Bout of Books 9.0: Goals and Updates

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 9.0: My Goals and Updates

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'll read every day.

My Goals

• Read 1500 pages
• Write 2 reviews
• Participate in a few challenges
• Participate in at least one #boutofbooks chat

Books to Read

• Finish my current read: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
• Forever (ARC) by Karen Ann Hopkins
• One book I won in a giveaway
• One book I received as a gift
• One book that has been on my shelf for a long time (at least 3 years)

Updates - All updates will be posted here.

Monday
Number of pages I've read today: 144
Total number of pages I've read: 144
Books Read: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Reviews: 

Tuesday
Number of pages I've read today: 68
Total number of pages I've read: 212
Currently Reading: Water Tales by Alice Hoffman ( the book on my shelf for a long time)
 Books Read: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Reviews: 

Wednesday
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Total number of pages I've read: 212
Currently Reading:  Water Tales by Alice Hoffman ( the book on my shelf for a long time)
Books Read: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Reviews:   

Thursday

Number of pages I've read today: 80
Total number of pages I've read: 292
Currently Reading: Forever by Karen Ann Hopkins
Books: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando, Water Tales by Alice Hoffman

Reviews: 

Friday
Number of pages I've read today: 8 (so far)
Total number of pages I've read: 300
Currently Reading: Remember When by T. Torrest
Books: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando, Water Tales by Alice Hoffman

Reviews:

Saturday
Number of pages I've read today:
Total number of pages I've read:
Books:  

Reviews: 

Sunday
Number of pages I've read today:
Total number of pages I've read:
Books: 

Reviews: 

Dewey's 24 Hr Read-a-thon

Tomorrow I participating in Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. An entire day dedicated to reading?? Yes, please. I've participated in Dewey's Read-a-thon in the past, but I've missed the last few. Luckily my schedule is free tomorrow, so I get to read and read and then read some more.

My TBR Pile

(links to Amazon)

Nix Minus One by Jill Maclean
The Twits by Roald Dahl
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
Her and Me and You by Lauren Strasnick
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

I've selected some books that I've wanted to reread and included some shorter reads, but I'm not committed to reading only these books. Why limit myself, right? I have a couple of audiobooks queued up so that I can take a break, rest my eyes, makes some meals, or do some errands around the house.

I'll post many of my status updates on Twitter. If you want to check my progress you can follow me there @ActinUpwb

Are any of my reader participating? Let me know and I'll cheer you along!

Well, I Declare: #BoutofBooks 7.0

It's time to gear up for another read-a-thon. I missed out on the Dewey's 24-Hour read-a-thon this weekend, and I haven't participated in an organized read-a-thon since December. So, it is definitely time!! 

Thanks to the lovely Amanda and Kelly, we have Bout of Books 7.0.

from Bout of Books

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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I refuse to list the books I "plan" to read because I hardly ever stick to that list plus I find it limiting. So the only goal I want to meet is to read at least 2000 pages and possibly get in a few rereads. There are some verse novels that deserve some attention BUT I'm not listing specific titles!! I'm also looking forward to participating in at least one twitter chat and meeting some new bloggers and readers.

If you are even remotely interested in participating, you should. It's one of the best read-a-thons around - no pressure and lots of fun!

I'll update here on my blog and on Twitter: @ActinUpwb

Bout of Books 6.0 Recap

Man this Bout of Books Read-a-thon flew by. It's funny how that happens when you are reading books that you enjoy. I'm pretty satisfied with the amount of reading (and listening) I did this week. Below are my original goals and what I actually ended up reading. I usually don't list specific books that I will read because, as you can see, I always veer away from the list. No big deal because as I always say, reading is reading (but I do need to get to those review books).  

My Original Goals:

Read and review: The Namesake by Steven Parlato

Read and review: And By the Way . . . by Denise Deegan

Finish Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Audiobook)

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Audiobook)

Read a few chapters of Pride and Prejudice

What I read:
Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl (my book club selection)
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Read 5 Chapters of Pride and Prejudice
Finished Delirium (audiobook) by Lauren Oliver
Started Pandemonium (audiobook) by Lauren Oliver
Started The Namesake by Steven Parlato (10 pages)

Near the end of the read-a-thon I decided that I had to read Gayle Forman's Just One Day. There was a one day read-a-thon and twitter chat - a not that I planned to participate in it, I couldn't handle any spoilers that I might would read on Twitter, so I decided to read it. I loved it so much and if it is on your shelf or if you even considered reading it, all I can say is You Must and very soon!!

