Dewey's 24 hour readathon | Kick Off (8am Eastern)

This is scheduled to go up so I hope I'm actually awake - I'll be super annoyed if the one morning I want to be awake before 8, I'm not. That isn't the point of this post, the point of this post is oh my god the Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon is starting!!

If you're confused, or downright have no idea what I'm talking about - readathon blog, check it out. 24 hour read-a-thon, everyone starts at the same exactly time around the world (example: 8 eastern, 7 central, and so on), and you read for 24 hours. There's mini challenge type things, you can win prizes - but really my favorite part, and I feel comfortable saying I think most peoples favorite part... is the people.

Reading with hundreds of people and then talking to those hundreds of people on the internet. Cheering people on to read more or stay up, or promising people that if they don't have time it's okay. It's a read-a-thon, but life happens.

I have no idea how this is going to go for me this year - I'm not really in a reading mood, but I want to be? I haven't been reading, but there are so many things I want to be reading. Well, want to have read. So I have a feeling that the morning of (right now) I'll just post a picture of the books I pulled out before bed, probably a ridiculously huge stack, and I'll just start reading something.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to start the read-a-thon by finished Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson, but after that - who knows? I certainly don't!

For my updates - social media: Twitter, Instagram, goodreads - and I'll be posting four hour update posts here, separate posts. So one will go up at noon, then 4pm, then 8pm, and so on until it's over or I pass out. And then - probably after a few hours of sleep - I'll write and post a wrap up of everything I read, if I did any challenges, and I also tend to gush about how awesome everyone is.

If you're participating please, please comment down below with your blog or twitter or whatever so I can go check it out and cheer you on I've never signed up to be a cheerleader, but I do try to comment on peoples posts and chat with people. So let me know! And if you have any idea of what you're going to read, I'd love to hear!

Now - read! And have fun, no stress just books.

Edit: I'm going to add the Introductory Meme here just so my updates can mostly be just updates, we'll see how that works. This is basically just answering questions, so lets see how that goes:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Rhode Island, the tinniest tiny state. (It's still new to say that, I'm so use to saying MA)

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Oh god, I don't know. I didn't make a very big stack, just pretty much what I've been wanting to read and not getting to. I'm into Shadows of Self (which I'm loving) but also very excited to finally get to 4-6 of Locke and Key, after rereading the first 3 because I don't remember really anything. Also - the first Magnus Chase book. They're all pretty excitable really.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
You know, this year I didn't really go out and buy snacks, but I'll probably break out chocolate and cookies at some point, which I don't normally let myself do. Also probably a lot of tea, it looks to be a chilly day.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Well, I really love reading and I've been having a super hard time of doing that recently. Just haven't been able to focus because of so much stress, so I'm really glad that this read-a-thon comes around when it does.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I think this is my third or fourth, but I'm not sure anymore, and I think what I'm hoping to do differently then the last time is stay up later. I have before, but last time I passed out at like midnight. Unacceptable! 8 hours of lost reading time. Though, I don't I'll stay up that much later, but I can live with 2 or 4.

Tackle Your TBR | Updates (21st - 27th)

Week two of the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon! The first few days of this week is in the are of there still being time to sign up. And who doesn't love a good read-a-thon?

I posted my updates for last week here and have been mostly having fun with it, even though there is quite a bit of reading I'd like to be getting done, life has kind of taken over. I'm going to have to try and switch gears and put writing first, and maybe be able to sleep later, that would help.

Updates

Monday
Yeah, I haven't read a thing yet this week, I've been busy and it's been hectic. And I just plain can't focus on reading. I'm hoping to at some point tomorrow, but I've been so damn anxious lately (books help with that, but not if I'm too anxious. If I'm too anxious I can't just sit and read, need to be at like a yellow, at least).

But what are you reading / how are you liking this read-a-thon? Not particpating? How's your week going? And, seriously, tell me what you're reading, I'm curious!

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 53
Total # of pages: 1,308 
Time Spent Reading: 10 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 15 minutes
Books:
Captain America: White #1 by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale (started and finished - 53 pages)

Notes:
So my mom started moving and, obviously, helping with that. Also, really cannot seem to focus on books right now? Too stressed or too anxious, or all the things.

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 36
Total # of pages: 1,344 
Time Spent Reading: 30 mintutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Books:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (continued - 36 pages)

Notes:
They're only so many times I can read a few pages from The Things They Carried until I'm finished with it, right? It's so good, but I currently really cannot digest it in large bouts, just can't. Loving it, though. And look, I took half an hour to read yesterday! And I read something! (It's only been like a week since I had time to really read, probably less then, and I miss books)

Thursday & Friday
No reading done days, but have I mentioned the crocheting that has started? I'm still in the I suck at this phase, but it's very nice, kind of just mind/anxiety quieting. And it's always nice to make things. And warm things for coming winter months is fun.


Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 4
Pages read: 75
Total # of pages: 1,419 
Time Spent Reading: 1 hour
Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (finished - 75 pages)

Notes:
I crocheted two wristers/fingerless gloves and bought yarn to hopefully start blanket. And also finished a book! (And watched the livestream of the all pug production of Hamlet). So yesterday was pretty good and very full of things, I'm pretty pleased. Now to start the blanket and finish another book.

Sunday
Yeah so this week didn't go so well with reading, hope it went better for you - pretty sure it probably went better for everyone else since I finished one thing this week and it was pretty much just the last half of it (not counting the other one single issue I read). I did move a lot of things and organize and clean and crochet, though, so that's good.

Tackle Your TBR | Sign Up

This is an annual, I think, read-a-thon that's hosted by Wishful Endings. And it runs from September 14th, through September 27th. You don't have to be a blogger to participate, officially sign up (which you have to be for giveaways and such, need to have an official sign up something and wrap up). And I'm going to be participating because I need a kick to get back into reading, I was doing good at the end of the month but I've fallen off again.

My goal for this read-a-thon is mostly to complete the rest of the Bookish September challenges, some of the Book Bingo challenges, but also not to push myself to read anything I don't want to because I know how that ends (in me reading nothing). And there's a lot of books I'm hoping to get to this month (and Six of Crows comes out two days after this ends, so I will be able to just absorb that).

I'm not sure how updates are going to work for this, I haven't fully figured it out yet, but what I'm thinking (this may change) but is to do it Bout of Books style - one post, the updates by day put there. And I think, since this is two weeks, I'll split up the updates, weekly wrap ups, and then do a whole Tackle Your TBR wrap up post at the end. That sounds good, hopefully it works.

(I'll also be updating goodreads and posting on Twitter, Instagram).

Let me know if you'll be participating and where you'll be updating your progress! And happy reading.

Sign Up post

Bout of Book 14 | Update Post

And so it begins, my favorite read-a-thon, and I'm actually going to be following the template for the update post our lovely hosts offer for once. So good luck, everyone, I hope you get done what you want to and remember to have fun -

My Goals

• Read. More then I have been (this isn't going to be hard to accomplish considering the last few months)
• visit blogs - people I know, new ones. And comment
• Participate in both twitter chats (they're fun! Join in if you can)

Books to Read (this is going to be the stack I want to pick from, I in no way hope or think I can read them all):

• Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
• Glass Heart by Amy Garvey
• Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
• Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
• The Saint by Tiffany Reisz
• You're Never Weird On the Internet (almost) by Felicia Day
• March, Book Two by John Lewis
• Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kiernon Gillen, Jamie McKelvie
• Runaways: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa
• Black Widow: Vol 1 & Vol 2 by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto

Single issues:

• Planet Hulk #4
• Mythic #2

edit: removed Werecat from the list. I'll get to it eventually but I'm not quite in the mood for it (I read a few pages, it looks like the epitome of trashy werewolf smut. Which is not a bad thing, like seriously not, but I'm not really in the mood for that).

Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 5 (+ 2 single issues)
Pages read: 1,448
Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
Planet Hulk #4 by Sam Humphries, Marc Laming (started and finished - 23 pages)
Cold Kiss (Cold Kiss #1) by Amy Garvey (finished - 192 pages)
You're Never Weird on the Internet (almost) by Felicia Day (started and finished - 261)
Mythic #2 by Phil Hester, John McCrea (started and finished - 25 pages)
March: Book Two by John Lewis (started and finished - 189 pages)
Runaways: The Complete Collection, Volume by Brian K. Vaughn, Adrian Alphana, Takeshi Miyazawa (started and finished - 448 pages)
Glass Heart (Cold Kiss #2) by Amy Garvey (started and finished - 310)

Notes:
So obviously I had a good first day, whew. Normally I feel exhausted after a reading day like that but it's been so freaking long, I just feel so good about it? It's honestly been a really long time and it was getting to the point where it was like - did my brain just break? Hello, brain? R-E-A-D-I-N-G. So now I feel a little better.

Also, something else that's more just honestly surprising, is that I'm so far sticking to my TBR? I mean it was like less then twenty four hours since I put it together, but I don't know if I've ever held out this long. Maybe I'll continue to - I'm learning that just moving onto the next thing and reading without giving myself time to panic about it is working out good so far.

edit: I was keeping track of it but I wasn't sure I was going to add it but I decided to. Whenever I'm reading a lot I always get those - how do you read so much? - questions that are mostly rhetorical. And there is your answer, friends, it's because I do very little else on days like this one was.

