2016 Mount TBR Reading Challenge (Masterpost)

I want to do the 2016 Mount TBR Reading Challenge, and I aim only to climb Pike's Peak, which is 12 books. I should be possible considering how many books I read per year (50-60), but I think it will be challenge enough. I failed miserably at last years TBR Challenge. I read 4 out of 12 books on that list. This year I am doing things a little different, as I'm not writing a TBR. Simply because I've been dreading those recently. I also want to read more new books, more Norwegian books, more high fantasy, more urban fantasy (like I don't already read tons of that), more poetry, more more more more more. I want to diversify my reading in new ways (which is why I'm doing Book Riot's Read Harder challenge as well) as well as just go where my mind wants to. I thin that's more than I can chew.

That is the current state of my unread books. Two giant piles. I really want to reduce them to one, some books I think I can just throw out, but most of them I still intend to read, or at least keep on my shelves. I think having up to 20 unread books is fine, but more than that and I feel (pointless) book guilt.

*list of books I've read will appear here*

TBRDEC: The end is nigh

The month is almost over, and so is my challenge. For me it has turned into a A Clash of Kings readathon instead. I've been reading a little bit every day and then I've been all read out. I'm hoping that when 2016 comes around I'll be done with the ting. I'm really liking it so far, the characters that I didn't like in the previous book are better this time around, mostly because everyone we follow are scattered around, and not mostly clumped together in King's Landing and Winterfell. They're everywhere and so we get something new in every part, not just a rehashing of what happened with the added perspectives of the current character. I still like following some characters less or more than others, but I am less likely to put the book down when someone I don't like turn up.

What have you been reading this week?

- Kristine

All the books I have not read and what my reading life will look like in 2016

The end of 2015 is nigh, and later I'll be going through my statistics, but mostly I feel like I haven't been doing anything I should this year (despite having read over the 50 books I set my sights on). I don't know if it is because I've been listening to most of the books I've read and thus it feels different than reading with my eyes, or if the books that I chose to read weren't what I needed, the ones I've chosen not to read.

My pile(s) of unread books is well known around these parts, and while I've tamed it down to two piles again (instead of the three I operated with earlier) I keep not reading most of them. I think I just need to cut my losses and cull them for 2016. Get rid of those books that I know I won't read, I know myself well enough to know that I won't be reading some of them, ever, and that if I should want to, years down the line I can get them again.

I feel like I haven't read enough, even though I've read some really good books. I've read some not so great ones as well, but no terrible ones (I've stopped reading a couple, because they were not good/not to my tastes). I have read, yet I feel like I have not.

I am reading now though, I'm reading a big fantasy book I've been putting off, I grew tired of high fantasy and escaped it. Now I'm enjoying it again. It is the rise and fall of the reading tide. I started 2015 with high hopes in all areas of my life, and those hopes have all been crushed (and quite frankly if 2016 doesn't turn out better I will quit). I want to do all the things, but I am very bad at doing them. So for 2016 I will join one or two reading challenges, and I'll set my goodreads challenge to 50 books, but I won't be so hard on myself about the books I don't read. I don't need imaginary guilt hanging over me. Those books don't care if I read them or not. They're printed paper, and while some of them may very well change how I feel or think forever, most of them won't, and what I don't know I can't miss.

So for 2016 I will be doing Book Riot's Read Harder challenge. I want to read more varied, they encourage me. I want to read what I want when I want to, and rid myself of the monthly TBR that I've been working with for the past few years, it does not serve me anymore.  That said I'm not ready to abandon the quest to get down to less than 20 unread books in my (physical) possession so I am also joining  2016 Mount TBR Reading Challenge, I'll be aiming no higher than Pike's Peak (12 books from my TBR) in my sign up (coming soon), though secretly hoping for Mount Blanc... I won't be writing a TBR there either, because that did not work out for me this year (with the TBR challenge I did tried to do).

Anyone else feel like 2015 didn't work out, reading wise? Or maybe it was a most excellent reading year?
-Kristine

TBRDEC: Another week

I forgot to update Sunday (and it's now been Tuesday for 11 minutes), but that's only because I was deep into my most recent read A Clash of Kings by a certain George R.R. Martin. I've read 70 pages or so already. I hope to read another 50 tonight, but I have been listening to Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind on audio as well (I've got about 7 hours left, so closing in on the end). AND then I'm reading The Good, the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison, the second in her Hollows series. This is technically a reread for me, but I gave up on this series the first time around. Now I'm really enjoying it.



My stats:
Books finished: 0.5*
Pages read: 469 + ? I haven't tallied, more than 100, less than last week. I'll get back to you. Right now I have a book to get back to.


Have you read anything this week and was it any good?

TBRDEC: Sunday catch up

Hello. Hi. It's me. I've read something every single day this week. I've read for anything between ten minutes and three hours and I love it. I barely read anything on Saturday because there was family, food and Dreamfall Chapters. I read a little before going to sleep though, so that's something.



I've finished Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray. It was pretty good. I have a lot of feelings right now as it's been only an hour since I shut it. I might write about it later. I don't know. I just really likSo e the Diviners series. The bad guy was not as cool/terrifying as in The Diviners, but I didn't expect that, this book was much sadder and emotional and not just about the dreams we have at night, but very much about the ones we have in real life, and about them breaking or coming true and losing their glamour. I loved it.

As to what I'll read next I have no idea. I made no TBR for this month, I just want to read what I want to read. There are several books I'm itching to start - or finish.

My stats:
Books finished: 0.5*
Pages read: 469

Have you read anything this week and was it any good?

*Books that I started before December count as 1/2 a book (regardless of how far I had come, unless it was under 30 pages in which case I count it as a whole).

TBRDEC15: Kill Your TBR December is a go!

Kill Your TBR December

1. Read more than you did in November.
2. Don't buy new books, read the ones you've got.

That's it. 

Real simple and fun right? The picture up there is the current state of my unread books, and then there's a few digital books as well. If you want to get real fancy you can alter rule #1 to "read more than your monthly average for 2015" in case you keep a spreadsheet too...

I will posting updates here every Sunday (6,13,20,27) and at the first day of 2016, otherwise I recommend following us on twitter, because that will be full of mini updates as we go along.

#TBRDEC15 if you're on social media.

Kill your TBR December (challenge + links to other challenges because the more the merrier!)

Hi, my name is Kristine and I'm here to complain about my TBR again. This year I have been trying to read consistently from my physical stash of books  in the TBR challenge, but that did not work out for me. I did well in January and February and after that nothing... Good intentions get us nowhere. I have not been reading much since October either, part slump, part NaNoWriMo insanity, part me feeling meh. So last night I went online and searched for readathons and challenges for December, I know I'm not the only one playing catch up at the end of the year, all those Goodreads  challenges that people will be scrambling to read, and the fact that there isn't much new happening this month in publishing, plus holidays for a lot of people (which could mean more or less time time to read).

