Bout of Books 21 Goals & Updates

Let's do this!

Time Devoted to Reading
I'm going to be reading as much as I can throughout the week, keeping in mind that I'll be studying for some of my college classes and doing other general "life" stuff as well.

My Goals

• Read 700 pages (or 100 pages/day)
• Keep up with daily updates
• Have fun!

Books to Read

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier
• Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Updates

Monday
Number of pages I've read today: 70
Number of books I've started today: 0
Number of books I've finished today: 0
Books read from: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Totals: 70 pages, 0 books started, 0 books finished

Tuesday
Number of pages I've read today: 85
Number of books I've started today: 0
Number of books I've finished today: 0
Books read from: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Totals: 155 pages, 0 books started, 0 books finished

Wednesday
Number of pages I've read today: 35 + 45 = 80
Number of books I've started today: 1
Number of books I've finished today: 1
Books read from: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Totals: 235 pages, 1 book started, 1 book finished

Thursday
Number of pages I've read today: 56 + 214 = 270
Number of books I've started today: 1
Number of books I've finished today: 1
Books read from: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Smile.
Totals: 505 pages, 2 books started, 2 books finished

Friday
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Number of books I've started today: 0
Number of books I've finished today: 0
Books read from: None
Totals: 505 pages, 2 books started, 2 books finished

Saturday
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Number of books I've started today: 0
Number of books I've finished today: 0
Books read from: None
Totals: 505 pages, 2 books started, 2 books finished

Sunday
Number of pages I've read today: 90 + 197 = 287
Number of books I've started today: 1
Number of books I've finished today: 1
Books read from: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Sisters.
Totals: 793 pages, 3 books started, 3 books finished

Bout of Books 21 is here!

Hello everyone! The Bout of Books read-a-thon is upon us once again! I missed participating in the three that were held last year, and I'm trying to also have a better reading year this year, so I figured it would be a good idea for me to jump in on my favourite read-a-thon in its January session. ;)

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bout of Books, here's its official blurb from the lovely people who run it:

"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"

This year I'm going to be doing things quite a bit differently. My goals aren't going to be nearly as ambitious and I'm also just going to do one, big update post instead of a separate one for each day, as I've never seemed to keep up with posting daily updates throughout the entire week in the past. Hopefully this will allow me to finally make it through all 7 days. ;]

And... that's it for now, I suppose. I'll be back with my goals and update post tomorrow though, so keep an eye out for that. And I hope, for all of you also participating, that you have a good week, full of lots of reading and fun. :)

Happy read-a-thoning everyone!

2018: New year, new goals!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year's. I am super excited for the start of this new year, as I see it as an opportunity to start fresh with new ideas and goals in mind. 2016 and 2017 were, honestly, both terrible reading, writing, and blogging years for me, so I'm hoping to change all of that this year.

At this point I don't have any definite plans or goals in mind. I'm just hoping to read and write more regularly. Once I start to do that I may make a sort of schedule or timeline for things, such as posting 2 or 3 times a week on here and reading at least one book and one graphic novel/manga a week. (Ideally this will happen by the end of January, but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself too early, as I've come to realize that doing so often just puts me off of whatever I'm trying to accomplish. :/)

I'm not exactly sure what specific types of things I'll be posting about at this point either, though obviously I'll have some book reviews up every so often, at the very least. I'd also like to try to get back into doing some of the more popular weekly memes, like Top Ten Tuesday, and blogging all the read-a-thons I take part in. I've always really enjoyed writing up posts for the more fun, community-oriented things, so I'm hoping it won't be that hard for me to start writing up posts for them again. There's of course more general bookish and life stuff I could write about too, but I'd like to get back into blogging more fully before I even attempt to add those types of posts to my "line up". ;)

Other than that, I hope you are all looking forward to this new year as much as I am, and have lots of awesome and exciting things planned! Feel free to leave me a comment letting me know said "things" if you do, and I'll talk to you all again soon!

Bout of Books 15.0 Day 3 Update

Today was a bit of a lazier day for me, seeing as I didn't have to work or leave the house at all, even. I slept in this morning and then spent most of the afternoon and evening catching up on social media and blog posts. It was sorta productive, but not in a reading way. >> I did finally finish Room though, so yay for that! And I think I'm going to stay up late tonight and read most or all of Nimona (the graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson). I am determined to not get side-tracked tomorrow, and read most of the day!

Anyway, now for today's challenge.

Book Rainbow

Today's challenge was on Ranting Runt of a Reader, and it came with a giveaway for a $15 gift card for the Book Depository. She gave you two options: the cover challenge or the author challenge. I chose the cover challenge, which involved making a book rainbow and taking a picture of it. My pic can be seen on my Instagram account, and though it's not exactly a great book rainbow or anything, I do still think my stack of books is pretty? *shrugs*

That's it for today. See you all tomorrow!

Happy read-a-thoning!


