Bout of Books — Day 6

Bout of Books Day 6 :: 24 August 2013

While I had great plans to spend the whole day reading, that didn't happen. Instead, I wound up spending the afternoon with my delightful 3-year-old grandson. And, although I didn't read as much as intended, I did wind up starting a delightful (so far) audiobook, Room by Emma Donoghue. I listened to the CDs as I drove to and from my son's house, completing the first disk and getting 8 tracks into the second one. I'm going to call it about 90 pages in all.

In the evening, I spent some time reading Black Magic Sanction. I don't think I'll finish it before Bout of Books 8.0 ends, but I'm positive I'll be returning it to the library early next week.

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 70
• A Killer Read, page 112
• Black Magic Sanction, page 140

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 70
• A Killer Read, page 112
• Black Magic Sanction, page 164
• Room, ~ page 90

Bout of Books :: Day 6 summary

Books read today: 2
Books finished today: 0
Pages read today: 114
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 844

Bout of Books — Day 5

Bout of Books Day 5 :: 23 August 2013

It's down to the wire now. Just two more days in Bout of Books 8.0.

Friday was a regular work day during which I was able to find some time to read. Actually, I started out the day with a quick trip to my doctor's office to get my blood pressure checked. (All normal, thank goodness.) Hubby acted as chauffeur and we went out for breakfast afterward. I took my library book—Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison—and read all the way to and fro. Since I want to finish this book fairly quickly and return it to the library, I tried to pick it up every time I had a break. I did, however, read a couple of pages in Flesh of the God by Lauren Haney. It's loaded on my Kindle and sometimes it was just easier to grab the Kindle than that huge hardback book that the library gave me.

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 64
• A Killer Read, page 112

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 70
• A Killer Read, page 112
• Black Magic Sanction, page 140

Bout of Books :: Day 5 summary

Books read today: 2
Books finished today: 0
Pages read today: 146
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 730

Bout of Books — Day 4

Bout of Books Day 4 :: 22 August 2013

Yay! I found some time to read on Thursday!

Like Monday, Thursday was a travel day. When I arrived at the airport, roughly an hour before my scheduled departure, I found that the flight was delayed. So, I sat in the plastic chair in the airport, reading while I waited. I read all during the flight as well as reading in the car all the way from the airport to home. All-in-all, I finished reading Little Fuzzy and made quite a bit of progress with Flesh of the God. I only read a couple of pages in A Killer Read, since I only pulled it out during take-off and landing when I wasn't allowed to be using an electronic reader.

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 11
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 15

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 64
• A Killer Read, page 112
• Little Fuzzy, page 155

Bout of Books :: Day 4 summary

Books read today: 3
Books finished today: 1
Pages read today: 209
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 584

Bout of Books — Day 3

Bout of Books Day 3 :: 21 August 2013

Egads! Two days in a row during which I had no time to read. It's no consolation that I read more on Wednesday than on Tuesday—it was only one page more. Total pages for the day: 8

Fortunately, today I flew home from Missouri, and what with the wait in the airport for my delayed departure and 1.5 hours on the plane, I read significantly more pages and actually finished another book. Since today isn't over yet, I'll wait until tomorrow to post the details.

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 11
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 7

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 11
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 15

Bout of Books :: Day 3 summary

Books read today: 1
Books finished today: 0
Pages read today: 8
Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 375

Bout of Books — TBR Pile Mini Challenge

Ellie at Musings of a Book Shop Girl, has challenged the Bout of Books participants to talk about their TBR (to be read) stacks. Because, of course, any avid reader always has large stacks of books which she intends to read when time permits.

1. Which 5 books are at the top of your TBR pile at this moment?
2. If I gave you a wad of cash and sent you into a bookshop right now, which 5 books would you buy to add to the stack?

My answers

Well, the top 5 books in my TBR pile are books that have a deadline associated with them. The very first book is Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison. I picked it up from the library on Saturday afternoon and therefore it is due back on the 31st. I had business travel scheduled for Monday through Thursday and didn't bring it with me because I do not want to take a risk of losing it. The next couple of books are cozy mysteries that I owe to book swappers from the BookObsessed site. I'll be reading 'Til Dice Do Us Part by Gail Oust, All Natural Murder by Staci McLaughlin, and 50% Off Murder by Josie Belle. When I complete those, I have a book loaded on my Kindle that I will read—the last book in Lauren Haney's Lieutenant Bak mystery series set in ancient Egypt, A Path of Shadows

And what would I buy if someone else were paying for it? Hmmm... I really don't have any burning wishes. So, I'd probably go strolling through the bookstore and take whatever catches my eye. Since I have so much fun with book swapping at BookObsessed, I'd probably pick mass-market paperbacks to keep the postage down when it's time to ship a book to another swapper. So -- using the Amazon.com web site as a substitute for the brick-and-mortar store, here are 5 books that grabbed my attention: Sky Dragons by Anne and Todd McCaffrey, Dragonwriter edited by Todd McCaffrey, The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, A Werewolf in Manhattan by Vicki Lewis Thompson, and Dust by Hugh Howey.

