Bout of Books 11: Days 6 & 7

Well, day six didn't really happen for me, I was ill and tired and just wanted to watch TV, so I did.

Today was much better.

The stats:

Sunday:

Time spent reading: approx. 4 hours
Pages read: 242
Books finished: 1, Hollow City.

Social: Nope. 

Total:
Time spent reading: 15 hours 26 minutes
Pages read: 1124
books finished: 3.5
#Days social: 6/7


Books Finished:
Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (second 1/2 as I was already reading it when BoB11 started)
Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun (finished Wednesday).
Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman (finished thursday)

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. 

The evaluation:

So, how did I do?

Well, I did not read 4 books, but I got close enough (being 1/2 from it) and I did read more pages than I anticipated (aimed for 1050) so I consider that a win, I also read for longer than I aimed for so that was good too. I was social and/or updated my blog with stats and/or challenges 6/7 days and while I would have liked 7/7 I'm pretty happy about that too. I continued two series so that was great too. 

Most importantly: It was great fun. I especially enjoyed the twitter chat I participated in (planned on doing a second one, but again, I barley had the energy to lift my head). I hope everyone else who participated enjoyed the time they spent on it too!

Bout of Books11: Day five

The stats:

Time spent reading: 2 hours 16 minutes
Pages read: 154
Books finished: 0, started Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (loving it so far!)

Social: Commented on some blogs.

Total:
Time spent reading: 11 hours 26 minutes
Pages read: 882
books finished: 2.5
#Days social: 5/5

Books Finished:
Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (second 1/2 as I was already reading it when BoB11 started)
Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun (finished Wednesday).
Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman (finished thursday)

Bout of Books 11: Day 4 and Like This, Try This challenge

The stats:

Time spent reading: 2 hours 40 minutes
Pages read: 254
Books finished: 1

Social: Did a challenge, wrote some comments.

Total:
Time spent reading: 9 hours 10 minutes
Pages read: 728
books read: 2.5
#Days social: 4/4


Books Finished:
Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (second 1/2 as I was already reading it when BoB11 started)
Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun (finished Wednesday).

Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman

Like this, try that challenge:

If you like the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher you may also enjoy the Nightside series by Simon R. Green because they are both Urban Fantasy with male main characters who get hired to solve other peoples problems, and have their own sense of justice (both being loyal to the truth).

I don't recommend reading them at the same time though, one might get confused as they do use similar base mythology on occasion and the same names may pop up here and there. 

BoB11: Day 3 update + Create a sentence challenge!

The stats:

Time spent reading: 3 hours

Pages read: 195

Books finished: 1

Social: Did a challenge, wrote some comments.

Total:

Time spent reading: 6.5 hours

Pages read: 474

books read: 1.5

#Days social: 3/3

Books Finished:

Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (second 1/2 as I was already reading it when BoB11 started)

Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun (finished Wednesday).

Sentence challenge:

Today's challenge was to create a sentence using the two first words from some awesome books, it is hosted by http://bookreviewsfromachristiangal.blogspot.no/, and I think it was pretty fun! Here's what I got:

In this book I had a Shadow, here they had nothing.

What I used:

The Diviners by Libba Bray: In a

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen: Here They

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray: This book

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: I had

American Gods by Neil Gaiman: Shadow had

My one free word: nothing.

Bout of Books 1: Day 2 updates + spine poetry challenge!

The stats:

Time spent reading: 1.5 hours

Pages read: 84

Books read: 0.5 still (grrr, I'll be done with another tomorrow!)

Social: Not much, I was busy with life today, saw Guardians of the Galaxy (fun!) and went shopping for new running shoes (not so fun, but my feet will love me). Am doing the Spine Poetry challenge hosted by http://littlepocketbooks.blogspot.no/ (see below) also commenting a bit on a couple of blogs. So it's all good.

I'm a little behind on my time/page count, but I can catch up tomorrow, the most important part is that I'm still having fun with the reading!

Book spine poetry challenge:

The Outsiders

recieved

postcards from no man's land

in their

Hollow City

while
Between the Acts
Boy Meets Boy

I used five books (all good too) and wrote a little nonsense, but it is a love story I think. Love and war, two great themes there...

BoB11: Day 1 update

The stats:

Time spent reading: 2 hours
Pages read: 196
Books read: 0.5

Social: Did the Bout of Books Scavenger hunt, hostes at http://thebookmonsters.com/, that was a fun challenge. Then I participated in the twitter chat & that was fun and dizzying (My head was spinning for a while there), and my wishlist grew a mile.

