Bout of Books

Okay, this is my first time, but I found this “challenge” of sorts and got super excited because it’s next week. The idea is to set goals and push yourself to read more than normal. I read all of the time, but you also give yourself books to read. So I’m going to throw a couple non-fiction books on here and see if I can actually finish them. Here’s the blurb directly from the Bout of Books website:

The 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, August 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

Okay, so my goals…

• I want to read 2 non-fiction and 5 fiction books (so 7 total) I think I can manage that. Two books will be ones that I’m finishing, but I’m counting them as as one each because I’m starting this weekend and Tolkien is always a little difficult for me to get through in a short period of time.
• Since this is my first time, I have no idea what sort of page goal I should pick, or how many hours I should attempt, so we’ll leave it at 7 books, and see how many I actually read. I’ll keep a page/hour count as I go.
• I’ll post once a day with an update on my progress and write reviews as I finish books. I think I’ll post my totals at the bottom of my reviews. So…go me.
• I’d like to participate in 2 Twitter conversations and hopefully make new friends. The YA Crush Tourney introduced me to a whole bunch of new people, and I had fun.

Here’s my list of books that I’d like to get through…

1. Heroes and Monsters by Josh Riebock
2. Finishing Unseduced and Unshaken by Rosalie deRosset
3. Finishing Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman
4. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
5. Finishing The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
6. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
7. Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
8. Finishing Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
9. The Ranger’s Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan 
   
10. The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker

It’s a tall order, but I’m actually pretty positive that I can finish most of these. And I’m sure that I’ll re-read a few favorites, because that’s what I do.

Monday
Number of books I’ve read today (total time and pages): 3 (6 hours and 32 minutes)(573 pages)
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (read by Colin Firth), Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready, Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
Twitter Chats: 1 (I had SO MUCH FUN!)

Tuesday
Number of books I’ve read today (total time and pages): (6 hours, 24 minutes)(21 pages)
Total number of books I’ve read: 3 and a half
Books: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman
Challenges: 3 (see my awesome post and limerick…)

Wednesday
Number of books I’ve read today (total time and pages): Finished 1 book! (4 hours 45 minutes) Started another! (63 pages)
Total number of books I’ve read: 4
Books: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (FINISHED! WOOT!) and The Ranger’s Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
Challenges: 2 – I did the word search and  the zombie cover guessing game. 🙂

Thursday
Number of books I’ve read today (total time and pages): NONE! Maybe 50 pages
Total number of books I’ve read: 5
Books: Once a Princess… by Sherwood Smith
Challenges: See awesome post on Seasonal Books.