Considering I’m over ten books behind on my personal 2013 Goodreads challenge, and I don’t read as often as I’d like to, I’ve decided to participate in the upcoming Bout of Books read-a-thon. This will be the first read-a-thon I’ve ever done, so I am extremely excited (but also quite nervous). Feel free to join in!
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 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. “Bout of Books” is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all “Bout of Books 7.0” information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.
— From the Bout of Books Team
Time Devoted to Reading
I honestly want to read as much as I can every day, but by this, I mean I have to finish at least one book. I’d prefer to get through a book and a manga (since I have to include some of those), but my minimum is definitely one book, no matter how many hours it takes to get to it. I (sort of) have the time to do so right now, so why not, right?
Goals
I’d like to get through at least ten total books, preferably six books and four manga volumes. Any combination is fine by me, as long as I read more books than manga.
Books
I’d like to choose between…
Updates
I’ll be keeping track of how far I’m getting in the Read-a-thon over here on this page daily, noting which books I’ve read for that day, the number of books I’ve read (both YA and manga) for that day, the total number of books I’ve read in the read-a-thon thus far, and anything else of significance. I won’t review the books until after the read-a-thon in the following week(s). In the meantime, you can follow my progress on Goodreads and Twitter.
MONDAY
Currently Reading: Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Just Finished Reading: Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 357
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 357
Number of Books Read Today: Just the 1.5 (Which I managed during work somehow, so it’s more than I thought I’d have at this point. ^^; )
Total Books Read (Thus Far): 1.5.
Today #in six words: Should’ve read more… Do better tomorrow! ^^;
Quote of the Day:
“I want to be like Hotaru. I want to be able to give up something to save what’s important to me. That is why I have decided to do this.“
— Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Challenges: I actually wasn’t planning on doing any challenges, but Escape Through the Pages’ Spine Poetry Challenge (which involves creating some sort of poem using the spines (titles) of books you have without adding more extra words than the total number of books you chose to use) looked like fun. My poem’s a bit… on the depressing side, but I had a blast coming up with it (and a whole bunch of really nonsensical outtakes you will never see — one included the line, The Truth About Forever is that Wild Roses are Dead to You. Er…yeah).
TUESDAY
Currently Reading: Abandon, Meg Cabot
Finished Reading:
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 530
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 887
Number of Books Read Today: 2 books (the second half of one book, one whole book, and the first half of another book).
Total Books Read (Thus Far): Nearly 3.5 books. (Kind of on schedule, but I wish I had finished the second half of that book before the end of the day!)
Today #in six words: Left another book unfinished midway. Ugh.
Quote of the Day:
“Goodbyes didn’t seem as important to me as they once had — I’d found that when you’re never going to see someone again, it’s not the goodbye that matters. What matters is that you’re never going to be able to say anything else to them. And you’re left with an eternal unfinished conversation.“
— Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
WEDNESDAY
Currently Reading: Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Finished Reading:
Gakuen Alice, Volume 3, Tachibana Higuchi
Abandon, Meg Cabot
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 360
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 1247
Number of Books Read Today: 1.5 books (a manga and the second half of Abandon).
Total Books Read (Thus Far): 5 books. (I’m wondering if I can ever read more than two a day, or read enough to average beyond 1.5… But it’s only the middle of the week, so it’s okay.)
Today #in six words: A chat, a challenge, few books.
Quote of the Day:
“I might look like a honey-eyed school girl on the outside, in my skirt with its regulation four-inch-above-the-knee hem. But I’ll rip those tassels off your shoes, old man. Just try Googling me.“
— Abandon, Meg Cabot
Challenges: I am awful with Photoshop, but when I heard about I Talk Books‘s Create A Cover Challenge, I had to do it. I love alternate covers, and I always have to see what books look like in different parts of the world, so re-imagining a book’s cover, especially the cover of a book I love, was something I couldn’t resist (Photoshop be damned). Here’s my cover (next to the original, which is on the right) for Robin Wasserman’s The Book of Blood and Shadow. (I wanted to throw some ancient Latin on there to fit in with the entire novel’s theme, but it looked so cluttered that I chose against it. *sigh*)
THURSDAY
Currently Reading: Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik
Finished Reading:
Skip Beat, Volume 1, Yoshiki Nakamura
Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Gakuen Alice, Volume 3, Tachibana Higuchi
Abandon, Meg Cabot
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 481
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 1728
Number of Books Read Today: 2 books.
