12 in 12 and Pondathon II

Hello bookworms!! Today I’m going to be talking about my 12 in 12 challenge and Pondathon II. 

Yes, I know. A week ago I was writing about how I wasn’t going to be doing any more challenges this year except for Goodreads and Beat the Backlist… but I forgot that I had already signed up for 12 in 12 on Instagram… And then a few of you were all “you should join Pondathon this year” and … I folded. I literally collapsed under the weight of peer pressure. (Admittedly this did not take much. AND it was probably more FOMO than peer pressure.) And so here we are.

So, let’s talk about my EXTRA plans for 2022 reading challenges. (There will be NO PopSugar or other challenges sign up though. On that I can promise you.)

12 in 12 challenge

Early in January, @shadowbooker on Instagram shared a story template for a challenge, which we are now calling 12 in 12. The idea is that you share the template with your followers, and they picked 12 books for you to read in 2022. Which is great, because then you have other people sharing their favourite books with you. (And me spamming all my friends saying to read The Scorpio Races.)

I got… a LOT of book recommendations sent my way, so I have been whittling down the list to books that a) sound interesting, and b) I can easily get copies of without going too far into my book haul. Which means I’ve been cross referencing with my library and also with friends to see if I can borrow from them. (Please rest assured that I am a GOOD book borrowing friend. I will NOT dog ear books, let cats chew on them, or crack spines. I will also return in a timely manner and not leave the country.) Although, I was also pleased to see recommendations coming in that were already on my TBR. So a lot of those have ended up in my list too.

So, these are the 12 books that I have ended up with.

Books:

• The House in the Cerulean Sea — TJ Klune
• The Match — Sarah Adams
• A Discovery of Witches — Deborah Harkness
• A Torch Against the Night — Sabaa Tahir
• You Should See Me in a Crown — Leah Johnson
• Sorcery of Thorns — Margaret Rogerson
• Navigating the Stars — Maria V. Snyder
• Cute Mutants Vol 1 — SJ Whitby
• Defy the Night  — Brigid Kemmerer
• Midnight Sun — Stephenie Meyer (you don’t want to know how many times this appeared on my list, but it was outrageous)
• A Boy Called Christmas — Matt Haig
• Chain of Gold — Cassandra Clare

I may not read them in this order, or one per month, but my aim is to get through as many of these as possible.

Pondathon II

So in 2020 I kind of half signed up for #StartOnYourShelfathon, which was (I think) CW’s first big annual reading challenge. I didn’t really put a lot of effort into it because I was stressed about work and pandemic, and honestly, reading and blogging was A LOT. So I half-assed it and then didn’t complete the star chart.

Then last year Pondathon happened and I kind of followed along, but didn’t even get to the sign-up stage. I just watched from a distance.

But, we’re in 2022 now, and 2022 is all about new beginnings and starting fresh. So, I am officially signing up for Pondathon II. Even though I wasn’t going to. (Meaghan I am blaming you.) Therefore, I would like to officially introduce you all to Dahlia (who is secretly my tribute character to Julie and the Phantoms — IYKYK).

If you would like to know more about Pondathon II, then CLICK HERE for sign ups and prologues and the amazing story that CW has written. This year we aren’t going to battle — we’re saving the forest by planting lots of trees and shrubs and flowers. Seriously, it’s adorable.

Anyway, the best part of this readathon is that — there’s literally no rules except reading and logging books. If you don’t want to do side quests or companion quests, that’s fine. Only read 5 books all year? That’s fine. Only want to log books once per month? That’s also fine. Didn’t stick to your TBR? No worries. You do you. So long as you read and log a singular book, you’ll get a plant for your garden.

Now, I might do quarterly updates on my garden, I might not. We will see!!

So, that’s my 12 in 12 and Pondathon II challenges. They’re set in stone now (or sand — I make no promises in 2022). But, I will try to complete them!!

Are you doing 12 in 12 or Pondathon II?