Bout of Books Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Hey everyone, sorry this wrap up is a little late, had some family stuff to do.  Anyway, I think I ended this read-a-thon pretty strongly as far as my usually read-a-thon habits go. 

Graphic Novels

I'm still waiting on Chew vol. 5 from the library so I decided to start on another popular series, Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan.  I actually started and finished the deluxe vol. 1 for 256 pages. 

 

I didn't really like the start to this series unfortunately.  The premise is that there is some sort of pandemic that wipes out every living mammal with a Y chromosome except one dude named Yorick and his monkey.  While that in itself sounds really cool, I'm not sure I like the way it is being presented.

 

Audio Books

 

I did quite a bit a driving and managed to get a lot of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side completed.  I've only got 2 discs left and I think I read about 64 more pages.

 

Novels

 

I finished Inferno for 106 pages.  I thought it was better than The Lost Symbol, but still very weak and no where near Brown's "pre-fame" novels.  I wouldn't be surprised if this had a ghost writer to be honest.

 

I also made some progress in S. by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams for around 40 pages.  This is a really excellent book but I can't take it while traveling so I've been pretty slow.  I'm loving the story in the margins even if it is confusing!



 

 

Overall Progress

 

 Overall I think I did really well.  I ended up finishing 4 books and made progress on another 2.  In total I read 701 pages which is pretty damn awesome for me, even if a lot of those pages were graphic novels.  Whatever they still count in my opinion!  Did you guys participate in the read-a-thon?  How did you do?  Let me know in the comments below!

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon Day 4 Update

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

So I've reached the midway point for the read-a-thon and I have to admit it's been rather slow.  I have had to work late pretty much every day this week, but I did get a little reading done.

Graphic Novels

I've been reading the comic series Chew by John Layman and really loving them.  I finished volume 3 for around 25 pages and started and finished volume 4 for 120 pages.  I really am enjoying this series, it's weird and gross and really interesting.

 Audio Books


I've been listening to the audio book for Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey and honestly?  It's absolutely terrible.  I've only got a couple of CDs left though so I'm going to go ahead and soldier through but damn.  Very cliche PNR.  I've listened to approximately 40 pages.

Novels

I've been working through Dan Brown's latest Inferno, but it's been slow.  I don't know why, but Brown's last few books have been very sub-par.  It's like fame has made him not a great writer (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was a ghost writer).   I really enjoyed his early works, especially Digital fortress and Deception Point, but since the popularity of The Da Vinci Code I feel like his ability to write fast pace scientific thrillers has gone way down.  I've made it about 50 pages.

So that was my reading process so far, about 235 pages, even though a lot of that was comic book.  I don't really have any plans for the weekend, hopefully I can step up my game.  I want to finish Inferno as well as 2 other novels I've been working on since early December. 

Challenges

There are 2 challenges for today, the first is the double date book challenge hosted by Writing my Own Fairy Tale.   We are supposed to take two books that we would recommend people read together and explain why they compliment each other.

My two books are both zombies novels, but on different ends of the spectrum.  My Life as a White Trash Zombie is a really funny almost urban fantasy with a great protagonist.  If you like books like True Blood or the Chicagoland Vampires give this a try.  I would also recommend Feed by Mira Grant, one of the best books I have ever read.  Feed uses a zombie apocalypse to examine the American economic and political system. There's lots of science and technology but I also developed a really emotional connection to the two man characters.

The second challenge is hosted by Pen in Hand to create a poem from a book you're reading.  We're supposed to pick a novel and a number 1-10.  Basically you just go to a random page, count the chosen number of lines and then count to that number word.  Do that 14 times and write a poem with the selected words.

I chose Inferno by Dan Brown and chose the number 3.  Here are my words:  glowing, turned, the, strange, down, had, his, deadly, countryside, of, copper, will, sea, face.  We're allowed to take out two words (had, will) and replace them with different ones (he, traveling).

And here is my poem!

