It's Bout of Books time! I already did the sign up post, but this is where I'll keep my goals and update how much I read every day so there isn't a bombardment of posts about it. But there may be a bombardment of challenge posts. I'll try to keep it under control.
Time Devoted to Reading
I will be reading all week, because I'm still on winter break and have very little to do. Thank god for a very sporadic work schedule. I'm aiming for maybe three hours a day, but I'm not going to hold myself to that. There is Maury and Judge Judy to watch, after all. I'll utilize all commercial breaks (she wrote during a commercial break during Judge Judy. Oops.)
My Goals
Read 3 books!I made a list of more, so I have things to choose from. And if I hit more than 3, I have no problems with that.- Finish the 2 books I started ages ago. I started The King in Yellow in the summer. Same with The Killing Moon. That's troubling.
Do at least one challenge a day!Find one new blog a day.Attend at least one twitter chat.
Books to Read
Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn- The first true crime book I've ever read.The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin- The first fantasy I've read since Lord of the Rings!- The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
- Bear Down, Bear North by Melinda Moustakis - Short stories about Alaska (I need to study up for the novel I'm writing based in Alaska)
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld- Echo Lake by Letitia Trent - Creepy and poetic, sign me up.
Updates
Monday
Number of pages I've read today: 100
Total number of books I've read: 1
Books I read from: Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn
#todayinsixwords: Read slowly because murder is grim.
Ok, 100 pages doesn't sound like a lot, but it sure FELT like a lot. I finished my first true crime book today about Fred and Rosemary West. It was a heavy 100 pages. Lots of detail. Not even always about murder or abuse, but like it was just bogged with detail and repetition regarding every aspect of their lives. I was interested in true crime, because the Serial podcast left me with an intense hunger for more. I watched a couple true crime documentaries that were interesting. After reading this, I think my hunger is completely gone. Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good book for what it was. But I am SO READY to read anything else!
That all sounds like a sad beginning to Bout of Books, but fear not! I participated in my first twitter chat and it was the shit. Got to talk to a lot of bookish people all at once and it was overwhelming and very exciting. I just had no idea there were so many enthusiastic book people on the internet all at once! I found a few blogs that I really liked, and I'm hoping to find more that have similar taste to me. Not identical, of course, but similar. Sometimes I feel like a bit of an outcast as only a very very occasional YA reader. Regardless of that, I had a great time today! Onto the next one.
Tuesday
Number of pages I've read today: 62
Total number of books I've read: 1
Books I read from: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
#todayinsixwords: Spent too much time on blogs
I didn't really read a lot today. I spent most of my time thinking about reading or checking out book blogs that I found through Bout of Books, which isn't the worst way to spend my time! But then my boyfriend took me on surprise date night and we got dinner then went to Half Price Books. It was a good time, but I bought six more books. Oops.
In the evening, I read from The Killing Moon which is SO GOOD. Most of what I did was flipping around and rereading and perusing the glossary to figure out what these words meant, because I haven't read the book since August. But after that, I got super into it. The characters are so good and the world is so interesting. It's like kind of Egyptian and with magic and weird dream stuff and CORRUPTION and oh man. It's so cool. Maybe I should read fantasy more often. I'm hoping to finish this one tomorrow!
Wednesday
CHALLENGE: Because today's challenge is kind of too small for me to justify making a blog post, I'm going to put it here. It's a Character Coupling challenge hosted by Writing My Own Fairy Tale. I have to take two characters from different books and couple them up! I don't really do this kind of thing regularly, so this is a challenge, but here goes nothing.
My Couple: Holly Sykes from The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell with Orlando from Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I bet nobody's done THAT before. I'm pairing them up to be friends or, you know, see where it goes, because they're both kind of inexplicably involved in immortality business. Holly Sykes deal with a lot of weird immortal god dudes reluctantly and Orlando just kind of lives for a really long time with no explanation (and also switches gender all of a sudden halfway through the book, but that's beside the point). They're both pretty cool ladies and I'm sure they'd have a lot to talk about. They can be exasperated about their weird shit together, it'll be great.