Total pages read: 321
Books started: 1
Books finished: 1
Challenges completed: 3

Top 5 Wednesday: Favourite Fandoms

Yay for my first Top 5 Wednesday! Whoo! I've wanted to join in on this weekly meme for ages now, so I'm excited to finally be doing it. :)

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This week's topic is your top 5 favourite fandoms, which I'm super excited about! I love me some fandoms, and I definitely think of myself as a total fangirl most days. I can talk about my favourite books, tv shows, and movies for hours, but I'll try to keep this post brief. ;) My list of fav fandoms will be in order of least favourite (#5) to most favourite (#1). Let's go!

5.  Divergent

I came into the Divergent fandom fairly early on, around late 2011, a few months after the first book came out, and I've loved it ever since. I waited anxiously for the second and third books to come out and theorized, discussed, and raved about them as often as I could. The book series is definitely in my top 5 favourite series of all time and I plan to re-read it many times in the future. It's one of the few series that continues to stick with me as the years go by, and holds a special place in my heart because of this.

I've seen both the Divergent and Insurgent movies, and though I think they're pretty good movies on their own, I wouldn't say they're as faithful book-to-movie adaptations as they could be (particularly Insurgent). I'll be seeing Allegiant and Ascendent as they come out as well, but I wouldn't say I'm overly excited about them, at least at this point.

4. The Hunger Games

Unlike Divergent, I was super late getting into The Hunger Games fandom. I didn't even know about the books until the first movie came out, and it wasn't until after I saw the movie that I started reading the series. In the four years I've known about the books, I've only read through them twice, and a re-read hasn't happened since the Catching Fire movie came out. (I need to get on that, huh? ;P) I love the books, but my passion for the series and its fandom truly came from the movies and all the hype around them.

I saw all four movies in theatres opening weekend with my mom and sister, and I enjoyed every single one of them. Catching Fire was (and still is) my favourite, but I think they were all adapted quite well. In my opinion actually, they're some of the best book-to-movie adaptations out there, particularly in the last few years. I also think these movies had some of the best marketing and advertising I've ever seen. I really liked all the trailers, posters, etc that were made for them and I think that's what stirred up so much of the hype and buzz in the fandom, especially around the time the first movie came out.

3. Once Upon a Time

I've been watching Once Upon a Time since early on in Season 1, and from the very beginning I've considered it to be one of my absolute favourite shows. (I'd actually consider it to be the favourite show of mine that's airing right now.) I just fell in love with the characters and plot. I've always loved fairy tales, and their re-tellings, and seeing some of my fav Disney characters show up on the show over the years has made me love it even more!

I also don't think I've ever gotten as invested in a TV show as I have with this one. I don't cry that often when watching TV or movies, but I've cried quite a few times when watching Once Upon a Time. I just get so wrapped up in the characters and their story lines (and don't even get me started on all the shipping and couples and drama and stuff >>). This show is also one of the few that I'm not able to easily predict what's going to happen next. It keeps me on my toes, and that's one of the things I love best about it! The writers always keep you guessing and it makes it so much more fun discussing things with people because of this. Bring on the theories! haha

2. The Shadowhunter Chronicles

I have a lot of love and nostalgia when it comes to all things Shadowhunters and the world Cassie has created. I've been following her book series' since 2009 (around the release of City of Fallen Angels) and I'm so glad teenaged me found this awesome fandom and community. I do have a huge amount of guilt though, for still having not gotten around to finishing the last two books in The Mortal Instruments series. (And I have thus been spoiled because of it. >_<)

I saw the City of Bones movie that came out a few years ago with high expectations, and I was greatly disappointed. I actually really enjoyed the first half of it, but they did too many crazy things in the latter half (like spoiling the next two books/movies! O.o). I was therefore thrilled when the new TV series was announced, but I'm trying to stay only tentatively hopeful and excited at this point. We'll see if I'm impressed after the first episode next week!

TMI and TID are two of my fav book series and they include some of my fav characters and relationships as well. I've been reading the Shadowhunter books for so long now and I'm excited for all the new series Cassie has planned. She could write in this world forever and I'd continue to read her books. I just love it so much, and like all the fandoms on this list, it holds a special place in my heart and is one of the few things I could talk about with anyone for hours.

1. Harry Potter

Anyone who knows me even remotely well could probably easily guess that this would be at the top of my list. The Harry Potter books are my all-time favourite series, and they always will be. They were the first big book series I read growing up and are the reason I am such an avid reader and writer today. They started my love of books, particularly ones in the fantasy genre and involving magic, and helped me get through all the rough times that occurred throughout my childhood and into my adolescence and teenage years. Really, I don't know where or who I'd be if it weren't for these books, movies, and the fandom they dragged me into. (And I mean that in a loving way. ;P)

I could talk about both the books and movies for ages (and you'll probably be seeing a lot more of HP in future blog posts of mine!), but just know that I love them dearly and I'm so so so glad they came into my life when they did. I've read the books and seen the movies countless times, and will continue to re-read/watch them as I get older. HP introduced me to a lot of things, and it was my first real fandom too, so I think it's rather fitting that it's #1 on this list. ^_^

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly, original feature hosted by gingerreadslainey.