Rereadathon #4- The Second Half!

Day 7
What I Read:
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (pp. 59-123)
Moranthology by Caitlin Moran (pp. 70-130)
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (pp. 406-416)
Pages read today: 137
Total pages read: 1398

Another day where I feel like I didn't read that much, but I actually sort of did. I'm getting properly into The Magicians now- the characters' time at college is passing quickly and the Big Bad has revealed itself. I'm remembering why I loved it so much the first time around. I've also remembered there's a TV adaptation, and am debating with myself about whether to give it a go or not. I love this book so much, you see.

Moranthology is kind of a weird one as I'm realising how dated everything is- Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister, Lady Gaga is still the biggest thing in the world and BBC's Sherlock has only just started. It's weirdly nostalgic. And there's no way any of those things were six whole years ago (or more), nope. Not at all.

The Paying Guests is so tense I actually feel nervous myself reading it. I don't really remember how it ends either, which is just adding to the effect. I could barely put it down to go to work this evening. But I'm off for the next two days- hopefully I should finish it tomorrow or Thursday :)


Day 8
What I Read:
The Paying Guests (pp. 417-499)
The Magicians (pp. 124-174)
Moranthology (pp. 131-163)
Pages read today: 167
Total pages read: 1565

I had high hopes for my day off, but I ended up having one of those days where I didn't particularly do anything productive. I'm home to see my family as it's my brother's birthday tomorrow, where I read a bit, but mostly I just ate sweets and played with cats. I also ended up watching the first episode of the Syfy adaptation of The Magicians, which was actually pretty decent? It deviates from the book by quite a bit and I've heard it deviates even more as it goes- and I've also heard the series drops in quality a fair bit as it goes on, but there's something about it. I'll probably watch the next episode, at least.

In the actual book of The Magicians, I've just read past the wonderfully weird bit where they go to the South Pole and are transformed into foxes and have an orgy. I'm guessing this won't be tackled in the series... but I suppose I should wait and see ;)

Also, Moranthology continues to be delightfully dated, with a bit about Moran's visit to the Doctor Who set, wherein Freema Agyeman is the new upcoming companion. Oh, that was so long ago...


Day 9
What I Read:
The Paying Guests (pp. 500-565) (finished)
The Magicians (pp. 175-255)
Moranthology (pp. 164-222)
Pages read today; 206
Total pages read; 1771

I had a lovely day today out shopping with a dear friend who I don't get to see often. Highlights of our trip included listening to the A Very Potter Musical soundtrack in the car, being talked into buying books in The Works so she could make up the 3 for £5 deal, and being given part of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child display by a nice worker in Waterstones. All in all, it was just pretty wonderful.

I even got a fair bit of reading done when I got home, too, despite also managing to fall asleep for a couple of hours after dinner. I finished The Paying Guests by plowing through the last sixty pages in a very short amount of time- even though I eventually remembered the ending, the whole thing is so tense I couldn't seem to read fast enough. Now I feel a little emotionally exhausted. I seriously forgot how intense that book is.

Day 10
What I Read:
The Magicians (pp. 256-303)
Pages read today; 48
Total pages read: 1819

I didn't have the chance to read much today, as I was still home at my parents' house and, as always happens when I'm there, getting out of bed is much harder when you've got a very cute, cuddly cat lying on top of you. So, yeah, sort of spent the morning sleeping until I had to leave for work in the afternoon.

I'm getting confused between The Magicians and its sequel The Magician King- there's things I'm sure happened in the first book, but it seems that I was wrong... I really need to reread the sequel too soon, and finally read the last book in the trilogy :)


Day 11
What I Read:
The Magicians (pp. 304-402) (finished)
Moranthology (pp. 221-288)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling (pp. 1-47)
Pages read today: 213
Total pages read: 2032

On the home stretch now! I've finished The Magicians and am proud to report it's just as good- if not even better- than I remembered. I'm super keen to read the sequels now.

I've also started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix kind of on a whim. So the plan for tomorrow is to finish Moranthology and then see how far I can get in Order of the Phoenix to bring this re-readathon to a nice finish :)


Day 12
What I Read:
Moranthology by Caitlin Moran (pp. 289-354) (finished)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling (pp. 48-273)
Pages read today; 292
Total pages read:

It's the end!

So I went for a run this morning and it was super warm and sunny and I thought "This is awesome! Maybe I'll bring my book to the park! I haven't had the chance to do that much this summer!" But as soon as I got home, storm clouds started to gather and the day turned into the grey wet miserable late summer weather we all know well. So I just curled up indoors with Harry Potter instead. It was genuinely great; it's so good to be back at Hogwarts.

Closing survey!

How many books did you end up re-reading?
I read a grand total of five books in their entirety- The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters; Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates; How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran; The Magicians by Lev Grossman; and Moranthology by Caitlin Moran. Plus the first third-ish of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That worked out as a grand total of 2324 pages- the most I've read in a readathon in a very long time and also well above my usual reading rate!

Which was your favourite re-read?
I think probably The Paying Guests. I think a re-read was really needed, because on my first read of this book I was basically just going "OMG NEW SARAH WATERS SARAH WATERS OMG" the entire time. I could appreciate the tension and the characterisation a lot more this time around.

What do you feel would have made the re-readathon a better event?
I sort of agree with what Bex says about the difficulties of hosting it on her own- but at the same time, the hands off approach is kind of nice too. Kind of puts the emphasis on the reading, as opposed to obsessively updating, if you know what I mean (okay, so I obsessively update, but that's just me and my obsession with keeping track of things, haha)

Anything else?
Thank you Bex for hosting another re-readathon! I genuinely love these events. It's so good to just lose yourself in old favourites. And unlike a normal readathon, you're much less likely to run into a dud, so it's basically a week or so of pure wonderful books :)