It’s that time of year again! Hello, Trope-ical Readathon! For those unaware of Trope-ical Readathon, you can find all of the details here. In summary, it includes 13 “Common Challenges” whose prompts contain common tropes (or their alternatives); 2 team-specific challenges; and 1 team book challenge (out of 2 choices). There are 6 teams and completion of a challenge earns your team points. You can sign up to participate through March 5.
This year I signed up for Team Non-Fiction/Poetry to switch it up. In the past I was with Team Fantasy. Below are the Common Challenges for March 2023 followed by my book choices. I intend to prioritize the ARCs in this list and then mood read for the rest of the month. Though, honestly, there’s no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I’ll be able to read all of these books.
Common Challenges
| PROMPT | ALTERNATE PROMPT | BOOK |
| Absent/dead parents | A book with more than one author | |
| Love triangle | Followers/friends choose between two books | We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray |
| Boarding school | A group/buddy read | A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas [DONE] |
| Dark academia | A borrowed book | Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison [DONE] |
| Holiday | Takes place in another country | The Dancing Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave* [DONE] |
| Blast from the past | A book published before 2000 | The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman [DONE] |
| Mixed media | An audiobook or ebook | The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller* |
| Post apocalyptic/dystopia | A book with over 500 pages | |
| Found family | A book in a series | Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh* [DONE] |
| Coming-of-age | An indie or self-published book | Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge |
| Multiple POV | Multiple POC characters | The Atlas Paradox by Olive Blake |
| Bookish themes | A book with a pun in the title | The Midnight Library by Matt Haig |
| Retelling | A book with a TV or movie adaptation | Gilded Cage by Dani Wyatt [DONE] |
Team Challenges
Here are the challenges for Team Non-Fiction Poetry:
Team Challenge 1: Read a book with the “Diary/Journal” trope
Team Challenge 2: Read a book written by an actor
New Team Book: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
Old Team Book: Turtle Under Ice by Juleah del Rosario
For the Team Challenge 1 I chose MADLY, DEEPLY: THE DIARIES OF ALAN RICKMAN.
For Team Challenge 2 I chose THE OPPOSITE OF BUTTERFLY HUNTING by Evanna Lynch THE PRINCESS DIARIST by Carrie Fisher.
Are you participating in Trope-ical Readathon this month? Let me know!
I’ve never heard of this readathon, but it sounds like a lot of fun! Unfortunately, most book clubs, readathons, or tags happen once the month has started, and I’m such an obnoxious planner that I have all my books lined up and ordered from the library several weeks in advance haha. But I look forward to hearing your thoughts on a few of these. I spot several favorites (especially The Midnight Library, which changed my life). Such a fun idea for March!
Ha, the only thing I plan are ARCs. I’m too much of a mood reader to plan my library book hauls or anything like that. It’s why I have a huge backlist of unread books. But Trope-ical Readathon is all month. And even if you read a book that doesn’t fit any of the challenges, the pages you read still count as points for your team. So you can still join if you want! Also, it happens twice a year…I think again in August, if I’m remembering correctly.
I can’t believe it’s already time for Trope-ical Readathon again. I plan to post my possibility pile tomorrow and hope those books fit at least one prompt. Lol. I switched things up this time too and joined Team Science Fiction for the first time. I hope you are able to read a ton of these books!
Wooo glad you joined! Yea I decided to try a different team as well. Just to shake it up. I’d love to be able to read all these books, but, uh, doubtful. Good luck with your trope-ical reads!
I am! I’m team fantasy! I’m also hosting reading sprints on their sprint account if you ever want to join over there on twitter!
Awesome! I was Team Fantasy the first two times I participated, but decided to switch it up. Ok, I’ll keep an eye out on the Twitter account to see if any work out for me.