Top Ten Tuesday: New Series I Want To Start

My first (but terribly late) TTT! Yay! This will, hopefully, be a weekly feature here on my blog, and I'm very excited to finally be partaking in it.

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Source: www.brokeandbookish.com

This week the objective is to list the top ten new/newer-ish series I haven't started yet, but really want to. My list is shown below, in order of "wanting-to-read-ness", and I have included pictures of all of the books in the series that have covers (including books that haven't been released yet). And can I just say how much I love all of the covers shown here! They're all super pretty.

The TodHunter Moon Trilogy by Angie Sage

Angie's books are geared towards children, but I recently finished her Septimus Heap series (which this trilogy is a sort of companion/sequel to) and I now consider it to be one my favourite series of all time. I am very thankful I didn't have to wait that long for the first book in this trilogy to come out, and I can't wait to start reading it!

The Magisterium Series by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

I am a huge fan of Cassandra Clare and I've heard really good things about Holly Black's books so when I heard they were writing a children's fantasy series together I was super stoked. I just bought The Iron Trial today, and I definitely plan to read it soon.

The Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith

As soon as the news broke last year about J.K. Rowling having written a new crime novel under a pseudonym, I ran out to the nearest bookstore and picked up a copy. I have yet to read it or it's sequel, but I plan to in the very near future. I don't read a lot of crime/mystery books, but I'll read anything written by Jo (especially after reading and enjoying The Casual Vacancy), and she's one of the few authors I can say that about.

The Gypsy King Trilogy by Maureen Fergus

I randomly found this series in my local bookstore late last year. (At that point the first two books had already been released.) The covers caught my eye and after I read the first book's synopsis I knew I had to have them, so I bought both that same day, without a second thought. I picked up the third book shortly after it was released earlier this year, but still have yet to read the first book. Hopefully I won't regret buying the entire trilogy before reading any of the books, but the books' plot really do sound good and the author is a Canadian as well, so I don't mind helping her out, regardless. :) I should really get to these books soon though, to see if I do indeed enjoy them as much as I think I'm going to.

The Apparition Series by Gail Gallant

I literally just found these books today when I was browsing in my local bookstore. They had a sticker on them that said "Local Author", which caught my eye and had me immediately intrigued. I quickly read the first book's synopsis and first page, and was sucked in, almost at once. I'll admit that the fact that these books were written by an author that lives near me and set in the area I live in did play a big part of me deciding to buy these, but I do honestly think (read: hope) that I'll really enjoy them as well. I have a feeling I won't have to wait too long to find that out though, as I plan to read both books ASAP.

The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

I honestly wasn't all that interested in this series until a month or two ago, when I came upon a few raving reviews for it. I also grew to have more faith in it after I heard there were going to be more books published in the series. It seems like the type of story I'll like too, so hopefully I'm one of the few who comes away wanting to rave about it. ^_^

 The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

This is the only series on this list that I don't own. I do hope to buy these big, beautiful books soon, but I have plenty of other books on my TBR pile right now to keep me occupied. Hopefully I'll be able to buy (and read) them soon though, as so many people rave about them.

The Queen of the Tearling Series by Erika Johansen

I bought this book shortly after it came out (at a discount) after hearing good things about it. I love high fantasy so I'm thinking I'll really enjoy this series. It's been compared to Game of Thrones, so we'll see if it lives up to that.

The Bone Season Series by Samantha Shannon

I'll admit that I only really bought the first book in this series because of the hype it had and how it was getting such good reviews. I do know that it's a fantasy/sci-fi series though and I remember finding the plot intriguing when I first read it. We'll see how I like it when I do eventually read it. I should get the first book read before the second one comes out, but this one isn't super high up on my current TBR pile, so that may not happen.

The Splintered Trilogy by A.G. Howard

Gorgeous covers + Alice in Wonderland retelling= Give me, give me, yes please! I actually can't remember exactly when I bought the first book in the series, or even if there was a reason beyond the fact that it has a beautiful cover and an interesting plot, but that doesn't really matter anyway, I suppose. :P I do know that I'm probably going to marathon the entire trilogy in January, after the last book comes out, cause I really am eager to read the books and I doubt I'll be able to resist once all of them are available to me.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly, original feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 16-24)

Hour 16 (11pm)

I started another book, and one I've read before and really like too. I'm thinking I'm going to have to sleep after this though, which may mean that I miss out on the rest of the read-a-thon... Oh well. If that's the case, it's been fun while it's lasted!

