Bout of Books 20 Sign up

Finally, a Bout of Books that I can sign up for and fully participate in. Bout of Books 20 starts on the 21st of August (which happens to be my birthday) and continues until Sunday the 27th of August. As the BOB is my favourite readathon, I am treating this as my birthday present from the bookish gods. Thanks guys!

I’m currently only working 13 hours a week and can spend a couple of those hours reading anyway, so I am planning on doing lots of reading throughout the readathon. I’ll try and participate in some of the challenges and bookish events and will also be hanging out on twitter. If we’re not following one another already, please add me @bookybecksa, because I’d love more readathon’ers to chat with over there.

I haven’t set myself any goals for recent readathons, but as this is my birthday readathon, I’ve decided some goals would be best. A TBR will be posted the day before the readathon starts.

GOALS

Read 1500 pages.
Finish four books.
Write reviews for all books read, as I read them. (important or else they don’t get reviewed)
Participate in 3 challenges.
MAKE NEW BOOKISH FRIENDS! (most important)

If you haven’t already signed up for the readathon, I encourage you to do so, over at the Bout of Books website. This is one of the best bookish events that you can participate in.

#24in48 readathon updates

So… I decided to do some tracking here on the blog. I’ll just be updating this post with any of the challenges and check ins that actually happen. 

Hour 1- 

Where in the world are you reading from this weekend? 

Adelaide, South Australia

Have you done the 24in48 readathon before?

No, I haven’t. 

Where did you hear about the readathon, if it is your first?

I heard about it on twitter, a year or so ago.

What book are you most excited about reading this weekend?

Off Reservation by Bram Connolly, it’s by a local author and I loved the first book in the series.

Tell us something about yourself.

I never know what to write for these sections. 

Remind us where to find you online this weekend.

Here on Ranty Runt of a Reader and on twitter, @bookybecksa

Ranty Roundup – June

June was a great blogging and pretty good reading month for me. I managed to read 5 books in their entirety, and knock off some classics from my classics club list. I’m expecting July to be a little slower in both blogging and reading, but I’m also committed to dedicating as much time as possible to reading, as I don’t want to commit to reading 10 books in August to finish the #20booksofsummer challenge.

The best book from June was hands down Erik Storey’s Nothing Short of Dying. I’ve already talked about this forthcoming title a bit on my blog, but my review (and the book) aren’t due to be published until August, so I will hold back on anything too descriptive. Let me just say, it’s one of the best novels I’ve read, and one of only two five star rating books that I’ve read this year.

I’m currently half way through Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and although I am enjoying it, I’m finding it slow going and I’m looking forward to completing it and reviewing it on August 1st for the Classics Club Spin pick.

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In other Classics news – I’m participating in a readalong of Middlemarch, hosted by Bex at Armchair by the Sea. So far I am finding Middlemarch to be better than I was expecting and I will be trying to write a post of impressions, ideas and thoughts each week here on the blog, but my main priority will be keeping up with the chapters per week. I will also be reading another book a week – I don’t want to fall even further behind in my reading challenge on Goodreads.

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Yet another challenge I am currently focusing on is #20booksofsummer (in winter) I was hoping to be able to knock off 6 – 7 books from this list before the month was up, but then I hit Tristram Shandy and my progress just slowed right down. I’m going to be focusing a lot on getting pages read during July, as opposed to blogging so that I can catch up on this a little. My current total stands at 3 books completed and one book half finished. I’m going to need some serious dedication to get this challenge completed!

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Another exciting event happening in July is the Make Me Read It readathon, where you guys can choose which books (and in which order) I read between the 9 – 16 of July. I’d appreciate it if you guys could vote in my poll, I’m looking forward to being able to participate in this readathon, from what I can tell it is in it’s second year and is such a novel idea. From what my poll looks like now, I’ll be working my way through House of Mirth and Go Set a Watchman, but there’s plenty of time for that to change. Pretty sure you can still sign up if you wish, just head over to here and sign up.

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Last but not least is the 24 in 48 hour readathon. I haven’t yet signed up for this one but I fully intend on participating. I’ll be taking the weekend off and spending 12 hours a day reading my little heart out. I’ve done 24hr readathons before, and always burnt out, so this challenge seems better in regards to spreading out the workload!

Sign-ups are happening over here, and if you wanna ‘thon with me, this seems like a great event to get some serious reading done in!

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Books read in June – 5

Nothing Short of Dying – Erik Storey – 5 stars
No Safe Place – Matt Hilton – 4 stars
Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne – 3 stars
Deathlist – Chris Ryan – 1 star
The Awakening – Kate Chopin – 4 stars

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Book Reviews in June – 7 (and that might just be a record for this blog)

Off The Grid by C.J. Box
The Sandpit by Stephen Leather
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
No Safe Place by Matt Hilton
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
First Response by Stephen Leather
The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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Challenge Progress

Read My Books Challenge
Journey to the Center of the Earth
4 in 2016

Classic a Month/Classics Club Challenge
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Series a Month
Did not participate in the Series a Month Challenge in June.

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July TBR

I’m going to aim to read 6 books in July. These will all be from my #20booksofsummer list and be heavily focused on the classics. The following are the books that I would have read in an ideal world, but 5 of these titles are part of the Make Me Read it poll, and I don’t fancy reading 4 400p books in one week while working, so I’m not going to aim to read all 8. I’ll also be whittling down Middlemarch.

