Bout of Books 14 - Days 5 to 7

I had grand intentions of doing an update over the weekend, but obviously that didn't go quite as planned. Still, I'm pretty pleased with the way the readathon ended up. I met all three of my goals, and I was able to get through all four Throne of Glass books with time to recover before Queen of Shadows comes out next week.

FRIDAY
Pages read: 519
Total pages: 2,957

Books finished: Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong (3/5 stars), Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (4.5/5 stars)
Total books finished: 6


SATURDAY
Pages read: 272
Total pages: 3,229

Books finished: Middlemarch by George Eliot (3/5 stars)
Total books finished: 7

SUNDAY
Pages read: 156
Total pages: 3,385

Books finished: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (4.75/5 stars)
Total books finished: 8

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get through the remaining hundred-odd pages of Down Under by Bill Bryson. But you can't win them all. And considering I had to get up at 5.15 this morning, choosing sleep over finishing a book was definitely the right decision.

How did your Bout of Books finish up?

K xx

Bout of Books 14 - Day 3 and 4

We're up to day 5 of Bout of Books 14, and so far things are going pretty well! I've participated in a challenge, crossing one of my goals off the list, and I'm well on the way to completing the other two.

WEDNESDAY

Pages read: 448
Total pages: 1,704

Books finished: The Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters (3/5 stars)
Total books finished: 3

THURSDAY

Pages read: 734
Total pages: 2,438

Books finished: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (4/5 stars)
Total books finished: 4

Still not done with Middlemarch, but hopefully tomorrow will be the last of it!

How's your Bout of Books going?

K xx

Bout of Books 14 - Day 1 and 2

I had grand plans for doing a recap of day 1 last night, but then I went out for dinner straight after work and didn't get home until 9.30, at which point I promptly uploaded a couple of vlogs for VEDA and Snark Squad and collapsed into bed.

So I'll update you guys on two days worth of reading instead of one!

In the past, I've been sure to make sure that I finish a bunch of books on the Sunday before so that I can start All! Books! From! The! Beginning! and have the entire book count towards my Bout of Books page count. But since I've implemented my current reading strategy (which I really must make a video about at some stage...), that approach doesn't work quite as well. So some of the books I'll be listing, I only read part of during the readathon. The page counts don't include what I'd already read before Monday though!

MONDAY

Pages read: 655
Total pages: 655

Books finished: The Last Oracle by James Rollins (3/5 stars)
Total books finished: 1

TUESDAY

Pages read: 601
Total pages: 1,256

Books finished: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas (5/5 stars)
Total books finished: 2

I'm getting closer and closer to finishing Middlemarch. I'm down to about 100 pages remaining, so it will DEFINITELY be finished this week.

How's your Bout of Books going?

K xx

Bout of Books goals

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

So. Bout of Books 14 starts on Monday, and as such I figured it was probably about time that I talked about my goals for the week ahead. I'm not setting myself a certain number of books or a certain page count per day this time around, so my goals are pretty simple.
1. Finish MiddlemarchI've been reading Middlemarch since 21 July, and while I've been making steady progress (I'm currently just past page 600) I'm really very ready to be done with it. So I'm making it one of my goals to get through the last 200-ish pages next week.

2. Participate in a challenge
This was one of my goals last time, and I failed spectacularly due to an unusually busy week. This time around? I'm determined to do better.

3. Only pick up rereads
Look, this one is partly in place because I really want to reread all four of the Throne of Glass books before Queen of Shadows comes out on 1 September. But it's also because I don't really feel like I'm doing new books justice if I race through them during a readathon. So, with the exception of finishing off Middlemarch, I'm aiming for a reread-only event!

That's it for me this time around. Pretty simple goals, I know, but considering I don't have a whole lot of free time these days - especially seeing as we're smack bang in the middle of VEDA - I didn't want to set a bunch of targets and then find myself unable to achieve them. Hell, even if the only one I achieve is finishing Middlemarch? I'm going to be calling it a success.

Are you participating in Bout of Books?

K xx