A Readathon: Bout of Books 17!

I've been looking forward to Bout of Books all week long. I desperately need some incentive to get myself out of this reading slump. And you should join me! Bout of Books is a pretty relaxed week-long readathon with a bunch of fun challenges, opportunities to win books, and Twitter chats to meets new bookish people. Here are the specifics if you'd like to get in on it:

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 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th 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 17 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. My work schedule is kind of horrible and not super conducive to readathoning, but oh well. I'll also be chatting and updating more frequently on Twitter, complaining w/ weird filters on Snapchat (uulianne), 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

I don't actually wholly know what I want to read this week. I kind of just want to ~go with the flow~. But here are some I've had my eye on or am halfway through and need to finish.

• The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

• UFOs by Leslie Kean

• The Swan Book by Alexis Wright

• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn 

• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

• Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard 

• Riverine by Angela Palm

• Neon Green by Margaret Wappler
• How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
• Moonstone by Sjon
• Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu
• The Devourers by Indra Das

UPDATES

MONDAY
Number of pages read today: 10
Books read from today: The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
Total number of books finished: 0

Starting with a bang, day one!!! I sort of expected not to read much, but I did have four hours between my two different work shifts. I was hyped and ready to read. But then my grandpa wanted to get lunch. And not just any lunch: Thai food. How could I say no? So that just sort of threw everything off. Still not completely into The Natural Way of Things, but I want to give it more of a chance.


TUESDAY
Number of pages read today: 50!!
Books read from today: The Natural Way of Things
Total number of books finished: 0!

Ok, this is much better! I know 50 pages isn't wildly impressive, but I'm finally enthralled in this book and really enjoying reading. Tonight was my big night to read, BUT I had a surprise visit by a friend who insisted on arguing about politics for a couple hours. Then we watched Bob Ross. SO MESMERIZING, I had never seen a full episode of his show. I almost took more time away from reading to see if I could become a master painter in 30 minutes, but I controlled myself. Next week I will paint.


WEDNESDAY
Number of pages read today: 6
Books read from today: The Natural Way of Things
Total number of books finished: 0

I worked 12 hour! Nope!


THURSDAY
Number of pages read today: 25
Books read from today: The Natural Way of Things
Total number of books finished: 0

It felt like I had read a lot today, but I was wrong. Tomorrow and Saturday are my days to fix this very slow Bout of Books.


FRIDAY
Number of pages read today: 86
Books read from today: The Natural Way of Things, Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Total number of books finished: 1

There we go!! I finally finished a book. And read more than 50 pages. Unfortunately, I have really mixed feelings about The Natural Way of Things. I don't know if I liked it or not. There are PARTS I liked. But I think I went in with too high of expectations, because at no point did it blow my mind. I'd rate it somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I hate to say this, but it might be another 3.5 in the streak of 3.5s I've read. I really have to mix it up right now. I grabbed Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone, because it's a collection of weird short stories. But I feel like I might have to even stray from my stack because nothing there is really exciting me. I need to find a book that excites me back into reading this week!



SATURDAY
Number of pages read today: 107
Books read from today: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Vertigo by Joanna Walsh
Total number of books finished: 0

My best reading day yet! I was out in the middle of nowhere for most of the day and I had little more to do than read. And yet I wasn't especially feeling it. But I started reading a random book, Vertigo by Joanna Walsh, which is just a beautiful little collection of lyrical vignettes. Do I entirely know what's going on in them? Not really. Am I enchanted by the language? Mostly, yeah. I could've finished it last night (80 pages in, with 30 to go), but I was too tired and fell asleep. Oh well. Oh and I read 25 pages of The Underground Railroad, which is pretty hard to rip through. I'm on edge most of the time while reading it.


SUNDAY
Number of pages read today: 43
Books read from today: Vertigo by Joanna Walsh, Intimations by Alexandra Kleeman
Total number of books finished: 1

I finished a second book! Vertigo was pretty beautiful and I really enjoyed reading it. And then I had to go to work. AT work, however, I discovered that my coworker left the new Alexandra Kleeman for me!!! I read 10 pages of it during break and it's so great. And then I got home at 10:30 and fell asleep! Didn't end Bout of Books with a bang, but at least I ended on a couple high notes.

