Category Archives: bout of books

Bout of Books Wrap-Up (and Days 6&7 belated updates)

And that’s a wrap on this round of Bout of Books! I really enjoyed myself during this readathon, and it was a great way to encourage myself to read more at the beginning of the year. My readathon wrapped up nicely; over the weekend I was able to get a lot of reading done in addition to other things like seeing Pitch Perfect 3 (basically the same as the first two movies, which meant it was exactly what I was in the mood for), fixing stuff around my apartment, and working out a bunch.

Here are my overall stats for the readathon:

Books finished: 4

Witches of Lychford by Paul CornellThe Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnisWe Are Okay by Nina LaCourBeneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Books started, but not finished: 2

An Unkindness of GhostsNo Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need

Total number of pages read: 690 pages

Audiobook time: 8.6 hours (516 minutes)

Not bad, right? On Sunday I did feel like I got a bit overwhelmed from all the readathon-ing and had to slow things down a bit, especially considering that I still have another readathon to participate in this month–24 in 48 is happening during the last weekend in January. I honestly have no idea what I’m going to read for 24 in 48, but I do want to participate. I’m thinking that maybe instead of a bunch of little books, I’ll pick one or two chunky fantasies to try and make a dent in.

And, because I like keeping track of these things, here are my updates for days 6&7:

Day 6

Books started: Beneath the Sugar Sky

Books finished: none

Pages read: 142 pages of Beneath the Sugar Sky

Audiobook time: 55 minutes of No is Not Enough

 

Day 7

Books started: none

Books finished: Beneath the Sugar Sky

Pages read: 32 pages of Beneath the Sugar Sky, 15 pages of An Unkindness of Ghosts

Audiobook time: 110 minutes of No is Not Enough

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Bout of Books Updates: Days 4&5

It’s the end of Day 5 of Bout of Books, and I’m making some progress!

On Day 4, I had to work, but after work I went to a book sale at my library. I’m a former library book sale addict, but have actually been doing pretty well lately at not going overboard with my library book sale hauls, so I was sort of due for a splurge. I ended up finding 8 books for $10, and I consider that a success because all of the books I picked up were already on my TBR list, so I wasn’t just picking up random books that I’ll never read. When I got home I dove into The Female of the Species and was able to finish it; I also made dinner while listening to the audiobook of We Are Okay.

On Day 5, Friday, I again worked during the day, and we were hit with horrible weather–basically it rained all day, then got way colder which made the rain freeze into ice, and then it snowed on top of that. Since I really didn’t want to be driving in all of that more than necessary, I had a chill night in and finished We Are Okay on audio. After reading a bit of An Unkindness of Ghosts, which I hadn’t yet picked up during this readathon, I was in the mood to start a new audiobook, and decided to go with No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein, because Trump continues to be terrible in every way and I’d like to learn how to get more involved in resisting.

Here are my stats:

Day 4

Books started: none

Books finished: The Female of the Species

Pages read: 155 pages of The Female of the Species

Audiobook time: 62 minutes of We Are Okay

 

Day 5

Books started: No is Not Enough

Books finished: We Are Okay

Pages read: 16 pages of An Unkindness of Ghosts

Audiobook time: 113 minutes of We Are Okay, 14 minutes of No is Not Enough

Bout of Books Updates: Days 1, 2, 3

It’s Bout of Books time!

Technically, we’re already 3 days in (depending on when I’m able to post this) because I haven’t yet gotten my act together in terms of posting updates. Daily updates are too much; I don’t have enough time to actually get anything done!

So far, things are going pretty well. On Monday, I kicked off Bout of Books literally just after midnight by starting Witches of Lychford, which helped me get enough of a jump on things that I was able to finish it after work the next day. Kicking off the readathon by finishing a book (well, a novella technically, but still) on a day when I had to work was definitely motivating; I also started two other books (and by started, I mean barely started): The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis, which I have a hard copy of and also borrowed the ebook from my library to read when I’m on the go, and We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, which I borrowed from the library on audiobook.

Tuesday was a super crazy day at work and I got home late, so I didn’t actually get any physical reading done. I did, however, listen to a bunch of We Are Okay on audio and got very drawn into the story and writing style. On Wednesday, my day off, I had a few things I needed to do (like work out and finally see the new Star Wars movie) but reading-wise, I was able to get through a bunch of The Female of the Species, which I’m really liking–the writing is strong and I especially love Alex, one of the main characters, who’s a very unique YA heroine. I also again listened to a chunk of We Are Okay while driving places and doing things around the house.