Total Books Read (Thus Far): 7 books (Doing pretty well, but I need to resist reading more manga than books. Still. It’s just so hard because I miss reading manga!)
Today #in six words: Bookish poetry; more than 1.5, yay!
Quote of the Day:
“Why does everyone think a girl who prefers books to people must be in want of a life?“
— Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Challenges: I love acrostic poems, so there was no question of my attempting this challenge. Hosted by Harley Bear Book Blog, the object was to create a bookish acrostic poem. My entry was about the book Delirium by Lauren Oliver, which happens to be one of my favorite novels. Hopefully, I managed to convey, in a general sense, what the story is about… (Note: This was difficult because whenever someone asks me to describe Delirium, my gut reaction is to scream, “ALL THE BEAUTIFUL PAIN. TOO MANY FEELS. AHHHHHH.”)
D ystopian society.
E xpelled love from existence with “the cure”.
L ies are spread about the emotion.
I nvalids are either feared or considered myth, but
R esistance against this dystopia is real.
I n the novel, Lena meets Alex and discovers what love truly is (however…)
U ntil the two of them, and other “resistors” can spread the truth,
M ore people will be imprisoned unjustly by the government (or turned into unfeeling zombies).
FRIDAY
Currently Reading: Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik
Finished Reading:
Skip Beat, Volume 2, Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat, Volume 1, Yoshiki Nakamura
Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Gakuen Alice, Volume 3, Tachibana Higuchi
Abandon, Meg Cabot
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 238
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 1966
Number of Books Read Today: 1.3 books. (I should have read more, but after work, all I could make myself read was manga. The season finale of my favorite show was on tonight and I couldn’t concentrate waiting for it! Will have to make up for it tomorrow, especially because the read-a-thon is coming to a close and I can still meet my goals… if I read less manga! And it’s the weekend, so I should have more time, right?)
Total Books Read (Thus Far): 8 books (I’m a third into my 9th).
Today #in six words: Should’ve read more, but NIKITA finale!
Quote of the Day:
“Even if I wanted to give up on these habits, I couldn’t do it. After all, these are habits leftover from a nauseating past… Confidence, a small matter…I will show you my perseverance.“
— Skip Beat, Volume 2, Yoshiki Nakamura
Challenges: I had a lot of trouble with this one because I am so awful with summaries of things, even fake summaries, and I can’t invoke creativity under pressure. But I still wanted to try Queen Ella Bee Reads‘s (self-explanatory) Resummarize a Cover Challenge, so here it is. (It isn’t the best attempt, and I did steal the names of characters from Degrassi, but… Shhh.) The cover I chose to rewrite a summary for is Lauren Morrill’s Meant to Be.
| Fiona Coyne grew up listening to stories of true love. Since she was a little girl, she had seen so many people find their soul mates, that person they were meant to be with. After watching her twin brother Declan denounce his entitlement to the throne to marry a commoner, she decided that she, too, would settle for nothing less. What she never counted on, however, was a grave threat to her kingdom, an evil no one had ever imagined or prepared for. As the crown princess, it was her duty to do everything within her power to save her people, even if the only course of action seems to be a marriage of alliance between her and the crown prince of a faraway kingdom. Fiona wants to be the hero, but her heart cannot allow her to go though with the plan. And so, she travels by nightfall in secret, hoping to find some alternate means of keeping everyone, including herself, from sacrifice. She receives help in the form of a mysterious boy, Aiden, who seems to know more about things than he’s letting on. But is he a reliable source? And what is his motive? Fiona doesn’t know, but she’s running out of time. Can she succeed when the odds are against her? And will she ever find her own ‘Meant to Be’ soul-mate? |
SATURDAY
Currently Reading: An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
Finished Reading:
Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik
Skip Beat, Volume 2, Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat, Volume 1, Yoshiki Nakamura
Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Gakuen Alice, Volume 3, Tachibana Higuchi
Abandon, Meg Cabot
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 274
Total Pages Read (Thus Far): 2240
Number of Books Read Today: 1 book. (I was going to start An Abundance of Katherines, but I had to go to a dinner party thing, and accidentally forgot my book at home. ^^; Ah well, one more book and one more day to go, so I’d say I’m doing well. I even stopped reading manga, even though I had the time, just because I really did want to read more books than manga, or as many books as manga, which is what I’ll probably end up doing…)
Total Books Read (Thus Far): 9 books.