I didn't participate in any challenges this go round, and on Saturday I was sidetracked from reading when I ended up reorganizing my bookshelves. That was pretty spur of the moment - I was trying to make room for some new books - and ended up making a mess, blah blah, blah - you all know how that goes.

I hope to stop by a lot of blogs and see what everyone else read this week. Thanks for your comments. And until next time, happy reading! 

Bout of Books 6.0

 

 

Official Blurb

(from Bout of Books website)

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 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th 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 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 6.0 team

I can never pass up the opportunity to participate in the Bout of Books read-a-thon. It's a great time to connect with other readers and bloggers and knock a few books off of the TBR pile. I did a lot of reading during the holidays and don't want to suffer from reader's burnout at the beginning of the new year, so I'm keeping my goals to a manageable minimum.

My Goals:

Read for Review:

The Namesake by Steven Parlato

And By the Way . . . by Denise Deegan

 

Finish Delirium by Lauren Oliver Audiobook

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver Audiobook

Read a few chapters of Pride and Prejudice

(because I will finish it some time)

If any of my readers are participating in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon, please let me know in the comments below. I'll make sure to stop by your blog and cheer you along!
 

Coincidences and Connections (3)

So I'm sitting here reading a book and I come across something that seems familiar. Like I just read that in the previous book. I'm not talking about the plot or the storyline - just little similarities like the name of a character or the state where the book is set. There are just too many coincidences that I couldn't help but share them.

I recently participated in a weekend long readathon. All of these coincidences and connections were among these 6 books in a 3 day period. 

Here are the books:

Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett
Kissing Tennessee by Kathi Appelt
Forget Me Not by Carolee Dean
Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick
Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair by Steven Herrick 

and here are the connections:

Novels in verse

Forget Me Not

Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair

YA contemporary:

all of them except Forget Me Not is paranormal but reads like contemporary

main character is an athlete:
Confessions of an Angry Girl -runner
Meant to Be - swimmer
Nothing Like You - runner

characters are in a play or go see a play:
Forget Me Not
Meant to Be

characters go to a dance (or plan to go to a dance):
Kissing Tennessee - the collection of short stories are all about the dance
Confessions of an Angry Girl
Nothing Like You
Forget Me Not

a parent is dead:
Confessions of an Angry Girl
Meant to Be
Nothing Like You
Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair

In Forget Me Not, the parent isn't dead, but the mom is absent.

I know the YA contemporary and the novels in verse categories are not coincidences because I choose them. And I cannot believe there was a dead parent in 4 of the 6 books I read.

So I am wondering, does anyone else pick up on these small little details 

from book to book? I'd love to read your coincidences and connections in 

the comments, but please don't leave any spoilers. Thanks!

Bout of Books 3.0

The Bout of Books Readathon is a great way to start off the new year. I hope that it will set the bar for my reading and reviewing goals for 2012. Amanda from On a Book Bender is hosting again and there will be some fun challenges along the way. It's not too late to sign up. You can do that here.

My Goals

• Read 1500 pages
• Read one e-book
• Read 2 books for challenges
• Read at least one book for review and write the review
• Participate in some challenges
• Have Fun!!

Updates - I will post all of my updates here. So that I don't feel bad about myself, I'm going to count the number of pages read instead of total of books.

