Bout of Books: Goals

The Bout of Books Read-a-thon is about to start on Monday the 14th! If you’re interested in taking part I believe you can still sign up. Head over to the Bout of Books blog to see the schedule for the events planned for each day of the read-a-thon.

My to-read pile is in desperate need of some attention! I’ll be updating this post each day with my progress.

Goals

• I average two books in a normal week, so I’m aiming for five books- anything after that is a bonus!
• I need to get through the library books I borrowed recently.

Books To Be Read

• Kingdom, Anderson O’Donnell
• Talisman of El, Alecia Stone
• Birdie Down, Jim Graham
• Cinder, Marissa Meyer
• Across the Universe, Beth Revis

Extras (if I get to them – the rest of the library books)

• Finnikin of the Rock, Melina Marchetta
• The Fade, Chris Wooding
• Wither, Lauren DeStefano
• Dragonheart, Todd McCaffrey

Updates

Yoshi helps to keep the Pile steady

14th
Today’s progress: Started and got to 60% through Kingdom, Anderson O’Donnell
Total number of books I’ve read: None yet!
Comments: Wow, this is a very dark story… explicit, violent and really kind of depressing. I really hope it’s building up into something beautiful and profound, otherwise it might go in the bucket with American Gods – beautiful and witty writing but depressing as hell!

I didn’t get as much reading done as I hoped today, but my in-laws stay with us on Monday nights after looking after the Sprout, so reading time is limited. The rest of the week should be better!

15th
Today’s progress: The last 40% of Kingdom, Anderson O’Donnell, plus the first 5% of Birdie Down, Jim Graham.
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Comments: The end of Kingdom was great – very tense! My review will be part of a blog tour in June, so keep an eye out for that. It’s e-book only at the moment so I don’t have a page number count.

16th
Today’s progress: 5 – 90% of Birdie Down, Jim Graham.
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Comments: Today was an odd day in that I was up with the Sprout at 3:30am. By the time he went back to sleep at 4:45 I didn’t think it was worth going back to sleep since my alarm is at 5:45 so I stayed up and read for a couple of hours before going to work. By the time I got home I was so shattered that I just putzed about on the computer for a bit before crashing! I did enjoy Birdie Down though. I’ll post a review soon, maybe tonight.

17th
Today’s progress: Finished Birdie Down and the whole of Cinder!
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Comments: Today’s mammoth effort was entirely down to the fact that I couldn’t put Cinder down! I read some at lunchtime and on the train, but then I just got comfy in the evening and read the second two thirds of it. Fantastic!

18th
Today’s progress: About 30% of Talisman of El, Alecia Stone
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Comments: It’s back to the Kindle today… I was at home on babysitting duty in the morning, then working in the afternoon – not much of a chance to read until tonight. It’s going to be a busy weekend – we’ll see how much reading time there is.

19th
Today’s progress: The second 70% of Talisman of El, Alecia Stone, plus the very start of Across the Universe, Beth Revis
Total number of books I’ve read: 4
Comments: I had a busy day today with my Sproutling, but I got a couple of hours reading done in the afternoon while he was napping, and the rest this evening. Talisman of El was quite an exciting read, but it didn’t flow as nicely as I would have liked. I think it might be all the mythology and history of Arcadia that had me a little confused.

20th
Today’s progress: 119 pages of Across the Universe, Beth Revis (about 30%)
Total number of books I’ve read: 4.3
Comments: Despite my best intentions, I didn’t quite get to sit and finish Across the Universe tonight. I’m very pleased with the amount I read this week though!

I’ll have a wrap-up post up in the next day or so 🙂