He turned his face.
The glowing sea of copper.
Traveling down the strange, deadly countryside.

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 9.0 Sign Up

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

So I know I'm tardy to the party, but I wanted to participate in the Bout of Books read-a-thon this year!  This is my sign up notification, I'll add another post with my progress later.  I'm just now leaving the office so I'm not sure how much reading will get done today, but I will let you all know!

2014 Goals and Resolutions

Hey guys!  Happy 2014!  Long time no blog, I know.  I needed a break from social media.  I didn't make any youtube videos either, so don't feel too neglected.  But it's a new year and a fresh start!  In this post I wanted to outline my redirected focus for the blog and youtube channel and let you know my resolutions.  Don't worry, a 2013 wrap up will be next.

Also, I've been using This Planner to help me get organized for 2014.  I've been using Leonie Dawson's year planner since 2011 and I absolutely love it.  Now you can get a digital or a physical copy and I highly recommend checking it out.  There's still plenty of time to create an amazing 2014!

Bookish Goals

1.  No Reading Challenge - I'm doing something a little different this year.  I'm not setting a specific number of books to read this year.  I get too hung up on staying on schedule and then I don't enjoy what I'm reading because I'm rushing and I also stay away from longer or harder books because I'm afraid it will take too long to read.  I want to take my time and enjoy my reading process this year.

2.  Book Buying Ban - Full disclosure.  I am really embarrassed to admit that I currently have 867 unread physical copies of books.  That is so embarrassing to admit.  At my current reading rate this would take close to TEN YEARS to read all of these.  So I'm going on a book buying ban for all of 2014.  There are a few exceptions, but not many.

• If I am given a gift card I can spend it on books.
• If there is a book signing I'm really interested in I can buy the book for it.
• Cress by Marissa Meyer Feb. 4
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor April 8

Yep you read the right, I officially plan on only purchasing 2 books for the entire year.  As for book signings it has to been an author I've at least heard of and am really interested in the book they've written.  I'd guess around 5 or so for the year.  Any other books that I don't own in the collection will be borrowed from the library.

3.  Sell 100 Books - Not only am I looking to not add to the collection, I'm hoping to downsize it as well.  The way I will be accomplishing this by figuring out how many pages is roughly 20% of the book and then deciding if I want to keep reading.  If the answer is no it goes in the sell pile.  Also any books I rate 1 or 2 stars will also go in the sell pile.  3 and 4 stars will be evaluated based on how likely I will be to re-read it, and 5 star books earn automatic self space.

Those are all of my bookish goals.  Not too bad really.  I do have a few specific books I want to read, but I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. 

Other Goals

I do have a few other life goals.  I do have a financial goal where I want to save a specific amount of money and I also want to put some extra money toward my student loans (beyond my monthly payments).  To achieve this goal I figured out a monthly budget that I hope to live by, but damn it is tough! 

Another goal I have is to run in my first 10k.  I've already signed up for a race on September 20th, which means I've only got 257 days left to train (eek!).  Of course I've started off in fine fashion by catching a terrible cold, but I hope to get into training today.  I'm using Hal Higdon's training programs to build up my endurance.

My final big goal for 2014 is to participate in Life Book 2014, a year long art course hosted by Tamara Laporte at Willowing Arts.  Each week we are sent a lesson from Tam or one of her guest teachers.  I've already done the first lesson and I loved it, so I'm really excited to see what else will come from this course.

So those are my 2014 goals, I think I can live by them, but I'll definitely have to work!  What are your goals for 2014?  Let me know in the comments below!

Bout of Books Day 7 FINALE!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

This is the final day of the read-a-thon, we made it!  I have to admit I went out with a bit of a whimper.  I woke up today and just did not feel like reading, so I didn't.  I watched 3 movies instead (Fight Club, We need to Talk about Kevin, and The Ruins.  They're all adaptations of novels though, does that count?).