What I'm currently reading: A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson

Pages read since last update: 28
Pages read overall: 232
Mini challenges completed: 2 (Opening meme and Mid-event survey)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Hour 24 (7am)

Yeah, so I did indeed decide to take a "nap", which then turned into a decent (7 hours) night's sleep. I ended up waking up about half an hour after the Read-a-thon had ended. 

What I'm currently reading: Nothing (sadly), as the Read-a-thon has now ended.

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 232
Mini challenges completed: 3 (Opening meme, Mid-event survey, and End of event meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Well since I zonked out after Hour 16, I'd say that one. ;) I was fighting the urge to sleep the entire hour (and it obviously eventually won. :P)
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I personally like to read shorter books/graphic novels during read-a-thons. Some popular examples of those would be the Saga series by Brian K. Vaughan (for older Readers), Four by Veronica Roth, and one of my personal favourites, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. I think it was executed perfectly, and I look forward to next year's, for sure!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year's Read-a-thon? I'm thinking this happens ever Read-a-thon (Forgive me, I'm a newb!), but I really loved how there was a different host every couple of hours, who would man the blog and Twitter. I suppose it's also really smart/practical to have it set up that way though too. :)
5. How many books did you read? Theoretically none, but I did finish one I'd only recently started before the Read-a-thon, and start another. (I'd call that one, personally. ;])
6. What were the names of the books you read? Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara and A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson.
7. Which book did you enjoy the most? A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
8. Which did you enjoy the least? Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year's Cheerleaders? I wasn't a Cheerleader during this Read-a-thon, but I'm seriously considering signing up to be one for next year's!
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 next year's, and I'd love to be a Cheerleader (along with being a Reader).

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 13-15)

Hour 13 (8pm)

Had a quick (but yummy) snack break this hour and also FINALLY managed to finish my first book! *happy dances*

What I'm currently reading: Accel World by Reki Kawahara (I may not stick with this. I may try out another genre. We'll see how the next hour goes.)

Pages read since last update: 28
Pages read overall: 189
Mini challenges completed: 2 (Opening meme and Mid-event survey)
What I'm currently eating: Gingersnap cookies
What I'm currently drinking: Apple cider. Mmmm!

Hour 14 (9pm)

I'm really starting to get sleepy now. I may have to take a nap soon (unfortunately). I'm still reading though, so that's good! I think I may try starting another book though, to see if that helps me fight off sleep more effectively. The light novels appear to be just a little too "light" at this point. xD Oh! And I've also passed the 200-pages-read mark, so that's something as well. :)

What I'm currently reading: Accel World by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 15
Pages read overall: 204
Mini challenges completed: 2 (Opening meme and Mid-event survey)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Water (I keep a refillable bottle of water by my bed at all times, for easy access. ;])

Hour 15 (10pm)

Instead of starting a new book, I decided to watch the newest episode of one of my favourite animes, Sword Art Online (hence why I've been reading so many books and manga about it recently. ^_^) I really needed something to wake me up, and at least it held my attention and got me excited, even though it was taking up precious reading time.

What I'm currently reading: Accel World by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 204
Mini challenges completed: 2 (Opening meme and Mid-event survey)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 10-12)

Hour 10 (5pm)

Grrr! I got distracted again and ended up preparing for later tonight (though I suppose I would have had to do it at some point anyway...) instead of finishing my book! Boo. :( And I'm gonna have to get something for supper soon too...

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 161
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Hour 11 (6pm)

Supper time! ...And I got side-tracked and ended up watching some TV while I ate instead of reading. Bad Becca! I am determined to finish my book in the next hour though! It.Will.Happen!