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 3
Total # of books I've read: 8
Pages read: 669
Total # of pages: 2,117
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours
Total Time Spent Reading: 13 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
Black Widow, Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto (started and finished - 144 pages)
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (started and finished - 365)
Black Widow, Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto (started and finished - 160 pages)

Notes:
I wanted to read a little more today but I just didn't have the mental energy and I'm suffering from a tad bit of eye strain. And I know, I know I read a lot, a shit ton, but we're always hardest on ourselves, right? (No, seriously, I am very hard on myself, especially writing goal related, let's not talk about that at all right now).

So I read both volumes of the newest Black Widow run (I don't know if there's a secret wars thing but she's probably somewhere, if not), and I'm loving it. First off - the art is gorgeous, completely stunning. And I'm also loving Natasha. I forget how much I like her character and then we get good characterization and a sharp focus on her and it's like - oh yeah, she's awesome, kickass, and secretly a sweetheart. good.

And then Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - some of the stories, surprisingly, I was eh about, but this was all very early work. There's quite a few I love though - specifically, to give you nightmares in 100 words: Nicholas Was... and also Babycakes is like two pages and will make you think, and horrify you.

Also I'm still sticking to my TBR and I'm so proud of myself (like stupidly proud of myself) and think I might end up adding a book or two, depending on how long the 400+ books take to read considering.

What did you read today? Tell me!

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 9
Pages read: 152
Total # of pages: 2,269
Time spent reading: 45
Total time spent reading: 14 hours, 30 minutes
Books:
Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kiernon Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (started and finished - 152 pages)

Notes:
So, obviously, today did not go as well as the previous two days did. I don't know what was going on but I was so tired that most of the time i want to read I started to fall asleep - which doesn't happen to me, I've only experienced it a handful of times and it was weird. Makes reading very difficult, but I finished something from my TBR. (feel free to skip the middle paragraph as it's just me talking through the insane things that go on in my brain).

And then it was a strangely up and down kind of day - last night before I went to sleep I was thinking well maybe I could get to 4,000 pages this week. I've done it twice, I think, once almost to 4,500. And then this morning I was kind of like nah, I'll just try and keep going with this TBR thing I have going. And then I started thinking about the other books I could be reading (98% of the books in my apartment right now are unread because my read books are buried in my mom's house to be put in storage or brought here, I don't know yet), so I'm surrounded by unread books.

So that's the up and down things that's been happening and I was in pain and just tired, weirdly tired. Anyway - what did you get up to today? What did you read? Let me know in the comments!

Thursday
Didn't read a page - I don't know what happened but I woke up feeling downright awful and then stuff happened and everything was insane and I didn't read a damn thing, sadly.

Friday
Also didn't read anything - wasn't feeling so good, again, and had a flight with a strange flying insect.

Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total # of books I've read: 11
Pages read: 746
Total # of pages: 3,015
Books:
The Saint (The White Years #1) by Tiffany Reisz (started and finished - 442 pages)
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (started and finished 304 pages)

Notes:
Wasn't feeling completely better today but better then expected. And twitter chats always push me into wanting to read.

I can't believe I'm still sticking to my TBR, I don't think I've ever made it even two days sticking to a TBR, but it's kind of nice. And considering that I'm a person that likes lists and checking things off of them it makes sense. I just really didn't expect to get this far with this one at all, though, I expected to only get two book books read this week, that's what I was hoping for considering my reading the last couple months, so I feel so freaking good about this week.

Sunday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 12
Pages read: 436
Total # of pages: 3, 451
Books:
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (started and finished -  436 pages)

Notes:
I'm not all together sure how I felt about the book, but I think I liked it? I've got a lot of thoughts bouncing around about completely TBRs and stuff that I'm going to put in my full wrap up tomorrow, because even though I didn't do seperate daily update posts, I feel like I need to do a separate full wrap up of the week.

Let me know how your reading is going!

Bout of Books 14 | Goal & TBR

Bout of Books is tomorrow and I'm just realizing how much it's sneaking up on me (it's tomorrow, tomorrow. What's happening? I have no idea anymore). Anyway - I've been in a serious reading... slump? I guess it's a slump. I've still been reading, technically, but not as much as I'd like to be. So I've been trying to participate in whatever read-a-thon I can to try and get my head back in the reading (and blogging) zone.

So my goals for this week are pretty simple.

