It feels like forever since I’ve participated in Dewey’s 24-hour readathon, due to a combination of work and life obligations as well as the fact that it feels like the readathon doesn’t have nearly the amount of participation and engagement that it used to. But I’m fully on board for this round, because I’ve had a very slow start to my reading this October and I have so many great-sounding books with Halloween-esque vibes on my TBR that seem perfect to binge-read on a moody fall day. So I’m going to do my best to read as much as possible today, and we’ll see if I can hit similar page numbers to previous readathons and/or get back on track with my monthly reads.
As always, I have a huge TBR, and I definitely won’t be able to finish everything on it, but hopefully I’ll really, really enjoy trying. I chose short, atmospheric reads with fall vibes, and despite my goal to read the books that have been on my TBR shelf awhile, most of these are new acquisitions.
I’ve got four short horror novels in my stack: Monstera by Delilah S. Dawson (I’ve read and enjoyed 2 of her previous short horror novels); We Hexed the Moon by Mollyhall Seeley (this one sounds like a The Craft-esque exploration of witchiness and female friendship); Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm (this one has been on multiple readathon TBRs in the past, and I’d like to read it this month regardless of whether it happens today); and Find Me Where it Ends by Cassandra Khaw (I read this author’s dark academia book earlier this year and it was an incredible 5-star experience).
And I have four other books on my physical TBR, with somewhat more ambiguous genres: A Play About a Curse by Caroline Macon Fleischer (horror, but written as a play even as it’s a novel?); The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed (post-apocalyptic science fiction from an author whose previous novella I also enjoyed); What Feeds Below by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne (YA science fiction thriller/horror, an Aardvark pick); and Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow (romantasy set at a magical vet college, my current physical read).
It’s also always helpful to have audiobook options, particularly if I feel like taking a walk or playing some Stardew Valley. This round I’ve lined up Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison, my current audiobook (I have 2 hours and 51 minutes left in it); The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 3, which I started last night and listened to about an hour of so far; and short horror novella A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman.
Happy readathoning!
