It’s that time again! Welcome to my master goal & update post for Bout of Books 5.0!
A quick little blurb about the readathon, from the Bout of Books team themselves:
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 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. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team
So this is where I’ll be posting all my updates each day. I’m making this a sticky post for the duration of the readathon, so that it’ll be visible right at the top of my blog.
Bout of Books to-read pile.
THE BOOKS
- The Damned Busters by Matthew Hughes
A Witch Before Dying by Heather BlakeThe Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (2nd section for readalong)White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors by Irina Lopatina- My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
- The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
MY GOALS
Finish White Raven, which I’m currently over halfway through.Read the 2nd section of The Moonstone (part of a readalong).- Read at least 150 pages per day, for a total of 1050 pages. This seems like a modest goal, hopefully I can stick to it.
Maybe take part in a couple challenges, and at least one Twitter chat (@SarahSaysRead is my Twitter handle).- Visit and comment on some blogs, and try to respond to comments left on my blog in a timely manner.
- Read as much as possible, and have fun
MY UPDATES – (I’m using a slightly modified version of the Bout of Books template)
Monday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 241! Much more productive than I expected. (44 pages of that was technically audio, but I have the actual book too, so I can keep a page count).
Total number of books I’ve read: Finished 1 book!
Books: White Raven, The Moonstone, A Discovery of Witches
#todayinsixwords: Read a lot, more commenting tomorrow.
Today was a good day! Especially considering that I had to work 2 am to 8 am, run a bunch of errands, and took a short impromptu nap. Tomorrow should be even better, but I want to make some extra time to blog hop a bit more too.
Tuesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 156. Not at good as yesterday, but still made my daily goal!
Total number of books I’ve read: Still just 1.
Books: The Moonstone, A Witch Before Dying
#todayinsixwords: I just could not freaking concentrate!
So today was an okay day, but it could have gone better. I wish I had been able to squeeze in more of A Discovery of Witches. I did laundry & blogging stuff in the morning, did some tasks and paperwork stuff around the house, and then sat down to read… and it took me HOURS to read the 50 pages I had left in the second section of The Moonstone. I kept getting up to do stuff, or I’d start to get sleepy and start nodding off. Tomorrow morning I have some errands to run, and hopefully I won’t be so restless when I get home so that I can focus on reading.
Wednesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 202! Not too shabby.
Total number of books I’ve read: Finished 2.
Books: A Witch Before Dying was the only one I read today.
#todayinsixwords: Not great, but not too bad.
Once again, errands and internet time kind of ate up more time than I thought. Well, that and a two-hour nap. I was still able to meet my daily page goal though, which means I’m still ahead for the week! Sadly I missed the Twitter chat cause I was watching Dexter season 6 with the honeyman tonight. At least I finished a book today though. I have to work for 6 hours tomorrow, I’m hoping it’s not very busy and I can squeeze a lot of reading in.
Thursday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 184! I haven’t missed my daily goal yet this week, I’m so proud of myself. Hope I can keep it up.
Total number of books I’ve read: Still just the 2.
Books: A Discover of Witches.
#todayinsixwords: Good day, really liking this book.
You know, I think this might be my best steak ever for Bout of Books. Usually I’ll have all this free time and somehow still miss my daily goal. But I’ve been fitting reading time in even with work, errands, and watching Dexter with the honeyman. I can only imagine how much reading I’d have done by now if Dexter season 6 hadn’t come out this week! I should be able to get lots of reading in at work tomorrow, but once I get home I have to clean and then my little sister and my nephew are coming into town. Have a feeling that will slow me down a bit…
Friday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 125. Damn, first time I’ve missed my daily goal all week.
Total number of books I’ve read: Still just finished the two.
Books: A Discovery of Witches
#todayinsixwords: Work was hell, needed a nap.
Damn damn damn. Well, I went to bed Thursday night with a headache and it stayed with me for almost 24 hours. I didn’t get to read as much at work, and when I got home I took a nap, then got up and cleaned and then saw family and yeah… it was busy and hellish.
Saturday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 226! Another great day.
Total number of books I’ve read: Finished 3!
Books: A Discovery of Witches
#todayinsixwords: Found time to finish another book.
Yay!!! So I read a lot at work today, and by the end of my shift I only have 30 pages left in A Discovery of Witches. I had to sneak in reading bits here and there, but I was able to finish it. Tomorrow is probably not going to be nearly as successful, since my sister is still in town and I took the day off work to spend time with her and L. I’m going to try to sneak in some reading time early, before everyone gets up.
Sunday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 30 
Total number of books I’ve read: Finished 3! Plus parts of others.
Books: The Pirates! In An Adventure with Ahab
#todayinsixwords: Family plans got in the way.
So, how did I do?
I read a total of 1164 pages, beating my goal of 1050 pages.
I finished White Raven, A Witch Before Dying, and A Discovery of Witches for a total of finishing 3 books. I also read some of The Moonstone and The Pirates! In An Adventure with Ahab.
I didn’t do so hot with commenting and blog hopping, because I was trying not to spend a ton of time online. The internet is such a time-waster! I just wanted to get back to reading, so my online time was limited.
OVERALL, A SUCCESS! HOW DID YOU DO?
~Sarah
Your goals sound reasonable. I set mine quite high this time, hopefully it will motivate me to do some serious reading, because I’ve been a horribly slow reader lately. Good luck and have fun!
I’ve been really slow lately too. I feel really motivated today though, so many good books to read!
Ooh! This sounds fantastic! I might have to participate too. I could possibly read 150 pages a day by focusing the afternoon on it. You’ve given me a lot to think about… Good luck with your goals!
Go for it! It does give a lot of motivation. I think sign-ups end on Wednesday… I hope you join!
Sign ups end Tuesday night – the form will come down Wednesday at Midnight, but there’s still plenty of time to sign up! Good luck with your goals and have fun
You’re doing awesome! I like that you set a modest goal — I’m usually an all or nothing kind of person, which leads me to have very slow reading days.
And yay for audiobooks! I’m listening to one, too, but I’m not sure of the page counts …
I struggle with audiobooks so much, which is why I usually only break them out for readathons. They’re good for car rides & doing housework – I have to be doing something kind of mindless in order to pay attention. And I HAVE to have a paper copy of the book as well so that I can switch to it if I want to. I’m such a dork.
You’re doing awesome! I’ve been feeling kind of down so had to switch from Russian literature that I planned (it’s so serious) to lighter things. I hope you’ll meet all your goals.
Thanks Jenn! I agree, light stuff is so much easier to read during readathons. They go by quicker and make you feel more accomplished!
Good work! You’re doing awesome! I was doing pretty good, for me. Then yesterday hit. I only got 30 pages yesterday. Eek!
I’m sorry you had a bad day on Friday. You’re making a good progress though!
You’re making really great progress. Everyone has off days. Mine usually falls on Wednesday. I’ve dubbed it my Bout-of-Books Wednesday Slump. It’s become so inevitable it deserved a title. LOL!
Yay for nearly finishing another book! Woohoo! Hope you have fun with your sister today.
Fab progress so far! Look forward to hearing what you thought about a Discovery of Witches, had that on my TBR pile for what seems like forever! Hope you enjoy the last day of the readathon!
Jo @ Urban Fangtasy
You did great! Hope to see you at Bout-of-Books 6.0 in January