• Read as much as I can - don't push myself too hard, not this time around, but also I respond well to goals/pushing. (average of 200 pages a day minimum)
• Finish some book books, not just trades/graphic novels
• Visit blogs! Comment! (I've been so out of just everything that I haven't gone and visited peoples blogs since before I moved, let alone commented and interacted and I miss it so much, I want to see what everyones up to, what they're reading) (not giving myself a goal, just going to push myself)
• Go to both twitter chats! I love the twitter chats, they're fantastic, and normally make me want to read, so hopefully it'll all go well.

I think the biggest thing that'll be making me read the next week instead of anything else is that I somehow hurt my wrist yesterday or the day before, and it randomly just starts to hurt too hard to type/write/really anything. But I can read. 

For my TBR, obvious this is very loose and more like just my pile of things to pick from. Only one of them is something I've started (which I was hoping to finish before the read-a-thon but a family friend had a cook out yesterday and I actually got to sleep in because workmen don't work on Sunday (there's construction still happening in my building. yay)).

So the books first:

• Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey (currently-reading)
• Glass Heart by Amy Garvey (sequel obviously, would be cool to also get done and have finished another series this year)
• Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (short story collection, want to read and then move onto Trigger Warnings. I've been missing Gaiman).
• Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (new release and looks super interesting, and the cover is gorgeous, and is also pretty short & YA)
• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (put this on my BookTubeAThon TBR and didn't get to it, but maybe I can this week? It's long but it's King)
• Werecat: The Trilogy by Andrew J Peters (I bought this at a con, and it's a whole trilogy in like 250 pages, perfect for a readathon)
• The Saint by Tiffany Reisz (I've been wanting to continue on with this series since I finished the last one, I love these characters)

And then the graphic novels/trades and such. First off, I'm going to be reading single issues throughout the week but I'm not going to count them as a full thing unless I read like 1-5 and then I'll just count it as their trade counterpart. (Does that make sense to everyone? Won't count as one thing completed, but will count the pages and list 'em)

• March, Book Two by John Lewis (read book one in July and really want to get to this)
• Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kiernon Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (currently coming out are the single issues to part three, though they're all self contained stories. I still can't start at three, and I love these two).
• Runaways: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa (I've always wanted to read this and I'm glad they released it in the longer trades. it looks so good, though)
• Black Widow: Vol 1 & Vol 2 by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto (I've been dying to read these, dying, and it's complete now, vol 3 all out in single issues but not collected yet).

And for single issues? No idea, I have so many to read - probably some Secret Wars stuff and then just whatever came out the last two weeks since I should get my pull list in on Friday. 

Those are all things that I want to read soon, I hope to get through a good chunk of both lists but we'll see how it goes, I guess. 

Normally I do a separate post for everyday, it feels less cluttered to me but then I feel very guilty if I haven't read anything, so this read-a-thon we're going to go as low stress as possible and just do all the updates in one post (and then have a post next Monday, after the read-a-thon, that'll have everything I read and page count and just my general thoughts about the week).

If you're participating in Bout of Books this coming week let me know so I can check out your blog, and best of luck. 

BoutofBooks 14 | Sign Up

I am really back, I promise, it's just still hectic as hell around here. I will definitely be here for daily updates/such for BoutofBooks 14! I couldn't miss a Bout of Books no matter what, my favorite read-a-thon. This time around it starts on the 17th and goes through the 23r, and this is mostly just my sign up post, hopefully I'll be putting up a possible TBR post this weekend.

So I'll be doing daily updates of what I read, which will hopefully be more then I have been reading, and let me know if you're participating as well!

Official BoutofBooks blurb:

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

Sign Up Post 

BookTubeAThon 2015 | TBR

BookTubeAThon is upon us and I put up a video TBR that's a little vague and subject to some change, but I like trying to set TBRs for read-a-thons with challenges, one part of the fun. It's been a while since I've read-a-thon'd and I'm excited to try and read something, anything, really. I haven't been reading that much with moving, but I'm definitely in the mood to right now.

Anyone over here in the blogging community taking part? I took part last year without vlogging but now I am, and I'm excited about it.

As this goes up, the BookTubeAThon is officially starting, so I hope it goes well. And, even if you're not participating, I hope you have a good week in general and a good reading week.

Bout of Books 13 | May 11th - 17th (& goals)

This should of gone up last week but it didn't. So - Bout of Book 13 is happening starting the 11th of May, midnight in your time zone, to the 17th of May, also midnight in your time zone. And I am very excited, BoB is pretty much my favorite read-a-thon - week long, twitter chats, so much fun.

The official blurb:
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 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th 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 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 
- From the Bout of Books team

So I hope you're all planning on joining! A week of reading, even if you can't just sit and read for seven days, I hope you can try and read more the usual, participate in some of the twitter chats (one of my favorite parts about this read-a-thon).