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
The Innocents by Ace Atkins
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Fire Point by Sean Black
Edge of Alone by Sean Black
Ghost Sniper by Scott McEwen
White Fang by Jack London
State of Emergency by Andy McNab
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

And that was a very long wrap-up!

#MakeMeRead Readathon – Sign up & Poll

The make me read it readathon is a newer readathon hosted by Val @ The Innocent Smiley, and Ely @ Tea and Titles. It is running from July 9th – 16th, and if you want to join me you can find the sign-up post over here.

The difference about this readathon is that you guys get to decide what (and in which order) I will read during the week. So please take a couple of seconds to select one of the options in the poll below!

I’m planning on setting a goal of 3 books during the #makemeread -athon, but I’ve listed 5, and I will read them in order of which books get the most votes. They are all part of the #20booksofsummer challenge, and I will still be reading a large chunk of Middlemarch during this week too!

I won’t be updating the blog daily during the readathon, I find that to be too time consuming – but I will be active on twitter – @bookybecksa and will post a wrap up at the end of the readathon.

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Reasons I Love Readathons

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the lovely peeps at The Broke and The Bookish. Every week the challenge is to list 10 things/books of a certain theme/question. 

So – if you have been hanging around Ranty Runt of a Reader for any period of time, you might have observed that I LOVE readathons. Here’s my list of 9 things I love about readathons, and one thing I dislike about them.

1. I read all the things. During a week long readathon, I usually finish between 4-6 books. That’s the same number of books I would normally read in a month on average. In a 24 hour readathon I might knock off a book and a half.
2. Readathons force me to read different genres. I read lots of thriller novels – I’d say 75% of my reading would fall in the thriller genre. But if you read six thriller novels back to back, things can get repetitive, boring and slumpy. Normally, I would include a classic and something sci-fi or fantasy themed in my TBR. If I read a romance – chances are it was during a readathon.
3. They usually are flexible with book choice. I don’t read YA or romance – and many book blogging events revolve around those two genres. Readathons generally don’t force you to read a certain genre/book, so I feel I can participate equally with those who DO read those genres.
4. I get excited to read. During a readathon, I need to strategically prioritize reading over other things, like hobbies, TV and work. I’m excited to add to my page count, to finish a book, to review a book. During a readathon, I’m more excited about everything.
5. I meet new bookish people. Readathons usually have a sign-up link, and part of my preparation for a readathon is to check out other people’s blogs and friend them if I find them interesting. It’s also great to meet people who blog about different authors/genres.
6. They provide a hook to my blog. Sometimes, I don’t post as regularly as I would wish. I program the dates of readathons into my phone (especially the bigger events) and even when I’m not feeling like blogging, a readathon will at least get me to crack open a book. Also, most likely lead me to reading other peoples blogs, and then I provide my own with some love. They are events that hook me back into blogging.
7. They provide different content. Sometimes blogging can start to feel stale. When I first started, all I did was reviews, and that became old quick. Readathons provide something else to write about, but doesn’t require much research or preparation. Challenges within readathons are GREAT for this.
8. Readathons continue blogging traditions/memories. Some of the more established readathons have become institutions within the blogging community. Events like Bout of Books have been running for so long that it seems like my calendar is divided into the three parts of the year between ‘thons. Also, Dewey’s 24hr readathon keeps the memory of a passed blogger. This is all important for our community.
9. I get students to read in class. When I am teaching, and a readathon happens to be at the same time, I tell ALL my students about the readathon. Then when it’s time for silent reading I inform students that it’s my readathon time and then we see how much we can read.

And number 10. I always find out about readathons too late. I constantly find wrap-up posts/videos or update posts from during the readathon. I know there’s a couple blogs out there that try to keep track of these things, but so far no list I’ve found has been that comprehensive and kept up to date. Am I missing a resource here?

Are you hosting a readathon? Let me know. Do you love them as much as I do? Do you hate them (are you even human?)? Why?

 

Bout of Books #16 Sign up & TBR

Hey guys! I’m emerging out of blogging and reading obscurity to take part in one of my favourite bloggy/reading events – Bout of Books! I’m looking forward to dedicating a whole week to catching up with some of my favourite authors and shunning the outside world.

I am going to challenge myself this time to read over 2,000p over the week, so I won’t be committing too much else. There will be no blog updates on here, and I might complete a challenge or two, but they won’t be my priority. Also, I’ve decided not to host a challenge this BOB, so that’s a little pressure off my shoulders. Interesting to see that all the challenges will be hosted on the Bout of Books blog this year. If you haven’t before, and are interested in this wonderful event, check them out here.

Most of my Bout of Books’ing will happen on twitter, where I am @bookybecksa and am much more active than here! I’m trying twitter as my primary platform because I find blogging to be time intensive during a readathon, and I always end up having to compose and combine multiple day’s updates in one post. If I remember, I will post a summary/wrap up at the end of the week, linking that to the Bout of Books blog too.

I’ve got a cautionary TBR prepared, but will allow myself room to mood read if need be. I’ve tried to include long but easy reading books and new books by favourite authors so that I can hopefully hit my word count!

TBR

Novels

Deathlist – Chris Ryan
Fire Point – Sean Black
State of Emergency – Andy McNab
The Black Echo – Michael Connelly
First Response – Stephen Leather
Dead Girl Sing – Tony Cavanaugh

Short stories/Novellas

Budapest/48 – Sean Black
The Soft Touch – Tony Cavanaugh
The Sandpit – Stephen Leather

BOB15: Day 6 & 7 and Wrap-up!

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 3

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

BOB15: Day 1

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

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?