Day One: BookTube--A--Thon

Day one of this BookTube Read-A-Thon, that I feel like I am kind of cheating on or something as I'm not making videos, but - still, read-a-thon, it's fun. Anyway, my 'announcement' post can be found here, detailing the books I might read and such. And onto the day one stats and thoughts!


Number of books I've finished today: 3

Books:
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (started and finished - 256 pages)
Snow White by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Camille Rose Garcia (started and finished - 80 pages)
Throttle by Joe Hill and Stephen King (started and finished - 47 pages)
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (started - read to page 206)
Judgement in Death by J.D. Robb (started - read to page 52)

Number of pages read today: 641 pages

Notes:
I ended up getting way more read then I thought with a doctors appointment, writing, and the new Teen Wolf. But I did go to the doctors appointment, write my 2k, and watch/cry over TW and read over 600 pages so, overall, good day!

I don't know how the rest of the week will go, but since I've been in a reading slump since the beginning of the month, this was fantastic. (Also, Ocean at the End of the Lane - so good, go and read it).

Read-A-Thon? Read-A-Thon (BookTube style)

So I don't technically make videos (I did, no you can't find them anywhere. Though you may always run across me in friends vlogs). I really would love to be like 'but now is the right time to start again!' BUT considering the fact I'm about 85% sure that I currently have strep throat (which is what LeakyFlu evolved into for me, I've been feeling pretty sick since I got home, the flight was not fun all congested) I'm thinking video making with that would be not fun. If I'm feeling better at the end of the week, I might do my wrap-up in a video or something, but if not - right here.

I'm kind of a sucker for read-a-thons, honestly, I don't know why but they're just kind of fun and interacting with everyone about what they're reading. It's awesome. Anyway, this read-a-thon has certain challenges set forth for one to try and complete and they are:

• read an average of 300 pages a day
• read a book with over 500 pages
• re-read one book
• finish a series/trilogy
• read a book that's been on your shelf forever
• listen to an audiobook
• read a classic

And a tad bonus one about seeing how many you could make into one. So, I have really no clue what I'm going to be reading (kind of forgot about this until a couple days ago and I had an 'oh crap!' moment).

Possible books (and what, if any, challenges they would fulfill):

• Kushiel's Dart by Jacquiline Carey (Over 500 pages, so far, and a reread - maybe on this one)
• The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan (finish a series one, been meaning to read this since it came out, have had it sense then).
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (I really need to get back into this series, I'm almost halfway there, pretty much. This fullfills the 'been on my shelf forever and ever' because I got copies of the Chronicles of Narnia in probably middle school and have yet to finish the series. Just recently started it).
• The Drawing of Three by Stephen King (currently-reading)
• Death's Daughter by Amber Benson (currently-reading)
• A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (currently-reading)

I'd really like to finish a book a day and complete that 300 pages a day thing, too, that would be super cool. However, I am also doing Camp NaNoWriMo, website here, and my goal is 150k (because I'm insane) but I'm at about 2k a day to finish on time and I think I can do that. Basically, this is the week I go insane. 

I don't know if I'll do an audiobook, I have a couple that are pretty short and I'm sure I could get them listened to over the course of the week. I guess I'll update everyday, the post will be the day after. So no post Monday, but the post on Tuesday will be Monday's stats. (As it was for my last read-a-thon). I did read 4k pages in the Bout of Books read-a-thon, so hopefully I can do this 300 pages a day. We shall see, I've been in a bit of a reading slump so this will either be the kick I need or I will just hopelessly stare at books.

Also, if you are participating leave your YouTube/blog/twitter/whatever you prefer in the comments so I can see your progress. Good luck, everyone, and have fun (and read)!

June Wrap-Up / July TBR

Sorry for this being so late. I had a convention at the end of the month and then I got sick, as you do when flying and are at conventions. And I'm still kind of sick, but at least you can't catch anything through the internet.

Books Finished:

• Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
• Amulet, Vol. 3: The Cloud Chasers by Kazu Kibuishi (5/5)
• Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
• Power Play (Kingdom Keepers #4) by Ridley Pearson (5/5)
• Amulet, Vol 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi (5/5)
• Amulet, Vol 5: The Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi (5/5)
• Shell Game (Kingdom Keepers #5) by Ridley Pearson (5/5)
• A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin (5/5)
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
• Dark Passage (Kingdom Keepers #6) by Ridley Pearson (5/5)

So I got a good amount of books read this month, kind of proud of myself. Especially getting A Clash of Kings read, whew is that book long. I'm currently just about halfway through A Storm of Swords, book three, but this one is even longer. They're really good, but not just long, they're all very heavy and hard to read in large doses.