There is a myriad of groups to join on Goodreads (of course), like this one: Hooked on Books, which I'm not familiar with (but someone I'm friends with say it's helpful), and they have readathons all the time. Such as 6-13 December, or if you just want a weekend 19-20 December, or a 24 hour one for December 26. So many options in just one group and the tracking seems really easy and no-nonsense (just a post that you update with your stats).  I found some more just browsing the groups (or searching for challenges or readathons), but that one seemed to offer the most while being relatively "calm" it that makes sense. A lot of challenges and rules are fun sometimes, but not what I wanted right now, though if I there is a BookTubeathon coming up I might just join that fun. There is also BookNerdaThon that I just discovered and seems based at YouTube, but whoever can read a long, they have ten challenges you can do (or not). If I feel like it I might participate in it. I am undecided.

I found The Witchy Readathon (Dec. 13-19) for those with that inclination (though you don't have to read witchy things, you can read whatever). Over on tumbler there is the Not-so-national book reading month, which is probably one that fits me most of all since it's for the whole month, and the rules are basically "read." That's what I wanted, almost.

So that's some stuff you can do, or you can stick with me because I decided that I'd do my own thing too. It's essentially just "read" as well, but I thought I could use a couple of rules. Since I'm always going on about my TBR and now also that I haven't been reading this is my challenge:

Kill Your TBR December

1. Read more than you did in November.
2. Don't buy new books, read the ones you've got.

That's it. Real simple and fun right? The picture up there is the current state of my unread books, and then there's a few digital books as well...

If you want to join me in reading all the things in December, following my two very simple rules (or just ditching them and reading as you please) feel free to do so, sign up below so I can see!

#TBRDEC15 if you're on social media. 

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right, a review of Vicious by V.E Schwab

 I read Vicious in three sittings. It was fast paced and entertaining, well worth the time spent reading it, but I'm not compelled to rave about it with quite as much enthusiasm as others have.

Victor and Eli were interesting nemeses, both ambitious assholes from the start, and when resurrected both lacking something that they might not really have had in the first place, that is empathy, kindness and any sense of healthy boundaries. We know from the start that this is a story about revenge as we are introduced to the characters (Victor in particular), and that these guys did some unethical science to get themselves some extra powers. In short, they became ExtraOrdinary (EO's for short). Ambition and a sort of competitive hunger drove them into this discovery, and testing it out on themselves without more than theories beforehand, and then it tore them apart. They came out on the other side of that experience different, with abilities they didn't have before and an apparent absence of kindness or empathy, that the lines of right and wrong had been erased.

I liked reading about the two men as they worked their way towards each other, trying to get the advantage, while unraveling their history and how they came to their abilities (and how they work). I was equally interested in the other EO's that showed up during the story. In the end though I was also irritated by Victor and Eli, their lack of insight into their own behaviors (it's the point, I know, but it was too much for my enjoyment, I know others think differently) and disregard for other people. I liked the sisters more, having a different kind of relationship, but similar, mirroring that of Victor and Eli to an extent (but then diverging on others). I love the depiction of close relationships that aren't healthy nor always mutually appreciated/equal (One sister trying very hard to be like the charismatic other, two roommates where one bests the other in certain ways etc). These things I like a lot.

That said the storytelling itself didn't always appeal to me, I felt no real engagement with the characters (good nor bad), I just didn't care, and while not telling everything is a great trick, I felt like I never got enough information to feel satisfied. I know there will be a sequel and I'll be reading it mostly to figure out the EO thing, and perhaps see if I can learn more about other aspects (like the police angle) etc. Not so much because I care what happens next, which would have been preferable. It is a decent story, and I liked more of it than I disliked.

- Kristine

TBR Book Tag

I came across this tag over at It's All About the Books last weekend as I was catching up on my unread blog posts (two weeks afk! Wow that acronym dated me huh?). Anyway, I used to be all about my to be read, so I thought this would be fun.

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?
It's a mess, I have one physical pile (well 3) and then a bunch of lists online, I have one on goodreads, one on Scribd, as well as wishlists and unread books on amazon and other ebook services. It's a mess and outside of my physical pile it's also often changing all the time.

Is your TBR mostly print or eBook?
Neither, if we're talking books I want to read, as I don't own most of them and I'll choose format by mood/price/availability when the time comes. Print dominates the list of books that I already own, primarily because I don't buy digital books unless I know I'll read them soon (there are exceptions of course, if something I'm interested shows up at a big discount). My reading statistics suggest that I read mostly digitally (this includes audio). The pie chart below contains the format of all the books (50) I've read so far this year:

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?
Mood, co-reading with other people (aka a deadline), or if I'm unsure I have a TBR jar, though I don't use it very often, and I haven't updated it in a while. I also keep stuff on my nightstand when I need to or want to read it soon (borrowed books, new books etc)

A book that’s been on your TBR list the longest?

I have no idea, I own a lot of books that I've had for a decade, but never read, so probably one of those, but no idea which one, possibly Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I've strated it about a million times since I was about 13, and never actually gotten past the start because everytime I start I feel like I don't have the time right then to get properly into it. I should just sit down with it next time I've got two hours of nothing ahead of me. 

 A book you recently added to your TBR?
White Trash Zombie Gone Wild by Diana Rowland. It came out oct 6 and I bought it the day before, and after that I haven't really come across anything I've wanted to read (mostly because I've been actively not looking...)

A book on your TBR strictly because of it’s beautiful cover?
Nope, I've definitely done that in the past, but there's nothing there right now.

A book on your TBR that you never plan on reading?
No, then I remove it, that of course, does not mean that I'll end up reading everything currently on my list.

An unpublished book on your TBR that you’re excited for?
Not at the moment. I'm not very good at keeping on top of what is coming out. I've got plenty with what's already out there, though I know a Welcome to Nightvale novel is imminent and I'll have to get that won't I?

A book on your TBR that everyone has read but you?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I feel like I just needed to get some time between me and the hype, and I have both available to me at the moment, so I should probably get on that.

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you?
None, people don't recommend stuff to me a lot, the exeption being Kat and I'm pretty sure I got half my TBR from her anyway.

A book on your TBR that you’re dying to read?
White Trash Zombie Gone Wild because it is my newest purchase, and the latest in a series that is very funt. I'm also waiting to get to Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, but right now is not the time (I'm sick and unfocused).

