That’s a wrap! Realmathon is over, and I’ve had a blast.
I set myself some ambitious goals at the beginning of the month, hoping to tackle 6 books in particular for this reading challenge. I managed to read 3 from that original list, and a 4th (Cursed Bunny) that I started at the end of April but just haven’t had time to get very far through. It was fun to allow the challenge to shape my reading – you can see throughout the month I cottoned on to how I could score more efficiently.
Have no idea what I’m talking about? Read my Introduction post here.
Here’s what I read through April:
Men Explain Things To Me (And Other Essays) // Rebecca Solnit
(-11 points to Enya)
Letters On Motherhood // Giovanna Fletcher
(-11 points to Enya)
Our Wives Under The Sea // Julia Armfield
(+17 points to Sanctum)
In the Miso Soup // Ryu Murakami
(+21 points to Sanctum)
The Man Who Died Twice // Richard Osman
(-16 points to Enya)
Coraline // Neil Gaiman
(-22 points to Enya)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry // Gabrielle Zevin
(-19 points to Enya)
I chose to attack Enya almost exclusively, because I know an awful lot of booktubers read fantasy, so they’d have a lot of good readers fighting their corner.
I received bonus points when reading within my realm’s genre, so I mostly read horrors and mysteries, using the challenge as an opportunity to finally tackle some books that have sat on my shelf since last year, like Our Wives Under The Sea (a chilling read that I finished in just two sittings).
I also really enjoyed The Man Who Died Twice. Prior to this, The Thursday Murder Club was the only time I had dabbled in cosy crime, so it was nice to have an excuse to step outside of my genre comfort zone again. Seeing how much I had got out of reading it, Neil actually ordered me book 3, The Bullet That Missed, for my birthday this month. Nice to have some more cosy crime on the horizon!
Overall, it was a really fun challenge, and I’ll definitely be doing it again next year.
