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!

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

Bout of Books 15.0 Day 2 Update

I worked all day again today, so I really only had tonight to read, and unfortunately I read even less than yesterday. :/ I know I can do better though, and I have the rest of the week off, so I'm positive I'll be able to make up for these two sub-par reading days! *crosses fingers*

The few pages I managed to read added up to a measly 48, and, like yesterday, they were all from Room. I'll definitely be finishing this book off tomorrow though, and then my plan is to read Nimona, which is a graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson. I'll probably start another book too. I'll have to see what I'm in the mood for though.

Let's move on to today's challenge. I'm excited to do it. :)

Bookish Would You Rather

On Writing My Own Fairytale, there was the Bookish Would You Rather challenge. (This one includes a giveaway for one book worth up to $15.) It required you to answer the five "would you rathers" that Lori provided. Simple! (Or so it seemed. ;P)

#1: Would you rather... lend books to someone who dog-ears pages or to someone who reads with cheesy Cheetos fingers?

This is a tough one for me. I'm not typically someone who likes to lend out my books (especially to people who would possibly "mistreat" them), but since I have to choose... I'd probably go with the dog-earer. I really hate when people dog-ear pages, but it seems less damaging long-term to me than reading while eating and/or with dirty fingers. (Says the girl who's gotten peanut butter on her books before... >>)

#2: Would you rather... be able to meet one character of your choice or meet one author of your choice?

Hmm... this one's quite tough too. Being able to meet and speak with your favourite character would be super cool, but when I think about meeting Hermione Granger or J.K. Rowling, I'd rather get some one-on-one time with Jo. (Though I have no idea what I'd actually say to her. *flails at the thought*)

#3: Would you rather... never be allowed in a bookstore again or never be allowed in a library again?

This decision really hurts my heart because I love spending time in both of these places! Browsing in a bookstore is one of my favourite (random) things to do, but spending time/studying in a library can be just as nice, and, really, libraries have a fair bit more to offer than bookstores do, in the long run. Not being able to go in bookstores would also save me a lot of money and greatly shorten my physical TBR pile. Plus as someone who spent a lot of her free time at school in the library and the fact that I'm currently studying to be a Library Technician, makes me feel like I'm rather obligated to pick library over bookstore in this case, no matter how difficult it is. (Gosh, I could almost write an essay about this! xD)

#4: Would you rather... have to choose one of your favourite characters to die in their book or have to pick one of your favourite couples to break up in their book?

As much of a romantic and shipper I am, I'd rather have one of my fav couples not be together than have one of my fav characters die. At least then I'd still be able to read about the characters, even if it wouldn't be quite as fun or exciting? (They could always get back together too, right? ;)) It honestly would be awful having to choose, either way. *shudders*

#5: Would you rather... be required to read Twilight once a year for the rest of your life or The Scarlet Letter once a year for the rest of your life?

According to Goodreads, both books have fairly low ratings (averages around 3.5), so I'm assuming this question is asking which "bad" book would you rather be forced to read every year? Well, I've never actually read The Scarlet Letter, so I really can't say for sure, but the fact that I actually do rather like Twilight and have fond memories of reading it in my high school years, I'm going to go with it. (I do have plans to re-read it this year actually, coincidentally.)

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


Total pages read: 206
Books started: 1
Books finished: 0
Challenges completed: 2

Bout of Books 15.0 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.

Today I worked from 9 till 5, but I was still able to read a decent amount of pages on my breaks, and I read a bit more tonight too (though not as much as I would have liked. :/) I started reading Room by Emma Donoghue early this morning and managed to get to page 158 by the end of the day. That's not nearly as much as I would have liked to have read, but I kept getting distracted tonight. Hopefully I'm able to read more tomorrow.

And as for the rest of the week, I don't have a set TBR planned at this point, but there are quite a few different books and graphic novels/manga I'd like to read super soon, so I'll most likely just pick and choose from them. (And I'll probably post a picture of the "pile" tomorrow on my Instagram. ;))

The challenge for the read-a-thon today was to introduce yourself #insixwords, and you can find my answer on my Twitter account. I'll also be posting frequent reading updates on my Goodreads account throughout the week (Sorry for all the shameless plugging. >>), and a running list of all my stats can be found at the bottom of each of the update posts I write, here on my blog, just for easier reference.

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


Total pages read: 158
Books started: 1
Books finished: 0
Challenges completed: 1

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 15.0!

Hello everyone! It is, once again, time for yet another Bout of Books read-a-thon! This will be my fourth time participating and I am just as excited as I was the first time! This read-a-thon has become one of my absolute favourites over the past few years and I particularly love doing it during its January session, as I find it's a great way to start off a new year.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bout of Books, here's a quick note from the lovely people who run it:

"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 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th 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 15 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 keep with tradition and 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. I have been only semi-successful with this list of goals in the past, so hopefully this session I'm finally able to achieve all of them. Wish me luck! ;P

I'll also be sticking with doing separate, daily update posts, and aiming to have them up before midnight my time (EST) everyday, so be on the lookout for those.

And... that's it for my intro post. 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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!