How many books are on your Goodreads TBR shelf?
Right now 100 (nice round number!), but it needs an update, and I've got 42 on a "maybe" shelf. And if you're reading this in the future (which you are) it's probably alread changed.

Thanks for reading! If you've done this tag leave a link below, and if you want to do it come back with the link once you've done it. It was really fun to do, and forced me to consider my TBR a little harder than usual. I've been neglecting it since I stopped with the TBR posts that I used to do (I quit a year ago, accidentally really). If anyone wants me to start them up again let me know, I just might!

Bout of Books 14

Well. It seems that all I do is readathons these days... This is not entirely true, but they give my otherwise meanigless life a point. So here we go again. Bout of Books 14.

For those who do not know what Bout of Books is all about:

"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 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd 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 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog." - From the Bout of Books team

My #1 goal, and the only one that really matters is: READ AS MUCH AS I WANT TO!

Of curse I have to have additional ones:

• Like last time I want to finish (almost) everything I'm currently reading. Again I've got a lot. I found last time that it was really helpful, so I'm doing it agian. Allowing myself to have two books ongoing by the end (because that's my bare minimum you guys). This time none of the books were started in 2013 (one in 2014 though... Yep, still reading The Bone Clocks it is going to be top priority)
• Read at least two hours a day (on average), that's 14 hours total.
• Read a 1000 pages (which should line up with my time goal)
• Be an active participant (update the blog, tweet, do challenges, comment etc.)

The last one is really vague, but in essence: Do something every day, preferably something that communicates with others and isn't just shouting into the void.

I'll be giving you the daily updates in this post (in order to not bore everyone who subscribes to the blog to death with my page count):

MONDAY
Books finished: You're Never Weird on the Internet (almost) by Felicia Day

Books read in/started: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

time spent reading: 2 hours

Pages read: N/A because  I listened to audio for the most part, probably around 150 pages though. 

TUESDAY
Books finished: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson,
The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver (Ruby Oliver #1) by E. Lockhart

Books read in/started:

time spent reading: 5 hours

Pages read: 542

       

WEDNESDAY
Books finished: -

Books read in/started: Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart

time spent reading: 4 hours

Pages read: 120

THURSDAY
Books finished: Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart

Books read in/started: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

time spent reading: 3 hours

Pages read: 101

FRIDAY
Books finished:

Books read in/started: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

time spent reading: 30 minutes

Pages read: 20

SATURDAY
Books finished:

Books read in/started: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

time spent reading: 2 hours

Pages read: 88

Road Trip Challenge:
London: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.
Paris: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Amsterdam: Postcards From No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers (Set in & around Amsterdam)
Berlin: The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris/Goodbye To Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

SUNDAY

Books finished: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, Vicious by V.E Schwab.

time spent reading: 3.5 hours

Pages read: 365

What to read next challenge:
1. My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. Perhpas not great literature, but certainly very entertaining zombie fiction! I really loved this book and the main character.
2. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. A lovely piece of standalone fantasy. The only book I've read from this author (so far), and I absolutely loved it. About love and war, in Spain-like lands, between several groups of people who want to take over.
3. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran. Don't read this if you are offended by teenage sexuality, also don't assume it's all about that after the opening passage. It's not about  finding yourself, but about creating yourself, and my copy is full of tabs of things that rang so true I had to remember them or that were just beautifully written. It's funny and angsty, and if while it's a bit slow some parts stick with it. It is a decent coming of age story.

TOTALS:
Books finished: 5

time spent reading: 20 hours

Pages read: 1386

How I feel it went:
I read way less than I could due to a Leverage shaped hole in my time. I should have had someone I trust take my Netflix password away from me for the week... Next time (nah, never gonna happen).

I didn't participate in most challenges. I normally love the scavenger hunt one, so that was weird. I'm a bit lethargic recently, or you know, lazy as other people call it. That's probably it. I did do a few rounds on blogs (where I left comments), and I participated in the Saturday chat (so intense, but so fun) using our twitter account. So I wasn't entirely unsocial. So that's good too.

I'm so happy I finished The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. I've been reading that since Oct/Nov 2014! Definitely time to get it off my "currently reading" list.

2015 TBR-Challenge half-way update! (and some general musings about my reading life right now)

I've read 2 out of 12 books. So I'm falling further and further behind, but I've been putting off starting big books as I have been reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell and I've been at it all year. Not because it's slow, or bad or even that long (it is about 600 pages I think), but because it is a novel composed of smaller parts that are like novellas that are interconnected and I keep stopping for a month between each one, and I don't feel like starting another big or heavy read while I'm in the middle of that one, and I've been somewhat ambitious with some of the titles on my list. I have also been reading other books, and in May I was reading 7 books at once and needed to finish some of those, by June I was down to 4 (one of which I stared in May, because self-control is not something I don't have). Of course now, I'm back up at 5 (the moral of that story is that you should always have two of the books you are currently reading available in more than one format, as my phone was rapidly approaching comatose as I had an hour to kill and had planned on listening to an audiobook, but obviously couldn't. The library was right there and well, you know the rest). The good news is that I have read 28 books this year and that finishing 15 more shouldn't be a problem...

I've read a lot of fun, light (but often somewhat depressing) urban fantasy this year (like last year) and those books are always good to have alongside other reads, and I have only read a two books I didn't like very much, but a few more books that I'd best describe as "meh" than I expected. That said I've also had a lot of fun with some of the things that I've read. I feel like I'm in a bit of a slump right now, even though I've read something every day I haven't finished anything in two weeks. I'm just slugging along. Video games and light (humorous drama) TV-series seem more my cup of tea recently, and that's fine too, but I don't have goals to reach there...

Carmilla

I read this mostly because I like vampires a bit more than I should (I blame Angela Sommer-Bodenburg's The Little Vampire), and if you like vampires enough to seek out narratives focused on them you'll run into Carmilla at some point. There are some spoilers coming your way so if you don't want them walk away now.

Carmilla starts off strongly, but if you judge by the amount of times I put it down and forgot about it, didn't stay interesting throughout, this is probably because the fact that Carmilla is a vampire (and the villain) is something you know before going in and the prose alone is not entirely enough to satisfy me as a reader. That does not mean I didn't enjoy it, but that any element of surprise is gone and it can get a bit tedious when they're all stumbling about not quite understanding what is going on (which is a thing that happen in modern vampire (or other supernatural/mythological/whatever creature) stories too, and I just want to ask them if they've never seen a movie or read a book before while throttling them).

I quite liked the setting, a lonely Schloss with a lonley girl in it, and then the surprise appearance of another guest, hurled into their lives by a mother who dares not travel on with her fragile daughter after a convenient carriage accident on the road outside the castle. The guest is the languid and beautiful Carmilla, who instantly develops a close relationship with the castle's inhabitants, the daughter, Laura, in particular.

