Bout of Books 6.0: Wrap Up

Bout of Books 6.0 has come to an end and I'm going to detail my achievements.  My goals are here and my progress here (I didn't update over the weekend so it has that information newly added).

My goal was to read 5 books, which I did (pretty much).  There's a graphic novel in there, and I did also reread a book so my total is technically 6 although I was thinking that I should read 5 new books.  I'm counting my final score as 5.

Books Read
1. Blackwood by Gwenda Bond
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
4. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
5. Astonishing X-Men #5 vol 1: Gifted by Joss Whedon

Total pages = 1,333

Also Read
- The first 125 pages of The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han.  I wasn't really in the mood for this book so officially paused it on Saturday.  I do want to go back to it, but it wasn't right for me at present.
- I reread Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett just because.  I always have at least one reread on the go, even when I feel like I should be sticking to new stuff (286 pages).

Including these = 6 books read; 1,619 pages

I really liked doing Bout of Books, and will definitely do the next one when I will participate more.  Twitter chats, yay!

Bout of Books 6.0: Progress

So, this week I'm taking part in Bout of Books 6.0.  My goal post is here but can be whittled down to one thing: read 5 books by Sunday.  I'm also giving myself little mini-challenges for my own goal which basically mean 'if I get to my target by this day, I can buy this many books in my celebratory spend up'.  I will have fewer owned books in my TBR list; I will need to stock it up again.

I'm going to put all my progress in one post for ease, and update it each day.  Although as I type the days out it's making things feel a bit Torchwood: Children of Earth and argh!

Anyway, my progress (total progress for the readathon is in brackets):

Day One
Book(s) Started
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (26 pages read) - this is my lunchtime book, so I'm keeping it stashed in my desk at work and bringing it out.  I hope this will give me the impetus to finish the book as I tried reading it ten years ago and wasn't that into it.

Book(s) Started & Completed
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (325 pages) - I stayed up far too late to finish this last night, but it was worth it.  A good fun read with references to TV shows I love and a fab romance.  Definitely full review to follow.

Books Read = 1; Pages Read = 351

Day Two
Book(s) Started
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (77 pages read) - in keeping with picking short books I've gone with this. Plus I think it's going to be quite a light contemporary and a fun read.  I didn't get as much read as I'd have liked yesterday, mostly because I was asleep before midnight which is unheard of, and because the switch from my recent reading of peril to a fluffy read was a bit of a shock. Going to keep reading this evening though.

Book(s) Continued
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (13 pages read; page 39) - bit of a broken lunchtime yesterday during which I did next to no reading.  Plus I'm at the point that I think I got stuck on my first attempt at reading this, though I am now past that and into what I think is going to be entertaining galaxy hopping about.

Books Read = 0 (1); Pages Read = 90 (441)

Day Three
Book(s) Continued
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (29 pages read; page 68) - this is better. Got some reading done at lunchtime and really starting to enjoy the book.  Am going to have to read the rest of the series after this.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (48 pages read; page 125) - I feel really bad but I'm not that into this book at the moment.  I'll definitely finish it for the readathon and it's a good book, it just doesn't match my mood right now.  May put it on hold till Saturday when I intend to have a day of reading.

Books Read = 0 (1); Pages Read = 77 (518)

Day Four
Book(s) Completed
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (112 pages read; complete at 180) - finally read this!  And now I want to read the rest of the trilogy of five.  And I think that "I wonder if it will be friends with me?" is one of the most depressing lines I've ever read.

Books Read = 1 (2); Pages Read = 112 (630)

Day Five
I kind of ended up taking Day Five off and not doing any real new reading.  I did, however, continue with a reread of Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett which I had started the night before while a little tipsy.

Books Read = 0 (2); Pages Read = 0 (630)

Day Six
Book(s) Completed
If I Stay (233 pages) & Where She Went (260 pages) by Gayle Forman - I spent most of the day curled up with a blanket and too much coffee, reading these books.  I cried far too much over If I Stay, to the extent that when I texted my flatmate with 'what I was doing' she asked if I was OK.  Beautiful, beautiful books.  I'm not sure which I prefer but I am a complete fan of Gayle Forman now and need to get my copy of Just One Day now.

Books Read = 2 (4); Pages Read = 493 (1,096)

Day Seven
Book(s) Started
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (85 pages) - I didn't start this till late at night, having spent most of the evening trying to decide what to read and dismissing a lot of things as not right for my mood.  This fitted it perfectly: swashbuckling fun, slight daftness, and promises of Intrigue.

Book(s) Completed
Astonishing X-Men volume #1: Gifted by Joss Whedon (152 pages) - this is where I worry that it was a bit of a cheat, because it took me no time at all to read the graphic novel.  But it's Joss Whedon!  I count that.

Books Read = 1 (5); Pages Read =  237 (1,333)

Bout of Books 6.0: Goal Post

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

So, setting my goals for the first Bout of Books I've participated in.

