BOB15

BOB15: Day 6 & 7 and Wrap-up!

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Another Bout of Books has brought itself to a close, and I sure did get some reading done! I’m surprised by how much progress I have made, considering I’m mid EDS flare-up. Most of my reading has been done in my bed and up late at night when I just. can’t. sleep. I’m thinking about investing in a bean-bag, although I HATE the look of them, because it’s either that or a swimming pool.

So, my figures for the weekend were okay, I finished another book on Sunday night.

Day 6:

91p of The Business of Dying by Simon Kernick

Day 7:

246p of The Business of Dying by Simon Kernick – Completed

Total for readathon: 1,536

My goals for this readathon were:

  • Write an update post daily on Ranty Runt, even if it is just what I have read and a cumulative total – I did provide updates of each day, even though the last four days were condensed into two posts. I will take this as a win. I might do this on twitter next Bob.
  • Participate in 2 challenges – I participated in one challenge.
  • Be a social butterfly and read & comment on at least three updates per day – I commented on quite a few blogs over the bob, not sure if it would equal three a day. 
  • Read 2000 pages.  – I read 1536p. Not the goal, but I’m still happy with it. Way more than I would normally read!
  • POST MY CHALLENGE AT THE RIGHT TIME – I nailed this one!

So, that’s the end of this Bob, I don’t think I will host a challenge next time around – I enjoy doing it, but it might just be more than I can handle during semester. Hope everyone else had a great bob, and I’ll see you all in May? Is it May? I think so.

BOB15: Day 4 & 5

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So, I missed completing my update for day 4 – I had a very busy day at work, and today hasn’t been much better. So I’ve combined the two together. In better news, we purchased a brand new BBQ, and are going to buy an outdoor setting in the next couple of weeks too. I’m excited to be able to have a BBQ outside again, I haven’t been able to entertain outside since I left home at 18. I’m seeing many snags, chops and steaks in my future. Maybe some prawns too.

My reading over the past couple of days has been good, but not great. I finished another book last night and have picked up another, but they are so similar I’m confusing my storylines up. I’m going to select something completely different next.

Day 4: 

167p of The Devil’s Bounty by Sean Black

Total for today: 167p

Day 5:

233p of The Devil’s Bounty by Sean Black – Completed

109p of The Business of Dying by Simon Kernick

Total for today: 342p

Total for readathon: 1,199p

Books completed: 3
Birthdays for the Dead – Stuart MacBride
Dead Wake – Erik Larson
The Devil’s Bounty – Sean Black

BOB15: Day 3

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Just a very quick update this afternoon – I managed to finish Dead Wake last night, and spent a couple of hours reading at work this morning. We had the BF’s parents over and we went out for dinner then stayed up talking, which is the time I normally read.

The Rainbow challenge went really well, there were some beautiful responses and some brilliant rainbows. I have already contacted the giveaway winner, and I’m always intrigued as to which book they are going to select. I don’t know why it interests me, but on one occasion before I actually purchased myself a copy!

I’m hoping to get some serious reading done over tomorrow and the weekend, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make my 2,000 word goal. It’s not the end of the world, of course, but I had just been hoping that I was going to hit that shiny target.

I’m going to spend a little time tonight putting together the Agnes Grey readalong – I feel like February will be here before we know it! I’m so excited to be able to read it with you guys, and I’m going to go scour the internets for interesting stuff to post in accompaniment.

Hope everyone’s days went swimmingly, and thank you to everyone who entered the rainbow challenge!

Day 3: 

250p of Dead Wake by Erik Larson – Completed

Total for today: 250p
Total for readathon: 690p

Books completed: 1
Birthdays for the Dead – Stuart MacBride
Dead Wake – Erik Larson

Day 3 Bout of Books Challenge: RAINBOWS!

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Congratulations, you have made it to day three of Bout-of-Books 15.0!

We are getting to the middle of the readathon now, where enthusiasm either wanes, or you are so enthusiastic you are putting aside other necessities to read, like work/sleep/school, and it’s now catching up with you! It doesn’t matter if you are so sleep deprived you can no longer tell your red wine from your white, or your golden retriever from your Russian blue (one’s a cat, the other a dog, for future reference), or your black tshirt from your white collared shirt.

Actually… I lie, all those skills are essential for the rainbow challenge! You have two options – the cover challenge and the author challenge.

For the cover challenge, collect books from your bookshelf (physical or virtual) and make yourself a rainbow using the covers. A rainbow is ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Then take a photo or arrange images of those books into a rainbow, and either post to twitter (@bookybecksa & #boutofbooks), post to your own blog and leave me a link in the comments below or simply comment below with your response!

Here is my attempt at the challenge. You don’t actually have to shape it like a rainbow, but I decided to go all out! I’m also thinking I need to go book shopping for yellow books, because there is a current shortage on my bookshelves.

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For the author challenge, use authors surnames to complete an acrostic poem style rainbow of ROYGBIV – you can only use surnames and no prefixes (eg. Vincent van Gogh could be used for a G, not a V). Any ‘writer’ is acceptable, for example, playwrights, poets and comic book/graphic novel authors)

Try to fill your list with authors you have read, and that way I can learn about you and your tastes! If not, branch out and select an author you would like to read. If you still can’t find an author (I’m looking at you, Y) then select someone people have likely heard of!