Carmilla craves closeness and intimacy, along with the blood. Laura and Carmilla talk, laugh, walk arm in arm, hug and exchange kisses (but not on the mouth I think, you Le Fanu was a tease!). The latter making Laura a little uncomfortable, but she adores Carmilla. "I wonder if you feel as strangely drawn towards me as I do to you; I have never had a friend -- shall I find one now?" Carmilla says to Laura while telling her that she has felt that they've known each other forever, and Laura feels similarly, "but there was also something for repulsion" she explains, but the attraction and fascination were stronger, despite Carmillas weird behaviour and sleepwalking. While this is described as a friendship the romantic undertones really aren't very covert, you don't have to try very hard if that's what you are looking for here (and many have). And this relationship between a predator and it's prey is what makes this book interesting, and is probably why a lot of people read it today (in combination with an interest in the vampire's earlier literary days).

Carmilla is secretive, mysterious and beautiful, and of course, a vampire, the monster and villain of the story, but she bats her eyelashes and is, or pretends to be, exhausted and fragile and everyone loves her. She's a monster in disguise as a living doll. Carmilla and Laura mirror each other in many ways, both being (seemingly) young, lonely women. Both vampire and human crave a connection, but where Laura wants friendships, Carmilla is mostly hungry. There developes and intimacy and a friendship between them almost instantly (but not in an "instalove" fashion), because they're the only girls there. Laura has recently been deprived of a visit from another girl she had looked forward to seeing and is happy to have a replacement, and Carmilla is a delight.

The vampire is the typical one, to kill it you must stake it, chop it's head off and burn both that and the body in order to be sure it won't come back. It can vanish from sight (becomes air/mist?), and it kills its victims by draining them of blood (and life) slowly. One human = many meals. Carmilla is found in the end, sleeping in a coffin full of blood, her pulse and breathing faint, but present. It is also stated that one might become a vampire by suicide, "under certain circumstances" (whatever those are. Suicide is a sin though right? Religion is important here, because if you've attracted a vampire you don't need a doctor, but a priest), and once you have one vampire you'll have more, as it's nature is to procreate. Vampires are mostly mindless, but Carmilla is a bit of a different story and so forth. I wish some things were better explained (like the circumstances one would require to become one while killing oneself). The expert that comes to the rescue barley get to explain himself before they've found the grave containing Carmilla and beheaded her, the ending is a little rushed, but of course it could easily have been completely boring after Carmilla is found out if this wasn't the case.

Bob13 Challenge: Your favorite BoB13 read

Today I've decided (/figured out that I'm able...) to participate in another challenge. Once Upon a Chapter has a picture challenge where you find your favorite book in this bout of books so far.

This was surprisingly hard because on one hand I'm currently reading The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay and I'm really enjoying it, on the other hand I really loved How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran, which is the book that comes victorious out of this simply because I know how it ends. Who knows, maybe Lions will fall apart completely in the last 150 pages? (I don't thinks so, but I don't know for sure).

Katastrofekats taleathon reaults

Better late then never, right? Here are my initial tbr:

And the challenges was this
Read a graphic novel or comic.
Read something translated. 
Read something by a non-white author
Read something by a LGBTQIA author
Read a different text type/format than you normally read

As you can see, I completet them all. I read Gunnerkrigg Court by Thomas Siddell for a graphic novel, Baise Moi by Virginie Despentes for a translated book (originally in french and I read it in norwegian), Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn as a book by a non-white author, Black Iris by Leah Raeder for a book by an LGBTQIA author and The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories by Tim Burton for a format I don't usually read, as I rearly read poetry.

All in all, I read these books:

Baise moi by Virginie Despentes

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

Black Iris by Leah Raeder

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy by Tim Burton

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Gunnerkrigg Court Volume 1 by Thomas Siddell 

Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker 

I manged to read seven things in all for this readathon, which I'm pretty pleased about, but I'm mostly excited about the fact that I read outisde of my usual comfort sone, which is always good to do on occation. And I read all my tbr books, which never happens!

BoB13: Bookish Survey

This is a challenge hosted by Lori at Writing My Own Fairy Tale. And since challenges are fun (and social, which is half the bout of books fun) I thought I'd join in. 

The questions in this challenge are as follows:

1. How do you organize your shelves?

I tried to organize them by genre/type and then just go alphabetically, but because I've got a three-layer thing going on in one shelf, and the other is very long under a sloping ceiling I inevitably end up re-arranging that bit by height (even though I've had it by genre/alphabet before).  Below are pictures, well, the first one is mostly just a blur, but you get the idea, that's the one with three layers! Sorry about the quality of some of these photos, it is super dark and rainy outside today and my room is not very well lit. 

My unread books are in actual piles:

 Then there's my looooong shelf, which didn't fit into one picture, so you get two. The second picture starting where the first ends:

2. What is one of your favorite book that’s not in one of your favorite genres?

I don't know. Most of what I read these days is fantasy or young adult. I think I'll have to say Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf or Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood perhaps? This is too hard!

3. What is the last 5 star book you read?

According to Goodreads that was Råta by Siri Pettersen, which is probably true (for now). The last English-language 5 star book I read was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which was super sweet and made me cry a lot. 

4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon?

All of them? While I am very exited to get through most of my currently reading list (7 books in total, 6 left at time of writing). I'm probably most exited about finishing Carmilla and How to Build a Girl because I have no idea why I haven't already (okay, so maybe I lost How to Build a Girl for a little bit, but then I found it and should have finished it, but no whatever I'd started in between was super exiting and so forth). 

5. What book do you recommend the most?

It's probably Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch becaus the Peter Grant series is my favourite! Magic, London and a great mix of the horrible with the hilarious! 

The objects in this photo has nothing to do with what is inside the book, I was just too lazy to move them. 

BoB13!

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, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th 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 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Apparently one does not do one bout of books without signing up for another, and another, and another. You get the point. Next Monday (May 11.)  it's go time again, and I'm officially IN! 

My last attempt was a bit of a failure, but I'm still super happy with myself from our own Taleathon and ready for more hardcore reading! 

I'll try to be chatty and social (which I failed at last time because I was suffering from winter blah-ness), I want to participate in some challenges (because those are so fun!) too. 

Reading goals?

Empty my "currently reading" shelf/list on goodreads. As I write this there are 7 books on there, one I haven't picked up since 2013 so I think this is a great opportunity to either finish the books or capitulate and write them up as unfinished and MOVE ON!