Bout of Books — Day 2

Bout of Books Day 2 :: 20 August 2013

When it comes to reading, Tuesday was a total bust. I was running slow in the morning and didn't read anything before work. I had no free time during the day—not even time to read at lunch—and didn't pull any books out until bedtime. Needless to say, I didn't read very many pages until the book fell out of my hand! Total pages for the day: 7. Yes, 7.

Today looks like it may not be much better. Fortunately, I will be flying tomorrow evening and will have uninterrupted time to read. (I am hoping that I don't fall asleep on the flight!)

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 4
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 7

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 11
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 7

Bout of Books :: Day 1 summary

Books read today: 1
Books finished today: 0
Pages read today: 7
Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 367

Bout of Books — Day 1

Bout of Books Day 1 :: 19 August 2013

I started out the first day of the week-long Bout of Books read-a-thon by recording the starting position in books which I had already started reading. That, and recording a new “current” position each morning, will allow me to report exactly how many pages (or page equivalents in eBooks) which I have read each day.

Monday was a travel day for me, so I started reading Fuzzy Nation on the Kindle app in my iPhone when I hopped into the car for hubby to take me to the airport. After clearing security, I settled down in the Admiral's Club to wait and got a little bit further along in the book. On the airplane, I had to shut off all electronic devices during take-off and landing, so I spent that time reading A Killer Read, but returned to the iPhone as soon as the “all clear” was given.

Upon arrival, I drove directly to the work location and spent the entire afternoon working. I grabbed supper on the way from work to my hotel, so was very glad to get checked into my room and settle down to more reading. I finished Fuzzy Nation and immediately started reading Little Fuzzy, the original “Fuzzy” novel by H. Beam Piper. Although I read it many years ago, I wanted to re-read it right away so I could compare it to Scalzi's re-telling of the story.

Start:

• Flesh of the God, page 4
• Fuzzy Nation, page 46
• A Killer Read, page 68

End:

• Flesh of the God, page 4
• Fuzzy Nation, page 303 (finished)
• A Killer Read, page 96
• Little Fuzzy, page 7

Bout of Books :: Day 1 summary

Books read today: 3
Books finished today: 1
Pages read today: 360
Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 360

My goals for Bout of Books 8.0

This will be the fifth time I've participated in Bout of Books. The last time (Bout of Books 6.0 in January of this year), I ran out of steam posting and quit after Thursday. I didn't stop reading—I simply stopped posting about it. So, my primary goal this time is to stick it out for the entire week and to post regularly.

One thing I really like about Bout of Books is the community of readers who participate. There are some who blog all during the week and others who post tweets. I've pretty much stopped using Twitter, but I may think about re-activating my use of it during the week—particularly since my tweets are echoed over to Facebook.

My objectives during the week-long Bout of Books read-a-thon are:

1. Post regularly
2. Visit the blogs of at least 10 other Bout of Books participants—at least 4 of which are blogs that I don't regularly follow
3. Participate in at least one challenge
4. Read as much as possible, documenting the number of pages (or page equivalents) that I read each day.

I'm near the beginning of several books, so this is an excellent position to be in at the beginning of the read-a-thon. Yesterday, I stopped by the library and picked up a copy of Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison. I'll be reading it at the end of the week since I don't want to carry it with me on my business trip and take the risk of losing it. During my travels, I'll be reading A Killer Read by Erika Chase, a paperback that I will be sending to fellow BookCrosser and BookObsessor BooksnBeer. This is my “printed on paper” book that I can read during take offs and landings. Other books I'm taking with me are electronic books. Two that I've started reading are Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi and Flesh of the God by Lauren Haney. (Yes, that's right—I have already started three of these books. I routinely read more than one book at the same time.) On Tuesday when I post the Monday results, I'll include my starting position in each book as well as the number of pages read in each one.

Bout of Books 8.0

The 8th Bout of Books read-a-thon starts tonight at midnight. I had almost forgotten about it when I received a reminder notice on my cell phone. So, I need to pull together a reading (and blogging) plan for the week. The last Bout of Books that I participated in was 6.0 in January of this year. The server hosting my primary reading blog is offline, so I'm moving things to LiveJournal for the week-long event.

Update 2 Jan 2014: I'm copying all book-related posts to the restored reading blog.

At this very moment, there are 435 readers who have signed up for Bout of Books 8.0, I should be #436 unless there's someone else signing up at the last minute. I'm looking forward to visiting a number of blogs to see what people are reading this week. Many of the participants will also be tweeting about their experiences, but I don't think I'll be using Twitter much this week. If you're interested in following tweets, search for or track the tag #boutofbooks.

In case you're wondering:

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 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team