Bout of Books: Day 3 Progress

With Day 3 of Bout of Books come and gone it’s time to talk about reading progress! Which sadly isn’t much.

I ended up reading for maybe 2 hours yesterday and if I’m not mistaken only read a few pages of Silver by Rhiannon Held. All that time I had yesterday afternoon/evening was spent doing laundry and cleaning and browsing the interwebs. So yeah. Fail there.

Today has been a better day, regardless of my crappy shift at work so off I go to get in a few more hours of reading today!

Totals for day 3:

Hours reading: 7
Pages read: 509

Happy Reading!

Bout of Books Read-a-thon: Goals and Progress So Far

So, I know this post is going up extremely late, but well, what can you do? The read-a-thon is officially here, and I’m sad to say that I didn’t get off to as great a start as I had hoped to. I do have some goals which I’ll share first, then I’ll quickly talk about my progress for the first two days.

My Goals:

As far as time is concerned, I’d like to read about 5 hours a day. I know that some days I won’t read that long and others I’ll probably read a lot more, but the least I can do is give it a shot.

As far as what I want to read… so much. So friggin’ much. I forced myself to pick enough choices that I would be able to switch it up if I needed to. Also, one of my goals is to read at least one non-fiction book during the read-a-thon. Here’s the list I came up with, the last three books on the list are the non-fiction.

- Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
- Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- King of the Class by Gila Green
- Silver by Rhiannon Held
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
- Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
- Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde
- Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman
- Death at the Priory by James Ruddick
- House to House by David Bellavia

So those are the books I’m planning to read from for the remainder of the read-a-thon.

Day 1:

On Monday I read for about four hours on my nook. I read and finished one book and one novella.
- Because of You by Jessica Scott
- Anything for You by Jessica Scott

Day 2:

Yesterday was far less impressive as far as reading goes. I only read for about an hour and a half in the early morning. Unfortunately, when I got home from work I had a massive headache so I went right to sleep.
I read 104 pages of Silver by Rhiannon Held.

I’m planning to spend the rest of today reading for the most part since I slept in this morning, so here’s hoping to some better numbers by the end of the day.

How’s your read-a-thonning going, or your reading in general? Do share.

Bout of Books: More Read-a-thonning!!!

I’ve been seeing posts all around the blogosphere for a read-a-thon that’s coming up and I decided that with the end of my semester here it’s only right to reward myself by participating in a week long read-a-thon! Heck yeah.

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 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

I don’t have any goals as yet other than trying to read at least 5 hours a day. I only have one full day to myself this week and my work schedule is all over the place, but I’m going to do my best to hit that goal. If you’re curious, there’s more information about the Bout of Books read-a-thon here!

Happy ‘thonning!

Wicked Valentines RAT Wrap-up and What’s Coming Up

First order of business: WWRead-a-thon

Yesterday saw the closing of the week long read-a-thon hosted over at My Shelf Confessions. I love read-a-thon’s – even when I don’t get to read or participate as much as I’d like to – and this one was no different.

I definitely didn’t meet all of my goals, but I still got some (err, intended) reading done:

• I got a couple more chapters of Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran read and will finish it shortly
• I started two of my ‘review catch-up’ books – A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan and Escape Artist by Ed Ifkovic

As for what wasn’t on my list I read and completed Glory in Death by J.D. Robb, the second of the In Death series. Also, towards the end of the read-a-thon I got caught up in a couple of suggestions from a Goodreads group and read Feral Sins by Suzanne Wright and also The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton. Can I just say before continuing… I didn’t believe everyone saying Dalton’s book was basically a tearjerker so I read it so I could (to myself) be like… ‘psht, I’m right. no tears.’ In reality that book left me more like…

Only with a bigger pile of tissues. Point being… I was so very wrong and I paid for it because I was sad, and in a funk, and I couldn’t settle down to read any books for a whole day after which for me is extremely unusual. So, yeah – the book was amazing and sad and I was wrong and moving on.

Next order of business: What’s coming up

Blog-wise: I’m still trying to settle into a routine and having the end of my online class fast approaching, what with the papers and the homework and the academic buckets of fun that go along with all that, I’m working on getting my groove back. I have lots of half written reviews that I’m planning to finish up and get out of the way so I can focus on the now stuff. I’m thinking about condensing a lot of it and just doing posts with a few reviews at once, but all that will be determined in time.