Stats/Sum-ups per day:
Monday:
Books finished: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Books read in/listened to: Small Favor by Jim Butcher (audio)
I also participated in a challenge: Bookish Survey
I am very happy with the day.

Tuesday
Books finished: How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
Books read in/listened to:
Am moderately pleased with today, I hoped to read more, but wasn't up for reading anything more after finishing the book I read in, but I'm very happy to have done that. I loved the book.

Wednesday
Books finished: Small Favour by Jim Butcher
Books read in/listened to: Run Fat Bitch Run
Today was not a good day life wise, but I did finish listening to Small Favour which is what I planned, and as I am writing this I am planning to read a little bit in a book I've not picked up since 2013 because I got so angry with it (I don't have too much left, I think...).

Thursday
Books finished: Run Fat Bitch Run
Books read in/listened to: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed and The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

I finished the running book last night, but since it was after midnight I'm couting it for today. I also read about a hundred pages of The Lions of Al-Rassan and listened to three-four hours of Wild. All in all a very good day, even if I was supposed to read Lions and only that, but couldn't stay away from an audiobook, and I had started it previously, so technically it counts, even if I hadn't originally planned on finishing it. Now it seems that I will.

Friday
Books finished: None
Books read in/listened to: Wild and The Lions of Al-Rassan. I've gotten pretty far in both of those and expect to finish by the end of the weekend, if life doesn't get too much in the way (which it might because I've got plans for Saturday and Sunday is our national day. Which means that there will be less reading than the other days, but I feel relatively confident.

Saturday
Books finished: None
Books read in/listened to: Wild

Sunday
Books finished: Wild
Books read in/listened to: Wild and The Lions of Al-Rassan.

Grand total:
Books finished: 3
I participated in two challenges, commented on a bunch of blogs, and hung out a bit on twitter. I missed the bookchat I'd planned on, but I figured hanging out with real life people was probably something I should do (also go see a movie). I still have three books to read according to my goodreads "currently reading" and my goal was to empty it, but I finished two books I'd been reading for quite some time, and one I only recently started.

I have very little left of The Lions of Al-Rassan though, so I'll be done with that too soon, and my list of books I've started, but never finished (but want to) is going to be down to two, one of which I only very recently started. I just abandoned that one because I wanted to listen to an audiobook instead (that was Wild btw). So I'm writing this up as a successful readathon!

-Kristine

Kristine's Taleathon results!

I finished two books that I had started before the readathon, Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, and Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews. The former was an audiobook and the latter a paperback from the library. I also read Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland and Blue is the Warmest Colour by Julie Maroh. In addition to this I tried reading something different from what I normally read and went for some poetry, I picked 10 poems from my Norton Anthology of American Literature (because I don't own a single poetry book) and read those too.

How I did with the challenges, I've put a line through the ones I succeeded with:
Read a graphic novel or comic.
Read something translated. 
Read something by a non-white author
Read something by a LGBTQIA author
Read a different text type/format than you normally read 

Dun dun dun! 

Of the books I read I think I liked Blue is the Warmest Colour best it was quiet and loud (what do you mean contradictory?) and frustrating in the best kind of way. Magic Burns was fun too, and Guilty Pleasures was a re-read for me, and I discovered that I'd forgotten a lot of it (not surprising), but it was still fun (if not as great as I remembered, but then I was 14 when I read it first. Ten years make a difference). Vengeance Bound was not for me, I liked the concept, but not the writing or the characters. It started strong, but then fell apart for me. The poetry was poetry, I spent about two hours reading a selection of poems and some I liked, others I couldn't figure out and I really don't have the patience for thinking too long about them... 

Kristine's Taleathon TBR!

If you didn't read our last update: We've made our own little readathon! We've given it the silly name Taleathon, mostly because it was short, and catathon sounded a bit, well, worse? Idk. It starts isn 14 hours for me, as I am writing this, and I thought I'd come up with a TBR and stuff!

I have only three books I might want to read on paper, the rest are all e-books. I've got Magic Burns by Illona Andrews, because I've got it checked out of the library and I've started it, but not picked it up for a week so I want to finish that. Then I've got Virginia Woolf's Orlando because that is the next book I want to read. I don't think I'll get to that, but you never know. Then I've got the first Locke & Key volume because I was supposed to read that last year, but it has been sitting on my night stand since I borrowed it (from Katastrofekat, who then got a box set of all of them and kindly let me keep this one so the pressure went off entirely!).

In addition to those I might read Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland because someone recommended it to me and I've read the beginning and it was compelling. Lastly I've planned on reading the graphic novel Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh because it's been on my reading list for a while and it is a graphic novel. I am saving the stories with pictures in them for Saturday, as that is free comic book day and that obviously makes thematic sense... In addition I'll probably be reading a little poetry, which I rarely do, or some essay or other, but I'm putting off that decision for a while longer.

Cat's Tale Readathon! #Taleathon (May 1-3)

I was complaining that I can't seem to finish any books recently, and that I should have a little readathon for myself this weekend. Then Kat said she might join in and we figured we might as well bring it to the blog! So here we are, with a little last-minute readathon! No prizes, no competition, no rules, no requirements to participate outside "read something". The idea is just to read more than you would normally, but we have a few challenges if you (like us) like to check things off a list to feel like your are making progress!

We want you to finish that book you've been reading forever, but keep putting down for other things, try a new genre or a new format, broaden your reading life a little bit, try a new author, and move outside your comfort zone a little bit!

Entirely optional challenges:
Read a graphic novel or comic (Saturday is Free comic Book Day, so we encourage you to read one then!)
Read something translated
Read something by a non-white author
Read something by a LGBTQIA author
Read a different text type/format than you normally read (ex. if you read novels normally you might try a poem, short story, essay or non-fiction of some kind).

We want to challenge ourselves to read more, more stories, more diversely, more types of writing. We on't count books, instead we're counting works (so you count a poem, an essay and a novel equally, and if you, like me will try to finish things you've started a while ago write that up too!). If you want to count otherwise you are free to do so, pages, panels or whatever! You can make a TBR or you can read randomly, you can quietly read along and say nothing, or you can be chatty and write posts and tweets and whatevers all the time!

In Norway (where we live) May 1 is a national holiday (labour day) and so we figured we'd start reading the first minute of May 1 and keep reading until the last minute of May 3. Well, when we're not sleeping, procrastinating or spending some time with people that want to see our faces that is. We're GMT +2 hours (Central European Summer Time be damned!) and will start reading at 00:00 May 1, and end at 23:59 May 3, but you are welcome to start according to your timezone, but we'll probably not be active before/after (okay maybe we will, who knows!) our own zone.

