Bout of Books 9.0 and other updates...

Towards the end of 2013 I attempted to finish all the books I had on the go before the new year. Although I made a real dent in the overwhelming number of partial finished books I didn't reach my goal of finishing them all. Which is disappointing. I like to start fresh each year from the first day of January onwards.

With starting fresh I was excited to participate in the Bout of Books 9.0 read-a-thon. But now I have decided to not participate in that either. You are probably thinking, wouldn't a read-a-thon help to finish up those loose ends to get closer to that fresh start faster? It might or it might not. In my case I am currently trying to finish Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran, a book I have been reading on and off (more off than on) since Feb. 5, 2012. Which may be the book I've been "reading" for the longest amount of time in all my years of reading. Which is absolutely ridiculous to me. It isn't that it isn't interesting I just find that the smaller print and my complete lack of knowledge of the French revolution has slowed my progress. This is therefore not the type of book I would generally choose for a read-a-thon and if I did choose it I fear I would get discouraged as I wouldn't be able to reach/maintain a page count per day that I'd be satisfied with.

So I say no thank you to 9.0 but look forward to the next one as I plan to be ready to participate by then. I better be. I look forward to following along however during 9.0 so see how others are doing and to wish them all the best!

This delay in clearing out my "currently reading" shelf has also left me in a quandary of what reading goals and challenges I want to complete in 2014. For the last 3 or so years I attempted to read one book for each letter of the alphabet by corresponding with the initial letter of its title. Each year I got close but never successfully completed this challenge, despite reading over 26 books each year. So I just don't know if this will be my lucky year where I can complete it or whether it would be better to try a new challenge all together. My mind is so conflicted.

Currently Reading

Hey all, curious what I am reading right now? Well here's the post for that! ;) Cuz you should just KNOW by now that I'm reading more than one thing!

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (14% complete)... yes I finally started it but I really need to set aside some time to just read a bigger chunk of it at a time.

2. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (15% complete) - I got the fourth book of the trilogy (yup you read it right) for review from Net Galley so I now have to figure out when I'm going to find time to read the first three. Getting started on it though & liking the book so far.

3. Gone by Lisa McMann (40% complete) - needed something to listen to in my car when commuting so started the audiobook of this one to finish off the trilogy. Getting the feeling this one could have had some better plot twists so far in order to tie it to the previous books better, imo.

4. etc. I also have several books I borrowed from the library, partially read, and then had to return. I hope to clean up those loose ends soon by borrowing them again and getting them finished. I also have a couple books I own that I have started e.g. Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran, The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie, and Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, to name a few, which I have at the moment set aside but will return to them prior to the end of the year.

Bout of Books 8.0 - Wrap-up

And so ends yet another read-a-thon. Bout of Books 8.0 officially ended Sunday at midnight. After 7 long days I'd have to say I'm fairly pleased with how I did. Although I didn't finish all the books I had included in my TBR at the start I was still able to read well over 150 pages a day. My original goal of 150 pages for Monday to Thursday and then 250 pages Friday to Sunday would have totalled 1350 pages, only 90 pages more than what I did accomplish and I picked up a couple other books that I hadn't planned on.

Rapture by Lauren Kate: This first book I had started prior to the RAT and then finished during it, banking 268 pages. I gave it 4/5 (though a slightly lesser 4/5 than the 4/5 I gave its predecessor, Passion). I listened to the audiobook by the lovely Justine Eyre. She does such a great job with giving each character a recognizable voice. I listened to it over Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

 

Blood Brothers in Louisbourg by Philip Roy: This  next book I also started prior to the read-a-thon but dispite a valiant attempt I didn't finish it during the week (Monday, Tuesday & Saturday) as I found its small print was eating up my time & the storyline (so far) wasn't intriguing me enough to want me to read the next page, the next chapter, etc. I hope to finish it sometime soon though when I get more time to devote to it. I had such high hopes for this book. I banked 48 pages with this book.

