Reading Rush Wrap Up

I can't believe The Reading Rush is over!  The week went by so quickly!  I didn't think I'd be so successful with getting through so many books this week.  I'm really happy I participated this year and I'm very impressed that I completed all of the challenges.  In addition to the original 7 challenges, I also read over 1000 pages (1507 to be exact)

• Read a book with purple on the cover
• a. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
• This was a really fun middle grade, spooky story.  I love Arden's writing and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
• Read a book in the same spot the entire time
• a. Skyward, vol 2: Here There be Dragonflies by Joe Henderson
• This is the 2nd bind up of a graphic novel series about earth in a low gravity environment and the fallout in a world with little to no gravity.  The main character is on a dangerous mission to fix the world and turn gravity back on.  I really enjoy the art in this series and I'm looking forward to the next bindup.
• Read a book you meant to read last year
• Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney
• This has been on my shelf for 2 years and I kept meaning to get to it.  I'm glad I finally read and reviewed it, but I really did not enjoy it.  It has a ton of potential but lacked development.
• This is also a debut novel.
• Read an author’s first book
• The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
• I didn't read this one, I read Alice in Wonderland instead.
• The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• I read that this was Carroll's first novel.  I'm not 100% sure if that is true, if not could count this as my 5+ word book and swap Black Dawn and Race Bailey and still meet all the challenges.  Not much needs to be said about the story.
• Read a book with a non-human main character
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• I didn't realize this was a collection of stories, but I really enjoyed it.  Almost all of the character are animals.  I didn't love all of the stories, but I enjoyed most of them.  Rikki Tikki Tavi was one of my favorite movies that we watched in elementary school in library class, and I've only ever watched the Disney movie version of The Jungle Book.  I will say Mowgli and Baloo's tale stays fairly to Kipling's original, minus the singing of course.  I also really enjoyed The White Seal.  I highly recommend the audio narrated by Gildart Jackson.
• Pick a book that has five or more words in the title
• The Magic of Race Bailey by Eric Hobbs
• This is a fun YA story about a teen who lives in the shadow of his famous magician father.  After a tragic incident Race finds out his father was actually a secret agent in a magical society.  Hijinx ensues.  
• This could have also fit the meant to read last year challenge.  I've had this one for quite a while as well.
• Read and watch a book to movie adaptation
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• This was one of my favorite movies alone with The Secret Garden when I was a girl.  Who doesn't make believe they are a princess when they are a little girl.  I realized I had never read the books last year when I read The Secret Garden.  This is a rags to riches tale that is truly heartwarming and was my 5 star read.  This was just so nostalgic for me and I really enjoyed the story.
• I did watch the movie, and while I know there are many adaptations out there mine did a decent job staying true to the book. There some major changes made, but it didn't take away from the heart of the story and I enjoyed it.  
• Bonus Challenge: Read 7 books!
• I can't believe I read 7 books.  To be fair I did listen to 2 of them on audio, but to keep with the spirit of reading I have ebooks for both of them and I read along with them and did end up finishing both of them via ebook.