I'm not sure about my personal reading plan, but I did just get Marvel Unlimited so there will definitely be some Marvel Comics - mostly I'll just count them in their trades (about five issues, normally), as long as I can, makes everything easier. I've also got some single issues to read, though. And then the actual books, I'm not sure on anything this time around, obviously this read-a-thon snuck up on me so we're winging it.

My main goals are to take part in all three twitter chats, read, have fun, visit blogs (and leave comments, comments, I'm getting better at this again but whew that hiatus / the not really blogging this has brought me back to being pretty bad at it. I'm trying). So do you have any specific goals? Are you taking part? Let me know so I can keep up with you during the week!

I'll be posting updates here daily, and a day behind - Monday's update goes up on Tuesday and so on, how it normally goes. However, I'll also be on twitter, goodreads, and instagram.

Bout of Books blog
BoB sign up post

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon | April 25th, 2015

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon is a read-a-thon that happens twice a year - April and October - and obviously the title explains that this years 24 hours in April starts on the 25th. These start at a certain time, not midnight in your timezone. Since it's such a condensed period of time, it's more fun if everyone has the same start and end times.

For me, personally, it's starting at 8am! (8am eastern. But there's a list if you want to know your own time). This is always such a fun event. Surprisingly, I normally tend to get a lot of reading done, but I also want to try and comment more this year, though it's still all going to count on mood. For instance - if I'm in a reading mood, I'm going to read because that's rare at the moment.

Anyway - if you're joining in, definitely let me know in the comments so I can pop by to see how you're doing. Or @ me on twitter, friend me on goodreads. It's suppose to be a fun, hectic twenty four hours, I suggest getting in on the fun! Even if, or especially, if you can't read for the full 24 hours.

And off topic to this readathon - I'm very sorry there's been nothing going on here. I promise I haven't forgotten about you, it's just been a rough few months and I'm trying, I just can't seem to concentrate a lot.

April 2015 Reader Sign Ups
Twitter

Love for Books Read-A-Thon | Reading Updates

The Love for Books read-a-thon is, obviously, happening over this week. And for this read-a-thon I'm going to do just one post for daily updates which I'll hopefully be able to update at night before going to sleep, but we'll see.

Love for Books read-a-thon is being run by Novel Heartbeat (the sign up post).

Monday, February 9th:
Books Finished: 0

Pages Read: 129

Books(read today):
East of West #17 (started and finished - 31 pages)
The Angel by Tiffany Reisz (started - 70 pages)
Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer (continued - 28 pages)

Obviously I was reading the Southern Reach Trilogy before. I'd finished the first book before this week and just started on the second one today, but I'm counting this whole thing as just one book. This might of been my worst day in a read a thon ever, or at least in a long time.


Tuesday, February 10th:
Books Finished: 1

Total Books Finished: 1

Pages Read: 346

Total Pages Read: 475

Books(read today):
The Angel by Tiffany Reisz (finished - 346 pages)

Wednesday, February 11th:
Books Finished: 0

Total Books Finished: 1

Pages Read: 300

Total Pages Read: 775

Books(read today):
The Prince by Tiffany Reisz (started - 300 pages)

I'm guessing a bit, because for some reason this one didn't have page numbers on the kindle, but the time remaining to end of books seems to normally be pretty good and i know my reading pace by now so I feel pretty comfortable saying that. Obviously I'm enjoying this series, but hopefully I can find my reading game again. I'm really starting to miss just reading, reading, reading.

Thursday, February 12th:
Books Finished: 2

Total Books Finished: 3

Pages Read: 580

Total Pages Read: 1,355

Books(read today):
The Prince by Tiffany Reisz (finished - 116 pages)
The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz (started and finished - 464 pages)

Friday, February 13th:
Sleeping didn't go well, so I didn't actually get any reading done, sadly. I was way too exhausted and still not really out of the slump, just needed a break in all. The weekend I will try and read more! I want to try and get through some of the Southern Reaches trilogy, but I'm mostly listening to it on audio.

Weekend
I read nothing over the weekend. This was not a good read-a-thon for me, not a good week in all honesty. And I'm kind of sad it happened like this. But I think I might just need a break from everything.

It's been a long few weeks.


My sign up post
My kick off post

Love for Books Read-a-Thon | Kick-off

Today is the first day of the Love for Books read-a-thon, hosted by Novel Heartbeat. And runs from February 9th through the 15th. If you're interested, you can still sign up here (by the tenth to be eligible for the grand prize).

I don't have any real goals for this read-a-thon, since I've been in a kind of reading... slump? I don't really want to call it a slump, but I definitely having been reading a lot, at all, definitely not as much as I'd like to. And my TBR for February is ridiculous so I really need to get on it (I've already strayed off course).

