Saturday 16 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 Day 5 Update

Today was finally a good, productive reading day! Yay! I managed to get up quite early this morning, and I spent most of the day just reading, which was nice. :)

I read the last 136 pages of Koko Be Good by Jen Wang, 67 pages of Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and I also managed to read the rest of Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (There was 202 pages left). That gave me a grand total of 405 pages for the day. Whoo! I'm, obviously, super pleased with this, and I'm feeling good about the last two days now too. I'm thinking I should easily be able to reach my page count goal for the week. ;)

Cover Colour

Today's challenge is on Wishful Endings. It required you to pick a colour and choose four books that were pretty much entirely in that colour. I chose blue (since it's my favourite colour) and you can see my chosen books in the picture below.


All of the books just happen to be from series I haven't read yet too! :P

And that's it for today! See you again tomorrow! Until then... happy read-a-thoning!

Total pages read: 1520
Books started: 6
Books finished: 6
Challenges completed: 5

Thursday 14 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 Day 4 Update

Ugh. So today didn't go as planned. I slept in again, read for a little bit this morning, but then I spent my afternoon doing more school stuff and just general, time-wasting-y browsing on my laptop. I also spent most of my evening catching up on TV shows and YouTube videos, so I really only read for about two hours today. Blah. I was hoping to read even more than I did yesterday, but obviously that didn't happen. :/ What I did manage to read was fun though, and I'm thinking I'm going to try to read more before I go to bed (even though it'll be after midnight at that point, so it won't count towards today's page count or anything).

But yes, I started two new books today. One is Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter, which is the second book in her Gallagher Girls series. I'm really enjoying these books so far, and they're perfect for read-a-thons as I find them super easy to get through. I only managed to read the first 34 pages of this one today, but I'm hoping to read the rest of it by tomorrow night. I also started Koko Be Good by Jen Wang, which is an adult graphic novel. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet, but the artwork is lovely and the characters are definitely interesting, to say the least. :) I managed to read 164 pages of it. That makes my total for the day 198 pages, which is my lowest for the week so far. Hopefully I can make up for it over the last three days though.

And now we have today's challenge.

From Modern to Classic

Today's challenge is hosted by Ranty Runt of a Reader. It required you to pick a book from 2005 or later that you thought could be a classic in 100 years and give two reasons why you chose it. And this one, like all the past ones, also had a giveaway for a book worth up to $15 from the Book Depository. :)

I'm choosing The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, as it was probably my favorite read from last year, and it's definitely in my top 5 favourite books of all time now, as well. I think it could be a classic in 100 years time because it has a very unique and interesting writing style that is not only engaging to the reader but also super well done and definitely adds to the overall reading experience. The book is definitely one of the most well-written books I've ever read, and I feel it will stand the test of time because of that. It could definitely appeal to make different types and ages of people due to that as well. It also is centred around WWII, and oftentimes classics are written around or about important times in history. This books definitely gives a new and intriguing perspective to one of the "great wars", that's for sure.

And, I guess, that's it for today! My totals can be found below, and I'll be back tomorrow around this time for another update. Happy read-a-thoning!


Total pages read: 1188
Books started: 6
Books finished: 4
Challenges completed: 4

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 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 doing things around the house and working on school stuff for my new semester. I didn't really get a chance to read, therefore, until after supper. I still managed to read the entirety of Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance (Vol. 3) by Reki Kawahara though (which was a chunky 336 pages) and another 67 pages of Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. That brought my daily page count to 403 pages! Though, again, the majority of those pages came from a manga volume, and I feel sorta guilty counting them, seeing as they're so much easier to read than a normal, full-length novel. But whatever, at least I made more progress with Catcher in the Rye. I'm liking reading a graphic novel/manga volume a day, along with reading a bit from a classic. It evens things out nicely, while also giving me a variety of things to read. It's nice. :)

I think my game plan for the rest of the week is going to be to continue to read one graphic novel/manga volume a day, along with reading a bit from the book or two I'm currently reading. It would be nice to get through another couple of books, at the very least.

Anyway, now for today's challenge.

Book Haiku

Today's challenge was on Kristina Horner. The challenge was to write a haiku about the book you're currently reading (which for me is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger). This challenge, like the last two, also came with a giveaway. Yay! You had the chance to win a book up to $15 from the Book Depository. But yes, my attempt at a haiku can be read below. I don't know if it's any good or not, but I tried my best! haha

Holden Caulfied is
a strange and troubled boy. He
likes to think a lot.

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

Happy read-a-thoning!


Total pages read: 990
Books started: 4
Books finished: 4
Challenges completed: 3

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 Day 2 Update

I worked again today, so I really only had tonight to read, but I'm pretty pleased with the amount of pages I've read. I was pretty tired last night (and it was nearly midnight by the time I got my blog post up anyway), so I didn't really get a chance to read anymore before I went to sleep, unfortunately. I did go to the library after work today though, so I've got some exciting new books and graphic novels to make my way through over the course of this week at least! :)

Now, for the actual stats for today, I read the last 26 pages of Sword Art Online 4: Fairy Dance by Reki Kawahara, I started and finished Little Fish by Ramsey Beyer (which is one of the graphic novels I signed out of the library), which was 268 pages, and I also started The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I read the first 68 pages of it. That makes my grand total for today 362 pages. I know a large chunk of those pages came from the graphic novel I read, but I do honestly think I read a fair bit more than I normally would, when it comes to other, more conventional graphic novels. Little Fish had more writing than pictures, or at least I think it did. I could just be telling myself that to make it feel like I read more than I actually did. ;P

And now for today's challenge.