A Readathon: Bout of Books 15!

This readathon completely snuck up on me, but I'm so excited! Bout of Books is a pretty relaxed week-long readathon with a bunch of fun challenges, opportunities to win books, and Twitter chats to meets new bookish people. I have a whole bunch of library books to get through, single issue comics that have piled up the past few months, books I started but didn't finish last year, and some of my own books that I'm dying to start. So BRING ON THE READING. Here are the specifics if you'd like to join:

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.

A Readathon: Bout of Books 14!

It's that time of year again! Bout of Books is a pretty relaxed week-long readathon with a bunch of fun challenges, opportunities to win books, and Twitter chats to meets new bookish people. I've met some of my best internet friends through this event, so I'm always happy to participate. And it's saved me from a number of book slumps. I have this super fun habit right now of starting books and not finishing them, so I'm hoping this readathon will get me focused enough on reading to finish some shit up. It starts Monday the 17th. Here are the specifics if you'd like to join in:

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 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd 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 14 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 talking all about this on Twitter and posting visual updates on Instagram, so check me out there and say hi! And leave a comment if you're participating too, so I can see what you're up to.
READING YES.

BOOKS TO READ

• The Captive Condition by Kevin P. Keating
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin
• The Familiar, Vol. 1 by Mark Z. Danielewski
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
• Oyster by Janette Turner Hospital

UPDATES

MONDAY
Number of pages read today: 147
Books read from today: 2
Total number of books finished: 1
#todayinsixwords: Head really hurt, read graphic novels.

Being in this hotel is not quite the reading incubator I expected it to be. But maybe the novelty will wear off tomorrow and I'll be able to focus. After participating in the (great) twitter chat, I finally sat myself down to read for the day. But my head was actually killing me, so I couldn't handle anything too dense. First I started Ghosted, Vol. 1 by Joshua Williamson. I threw it aside after 19 pages of bad dialogue and a weird offhand misogynistic comment was thrown out to sound cool?? Idk, but I was too exhausted with it to take the time to find out if it was serious or not. Just didn't care. So I moved onto Revival, Vol. 2 by Tim Seeley, which was SO GOOD. And there are interesting female characters, which took the bad taste out of my mouth. No heavy reading done today, but here's hoping I'll feel better tomorrow!


TUESDAY
Number of pages read today: An impressive 10
Books read from today: 1
Total number of books finished: 1
#todayinsixwords: Too tired to do anything really.

Today I probably should've gone for a graphic novel, but I tried reading more of The Captive Condition by Kevin P. Keating. I got ten pages read. I do like it and it's starting to get weird, I just had a long day at work and then I went out shopping in the evening. So it just didn't really leave a lot of time for reading. Oh well. Tomorrow will be better, because I'll have have two hour car ride with nothing else to do.


WEDNESDAY
Number of pages read today:128
Books read from today: 1
Total number of books finished: 2
#todayinsixwords: Reading is hard, more graphic novels.

Participated in the MASH challenge today and it went pretty well, all things considered.

Anyway, reading is still a struggle so I just spent my time in Nailbiter Vol. 2, Bloody Hands by Joshua Williamson. It seems amazing to me that this is the same writer that did Ghosted (considering I threw that aside days ago). Nailbiter is significantly better. I mean, this volume wasn't amazing. But it was good. Doing my best over here.



THURSDAY
Number of pages read today: 72
Books read from today: 3 (but they were all single issue comics)
Total number of books finished: 2 (see note above)
#todayinsixwords: Went to the comic book store.

Wow, even Bout of Books isn't helping the slump. I went to the comic book store and picked up my pull for the first time!! I got Invader Zim #2, Trees #12, and Harrow County #4. All were good except for Trees, which has been super boring. But Invader Zim was a complete delight.

FRIDAY
Number of pages read today: 124
Books read from today: 2
Total number of books finished: 3
#todayinsixwords: One real book, one not as.