Goals for the rest of the readathon: I’m really hoping to finish The Female of the Species before the weekend, although I’m not sure how realistic that is. My pre-order of Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire is due to get here on Friday, so I’m going to aim to finish that over the weekend. And I absolutely need to finish We Are Okay before my library takes it back in four days.

Here are my stats for Days 1, 2, and 3:

Day 1

Books started: Witches of Lychford, The Female of the Species, We Are Okay

Books finished: Witches of Lychford

Pages read: 144 pages of Witches of Lychford, 14 pages of The Female of the Species

Audiobook time: 12 minutes of We Are Okay

 

Day 2

Books started: none

Books finished: none

Pages read: none

Audiobook time: 68 minutes of We Are Okay

 

Day 3

Books started: none

Books finished: none

Pages read: 172 pages of The Female of the Species

Audiobook time: 82 minutes of We Are Okay

 

How is Bout of Books going for you guys?

Bout of Books Sign-Up and TBR

Bout of Books

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 8th and runs through Sunday, January 14th 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 21 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

It’s time for one of my favorite readathons–Bout of Books! I love Bout of Books because it’s low-pressure but usually does motivate me to read a lot more than I normally would in a single week. My TBR is a mixture of books I’m already in the middle of but don’t see myself finishing before the readathon starts, and some new, shorter books that I think will make for good readathon reads.

So here’s my TBR:

I’m currently reading these two books:

The Dark and Other Love StoriesAn Unkindness of Ghosts

I always like having a short story collection going during a readathon to help break things up, so The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis should work well. I’ve read the first two stories so far and really enjoyed them; they’re stories focused on difficult relationships by a Canadian author. And I thought I’d still be reading If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio during this readathon since I’ve been reading it for the past week, but was able to finish yesterday. So instead I’m going to get started with An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon so that I can have a science fiction book to dip in and out of during the readathon; I’ve been craving some good SciFi for awhile.

And I’d like to pick these up:

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3)Witches of Lychford (Lychford, #1)The Female of the SpeciesWe Are Okay

In terms of books I have yet to start reading, I’ve got a few really good options in mind. I pre-ordered Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire, which comes out on Tuesday the 9th, and I’m really hoping I’ll get it in time to read it for the readathon. Usually books from B&N don’t ship until the release date, so fingers crossed that it comes in by Friday or so. I have another Tor novella, Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell, on deck in case it doesn’t, or in case I’m in a very fantasy novella-ish mood. I’m also very interested in starting The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis, which follows three teenagers, one of whom I believe has the urge to kill? Possibly? And deals with issues of feminism as well. Lastly, for an audiobook option, I checked We Are Okay by Nina LaCour out of my library; it’s only five hours or so long and deals with a friendship/romance while one of the main characters is coming to terms with her grief.

 

Is anyone else participating in Bout of Books? Let me know!

Bout of Books Readathon TBR

Bout of Books

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th 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 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

 

I love it when Bout of Books happens right after (or almost right after) Dewey’s Readathon; that way, if you don’t read as much as you would have liked to during Dewey’s, or if you’re sad that the readathon has ended, there’s another chance right around the corner. Usually with Bout of Books I tend to focus on books that are fast-paced but not necessarily short in length, YA, and graphic novels; this time, I’m going to instead focus on some very short books on my TBR list that sound really intriguing. Also, I usually go with library books for the majority of my Bout of Books reading, whereas this time I’d like to ideally stick to my physical TBR shelf as I continue to try to #readmyowndamnbooks.

So here’s my Bout of Books TBR:

 

The LoverThe BeautyPull Me UnderBloodchild and Other Stories

The Lover by Marguerite Duras – This book was published in the 1980’s and depicts an affair between a French teenager and an older Chinese man in what was previously known as French Indochina (now Vietnam). I found a copy at a used bookstore in D.C. when I was there for the Women’s March; it’s only 117 pages long, and Roxane Gay gave it a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Seems perfect for a readathon.

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley – this is a short novel, around 100 pages, about a future in which all of the women in the world have died and the remaining men are attempting to preserve their history using oral storytelling.

Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce – This book was actually my first Book of the Month pick and I keep putting it on TBRs and not reading it. It’s about a woman who was bullied as a child in Japan and accidentally kills the child who was bullying in her; I believe the novel mostly takes place when she is an adult and trying to come to terms with what she has done.

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler – Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors, and this collection of short stories and essays sounds like it will be absolutely amazing.

 

So, that’s what I have planned for Bout of Books, which starts on Monday. As far as my reading plans go in the meantime, my main goal is to finish the books I’ve been reading for awhile prior to the readathon. This morning I was able to finish Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson, which I’ve been reading forever (it turned out to be pretty meh), and I’m about 2/3 of the way through Difficult Women by Roxane Gay, which is AMAZING so far.

Difficult WomenPerfect Little World

After that, I’d like to start one or more longer books that I will likely only be able to begin before the readathon and likely finish afterwards, although I also like having the option of a longer work to pick up during the readathon if I’m not in the mood to read only short books. These three are at the top of my list; ideally I’d like to finish them all sometime in May.

Windwitch (The Witchlands, #2)The Lonely Hearts HotelA Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)

 

Is anyone else planning on participating in Bout of Books? What’s on your TBR? Let me know!

Bout of Books Days 5, 6, and 7 Updates and Wrap-Up

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Bout of Books is complete, and I am super late with this wrap-up post! Overall, this was such a fun week of reading for me; I always love the bookish community aspects of readathons, and having more of a motivation to devote myself to books really helped with the craziness I’ve been having at work. Here’s how the last 3 days of the challenge went for me:

Day 5

  • Audiobook time: 40 minutes
  • Pages read: 249
  • Books started: none
  • Books finished: Everbound

Day 6

  • Audiobook time:  228 minutes
  • Pages read: 23
  • Books started: none
  • Books finished: none

Day 7

  • Audiobook time: none
  • Pages read: 57
  • Books started: Love Poems
  • Books finished: Love Poems

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And here are my overall totals for Bout of Books!

  • Books read: 5
  • Audiobook time: 586 minutes (about 9.8 hours)
  • Pages read: 958

I’m honestly super impressed with the amount of reading I got done; I’m already looking forward to the next Bout of Books from Jan 2-8. For more info, check out the Bout of Books site: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/

Bout of Books Days 3&4 Updates

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And Bout of Books continues! I’m a little late posting this update, but here’s how days 3 and 4 went for me:

Wednesday was my day off from work, so I was able to sleep in and read in bed that morning. Morning reading is such a luxury and is getting to be rare for me, so it felt really nice to just be able to delay responsibilities for a bit and focus on my book. After running some errands (and hitting a library used book sale) I read on the roof for awhile in the sunshine, another thing I haven’t done in awhile but that I absolutely love. I was able to finish both my audiobook, The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, and Everneath by Brodi Ashton; I ended up liking Everneath so much that I stopped by the library and got both sequels (Everbound and Evertrue). I’m heavily on Team Cole, although I have a bad feeling about how it will all go down in the end. Has anyone else read these books??? I would love to chat about it in the comments 🙂

Anyways, on Thursday I wasn’t in an audiobook mood; I downloaded the Suicide Squad soundtrack and was listening to that during my commute instead. I did start Everbound, the second book in the Everneath trilogy, and am really enjoying it so far, although the beginning was frustrating as I really wanted the action to get going.

So, I always do this thing where I tell myself I’m going to #readmyowndamnbooks during readathons, and then I end up getting hooked on a new series and reading a bunch of library books instead. I tend to get quicker reads (especially YA) from the library rather than buying them because it’s hard to justify spending money if I’m going to read something so quickly and am not planning on re-reading it. I’m trying not to feel guilty about abandoning my goal; I’ll have plenty of time to #readmyowndamnbooks after I finish this trilogy 😉

Here are my stats:

Day 3

  • Audiobook time: 73 minutes
  • Pages read: 314
  • Books started: Luckiest Girl Alive
  • Books finished: The Underground Girls of Kabul, Everneath

Day 4

  • Audiobook time: none
  • Pages read: 109
  • Books started: Everbound
  • Books finished: none

 

I hope everyone’s Bout of Books is going well! I’m hoping to get a bunch of reading done this weekend and finish strong.
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