Bout of Books 13: Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 13 is over, and I am already having withdrawals!  The next one is in August, so be sure to follow the Bout of Books blog in order to stay informed about sign-ups for that.

I had originally set goals for myself that I deemed completely reasonable given my schedule.  However, these did not account for Typhoon Dolphin, which hit Guam on Friday night.  My power and water were out until Sunday evening, and having to prepare for the typhoon, cope with the darkness, and then clean up afterward really cut into my reading time.  Hence, I did not achieve all of my goals; however, I am still pleased with what I did manage.

Bout of Books 13: From Modern to Classic Challenge

Day four's challenge is being hosted by Rebecca at Ranty Runt of a Reader.

Her challenge is for readers to name one book, published after 2005,  that they expect to be a classic in 100 years and give two reasons why.

Bout of Books 13: Midway Update

It's Thursday afternoon here, and I'm halfway through with Bout of Books!

I feel like that went really fast, and I hope to make the most of the rest of my time.  So far, I'm pleased with how this week has gone.  I have gotten a fair bit of reading in, as well as participated in a few challenges.

Let's look at my progess thus far, shall we?

Bout of Books 13: Goals & Tracking Spreadsheet

Bout of Books 13 is this week, and I am ready for it.  Even though I will be busy throughout the week, I want to set aside as much time as I can to concentrate on just lazing around with a good book.

I have set very loose goals for myself, as well as put together a pull-pile.  As always, I reserve the right to deviate from this stack of books.  They are just what I anticipate wanting to read throughout the week.

I am also providing my progress spreadsheet if you want to track your reading throughout the week.

Bout of Books 13

Gah! Bout of Books 13 is rapidly approaching, and I am so excited. This will be my fourth time participating because I've loved it every time. Not only does it motivate you to devote a whole week to reading, but it also connects you to readers all over the world. I always get to chat with the loveliest people on Twitter and find new bloggers to follow. And the challenges and prizes are just an added bonus. Bout of Books is always a fun time, so I'm really looking forward to it.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, but you want to find out more, here's some info from the official site:

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, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

If you're considering joining in, I encourage it. There's no pressure or competition. It's really just an excuse to read and have fun with other people who love books as much as you. What's better than that?  

Read-a-thons are also great for breaking reading slumps. For other tips, check out my recent post on how to deal with reading slumps!

Find me on Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram, and Bloglovin.

Happy reading!

Dewey's Read-a-Thon End of Event Meme

And so ends this 24-hour read-a-thon!  How did you all do?

It started at 10 PM my time, and I was able to read until 3 am before I had to sleep.  Today, however, I wasn't able to read too much because of church and an unplanned nap.  C'est la vie.

I was able to complete a few mini-challenges, though, and just as I did the opening meme last night, here are the end of event meme questions.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Classic Words of Wisdom Mini-Challenge

It's time to take a break and participate in a challenge! This one is being hosted by Allie at A Literary Odyssey.

She asked that we choose a favorite wise quote from a classic text and explain its meaning to us.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Opening Meme

Dewey's Read-a-Thon is upon us!  I believe that this is my third time participating, and I enjoy it every time.  I won't be able to read the full 24-hours because the timing overlaps with my church time, but I am going to try to read as much as possible.

If you haven't seen my TBR yet, you can find it here.

In anticipation of it starting, I am going to answer the opening meme questions.  Let's get into them.

Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-Thon TBR

Dewey's Read-a-Thon starts in about 30 minutes, and I'm really excited for it. Though I had signed up, I didn't think I would be able to participate. Thankfully, however, my time zone has me reading through the night, so it won't interfere with my day activities too badly.

I don't normally do TBR lists, but I have found that such a short read-a-thon demands organization to maximize reading time. Therefore, I have put together a list to pull from.

Bout of Books 12: Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 is officially over, and though I am very sad to see it end, I am very happy with my progress throughout the week.  Though my reading tapered off towards the weekend, I was able to more than make up for it in the beginning of the week, when my schedule was less hectic.

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 6

My reading is really waning as the week comes to a close.  I didn't read at all on day 5, and only fared slightly better on day 6.

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 5

So, this is going to be the shortest update post ever because I didn't read at all yesterday.  Yea...

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 4

I can't believe that Bout of Books 12 is already almost over!  Day 5 already.

Thursday gave me more time than Wednesday for reading, so I was able to finish City of Glass and do a full review on it. However, I did most of my reading late at night, so I was too tired to dig into Dracula, and I'm falling behind on reading it.