However - I would like to finish at least something every day (novel, novella, short story, single issue comic - just something). And I have quite a few things I'm excited about reading or that I'd like to read this week. I'm going to give some examples, but it's definitely subject to change (could change 100%, it's never sure with me, honestly).

First, currently reading - I'd like to finish The Southern Reaches trilogy, which I've finished the first book of. And I'd also like to make some progress in Spook and A Tale of Two Cities, but those two I'm not going to try to finish since they're slower reads.

Other possibilites of things I might pick up:

• Smoke and Mirrors OR Trigger Warnings by Neil Gaiman
• Shadow's Edge and Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks (chunky, chunky fantasy, but I read book one during BoB 12 and these are two and three and I want to know what happens).
• Kushiel's Dark (Phedre's Trilogy #1) by Jacqueline Carey (a reread, maybe a reread will help?)
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (maybe I am ready. I finally might be ready. I've read the first two books twice so far, maybe I should move on)
• Showa, A History of Japan: 1939-1944 by Shigeru Mizuki 
• The Angel (Red Years Quartet #2) by Tiffany Reisz
• others, more. So many books are stacked around me waiting to be read. Way too many.

Looking at the list, I don't really have any light reads - in size or in content, maybe I should find something to slip in there to kind of brighten the mood. Any suggestions?

Bout of Books 12 | Day Seven Wrap-up and The End

I had so much fun this time around. Bout of Books is always a ton of fun, the twitter chats especially, but this time around there was a lot more making funs (and swapping of spreadsheets, because: #booknerdWIN. Guys. Seriously). Anyway, besides inside twitter jokes, I just had a lot of fun.

I didn't get as much reading done as I have previously or would of liked, but I've been expecting to slow down a bit after everything. And I'd like to read more book books this year and less comics/trades/graphic novels - you know. So I think I'm okay slowing a bit, though I'm still going to try and get through my backlog/keep up with favorite series.

I'm really, really trying to get through my physical TBR of way too many books. So I'm honestly trying to work on not buying books, but it's hard. So very hard. (Hello, my name is Casey. I haven't bought a book since December 31st - book buyers anonymous, anyone?)

Anyway - this isn't about the books I can't buy. It's about books I've already read. So shall we?

I didn't, actually, end up reading anything on the last day. I felt so hungover from the awesomeness that was The Way of Shadows, and I just wasn't feeling like reading. And I've learned, if I'm not feeling like reading, then not to push it, because it won't end well for anyone.

Total Number of Books Completed: 8

Total Number of Pages Read: 2, 310

Everything Read (Books/Comics/Unfinished):
Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff (3/5)
The Truth is the Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (4/5)
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (3/5)
Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 1 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (4/5)
Ouran High School Host Clob, Volume 2 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
Wayward #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 by Jim Zub (5/5)
Baltimore: The Wolf and The Apostle #1, #2 by Mike Mignola (3/5)
The Wicked and the Divine #6 by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
East of West #16 by Jonathan Hickman (5/5)
Lock In by John Scalzi (5/5)
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks (5/5)

Notes/Thoughts:
I wasn't, honestly, completely happy with everything I read this week. And not content matter, although there were some things that I ended up not enjoying as much as I expected. I just didn't read as much as I'd hoped, I wasn't in a reading mood for a lot of the week.

On the other hand, I did get some reading done and I read some really good thinks (The Way of Shadows, probably being the best). And I had a ton of fun on twitter, during the chats and in the normally hour or so after them.

I hope you all had a great week and a great reading week, whether you took part or not. What are you currently reading?

(And - Bout of Books 13 in May! See you there?)

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post
Day One Wrap-Up
Day Two Wrap-Up
Day Three Wrap-Up
Day Four Wrap-Up
Day Five Wrap-Up
Day Six Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 | Day Six Wrap-Up

Day six! And I felt much better about today as my eyes definitely were feeling better and I was feeling more in the reading mood, which meant I got more reading done, of course.

Even though there was another chat this morning. Which was fun, as always. And, sadly, the last chat until the May read-a-thon. Now - onto the day in books and numbers.

Number of Books Completed Today: 2

Total Number of Books Completed: 8

Books:
Lock In by John Scalzi (finished - 160 pages)
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks (finished - 457 pages)

Number of Pages Read: 617

Total Number of Pages Read: 2,310

Notes/Thoughts:
I finished two 5 star books today! I have come to know I'm going to love Scalzi's work, even if I'm unsure at the very beginning - he'd normally captured me by the halfway point.

I'd never read anything by Brent Weeks before, though, and was a little unsure. His ratings on Goodreads are so impossibly high, I just wasn't sure what to expect. And holy shit I was not let down in anyway - fantastic read.

