Bout of Books Fail/January Wrap-up/February TBR

It must come as a surprise to no one that I have fallen off the face of the world again, at least in terms of this blog. There was a death in my family a few days after my last post, and that took priority over everything else. But now I'm back, so let's get back to the books.

I didn't finish any of the books on my list during the Bout of Books, but I did finish Tiger Lily by Jodi Anderson the week after. Which brings me to a total of 2 books read in January!

-Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

-Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Kinda underwhelming, truth be told, but I've got my sights set on amping it up in February. Here's my current TBR for this month:

-The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, and Archenemy by Frank Baldor: My friend convinced me to buy this entire series in January, and reading Tiger Lily put me in the mood for more fairy tale retellings. I've only read a few short chapters of it, but I'm really liking it so far, and I hope to binge read this series in February.

-Cress by Marissa Meyer: I'll be taking a break from The Looking Glass Wars series to read this (coming out this Tuesday, 2/4/2014!). In case you don't already know, Cress is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is book 1, and Scarlet is book 2, and they are science fiction retellings of Cinderella dan Little Red Riding Hood, respectively. Cress is a retelling of Rapunzel set in the same world as the others. I read both Cinder and Scarlet in 1-2 days and was immediately chomping at the bit of the next one, so obviously I'm really excited for this one.

I just realized my February is made up entirely of fairy tale retellings. Hopefully these reads satiate my thirst for them, because I don't think I own anymore (that I haven't already read), and I'm trying to control my book-buying addiction. 

Based on my current reading speed, I doubt I'll read more than these 4 books, but if I do, I'll check out the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Meade. I keep seeing the trailer for the movie (coming out this Valentines Day), and although I've been staying away from long vampire series for a while, this one intrigues me (also helps it's a finished series with less than 13 books in it *cough Vampire Diaries, Southern Vampire Mysteries, cough*).

Anyway, I'll blog again soon with my January Book Haul. Hope your January reading stats were better than mine!

Happy reading,

Katie

Bout of Books 9.0: Day 1

Day 1 :

Books completed: none

Currently reading: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Pages read today: 55 pages

Pages read in total: 55 pages

Challenge #1: Book Buying Spree by Bookish Comforts

(I'm not participating in the giveaway, I just thought making the list would be fun)

Challenge #2: Mad Libs by Cheap Thrills

character name – Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
adjective1 – Small Steps, by Louis Sachar 
adjective2 – Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer
item – The Golem's Eye, by Jonathan Stroud
occupation – The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare 
act of violence – Fight Club, by Chuck Palaniuk
adjective3 – Torn, by Amanda Hocking
noun1 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson  
noun2 – The Goblin Wood, by Hilari Bell

I just read the greatest book!

This guy Harry Potter ends up in the middle of a small conspiracy. Turns out his ancestors were pirates, and he might be the key to finding the Scarlet Eye. It’s a mythic artifact that disappeared centuries ago, and now a shadowy group of merchants are looking for it. No one knows what uncovering it might do, but these guys are willing to fight for it.

I won’t say anything else. But believe me, if you like torn stories with dragon(s) and wood, you have to read this one.

Bout of Books 9.0

My first Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (I think, I may have unofficially participated before).

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, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th 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 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Time Devoted to Reading

I will be reading all week.

My Goals

• Read for at least 30 minutes before bed every day.
• Finish 2 books and start a third.

Books to Read

• Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
• A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

Booktube-a-thon: Day #7 Update

It's the last day of Booktube-a-thon, and while I only completed 1 of the challenges, I still finished 2 books this week, which is pretty good for me.

I started The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, and I know this is a spoiler but I just have to say it, I love The Lost Hero's main characters, they are my babies, but I missed Percy SOOO MUCH and I am so thrilled that he is not only back, but back to being the POV character. YAY Percy!. I cannot wait to finish this book, and I'm very disappointed in tomorrow being Monday again because I have a whole 5 days before I can read this book all day.







Anyway, I didn't read 100 pages like I'd intended, but I did read 69 pages which bring my Booktube-a-thon page count to a grand total of 1,010 pages. I won't lie, that's pretty impressive for me.

I mentioned yesterday I want to spend the rest of July finishing all the books I've been "currently reading" for the past few months. For now I'll be focusing on the ones I started for Booktube-a-thon, namely The Son of Neptune and the Wuthering Heights audiobook (along with The Mark of Athena, let's be real), but once those are finished, I will get back to the books currently listed in my 'hibernating book list' (see middle right).

I've also updated my Google Calendar with the book release dates and book-to-movie release dates I am personally most excited about. It is far from complete, so let me know if there's anything you see missing. That is, once I figure out how to make the calendar public.

Have a great week!

Happy reading,

Katie

Booktube-a-thon: Day 1

I didn't get quite as much reading in as I'd hoped. I bought and downloaded Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte, read by Emma Messenger, off of Audible last night, but by the time I figured out how to burn them to CDs last night it was too late to do it then, and I didn't wake up early enough to do it before leaving for work, so there goes 1 hour of potential audiobook time. I did manage to burn all the parts onto CDs tonight, so I'll have it all set to go tomorrow. This is good because I really need an audiobook for tomorrow. I have a roller derby class for almost 2 hours, and I won't get home in time to do much before going to bed. However, I will get another forty minutes added to my commute, so that will help in getting through the audiobook.

I also started The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan, the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series. I just read 106 pages, bringing my total page count for day 1 to... 106 pages. OK, it was a slow start, but it's a lot for me. While I'm happy to be flying through this book so far (always good for a book-a-thon), I am a little worried to start an addicting but incomplete book series.

I don't think I'll finish The Lost Hero until Wednesday, but I'm not too worried since I'll be working my way through both this book and Wuthering Heights. That counts for something, right?

Happy reading,

Katie

Booktube-a-thon!

I'm going to be participating in Booktube-a-thon! Even though I'm not a booktuber, I would like to be one eventually, and the only real requirement for participating is to read as much as you possibly can.

I won't be doing all of the challenges, but I'm going to try for most of them.

1. Read an average of 300 pages per day.

2. Read a book over 500 pages.

3. Reread a book.

4. Finish a series.

5. Read a book that's been on your shelf forever.

6. Listen to 1 audiobook.

7. Read a classic.

-Wuthering Heights audiobook - challenges 3, 6, and 7.

-The Ring of Solomon - challenges 4, 5.

-The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, and The Mark of Athena - challenge 2, 4.

I doubt I'll get to all of these, but I'll do more reading than I would have otherwise. You might notice that I'm not including any books I'm currently reading. None of them have turned out to be fast reads, otherwise I wouldn't still be reading them. Slower pacing isn't a bad thing for a book, but it certainly isn't a good thing for a book-a-thon.

Since I have a full-time job, I won't be following the booktubeathon hashtag on twitter or any of those challenges, but I'll do a super-short update every night on here to share how I'm doing.

Happy reading,

Katie