It’s a Wrap! Popculture Readathon Wrap-Up, Thoughts, & Future Anticipation

Welcome back fellow readers. Today, we’ve got a fun (belated) look at last month’s Popculture Readathon, a 90’s movie inspired readathon that was hosted by Whitney from Bookswhitme and Lorryn from Readingparental There were four bingo boards and choose from, of which could read prompts from one, multiple, or all to eventually get bingo.

Now, my track record for readathons has been mentioned before. I historically don’t manage to finish them out (the curse of being a perpetual mood reader.) So… How did I fare? Did I hit bingo? Black out the board?

January Re(ad)cap

January was a busy work month as it usually is (which is part of the reason this wrap-up is coming so late, but we don’t need to get into that.) However, I got in a few stellar reads during the month, including:

Some New Faves

Shame is an Ocean I Swim Across: A heart-tugging, emotional rollercoaster of a poetry collection by artist Mary Lambert. The concept of being seen in a piece of fiction was one that was really strong for me in reading this collection.

The Willies: A strikingly honest examination of queerness and whiteness told through the poetry of Adam Falker, which I was lucky enough to snag as an ARC off of NetGalley.

Adam Bomb: A slow-burn of friends to lovers romance by seasoned romance novelist Kilby Blades that had me turning every page as quickly as I could read.

Interested in these titles? Check out my reviews:
Shame is an Ocean I Swim Across | The Willies | Adam Bomb

A New Classic

The Picture of Dorian Gray: While not my favorite classic thus far, I genuinely loved the lush prose of Oscar Wilde and the decadent descent of Dorian Gray that The Picture of Dorian Gray was. Bonus points for classic queer reads.

Intense Starts

Under the Udala Trees: A historical fiction set during and after the Biafran war in Nigeria, Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta has already stabbed me in the heart at least twice, and I’m only on chapter eight as of writing this wrap-up.

The Water Dancer: Another historical fiction with lilts of magical realism, The Water Dancer by Ta-Nahisi Coates was a read from last month’s January selection for the Pages & Prose Book Club. My not finishing it legitimately stings; the first chapter alone is lushly terrifying; Coates’ writing is phenomenal and I’m excited with February being a slow month for me, because it means I’ll have time to really savor it.

April Re(ad)cap

April was another month where I didn’t get a lot of reading done, but the reading that I did get done/started gave me some pretty amazing books, and the promise of continuing into some great reads for this month.

Books I Read

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For Blood & Glory and Static Shock: Supercharged Vol. 1

For Blood & Glory is an urban fantasy by indie author Cassandra A. Hendricks. As her debut, I was really impressed with what she managed to do with bringing a new, vibrant take on the supernatural to YA. I have my general review up on Goodreads.

The next book I managed to finish last month was the first volume of the now-discontinued New 52 Static Shock, and I Have So Many Thoughts. Namely, that this comic shouldn’t have been cancelled, and DC made a huge mistake. I also have a general review of it up on Goodreads and will be talking about this issue, as well as For Blood & Glory, later this month.

Books I Started

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I front loaded the end of my month with three behemoths: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, and Battle Royale by Koushun Tamaki with translations by Nathan Collins.

And holy shit.

I think these three books are going to be emblematic of memorable reading experiences. I’ve already finished the first section of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and I’ve been blown away. Similarly, I’m about as deep in with The Fifth Season, and I’m not sure which I’m enjoying more. They’re both breathtakingly unique pieces of fiction, and I’m not sure there’s going to be fantasy quite like what James and Jemisin have created for a long time.

As for Battle Royale, if you’re familiar with Japanese literature, you’ll know that it’s been referred to as the precursor/narrative parent of The Hunger Games, exploring similar themes with a similar premise. This will be my first time reading it after hearing so much about it, and I’m jazzed to get into it deep.

Possible May TBR

While I’m not one to actually create, let alone commit to, a TBR list, I’ll obviously be finishing the books that I started last month. On top of those, I’ll (possibly) be reading through the recent release from Jay Kristoff and Aimee Kauffman, Aurora Rising, as well as finishing the Illuminae series in preparation for getting my hands on Memento.

March Re(ad)cap

Soo, let’s get it out there quick that I did not read a lot in March. The TL;DR is that I was sick for a majority of it, so that hurt my reading more than helped it.

C’est la vie.

I did, however, get through a couple of things, and what I did read in March made me very, very happy.

Books I Finished

The one book at I actually finished this month was also one of my most anticipated books for this year, written by my best friend, Caitlin Lochner. I’ll be talking about it more later this month, but suffice to say if you’re looking for an exciting YA in the vein of The Hunger Games with X-Men vibes, you should definitely take a look into it. I’m just saying. The main characters, Lai and Jay, are two of my favorite, and the casual representation throughout the book is perfection.

Books I Started

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So Her Infernal Descent is technically a roll over from last month, but I’m counting it here since it’s an on-going read of mine. I decided to poke through my shelves and backlogged TBR and that’s when I realized that I had yet to start on my New 52 Static Shock, and that Battle Royale has been collecting dust on my shelf since the dawn of time.

Next Month

I intend to finish the books that I started this month (and possibly get a little bit ahead in my Goodreads book challenge since I had been ahead of my goal by… five books?) and possibly crack open a couple of the hard backs that I’d hauled at the start of March–I have Swing Time by Zadie Smith and The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton collecting dust on my shelf, so those are good contenders for a fresh read.

Here’s to a (better) readerly month, friends.