R – Rankin, Ian

O – Owen, Wilfred

Y – Yeats, William Butler

G – Gaiman, Neil

B – Bronte, Emily

I – Ignatius, David

V – Vonnegut, Kurt

The prize!

Once you have completed either challenge (you don’t have to complete both) you are eligible to go into the running for a free book! As long as you have either commented on this blog post or mentioned me on twitter (@bookybecksa) you will go into the running.

  • The winner of this challenge will receive a book from bookdepository.com up to the value of US$15, as long as The Book Depository ships to you.
  • The challenge winner will be selected by random number generator and notified either by comment on their blog or a tweet on twitter, depending on how you enter the competition.
  • You must be a Bout of Books participant to win the giveaway.I will verify that the winner is signed up.
  • Only one entry per participant will go into the draw

THE CHALLENGE IS NOW OVER! NO NEW COMMENTS WILL BE APPROVED

BOB15: Day 2

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A very quick update before I go to bed – It’s currently 5am in the morning here, and I figured I may as well post my progress post this morning rather than waiting for the day when I have SO MUCH TO DO.

I’m not really happy with my progress thus far – I’m aiming for 2,000 words and I’m only at 440p. However, I am having fun and that is the most important thing! I haven’t been very active on twitter, which is so different from most of the other Bob’s I’ve done. Tomorrow night I will probably have more time to spend on twitter, considering I’ll be at work and it will be dead.

Also, I was about to check who is doing the challenge for today and then I realised it was me. I just polished off the post, and it should go live later on today. I’m always so grateful to be able to participate in bout of books, and I feel like hosting a challenge is one of the ways you can pay back the wonderful Bob community. It’s always such fun and makes these readathons really memorable for me!

I hope everyone else’s Bob’s are going great and they are getting lots of reading done.

Day 2: 

200p of Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Total for today: 200p
Total for readathon: 440p

Books completed: 1
Birthdays for the Dead

BOB15: Day 1

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Day 1 didn’t go quite to plan reading wise, I had a doctors appointment which then led to intense physio later that day, then a friend over for dinner. We watched the cricket and then I slept. For 15 hours. I’ve been over doing it, but I still managed to get a little reading in.

I’m going to complete the wonderful would you rather challenge hosted by Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale. 

Would you rather lend books to someone who dog-ears pages or to someone who reads with cheesy Cheetos fingers?

I would rather lend a book to someone who dog ears pages than have cheeto fingers touching them!

Would you rather be able to meet one character of your choice or meet one author of your choice?

I would rather meet one character of choice over an author!

Would you rather never be allowed in a book store again or never be allowed in a library again?

I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MY LIBRARY. I’m too poor for bookshops anyway – I live in Australia.

Would you rather have to choose one of your favorite characters to die in their book or have to pick one of your favorite couples to break up in their book?

Break up a couple in a book – I mainly read action/crime/classics and although there are a few relationships I uh, ship – I would prefer my favourite character to be alone and sad then dead!

Would you rather be required to read Twilight once a year for the rest of your life or The Scarlet Letter once a year for the rest of your life?

I’d take The Scarlet Letter over Twilight. I actually intend to read The Scarlet Letter again, but I never intend on touching Twilight again. I didn’t even make it through my first read. I’d take Hawthorne’s drivel, thanks.

Onto my totals:

Day 1:

190p of Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride
50p of Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Total for today: 240p
Total for readathon: 240p

Books completed: 1
Birthdays for the Dead

Bout of Books 15 Goals & TBR

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The illustrious Bout of Books, or Bob, is creeping up on me again. I’ve been putting off my TBR list because I’m currently mood reading but I’ve decided that like each Bob before, I will post goals and TBRs. I just can’t help myself.

My goals for this Bob:

  • Write an update post daily on Ranty Runt, even if it is just what I have read and a cumulative total
  • Participate in 2 challenges
  • Be a social butterfly and read & comment on at least three updates per day
  • Read 2000 pages.
  • POST MY CHALLENGE AT THE RIGHT TIME (uh, timezones kill me)

That final goal for me is probably the biggest, the other week long readathons I have partcipated in I have averaged 1500 – 1800p, but I really want to push myself this Bob. I will prewrite all my other blog content before the readathon starts, so all the time that I usually devote to writing blogs & hanging in my reader will be devoted to reading.

My TBR:

Dead Wake – Erik Larson

Songs for the Dead – Stuart MacBride

The Business of Dying – Simon Kernick

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins

I will not beat myself up if I stray from this list, as there are plenty of other books that I can read. I’ve picked many of the books above because there is either lots of buzz (and I can’t believe I haven’t read yet) or because they are by my favourite authors.

Depending on how I feel, I might substitute for a classic, I have a couple that are sitting on my shelves, plus my classics club spin.

I’m looking forward to reading ALL THE PAGES with you guys! Have you set yourselves lofty goals this year? Or taking it easy and letting the reading bug take over?