2018 started off well reading-wise. I finished 15 books last month, which is close to the 16 I got through last year January. While in 2017, the Bout of Books read-a-thon helped get through quite a number of books, this year I only managed 2 books that week. Then I spontaneously joined the 24in48 Readathon because my weekend plans went bust due to the flu and a wrist injury. I got through nearly 5 books. So yes, read-a-thons can be a great motivating factor.