1/9
Number of pages I’ve read today: 120
Total number of pages I’ve read: 120
Books: started Girl Meets Boy


1/10
Number of pages I’ve read today: 150
Total number of pages I’ve read: 270
Books: Girl Meets Boy, started The Wolf by Steven Herrick

1/11
Number of pages I’ve read today: 150
Total number of pages I’ve read: 420
Books: The Wolf


1/12
Number of pages I’ve read today: 0
Total number of pages I’ve read: 420
Books: had a lame day

1/13
Number of pages I’ve read today: 0
Total number of pages I’ve read: 420
Books: um, no comment

1/14
Number of pages I’ve read today: 286
Total number of pages I’ve read: 706
Books: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, started Cryer's Cross



1/15
Number of pages I've read today: 210
Total number of pages I've read: 916
Books: finished Cryer's Cross

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon

 Jessie at Remarkable Reads is hosting the Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon. (you can still sign up) I've decided to participate in this final readathon in 2011 just because I've had a lot of fun with all of the others. I usually don't list the books I plan to read, but instead I list a some goals I want to achieve. This time I am listing one title specifically because I KNOW I will read it (I have to for my book club - it was my pick!)

My Goals:

• Read Delirium!!
• read at least one review book (and write the review immediately)
• read at least 2 e-books
• read one book gifted to me
• read some books for challenges
• HAVE FUN!!

If you've signed up for the readathon, let me know in the comments and I'll make sure to stop by your blog during the readathon and cheer you on!

Re-Readathon -November 18-20

Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner is hosting this rereadathon beginning today through the rest of the weekend. I decided to join because I rarely allow myself the opportunity to reread books that I own. I keep most of the books that I love with the hopes of one day rereading them. With the exception of The Jessica Darling Series by Megan McCafferty, that just doesn't happen.

In a recent Top Ten Tuesday, I shared a list of books the I want to reread. I may read a book from this list, but I plan to read some verse novels and memoirs in verse that I love. Some top contenders for rereading are:

I'm looking forward to spending this weekend with these books. I hope that in the future I will take the time to reread more of my favorite books and don't wait until someone declares a rereadathon to do it. (But Thank You Jamie!! for doing it this time!)

Bout of Books Read-a-thon Recap

The Bout of Books 2.0 Read-a-thon ended on Sunday, but I just now have a chance to recap the event. The read-a-thon was a lot of fun for me. I was a co-host on Wednesday, where I  hosted the Book Spine Poetry Challenge and  a Twitter chat. I was pretty geared up for the Twitter chat all day and right as it started, there was  a "hiccup" with my account and I missed about the first 10 minutes. I tried to participate from my laptop, my i-Pad or my phone. Finally, it was all working right, but as the host, I was sweating it there for a minute (or 10). All in all, it was a good time and I got to meet some new bloggers and readers.

To keep read-a-thons fun, I try to not have too high of expectations for myself. This time around, I wanted to read more books than the last Bout of Books, participate in more challenges and connect with bloggers and readers. And I can congratulate myself because this is exactly what happened.

I'd listed some books I wanted to read. I didn't satisfy all categories (as you can see) but I did read 5 (my goal) and started a 6th.

• One book recommended to me - Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell (recommended by Nomes at inkcrush)
  
• One book gifted to me - none
• One book I won from a giveaway - Exposed by Kimberly Marcus
• One e-book - The Ex-Games by Jennifer Echols
• One book for review -none
• One book that will fulfill one of the year-long challenges I signed up for - Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

Other Books Read:

You by Charles Benoit

V: WaveSon.nets/Losing l'Una by Stephanie Strickland

started Beauty Queens by Libby Bray (204 pages)

I participated in a few challenges:

Haiku challenge at Smitten with Reading

I wrote a haiku for Libba Bray's Beauty Queens:

Miss Teen Dream beauties

Crash landed on an island

Who will win the crown

Match the Urban Fantasy Hero(ine) to their Faithful Sidekick Challenge hosted by Jen at Not Now . . . I'm Reading 

Witchcraft in Popular Fiction - Muse's Book Journal

I was randomly selected as the winner of the Witchcraft in Popular Fiction and I selected Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough for my prize. Yay!!

Another Bout of Books Read-a-thon is already in the works (the beginning stages, that is). Amanda is hard a work getting that set up. She has even setting up a new site specifically for future read-a-thons. 

Until then, happy reading!!

 

 

November and Expectations

I have high expectations for myself during the month of November.


