Bout of Books 21 Wrap Up

I'm really enjoying my new, more relaxed reading approach this year. Not only am I officially ahead of schedule on my Goodreads reading goal (for once), but my first read of the year earned five stars!

Read
10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works / Dan Harris

Currently Reading
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban / Malala Yousafzai
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book / Dan Harris and Jeff Warren with Carly Adler

Bout of Books 20 TBR

Alright, it's Bout of Books time! Here's a quick look at the books I'm hoping to knock off my TBR this week.

Books Mentioned:
Pigeon-Blood Red / Ed Duncan
Under the Tuscan Sun / Frances Mayes
Hawaii / James Michener
Northanger Abbey / Jane Austen
The Garden Party and Other Stories / Katherine Mansfield
Are You My Mother? / Alison Bechdel
Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri

Bout of Books 20

After missing the last couple of rounds, I'm happy to announce that I will be participating in the upcoming 20th round of the Bout of Books readathon! After the craziness that was BookTubeAThon last month, my reading has definitely slowed down a bit. I'm hoping Bout of Books will help me finish out the month strong!

Sign ups run through Tuesday, August 22nd, so head on over to the Bout of Books website if you'd like to participate.

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

I'll be sharing my TBR later this week.

July and BookTubeAThon Wrap Up

Just when I was beginning to lose hope for my reading this year, July turned out to be quite the productive reading month! The credit for this suddenly uptake in my reading must be given to the one and only BookTubeAthon reading event. And while I've just realized that I never actually posted my TBR for the event here on the blog, I hope you enjoy hearing about what I read all the same.

Books Read

Common Sense / Thomas Paine
The Tale of Aypi / Ak Welsapar
The Girl Who Is Getting Married / Aoko Matsuda
Moonraker / Ian Fleming

Currently Reading
Are You My Mother? / Alison Bechdel
The Garden Party and Other Stories / Katherine Mansfield

#TomeTopple Wrap Up

One day, I will post a readathon wrap up and will actually be pleased with the amount of reading I got done. Unfortunately, that day is not today!

Books Mentioned:
Hawaii / James A. Michener
The Explosion Chronicles / Yan Lianke

#TomeTopple Check In | Friday Reads

I probably didn't even need to take a picture of this week's Friday Reads, because it's pretty much the same as last week! I'm still persevering through my #TomeTopple TBR, though I have decided to set aside Our Mutual Friend for now. I'm also partway through Great Expectations and I think that taking on two of Charles Dickens' novels at once is just way too ambitious.

Hawaii / James A. Michener
I've been making rather slow progress through this massive tome, but I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. So far as I can tell, each "chapter" is actually the length of a decent-sized novel and is set in a different period of time. All chapters, however, center around the Hawaiian islands and the people who've inhabited them over the centuries. It's like getting a bunch of mini novels in one and so far I'm more than happy to keep reading.

The Explosion Chronicles / Yan Lianke
I plan on finally picking this up this weekend and I honestly cannot wait. Despite it's making it to the Man Booker International Prize Longlist, I haven't heard many people talking about The Explosion Chronicles and the few reviews I have found have only intrigued me more.

The Cat Who Walked A Thousand Miles / Kij Johnson
Lately I've really been craving some Kij Johnson, but I have so much reading on my plate right now that I can't commit to reading yet another novel. So instead I thought I'd take a crack at her novella The Cat Who Walked A Thousand Miles, which you can get free on Tor.com. From what I can tell, it sounds fairly similar to Fudoki and this, of course, makes me super excited to finally get to it!


So that's what I'll be reading this Easter weekend. Happy Easter if you practice and happy reading!

My #TomeTopple TBR | Friday Reads

If you've noticed my slight absence from the blog lately, you probably won't be surprised to hear that I've been struggling through a bit of blogger's-block. To get back into the groove and hopefully on some sort of schedule, I thought I'd start doing Friday Reads posts. And what a better way to kick things off than by sharing my TBR for the #TomeTopple Readathon?

Be sure to check out Sam's announcement video and let me know what you're reading if you decide to participate!

Books Mentioned:
Our Mutual Friend / Charles Dickens
Hawaii / James A. Michener
The Explosion Chronicles / Yan Lianke


The official #TomeTopple announcement video | Check out @Tome_Topple on Twitter

My #Diverseathon TBR

Yesterday was the first official day of the second round of the #Diverseathon and I can honestly say this has already been one of the most rewarding readathons I have participated in. I joined in on the Day 1 Twitter chat and it was a really amazing outpouring of interest in diverse authors, stories, and perspectives. After last week, this was exactly what I needed!

The #Diverseathon runs until Sunday, Jan 29th so feel free to join in if you haven't already! And if you're interested in participating in more of the discussions or want to keep up with the latest news, I'd highly suggest checking out the official #Diverseathon Twitter (@DiverseAThon).

My TBR:
Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri
A Pale View of Hills / Kazuo Ishiguro
The Reluctant Fundamentalist / Mohsin Hamid
Born a Crime / Trevor Noah
The Underground Railroad / Colson Whitehead
The Essential Koran / Thomas Cleary

The #UnderHypedReads Readathon

Check out Charlotte's announcement video HERE.

BOOKS MENTIONED
Avenue of Spies / Alex Kershaw
The Fox Woman / Kij Johnson
Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children / Arthur Bowie Chrisman

Bout of Books 17 Wrap Up

Another round of the Bout of Books readathon is over! I find it hard to believe just how quickly a week can go by when I participate in readathons. Yet again, my week turned out to be crazier than expected and I didn't get a whole lot of reading done. Luckily, I really enjoyed the reading I did do!