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 3

I was doing so well the first two days, but things just slowed down on day three.  I had other demands upon my attention, so I wasn't able to finish any books.

Bout of Books 12: Challenge - Character Coupling

Oh, I really like today's challenge, hosted by Writing My Own  Fairytale.  It's the Character Coupling challenge.  Or, as I'd like to think of it, the Make Your Own OTP (or BroTP) challenge.

You have to choose two characters from different books, put them into any type of relationship, and explain why you did it.  The characters have to come from different books and series, but the same author is fine.

 Because I am in the middle of The Mortal Instruments Series, by Cassandra Clare, I wanted to choose a character from it.  Even though Jace is my favorite character, I think that Alec is turning into someone interesting, so...I choose YOU, Alec Lightwood!

When I think of him, I think of how he has always stood in Jace's shadow even though he's the more mature, thoughtful one.  And that immediately makes me think of Ron Weasley from The Harry Potter Series.  Ron is a lot different than Alec in that he's not as mature or solid, but he's still a very loyal best friend who is often looked over.

I would put them in a friendship because I think that they would really be able to connect.  Whenever Ron gets flashes of envy, Alec could settle him down.  They could lament over how brash their friends are or share stories of how stupid Jace and Harry were to think they could do anything without them.  I think that Alec would ground Ron while Ron would loosen him up a little, as well.

What do you think?  Would they get along?  Let me know in the comments below.  Share your character coupling, too!  I'd love to see who you put together.

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 2

Can I just say that figuring out the timing of these blog posts is kind of confusing?  Most people are just starting their day 3 while I am ending mine.  Confusing!

Anyway, let's talk about my progress for Tuesday, day 2 of Bout of Books.

On Monday I finished the first book in The Mortal Instruments series (you can check out the review here), so yesterday I went straight into City of Ashes, the second in the series by Cassandra Clare.  Even though I liked it less than the first one, I still managed to finish it, making it the second book finished this week.  Woot woot!

I also continued reading Bram Stoker's Dracula since my goal is to finish it.  It's difficult to just sit and read through for hours at a time, so I'm trying to be disciplined in mixing it in with the easier books I'm reading.

There was only one challenge, which I completed.  It was hosted by Trees of Reverie, and it was the Top 10 Recommendations challenge.  I really enjoyed putting my list together, and I tried to pull from different genres and age ranges.  Be sure to check my list out!

I also found a blog that I like.  It's by Laura over at Laura Plus Books.  She doesn't read the same types of books that I normally read, but her blog is so well put together, and she has a lot of YA reviews.  So, if you like to read YA, you should definitely check out her blog.

Ok, let's break down the numbers:

Pages read: 485 (1003 so far)
Books finished: 1 (2 so far)
Hours spent reading: 6.5 (14 total)
Challenges completed: 1
Blogs/Channels Subscribed to: 1

I am totally good with these numbers, especially since I anticipate them slowing down as I am going to be spending time with my niece and nephew for the next couple of days.

How was your second day?  Tell me all about it in the comments below.

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 12: Progress - Day 1

Day one of Bout of Books was an excellent reading day for me.  I was still awake when midnight hit on Guam, so I immediately started reading and ended up not going to sleep until dawn.  I got in about 5 hours of uninterrupted reading, and the rest of the time I was tweeting with other readers who live on my side of the globe.

After I woke up in the afternoon, I picked up where I left off and was able to finish my first book, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

I didn't do any of the challenges, but that is fine since my goal is only to participate in three of them.  

As far as finding new bloggers, I talked to a lot of people that I really liked chatting with, but I have yet to find a blogger who reads the type of books that would most interest me, so I haven't subscribed to anyone new yet.  The search is on, though!

So, here are my day one stats:

• Pages read: 518
• Books finished: 1
• Hours spent reading: over 7
• Challenges completed: 0
• Blogs/Channels subscribe to: 0

I am really happy with the progress I have made so far, and I hope that the rest of this week will continue in similar fashion.

How did your first day go?  Link me to your progress post in the comments below.  

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 12: Goals & Tracking Spreadsheet

Bout of Books 12 starts tomorrow, and I am so thankful for it.  I ended 2014 in a bit of a reading rut, so I'm hoping that this read-a-thon will kickstart this year of reading.

As always, I'm setting very loose goals for myself, but I think I'll be able to get quite a bit of reading done during the week because I'll still be on holiday.  I just need to be disciplined.