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 161
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Yum!
What I'm currently drinking: A glass of white milk (Fun Fact: I almost always have a glass of milk with my meals. ^_^)

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now? I'm still reading my first book, Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara, BUT I'm almost finished. I should have it completely read by the hour's end. :)
2. How many books have you read so far? Almost 1... :/ I'm hoping to read another one or two though! My reading should pick up now that it's night time where I live. 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson. It's a childrens book that I've owned for years and read many times. I'm excited to give it yet another re-read. ^_^
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I haven't really had any interruptions, but I have gotten distracted or side-tracked a few times. I gave myself permission to not feel too bad about them though, as I think I just needed a break when I was getting that way anyway. It gave me a chance to clear my head, so I could enjoy reading more once again.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon so far? How quickly it's gone by! It feels like I've only been up a couple of hours, when really I've been up for almost a whole day now! I'm also a little surprised how side-tracked I've gotten. I thought I would have read more by now. At least I'm still enjoying myself though. :)

Hour 12 (7pm)

This hour was really just me being lazy and getting caught up from the time I took "off" for supper. I spent a lot of it updating my blog and checking out Twitter and other social media sites.

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 161
Mini challenges completed: 2 (Opening meme and Mid-event survey)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Plain, old (not really- it's fresh out of the tap, I swear! :P) water

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 7-9)

Hour 7 (2pm)

Still balancing housework and reading. (These updates are just getting duller and duller, aren't they? ;P) I am getting quite hungry though, so I think it's time for a snack, especially since I didn't really have lunch... Oops. :P

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 23
Pages read overall: 113
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Hour 8 (3pm)

I'm finally nearing the end of my current book! I had already read the first 50 pages or so before the read-a-thon began, but still. :P

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 32
Pages read overall: 145
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Bacon Dippers (Bacon flavoured crackers :P)
What I'm currently drinking: Just some agua, straight from the tap

Hour 9 (4pm)

I'm starting to get more easily distracted by my family and pets... This isn't a good sign. :/ I don't think this will last though, seeing as I should finish my book in the next hour. Yay! Hopefully that will get me super motivated and focused again. :)

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 16
Pages read overall: 161
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 4-6)

Hour 4 (11am)

Finally reading again! Yay!

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 45
Pages read overall: 68
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Hour 5 (12pm)

I didn't manage to get any reading done this hour. I've been doing some necessary stuff around the house (like folding laundry) that I didn't get a chance to finish up yesterday. ^_^

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 68
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Another hot chocolate. :3

Hour 6 (1pm)

More reading, more housework! :)

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 22
Pages read overall: 90
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Nothing
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! (Hours 1-3)

Intro and TBR

Hello everyone! The day has finally arrived for Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon! I am super excited to be participating for the first time this go around, and I'm hoping to not only read lots but socialize quite a bit as well. We'll see if I'm able to stay up the whole 24 hours too! ;) I'll be updating every hour or so, and I'll be making a new post every three hours. We shall see how smoothly this goes...

Now this is obviously not my first read-a-thon (as I have posted updates for past Bout of Books on this blog), but this is my first 24 hour one, so I'm trying not to set my standards too high, seeing as I am so new to this particular format and not overly sure what to expect overall. I am hoping to read at least 1000 pages over the course of the 24 hours though, which may seem like a lot for some, but I've managed to read over 500 pages in a day during past week-long read-a-thons, and that was when I had school and other stuff going on as well. Today all I really have to do is read, and I have the full 24 hours to take advantage of, if I so choose. The pile of books I'll be choosing to read from can be seen below.

It's a mixture of books I'm currently reading, short books that I've read before and know I love, and a couple light novels I've been meaning to read for a while. Hopefully I'm able to get through three or four of these over the course of the 24 hours. *fingers crossed*

Opening Meme

1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Ontario, Canada
2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Four by Veronica Roth
3. Which snack are you most looking forward to? Is Hot Chocolate a snack??
4. Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm 21 years old but only 5'1"
5. If you participated in the last Read-a-thon, what's one thing you'll do different today? If this is your first Read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? This is my first Dewey's, and I'm most looking forward to making some new friends (hopefully), and just socializing in general. ^_^

Hour 1 (8am)

I started reading right at 8am (which is, of course, the start time for my time zone- EST), but I got distracted fairly quickly...

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 23
Pages read overall: 23
Mini challenges completed: 1 (Opening meme)
What I'm currently eating: Toast with peanut butter
What I'm currently drinking: A glass of chocolate milk

Hour 2 (9am)

I'm still very much preoccupied. :/ My blog and updates and such seem to be more interesting and important than reading at the moment...

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 23
Mini challenges completed: 0
What I'm currently eating: (Still) Toast with peanut butter
What I'm currently drinking: Nothing

Hour 3 (10am)

I'm finally caught up with my updates, so hopefully I can get back on track with my reading in the next hour!

