Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Round Up

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Yesterday started off really well and I was able to do quite a lot of reading. I read pages 152-261 which is 109 pages of My Mad Fat Diary. I had hoped to continue reading in the evening but due to my health had to give up that idea, meaning I didn’t quite manage to finish the book.

So this week overall I have read 534 pages; these from 2 books (though neither completely as I’d already started one and didn’t finish the second). To be honest I probably could have read more, but it’s a lot more than I have read in a very long time and I think this may have been just the push for me to read more and catch up on my 2014 Goodreads goal of 55 books (currently at 29).

I also joined in with 2 of the challenges, which at the beginning of the week hadn’t planned to do. This was my first read-a-thon but it definitely won’t be my last and I can’t wait until the next one.  If you’re interested, follow Bout of Books to be the first in the know.

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Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 7

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Yesterday was a pretty good reading day for me.  I read pages 46-151 of My Mad Fat Diary which is 105 pages. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m enjoying it, though want to at least finish the book.

Originally I had hoped to read at least 2 books during this read-a-thon but I think that due to the H.G. Wells book being in such small print I over-estimated my abilities. At any rate, I have still done more reading this week than I have in a long time, and there’s still today to go!

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 6

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Yesterday was a very good reading day for me – it’s taken most of the week to really get into it, but I’m finally here!  I finished the H.G. Wells book (pages 285-352) and started with My Mad Fat Diary by Rae Earl with pages 1-45.  That’s 112 pages. I expect my progress will suddenly seem quite fast in comparison to so far this week, but that’s probably because the print in the H.G. Wells book was ridiculously small.

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 5

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I have to be honest, yesterday I barely did any reading. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I did, but somehow it slipped to the bottom of my list.  I did manage to read one short story in the H.G. Wells collection (pages 274-284), a measly 10 pages. Hopefully the rest of this week I’ll be able to read a little more than that each day!

As yesterday I did so poorly I figured I’d join in one of the challenges today – making a sentence by linking 4 book titles. This challenge is hosted on Christian Bookshelf Reviews.

If I Told You Once (by Judy Budnitz)

Girl In Red (by Gaye Hicyilmaz)

Don’t Touch (by Rachel Wilson)

Where Rainbows End (by Cecelia Ahern)

 

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 4

On Day 3 (Wednesday) I finally was able to devote a few hours to reading solidly.  I read pages 181-274 of the H.G. Wells which is 93 pages – a lot for me. That’s 7 1/2 short stories.

Honestly, I haven’t read as much this week as I was hoping to, after all, I’m still on the same book. But I figure that even an extra couple of minutes devoted to reading, when I’d normally be doing something else, is still making progress.  It does surprise me, though, how much time I end up doing other things when clearly reading is the better option; hopefully this week will remind me to read that little bit extra after the read-a-thon has finished.

 

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 3

Yesterday, I once again didn’t get as much reading done as I would have liked, due to having a particularly bad headache all day. However, it eased a little in the evening and I managed to get some reading done, though it did intrude a little on my sleep – I didn’t actually put the book down until I was so tired I couldn’t make sense of the words!

In the end I read from page 123 to 180 of the H.G. Wells book which is 57 pages of 4 1/2 very short stories.

Today I’m also joining in the challenge on Book Reviews from a Christian Girl which asks us to create a sentence using the first 2 words from a few books.

My sentence is:

Alex was beyond this, and on to the book.

The books I used are:

The Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

On Writing by Stephen King

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Let me know if you’ve joined in.

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11: Day 2

So, Day 1 of the read-a-thon has passed, and I didn’t get a whole lot of reading done. Last week I visited family so this week I am going to be resting more than usual, as well as reading, and yesterday the majority of my day was spent asleep. However, just before bed I picked up my book, as I knew I had to read at least something (seeing as I’m doing a read-a-thon and all).  I read pages 74-122 of the H.G. Wells book, which was 2 and a bit short stories.

So on Day 1 I read 48 pages – not my best but a good start considering how exhausted I felt yesterday.

 

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11 Day 1: Goals

So, my first read-a-thon starts today. Usually I read about 2-3 books in a fortnight, so I’ve decided to make my goal to read 2-3 books this week!

The books I’ll be reading are:

Selected Short Stories by H.G. Wells – I’ve actually started this book (before the read-a-thon) and I’m currently on page 74 and wondering why I would choose a book where the text is tiny.

My Mad Fat Diary by Rae Earl – I really enjoyed the TV series so borrowed this book from a friend and just haven’t got around to it yet.

Verity Red’s Diary by Maria Mann – This is a re-read.

If I make it through all those, then I’ll pick up whatever I feel like, but to be honest my hopes aren’t high. But just finishing 2 books this week will be more than I normally read so I’m setting that as my minimum goal.

There is still time to sign up if you want to join in, just visit Bout of Books.

Joining a Read-a-Thon

Sorry for disappearing the past few weeks. Last week I went to visit my family and assumed I’d have time to write here but was so busy I didn’t.  However, to make up for it, this week I’m joining The Bout of Books read-a-thon.

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, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Tomorrow I’ll be starting by posting my goals, and continue by participating as much as I can and updating you on my progress. If you’re joining it, feel free to share in the comments.  This is my first read-a-thon, so I’ll appreciate any support.

Teaser Tuesdays (5th Aug)

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

The two girls sat in the darkened lecture theatre watching the slide show in stunned silence. The new intake of Red Cross trainee nurses were layered up in rows behind last year’s.

~p.p. 84 The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Fleming

 

I literally started this book last night and so far I’m finding it both fascinating and beautiful.