Today I went to Half Price Books and it completely rejuvenated my book love. I finally found Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. Which I look for every single time I go there. I had some fun flipping through it, reading essays related to my life (40-50 pages), and having a miniature cry. You guys, this book is just as good as people say it is. I can't wait to read all of it in one sitting tomorrow (probably). It was nice to read a book that isn't due back at the library immediately or from a publisher. But I also did read Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart, a graphic novel from the library. It was pretty good. Kind of Memento-y. Over all, not the worst day.

SATURDAY
Number of pages read today: 0
Books read from today: 0
Total number of books finished: 3
#todayinsixwords: Oops oops oops oops oops oops.

Can I just say oops?


SUNDAY
Number of pages read today: 30
Books read from today: 1
Total number of books finished: 3
#todayinsixwords: Made a little progress sort of.

I delved a little bit into The Captive Condition by Kevin P. Keating and I'm going to be real, I don't really know what's going on right now. It feels sort of like we're still in the exposition despite being almost halfway done, so when strange plot things happen I'm not sure what the basis of it is. Ok, I'm rambling. I'm just bad at focusing. But I'm glad I read more than yesterday!

Bout of Books 12 Wrap Up

Bout of Books was an enormous success for me and I'm so pleased I participated as much as I did!

You can see all of my goals and updates here. I accomplished all of them, except for reading the two books that I was already partway through. I did read one of them, though! And I probably didn't read 3 hours a day, but I didn't count, so who knows.

I did a challenge every day, too! Some of them are tiny and hidden in my master update post linked above, but my here's my Scavenger Hunt and my Top Ten Recommendations.

I was most pleased with participating in the twitter chat and checking out people's blogs. Shout out to some of the cool people I got to talking with and blogs I really enjoyed: Shaina Reads, Forrest of Books, Story Notions, Unbound Books, among many others!
 
                  

Anyway, I finished 3 books, which was exactly what I was aiming for. And all of them were good! Happy Like Murderers was good enough, but The Killing Moon and All the Birds, Singing were both amazing. I love those books, holy shit.

Total pages: 578

Pretty good for me.


I'm slightly sad, because I probably won't be participating in the one in May, seeing as it's happening right around my last week of college. Looking forward to August, though!

Did you accomplish everything you wanted to this Bout of Books? Read anything good?

Bout of Books Challenge: Top Ten Recommendations

Hey, gang. Day two is going pretty slowly, but I'm not too concerned about it. Hope everyone else is getting a lot of reading done! I almost forgot to check the challenge today, but here I am. This one is hosted by Trees of Reverie here!

The Challenge: You’ve just started to work at a bookstore (or library) - what are your top ten go-to book recommendations?
Prompts:

• You may select any TEN BOOKS of your choice. These books can be from a specific genre, or you may like to choose a few books from various genres.

Extra Prompts:

• Why did you choose these books?
• What would you say about each of these books when recommending them to a customer or library patron?
• What would be close favourites for book recommendations that didn’t make it onto your list?
• Is there anything else that you’d like to mention about the books you’ve chosen to include on this list?

So I'm going to do all of the prompts and extra prompts! I pretty much act like a small library to my friends, so I knew exactly what books I wanted to recommend. Each blurb next to the book is what I would say about it to a customer, including why I'm choosing them! Check them out!


House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski - This is more like an experience than a book. The bulk of the book is a manuscript that the narrator found. It was written by a man who's now dead. The narrator communicates mostly through footnotes. The manuscript is about a documentary that isn't real. It doesn't exist in our world or in the narrator's. The documentary is about a house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and the horrors the family who lives there face. As the book goes on, with the narrator trying to figure out why this manuscript exists and what happened to the author of it, the format starts to get crazy. You have to spin the book around to read all of it. You have to flip back and forth through footnotes and appendices. You don't know if the author, the narrator, or you are going crazy. It's a crazy horror ride, very subtle and creepy, and one of my all time favorite books.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - This trilogy is a given. And, yes, I'm recommending it as one book because you can totally buy it as a single volume. I have! I'm obsessed with Lord of the Rings. It's a beautifully written classic fantasy trilogy that's just as exciting to read every time I decide it's time to revisit it. It covers the classic issues of good vs. evil, and man can this guy describe some nature. Excellent characters and story.






Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - I can't stop praising this one. Annihilation completely filled the hole LOST left in my heart. It's weird, it's got nature stuff, and it's pretty creepy. You don't realize how much the story's getting to you until you're alone in your apartment at night. That's when it hits you. A wildly original science fiction piece beginning the Southern Reach Trilogy that can stand alone, but ends beautifully in the last novel, Acceptance. A solid pick for people who just like pretty covers too.





The Martian by Andy Weir - This book is just so much fun. Reading it was an absolute blast. It's basically the movie "Gravity" but on Mars, with less melodrama, more science, and more humor. It's not my favorite book of all time, but I can't think of many people that wouldn't get a kick out of this book. Very well paced. An excellent novel for science fiction fans and people not into science fiction alike.






The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - Now this is a stunning novel. If you haven't read Tonni Morrison before, you have to, and this is an excellent one to start with. The Bluest Eye is about an African-American family (I don't really want to spoil what they go through) and the struggle with feeling beautiful as a black girl. Actually the most beautiful writing I've ever seen. I'd recommend it for that alone (I read it for a fiction writing class), but the story is so much more important than that. Read it and be blown away.





Geek Love by Katherine Dunn - This book follows a family of circus performers that made a point of doing drugs while pregnant to create babies with stranger and stranger developmental problems. There are conjoined twins, an albino hunchback dwarf, a boy who is referred to as "Aquaboy" due to his flipper-like limbs, and a young boy whose talent isn't revealed for quite some time. The plot was twisted, and the writing was beautiful and moving. I cried multiple times because of the very human tragedies this family faces. This is a really good pick for people interested in family dramas who also have a bit of a weird streak like me.



The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - This is a short, poignant book that could appeal to anybody. Beautifully written, Barnes explores memory as he recounts narrator Tony's past. He's a divorced man who is trying to connect his past to his present and the realizations he makes are incredible. This one the Booker Prize for good reason.






 
When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams - Right before Williams' mother died, she told her to take her many journals (a Mormon tradition) and only read them once she had passed. A while after her mother died, she finally looked through them. They were all empty. When Women Were Birds is part memoir, part exploration on voice -- having one and choosing whether or not to use it. She explores being a woman, being a mother, being a daughter, and what her mother could have been trying to say. Poetic and beautiful. I read it in one day and it made me tear up a little. Excellent pick for your boyfriend's mom (or at least she told me it was excellent).

 

Selected Unpublished Blog Posts of a Mexican Panda Express Employee by Megan Boyle - This is a really good pick for anybody looking for something a little different. Maybe a 20-something who doesn't read much, but not because they don't like to read. Selected Unpublished is written in a stream of consciousness, almost blog/twitter like entries. It covers what it's like to be a 20-something with in this day and age. Often hilarious and on point (akin to Lena Dunham), sometimes sad, but always hopeful. This was my first foray into alt-lit and I was very impressed.




Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander - This book is just hilarious. For fans of Woody Allen. The premise: Main character, Kugel, finds Anne Frank (an old woman now) hiding in his attic. Yeah. There's a lot of amazing, very Jewish neurotic humor when it comes to how his mother raised him and how the family lives now. His mother acts like she went through the holocaust, though she is too young for that to have been the case. One thing I remember specifically: she read one day that holocaust survivors hide bread, so she suddenly starts hiding bread. I died. It's all absurd, dark, and very well written. Not for everyone, but I think everyone who likes that kind of black humor should give it a try.



Honorable mentions that were slightly too niche for me to recommend to just anybody:

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

What books would you recommend most highly? Happy Bout of Books, everyone!

Bout of Books: Day 1 - Scavenger Hunt

I love scavenger hunts. I am a child and I love scavenger hunts, please let me do a million scavenger hunts. Ok, one will do. You can find this one at Caught Read Handed if you want to do it too!

Ta-da! Phone picture.

