In the last week of August, I took part in (and somehow completed) a 7 day reading challenge with some of the editorial committee for my university’s student newspaper. There were 7 prompts to complete and the aim was to read 7 books and fulfil all the prompts. I really thought I’d fail this–I originally wrote this post down with the title Trying and failing to read 7 books in 7 days–but my competitiveness kicked in and I ended up managing it.
If I could read this much every week, my TBR would shrink in no time. However, it was a struggle; it is definitely something I couldn’t have managed without completely free evenings and minimal university work. This is just a day-to-day account of my experience reading 7 books in 7 days.

The Prompts
Read Your Prettiest Book
The Woman of the Wolf and other stories by Renée Vivien
Read a Book of Your Favourite Colour
The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson
(the cover is blueish grey–a weird favourite colour, I know)
Read a New to You Author
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
(though any of these books could’ve fitted this prompt)
Read a Book with 5+ Words in the Title
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Read a Book by an Author of Colour
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Read a Book by an Author with a ‘z’ in their Name
Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez
Read a Book Recommended to You
Blended by Sharon M. Draper
(this wasn’t recommended to me personally, but @cecilia.reads recommended this in a YouTube video and spoke so highly of it that I had to buy it)

The Reading
I’m not very good with TBRs, so instead of choosing all of these books before the week, I picked three (Woven in Moonlight, Such a Fun Age, and The Girl Who Speaks Bear) that together completed all 7 prompts, with the plan being to then pick up 4 more that fulfilled the rest over the week. A seemingly ingenious plan, right? Wrong. What I actually did was end up picking Woven in Moonlight as the only book by an author with a ‘z’ in the name, forcing it to fulfil that prompt, when in reality it was also my prettiest book and the book with my favourite colour (grey) so I then had to settle for shoe-horning the other books into other prompts. It worked out, but I definitely recommend just picking a full TBR before starting the readathon–something I will definitely do if and when there is a next time.
Day 1 – Monday 24th August
Today was an exceptionally read-y day. I spent the morning doing some research for a section of my dissertation, which means reading articles, and finished in time to start Woven in Moonlight mid-afternoon. I read into the evening–with a brief break for dinner–and I couldn’t put it down. I absolutely loved the combination of Bolivian political history and fantastical elements, identity struggles, and the romance. I ended up giving Woven in Moonlight 5 stars, which was a great start to the readathon.
Day 2 – Tuesday 25th August
I started Such a Fun Age in the morning as my brother had borrowed (stolen) my laptop for a Teams call and so I couldn’t get anything done. I picked it back up again later, and it was one of those evenings where I just couldn’t decide where I wanted to read, so I flitted between my bed and my reading nook (throwing–not literally–my cat out of my seat more than once) and eventually finished it. It was another 5 star read; I absolutely loved the exploration of the babysitter/parent/child dynamic and its intersections with race. I attempted to get a head start on The Woman of the Wolf and other stories, but I think I read about 4 pages before I went to bed.
Day 3 – Wednesday 26th August
I had quite a bit to do today so I wasn’t able to read any of The Woman and the Wolf until the evening. Fortunately, it was a short collection and I was still able to finish it. I’ve decided that reading a book a day is possible, but not achievable long term. It’s a shame, as my 100+ tbr would disappear pretty quickly if I could!

Day 4 – Thursday 27th August
I started Blended in the morning and was absolutely loving it–it’s such a cute story. Plus, Middle Grades have bigger writing than adult books and are a lot quicker to read. I switched to the audiobook for an hour as I was getting fed up of physically reading and it was available on Scribd (you should definitely go and listen to it) and I did some embroidery at the same time. I switched back to the physical book towards the end as it got too intense to do two things at once! I started The Girl Who Speaks Bear straight after but barely read any of it.
Day 5 – Friday 28th August
5 books in 5 days is a lot of books. I kept trying to read The Girl Who Speaks Bear but I couldn’t concentrate and eventually gave up on reading it in the morning. I came back to it in the evening and found myself a lot more invested, so concentrating was no problem. Saying that, I was only just able to finish it before we checked in that evening to see where everyone had got to with their reading, and I didn’t get more than a couple of pages into A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Day 6 – Saturday 29th August
I was so happy it was the weekend because A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a lot chunkier than I first thought–over 430 pages. I spent the entire afternoon reading it. I loved the mixed media format and the general storyline, but I struggled with the idea that a) Pippa would have time to do all the things she did and keep on top of all of her A level commitments and b) that she’d be allowed to do even the ‘original’ project idea for her EPQ. However, I am bitter, as my EPQ was an absolute nightmare–we were not supported through it very well, and it added no value beyond stress to my A levels!!

Day 7 – Sunday 30th August
I was definitely read-out by this point. So, I turned to the audiobook of The Nickel Boys whilst doing an embroidery. I’m not a huge fan of how the pot turned out, but I am proud of my leaves and my lettering! It’s still cute! Anyway, I found The Nickel Boys to be an incredibly harrowing read, especially given that it’s based on true events, but I found it dragged a little. It felt more like a really lengthy explanation of the facility and the events that took place there and the style made me feel disconnected from the characters. I do think it’s worth a read–it was really insightful and interesting–but it wasn’t a favourite for me.
And, just like that, I had completed the readathon. Woo!
Reading 7 books in 7 days is tough. I didn’t think I could get sick of reading, but I did start to tire of it by the weekend; deadlines always remove my motivation. But, it was a brilliant reading week–the majority were all 4 and 5 star reads and I’ve finally ticked off a few books that have been sat on my TBR for months! I won’t be rushing to complete another one anytime soon, but I would definitely give it a go again at some point.
Maybe next year?

Well done for doing this challenge! Deadlines always demotivate me too, that’s why I’m always too scared to do them. And you picked pretty chunky ones too! At least they were all 4/5 stars, that’s awesome 🙂 Great post!
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
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Thank you! I tried to pick books I’ve been putting off for no reason, particularly as I expected a lot of these to be 5 star reads! I’m glad I was able to finally get to them!
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Wow, that is seriously goals! Great job with all the reading, I waned to try something similar to his in a few weeks. I am still waiting for my hold of Such a Fun Age, I am excited to read it once it becomes available. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you! I hope you give it a go! And Such a Fun Age is great ☺️
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Yeah, I am planning on it. I just need it to come in. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
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I can’t believe how many books you’ve read! I read about 2 books a month so I definitely need to pick up the pace 🙂
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What a challenge! I’ve been wanting to do something a bit similar (the TBR got way out of control in the last week), but I could see myself doing the same as you and tiring out a bit because of it. I might just go for a weekend readathon and see how it goes. Congrats on completing the readathon!
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Thank you! My TBR is definitely out of control – has been for a while!!!!
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hahha good job! i’ve been doing something similar this entire month!
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