Bout of Books 20 August 2017
It is finally the week of Bout of Books 20! I am so excited.
"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th 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 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog." - From the Bout of Books team.
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is one of my favorites because it lasts a whole week. And no surprise my week is packed with work and after work activities. So I don't know how much time I can make for reading but I will get in as much as possible.
My goal is to finish up the books I am currently reading which are the following:
Devil's Bargain by Joshua Green
Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp
When Paris Went Dark: The City of Lights Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 by Ronald C. Rosbottom
I am also reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin but I doubt I will have time to finish it as I am "only" 400 pages in.
Well I am going to get to reading before I have to head to work for eclipse madness!
Well thank goodness for audiobooks is all I have to say. I didn't have a terrific reading day. Work was insane. We were getting phone call for eclipse glasses every 30 seconds before the eclipse started. The good news is I got to see the eclipse. It was so amazing! I definitely am going to plan a trip in the path of totality for the next one.
I mostly read my Game of Thrones book and listened to my audiobook but I hope to get more into the Lying Game tomorrow. It's a fascinating story so far and I am looking forward to finding out what really went on. It has been a long day and I have to be up super early tomorrow as I have a photo session an hour away. Better luck tomorrow!
Monday Numbers:
Pages read: 160
Audiobook Time: 3 hours
Books finished: 0
Tuesday
Helloooo Tuesday! Today was an insanely crazy day. I was in my car most of the morning, driving to a photo session and then running all these long overdue errands. I worked at my second job at the library all afternoon so I only got some reading in before bed. But the good thing about being in the car all day is that you have plenty of time to listen to audiobooks!
I finished listening to When Paris Went Dark. I don't know if loved it is the right word considering the subject matter. But this book was really informative and had a good narrative flow. Books about the Nazis are extra chilling these days.
I also finished Before I Let Go. I loved the first half of the book. This was a haunting tale of a girl trying to figure out how and why her best friend died. The pain and grief of Corey was palpable in the pages. And then suddenly the book turned confusing and disjointed. It kind of turned out to be nothing? I was really confused by the resolution of the story. I also didn't like the phone call scenes. They really took away from the flow of the book and didn't really add much (FYI I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).
I also am reading a book at work called Inside, Outside, and Online: Building Your Library Community. It's very heavy on research and stats. I am trying to read more about the Library world and how it works so this is very helpful.
Tuesday Numbers
Pages Read: 330
Audiobook Time: 5 hours 50 minutes
Books Finished: 2
Wednesday
Another subpar day. This just wasn't the best week for me in terms of being able to read. My time is so crunched this week. I think this Bout of Books will just be all about audiobooks. I had work and then had to photograph a really long play so I didn't get much actual reading done. I mainly just was able to finish reading The Lying Game before work. I really loved it! It was just the right amount of suspense and mystery.
I would say I am hoping for a better reading day tomorrow but I have to take my MIL to the dr. tomorrow and it will probably take up all my time before work. Sunday is the only day this week I will have to read all day so I am looking forward to it.
Wednesday Numbers
Pages Read: 256
Audiobook Time: 3 hours 8 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Thursday
Nope. Just a wash. Better luck tomorrow or the weekend.
Thursday Numbers
Pages Read: 169
Audiobook Time: 3 hours 56 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Friday
OMG its finally Friday! So happy. It has been a long, long week! I feel like the eclipse threw everything off. I am hoping to catch up on sleep and reading this weekend. I didn't get much of a chance to read again today as Friday is one of my long work days. I am sad about my lack of reading time this week. I do miss being able to take time off during read-a-thons but I am so thankful to have found a part time job I love. So it's ok if I wasn't able to read as much as usual. I am happy I am able to read at all!
Friday Numbers
Pages Read: 82
Audiobook Time: 21 minutes
Books Finished: 0
Saturday
Yay finally a decadent reading day and I spent hours at my Grandmas today and still got some good reading in.
I finished Small Admissions. It was quite disappointing. I saw so many good reviews about it. It just reminded me of the usual different girls in the city books. I wasn't that attached to the people in the book and I probably only finished it because it was a readathon.
I was so excited to get an ARC of Andy Weir's new book, Artemis. I started it tonight and it is SO good. It definitely kept me up later than usual. I forced myself to go to bed. When I got Martian I started reading it at 6 pm and I stayed up all night until I was done. I love that this book has a female protagonist.
Well tomorrow should be a good reading day although I am also hoping to spend some time with my husband too!
Saturday Numbers
Pages Read: 355
Audiobook Time: 38 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Sunday
Well this was definitely the best reading day of the whole week. I finally just got to real and enjoy reading.
I finished Artemis. I really enjoyed this book. I don't think it's always easy for a male to write a female MC and there were a few instances where I thought that missed a little. But I thought this book was so fun. I liked Jazz and her cast of characters. Like The Martian my eyes would glaze over at the hard core science stuff. This book reminded me of an old fashioned heist movie even though they weren't heisting anything!
I also was excited to get am ARC of Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. This book is awesome! Its a graphic novel packed full of beautiful illustrations and text about awesome ladies from history that you don't usually hear about. It is SO good.
I started Moonglow too because I have five days to read it before it has to go back to the library.
Sunday Numbers
Pages Read: 522
Audiobook Time: 3 hours 7 minutes
Books Finished: 1
Wrap up!
Well this was not one of the best Bout of Books I have ever done. I just didn't have the time I usually did. But I still did decent. It was a long and exhausting week and I was glad the little pockets of time I was able to escape and read.
Total Numbers
Pages Read: 1,874
Audiobook Time: 20 hours
Books Finished: 6