, from taking control of the armies. They disappeared beyond the borders of the known lands, taking with them six harmonic stones containing the mind of al-Din, leaving the tribes leaderless and united only by faith.
   

Revenge vowed, Maymunah set her descendants on a quest to recover the lost stones. Centuries passed as nothing was found, until twenty generations later, in an ice cave deep in the Meil’vohllen Mountains, Hallen made a discovery that would change the world forever.

Unable to contain the power of the stones, Hallen’s mind was lost, and for three further generations the daughters of Maymunah have only heard whispers in the wind...

The Madness of Hallen is the first of four epic fantasy novels, following the lives of two brothers in their quest against the rightful heir to the mind of Husam al-Din.

Challenge 4: Read the last book you acquired

Variant by Robison Wells

I got this book a few years ago from the library and highly enjoyed it. I just picked it up recently to add to my shelves and so I'll be rereading it this following week. :) I have forgotten a lot of the details, but I hope I enjoy it as much as the first time.

Synopsis: Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.

Challenge 5: Finish a book without letting go of it

Claymore, Vol. 11: Kindred of Paradise by Norihiro Yagi

I've been really enjoying this manga series so far, although I find it lacking in depth. Hopefully it only gets better. This challenge sounds really fun, and since I can read these volumes very quickly, this should work out!

Synopsis: A Claymore - a female warrior named for the sword she carries - travels from medieval village to village to destroy Yoma, monsters who disguise themselves as humans and who are almost impossible to kill. Claymores are half-humans, half-demons who willingly transformed themselves by mixing their blood with monster's blood. Claire, nicknamed silver-eyed killer, is such a powerful Claymore, she can slay a Yoma using only one hand. But she must constantly struggle to keep from becoming a monster herself.

Challenge 6: Read a book you really want to read

Torrent (River of Time #3) by Lisa T. Bergren

This is another reread for me. I love this series and I've been rereading the books throughout the year when I've felt the urge. I can easily fly through this one. 

Synopsis: When Gabi and Lia finally learn to surf the river of time, they realize they must make hard choices about life and love in the third book in the River of Time series.

Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times.