Number9 Dream - David Mitchell
Written in a similar vein to works by Haruki Murakami, Number9Dream is the story of a young man's search for his long lost father in the dangerous and fantastical landscape of urban Tokyo. Eiji Miyake lives above a video rental store, works at a train station's lost and found center, and dreams about the waitress at his favorite hotel with a beautiful neck.

Never before have I read a novel my a non-Japanese author that felt so distinctly Japanese, specifically so distinctly Murakami. The actual plot and Miyake's fantasies bleed together into a questionable narrative that moves at just the right pace. At points the book felt like it would never end, which is exactly what I wanted.

Samurai Warriors - David Miller
While I didn't manage to finish this one, Samurai Warriors is a nonfiction book that I have been dipping in and out of for months now. While the information is a little dense, it's broken up into nice small, digestible sections and it is definitely a reference material I will return to again and again. W

And that was the reading I did during the 17th round of Bout of Books! Did you guys participate? What reading did you get done?

Bout of Books 17 TBR

Time to tackle another Bout of Books Readathon! Despite my utter failure in the last round of Bout of Books, I am really looking forward to another readathon. As always, I wish my life would take a break and just let me read, but as it is I'm planning on cramming as much reading as possible into next week.




TO BE READ
Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri
Number9Dream / David Miller
Avenue of Spies / Alex Kershaw
The Visitor / Maeve Brennan
The Travelers / Chris Pavone
Samurai Warriors / David Miller
The Japanese Sword: Soul of the Samurai / Gregory Irvine

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 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th 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 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

--From the Bout of Books team

BookTube-A-Thon 2016 Wrap Up

READING ACCOMPLISHED

Summer / Edith Wharton

Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History / Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio

Farewell to Manzanar / Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston

CURRENTLY READING

Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone / Sequoia Nagamatsu

BookTube-A-Thon 2016 TBR

More about the BookTube-A-Thon | More about the reading challenges

Bout of Books 16 TBR

TO BE READ

Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald

Number9Dream / David Mitchell

The Japanese Sword: The Soul of the Samurai / Gregory Irvine

Samurai Warriors / David Miller

Bout of Books 16

It's time for another Bout of Books readathon! If you've been following my blog for the past year or so, you probably already know how much I enjoy this readathon. You can set your own goals or take it as easy as you want, which is what I plan on doing this time around!

Sign ups run through Tuesday, May 10th, so head on over to the Bout of Books website if you'd like to participate.

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 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th 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 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

--From the Bout of Books team

Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming TBR!

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Wrap Up

READING ACCOMPLISHED

Saga: Vol 1 / Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples - 160 pages

Killing and Dying / Adrian Tomine - 121 pages

The Strange Library / Haruki Murakami - 96 pages

A Drifting Life / Yoshihiro Tatsumi - 191 pages

The Yoga of Max's Discontent / Karan Bajaj - 60 pages

Total Pages Read - 628 pages!

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon TBR

BOOKS MENTIONED

Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri

The Yoga of Max's Discontent / Karan Bajaj

A Drifing Life / Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Saga: Volume 1 / Brian K. Vonge

Aging and Dying / Adrian Tomine

#UnderHypedReads TBR

The Under-Hyped Readathon

Goodreads group

Charlotte's announcement video

Bout of Books 15 Wrap Up

READING ACCOMPLISHED

The Magician's Nephew / C.S. Lewis - 202 pages

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe / C.S. Lewis - 189 pages

The Horse and His Boy / C.S. Lewis - 224 pages

Prince Caspian / C.S. Lewis - 223 pages

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader / C.S. Lewis - read to pg. 19 of 248

Total Pages Read - 857 pages!

Bout of Books 15 Progress Check

It is Day 4 of the Bout of Books 15 Readathon, which means it's time to check my progress! So far I have been thoroughly enjoying myself and am very happy with the TBR I picked before hand.

READING ACCOMPLISHED

The Magician's Nephew / C.S. Lewis - 202 pages

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe / C.S. Lewis - 189 pages

The Horse and His Boy / C.S. Lewis - on page 109 of 222

Total Page Count So Far - 500 pages

The Chronicles of Narnia have turned out to be the perfect readathon books. Not only are they relatively short and written for children, but they are all such different and free-standing adventures that I have yet to get tired of only reading books from the same series.

Although I fell a bit behind yesterday due to the sheer craziness of my to-do list for the day, I have been reading at a rate of about one 200ish page book a day. Needless to say, I am quite happy with this pace and hope to get back on track tonight. My only concern is that I still have not started Anna Karenina yet and as I mentioned in my TBR.... well, it seems like an understatement to call it a chunky book!

But enough about my reading, let's check in with the challenges I've participated in!

Day 1 - #insixwords

Introduce and describe yourself, in six words.

Day 3 - Rainbow Challenge

Red / Bird by Bird / Anne Lamott

Orange / Not for Sale / David Batstone

Yellow / The Secret Life of Bees / Sue Monk Kidd

Green / Little House in the Big Woods / Laura Ingalls Wilder

Blue / Tom Cringle's Log / Michael Scott

Indigo / The Silmarillion / J.R.R. Tolkien

Purple / Peter Pan / J.M. Barrie

Day 4 - Villain Mash Up

Long John Silver from Treasure Island / Robert Louis Stevenson

vs.

Captain Hook from Peter Pan / J.M. Barrie

That's all the progress I have to share with you for now, but if my momentum and motivation carries through the end of the readathon, my wrap up should be quite a good one. Best of luck to those of you who are also participating!