Number of pages I've read today: 48
Total number of books I've read: 1
Books I read from: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
#todayinsixwords: Had to work today booo ugh
Yeah, so I didn't read a lot. I had to do some work I had put off forever and I hung out with like 4 different people separately bc my friends hate each other, so it was a very busy day! Glad I got 48 pages in during the evening. My boyfriend has been very supportive and has been reading Authority by Jeff VanderMeer next to me in bed. So cute. Tomorrow I vow to finish this book! Ehiru and Nijiri forever.
Thursday
Number of pages I've read today: 153
Total number of books I've read: 2
Books I read from: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
#todayinsixwords: So in love with this book
Today was great! Luckily my friend bailed on me, so I had plenty of time to read (silver lining). I was totally engrossed in The Killing Moon. Whenever anybody tried to interrupt my reading to say something to me I would just sigh, and they got the picture. Anyway, I did finish the book! Yay! It was the shit, honestly. Like I didn't think I could get into fantasy, and I get that this is kind of atypical because it's like Egyptian-y, but it was amazing. Can't really think of anything that was wrong with it.
I can't wait to get the second book in the series! But for now, it's time to move onto the next book. I think I'll do The King in Yellow tomorrow and I hope I'll finish it. Wow, I'm still reeling from N.K. Jemisin. She knows what she's doing. What a fascinating ride. I'll definitely be reviewing this one.
Friday
Number of pages I've read today: 84
Total number of books I've read: 2
Books I read from: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
#todayinsixwords: Lots of time to myself today
Today I was babysitting (not my job of choice, but I'll do it if somebody asks), so I had like 5 hours to myself in a stranger's house to read. Granted, I spent a lot of that time looking at the wall or wondering what I could eat (sunflower seeds or nothing). But I did start my third book! I had originally wanted to read The King in Yellow, but it's an ebook and my tablet was charging sooo slowly and then I accidentally left it at their house. Oops. So that kind of decided my reading for today and tomorrow.
I'm so glad the universe fucked with my plans, though. All the Birds, Singing is so good so far. Much creepier than I expected (I didn't expect any creepy, for whatever reason. Even though a woman's sheep are being inexplicably killed). The main character, Jake Whyte, is basically running from her past and finds herself on this secluded island. Every other chapter we jump back to her past, which is told reverse chronologically. It's kind of like watching the Kate parts of LOST, but sometimes you have to read it in an Australian accent when she flashes back to Australia where none of the words sound right in any other accent. I'm digging it a lot. I'll probably finish it tomorrow!
Saturday
Number of pages I've read today: 91
Total number of books I've read: 2
Books I read from: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
#todayinsixwords: Don't want this book to end.
Got a bit of reading done in the evening before bed. I didn't finish this book yet, but I am close to the ending. At first I thought shit was getting less weird, but it's kind of getting weird again. The MC's backstory is pretty much cleared up at this point, but I still have no idea what's killing her sheep! What's going on?!
Sunday
CHALLENGE: Out of all the books you've ever read and all the characters you've ever known who would you choose to be in your family?
My Family: Mom: Holly Sykes from The Bone Clocks, because she's level headed and has plenty of stories to tell. She doesn't really take shit. Dad: Ehiru from The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin, because he's very thoughtful and calm, until he ends up going crazy. Sister: Jake Whyte from All the Birds, Singing, because she's a badass who can teach me how to farm and not give a fuck. She can also beat people up for me. Grandpa: Gandalf, because Gandalf. Is there anyone more delightful and grandfatherly and also a powerful wizard? My family's dysfunctional, because two of them are intense magic users and two of them don't care. Also, that dad's an assassin basically, but it's fine. Really, Holly and Jake would probably want nothing to do with Ehiru or Gandalf's nonsense. How they all ended up together is beyond me.
Number of pages I've read today: 40
Total number of books I've read: 3!
Books I read from: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
#todayinsixwords: Finished my third book, what fun!
The last day of Bout of Books was a good one! I finished my third book, and it was really good! I mean the ending I have some trouble with, but I can't discount the rest of the book. It was so heavy and kind of disorienting, that I couldn't read another book right after. I commented on a bunch of new blogs once I was done reading for the day, which was a good time. I really really enjoyed this readathon, and I'm so glad I participated as much as I did!