Hard Run by Tsugumi Ohba: The first book I picked up and began once the read-a-thon started was this next book. I also finished in completely on Monday, banking 193 pages and giving it 4/5 as I continue with the Death Note series of graphic novels.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova: Continuing with my planned TBR, I picked up this adult contemporary book on Tuesday. I continued reading it Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, banking 322 pages and giving it 5/5 as I absolutely loved it! It really changed my outlook on life and how we take for granted things like knowing left exists and being able to see the left side of the world around us. It is also a definite contender for one of my favourite books of the year and for sure my favourite book I read during this RAT. Not my favourite cover for this book but here's the one I read:

Spore by Alex Scarrow: On Saturday I also bought/downloaded this short story which is #8 in the Doctor Who E-Shorts series which are released one per month on the 23rd and are each based on a reincarnation of The Doctor from the first (William Hartnell) to the eleventh (Matt Smith) by well-known children's authors. This one was thus based on the Eighth reincarnation played by Paul McGann, whom was only seen in Doctor Who the movie in 1996 however there are several books that depict more of his adventures. This e-short banked 40 pages towards my total and I gave it 4/5 stars. My most anticipated ebook in this series will be that of the tenth doctor, David Tennant, which will be released this October.

Love by Tsugumi Ohba: After such an emotional and thought prevoking book like Left Neglected I needed something fun to keep my reading going. That's where this book came in, the fourth in the Death Note series of graphic novels. I picked it up on Saturday and finished it the next day, banking 204 pages and giving it also a 4/5 as this one came out with some pretty funny lines that had me laughing out loud at times. Just what I needed.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater: By Saturday I realized I was missing out on adding to my page counts because I no longer had an audiobook on the go. Time when I was merely driving back and forth to work, and cooking and eating dinner were time being wasted as I was unable to read/hold a physical book at the same time. So I started this one. I love Maggie Stiefvater's books in audio as they always include some music at the beginning and end that she composed and performed herself. I also figured, since I also had a hardcopy of this book, that I could switch back and forth between the two mediums based on the situation. This was enjoyable but I found I was often relistening to sections of the book I had physically read just to read had the narrator said and name or how a new character's accent came across. I am still making my way through this book/audiobook but banked 185 pages of it during the RAT (Saturday and Sunday).

Here's my totals:

Day One/Monday: 250 pages
Day Two/Tuesday: 41 pages
Day Three/Wednesday: 199 pages
Day Four/Thursday: 166 pages
Day Five/Friday: 111 pages
Day Six/Saturday: 301 pages
Day Seven/Sunday: 193 pages

Weekly Total: 1260 pages
Daily Average: 180 pages
Books/Graphic Novels/Novellas Finished: 5
Partial Reads: 2

Let me know how you did if you participated in this read-a-thon, if you've read any of these books and would like to share your opinion (spoiler-free) on them, or if you have anything else you'd like to share!

Bout of Books 8.0: DAY SIX

One more day down and one more to go before the end of this read-a-thon. Today I finished reading Left Neglected which I absolutely loved. I then tried to read more of Blood Brothers in Louisbourg and promptly fell asleep. oops. Not sure what is going on with this book. I like the storyline; set in a place I've been, is historical fiction which I generally enjoy, it features a character that plays the cello which I enjoy the music of and once tried to learn to play one, and the main two characters are both very likeable. However the font is very small for such a seeming short book and it seems to be taking me so much longer to read it than anything else that I've picked up. I guess I am also finding it a bit too predictable, but I shall not give up on it (even if I find I must set it aside until the end of the RAT). So instead I started a couple other books that weren't on my TBR. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater as an audiobook to get my reading in while I cooked and ate and Love by Tsugumi Ohba for a fast paced graphic novel to break up the reading of longer books from a series I already know I like in which I read right up until midnight.

