Bout of Books Readathon 5.0 — Finish Line

Day 7 Update:

Pages Read Today: 364

Total Pages Read: 690

Books Completed:  1.78

Comments: Well this week just didn’t go as planned.  A medical emergency took my time and energy from the readathon.  I quickly gave up trying to time my reading, but tried to keep reading.  When I was awake and alert enough, I grabbed my book.  I think I did quite well considering.  I’ll be waiting for the next Bout of Books readathon to redeem myself.

My goals:

• Read 5 books — nope
• Review all book read — nope
• Complete at least two challenges — nope
• Read an average of 2:30 hours a day — nope

My TBR pile:

• HP 7
• A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
• Mythology by Edith Hamilton
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• Emma by Jane Austen
• Richard III by Shakespeare
• Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
• Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
• Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
• A Truth Universally Acknowledged edited by Susannah Carson
• Added — The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
• Added — The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (in progress)

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 13th and runs through Sunday, August 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 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

 

Bout of Books Readathon 5.0 Update #3

Pages Read Today: 183

Total Pages Read: 326

Books completed: 1

Comments: An emergency room visit put a hold on my reading.  I didn’t get any reading done on Tuesday.  Today, in between the waves of pain, I did manage to get a few chapters read.  Depending on my pain the next few days, I might get some more reading done.  Hopefully…

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 13th and runs through Sunday, August 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 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

 

Bout of Books Readathon 5.0 Update #1

Pages Read Today: 143

Total Pages Read: 143

Books completed: 44% of The Subtle Knife

Comments: Due to an unexpected health issue, I will probably not be reading as much as I thought.  Although reading does help me keep calm.  Depending on the after effects of the issue, I may or may not be reading very much.

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 13th and runs through Sunday, August 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 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

 

Bout of Books Readathon 5.0 — Goals

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 13th and runs through Sunday, August 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 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

Here we go again.  Round 5 and I am ready for it!  I’ve got a ton of books I need to read for this year.  Hopefully this readathon will knock out a good chunk.  I decided to completely stay away from Twitter this time around.  It just distracts me from my reading.  So I will only be doing updates on my blog.  I also wanted to diversify my reading list this time around.

My goals:

• Read 5 books
• Review all book read
• Complete at least two challenges
• Read an average of 2:30 hours a day

My TBR pile (ambitious, but I do like choices):

• HP 7
• A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
• Mythology by Edith Hamilton
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• Emma by Jane Austen
• Richard III by Shakespeare
• Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
• Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
• Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
• A Truth Universally Acknowledged edited by Susannah Carson

 

Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #7 and Finish Line

Today’s Progress:

• Books Read: 0.1
• Total Books Read: 5.1
• Pages Read: 40
• Total Pages Read: 1405
• Time Read: 30 minutes
• Total Time Read: 12 hour 38 minutes
• #todayinsixwordds: Epic fail for the last day!

Another readathon completed.  I was hoping to read more than I did, but 5 books is respectable.  House chores seemed to get in the way.  And the weekend just went downhill from there.  At this point, I think I need to carve out some time every day to read.  As it stands, I keep getting distracted…

My Goals

• Read at least 5 books √
• Read my required reading for the month (Shakespeare and Harry Potter) — Epic fail of the week
• Review all books read √
• Participate in at least 2 mini challenges — I only did one…  tried to focus on the reading.
• Read an average of 2 hours a day — Close but nope

Books To Read

• Anthony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
• Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Frog Prince by Stephen Mitchell
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
• Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
• Paris in Love by Eloisa James
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin — Started

 

Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #6

Today’s Progress:

• Books Read: 0.74
• Total Books Read: 5
• Pages Read: 242
• Total Pages Read: 1365
• Time Read: 2 hours 57 minutes
• Total Time Read: 12 hour 8 minutes
• #todayinsixwordds: Amazing sea monster classic story fun!

