Readathin May TBR

It doesn’t seem like that long ago since the last Readathin, but an awful lot has happened! Last time, In February, I challenged myself to read 5 books for Readathin, and I didn’t even manage to read those because I had so much university work to do. However, my final deadlines are fast approaching, which means that I will have much more free time to read! In April, I read 9 books, so I think I can be a little more ambitious here with my Readathin May TBR.

If you’re not familiar with Readathin, it’s a readathon that happens four times a year, and the only true goal is to thin our your TBR, so the rules are that you have to read books you already own. For me, this is ideal, because I have so many unread books and I really need to do something about it.

There are also optional prompts to complete if you want a challenge! This time, the prompts are as follows:
1. Read a fantasy that takes place in a made up world.
2. Read a book with a character who escapes.
3. Read a contemporary that takes place in a country outside your own.
4. Read a book that has been stranded on your TBR the longest
5. Read a book chosen by someone else.

I’m not sure I have anything that fits prompt 1! Fantasy isn’t a genre I enjoy, so I don’t really have anything.
For prompt 2, I’m going to take a bit of a guess, and pick Authority by Jeff VanderMeer. I don’t know if anyone escpaes from anything, but given the blurb, I imagine at least one character will escape from some kind of sticky situation!
The third prompt was an easier one. I’ve picked Outline by Rachel Cusk, which I believe takes place in Greece.
I really don’t know which of my books has been on my TBR the longest, so this will be a guess. I’m going to go with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
This one is easy, because a while back, I asked twitter to pick my next read, and the poll was split 50/50 between The Vegetarian and Strangers on a Train. I’ve read The Vegetarian, so I’ll pick up Strangers on a Train next.

So, those are the books I’m picking to fill out most of the prompts. I’m going to bulk it out a bit, and be ambitious. I read 9 books last month, so this month I’m going to aim for 12. Some of them are going to be shorter ones though, and they’ll all be from my Spring TBR list that I posted a while ago!

1. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer, so I can complete the trilogy!
2. Transit by Rachel Cusk. I don’t have the last book in this trilogy, but I do have the first two.
3. A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
4. The Inner Room – Robert Aickman
5. Mostly Hero – Anna Burns
6. Shanti – Vikram Chandra
7. Solar Bones – Mike McCormack
8. The Clock in the House All Tell Different Times – Xan Brooks

And adding my prompt books:

9. Authority – Jeff VanderMeer
10. Outline – Rachel Cusk
11. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
12. Strangers on a Train – Patricia Highsmith
This will leave a fair few books on my Spring TBR to get through in June! After all, summer doesn’t officially start until June 20th. The ones I’ll have left are:

1. The Buried Giant – Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa – David Peace
3. Counternarratives – John Keene
4. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
5. The Little Friend – Donna Tartt
6. Calypso – David Sedaris
7. The Female Persuasion – Meg Wolitzer
8. (I have previously received PR products from Picador) The Confession – Jessie Burton
9. The Victim – PD James
10. Sonny Liston was a Friend of Mine – Thom Jones
11. Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead – Milan Kundera
12. Bridge of Clay – Markus Zusak
13. Everything Under – Daisy Johnson

A few of those are short stories, though, so it might be possible to complete the spring TBR before summer officially starts!

Are you doing any readathons in May? How’s your TBR looking? Let me know!