Bout of Books 18 January 2017
I love the Bout of Books read-a-thon. This is held twice a year. This will be my second time participating.
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 2nd and runs through Sunday, January 8th 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 18 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.
I really enjoy this read-a-thon and am looking forward to a fun week. It will be a great way to ease back into post holiday work. I will be updating this post throughout the whole week! I will also be on Twitter, Instagram and Litsy as Reading Susan!
Monday
The first day of Bout of Books I have been a little scattered and not done a lot of reading between storms (scared puppy), last day of vacation and setting up this lovely new blog home.
I was about 50 pages in on Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs so I finished that up this afternoon. It was an interesting installment in the series although it was set in summer and kind of threw me out of the story. I also enjoyed some of my delicious Christmas candy including this out of this world salt water taffy.
After I was done with that I started A Necessary End which was a book I won through a Goodreads Giveaway. I am about halfway through now and this is one that is holding my attention mostly because I really want to find out what happens at the end.
I started listening to audiobook Night by Elie Wiesel. Whew. 15 minutes in and it is intense. This may be one I can only listen to in small chunks. This is a book I have been wanting to read for years and I am glad I finally bought it. I enjoyed some tea tonight as its pouring down rain in my new Jane Austen mug. My sister got it for me for Christmas and it is so cute. I will have to take more close up photos tomorrow because I love all the quotes all over the mug.
Monday Numbers:
Pages read: 435
Audiobooks Time: 22 minutes
Books finished: 1
Tuesday
Today was my first day back to work after the holidays. I got a lot done and was super energized. I didn't get much reading time but I did finish one book and start reading Roses and Rot by Kat Howard. I am hoping to have more reading time tomorrow.
Tuesday Numbers:
Pages read: 224
Audiobooks Time: 2 hours 4 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Wednesday
Today was another busy day with working on sales tax and my (accounting) books. Numbers are not always my friend. I got a little more reading in today but still felt a little distracted. I am working on Sunday so I decided to take tomorrow off and just enjoy reading.
I finished Night. Wow was that a hard read. Very difficult to comprehend how much horror people went through at concentration camps. Also, terrible to think how much Elie Wiesel has had to put up with from Halocaust deniers. So awful. This book should be read by everyone. Never forget how quickly evil men can destroy the people with their hideousness.
I also finished Roses and Rot. I liked it for its strangeness and some of those characters were really interesting. But I feel like it faltered in places. It could have been so much better and I didn't feel the story was developed as much as it could be.
I started listening to the audiobook of The Man of My Dreams. I was so excited to see this on my library page. I love Curtis Sittenfeld and I thought I had read all of her books.
I splurged and bought Heartless today so I started that next. I am super excited to read it. I love anything based off of fairy tales or other books and this is based off of Alice in Wonderland. I got some good kitty snuggles while reading tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Wednesday Numbers:
Pages read: 326
Audiobooks Time: 1 hour 38 minutes
Books Finished: 2
Thursday
I had more time to read today, especially my audiobook. I didn't take the day off like I planned because I had to much to do. Lately I have been re-reading the Mandie books which are books I loved so much as a child. I started the tenth in that series today. They are quick reads so I finished it tonight. The forecast is calling for 3-4 inches of snow which is huge for here. I am super excited and hope it really happens.
Thursday Numbers:
Pages read: 332
Audiobooks Time: 6 hours 7 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Friday
How is it already Friday!? It is shocking to me how fast this week went by. I really feel like I didn't read much this week but that is only because I read for so many hours during vacation. Today I read a lot. We had a winter storm system forecasting today so I just huddled under blankets trying to stay warm, drinking wine, baking cookies and getting so excited for the snow. We hardly ever get any snow and some forecasters said we could get up to three inches which is so exciting for this area. I love snow sooo much. I was more excited the last couple of days about the snow then I was about Christmas. Well we got a whole lot of nothing! Absolutely no snow. All gross freezing rain. And now we will be stuck in the house all weekend because of the ice but no snow. Huge waste! So I am super down in the dumps about that.
I finished listening to the audiobook of The Man of My Dreams. It was an interesting book in places but overall was just kind of dullish. If you don't like unpleasant main characters definitely don't read it because Hannah is awful.
I also finished Heartless. It seemed to take me forever to read. The premise of this book (the origin story of the Queen of Hearts) was so good. But the execution was just so so. There were parts I adored (like the things she would dream) and parts I hated (pretty much Jest). I think maybe that was a book I had been anticipating so much it could have never lived up to my expections.
I started and finished You Know Me Well and it was so good. I loved how it was written by Nina LaCour and David Levithan and they each wrote parts of it. It really gave Mark and Kate such distinctive voices because it was! Terrific book and perfect since I want to read more diverse books in 2017.
Friday Numbers
Pages read: 470
Audiobook time: 2 hours 23 minutes
Books finsished: 3
Saturday
I had such a great and relaxing day today. Although it did not snow it was icy so I just stayed in all day drinking tea, reading books, watching Sherlock, eating and listening to audiobooks and podcasts. It was glorious.
I started reading All the Rage this morning and this book really did enrage me. Don't get me wrong it was a great book but it was a very difficult subject matter dealing with a teenage rape victim. The way she is treated is sickening and even though I know it's a fiction book I also know this is how people treat victims all the time. The rape culture we have is truly terrible and I hope in my lifetime I can see that go away. I did enjoy using my new teapot although I did take this photo before I read the book and realized it was such a heavy topic.
I had to take a little break in reading books after I finished All the Rage since it was so upsetting but then I stated something a little lighter Yes Please by Amy Poehler. It's a really good and funny audiobook. I always enjoy when an author narrates their own book.
I also started The Sun Is Also a Star. I am about 100 pages in and absolutely loving it. I loved Nicola Yoon's first book and this one is so good so far.
I also finally started the fourth Game of Thrones book. I only read these books when it's cold so I figured today's would be a perfect day for that.
I can't believe tomorrow is the final day of Bout of Books! I have done a terrible job of interacting on social media and others blogs but I plan on doing that tomorrow. And doing lots of blog reading on Monday.
Saturday Numbers
Pages Read: 479
Audiobook Time: 50 minutes
Books finished: 1
Sunday
Well this was an even more leisurely day than yesterday. I spent more time watching TV than reading because I had a hard time concentrating on reading. I also didn't feel very good which meant that I was able to take a nap which I usually have a really hard time doing during the day.
I finished The Sun Is Also A Star. I really, really loved that book. I usually am not a fan of "instal-love" but this story went a little deeper than that and I liked the themes of immigration and race.
I am about half way through Yes Please and I highly recommend the audiobook version. Amy Poehler is so funny and I love listening to her read her book. She also brings in special guests like Seth Meyers and her mom. It is really funny.
A Feast for Crows is really good. I don't know why people were telling me that none of the main characters were in this book. I would have read it a long time ago if I knew that they were.
I also started an ebook The Last Anniversary which has been on my Kindle. It is really interesting and I can't wait to see what really happened. I have a mixed reaction to Liane Moriarty books. I either love them or hate them and I think this was one of her first books.
Sunday Numbers
Pages Read: 368
Audiobook Time: 3 hours 12 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Bout of Books Wrap Up
I had so much fun participating in this week of reading with the awesome book community. I am very happy with all the reading and relaxing I was able to get in. It was a great way to begin 2017! Thanks to Amanda, Kelly and all the other volunteers for making this such a great event!
Pages Read: 2,634
Audiobook Time: 16 hours
Books Finished: 10