Today #in six words: Social thing, so read little. *sigh*
Quote of the Day:
“You wouldn’t think the touch of someone’s hand could blow your mind. It’s nothing, right? People don’t write songs and poems about holding hands — they write them about kisses and sex and eternal love. I mean, when you’re a little kid you hold hands with your parents to cross the street. Who’s going to write an ode to that?
We were alone in the dark, even though the enormous theater was filled with probably a thousand people. We were a tiny island in a sea of other people who didn’t matter, who had no meaning, who were so stupid, so oblivious, so stuck in their own boring lives that they didn’t even notice the huge, momentous, life-shattering event that was taking place right there in row L, between seats 102 and 104.
Derek Edwards was holding my hand.“
— Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik
SUNDAY
Finished Reading:
An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik
Skip Beat, Volume 2, Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat, Volume 1, Yoshiki Nakamura
Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
Gakuen Alice, Volume 3, Tachibana Higuchi
Abandon, Meg Cabot
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, Morgan Matson
Gakuen Alice, Volume 2, Tachibana Higuchi
Gakuen Alice, Volume 1, Tachibana Higuchi
Number of Pages Read Today: 272
Total Pages Read: 2512
Number of Books Read Today: 1 book (I only had one book left, so I spent the rest of the day commenting on blogs and responding to comments instead.)
Total Books Read: 10 books (5 YA novels, 5 manga).
Today #in six words: Game, set, and match. I’m done!
Quote of the Day: (I cheated today. I have a thing for quotes about books, so I couldn’t leave this one quote out, but then another quote really grabbed me… I couldn’t do what I was doing with other books and actually choose one, so I… er… chose both. ^^; )
“That’s how I remember things, anyway. I remember stories. I connect the dots and then out of that comes a story. And the dots that don’t fit into the story just slide away, maybe. Like when you spot a constellation. You look up and you don’t see all the stars. All the stars just look like the big fugging random mess that they are. But you want to see shapes; you want to see stories, so you pick them out of the sky. Hassan told me once you think like that, too — that you see connections everywhere — so you’re a natural born storyteller, it turns out.“
— An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.“
— An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
OVERALL
Day with the Most Progress: Thursday and Tuesday, but considering I also did a challenge on Thursday, I’m going to go with that one.
Day with the Least Progress: Saturday and Sunday, but I’m going with Saturday because I at least commented/responded to comments on blogs today, so it felt a bit more productive.
Most Fun Challenge Attempted: I loved the Spine Poetry Challenge! I had seen that around before, but this was my first time attempting it, and it was a lot of fun (though also more difficult than I anticipated).
Most “Challenging” Challenge: The Recreate a Cover or Resummarize a Cover Challenge. I have trouble with even the most basic things on Photoshop, so that one took a lot of time to do (and it took an equally long amount of time to find the perfect images to use or to select a book cover to recreate). But also, I discovered that writing book summaries, even for fictional books that don’t exist, is really difficult.
Greatest Number of Books Read in One Day: 2 books (usually a novel and a manga).
Least Number of Books Read in One Day: 1 book.
Average Number of Books Read/Day: 1.43 books per day.
Greatest Number of Pages Read in One Day: 530.
Average Number of Pages Read/Day: 358.86 pages per day.
Fastest Read: In novels, it was Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik. In manga, it was both Skip Beat volumes by Yoshiki Nakamura.
Slowest Read: Abandon, Meg Cabot (it wasn’t long, but it just took me a really long time to get into it, mostly because the story was a lot slower than I expected).
Genre Most Read: Young Adult Contemporary Romance. Four of my books happened to belong to this genre.
Most Common Trope/Theme/Feature: 3 books and both manga about enemies becoming lovers; 2 books about road trips; 2 modern retellings of things (one of a classical novel and one of a classic myth).
Total Number of Unread Books: 2 books and 2 manga (one manga series).