What I'm currently reading: Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara

Pages read since last update: 0
Pages read overall: 23
Mini challenges completed: 0
What I'm currently eating: An apple sauce cup (Weird I know... :P)
What I'm currently drinking: Hot chocolate (Mmmm!)

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 6 Update

Today was a rather lazy day. It was my only full day off for the week, so I was able to sleep in and also still manage to read quite a bit. :)

I read 60 pages of Flyte, 70 pages of City of Bones, and 84 pages of Anatomy of a Boyfriend for a grand total of 214 pages. I'm still feeling very ambitious and optimistic in hoping that I will be able to finish all of these books, plus also start the next ones in their series. I work all day tomorrow though, so I have quite a bit of reading to get done tonight and tomorrow night if I hope to reach that goal!

I'm again not going to complete the challenge today since I do still want to read a fair bit tonight.

I'm sorry for the lack-luster updates the last couple days. School starting has really messed up my schedule/routines. :/ I plan to get organized early next week though, after the read-a-thon is finished. You may have noticed I also haven't posted my Room review yet, but that will be going up on Monday or Tuesday. The rest of the reviews from this week will follow in the days after that, so stay tuned. I will also be starting to post other sorts of posts as well, so you have all that to look forward to starting early next week.

Until then... happy reading!

Total pages read: 1280
Books started: 3
Books finished: 2
Challenges completed: 5

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 4 & 5 Update

Okay, so it's been a couple of crazy days for me. My new semester has FINALLY started, and I have had classes for most/part of the last two days. I forgot how tiring waking up early and going in to school for even a couple of hours is (which is why you didn't get an update post yesterday. I was just too tired). The weather has finally returned to "normal" at least though.

Because of having classes/school stuff to deal with, I have not been able to read quite as much as I would have liked the last couple of days. During Day 4, I managed to read 106 pages of Flyte and exactly 50 pages of City of Bones (For a total of 156 pages). As of right now, my Day 5 total is 206 pages. I have read 122 pages of City of Bones, and I have also finally started Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky, which I have received for review from the author (I've read 84 pages of it today). This means that my grand total for the five days, as of right now is 1066 pages! Not quite where I'd like to be, but still pretty darn good.

Now, seeing as I didn't do my Day 4 update post last night, I haven't done any of the challenges for that day, and I also haven't had a chance to do today's yet either, so I think I'm just going to skip doing them, even though I sorta don't want to. I want to give myself as much time to read tonight as I possibly can though too, so it's probably for the best.

And, I guess, that's it for now. My totals can be found below, and I'll be back tomorrow around this time for another update. Happy reading!

Total pages read: 1066
Books started: 3
Books finished: 2
Challenges completed: 5

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 3 Update

Today was sort of a weird day. I feel like I did lots of things, but still managed to get nothing done! It was, for the third day in a row, yet another snow day for me. Lucky I know. ;) I think the streak is finally over though, as it stopped snowing this morning, and my family and I spent the better part of the afternoon digging ourselves out. The ploughs have finally been by as well, so I'll be surprised if I don't have classes tomorrow, now that the roads are at least somewhat drivable.

Due to all the busy-ness in the afternoon though, I haven't read nearly as much today as I had hoped. (This seems to be turning into a pattern, and, with classes finally starting for me, it may persist. I don't like it. :/) I've only managed to read 106 pages of Flyte, and 62 pages of City of Bones, for a total of 168 pages. I'm really hoping I can make it to 300 today, but we'll have to see. I'm quite tired after all the shovelling I did earlier. hehe

Now, before getting into the one challenge for today, there's another couple of things I want to address: my book and movie reviews. I think I've decided that I'm definitely going to do a review for Room (It should be up tomorrow or Friday at the latest), but I haven't quite decided how I'm going to review the Septimus Heap series (or series' in general for that matter). I was originally planning on reviewing each book separately, but 1) that's a lot of work, and 2) I feel like the reviews will get repetitive. I therefore think that when reviewing series I will either do an entire series review, or review multiple books in a series at once by doing mini-reviews of each book in one, big post. In regards to the Septimus Heap books though, I'm thinking an entire series review at this point, but that might change after I finish another book or two. If anyone wants to read my thoughts on all the books I read (as I usually write a blurb when I finish them), you can add me as a friend on Goodreads. (My username is BookishlyBecca.)

