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
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
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. :)
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
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. :)
- 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. ;)
- 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.
- 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? :)
- 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!
- 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!
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!
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!
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, 19 October 2014
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: 28Pages 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: 0Pages 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
- 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)
- 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.
- 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!
- 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. :)
- 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. ;])
- 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.
- Which book did you enjoy the most? A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
- Which did you enjoy the least? Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara
- 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!
- 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).
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