What I read today:

I was in the middle of Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig and read the second half of that. Great book, dark, foul mouthed, violent and with a little lesson or two in there if you're paying attention. Miriam Black is a really unlikable and unreliable main character and I absolutely love her, I don't like her much, but I do love her. Probably not recommended for younger readers though, as this is dark adult urban fantasy and all, and Miriam Black is one fucked up heroine (but a great one). This series gets a bonus for really cool cover art too. I like just having them on my shelf. I'll be reading the third one soon I think.

 Today I've had a lot of fun & I did not fall behind on my goals. Yay!
- Kristine

Kiwie's TBR pile #7: August

Wait, this isn't the first friday of the month? This isn't even at the beginning of the month? Sorry, but in my defense I've been busy watching Covert Affairs. Yeah. I know. Shush.

Okay, so after my attempt at the BookTube-A-Thon (a week of reading) my piles were a big mess, and I've just now gotten round to putting things back where they belong. Because of my last minute decision to join in on the BookTube-A-Thon I ended up not reading my immediate TBR, so things look very much the same, but in happy news: I DID NOT BUY A SINGLE BOOK IN JULY! I feel like someone ought to be high fiving me right now. No? Fine then.

On to the important bit, these are my piles as of right now (Aug. 12):

As I'm sure you noticed the pile is the same. Some things were moved about a little, the contents are the same. No change. Hopefully by the next post there is some. I'm thinking of doing another read-a-thin, but this time without videos and travel so it would be much less stressfull! 

My immediate TBR is also much the same:

I added Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman (Goodreads | Buy it from Bookdepository). Otherwise the pile is the same, and this time I will get through it!

Kristine's doing Bout of Books: Sign up + goals

Hey!

So I really want to read a lot this month, and a read-a-thon seems like a good idea. And so I'm signing myself up for Bout of Books! I've never done this before, so I'm not enitrely in control over how it works aside from the fact that you set your own goals, sign up and then spend Aug. 18-24 reading! It's about having fun and not stressing too and that is what I need right now. You can find all the information you need at the official blog: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/.

My Bout of Books goals:

Time spent reading:

I want to read an average of 2 hours per day (14 hours total), and that time will be while I'm on the bus (audiobooks!), before bedtime and just whenever I can squeeze it in.

Specific goals:

• Read 4 books
• 1 book has to be part of a series (but not #1)
• Read an average of 150 pages per day (1050 total)
• Read an average of 2 hours per day (14 total) 
• Communicate & update: daily blogs + tweets and comments + at least one challenge

Books to read

I've decided to not make a TBR, I will have to read books I already own or books that I get from the library. I also think that for the continuation of a series I'll be reading either Hollow City by Ransom Riggs or one of Chuck Wendig's books about Miriam Black (I have two unread ones) as these are not so long. If I start into some Joe Abercrombie or some A song of Ice and Fire I won't get anything else read and I'm aiming for diversity & fun.

Here on the blog I'll be using the tag "Bob11" so now you know what that is. 

August read: Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun

This month we will be reading Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun. Sorry for giving you this information so late into the month already, but the vacation kind of went to our heads. But now we are back full time and will hopefully be bringing you good books and videos, as well as regular reviews.


About the book:

Insomnia has claimed everyone Biggs knows. Even his beloved wife, Carolyn, has succumbed to the telltale red-rimmed eyes, slurred speech and cloudy mind before disappearing into the quickly collapsing world. Yet Biggs can still sleep, and dream, so he sets out to find her.


He ventures out into a world ransacked by mass confusion and desperation, where he meets others struggling against the tide of sleeplessness. Chase and his buddy Jordan are devising a scheme to live off their drug-store lootings; Lila is a high school student wandering the streets in an owl mask, no longer safe with her insomniac parents; Felicia abandons the sanctuary of a sleep research center to try to protect her family and perhaps reunite with Chase, an ex-boyfriend. All around, sleep has become an infinitely precious commodity. Money can’t buy it, no drug can touch it, and there are those who would kill to have it. However, Biggs persists in his quest for Carolyn, finding a resolve and inner strength that he never knew he had.

Kenneth Calhoun has written a brilliantly realized and utterly riveting depiction of a world gripped by madness, one that is vivid, strange, and profoundly moving.


Why we chose this book:


It was Kat who chose this book, as she has a thing for horror. I don't really know much about this book, other than what is above. I found out about it via Pinterest and it's the first time I pick a book I found from there. So, don't know what to expect, but I hope this book will be a really creepy read!


Buy this book from: Bookdepository.
Check it out on: Goodreads
Hang out with us in our goodreads group: The Cat's Tale