Bout of Books 15 Master Post

Posted 5 January 2016 in Uncategorized /0 Comments

Bout of BooksThe 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 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team  

After seeing posts from JMill Wanders and Bookish Illuminations, I’ve decided to jump in at the last minute to participate in my first ever Bout of Books. This is the first event where the timing has worked out for me. I have simple goals. I want to take at least 45 minutes out of my day for dedicated reading. The past few days, I’ve read whenever I have a moment as opposed to cozying up with a book. I’ve read more than I thought I could in those small moments, but I still want to enjoy my dedicated reading time! I want to read 5 books from my recent library haul. (Perhaps Uprooted, The Magician’s Elephant, Stories for Nighttime and Some for Day, Imaginary Girls and Of Bees and Mist. I also want to finish The Karluk’s Last Voyage.) No page goals. I want to focus more on ‘just reading’, rather than ‘quantity reading’.

Wrap-Up

  •  I read five books during the week. I finished one book I had started a few days before the read-a-thon – The Karluk’s Last Voyage. I started and finished three books – Uprooted, Rob Carrick’s Guide to […] Canadian Investments, and Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day. I started one book on the final day – The Magician’s Elephant. So, I made progress on four out of the six books I listed from library haul.
  • I read for at least 45 minutes each day, for a total of 10 hours! I hope I can keep up that rate in the next few weeks before I take off. 
  • I participated in four challenges and one Twitter chat. I love those chats! I always have fun, and they’re the best way for me to find new-to-me bloggers.

 Saturday (Day 7) Results

  • Books read: The Magician’s Elephant
  • Reading time: 45 min.

Saturday (Day 6) Results

  • Books read: Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (completed)
  • Reading time: 1 hr
  • Busy day! Didn’t do the Comfy Reading Spot Challenge

Friday (Day 5) Results

  •  Books read: Uprooted (completed), Rob Carrick’s Guide to What’s Good, Bad and Downright Awful in Canadian Investments Today (completed; hah, not a book I planned to read but I have a meeting at the bank to talk about doing ‘investing’ tomorrow so I picked a few books out of the library to try to get a Canadian perspective on the basics), Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (started)
  • Reading time: 2.5 hrs
  • Scavenger Hunt Challenge: 

Thursday (Day 4) Results

  • Books read: Uprooted (continued)
  • Reading time: 2 hrs (again up past my bed time)
  • Villain Mash Up Challenge:
    • Browsing my bookshelves, I realize most books don’t really have villains! The only notable ones come from my favourite middle grades read, in books I first read more than 10 years ago. When I was in middle school, my favourite villains were Capricorn from Inkheart, Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Saint Dane from the Pendragon series. Capricorn interests me less than he once did; I haven’t read Pendragon since the publication of the final book (I suspect those stories won’t work well for an older reader), but when I re-read The Bad Beginning a couple years ago, Olaf creeped me out even more than when I was a child. Problem is, I don’t know who to pair him off against! I’d like to see a match-up of villains trying to out-scheme and outwit each other…The few other villains I can think of come from fantasy worlds and wouldn’t really be a fair match to Olaf. Perhaps Opal from Artemis Fowl? If we gave a level playing field (basically, put Opal into Olaf’s world), I can imagine the two racing to steal riches in some intricate, absurd plot.

 Wednesday (Day 3) Results

  • Books read: Uprooted (started)
  • Reading time: 2 hrs (I stayed up late reading this one!)
  • Rainbow Cover Challenge
    • Coincidentally featuring many of my favourite books/middle grade authors! I didn’t like the gap in the middle so I added a cloud 🙂

Tuesday (Day 2) Results

  • Books read: The Karluk’s Last Voyage (finished)
  • Reading time:  1 hr, 45 min.
  • Would You Rather Challenge
    • Lend books to someone who dog-ears pages or to someone who reads with cheesy Cheetos fingers – There is a chance I could rescue those dog-eared pages! Greasy marks are forever, though.
    •  Be able to meet one character of your choice or meet one author of your choice – Thought I can think of a number of characters who would be entertaining to meet, this one’s a no brainer for me. I would love to meet Tolkien (question doesn’t specify living author!).
    • Never be allowed in a book store again or never be allowed in a library again – Oh gosh, what a terrible choice, but again for me, the answer is easy. I thrive off libraries and I want to be a librarian. 
    • 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 – Couple break up. I don’t really have favourite couples, so maybe my answer would differ otherwise, but you can survive a break up.
    • 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 – The Scarlet Letter I think I could tolerate, Twilight not so much. 

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