Also! I’m planning to write up a post (or, possibly a couple of posts depending) on this whole erotic literature bang that happened while I was away from the blog. Partly because I just want to share my feelings, partly because I want the thoughts floating around in my head about it finally written down, and partly because I so desperately want to talk about 50 Shades and since I read it while away I didn’t get to be all critical and mean about it and such then.

Book-wise: I’ve got the four books I’m reading now to finish up plus six other library books I want to get to in the next couple of weeks. Not to mention the review catch-up reads I keep mentioning. Aside from that, I’m working through a pretty tentative list of bookish priorities so I’m not going to worry too much about specifics there, but rather share as I go.

With all that… Happy Reading!!

Wicked Valentine’s Read-a-thon: Update 1

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, hope everyone dealing with the Blizzard is doing well! It’s definitely going to be a hell of a clean up.

We’re now into the third day of the Wicked Valentines read-a-thon, hosted over at My Shelf Confessions!

I haven’t read as much for the Read-a-thon as I’d hoped I would, unless textbooks count, lol. That’s okay though. I’m not planning on going anywhere in the next few hours. We got nearly 3 feet of snow in 24 hours, so needless to say, I’m going to lay low for the day and keep reading. As for what I’ve read so far:

In the review catch up category I’ve gotten a bit of Escape Artist by Ed Ifkovic read. I’ve also got Phantom Evil by Heather Graham and A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan lined up.

Not on the original list of books, but something I randomly picked up is Glory in Death by J.D. Robb. I’ve got a bit of reading to do to catch up with that series so why not get to work on it while I’m snowed in. Plus, Eve and Rourke are awesome. I love it.

How’s your reading, ‘thon or otherwise, going? Do tell and happy reading!!

Read-a-thonning!

In the past I’ve always loved a good read-a-thon, so when I checked my Google Reader this morning and saw many, many blogs alight with #WWReadathon… Well, I just couldn’t resist! A huge plus is that the storm that’s supposed to hit for the next two days is going to free up a lot of my schedule so I can start off with a bang!

About the Read-a-thon:

The Wicked Valentine’s Read-a-thon lasts from Feb 7-14 and is all about reading as much as possible in that time. Anyone can participate, even if you only have one day to dedicate to reading! There’s more information about the ‘thon itself and the different mini-challenges and such for anyone interested here!

My Goals:

Okay, so I’d like to say that I’m totally going to power through this HUGE pile of books sitting on my desk in the next week and get a bunch reviews written or started before the read-a-thon is over, but I have to be realistic. I’ve got a research paper calling my name and a bunch of other homework and I can’t totally neglect all that much as I might wish to. So… my tentative goals:

• Finish Phantoms in the Brain!!
• Read two of the four books I got this week in the review catch-up from long ago category
• Read the first book in the Mistborn trilogy
• Read second book in the Chronicles of Narnia

I think that’s a pretty reasonable goal for myself, but of course, I’ll do updates throughout the week.

Happy Reading!!!

Coming Out of a Slump and Recent Reads

I know I’m not the first reader to find themselves in that place where no matter what book you pick up you just can’t get into it, or maybe you just don’t want to pick up a book. That’s a frustrating place to be and having spent a year there I can honestly say it was pretty awful. Thankfully, I’m finally out of that epic slump of mine and back into my normal reading mode.

Personally, getting out of that slump wasn’t all that difficult once I finally found something to grab my attention. It was actually a blog post from an author talking about a couple of books she’d recently read that did it and a short mention of the recent influx of darker edged romance/erotica novels available. While I’m sure that’s got a lot to do with the popularity of the 50 Shades trilogy, which I did read and I’m so not going to get into now, the important thing is that these books piqued my interest and got me reading again!

So… now that I’m reading, what exactly have I been reading? I started out with all romance. It wasn’t until the end of January that I started delving back into other stuff. I finished 18 books in January, all of them romance either from series/authors I’ve been following for a while now or from that newer ‘edgy’ group of books I mentioned.

My favorite reads from January were:

Shades of Gray by Maya Banks. This is the sixth book in her KGI series and to say I’ve been anxiously awaiting P.J. and Cole’s story would be an understatement and a half.