So here's how the numbers fell today, bringing my average pages read to 178 per day:

Saturday

Number of pages I've read today:

1. Blood Brother in Louisbourg by Philip Roy: 2 (73 pages left)
2. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova: 104 (completed)
3. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater (audiobook): 12 (397 pages left)
4. Love (Death Note #4) by Tsugumi Ohba: 184 (20 pages left)

Total number of pages read today: 301 pages
Number of books I've read today: 1 book
Total number of pages I've read: 1067 pages
Total number of books I've read: 4 (2 books, 1 graphic novel, 1 novella)

 Books read:

1. Hard Run (Death Note #3) by Tsugumi Ohba (****)
2. Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate (****) 
3. Spore (Doctor Who E-Short #8) by Alex Scarrow (**** again)
4. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova (*****)

Unstarted thus far on RAT TBR:

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - 422 pages

Bout of Books 8.0: DAY FIVE

Day Five of seven sure didn't go as planned. For a day without work I read even less than usual. Oh dear. I didn't start a new audiobook so times where I am usually driving someplace, cooking food, or eating were filled with quiet contemplation or a tv show versus get more pages read/listened to (mainly due to my ipod dying and my charge cord choosing this time to be MIA). My day also included playing Second Life for longer than I should have last night and then sleeping in late & then taking a lengthy nap later on. I did however read some more of Left Neglected and bought and read this month's Doctor Who e-short and my overall average is now at 153 pages per day (compared to my goal of 150 pages per day) so that's not too bad even if I'd love that to be a lot higher.

Here's my numbers for Day Five:

Friday

Number of pages I've read today:

1. Blood Brother in Louisbourg by Philip Roy: 0 (75 pages left)
2. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova: 71 (104 pages left)
3. Spore (Doctor Who E-Short #8) by Alex Scarrow: 40 (completed)  - novella

Total number of pages read today: 111 pages
Number of books I've read today: 1 book (novella)
Total number of pages I've read: 766 pages
Total number of books I've read: 3 books (1 being a novella)
Books read:

1. Hard Run (Death Note #3) by Tsugumi Ohba (****)
2. Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate (****) 
3. Spore (Doctor Who E-Short #8) by Alex Scarrow (**** again)

Unstarted thus far on RAT TBR:

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - 422 pages

Bout of Books 8.0: DAY FOUR

  On Day Four I decided (consciously or not) to give my eyes a break and only listened to my audiobook. However this meant I was able to finish Rapture by Lauren Kate and thus add yet another series to my finished series list, which is awesome. Sad to see this one finish though (although I still have Fallen in Love the novella to read at some point). Out of the four book series, I believe my favourite was book number 3 (Passion) as I loved all the places it took place in. Today was also my last day of work for the week so Fri, Sat, and Sun possibly can be full of reading... well reading and packing my stuff to move, but we'll see. Really hoping to finish the two books I'm in the midst of and at least begin Bitten before Monday rolls around.

Here's my numbers for day four:

Thursday

Number of pages I've read today:

1. Blood Brother in Louisbourg by Philip Roy: 0 (75 pages left)
2. Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate: (audiobook) 166 (completed)
3. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova: 0 (175 pages left)

Total number of pages read today: 166 pages
Number of books I've read today: 1 book
Total number of pages I've read: 655 pages
Total number of books I've read: 2 books
Books read:

1.  Hard Run (Death Note #3) by Tsugumi Ohba (****)
2.  Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate (****)

Unstarted thus far on RAT TBR:

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - 422 pages

Bout of Books 8.0: DAY THREE

Today was another day of working 8.5 hours but I found a wee bit of time, during my breaks, to read some while at work. Then I was free from other commitments to read all night when I got home (minus time spent, napping, cooking and being distracted by youtube and facebook).

Here's my progress for day three:

Wednesday

Number of pages I've read today:

1. Blood Brother in Louisbourg by Philip Roy: 0 (75 pages left)
2. Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate: (audiobook) 67 (166 page equivalents left - or 5 hours approx.)
3. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova: 132 (175 pages left)

Total number of pages read today: 199 pages
Number of books I've read today: 0 books
Total number of pages I've read: 489 pages
Total number of books I've read: 1 book
Books read:

1.  Hard Run (Death Note #3) by Tsugumi Ohba (****)

Unstarted thus far on RAT TBR:

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - 422 pages

Participating in Bout of Books 8.0? How did you do on day three?