Like so many others, I am giving NaNoWriMo a go. I've had a story that I wanted to write for so long that I can't even remember when I first wanted to tell it. I never started it because, like most of my writing, it is inspired by true events and I felt like I was in some way betraying those closest to me by telling it. Maybe nothing will come of it, and it might just be for me but it consumes my thoughts and I MUST get it out. I HAVE TO. I don't plan to talk about too much at Actin' Up with Books, because I want to focus more on actually writing it rather than talking about writing it.


I have officially declared this month "No Book-Buying November" - I have too many books. I have too many overdue reviews that I need to right and I am running out of shelf space. I will be passing my own books along through RAK in an effort to not buy any more. I have asked Ginger at GReads! and Amanda at On a Book Bender to keep my in check. But ultimately it is up to me to keep myself in line. 

I am participating in a couple of readathons. You would think this would help alleviate the situation above, but um, no. Here's why. The first readathon: 25 Hour Read-athon hosted by 25 Hour Books starts early and I plan to read my massive stacks of magazines. Yes, in addition to having too many books, I have a lot of magazines. Now I currently only have two current subscriptions, so I don't have many new ones coming in. Thank goodness. But that is all I plan to read.

The second readathon is the Re-Readathon hosted by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner. Like the names says, it is when you reread books you have already read. I'm excited for this one because I rarely reread my books and hold on to them because I want to and now I will set aside some time to do just that.

Do I even want to take about reviews? I've been thinking about them, so yes, I need to put it out there. I HAVE NOT WRITTEN A REVIEW SINCE JULY. JULY!!! I am not proud, and yes, I am trying to shame myself here. My head is hanging low. Low, low, low. So I want to write some way overdue reviews - my thought was to do this instead of NaNoWriMo, but peer-pressure, thanks Holly, persuaded me to attempt both. I have cut back tremendously on the amount of review requests I have accepted, NetGalley requests and Galley Grabs from Simon and Schuster. It is time to get real!!

Oh let's see, what else do I plan to do this month? Oh yeah, get my butt back to the gym. Since I started blogging, my gym time has diminished to nothing. This is saying a lot because before I would go at least three or four times a week. I'm not saying that blogging has prevented me from going or cuts into my gym time. No. It is just a hobby that I like more than going to the gym and I have made any excuse that I can to not go. I need to find some balance. I guess I will try to figure that our all month long. 

If you've stayed with me up to this point, THANK YOU. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has a lot going on this month whether it is self-imposed obligations or the expectations of others. I'd like to know what you have going on this month, so please leave a comment and tell me about it.

Bout of Books Day 3 - Challenge and Giveaway

 Day 3

It's Day Three of the Bout of Books Read-a-thon and I'm so happy that you've stopped by. What's going on today:

Read-a-thon Recap link-up

Book Spine Poetry Challenge

Particihost Giveaway at penny-laine (this is a one day only contest so enter today)

Twitter Chat Tonight 8-9pm EST - use #boutofbooks

Recap
Day 2 wasn't the greatest for me. As I was running out the door, late for work (as always), I grabbed my phone and the nearest book and ran out the door. On my way to work I realized that I grabbed the book I had finished the night before. Now I didn't have a book to read during my lunch hour, not only was this a pretty lame as I announced on Titter, but as Reading Angel pointed out "That was a serious #boutofbooks fail!! And a general reading fail all together! I hate not having a book...lol" Thanks for that! I did find another book to read from my department's Reading Room, so not all was lost and the end of day 2, I have read 2 books and am starting my third (the book I that I meant to grab when running out the door!)

I'd like to know how everyone else is doing, so if you are updating, please fill out the form below and provide a direct blog/twitter link and I will stop by to comment and cheer you on!



Challenge
I know some of you are looking for my challenge and here it is:

Book Spine Poetry

create a poem using the spines of your books

e-book readers, don't fret, you can still enter

Guidelines

Must include at least 3 books/titles

submit an original poem (please do not copy from another site)

if you can, you may add extra words to the photo/poem

How to Enter:

Take a picture of your Book Spine Poem and post it to your blog or twitter, then leave a link in the comments here

OR

If you are not posting on a blog or twitter or are reading e-books, write your poem in the comments 

The Prize:

Book or books of Your Choice Valued up to $20.00 from the Book Depository or B&N.com

Contest Rules:

Must be 13 or older to enter

Must have signed up for the Bout of Books 2.0 Read-a-thon

(sign up here)

(the Master List will be checked)

One entry per person

Open to US and International

Ends Oct 30th 11:59 PM EST

One Winner will be selected randomly from all qualifying entries and announced on the blog.

