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 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
I'm going to be posting all of my updates here, so be sure to check back. I'll also be chatting and giving more frequent updates on Twitter, and posting pretty book photos on Instagram. Follow me there and say hi! And be sure to leave a comment if you're participating, so I can see what you're up to!
BOOKS TO READ
• A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
• I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
• Octavia's Brood by Walidah Imarisha
• Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy A. Bastian
• Spectacle by Susan Steinberg
• The Shadowed Sun by N. K. Jemisin
• Crystal Eaters by Shane Jones
• Not Dark Yet by Berit Ellingsen
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Moonshot by Hope Nicholson
UPDATES
MONDAY
Number of pages read today: 105
Books read from today: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Total number of books finished: 0
Oh my god, this book of short stories is so so good. Like startlingly good. Like get chills and goosebumps and teary eyed and think "this may have been the best story I've ever read" while you're sitting in Best Buy reading. I didn't get as much reading done as I wanted, because it sort of turned into an errands day. Tomorrow won't be great either because I'm working, but I'm going to try to spend the evening reading. It's sort of a race against the clock to finish this one, because it's definitely overdue at the library.
TUESDAY
Number of pages read today: 30
Books read from today: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Total number of books finished: 0
I got to read a good amount while I was in a waiting room, waiting. But once I got home there were people in my apartment!! So, you know, of course I had to socialize. And then it was 1 am. So I didn't get as much reading done as I had planned and the book is going to be overdue another day, but I've just kind of resigned myself to these steep library fines. Berlin's stories are still as amazing as ever. I made one of my guests read a story, because I know how to be a social human clearly. Whatever, he liked it.
WEDNESDAY
Number of pages read today: 140
Books read from today: A Manual for Cleaning Women, Venus #1, Rat Queens #11-14
Total number of books finished: 5 (but they were all single issue comics)
I had all sorts of things to do today, so I only got to read 40 pages of A Manual for Cleaning Women and honestly I don't mind savoring it. After every story I have to stop and say "wow" to myself and reflect before moving on. But, anyway, I thought my reading was done for the night because a friend came over. But LUCKILY she wanted to have a comic book reading party, so we set up camp and gushed about Rat Queens together. It was a good time.
THURSDAY
Number of pages read today: 140
Books read from today: A Manual for Cleaning Women, Paper Girls #1, Trees #13
Total number of books finished: 7 (single issue comic books)
Challenge: Villain mash up. Since I read a lot of literary fiction, "villain" is a strong word. But I guess I'd have Sauron from LoTR and the goth kids in The Ritual fight, because it might be funny for a second before it's over.
By accident I'm updating this the day after Thursday and for some reason I can't even remember how I spent my time yesterday?? Well, I sort of can. I went to work and I got my new DSLR (!!) so not a ton of reading happened. But I read like 100 pages of A Manual for Cleaning Women, so one day I'll finish this book.
FRIDAY
Number of pages read today: 155
Books read from today: A Manual for Cleaning Women, Negative Space #1-2, Not Dark Yet
Total number of books finished: 1 real book & 9 comic books!
Finally got focused and finished up A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin! And oh was it beautiful. These last stories really got to me. There were all sorts of tears. Very impressive writing. I think I might need to own this collection to go back to throughout my life. Checked out Negative Space, which I liked enough to put on my pull list. Then I started a novella, Not Dark Yet by Berit Ellingsen, so maybe I have a chance of finishing two books this readathon!
SATURDAY
Number of pages read today: 55
Books read from today: Moonshot, Octavia's Brood, Not Dark Yet
Total number of books finished: Still 1 book, 9 comic books
Ok, today was a slow day. A book hopping day. Everything is sort of paling in comparison to Lucia Berlin right now and I'm not really being grabbed by anything. So Moonshot is pretty perfect, because it's a collection of short comics. I did most of my reading in that. Here's hoping I can finish one more book tomorrow!
SUNDAY
Number of pages read today: 450
Books read from today: Moonshot, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Between the World and Me, Cursed Pirate Girl
Total number of books finished: 4 books, 9 comic books
I embraced the book hopping today more than I normally do. I finished up the comics collection Moonshot, which I really enjoyed. I read all of Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which was really powerful. I read the graphic novel, Cursed Pirate Girl which was beyond delightful. And I read the first story in Nathan Englander's collecterion What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. So I actually got some stuff done! And I'm feeling good! Maybe next time I'll read this much each day. But probably not.