- Read at least 5 books.

I'm going to be starting off with fairly short books at the start of the week and save the weekend for longer ones/catch up. 

I'll also do my best to join in Twitter chats and comment on other blogs, especially as something I said I'd do on my 2012 End of Year Survey was join in more, but I don't want to set any definite targets for that.

So, five books.

Update: I'm posting my progress on one post here.

Rereadathon: End Result

Oh, look at that, no extra posts over the weekend and this is going up Tuesday not Monday.  And I only reread two books over the weekend because I was sucked into the world of Lego Harry Potter, trying to find any character who could do dark magic (oh, Bellatrix, that was possibly the first time I've ever been happy to see, thank you for hovering over Hagrid's hut like that). 

Anyway, the books read were...Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Paper Towns.  So, the first two on my list.  The others on there are, however, still books I very much want to reread (and review) so that will happen soon, I hope.

The Rereadathon was hosted by The Perpeutal Page Turner, who put up some questions over the weekend which I missed owing to time zone differences and lack of internet, but here are my answers now:

Friday/1. What books are you planning on rereading?  Why did you pick those?

I have a list of the books I was planning to reread on my masterpost, and the main reason for picking all of those was: I love them.  And I haven't read some of them for a while (Harry Potter, how have I gone so long without touching those books?).  Those I have reread recently I've skimmed/skipped to my favourite bits - or skipped over bits I find boring.  The plan was to revisit and re-evaluate a lot of my favourites, which didn't really happen.  Still, all those books on that list: I love and recommend.

Saturday/2. How are your general feelings towards rereading? Are you finding yourself remembering [more] things about these books than you thought you would? Are you feeling like you are moving quickly through the books because you've already read them. Are you enjoying them as much as you did the first time you read them?
I reread a lot - it often stops me from reading new books - but, as I say above, I often skip.  I also hadn't read the two books I reread this weekend for a while.  I don't think I got through them faster (I read them both in one sitting originally) and I definitely enjoyed them as much as the first time.  There were things I'd forgotten in both books, which were often things that made me laugh, but I could remember the basic plot which is how it tends to go with me and books: basic plot, few set pieces, none of the jokes.

Sunday/3. Overall, how was your experience rereading? Do you feel like it's something you want to do more or do you feel like you'd rather read new books?

I love rereading, but actually think it's something I should do less: I miss out on trying new books because I'm so happy with my old ones.  It's easier to stick to what I know than experiment - except that when I do experiment I find something I really like.  It also prevents me doing little things like returning books to the library on time rather than renewing and renewing because I haven't got round to reading them yet.  Still, the books I read this weekend were as fantastic as I remembered, and I'm definitely going to reread the other books on that list.

Now I have to get back to reading a book the library wants returned tomorrow.

Re-readathon Masterpost

I signed up for the Re-readathon here - it's being hosted by The Perpetual Page Turner.  It is now here, and because I am me I'm already behind with my own (somewhat daft) self-imposed schedule.  I meant to start this morning, but instead I've been running round Constantinople screaming at Templars and then Hogwarts trying to hex Umbridge (for some reason I can't, which is annoying me).  So, new plan:

- Start reading tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
- Stay up as late as I can that night reading.
- Keep notes about how much I read each hour (because this is the mad type of thing I do anyway).
- Try and read some of the following books:
-- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
-- Paper Towns
-- Anna and the French Kiss
-- Devilish and/or Girl At Sea
-- Game of Kings
- Try and read a book by the following authors:
-- Antonia Forest
-- Terry Pratchett
-- Dorothy L Sayers
-- JK Rowling

And a couple of quick rules for myself: 1) reread properly, don't skim bits like the code cracking in Have His Carcase; 2) don't start Game of Kings until Sunday afternoon/have read 5 other books because that book is intense/dense/complicated/long/will eat my life.

I'll post as much as I can although internet is a bit patchy over weekend.  Will link to all posts here.  If not: giant retrospective post on Monday.

Right, back to forming the DA.

Re-Readathon: 18th-20th November

Signing up for the Re-Readathon being hosted by The Perpetual Page-Turner.  There is a long, long list of books I want to reread, either for blogging purposes or just for fun.  Some of them from this year, others from a while ago that I haven't touched for ages (hello there, my Terry Pratchetts and Antonia Forests, how I've missed you).  As I semi-mentioned in this post, I want to go back over some of the books from earlier this year with an eye to reviewing them.  There are also a few books I'd like to reread to get a different perspective on them - Gaudy Night and Dracula are both completely different to how I remembered them - and I want to try and start a regular feature on this blog where I reread my favourite books and review them.

Basically, this weekend has a lot riding on it.

I'll do a proper list of books nearer the time - will have to juggle quick reads and those I really want to delve back into - but this is me stating that, yes, I am going to do this.  I haven't had a weekend of reading for a while, so it will be nice to do nothing but sit around reading and drinking coffee.  I hardly ever do that.