Saving The Pond By Reading Books! | #Pondathon Sign-Up & TBR

I’m finally getting round to sorting out the reading challenges & readathons I want to participate in this year! (Where is that Tidyathon when you need it, eh?) I’m staring with the Pondathon because it is most time sensitive.

This readathon is absolutely perfect for me, because:

• It isn’t just one very intense weekend but a medium-intense month and a half. I would probably read a few books in this time anyway, so I feel much less pressured. (Also, I’m really bad at staying up late.)
• You get to create your own cute character from some ready-made graphics. I LOVE cute graphics! Thank you The Quiet Pond, you’re the best!! ❤

Alrightly, let’s start with the more general explanations (you can skip ahead if you already know this) and then I’ll show you my character & tell you all about my TBR.

What is the Pondathon?

The Pondathon is a co-operative and story-driven readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of the Pondathon is to read books and collect points to protect the friends over at The Quiet Pond from the encroaching malevolent forces that threaten our friends in the forest. Have fun participating in the Pondathon readathon by joining one of five teams, each with a unique way to collect points and signing up! You can also follow the story of the Pondathon as it unfolds, and participants can also complete ‘side quests’ during the readathon to collect extra points. The readathon takes place from January 24th 2020 to March 7th 2020. More information about the readathon can be found here.

Information about Joining the Pondathon

1. To join the Pondathon, simply sign up anytime between January 18th 2020 to March 5th 2020.
2. Choose a team, create your own animal character for the Pondathon and create a character card!
3. Create a blog post, bookstagram post, booktube video, Twitter thread, or whatever medium you wish, with ‘#Pondathon’ in the title or your tweet. Share the character you have created and your character card!
4. Link back to this post so that others can find this readathon and join in.

Share your updates on your blog/bookstagram/booktube and social media. You are more than welcome to tag @thequietpond or @artfromafriend on Twitter or Instagram in all your updates! They’d love to see all of the beautiful and awesome characters that you create!

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My Pond Character

This is Westley, a guardian of the pond. He loves thunderstorms, exciting books and tiny marshmallows in his drinks. His sword is more of a symbol than used for actual fighting. Can you guess which two books he was inspired by?

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My Pondathon TBR

I’ve decided to join team Varian, which gains points by reading books from different genres, because it’s both doable and a bit of a challenge for me. (I mostly read contemporary fiction.)

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

Genre: Fantasy

I recently did a book swap with a friend where we both lent the other one book we chose ourselves and one book the other person chose for us. This was his recommendation for me. It’s about a schoolmaster who goes to a massive tower of babel on his honeymoon and loses his new wife in the hoards of people there. I believe he then has to overcome some of his own flaws/ non-adventurousness to find her. I don’t know for sure, I haven’t read it yet ;).

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Genre: memoir

This book was recommended to me by my grandfather (he reads about a book a day, so he is a great person to get recommendations from). Apparently, it’s a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read, about his family’s history in Vietnam. I’m intrigued!

With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Genre: contemporary

I’ve heard great things about this novel about a young mother who loves to cook, so I asked for it for Christmas (and was gifted it; thank you George!).

I’m also completely in love with this cover ❤

Death Comes As The End by Agatha Christie

Genre: crime/ detective

I have owned this book *forever*. I started reading Agatha Christie about six years ago, when I was going through a very tough break-up and wanted to read easy, entertaining books with NO ROMANCE WHATSOEVER. Since then I’ve always had a small row of Agatha-Christies-for-all-occasions, collected from second hand bookstores over the years.

It’s been a while since I’ve had my heart broken (*touch wood*) so I’d forgotten all about it till I came across them as I was counting my books recently (around 200, for anyone interested). I’ve already read One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, and this one’s next!

Are you a Ms Marple or Poirot fan? Comment below!

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

Genre: short story collection

I read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible, a modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice, a while ago and have been meaning to try more of her work. I was gifted this short story collection for Christmas and it says on the back that the stories tie together in very small ways, which makes me extra excited to try it!

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Let’s chat!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Which should I read first?

Are you joining the Pondathon? What character are you? Which team are you in?