I did go to Starbucks for a little while and read 31 pages of City of Lost Souls, but that's it.  I'm ok with it though, because I made a lot of progress and finished quite a few books I'd been working on for a long time.  So what was your final count?  Did you meet your goals?  Let me know in the comments below and thanks for reading with me this week!

Number of pages today:  31
Total number of pages:  1551

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5

Bout of Books Day 6

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

It's the weekend and the end of the read-a-thon is in sight!   We're having friends coming over to have a board game night so I'm not sure if I'll be reading more today so I decided to do my update a little early.  I've still had a good day for the read-a-thon.  I finished The Walking Dead graphic novel for 234 pages.  I also have been listening to my Shades of Earth playaway at every available opportunity and I think I'm around 67%, so an additional 102 pages. 

Today there were two challenges and the first one was hosted by Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf.  This challenge was easy, we just had to answer the following questions.

Question 1: If you could be like any character from a fictional book, who would it be? What do you like about them?Tell me why!

This is a really easy question because I've had the same answer since i was 11 years old.  I would be Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series.  I absolutely love and admire Hermione.  She's smart and brave and loyal and an excellent friend.

Question 2: There’s lots of books out there, but is there one that you've been dying to read that doesn't seem to be written yet? Describe it briefly.

This is a harder question to answer.  I think I would like to read a book that has a character with realistic new age/Wiccan/witchcraft beliefs and practices.  No flying broomsticks or shooting fire out of their hands, but a real spiritual belief.  That would be interesting because I have yet to read a book where that group of people is accurately portrayed.  

The second challenge was hosted by I Read, Ergo I Write and we were to create an acrostic poem using a title of one of your favorite books.  I decided to write a poem about Mira Grant's Feed because I love the book and the title is only 4 letters haha (is that cheating?  oh well)

Friends, rise up while you can.
Everyone has someone on the wall, and
Everyone must know the truth.
Do not be afraid.

So that's my update for today, it's a quick one, but I hope you are all doing well on your challenges!  Maybe I'll update this later tonight if my friends don't stay too long.  Happy reading!

Number of pages today:  336
Total number of pages:  1520

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5

Bout of Books Day 5

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Day 5 of the read-a-thon was really busy day so my reading progress has been minimal.  I listened to more of my playaway of Shades of Earth and I think I'm about 40% finished, so I'm guessing I read about 72 pages today.  I was really bored with all of my books that I'd been reading so I decided to start The Walking Dead graphic novel but of course the pages aren't numbered, go figure.  I made it through the first chapter which was 70 pages after counting.

Today's challenge was hosted by The Space Between and it was a bookish madlib, which is a great idea.  Here are my randomly selected words

A. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
B. The Joker, Batman comics
C. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
D. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
E. Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle mead
F. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
G. Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

And here is my completed madlib!

Help! I'm being held captive at The Red Pyramid by The Joker!
It is very Sweet here!
He is demanding 13 Gameboards to set me free!
I have just discovered that Hermione Granger was captured too!
On second thought, please send Cherries, and don't worry if you don't hear from us for awhile!

Much Love,Pearl the Book Girl

That was a fun little challenge!  Fill out your own in the comments below if you want!  I'm hoping to finish Shades of Earth and the Walking Dead graphic novel tomorrow, we'll see.

Number of pages today:  142
Total number of pages:  1184

Books started:  2

Books completed:  4

Bout of Books Day 4

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Well, we've passed the half way mark of the read-a-thon and I think I'm starting to burn out a little bit.  Last night before bed I finished a book I'd been working on for around six months, 158 pages of How to Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.  I gave it 4 stars.  I really liked the majority of the book which was about how your attitude and perception of a situation will influence what happens in your life, but I disagree that serious illness such as cancer is caused by resentment or childhood issues.  I think people just get sick sometimes, and there's no real reason for it.  Even with those concerns I still related to a lot of the book and found it to be an interesting read.  

