I'm Sick, Let's Readathon!

 

Lookit my sweet banner making skills! 

So my weekend plans have been derailed by the ick. I'm feeling like absolute shite so I am taking the weekend off and spending it as a loaf on my sofa/bed. I'm rather bummed as this means that my son won't be visiting (don't want to infect him), so I've decided to make the best of it and do a lil readathon thing. 

I'm starting on Friday morning, probably around 8am CST and ending on Saturday night (probably around midnightish). I don't have work until later on Sunday so I might carry over but I'm going to run a timer and try hard to reach 24 total hours of reading. 

I have a stack for my TBR:

• Finish up Iron Flame
• Start Onyx Storm
• I Am Made of Death
• Murderland

I have plenty of snacks as I was planning on having the kiddo over, so I will be comfort eating as I read. 

You can join me if you want! 

1st Update:

I'm still reading Iron Flame. Today has been rough. I woke up feeling worse than ever so I've just been ugh...I took a long nap mid-day and have basically been a slug otherwise. 

If this isn't enough proof of how it's going I started today at 25% in the book and as of now I'm only at 35% as of 3pm. I'm still going though. 

UPDATE

I have been reading more today but I am still sick (duh) so I'm extending this readathon until tomorrow afternoon :)

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (review)

 

Blurb:

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans--though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition." Now, eating human meat--"special meat"--is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he's given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he's aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost--and what might still be saved.

My Thoughts:

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I felt really unsettled whilst reading it. It's not a happy book. There's not really any warm and fuzzies going on here. The world kind of sucks. The characters are all kind of sucky and the thought of eating human flesh just makes me nauseous...and I get it. That's the whole point. I think the author was trying to highlight how complacent humans can be when the majority chooses to do something, the few will go along with it. 

I couldn't help but hope that the main character would break free, do the right thing and live with the consequences of his actions but alas...it didn't work that way. (I'm trying to be as spoiler free as possible here). My main thought through this whole story was HAS NO ONE HEARD OF VEGETARIANISM OR VEGANISM? There are so many meat substitutes why go to that extreme? That was the part that lost me and kept me from slipping into this world completely. 

Honestly, it's a decently written book. There was sufficient world building that I could picture this society pretty well. A few little points kept it from being REAL REAL and the main character was just pretty boring. There were several gory scenes in the book that made me squeamish. Several non-gory scenes that made me squirm in an unpleasant way and then the ending made me grrrrr. 

I didn't exactly hate it, but I didn't exactly love it. It was a quick read however, so there's that. 

What did you think of this book?  

Winter's Respite Readathon

 

Well I am going to be working my way through my TBR this month! I have a nice stack going and I am still on track to hit my goals!

I'm currently reading Fourth Wing, and hope to be finished by tomorrow (Sunday 2nd) and easing my way into Iron Flame, and then into Onyx Storm. So those are the first 3 books on my TBR. 

Here's the rest of the books on my to read list:

• The Borgias by Michael Mallet
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

So that's 7 books by the end of February. I don't know if I can do that but it's what I'm aiming for. I don't think I'll be able to participate in the readathon on the 22nd, as I will have a work shift at night but I might could participate halfway and extend it into Sunday? I don't know yet. 

Other things I'm focusing on this month is the 75 Soft Challenge, it's a fitness thing that I'm starting Sunday 2nd. 

I'm debating on posting my progress for that here on my blog, even though I know it's not a fitness/health blog. It is part of my life and my goals for the year too. 

So let's get reading ya'll!