How did your Saturday go? And plans for the last day of the read-a-thon?

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post
Day One Wrap-Up
Day Two Wrap-Up
Day Three Wrap-Up
Day Four Wrap-Up
Day Five Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 | Day Five Wrap-Up

Another day, more reading. Once again, I didn't read as much as I'd like. Life happens, I guess. But I'd officially like for my eye strain to go away because ow. Also for all life problems to go away, as well, that'd be great.

Number of Books Completed Today: 0

Total Number of Books Completed: 6

Books:
Lock In by John Scalzi (continued - 128 pages)

Comics:
Baltimore: The Wolf and The Apostle #1, #2 by Mike Mignola (s&f - 60 pages)
The Wicked and the Divine #6 by Kieron Gillen (s&f - 32 pages)
East of West #16 by Jonathan Hickman (s&f - 31 pages)
Wayward #5 by Jim Zub (s&f - 30 pages)

Number of Pages Read: 281

Total Number of Pages Read: 1,693

Notes/Thoughts:
Baltimore was... interesting? Strange, but interesting(also wasn't on GR, so I guestimated page count). However - all the rest of the single issues I read, I'd been waiting on and ugh, they were all so good. So freaking good. East of West is that, like, western futuristic setting? With the four horsemen of the apocalypse and it's fucking awesome (excuse the language, but I love this series). And you've probably heard of The Wicked and The Divine.

However - I haven't heard anyone talk about Wayward. Which takes place in modern Tokyo, where all the japanese mythological creatures seem to be... waking up? Coming out more to play? And this is one series I'd suggest getting the single issues, instead of the trade, and that's because the trade isn't going to include the essays that in the back of each issue about the mythological creatures and one about modern Japan school kids. It's all pretty awesome, the colors and everything are gorgeous, and I'll be impatiently waiting for it to start back up again now.

And I'm really enjoying Lock In, digging deeper into it and it's good. Of course, it's Scalzi.

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post
Day One Wrap-Up
Day Two Wrap-Up
Day Three Wrap-Up
Day Four Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 | Day Four Wrap-Up

Reading, and really doing anything, with eyestrain - is difficult. And it always surprises me with just how difficult. I should probably stop scrolling through my phone in the dark when I can't sleep. So I probably read the least I have all week, but I'm still really happy with what I read. I made progress in The Way of Shadows, and I'm really enjoying that book so far and I"m glad I picked it up.

Number of Books Completed Today: 0

Total Number of Books Completed: 6

Books:
Wayward #1, #2, #3, & #4 by Jim Zub and more  (started and completed all - about 100 pages)
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (continued - 146)
Lock In by John Scalzi (started - 50 pages)

Number of Pages Read: 296

Total Number of Pages Read: 1,412

Notes/Thoughts:
I estimated for the comics, going by goodreads (which had page counts for 2/4), and I estimated low. I'm really liking that series so far, it's really good and very interesting. I'd suggest getting the single issues for the japan mythology essays in the back.

I'm really loving The Way of Shadows so far, it's just so good. And I'm not sure why? I was a little wary starting it, because I had kind of high hopes for it (because of the GR ratings), but I have not been disappointed so far, about 30% into it.

Hopefully, I can get a bit more read tomorrow! Also, I'm going between listening to Lock In and reading (Wil Wheaton narration. I love Amber Benson, but I love Wil's narration), because of eyes.

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post
Day One Wrap-Up
Day Two Wrap-Up
Day Three Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 | Day Three Wrap-Up

Day three didn't start out too well - I'd been doing good with controlling my insomnia, but last night was not good for sleeping. And then, as soon as I was getting to sleep, I'm pretty sure there was a pterodactyl outside (or a trash truck, you know, whatever).

And then I woke up with a sore throat and had an almost headache lingering all day. Overall - not the best feeling of days. I did get some reading done, though.

Number of Books Completed Today: 1

Total Number of Books Completed: 6

Books:
Dark Wolf Rising by Rhyannon Byrd (started - 121 pages)
Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 2 by Bisco Hatori (started and finished - 192 pages)
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks (started - 42 pages)

Number of Pages Read: 355

Total Number of Pages Read: 1,116

Notes/Thoughts:
I started reading Dark Wolf Rising at four in the morning, about, and am not sure if I'll end up continuing it this read-a-thon, or at all. Ouran, ah Ouran, how I love thee and your ridiculous plots and characters so very much.

I'm barely into The Way of Shadows, but I'm really liking it so far. It might of been the smartest move to start a longer book during this read-a-thon, but I've been wanting to read this series (and his other one) for a long time now. And I'd been reading a lot of short books. Sometimes I just crave long fantasy books.