We will be present here on the blog (daily updates) and on our twitter account, where we will be using the hashtag #Taleathon because why not? Feel free to use it too and keep us from talking to ourselves all the time! Our twitter: https://twitter.com/cats_tale

If you want tips on diverse reading: http://bookriot.com/tag/readdiverseFAQ/ go poke around in that Book Riot tag, or just on Book Riot in general, there are a lot of tips!

 Below is a sign-up/particpation link widget, where we encourage you to leave a link if you decide to participate, you can leave a link to a masterpost, a TBR post etc. We hope we won't be reading alone!

How I (try) to remember what I read!

I read about 50 books a year. I can't possibly remember all of them, and certainly not the ones I read five years ago! I am terrible with details. I often remember how a book made me feel, but rare is the book that I manage to recall much of months after I've read it. It goes without saying that some of the books I read I don't need nor want to remember, but I still want to know what I read and how I felt about it. I don't want to go to the library only to come home with books I've already been through, and read them with what at first feels like déjà vu then turns into remembering who the killer was and angrily slamming the book shut. This happens to my mother all the time. So I told her to at least write down the titles she has read. She keeps a notebook by her bed now (where she reads the most), but I don't think she actually uses it. She should.

Keep a list of the titles you read

It doesn't have to be fancy at all, just write down the books in a notebook or a document of some kind. You can use tracking sites such as goodreads or librarything (and a number of others) or create your own spreadsheet. I use a combination of methods. I have a Goodreads account where I track what I read when I read it (and give somewhat arbitrary ratings, and on occasion, reviews), a spreadsheet I fill in after I've read something (with information I want to track and compile as the reading year progresses).

Write notes while you read

I like to highlight, underline and write notes when I read things I know I'll want to remember. Most e-book apps will let you highlight, bookmark and take notes. I write in my books too, but if I don't want to I write in a notebook (sometimes I rip out the pages and stuff them into the book I read, other times I can't or don't need to do that and I just keep them in the notebook. Spiral binding is useful for this. Then I can decide what to do when I'm done reading). I do not write long notes (unless I do), and I'm not a collector of quotes (though I'll underline particularly nice ones anyway) so often it is just a page of random thoughts or guesses on how the story progresses. I usually pair my notebook note with a page number so I know what I'm talking about if I need to reference it later.

Write down your thoughts afterwards

I know, you'd rather start the next book, hang out with some people you like, catch up on twitter or watch a TV-show/movie, but taking ten minutes to think about what you just read and then write it down will make it easier to remember later. I don't always do this, but when I don't I often regret it. I write my thoughts in a variety of places: in a notebook (I keep it next to where I usually read), in the review section of my Goodreads account, here on the blog (or on my Norwegian blog), and sometimes in some document or note-taking app on any of my digital devices (Mostly I use Evernote for this). This way I can read over the paragraph (or three) that I wrote and remember things. If I am reading a series I'll also write down things I'll want to keep in mind for later or questions I have. My personal notes are sometimes very confusing and I forgot what I meant, so I recommenced full sentences, but sometimes just keywords work for me, or lists of things I liked and didn't like. This is very much the same method I used when I read my curriculum in school, and it works quite well. If I can be bothered I read over it, and perhaps add new notes, about a week later too, but I'm mostly too lazy for that. If I borrowed the book I sometimes take a picture of the cover and keep it somewhere as a bonus visual reminder.

- Kristine.

Winger by Andrew Smith and the challenge jar

Winger by Andrew Smith

So, I really don't know what to say about this book. Maybe I can start with why I read it. I picked the challenge "Read a hyped book you are unsure you will like" from my challenge jar and this is the book I chose. 

I really didn't like it. I didn't hate the book, but I was right in thinking that it wasn't for me. I guess I know myself. The book wasn't horrible at all, and the author writes well, it's just that the subject matter of the book didn't interest me at all. I felt like nothing happened at all in this book, except for in the fifty last pages. This book has 439 pages, so it was a lot of pages without any action at all. On top of all this, the main character was very annoying. Sure, he is only 14 years old, but he was so juvenile, perverted and annoying to me and this book is written in first person, so we get to read all about everything that happens inside his head. 

While reading this book, it was okay. I wasn't enjoying myself and forgetting about stuff, I was really conscious of myself reading. And every time I put the book down, which I did a lot, as I wasn't that into it, I really, really didn't want to pick it back up again. Towards the end, it got so bad that I was moaning out loud every time I had to pick up my iPad. The fact that I was reading this on my iPad might have contributed to me not wanting to pick up the book, as I have a lot of headaches and reading on a glowing screen is no fun then, but I know I wouldn't have liked the book any better in any other format. I rated it two stars on Goodreads, as the book was written alright and everything and I don't think giving it a one star review just because it wasn't for me at all would be fair. After all, I went into this book pretty much expecting not to like it that much or be blown away. 

 March Challenge 

The challenge I picked out of my jar today, was to finis a trilogy I have already started. Okay, I have to admit that I kind of cheated, but the first challenge I picked was to read a non-fiction book, and I have just read a lot of non-fiction books and really don't want to read any more right now. So going with this challenge would be setting myself up for failure. So I picked another one. 

I decided to read this book: 

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

I have been putting of this book for a while, as unfortunately I got spoiled on the big thing. You know, that big thing that half the world got spoiled on. But it's time to finish this trilogy. 

Last month I also picked The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon from my tbr-jar, but I haven't gotten to that yet. The tbr-jar is not something I will be doing every month, just when I feel like it, so I'm not in a rush to read this book, but I will probably pick it up soon. I want to read some physical books now, as I have only read ebooks and listened to audio books so far this year. 

What are you reading at the moment? And if anyone has any good challenges for my jar, please leave a comment, as more challenges are fun to have. I think I will use my challenge jar for more than just this year. I quite like it! 

Author reccomendation: Chuck Wendig

Thought I might try out something new here on the blog: author recommendations. This might be the only post under that heading, ever, but at least you know I meant it. - Kristine

Chuck Wendig, I've written his name three times in a short time now and it is already starting to not make sense, but thankfully his writing does. A year ago I had no idea who this person was or what they wrote, then someone retweeted him into my feed and it was funny so I followed him on Twitter and here we are today. I've read five of his books and it is actual agony that a sixth is in the post office waiting for me right now (also, I don't get how it didn't FIT into our mailbox, because then I would have it now. I need a new mailbox). I've read his three Miriam Black novels and his two Heartland novels (plus The Wind has Teeth Tonight: A Gwennie Story which is a short story about, you guessed it, a character from the books named Gwennie). The book at the post office is Atlanta Burns (which, as I understand it, is a bind up of two stories about a character named Atlanta Burns and that's all I know so far because I don't want to know more beforehand. I just want to read it).