July TBR:

I have no idea what I want to read yet this month. I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, check it out here, and whenever I sign up, I just can't seem to not do it. Also, I've done every single one (last time I may have forgotten to actualy validate my words, but I promise that was a real word count). Anyway, back to the books, I want to participate in the Booktube read-a-thon, even though I don't make videos (but I want to! And people, as in friends, keeps telling me so, so I'll just have to start soon).

I mean, there are some I've started that I know I want/would like to finish. For example:

• Death's Daughter by Amber Benson (saw and met her at LeakyCon, she is fantastic!)
• The Drawing of Three (The Dark Tower #2) by Stephen King
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (haven't started, but got it the day it came out and still haven't read it!)

I'd also really like to finish A Storm of Swords, but I just don't know how realistic that is, book is long. What are you guys planning to read in July? And what did you read in June? (Any recommendations?  Not like I'm surrounded by books I should be reading, or anything).

The BEA (Book Expo America) Post

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do for this post. I could list the books I got (all of them or just a few) but I thought that just talking about the experience would be better. (I will list my favorite I got at the bottom / the ones I'm most looking forward to reading).

I went to the Blogger convention the day before BEA started. It was different then last year, I had done this before, and I had an idea of what I was doing - kind of - so I felt better sitting and listening to the keynote speakers.

The Keynote speaker was author Will Schwalbe, who wrote a book called The End of Your Life Book Club, and I loved his talk. One of his main points was how we should all ask each other 'what are you reading?' more, and it would randomly pop into my head over the weekend. It's a good question to ask at BEA if you're in a line and bored and exhausted, people at a convention about books normally have an answer.

However, if you went out, just on the street, and asked someone - they might not. They'd be surprised, might say they're not reading anything, that they're inbetween books, which is just kind of... sad. I hope you know what I mean about that, meaning there's a book for everyone and they could be missing out on the one that would convince them to change their whole life and move to Australia. Anyway, let's not get too philosophical here, aren't you here to hear about books and shenanigans?

I met up with my friend on the first day in line, Jennifer Levine, who you should follow on twitter here (she has Glass, it was kind of awesome, and she's documenting conventions with it so you should probably check her out). And we ended up hanging out pretty much the whole convention and tag teaming lines and stuff, it was a blast. I got to see some other friends, who are authors, and I hadn't seen in far, far too long.

I think one of the best things ever, was meeting Daniel Handler (aka: Lemony Snicket), he is hilarious and amazing and will just joke with you until you have to walk away because the line needs to keep moving. He was fantastic and I'd love to be his best friends (also his pink tie rocked, I wish I'd remembered to compliment him on it). Also, there was a younger girl in front of us, probably about ten, and she was fangirling kind of quietly and in awe. It was adorable.

Another 'best thing ever' that we did, was get first in line for one of those author friends signings. Robyn Schneider was signing for a short time and we wanted to see her (and get arcs of the book I feel like I've been hearing about for years). And she was overwhelmed by the line, it was incredibly long. And, apparently, a fairy played her out on a flute? I missed this, as I didn't stay for the whole thing, she told us after, when we ran into her at the HarperCollins booth, apparently the fairy was signing after her.

I didn't take really any pictures, honestly. I should have, probably, but I just didn't. I couldn't find my main camera when we were packing and I ended up with just a Flip camera, my other one with no memory card. I have pictures from the week, but not many.

I talked to a girl in line, waiting for Harry Potter lithographs, and she was a nerdfighter (I'm assuming, she was also fangirling David Levithan), and she was amazed I didn't vlog. And her and Jenn kind of convinced me so - soon, that will be happening soon. As soon as all the books that are just piled on the floor get in the new bookcase that isn't set up yet.

Now, onto the books. Before that, though. Did any of you guys go to BEA? Could we have met? (I didn't write a 'hey, I'm going to this thing post' because I bought my ticket two weeks before it happened because my mom thought we should go. So there's that).
If you did: what books did you get? did you have a blast?
If you didn't: did you watch some of the livestreams? Were they awesome, too? And did you just avoid twitter all week to not become jealous? (That's what I do during cons I'm not at, so I'm curious if any of you do, too). Now - books.

Books I got and am most looking forward to:
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (I already finished this on the drive home, shh. It was amazing!!)
Vicious by Victoria Schwab
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig
Where Did You See Her Last (All The Wrong Questions #2) by Lemony Snicket
The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett (which is a rerelease, but I've never read it and it's apparently very different from the original book he published when he was very young).
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

And there's more, a pile about, but those are the ones I have in a pile next to me, waiting for the right time to be picked up and read.

Series Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles

Series: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Author(s): Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Adventure (Middle-Grade)
Over-all series rating: 4/5
Number of Books: 5
Books in Series: (Goodreads links)
The Field Guide
The Seeing Stone
Lucinda's Secret
The Ironwood Tree
The Wrath of Mulgarath

Plot/Series information (no spoilers):
This is a series about these three kids, Mallory, Jason, and Simon, moving into a kind of creepy old house that's in the family, Aunt Lucinda's house, because their mom thinks it'll be good for them and it'll be financially easier on her.
Right away they kind of start noticing things are a little off, that there's some mystery.