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post
Day One Wrap-Up
Day Two Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 12 | Day One Wrap-Up

I was going to say that day one didn't get off on the right foot that I wanted, but I never get as much read as I want on days where there's chats (and livestreams of one of my favorite podcasts being broadcast). And I did read three books, just all of them were very short reads. And I'd like to, at least, read something tomorrow that is more then two hundred pages, if not more.

I also didn't get to start any of the Ouran volumes. I want back and forth on if I wanted to read them for this read-a-thon, but I think I'm going to take it slower then just reading them all in three sittings (all eighteen volumes). I'd rather take it slow, because there's nothing else after this and that's kind of sad.

Number of Books Read: 3

Books:
Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff (started and finished - 169 pages)
The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (s&f - 74 pages)
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (s&f - 91)

Number of Pages Read: 334

Notes/Thoughts:
I read the first two and half of these at about 4-6 am when insomnia was keeping me awake against my will. Which is so common, I barely even think it strange anymore. I'll be talking more about each specific books in my weekly wrap up on Monday, but after those first three I just didn't feel in the mood to read for some reason.

I think because, while none of them were bad, none of them were really, really good, either. Or even really good, which was kind of what I was hoping for. So, instead of pushing it - I took part in the chat on Twitter (one of my favorite parts of this read-a-thon), and then caught up on some YT videos, and eventually remembered to eat something (this is too common, maybe I should make a schedule, schedule thing).

Challenges:
I did the #BoBScavengerHunt and posted it over on my instagram. I love the scavenger hunt things, when I remember to do them (most of the times, I forget. I don't know how I do, I just do).

And I am partially ashamed about how long it took me to realize Cassandra Clare has the same initials as me - she's pretty well known author, I read a bunch of her books in 2014, and I have almost accidentally emailed her a billion zillion times because of the fact our names are so similar.

Bout of Books blog
Kick-Off Post
Announcement Post

Bout of Books 12 | Kick-off (Starts today)

It's the first official day of the Bout of Books 12 read-a-thon. My announcement book went up on December 22nd (link), and if you're confused as what the hell I"m talking about - the Bout of Books blog should answer all of your questions. Basically - it's a week long read-a-thon that, this time, is taking place between January fifth (today) and through January 11th.

This is my favorite read-a-thon of the year, and it happens multiple times a year. This time around, they aren't doing a specific goal post to link up to, but you can set your own goals. From what was said, it seems like they want to promote people from stop saying they're failing the read-a-thon, which I think is good. It's fun, even if you can't read a ton, just read or just interact with people on twitter/their blog. Flailing, not failing! You should join if it sound interesting, though I'm sure most of you know what BoB is, if you've ever read my blog before.

Onto my own goals, because I do have some. They aren't very big or specific, but I like this Bout of Books specifically, also, because it's at the beginning of the year and gives me the chance to jumpstart my reading for the year.

• Read. As much as I can. I'd like to finish a book a day, but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself because I have no idea what's going to be happening this week, but I love trying to do the equivalent of one book a day (at least).
• Have fun. This is very important for this read-a-thon and, if I'm not putting pressure on myself, very easy to achieve. 
• Visit blogs, leave comments, and take part in the twitter chats. I always end up getting so distracted by the reading, which definitely isn't a bad thing, but I'd also really love to make it a point to comment on a few (at least) blogs a day. I always remember to visit some, but commenting I tend to not be able to do at the time and then forget to go back (or just second guess myself). So I want to make that a point. And, if you haven't heard of the twitter chats, you should join one - they're a ton of fun and you'll walk away with new blogs to follow and probably a lot of book recommendations and a smile.

I think that's it, I'm never very specific on my goals for Bout of Books - just read, read, read, and then some others. Normally, I'd add a TBR that was about 80% guess and normally 95% wrong, so I'm not going to bother this time around. I'll be posting daily updates here, though, like normal. (today is day one, that wrap up with go up tomorrow. And then day twos wrap up will go up on day three. And so on).

However, if you do not want to wait that long, or are just curious as to what I picked up first: twitter, instagram, Goodreads. If you're participating, let me know in the comments (with a link to your blog/whatever you're updating on). 

And I wish you good books and flailing.

Bout of Books 12 (January 5th - 11th)

Ah, another Bout of Books read-a-thon is on the horizon, definitely my favorite read-a-thon. This is my official "I'm participating in this" post, but I'm writing it so early, I don't feel comfortable even trying to guess what I'll be reading, so I'll probably post a TBR closer, maybe just on the kick-off post.

If you're participating, let me know!

The official blurb(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 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