The Miriam Black series (Blackbirds, Mockingbird and The Cormorant) follows the titular protagonist who is no-nonsense, ass-kicking angry ball of guilt and a vague sense of right and wrong. There's swearing, sex and violence, and a lot of death, because Miriam touches people and see how they die, and the books center around whether what she sees is faith or if it can be avoided, and if it can should it? Can Miriam decide that? Who else? Necessity solutions. I love this series a lot.

The Heartland Trilogy has two books out so far (and a short story), and those are Under the Empyrean Sky and Blightborn. This is young adult sci-fi fantasy, and it is fun. Here's the official description of Under the Empyrean Sky:

Corn is king in the Heartland, and Cael McAvoy has had enough of it. It’s the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow — and the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it. As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables, trying to earn much-needed ace notes for their families. But Cael’s tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He’s sick of the mayor’s son besting Cael’s crew in the scavenging game. And he’s worried about losing Gwennie — his first mate and the love of his life — forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry — angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn’t seem upset about any of it. Cael’s ready to make his own luck . . . even if it means bringing down the wrath of the Empyrean elite and changing life in the Heartland forever.

Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? It is, there's the extravagant elite with their fancy ways and our heroes with their hard lives, but the characters are worth following, and the genetically modified corn is fascinating and I'll admit to being childish enough to have called my tablet a visidex (because that's something they have here) for weeks after reading this. Cael McAvoy is very much drawn into things thinking he knows something, but he doesn't. He fumbles around doing what he thinks is right, saying stupid shit he never should have said and forgets to listen to his friends sometimes, but his heart is mostly in the right place. These books are quite fast reads, but lengthy and fleshed out enough to be interesting, as is the world, a bit of a genetically modified corn-dystopia really. Warning: You'll be very frustrated by the lack of a third book at the end of Blighborn. I literally shouted "more!!!" when there wasn't any. I would have thrown my book across the room if it wasn't for the fact that I bought it digitally (it was a Kindle Daily Deal at some point) and it would be an expensive toss. In all fairness book two came out in July 2014 and this was September, but the last book is supposed to be out in July 2015, if one is to believe amazon (and I know that they're often wrong in such matters and that such matters can be a little unpredictable, but given that Skyscape is their imprint so I'm guessing it's more likely to be correct).

Wendig has also written books about writing. I know people like them and I might get one at some point (I like writing), but I can't say anything about those, but I've read two very different fiction styles from him and I like it. Especially because I get to roll my eyes over main characters that make mistakes and do stupid shit (and then get to mentally hug them as they realize or fixes things). Yeah. He's definitely been the writer I've read the most of in 2014 and, my psychic ability (to know what I want to read) suggests that his presence is strong in my 2015, he's got books in his brain and I want to read them. Starting with Atlanta Burns. Tomorrow. (I hope).

Chuck Wendig's website is: http://terribleminds.com/ and his twitter: @chuckwendig

My reading goals and challenges for 2015

First I should maybe mention that this is Katastrofekat, returning from the dead. Hallo!
So, my tbr-pile is never ending and that is just the way I prefer it. The thought of having nothing to read gives me mild anxiety and even though I love the library, I much prefer owning the books I read. I collect books. My goal in life, my only proper goal actually, now that I think of it, is to own a library before I'm 30 years old. I've just turned 25 and as of today (and not counting the books on the way in the mail to me, or books I have lent out to my friend and fellow blogger or my mum, so this is just the books in my apartment today), I own 768 physical paper books. So I think this is a very achievable goal, but still something I really work toward. As I'm buying books every time I have money to spare and I can convince my partner to let me spend even more money on books, participating in tbr-projects such as #0by16, seems like a pointless task for me. But I still want to read the books I own, I'm just not in a hurry to finish all my books. To convince me to pick up books I might have forgotten in my tbr-pile, I have set myself some goals and challenges this year.

2015 reading goals

First of all, my goals for this year, is:

- Finish the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan (which I started to re-read about a year and a half ago)

- Finish the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud  (a series I started again last year)

- Start, and hopefully finish, The Last apprentice series. I think this is also called the Seventh Son series or the Wardstone Chronicles, by Joseph Delaney

- Finish re-reading (and reading the end for the first time) The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (I started this goal this month)

- Re-read the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

So that is the goals I have sat myself for this year. I also have a goodreads challenge to read a hundred books this year, but as I'm already done with 40 books this far, I think this is an achievable goal. Secretly (or not so secretly), I really want to try to finish 200 books in 2015, but I'm not so sure I can do that. Reading slumps is a thing that happens and as I'm living with depression, life can be a bit hard to predict. But if I actually read 200 books in a year, I think I would have to have a party to celebrate this achievement, as it it something I have never thought I would actually manage to do. You can check out my goodreads page and challenge here, if you want to see how I'm doing.

Then there is this:

February Challenge

This is my new challenge jar. I have collected reading challenges from all over the place, so I can't credit the inventors of the challenges, as I have no idea where I got most of them. A few is from the popsugar 2015 reading challenge, some I thought of, and some I heard on booktube. 

Anyways, I plan to pick a note each month and find a book that matches the challenge and then read it that month. I hope this will make my reading a bit more diverse and exciting then it would have been without this jar. 

So, the challenge I picked for February was to read a hyped book you are unsure is for you. 

For this challenge I will either read I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson or  Winger by Andrew Smith. 

I'm not sure which to pick, so do any of you have some input to which I should read?

I also have a tbr-jar. Here it is: 

The book I picked for this month from my tbr-jar, is The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

So there you have it. I have to read two of the three books mentioned in this blogpost, and as I'm really torn between the two books that both fulfill my February challenge, I really want your input on this. Help me out here! 

Review: Succubus on Top (Gerogina Kincaid #2) by Richelle Mead

This is a review of the SECOND book in the series and while I'm mostly being vague it might be a little spoilery anyway. 

I bought this right after I finished Succubus Blues, in May 2013, but then never got around to reading it, until now. If you want to read what I thought about the first book: Goodreads. I did not like Succubus on Top all that much, but that is mostly just me wanting something else, which I really can't hold against Richelle Mead or her main character Georgina. As the first book this is one dash mystery, one dash succubus sex, one dash romance and a whole lot of trying to keep your life sorted (even really old succubi have trouble in that department!). It is entertaining, fairly evenly paced and is resolved in satisfactory manner. It's a totally okay urban fantasy/paranormal romance/mystery story.