I also listened to 25 pages of City of Lost Souls and I started Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, but I don't know how far I am.  I say this because I got a playaway from the library, which is awesome but they don't tell you page numbers.  The hardback edition is 369 pages and I'd guess I'm no more than 20% finished, so I'll estimate 75 pages read.  I'll be sure to finish this before the read-a-thon's end so I can know an exact page count.

And that's as much as I've read today.  When I got home I decided to play a new video game called Gone Home.  It's a beautiful story and at first I thought it was going to be scary but it's not so don't worry.  I won't spoil it for you but I would recommend it if you have a free evening.

There were two challenges today.  The first was hosted at In Wonderland, and this is the road trip challenge.  For this challenge we're supposed to come up with a list of places we want to visit and then find a book set there.  Here's my list, some of the places I've already visited and want to go back and some are destinations I've yet to see.  

Bookish Road Trip

Amsterdam, Netherlands - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Prague, Czech Republic - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Florence, Italy - A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Portland, Oregon - If I Stay by Gale Forman

Seattle, Washington - Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

New York City, New York - The Diviners by Libba Bray

Austin, Texas - Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan

The second challenge was hosted by Paperback Dreamer and was definitely one of my favorite challenges so far.  It was a game of book shelf I spy and we had to look around our shelves and find books with certain images on the cover.  I managed to find 13/15 which is pretty good!

1.  Snowflakes - Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle  (You can't really tell but there are snowflakes on the wrapping paper of the present as well as on the spine)
2.  Flames - The Kill Order by James Dashner
3.  A City Skyline - The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
4.  The Moon - Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
5.  A Sword - The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
6.  A Wedding Dress - Envy by Anna Godbersen (this may be cheating because I don't know if that's actually a wedding dress or just a white one, but it could be a wedding dress so I'm counting it)
7.  High Heels - Cinder by Marissa Meyer
8.  Fog -  Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
9.  A Christmas Tree - ??? (damn my first one I couldn't find!  I have a copy of A Christmas Carol so I thought I had this one in the bag but nope!  The cover just has people at a party, not a tree in sight!)
10.  Sunglasses - Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John  (This might work for the combat boots as well)
11.  Lightning -  Drink Deep by Chloe Neill
12.  A Tattoo - Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
13.  Combat Boots - The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth  (Another one where I'm kind of cheating because I'm pretty sure those are cowboy boots.  Oh well close enough I guess)
14.  Hand Cuffs - ???  (And here's the second one I couldn't find.  Maybe I need to read more erotica?  What other genre of books would have handcuffs on the cover....uh true crime, police drama, dang it of course my mind goes to the dirty things)
15.  A Road -  Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts

These challenges were a lot of fun!  How many can you find on your shelf?

Overall today was a lighter day, but that's ok I'd been going very hard for three days straight, I needed to do something else!  I think we're going to go see the City of Bones movie tomorrow and then we're having a board game night with our friends on Saturday, but I think I'll be able to finish at least one more book.  Good luck to everyone else in the challenge and happy reading!

Number of pages today:  258
Total number of pages:  1042

Books started:  1

Books completed:  4

Bout of Books Day 3

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Today is day 3 of the read-a-thon and I rocked AGAIN!  Woo!  I listened to 44 pages of City of Lost Souls (I didn't get distracted by my ipod this time!) and then I finished my second book of the challenge, Crescendo, with a final 129 pages to round it out.  I really disliked Crescendo and gave it 2 stars, and it was the interesting parent situation that saved it from 1 star. Crescendo was 65% mean girl drama, 30% boyfriend drama, and maybe 5% plot.  

I also managed to finish another book, A Million Suns by Beth Revis (88 pages).  I actually really enjoyed the second half of this book.  I rated it 3 stars, but it's more like 3.499 stars.  I thought the idea of a trail of clues was an interesting idea, but I don't think it was effect in this particular setting.  I also really disliked all of the rape threatening that was going on in the first half.  I did think the ending was pretty good and I'm really interested in reading the final book, Shades of Earth.  May start that tomorrow in fact. 