My other favorites would be Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series. These books were, for lack of a better term, messed the hell up. They were crazy, addicting, mind-blowing, and all out awesomesauce. I’m literally shaking at the edge of my seat for book four (I’ve only got to wait until the end of July… only).

My least favorite read was Honor Student by Teresa Mummert which was just weird and unbelievable and I’m sure I’ll whine about that later.

As for what I’m reading now, I’ve literally just finished Fatal Affair, the first in Marie Force’s Fatal series. I’ve started reading the Chronicles of Narnia, finally!, and will be finishing up The Magician’s Nephew this weekend. In non-fiction, the first I’ve read in a long while, I’m reading V.S. Ramachandran’s Phantoms in the Brain which is insanely interesting.

In the up and coming list I’ve got Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy as it came highly recommended from a friend, hopefully I’ll finally start the A Song of Fire and Ice series, and I’ll also be rereading and posting reviews of the first in my series of books I received for review forever ago, A Watershed Year and Bedbugs.

With all that said, ever been in a reading slump? How’d you get out of it? Read any good books lately or have anything you’re looking forward to? Feel free to share.

Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

The read-a-thon has come to an end, a few hours ago actually. Unfortunately, I must admit that I did not finished. I ending up passing out on my couch at about 6 am or so and when I woke up the read-a-thon was over. However, I’m back to finish the end of the event meme!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
   Hour 22 definitely, that’s when I really started to feel tired.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
   It’s hard to say, I think it depends entirely upon the reader and what they like as far as genre is concerned.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
   I do not, everything seems to be working quite well.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
   I have to say I love the hourly posts and updates on the website.  It’s a good way to keep everyone ‘thonning together.
5. How many books did you read?
   I read two and a half books.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
   I finished:
   A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam
   Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough
   I started:
   Rembrandt’s Whore by Sylvie Matton
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
   I found A Billion Wicked Thoughts to be the most interesting of my reads.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
   I actually enjoyed them all.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
   I was not a cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
    I will definitely be participating in the read-a-thon again. I’ve really enjoyed it these last two times.

I hope you all had a great read-a-thon and thanks to those who cheered us on!

Read-a-Thon: Part II

We’re a couple of hours into the second half of the Read-a-Thon, hour 16 to be exact. My current status, I’m coming to a close in Breeding Ground. Perhaps I’ll get through four books after all.

Hour 20 Update:

Well, its about 3:30 am and I’m still going strong. I haven’t even broken into the coffee reserve yet. I recently finished my second book of the read-a-thon Breeding Ground. When I was trying to chose my third book I was quite unsure which to choose, but I finally settled on Rembrandt’s Whore by Sylvie Matton which I’ve been looking forward to since stumbling across it at the bookstore.

How are you guys doing?

Rereading Mini-Challenge:

The hour 16 mini-challenge is hosted over at The Bluestocking Society. They want to know what book we’re rereading during the read-a-thon or what books we can reread time and again. There are three books that come to mind when I think about what I love to reread and they are:

                                                              Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

                                            The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

                                                      The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta

Any books that you love to reread?

Finished:
A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam
Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough

Currently Reading:
Rembrandt’s Whore by Sylvie Matton

Read-a-Thon: The Midway Survey

The read-a-thon has officially hit the halfway point, and we’re celebrating with a mid-event survey.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
I’m reading Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough

2. How many books have you read so far?
I’m currently on my second book.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
In all honesty, I have no clue. I’m enjoying Breeding Ground for sure, but I have yet to decide what else I’ll be reading. I’m basically choosing as I go.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Actually, I didn’t this time. =]

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
I’ve had a couple interruptions and taken a few breaks, but I just do what I’ve got to do and keep reading as soon as I can.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
If I’m honest, my reading speed. I’m reading much slower than usual today, but that happens and I’m not going to let it get in the way of enjoying my books.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not really, this is only my second time participating, but I’ve enjoyed the read-a-thon both times and everyone involved is generally very enthusiastic.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
I think next time I’ll try to go somewhere where I know there will be less distractions so I can read more.

9. Are you getting tired yet?
Nah, it’s only 8:30 my time and I’m a serious night owl. It’ll be about 4 or 5 am before I really start to feel tired.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
It’s probably not news to anyone, but I think the best thing to do is to enjoy what you’re reading and take a break every now and then to move around a bit.