The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized at On a Book Bender and Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins12:01am Monday, August 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th 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 5.0 information and
updates, be sure to visit the Bout
of Books blog.
TIME DEVOTED TO READING
I am going to try to read at least a
little every day of the read-a-thon.
little every day of the read-a-thon.
MY GOALS
I have an enormous number of books piling up on my real and
virtual shelves and I need to read them. So my goal for the read-a-thon is to
start and finish reading as many of these books as I can! I’ve also decided to use this read-a-thon to visit at least three new blog daily. 🙂
virtual shelves and I need to read them. So my goal for the read-a-thon is to
start and finish reading as many of these books as I can! I’ve also decided to use this read-a-thon to visit at least three new blog daily. 🙂
BOOKS TO READ
Actual shelf:
A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker
A Short History of the World by H. G. Wells
Virtual shelf:
The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton
The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane by Kathleen Kaska
UPDATES
Monday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1/2
Number of pages I’ve read today: 90
Total number of books I’ve read: 1/2
Books: The Hot Gates by William Golding
Thoughts: This little collection of essays is turning out to be pretty great. Will post a review once I’m done reading it!
Thoughts: This little collection of essays is turning out to be pretty great. Will post a review once I’m done reading it!
Tuesday
Had a very busy day and didn’t manage to read a single page!!
Wednesday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1/2 + 1/2
Number of pages I’ve read today: 247
Total number of books I’ve read: 1 + 1/2
Books: The Hot Gates by William Golding
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Thoughts: I finished reading The Hot Gates by noon. It is a fabulous collection and Golding is now one of my favourite authors. Those essays tell a lot about him as a person, and much of what he narrated helped me put Lord of the Flies into better perspective. It’s a must read for those who love travelling, reading and digging up the past (literally.)
Challenges: Today I participated in my first challenge of this read-a-thon. I took part in the Book Word Search challenge, which was hosted at The Musings of Almybnenr. I love word puzzles and this one was a fun break from reading!
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Thoughts: I finished reading The Hot Gates by noon. It is a fabulous collection and Golding is now one of my favourite authors. Those essays tell a lot about him as a person, and much of what he narrated helped me put Lord of the Flies into better perspective. It’s a must read for those who love travelling, reading and digging up the past (literally.)
Challenges: Today I participated in my first challenge of this read-a-thon. I took part in the Book Word Search challenge, which was hosted at The Musings of Almybnenr. I love word puzzles and this one was a fun break from reading!
Thursday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1/2
Number of pages I’ve read today: 236
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Thoughts: I rarely say this, but I actually hated this book. I couldn’t possibly explain why in short, so I’m going to post a review tomorrow. Can’t wait to read A General Theory of Magic tomorrow!
Thoughts: I rarely say this, but I actually hated this book. I couldn’t possibly explain why in short, so I’m going to post a review tomorrow. Can’t wait to read A General Theory of Magic tomorrow!
(Update: click on the book title to read the review)
Friday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1/2
Number of pages I’ve read today: 135
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: Giving Up the Ghost by Eric Nuzum
Thoughts: This was an eBook and so, it took me considerably longer to read it, as it always does. It wasn’t a very engaging read either. I could have read A General Theory of Magic today. I really wanted to, but I had a personal deadline on writing a review for Giving Up the Ghost.
Thoughts: This was an eBook and so, it took me considerably longer to read it, as it always does. It wasn’t a very engaging read either. I could have read A General Theory of Magic today. I really wanted to, but I had a personal deadline on writing a review for Giving Up the Ghost.
Saturday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Number of pages I’ve read today: 181
Total number of books I’ve read: 4
Books: A General Theory of Magic by Marcel Mauss
Thoughts: This book was fabulous! I have read four books this week and tomorrow is the last day of the read-a-thon. I wonder if I can read two books tomorrow…
Challenges: The Page 99 Challenge is hosted by My Seryniti. Turn to the 99th page of an upcoming read and see if it changes your expectations from the book.
The book I chose was A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter. The cover picture and the summary on the book jacket made me want to pick this book up at the library. The 99th page makes me wonder if it was a mistake. The book sounds dull. Here’s an excerpt:
Thoughts: This book was fabulous! I have read four books this week and tomorrow is the last day of the read-a-thon. I wonder if I can read two books tomorrow…
Challenges: The Page 99 Challenge is hosted by My Seryniti. Turn to the 99th page of an upcoming read and see if it changes your expectations from the book.The book I chose was A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter. The cover picture and the summary on the book jacket made me want to pick this book up at the library. The 99th page makes me wonder if it was a mistake. The book sounds dull. Here’s an excerpt:
“That night, I lay alone in bed in my flat in Canonbury, revisiting what Elizabeth had said to me. I revisited everything and then I settled. I settled on a particular phrase and then, as it were, I settled in it. I dwelt in it, as if it were a cellar in a castle with the drawbridge up.
Guy was conceited, Guy was aggressive, Guy dressed in black, Guy took cocaine, Guy was cruel and unfaithful. (…) But this was fair enough – his parents divorced when he was five.
In the welfare state of Guy’s mind that entitled him to certain character defects.”
I have no idea who Guy is, but he doesn’t seem very pleasant. It seems odd to judge a book by a page, but here’s what I think: I don’t like complicated similes, at all, or short sentences and repetitions. This isn’t particularly bad, but it didn’t make me want to read the next or previous few pages to figure out the context. It just doesn’t seem interesting enough. Let’s just say, I sincerely hope the 99 page test is not effective, I was really looking forward to this read!
Sunday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Number of pages I’ve read today: 120
Total number of books I’ve read: 5
Books: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Thoughts: This was a perfect ending for a perfect week.
Thoughts: This was a perfect ending for a perfect week.
WRAP UP
Total number of books I read: 5
Total number of pages I read: 1009
Books: The Hot Gates by William Golding
A General Theory of Magic by Marcel Mauss
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Thoughts: First of all – Thanks to those who stopped by here to encourage me and such. (Sorry, I didn’t reply to each comment.) I made it a point, during this read-a-thon, to not disturb my daily routine to read. I love the fact that I can do every chore I need to do and still manage to read 5 books in a week. That way, counting all the vacations I should be able to read at least 180 books next year, without changing my routine much! This was just a great read-a-thon, wasn’t it? How was your week?
Tabula Rasa 
wild, its time for another one. I so enjoyed the first one. I will be ready. Thanks for posting the event.
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Good luck on your goals 🙂
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Good luck on meeting your goals!
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I hope you have fun. I haven't heard of most of the books on your list I will have to look in to them 🙂 Have a great week.
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What a list! Good luck with your goals and have fun!
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Wow that's a lot of books! Happy reading and good luck on the read-a-thon!
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Wow, that's a long list! Good luck with your goals and have fun!
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I hope you can kick down that pile of books this week! Good luck 🙂
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You're doing great! I hope you can reach all your goals!
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Great progress so far!
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Well done, you are doing great!
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I really hope A Short Gentleman works! I'm actually kind of curious about it now. You're right about the page 99 though, kind of weird. I'll cross my fingers for you! Thanks for stopping by!
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congrats on great progress so far and good luck for the last day! 😀
Jo @ Urban Fangtasy
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I'm sorry page test 99 challenge disappointed you,perhaps it not a good one ( the page) and you ill still like the book.
Mine was a dialogue and i liked it but i like the series so i would have been devasted if suddenly the books were as good
good luck for the last day
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You've had a great week! Enjoy the last day 😉
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Looks like you've done a great job this week! I'm loving seeing all these books that I haven't even heard of.
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Glad you enjoyed Bout-of-Books. Hope to see you in January 😉
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