 

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Title: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Author: Jane Austen and Ben Winters

Publisher: Quirk 2009

Genre: Jane Austen; Fantasy

Pages: 340

Rating:  5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fantasy; Mount TBR

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

This is another book that languished on my TBR bookshelf for way too long!  Thankfully I came to my senses during the Bout of Books Readathon and added it to my immediate TBR stack.  I had high hopes after reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and subsequent sequel and prequel).  I wanted it to be just as good.  It isn’t, but only fractionally so.  This book blends Austen’s story of two sisters (well, three, but Margaret is too young to be much of a character) looking for a place in the world.  Only this time, Colonel Brandon’s face has tentacles, Willoughby is a treasure hunter, there is a pirate, Barton Cottage is on a mysterious little island, Bath is the Sub-Marine Station Beta on the ocean floor, and all manner of sea life want to kill humans.  Every day is fraught with perils, both from the sea and of the heart.  I loved the blending while keeping Austen’s own words.  The twists at the end are fun, but wrapped up a bit too neatly.  Of course that is keeping with Austen’s own works.  Maybe it’s because I love zombies so much that P&P&Z holds a spot over this volume.  It was good, but not absolutely amazing.  There were some great illustrations and characters.  And that Lucy Steele, watch out for her!  I would recommend to lovers of Austen and monsters.  Great Saturday read!

 

 

Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #5

Today’s Progress:

• Books Read: 0.49 (Murder on the Orient Express) + 0.26  (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters)
• Total Books Read: 4.26
• Pages Read: 234
• Total Pages Read: 1123
• Time Read: 2 hours 17 minutes
• Total Time Read: 9 hour 11 minutes
• #todayinsixwordds: Great mystery, started great monster reimagining

 

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Piorot Mystery #9)

Author: Agatha Christie

Publisher: Harper 1934

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 336

Rating:   5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges:  Mixing it Up — Mystery; Support Your Local Library; Semi-Charmed — Always wanted to read

How I Got It: Library loan

Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot must sift through clues–some real and some planted–to find a murderer aboard a crowded train speeding through the snowy European landscape.

This is one of those books that I have always wanted to read, yet somehow never got around to it.  I finally snatched it off of the library racks and took it home.  A classic mystery that had me guessing until the very end.  Loved it!  The characters are colorful.  The setting is inspired.  The clues are given but not completely obvious.    Now I understand why this is such a classic.  It has everything you want for in a  great mystery.  I just can’t believe it took me this long to get around to it.

Hercule Poirot

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
2. The Murder on the Links (1923)
3. Poirot Investigates (1924)
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
5. The Big Four (1927)
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
7. Peril at End House (1932)
8. Lord Edgware Dies (or Thirteen at Dinner) (1933)
9. Murder on the Orient Express (or Murder in the Calais Coach) (1934)
10. Three Act Tragedy (Murder in Three Acts) (1934)
11. Death in the Clouds (Death in the Air) (1935)
12. The ABC Murders (1936)
13. Cards on the Table (1936)
14. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
15. Death on the Nile (1937)
16. Dumb Witness (Poirot Loses a Client) (1937)
17. Murder in the Mews (Dead Man’s Mirror) (1937)
18. Appointment with Death (1938)
19. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (A Holiday for Murder) (1938)
20. Sad Cypress (1940)
21. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (An Overdose of Death) (1940)
22. Evil Under the Sun (1941)
23. Five Little Pigs (Murder in Retrospect) (1942)
24. The Hollow (Murder After Hours) (1946)
25. The Labours of Hercules (1947)
26. Taken at the Flood (There is a Tide) (1948)
27. Mrs McGinty’s Dead (Blood Will Tell) (1952)
28. After the Funeral (Funerals are Fatal) (1953)
29. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
30. Dead Man’s Folly (1956)
31. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
32. The Clocks (1963)
33. Third Girl (1966)
34. Hallowe’en Party (1969)
35. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
36. Poirot’s Early Cases (1974)
37. Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (1975)

  

 

Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #4

Today’s Progress:

• Books Read: 0.59
• Total Books Read: 3.97
• Pages Read: 198
• Total Pages Read: 889
• Time Read: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Total Time Read: 6 hour 54 minutes
• #todayinsixwordds: Loving a classic Agatha Christie mystery