Here is my Book Spine Poem

NOW Don't forget to stop by penny-laine and enter the

Halloween-Themed giveaway!!

Twitter Chat Tonight!! 8-9pm #boutofbooks

Bout of Books 2.0

 
The Bout of Books Read-a-thon starts tomorrow and I am pumped up!! This go-around I am a co-host for an entire day. So make sure to stop by my blog on Wednesday for the challenge or meet up with me (@ActinUpwb) for the Twitter chat at 8pm EST.

Here are some reminders from Amanda, read-a-thon organizer, at On a Book Bender:

Quick Reminders

• Sign up! I will leave sign-up open through Friday 10/28.
• You must be signed up and on the Master List to qualify for challenge prizes.  Co-hosts will check the list to verify.
• Check out the Bout of Books schedule
• Say hi to other Bout of Books readers.
• Find Bout of Books participants on Twitter (and yes, this time it DOES include me).
• See what everyone is tweeting.  Use #boutofbooks in your tweets.
• Look for a wrap up post (and survey; we want to know what worked or didn’t) here at On a Book Bender on Monday, 10/31
• If you choose to have a starting line post with goals, please PLEASE include how much you intend to read.  Not everyone can read the entire week, so it is helpful to know when (or how much) you can read.
• Submit a link to your starting line post at the end of this post.
• And most importantly: HAVE  FUN.

Time Devoted to Reading
Read some every day 

My Goals

• read more books than during the last Bout of Books read-a-thon - so at least 5 books
• comment/converse more with bloggers/readers
• participate in more challenges
• Have a good time!

Books To Read

This time I'm not listing specific titles that I plan to read because, like with everything, I like to keep my options open, but I do plan to read:

• One book recommended to me
• One book gifted to me
• One book I won from a giveaway
• One e-book
• One book for review
• One book that will fulfill one of the year-long challenges I signed up for 

I will update mainly on Twitter at @ActinUpwb and will complete a final read-a-thon update at the end of the week. I hope to meet some new readers and discover some new books along the way.

Dewey's Read-a-thon Wrap-Up

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? - I took an extended break for 7 hours which I thought would only be 4 or 5 at the most and that hour coming back was the hardest. I tried to catch up on any challenges that were still ongoing and I wanted to read the posts for the hours I missed.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I like novels in verse and you can read through them fairly quick. The third book I selected, Song of the Sparrow, is a novel in verse and once I got over my "return to the readathon" delay, it was quick reading from there. (well until I fell asleep) Some other novels in verse I would suggest are any ya book my Lisa Schroeder - The Day Before, Far from You, Chasing Brooklyn and I Heart You, You Haunt Me.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? For myself, I just need to decide to join earlier and clear my schedule. Some suggestions overall - some of the challenges took a while to complete and you quickly realize that 45 minutes of reading time have passed. The challenges are a choice and you don't have to participate, but that are a lot of fun. So maybe have a few more challenges that are easy to participate in would be my suggestion.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I liked the consistent format of the hourly updates which listed the random winners, the ongoing challenges and the links to the newest challenges.
   
5. How many books did you read? I completed 2 books and started a third book and read a total of 556 pages. My total reading time ended up being only 7 of the 24. But I might not have read that much otherwise because I wasn't even planning to join, so Go Me!!!
   
6. What were the names of the books you read? I read Every You, Every Me by David Levithan, Chasing Boys by Karen Tayleur and I started Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell.
   
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Of these I like Every You, Every Me by David Levithan - It took me by surprise because it wasn't what I was expecting at all and that is exactly why I liked it.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I liked all the books I read.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a cheerleader btu I did like receiving the blog comments and tweets along the way!
   
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely participate in the next read-a-thon as a reader. This was a lot of fun, the fast paced reading, challenges and connecting with so many other readers. I'll just make sure to clear my schedule for a full day of reading!