The Olympics of Reading

It’s summer Olympics season — and boy do we have the perfectly themed post for you today! We’re hosting a stop on the official blog tour for Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema, which is a really adorable book about what happens when one girl’s dreams of Olympic glory are crushed & she finds a new dream for her life that she never even imagined. It’s funny, whip-smart, and really refreshing. (See my full review HERE!)

Because the book features the Olympics — and because the summer Olympics are about to kick off! — I thought a fun post for today’s blog tour would be …

The Olympics of Reading

Here is where you’ll find the type of “sports” that readers like you & I can really ace. So browse the categories below, and let us know in the comments which one would be your best. And feel free to share other “reading Olympics” ideas, too!

The Fast Read

This one is all about speed; how quickly can you race through the pages? How many words per minute? Pages per hour?

The Long Read

This is a test of stamina. Do you like your tomes thick, your font small, and your pages thin? What’s the longest book YOU’VE ever read?

Reading Positions

Much like the Decathlon, “Reading Positions” has multiple categories within the sport:

• The Reclined in Bed

• The Book Held Overhead

• The Hunched Over Table

• The Reading While Walking

• The Reading While Eating

• The Bathtub (the key is to avoid getting your book wet!)

Nocturnal Reading

This one is about how well you read after dark. Are you a sneak-the-flashlight-under-the-covers expert? How about reading without disturbing your sleeping spouse or partner? And just how late is too late to stay up reading? (Trick question: it’s never too late to stay up reading.)

 

The Book Fling

We’ve all had those moments. When you’ve read a book and either the ending or a certain mid-way twist has you flinging the book across the room in either anger or frustration or shock. This competition measures your distance; extra points for style.

 

The Book Haul

Do you even lift, bro? How many books can you carry at one time? Stack ’em up and remember to lift from the knees.

The Marathon

Sleep is for the weak. How long can you continuously read for? Grab a stack of books and …. GO!

Lou Brown is one of the fastest swimmers in the county. She’s not boasting, she really is. So things are looking pretty rosy the day of the Olympic time-trials. With her best mate Hannah by her side, Lou lines up by the edge of the pool, snaps her goggles on and bends into her dive… 

Everything rests on this race. It’s Lou’s thing.

… or it was. She comes dead last and to top it all off Hannah sails through leaving a totally broken Lou behind.

Starting again is never easy, particularly when you’re the odd-one out in a family of insanely beautiful people and a school full of social groups way too intimidating to join. Where do you go from here? Finding a new thing turns out to be the biggest challenge Lou’s ever faced and opens up a whole new world of underwater somersaults, crazy talent shows, bitchy girls and a great big load of awkward boy chat. 

Lou Brown guides us through the utter humiliation of failure with honesty, sass and a keen sense of the ridiculous. This girl will not be beaten.