I knew the Spookathon wouldn’t fall in the Halloween day. I knew it was the third week in October. But the problem is, first I needed to know when was the third week of October. In conclusion, I didn’t realize the readathon hosted by BooksandLala was starting next week. It will fall right into my birthday – which will be a day lost of reading – but it still makes this readathon extra special.

As I said in my September Wrap-Up, I knew that I wanted to read three books for Halloween either if they were related to the challenges of the Spookathon or not. Last night, I finally rewatched Lala’s announcement video to see what the challenges really are. Turns out, the three books complete 4 of the 5 challenges. I couldn’t have chosen better books, to begin with. Therefore, I only needed to thought about one more to read and my week is planned out entirely.

The challenges

1. Read a thriller

Twisted by Jeffery Deaver

This was the only challenge I didn’t have a book for. Turns out, none of my pre-selected books are thrillers – I thought at least one would be. So, Twisted is a collection of short stories by Jeffery Deaver. I actually started reading this book last year for Spookathon as well but then life happened, and I gave up on finishing it. Thank you past me, now I have a thriller to read this year!

2. Read a book with purple on the cover

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I have a second-hand copy of Coraline for almost a year now, and I’ve been saving it especially for Halloween. The movie is the scariest thing I ever saw, and for so long I wanted to grab the book from my shelf and read it already. Without a dought, this is the book I’m most excited to read and probably will finish in the first hours of the readathon, and maybe I should watch the movie after, and then I won’t be able to sleep. Sounds like a good plan to me.

3. Read a book not set in our time period

Charlotte Says by Alex Bell / Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

I don’t actually know in which year each of this books takes place, but I do know that Charlotte Says is set many years before Frozen Charlotte (which is set in our time period), and Agatha Christie used to write in her own time period which isn’t the same as ours. Either of this books will complete the challenge, now I only need to know which one I’m going to finish first.

4. Read a book with a spooky word on the title

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie / Charlotte Says by Alex Bell

Truth to be told, the spooky word is actually Halloween, but I’m also very keen on saying that is actually Charlotte. The name itself is not scary at all, although after reading Frozen Charlotte and to know what the name is associated too, I get the chills just by thinking about it. For purposes of completing this challenge, I’m going to count only Halloween as the real spooky word. Do I even need to explain why?

5. Read a book with pictures

Coraline by Nail Gaiman

I don’t know if every copy of Coraline has illustrations, but I know that mine has. And even though, I would prefer to read the story without any visual stimulation – the movie was visual enough for a lifetime of terror – I’m also thankful it actually helps to fulfil the final challenge of this readathon.

I’m always super hyped for any readathon and I always think I’m going to slay it, but this time I have a different feeling. I’m not reading as many books and they are quite short. Anyways more news on that in my October wrap-up.