I still really like this universe, even more now that they've introduced other pantheons than Christianity. I just don't like the characters much, which isn't a requirement for a book to be good and/or enjoyable, but I spent too much time being annoyed at their choices and their behavior. This problem is entirely mine though, and I'm sure other readers will get a kick out of it. One of my gripes with the first book was that Georgina is thousands of years old (literally) and still acts like that isn't the case. In the first book she seemed clueless about everything that was going on regarding the mystery, and while she's better in this one I still don't get why a person who works at a bookstore (and loves books, and has a lot knowledge) don't know some of these things (I realize that it is for plot purposes). She's just exasperating sometimes. I don't much care for Seth either, and Bastien, well, what an ass. 

Another thing I didn't like was that there was too much relationship and to little mystery. The balance in the previous book was much more even, this one landed too heavy on the relationship side of things, which I'm also really not that into. Again, that's personal preference. The writing is fine, on par with the previous book, but none of the plot lines were all that interesting, I preferred the ambrosia one over the others, and that wasn't given a lot of attention. 

Bob12: Day 7 + sum up

And it's over. It was a bit of a wibbly wobbly experience for me this year, with blue days, and stormy days (the latter is not a metaphor) and distractions from Netflix and my desire to sleep forever.

Day 7:
Books finished: 1
Pages read: 353
Time spent reading: 5 hours
Social? Nah.

Results:
Finish my main current read (Råta by Siri Petterson): Done
Read 4 books (in addition to the one I'm finishing!): 2.5 books. So not done.
1 book has to be part of a series: Done, the first book I read was part of a series.
Read an average of 150 pages per day (1050 total): 1045 - Soooo close! I'm considering it done.
Read an average of 2 hours per day (14 total): Done: 16 hours
Communicate & update: daily blogs + tweets and comments + at least one challenge: Fail. 

Books completed:


Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran (affiliate link)

Råta by Siri Pettersen. (Goodreads link)
The Merciless by Danielle Vega (affiliate link)

Books begun:
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.
Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead.


Thoughts: 
I'm unhappy with my participation in fun social things, as well as my lack of reading on some days, but all in all I'm pleased. I've learned that time spent reading is perhaps the best goal (because trust me one page of a book =/= one page of another), and I chose a really slow, long book this week and that just kept me from hitting the other goals. I did kickstart my reading year though, and I'm really pleased with that. I'm already well underway. Now to tackle the challenges & goals I've set for the rest of the year!

Bob12: Stats day 5 & 6

Stats day 5+6:
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 54
Time spent reading: 2 hours
Social? Nah.

Book I've been reading?
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (page 144).


Stats total
Books read: 1.5
Pages read: 693
Time spent reading: 12 hours
Social aspect: Some, but not much.
Other goals achieved: Part of series, finish the book I was reading when challenge started.

Books completed:
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran (affiliate link)
Råta by Siri Pettersen. (Goodreads link)

Thoughts: I've been watching Alias instead... Whoops. That was my Friday, my Saturday was a little different: There was a minor matter of a storm, a falling tree and no electricity for the better part of the day, as well as getting to know my toilet better than I care to,  I also hit a sloooow part of my book and I felt like I was reading and reading and reading, but getting nowhere. '

I'm annoyed at myself for Friday, but fine with Saturday, there really were a lot of valid distractions.

Bob12: Day 4 stats

Stats day 4:
Books finished: 0.2 (rest of the rest of a book...)
Pages read: 170
Time spent reading: 3 hours
Social? Nah.

Books I've been reading?
Råta by Siri Pettersen, which I also read yesterday and finished today. I've been working my way though this one slowly, because I didn't want it to end.
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.

Stats total

Books read: 1.5
Pages read: 639
Time spent reading: 12 hours
Social aspect: Some, but not much.
Other goals achieved: Part of series, finish the book I was reading when challenge started.

Books completed:
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran (affiliate link)
Råta by Siri Pettersen. (Goodreads link)

Other thoughts: I'm so tired, I just want to sleep, and that means that I'll read less than I want to, though I'm mostly on track, so I'm not complainig, I was hoping I'd be more social and read more than what I'm currently doing, but I have forced myself out of a reading slump. So hurrah for that!

BoB12: Day 3 updates!

Stats day 3:
Books read: 0.3
Pages read: 100
Time spent reading: 2 hours
Social? Nah.

Book I've been reading? Råta by Siri Pettersen, which is a Norwegian YA fantasy novel (#2 in trilogy) and it's damn good. If this gets a translation to English I'll force you all to buy it.

I did not read as much as I wanted to, but I cleaned a kitchen cabinet, went for a walk, watched the first episode of Broadchurch (series 2), changed ink in my printer and printed printables for my notebook because why not? Also got a new router so no my Internet runs as fast as we pay it to do! All in all a good day even though I have the sadz.

Stats total

Books read: 1.3
Pages read: 389
Time spent reading: 9 hours
Social aspect: Some, but not much.
Other goals achieved: Part of series.

BoB12: Day 1+2 sum up

Well, this is going both great and terrible at once. 

The terrible: The socializing and challenges are not really happening for me, even though I was really looking forward to it, I had a blast last time, but I'm currently stuck in a New Years depression and making that effort is just not happening, I have to do put that energy elsewhere, besides Twitter disagrees with me today. I have left a few comments on some blogs though, much calmer and I also like reading the blog posts, it's relaxing to me, especially after having just finished my book and my brain needs to tune into the real world again. 

I'm doing better on the reading front, I've read one book, and spent about six hours reading! Woooh! 

Stats day 1+2:

Books read: 1

Pages read: 289

Time spent reading: 7 hours

Social aspect: Some, but not much. 

Other goals achieved: Part of series. 

The book I finished was Claire DeWitt and the city of the dead (book depository affiliate link), and I got both the kindle version and the audible version (for 6 dollars total!) and started listening, but then had to switch to reading because listening didn't work for me with this book. I really didn't like it much at first, but then it surprised me and I couldn't put it down. I don't know why, this weird spaced out PI who sees clues where there aren't any, is obsessed with this book that is rare, yet appears everywhere, and has weird dreams that mean stuff (yup) should not appeal to me, but she does. I'm not completely into the story itself (trust me, you've read/seen it a million times before, it's not uncommon in the crime/thriller/mystery world), but there is something here that engages with me. I want to unravel Claire DeWitt, I want to know a lot of things we don't learn in this one and I've already put the second book on my wishlist. To be honest I half expected it all to turn out to be a fever dream by the end of the book, but nope, this woman is just on a lot of drugs. I bought this on a whim, because I wanted to read crime fiction (rarely read the plain ones, I usually go for supernatural/sci-fi elements, and when I go random I apparently get trippy ones like this. I admit that I bought it because it was so yellow and had a catchy title, so uh, yeah. It was totally worth the little I paid for it).