The first books just barely introduce the fey mythology, but it gets more into it in the later books. All of these books are short, but that doesn't seem to take away from the story at all.

Review (no spoilers):
The three main characters in this book - Mallory, Jason, and Simon - are perfect main characters. They're young, even for middle-grade, and they're a little odd. I loved them pretty much right away with how Mallory fences and Simon has his weird pet collection, Jason misses the city and everything from before. And they felt very real and very likeable/relatable.

They're good main characters to watch how this unfolds, because, at first, two of them don't believe their brother about what's going on. They have an overall good relationship, though, which grows and changes through the series.

The world in these books is something I adore. Reading them you also feel like the fey world is ten or twenty times bigger then we're shown, and I really enjoyed that. You meet a lot of different faeries/creatures over the course of the series, learn about them as the kids do.

What I did is I sat down and read this whole series in one day for the Bout of Books read-a-thon. And I thought I'd read them quickly, but they're just so easy to read, and you want to read the next one, so I was surprised at how quickly I read these. And when I finished the last one, I wanted to know what was going to happen next with the kids. I did think, though, that it wrapped up very well.

Overall, I'd recommend this series to any kid who likes fantasy with fey and anyone older who likes it, too. It is middle-grade, keep that in mind, but that doesn't change how likable the characters or how good the world building is.  The main point is I really loved this series. It was cute and fun, not incredibly in-depth or dark, like some things I read, but a nice break from that kind of thing and a fantastic read over all.

June TBR

And now we have the June TBR, only a couple days into the month. I, actually, have already read some, of course, on the drive back from New York. And I'm never really sure what I'm going to end up reading, but I do have some ideas for this month, considering the books surrounding me.

• Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman (Already finished!)
• The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
• Doll Bones by Holly Black
• Amulet, Vol. 3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi
• The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
• Power Play (Kingdom Keepers #4) by Ridley Pearson

And there's, of course, many more that I want to get read, but these are the ones that I want to for sure get read this month. Now, for example, these are some other books I'd like to read:

• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Which I realized I never actually finished)
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
• And so, so many more! (Way too many more to read in June).

So what are you planning on reading this month? Anything awesome? Or anything that's been sitting on your shelf for too long and you just can't put it off any longer?

May Wrap-Up

This month was crazy! Everything was crazy about this month. To start off: the reason there are so many books here is because I did a read-a-thon. Which there will be links for at the bottom of this post. Obviously, I'm very happy with how much I got read during it.

• Hamlet by Shakespeare (5/5)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare (5/5)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (5/5)
• Aesop's Fables by Aesop (5/5)
• George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl (4/5)
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupèry (5/5)
• The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles #1) by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi (5/5)
• The Seeing Stone (Spiderwick Chronicles #2) by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi (5/5)
• Lucinda's Secret (Spiderwick Chronicles #3) by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi (5/5)
• The Iron Woodtree (Spiderwick Chronicles #4) by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi (5/5)
• This is Water by David Foster Walace (the 30min audiobook) (5/5)
• The Wrath of Mulgarath (Spiderwick Chronicles #5) by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi (5/5)
• The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia #3) by C.S. Lewis (4/5)
• Disney After Dark (Kingdom Keepers #1) by Ridley Pearson (5/5)
• The Tempest by Shakespeare (4/5)
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (5/5)
• Witness in Death (In Death #10) by J.D. Robb (5/5)
• Bake Sale by Sara Varon (2/5)
• Disney at Dawn (Kingdom Keeps #2) by Ridley Pearson (5/5)
• Bioshock Infinite: Mind in Revolt by Joe Fielder (5/5)
• Amulet Vol. 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
• Amulet Bol. 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi
• Disney in Shadow (Kingdom Keepers #3) by Ridley Pearson

So - this is a lot of books, I think this is probably the most books I've ever read in a month and I doubt I could ever top that. And, at the end of the month, of course, I was at BEA with no real internet or time to write any blog posts. However, a wrap-up of the awesome will be coming soon, hopefully with a video showing of the books I got.

This month I'm splitting up the wrap-up and TBR again because this wrap-up is just so long, I don't want them to take away from each other. Anyway, to continue, these are all the posts that happened this month:

April Wrap-Up/May TBR
Book Review: Ready Player One
WWW Wednesday (15)

Bout of Books 7.0 posts:

Monday Kick-Off!

Day One Wrap-Up

Day Two Wrap-Up

Day Three Wrap-Up

Day Four Wrap-Up
Day Five Wrap-Up

Day Six Wrap-Up

The End Bout of Books Wrap-Up post