Character Face-Off

On Lulo Fangirl, there was the Character Face-Off Challenge. (This one includes a giveaway for two eBooks worth up to $20.) It required you to pick two of your favourite characters and choose one over the other, and then explain why you chose the character you did. Fairly simple, but not exactly easy. My response to this is below.

Opponent #1: Hermione Jean Granger

-WHO: A muggle-born witch that is known to be the "brightest witch of her age". She is also, of course, one of Harry Potter's best friends.

-PROS: super smart and logical, quite magically gifted, brave

-CONS: bossy, know-it-all, fear of failure and wrongdoing

Opponent #2: Septimus Heap

-WHO: He is the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice for most of the book series. He's also the seventh son of the seventh son, which makes him both a gifted and powerful wizard.

-PROS: quite magically gifted, sociable, caring, brave

-CONS: careless, immature, gullible (all only rarely though)

Winner: Hermione Granger

Why: Hermione's been my favourite character and role model since I was little. She's not always super likable, especially in the earlier HP books, but I think she's quite relatable and someone young girls, in particular, could (and do) look up to. She's the intelligent, brave, and independent young woman that I've always longed to be. She has a fair bit of character growth over the course of the book series as well, and you really see her come into herself and become that loyal and brave girl that I've truly grown to love over the years. She's an all around awesome character, and she has that nostalgia factor on top of it for me, so she's the clear winner. (Sorry Sep!)

And... that's it for today. Happy read-a-thoning everyone!


Total pages read: 587
Books started: 3
Books finished: 3
Challenges completed: 2

Monday 11 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 Day 1 Update

Day 1 of the read-a-thon is nearly over, so it's time for me to do a quick overview of how my day has gone and complete today's challenge. Let's go!

Today I worked from 9 till 5, but I was still able to read a decent amount of pages on my breaks, and I've basically spent the rest of my evening reading as much as I can, so I've racked up a decent amount of pages read, all things considered. I've been slowing ploughing through Lord of the Flies by William Golding over the last few weeks and I (finally) managed to read the last 50 pages of it today. I also started (and have now nearly finished) Sword Art Online 4: Fairy Dance by Reki Kawahara. I hope to finish this before bed, but at this point I'm at the 175 page mark. That leaves my Day 1 page count at a nice, even 225 pages. I'm hoping to at least reach 250 pages though. *fingers crossed*

I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to read next, as I didn't really come up with a TBR for the week, but I am currently reading a couple of books and there are a few manga and graphic novels I wouldn't mind getting to as well. We shall see tomorrow, in my update, what I end up picking up, I suppose. :3

And, like with Bout of Books 9.0, 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'll also keep a running list of all my stats at the bottom of each of the update posts, just for easier reference.

Now for today's challenge.

Bookish Survey

On Writing My Own Fairytale, there was the Bookish Survey Challenge. This challenge just required you to answer a few simple questions. It also included a giveaway! Woo! The winner will receive their choice of book worth up to $15 from the Book Depository. My answers to the questions are below. :)

  1. How do you organize your shelves? I keep my bookshelves organized with three things in mind. First is genre, second is height/type of book (hardcover, paperback, etc.), and third is alphabetical by author last name. This isn't always 100% used though, depending how how the books look or fit on the shelves. ;)
  2. What is one of your favourite books that's not in one of your favourite genres? I like many contemporary books, but it's not my favourite genre. My favourite contemporary novel, therefore, is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
  3. What is the last 5 star book you read? This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, which is a young adult graphic novel. It's still considered to be a book, right? :)
  4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon? If I do actually decide to read it, probably City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. It's been loooooong overdue for a while now for me to finish the TMI series, so I'm super excited to fiiiiinally get to the last two books!
  5. What book do you recommend the most? The book I'd recommend anyone and everyone to at least try to read would be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's a beautiful book, written in such an interesting and unique way, and, I think, if you get past the length and meatiness of it, it could be one of the best books you ever read. I only read it late last year, and it's now probably my favourite standalone book ever!

And... that's it for today. Tune in for another update around this time tomorrow. Happy read-a-thoning!


Total pages read: 225
Books started: 1
Books finished: 1
Challenges completed: 1

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 13.0!


Hello everyone! It's time for another Bout of Books Read-a-thon! I first took part in Bout of Books last January and I've done a couple more since then. I've only recorded my experience with the first one I did on this blog, and I figured, since I enjoyed doing it so much, it was high time I did it for another. :)

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bout of Books, feel free to read the following paragraph:

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, 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 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 
- From the Bout of Books team

Now, for my goals this time around, I think I'm going to aim to read an average of 300 pages a day (which would work out to be 2100 pages for the entire week), do all the daily challenges and keep up with my daily updates, check out some of the other participants blogs and maybe leave a comment or two, and at least attempt to take part in one of the Twitter chats. This is actually a fairly ambitious list considering I work a couple of days this week, have been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and my new school semester starts this week as well, but I'm hoping I'll at least be able to reach some of these goals and have fun, overall.

I like doing separate, daily update posts for my read-a-thons, so you'll be seeing those again for this Bout of Books. I'll be aiming to have them up before midnight my time (EST) everyday, so keep a lookout for those.

And... that's it for my intro post. I hope, for all of you also participating in Bout of Books, that you have a good week full of lots of reading and fun. ^_^

Happy read-a-thoning everyone!