For movie reviews, I have really only watched a few new anime movies so far this year, and I feel like I need to re-watch the two that I plan to do a review and/or discussion on, so those may not be up for another week or so. Stay tuned!

My Favourite Genre

Today's challenge was on Doing Dewey. The challenge was to pick a book or two to use as a way to introduce someone to your favourite genre.

My favourite genre is Fantasy. The books I would recommend to someone to get them into this genre would be the Harry Potter series (of course!) by J.K. Rowling and The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. (I personally like The Mortal Instruments series quite a bit as well, but I know that most people prefer TID, so I'm going with those books as my recommendation.)

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

Total pages read: 704
Books started: 2
Books finished: 2
Challenges completed: 5

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 2 Update

Today was... interesting. It's like a blizzard here still, so I had no school once again (Yay!), and was therefore able to stay inside and read all day again. (Double yay!) It's like the universe knows that it's a read-a-thon this week, and it wants me to read lots or something... hehe Anyway, I actually didn't get quite as much reading done today as I would have liked, but I still read quite a bit, so I can't really complain.

Before I get to today's stats and challenges though, I first just want to quickly go over what I was able to read late last night, after I did my Day 1 update. I managed to read another 40 pages of Flyte, and I also read the first 19 pages of City of Bones, bringing my Day 1 page total up to 317. I'm VERY pleased with this, as I had originally only hoped to read around 200 pages a day.

Today stat's aren't quite as good as yesterday's, but they're still quite good. I actually managed to read the last 115 pages of Room, as in I finished it, and I have also so far read another 104 pages of Flyte, bringing my current Day 2 page count to 219. Not too shabby. :) I also hope to read more of City of Bones tonight, and potentially start Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky. (I received the latter for review months ago, so I should really finally get around to reading it...)

Now for today's challenges.

My Reading Tactics

On Sarah Says Read, there was the Reading Tactics Challenge (This one also includes a giveaway). All you had to do was answer the following question(s): How do you fit in as much reading as possible in Bout of Books? How do you squeeze in those extra pages?

And my answer: First off, I try to pick books that are fairly short/quick reads, that I know I'll be able to read at a fast but steady pace and I won't get bored of. I then bring said book(s) with me everywhere, and read whenever I get a chance. I also like to get up a little earlier and stay up a bit later than I normally do to get in as many pages as I can.

Audiobook Cast

On Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, there was the Cast Your Book Challenge. This involved picking your favourite book and casting the main characters in it for the book's own radio show. Cool!

My Book: Room by Emma Donoghue
My Cast: Jack would be Jacob Tremblay, and Jack's Ma would be Kirsten Dunst. (Jack's Ma is hard to cast... but I tried my best. I went for both voice and looks/age for both characters, even though the latter doesn't really matter for a radio show.)

And... that's it for today. Happy reading everyone!


Total pages read: 536
Books started: 2
Books finished: 2
Challenges completed: 4

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 1 Update

Okie dokie. So Day 1 of the read-a-thon isn't quite over yet for me (It's currently just after 10 PM where I live, so I still have around 2 hours left to read as much as I possibly can today), but I figured I would post my update now so that I am able to include the challenges for the day in this post.

Before I get to my stats for the day and said challenges though, I just wanted to explain why my day turned out way better than I was expecting. It just so happens that today was my first day of my new semester of college, so I wasn't sure how much time I was going to have to read. Luckily for me though, we have had a TON of snow fall over the course of the last 24 hours, so the college I go to was closed (as were all the schools around here), and I was able to stay inside all day and read instead. Yay! I therefore have read quite a few more pages than I expected to, and I even plan to read a bit more still!

Anyway, today so far I have managed to read 258 pages. I had started a couple of books quite a few months back: Magyk by Angie Sage and Room by Emma Donoghue. (Total opposites I know. :P) And I actually managed to finish Magyk a couple days ago. I then moved on to the short story between Magyk and Flyte (the second book in the Septimus Heap series), The Darke Toad. I hadn't quite finished that before the read-a-thon started, so I began Bout of Books 9.0 by finishing the last 39 pages of that. I have also managed to read 66 pages of Flyte so far today (I hope to read a bit more of this before bed), and 153 pages of Room. I'm also planning on reading a few pages of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

I'll start my update tomorrow (and the rest of the week's) by first stating how many more pages and whatnot I was able to read the previous night. I'm also going to keep a running list of all my stats at the bottom of each of the update posts, just for easier reference. (I also have a thing for lists. hehe)

Now for the challenges. Today there were two.