The Challenge: Find a book with the following criteria on a bookshelf:

1. Find an author with the same initials as you - My initials are impossible, so I went with middle name. JM - Juliet Marilier.
2. Find a book with the color yellow on it - Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
3. Find an author’s name with the letter “S” in it - Joshua Ferris' The Unnamed
4. Find a book with a female protagonist - An Untamed State by Roxane Gay!
5. Find the longest book you own - 2666 by Roberto Bolano at 866 pages. Because Infinite Jest is in Chicago.
6. Find a book with a map in it or on it - Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Find a book with a face on it (photograph or illustrated) - Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Bonus: Find something on your shelf that isn’t a book. - So much stuff!

----------

Pretty pleased that I could find everything (mostly).

Post your scavenger hunt link in the comments so I can see!

Bout of Books 12: Master Post

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!

Bout of Books 12 - Let's Do This

Yesssss, it's here! Bout of Books 12 is here! Ok, I wasn't like anxiously awaiting it, but I saw that it was happening in two days and I got pumped. I participated last time in August and it was just the thing to get me out of my book slump.

If you haven't heard of Bout of Books before, here's some more information:

 

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 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th 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 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm not going to do official goals until my master post in a couple days, but I do intend to read at least 3 books. Or, rather, finish 3 books. I did 2 last year (one of them was 600 pages, don't hate). Right now I have 3 books sitting unfinished. Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn, The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin, and The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. I'm like halfway through each of them and I need to get my act together.

I also really want to get into the social side of Bout of Books! I'm going to check out at least one of the twitter chats.

If you find this post from the Bout of Books linkup, be sure to say hi! I'd love to make friends with more bloggers.

Can't wait for the 5th!

Bout of Books: Day Four - Like This, Try This Challenge

This read-a-thon has been less of a complete disaster than I thought it would be. It's Day Four and I've read 467 so far. That's like 1-2 normal sized books! But I went for finishing one enormous book. Oh well. You can read more about my progress (and my devastating hangover) on the Bout of Books Master Post two posts down.

I have actually participated in all of the challenges so far (yay). I just haven't had to post them here. But today's is a recommendation post hosted by Writing My Own Fairytale, so here goes nothing.

If you liked this...

 How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti

You should try this... 

Selected Unpublished Blog Posts of a Mexican Panda Express Employee by Megan Boyle

Because both are HBO Girls-esque explorations of the lives of 20-somethings. Selected Unpublished Blog Posts takes an interesting turn by using stream of consciousness poetry that could be appreciated by Heti fans.

If you liked this...

Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

You should try this... 

 The Honey Month by Amal El'Mohtar

Because both are beautifully written, strange little stories. Jagannath is certainly more developed, but that's because The Honey Month is essentially short daily entries inspired by tasting different kinds of honey. What comes out of these simple pieces is delicate and surreal. Both are refreshingly otherworldly.

If you liked this...

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

You should try this... 

Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball

Because they are investigations of strange, dark crimes that both use interesting multimedia. I wasn't blown away by Night Film, but I was interested in the potential occult crimes of an underground horror filmmaker. Silence Once Begun is 100x times better. More subtle, more interesting writing, more subtext. The anecdotes of people the narrator interviewed haunt and puzzle me to this day.

Do you agree? Have any other recommendations for fans of these books?

Bout of Books: Day One - Scavenger Hunt Challenge

Diving into the world of shelfies right now. This is about as last minute as it can be, but I'm super charmed by this scavenger hunt challenge. Here are the pictures I took for #boutofbookshunt!

1. A Book that begins with “B”  (for Bout of Books!)

For some reason this one took me a ridiculously long amount of time to come up with, so I'm looking "B"itter.

2. A book that has been made into a movie/tv show

Hey, lame movie cover and all. Sppoooookkkkyyy.

3. A series you love

Obsessed obsessed obsessed. Can't wait for the last one (Acceptance) to come out in September, even though Authority didn't blow me away.

4. An anthology of poems or short stories

Getting weird with some experimental fiction (Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme, if you can't read such a zany photo).

5. A book on your TBR shelf, or your full TBR shelves

 I don't want to say that they are all TBR on this shelf, but probably 2/3 are. No regrets. Long live the TBR pile, the bigger the better. Ignore the vodka. Don't ignore the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit related dolls.