Today's first challenge was hosted by Musings of a Bookshop Girl who asked two questions, what are the 5 books at the top of your TBR pile and if you went into a bookstore right now what 5 books would you walk out with? 

The books at the top of my TBR pile are

 I'm working my way through The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series and am currently on City of Lost Souls, so Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare is next and I'm really excited to see what happens with Jem.  I want to read The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken for two reasons.  First Christine at polandbananasbooks loved it and second I got approved for an egalley of the second book Never Fade which is supposed to also be awesome.  Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is another YA book that has gotten a lot of buzz on youtube lately.  I've had a lot of good luck with contemporary YA lately, so I'm really anxious to read this (plus cover.  So good!).  I've recently been reading my first Neil Gaiman series, The Sandman graphic novels, and I really want to read one of his novels.  I recently picked up a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane and it's been getting a lot of praise so I am really interested in reading it.  And Finally I have Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde this is a recent purchase that Karate really likes, so I want to read it!

The second portion of this challenge is really hard.  I think if I were to go in a book store right now I would pre-order books, so here are the top 5 that are coming out soon that I really want.

 

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black is coming out soon, September 3rd, and I love the title and the concept is really cool.  I plan on asking for this for my birthday.  Allegiant by Veronica Roth is the final book in the wildly popular Divergent series and is set for an October 22nd release.  With the movie coming out next year I want to be hipster and finish the books before the movies.  Cress by Marissa Meyer is the third book in one of my favorite YA series ever.  It's not coming out until February of next year but you best believe I'll be getting it the day it drops.  Right along the same line is Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor.  This is the final book in another of my favorite series and I have to get it, April cannot come fast enough.  And then finally I have Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins.  The release date has been pushed back multiple times and we can only hope that by May it will be ready.

The second challenge was hosted at Such a Novel Idea and we were to write a poem using the titles of books we own.  I loved this idea and knew I was going to write a haiku because they are my favorite.  

Torn teeth, flesh, and bone
The outsiders crash and burn.

Ashes rage within.

Yeah, that turned out kind of angry not sure why lol. 

Ok this post has been long enough.  In summary, I finished 2 books and read 261 pages.  I will probably start Shades of Earth tomorrow and perhaps try and make progress on one of my netgalley books.

Number of pages today:  261
Total number of pages:  784

Books started:  0

Books completed:  3

Bout of Books Day 2

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Day 2 has been a great day for reading.  I listened to 14 pages worth of City of Lost Souls, got through 109 pages of Crescendo, and finished my first book of the read-a-thon, Assassins in Love with the final 74 pages.  I gave it 3 stars, I thought it was fluffy and fun but I would have liked a little more focus on the murder conspiracy.  Overall an enjoyable but forgettable read.  

I then decided to re-pick up A Million Sun by Beth Revis and read 90 pages.  I started it back in June and got about half way through before putting it down.  The story just wasn't holding my attention.  However a month later I am enjoying it more though I still don't care about Elder and Amy's romantic relationship.  I would rather the story just focus on the ship's politics and getting to the new planet.  

Today's challenge was hosted at Music Plus Books and we are to rename the book(s) we are reading for the challenge.  Let's see, I would change "City of Lost Souls" to "Why is Jace Always Getting Possessed?" because that seems like a really convenient plot device that gets used again and again.  "Crescedo" I would re-name to "Mean Gurl Dramaz" because that's basically all this book has been.  I think "A Million Suns" is an awesome title and I wouldn't change it, and "Assassins in Love" is so bad it's actually good.  I honestly can't think of a more blatantly accurate title so I'm going with it lol.  

So all together I read for around 6 hours including approximate audio book time and finished 287 pages and my first book!  I didn't get through Crescendo like I planned, but I hope to finish it tomorrow and maybe A Million Suns as well.  

Number of pages today:  287
Total number of pages:  523

Books started:  0

Books completed:  1

Bout of Books Day 1

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Day 1 of the read-a-thon has officially begun!  Who is excited?  I know I am!  I am in the middle of 7 books right now, and I hope to finish them soon so I can maybe read some of my TBR picks.  Here are my day 1 starting stats.