Book Buying Spree

On Bookish Comforts, there was the Book Buying Spree Challenge. This challenge involved going to The Book Depository's website and putting $100 worth or less of books in your cart (without buying them of course). This challenge also includes a giveaway. The winner will be able to pick one of the books in their cart to actually buy that is worth up to $15. I'll include my list of books below.

Wildwood Imperium (Paperback)    $12.56
Cress (Hardback)                             $16.14
Unhinged (Hardback)                      $14.69
Frostbite (Hardback)                        $17.96
Shadow Kiss (Hardback)                  $17.03
Last Sacrifice (Hardback)                 $16.37
Total                                      $94.75

Mad Libs

On Cheap Thrills, there was the Mad Libs Challenge. This challenge was fairly straight forward. You just had to choose words from book titles that match the types of words that they were looking for. My list was the following:

character name- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
adjective1- The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
adjective2- The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
item- The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
occupation- Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink
act of violence: Torment by Lauren Kate
adjective3: A Perfect, Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
noun1: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
noun2: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

And my resulting story...

I just read the greatest book!

This guy, Harry Potter, ends up in the middle of an old conspiracy. Turns out his ancestors were pirates, and he might be the key to finding the wide trumpet. It's a mythical artifact that disappeared centuries ago, and now a shadowy group of guardians are looking for it. No one knows what uncovering it might do, but these guys are willing to torment for it.

I won't say anything else. But believe me, if you like gentle stories with hobbits and feasts, you have to read this one.

Baha! It's a little weird, but I suppose it mostly makes sense.

And... that's it for today. Tune in for another update around this time tomorrow.
Happy reading!


Total pages read: 258
Books started: 1
Books finished: 1
Challenges completed: 2

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 9.0!

Hello all! I have decided (just now and very last minute-y) to sign up/participate in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon this year! Yay! If anyone doesn't know what this read-a-thon is about, please check out the blurb below:

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

I have actually never participated in a read-a-thon before, so I am both very excited and slightly nervous, as I am just now getting out of a rather huge reading "slump" that started around the time I began my new school year (last September-ish). Funnily enough though, my second semester of said school year starts today, so hopefully I'm not sucked into another non-reading period as that would not be a very good thing to happen in the middle of a read-a-thon. :P Anyway, I'm rambling. All I mean to say is that I'm participating and I'm nervous-excited!

Now, with having just gotten out of a slump and all I haven't really read very much the last couple months, so I have nothing to really base off of how much I should be aiming to read (as I believe the point of a read-a-thon is to read more than you normally do... Correct me if I'm wrong), but I know generally I read about a book a week depending on how long/short it is, so I suppose as long as I read at least two books over the course of the week I have succeeded right? ;) That isn't good enough for me though. Right now my Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year is set to 50 books, but I'd really like to bump it up to 100, so in light of that (a.k.a. to get me on the right track) I'm hoping to read around 200 pages a day (1400 total) or 3-4 books over the course of the week.

Let me know if any of you are participating. I know it would be much more fun to do this along with some other people. :)

But yeah, you should be seeing daily updates on here about my progress, and I'm also going to try to keep up with writing and posting reviews of all of the books that I manage to get through. You can also expect a review of a book I just recently finished being posted later today as well.

Happy reading!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014 everyone! A new year holds so much potential, and I plan to take full advantage of it!
Besides a few things (like the fact that I have yet to put up any real posts on here), I feel very good about the new year and what I was able to accomplish last year. I have many plans and goals for 2014 and I am determined to stick with them.

You may have noticed already that I have added quite a few new tabs to the side bar. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure. They basically are what I plan to do on this blog over the course of this year. Along with frequently posting reviews and putting up other, more random posts, I hope to read 50 books and watch 100 new movies (or more). I therefore encourage you to check those tabs (and keep coming back to this blog) often, as they will most likely get updated at least 2-3 times a week. I also hope to put up at least that many posts every week.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a safe, happy new years. I also hope you are as excited about the new year as I am! Leave your own new year's resolutions below if you feel like sharing.

Talk to you again soon!