I don't really do TBR's, so instead I put together a "pull-from pile" - a stack of books I am interested in and can pull from during the week.  The books that made the pile are:

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (ebook)
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
• Christ Indwelling and Enthroned by J. Oswald Sanders
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (already started)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (reread)

Reading Goals

• Read at least 2 hours every day.
• Read at least 1000 pages.
• Finish Dracula.

Over the past few months I've been letting other things (ie. the internet) distract me from reading, and then it's 2 am, and I'm too tired.  So, I installed an app on my phone that completely shuts down all data, wi-fi, apps, messaging, and phone calls (save for a few choice contacts); this way, I can stop wasting my time with lesser things.  I'll set it to run for two hours every day this next week so I can be sure I get my reading time in.

Blogging Goals

• Do a mid-way post and a wrap-up post.
• Participate in at least 3 challenges.
• Find at least 3 new bloggers/booktubers that I enjoy, and subscribe to their content.

The main reason I love Bout of Books so much is because of how the reading community comes together.  It's an excellent opportunity to meet new people who are passionate about the same things as I am and start dialoguing with them, so I definitely want to do some discovering as the week goes on.

In order to keep track of my reading progress, I made a spreadsheet, which I started using for Bout of Books 11.  If you are interested in using it to track your own progress, you can download it from my Dropbox.

Those are my goals for this next week.  Are you participating in Bout of Books 12?  If you've made goals, please share them in the comments below or link me to your blog post or video.

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 12

I have been on a major reading slump for the past few months.  I mean, I haven't even been averaging one book a month.

I think that this is partly because I was reading so quickly that I burnt myself out.  However, with the school year starting, a lot of my reading time is now dedicated to teaching and lesson prep.  And when I'm not doing that, I'm just so tired from the day that I end up watching YouTube videos during the time when I could be reading.

I miss reading, though.  I miss getting so absorbed in a story that I forget how tired I am.  That's why I am looking forward to Bout of Books 12.  It's at the tail end of my Christmas break, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to spend all day every day with a book, but I am hoping that it will break me out of my book coma and set a solid pace for 2015.

If you want to know more about the Bout of Books read-a-thon, here is a blurb from their blog:

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 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th 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 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

You should definitely sign up and participate in this reading event. It doesn't matter how much time you have or how many books you can finish in a week. It's not about competition. Rather, it's about community. We all read anyway, so it's awesome to be able to connect with other readers around the world to discuss, recommend, and debate the books we love, as well as encourage each other in our personal reading goals.

I'll be keeping track of my progress, as well as participating in the various challenges, on this blog. You can hold me accountable!

Are you planning on joining Bout of Books 12?

#AYearAThon Middlegrade Wrap-Up

The #AYearAThon middlegrade readathon is officially done (for my time zone, at least), and I had a pretty good week.

On Monday, I read A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, Lemony Snicket's The Reptile Room, and Coraline: A Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman with art by P. Craig Russell.  I absolutely LOVED A Monster Calls, and I am going to write a full review of that in the very near future.


So on day one I finished 3 books and read 368 pages.

I decided to start Sabriel, which is part of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy, on Tuesday, and I didn't finish it until Wednesday, it being the only book I read either of those two days.  It was a reread for me, and I enjoyed it even more the second time than I did the first time.  It added 282 pages to my total.

The rest of the week was pretty busy for me, so I tried to read one book a day after that.

Since I love Roald Dahl, I picked up Boy on Thursday and read all 176 pages in one sitting.  If you enjoy Dahl's books, but you haven't read Boy or Flying Solo, I highly recommend them.  They are collections of stories about his life, and they are just as entertaining as his fiction.

On Friday I read A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer, which was 174 pages .  I know that a lot of people really love this book, but I just didn't like it.  The writing was so bad, and the message didn't go beyond the abuse.  I know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the validity of the book, but without even considering that, I just found the book poorly written.  I think that there are a lot better books on child abuse that offer hope alongside truth.

The Giver movie is coming out this week, and I hadn't read the book in a few years, so I decided to reread it on Saturday.  I finished the 180-page tome in one sitting, and I was just reminded of how amazing it is.  Simultaneously, my expectations for the movie lowered as I can already tell from the trailer that they have greatly altered it.  We shall see!

On Sunday I didn't read a thing.  I know.  My nephew turned 9, so my husband and I had a sleepover with him, and we didn't go to sleep until 2 am, and then we had to wake up at 8:30 for church.  Needless to say, my brain was just not up to reading any words.

So, I was able to read 7 books and a total of 1180 pages.  I'm happy with that!

What did you read for this #AYearAThon?  And what middlegrade books am I missing out on?  Tell me in the comments.

Have a blessed day!