City of Lost Souls - pg. 141
Crescendo - pg. 115
Assassin's in Love - 50%
A Million Suns - pg. 208
You Can Heal Your Life - pg. 109
Shutter Island - pg. 37
Ink - 8%

I listened to the audio book of City of Lost Souls in my car and got 22 pages read and I also listened to the audio book for Crescendo and made it through 94 pages.  I'm not really liking either of these stories though so it was definitely a struggle.  

After work, jogging, shower, and dinner I was finally able to start reading at around 8pm.  I picked up Assassins in Love, this month's pick for the vaginal fantasy book club and went from 50% completed to 79%, which is around 120 pages.

There were two challenges for today, the first being hosted at sarah says read.  She asked  "What is one bookish thing you want to do before you die? OR what is one thing you want to do before you die that was inspired by a book you read?"  I have many bookish ambitions and have managed to achieve some of them.  I've gone to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, I've visited The Strand in New York City, and I've met John Green and was able to tell him how much his work on The Fault in Our Stars meant to me. However, one wish that I've had since I was a little kid was to have a giant library with a ladder I could slide on like Belle in Beauty and the Beast.  Considering I currently live in a two bedroom apartment it looks like I'm going to have to wait on that dream, but I do hope one day I will be able to see it happen. 

The second challenge was also a lot of fun.  It was hosted over at Book Pairing and we were supposed to post a photo of a book we were reading and what we were eating and drinking as we read it.  Here's mine.

I paired hot chocolate with Assassins in Love, which I thought was extra appropriate since the book is semi-erotica and chocolate is supposed to be an aphrodisiac lol.  

So all together I read for around 5ish hours (if you count the audio book time) and got through 236 pages.  I still haven't finished a book, but I'm going to try and finish Crescendo and Assassins in Love tomorrow.  It has been a great start and I'm excited for tomorrow!

Number of pages today:  236
Total number of pages:  236
Books started:  0
Books completed:  0

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 8.0 Sign Up and Goals

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

You all know how much I love a good read-a-thon.  Whether it's hosted by another blog, a youtube challenge, or something I just decide to impose upon myself, I love pushing myself to see how much reading I can accomplish.  So I'm signing up for yet another read-a-thon, this time over at bout-of-books. 

My goals for this challenge are as follows:

1. Read at least 3 hours a night during the week
2. Read at least 6 hours on the weekend
3. Listen to my audio book for the entire drive to and from work
4. Start and finish at least 1 novel

So what will I be reading?  Here are some of my ideas, though I can't say for certain I will be reading all of these.

So those are what I would like to read for this read-a-thon, but I highly doubt I'll make it through all of these because I tend to be a slow reader.  I'll probably get distracted by comic books or video games, but I'll try super hard to get at least a couple of these read. 

I also plan on doing a daily wrap up post to let you know my progress and maybe participate in a challenge or two.  I hope you all participate as well because I know it will be a ton of fun!

***Updates***

8/19
Number of pages today:  236
Total number of pages:  236

Books started:  0

Books completed:  0


8/20
Number of pages today:  287
Total number of pages:  523

Books started:  0

Books completed:  1

8/21
Number of pages today:  261
Total number of pages:  784

Books started:  0

Books completed:  3

8/22
Number of pages today:  258
Total number of pages:  1042

Books started:  1

Books completed:  4

8/23
Number of pages today:  142
Total number of pages:  1184

Books started:  2

Books completed:  4

8/24
Number of pages today:  336
Total number of pages:  1520

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5:

8/25
Number of pages today:  31
Total number of pages:  1551

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5

My Personal Read-a-Thon Day 5 & 6

Hello everyone!  My read-a-thon is coming quickly to a close sadly.  Since this is a holiday weekend I decided to extend the read-a-thon through Monday to try and get a little extra reading in!  YAY!  As for Friday and Saturday I did well.  I did play some video games and I went and saw The Great Gatsby (which I thought was pretty good, just a bit too long).  I did manage quite a bit of reading though so here is an update!