That was fun. I want to do it again.

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11 Master Post

Oh hey, guys. This is my really abrupt return to the internet. I have no shame, everyone seems to quit doing things in August/July. I've recently had a hell of a lot going on and I've been in the worst reading slump of my life. Like I'll try starting books every once in a while, but I don't even get close to finishing them. I haven't finished a book since last month I think. Because of that:

I'm trying the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon this year! Because it sounds easy! And like it is a thing that will make me open a computer, hopefully. Not that I haven't minded not opening it. So here's what it is:

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 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

So here's the plan. Because I totally love plans and following through with them. Keep checking back, as I'll be updating this post mostly!

My Goals

• Finish a book already to get out of my reading slump. It's probably been a month since I've COMPLETED a book. Hopefully I'll finish at least 2.
• Try to use Twitter
• Try all the challenges!
• Not stress/feel guilty.
  

Books to Read

I tried to give myself many options, just because it's hard to predict what I'm going to be in the mood for.

• Night Film by Marisha Pessl
• Ticknor by Sheila Heti
• An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
• Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
• The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
• The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
• AND The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin (which is waiting for me at the library)

Updates

Monday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 140
Total number of books I’ve read: 0
Books I read from: Night Film by Marisha Pessl
#todayinsixwords: Unexpected, unplanned dive into bookish activity


I've borrowed this ebook like 15 times from the library and only this past month did I start reading it. I thought that trying a fast paced thriller (a genre I haven't read in like 7 years) might get me out of my reading slump. But I didn't consider that it's more than 600 pages long. Oops. I'm getting through it relatively quickly, though. Or maybe the chapters being 3-10 pages long just makes me feel like I am.


Tuesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 121
Total number of books I’ve read: 0
Books I read from: Night Film by Marisha Pessl
#todayinsixwords: Good considering work and going out.


I was surprisingly good about avoiding tv today after I got home from work. Normally I immediately turn on Maury and turn off my brain, because I'm so exhausted after working with kids for four hours (I know that's not a lot, real teachers and parents. I just can't handle it personally). Wanted to read more, but was obligated to go out drinking with a friend. Regrets. The immense amount of italicization in this book is still bugging me.


Wednesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 53... yikes
Total number of books I’ve read: 0............
Books I read from: Night Film by Marisha Pessl, An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
#todayinsixwords: Hangover kept me from doing anything.

Today was actually horrible. My hangover was so bad that I couldn't even go to work. That's embarrassing and wildly irresponsible. I just kept puking. And because I was dizzy/headachey, it was really hard to get myself to read. It was hard to get myself to do anything other than sleep. Thursday will be better!


Thursday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 153
Total number of books I’ve read: 1!!!
Books I read from: Night Film by Marisha Pessl
#todayinsixwords: I finally finished an ok book!

I wasn't in love with Night Film, but I buckled down and finished it. Now I'm going to flit between a few other books and stick with one that I'm really into.


Friday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 111
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books I read from: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay, The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
#todayinsixwords: Feeling pretty good considering reading slump

I actually read a decent amount today and I'm really liking an Untamed State. Not sure about Artist of Disappearance left, but there are only like 40 more pages of it (thank god for novellas). I wanted to push myself further and read a lot before bed while my boyfriend was sleeping, but sleep was just too tempting.


Saturday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 60
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books I read from: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay, The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
#todayinsixwords: Oops oh well I tried ugh

So today's page count is kind of dismal, but at least I forced myself to read at all! Tomorrow's my trip to South Dakota, so I'll either not get a lot of reading done or manage to read a lot in the 7 hour car ride. Either way, I'm not about to pressure myself too much. I'm actually so pleased with how I stuck with bout of books until the bitter end.


Sunday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 214
Total number of books I’ve read: 2!
Books I read from: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
#todayinsixwords: I finally really read a lot!

Sitting in a car for 8 hours really did wonders for my reading. I feel so good about having finished two books this week after having finished maybe 2 books in the past 2-3 months. This was the best. And An Untamed State was pretty pretty pretty good.

Happy Bout of Books, everybody!