Also, does anyone else use blogger and have issues with images automatically becoming links and completely ruining the formatting of the post?  I spend half an hour trying to get cover images into this post and it would not work!  Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

331 --> FINISHED

So I finished The 5th Wave!  I gave it 3/5 stars because the ending was very exciting, but there were a lot of things in the first half that I didn't like.  For example, when you spend a lot of time at the beginning saying how the invasion was "like nothing we could have expected" then it better be that.  Instead I felt like the aliens weren't all that advanced and did a lot of things that I have already seen in other post apocalyptic books/movies.  I also wasn't impressed with how Cassie was written and I didn't like the really long military montage.  However even with all of those complaints I did like it, I just don't think it was work the hype.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Page 324  --> 360

This book still sucks.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Page 264  --> FINISHED

I gave Beastly 2/5 stars.  Beastly is ok, but it is very surface level. I was actually enjoying it despite the incredibly cheesy writing but I really disliked the ending. The whole point of Beauty and the Beast is to show that inner beauty is more important than outer, but at the end of the book Lindy and Kyle/Adrian are still worrying about each others looks. It's like they learned nothing from Kendra's spell. Honestly the movie is a lot better.

Total Pages Read - 813
Books Finished - 2
Books Started - 1

My Personal Read-a-Thon Day 4

Here's my Thursday update (on Friday so sue me).  I haven't finished anything yet but I'm making progress!

Day 4

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Page 267 --> 331

So I'm back to enjoying Zombie's story again and I'm pretty curious to see what happens to him.  I also started to like Cassie and I thought she was going to go in the opposite direction of my expectations, but then she did a fake out and reverted back to that OOH BOYS mentality.  UGH.








City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Page 288 --> 324

Let's play a game of I predict.  I predict that Jace is really the Wayland kid not Valentine's demon spawn and that Sebastian is really the demon child which is why he's a douche.  I predict they're gonna figure this out (well, Valentine will probably just tell them because they're all kind of stupid) and then Clary and Jace will get to be in love but there will be some big plot twist at the end that will force Clary and Jace apart so the next book will be about them trying to find one another or whatever.

Also if Clary has Sebastian's face blood on her sleeve why didn't they perform a tracking spell with that?  I can't think of anything more personal to someone than their own life blood. 

This book sucks.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Page 96  --> 264

Almost finished with this one.  It's cute but not any great work of literature that's for sure.












Total Pages Read - 626
Books Finished - 0
Books Started - 1

My Personal Read-a-Thon Days 2 & 3

Hi everyone, it's time for an update!  So I know I said I wanted to read as much as possible this week...but on Tuesday I watched Django Unchained which is a 3 hour movie.  A 3 hour movie of complete bad assery, but yeah, no reading done oops!  Since no reading too place on Tuesday I decided to just put days 2 and 3 together into one update.

Day 2 & 3
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Page 167 --> 267

Well, Cassie and Evan aren't as bad as I first thought (Cassie still doesn't sound genuine but it's not quite as bad), but now Zombie's story is not as good.  I don't really like the whole military thing, but I do like how Sammie and Zombie's story came together for a little bit.  Not sure this was worth all the hype.









City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Page 251 --> 288

Still slogging through.  At least there was some fighting.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Page --> 96

I decided that since I didn't read on Tuesday I had to make up for it so I started an old audiobook I had on my ipod.  I got Beastly because I enjoyed the movie (for what it was).  It's not terrible, but it feels very surface.  This is definitely a book for younger readers.  There is an interesting chat room portion of the book that probably ties Alex Flinn's other fairy tale books together, but this sadly does NOT work on audiobook!  Other than that it's cute so far.






Total Pages Read - 358
Books Finished - 0
Books Started - 1