Unread Book I Most Wanted to Read: Honestly? All of them. There was a reason I chose these books. They had all been on my TBR for a very long time, and I was either curious about them (most of the ones I read fell into this category) or I had heard brilliant things about them (everything that was left fell into this category). Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, who is one of my favorite authors (she has yet to write anything I don’t like), is supposed to be hilarious. I’ve heard that Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama is the one of the best mermaid books out there in YA. Everyone I know who reads manga has nothing but fantastic things to say about Dengeki Daisy by Kyousuke Motomi (and I also adore the art). I hope to read these all some day soon!
Book I Enjoyed More Than I Thought I Would: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. I was prepared to be disappointed by this one because of all the Anna and the French Kiss comparisons (which, actually, it wasn’t similar to at all, in my opinion), but it had its own charm (and Jason reminded me so much of Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars) that I fell into the story anyway. I thought it was cute, and going in with no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised.
Book I Enjoyed Less Than I Thought I Would: Abandon by Meg Cabot. I wanted to love this one because I tend to enjoy Meg Cabot books and I’ve been waiting for her to do a paranormal series again (the Mediator books are my favorites), but I think this kind of story, because it’s a little new to her, just didn’t work for me in her style. I also had a few issues with the story (which didn’t feel like a story until about 75% in, when suddenly EVERYTHING WAS HAPPENING) and I never felt anything for the characters, so I guess this is why it took me a while to read this one. I’m hoping the series grabs my attention as it goes along, since I understand this first book was only meant as an introduction. (I do have a lot of detailed thoughts on this novel though, which I hope to explain in my review in the coming weeks.)
Favorite Book Read: Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. I should have expected it after Second Chance Summer, which I loved a lot, but I think I’m always going to fall in love with her poignant and somewhat heartbreaking contemporary novels. I can’t wait for her next one. (Not counting a manga because Gakuen Alice and Skip Beat were already on my favorites list. And I don’t want to choose between them. Or admit to myself that somehow in the last few months, Skip Beat surpassed Gakuen Alice as my favorite manga series currently.
Favorite Characters: I really loved Roger’s (Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson) musical taste and how completely sweet he was. I could sometimes relate strongly to Julia from Lauren Morrill’s Meant to Be (though sometimes she frustrated me to no end). I fell for Jason from Meant to Be (whenever he wasn’t being too immature), but Derek Edwards from Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik was probably the character I’d want to date in real life (I don’t know if I can count him, since I’ve always been a bit of a Darcy girl, and this is a Pride and Prejudice retelling). So… I don’t know. Just a lot of awesome characters all around. (I can’t add my manga characters because I ALREADY know I love Tsuruga Ren from Skip Beat and Hyuuga Natsume from Gakuen Alice. It would be cheating.)
Least Favorite Characters: Wasn’t a huge fan of John or Pierce from Abandon (sorry guys!). Did not like Chelsea at all from Epic Fail, and Layla from the same novel also drove me mad (she was no LBD!Lydia Bennet at all). I could also do without Meant to Be‘s Mark. I wanted someone to punch him in the face.
Favorite Ship: I shipped them all, honestly. The ship I needed to happen, though (and for a while, I didn’t think it would), was Amy/Roger from Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour. So much chemistry, and they fit so well together. I was dying for them to realize they liked each other!
Favorite Setting: Loved all the settings in the road trip novels, but how can anything compare to London, England (Meant to Be)?
Book That Amused Me the Most: An Abundance of Katherines made me laugh the most, but again, I should have expected that with John Green’s humor and dialogue.
Book With the Most Swoon-worthy Moments: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. It’s difficult not swooning when a guy is singing to a girl, taking her on spontaneous adventures around one of the most historical and romantic cities in the world, and randomly dancing with her.
Darkest Read: None were very dark, though I guess Abandon (Meg Cabot) fits this the most.
Story I Most Wanted to Live in Real Life: Meant to Be or Epic Fail. I’d love to go on an awesome trip to London (and her hotel room sounded pretty awesome too), or have the son of a movie star (or a movie star) fall in love with me. That would be nice. I also wouldn’t mind being inside Skip Beat because I’d love to meet a Ren. He is my absolute favorite, if you couldn’t tell. ^^;
Most Quotable: In case it wasn’t obvious, John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines.
Favorite Overall Quote: Of the ones I noted, the quotes that most stay with me are…
“I might look like a honey-eyed school girl on the outside, in my skirt with its regulation four-inch-above-the-knee hem. But I’ll rip those tassels off your shoes, old man. Just try Googling me.“
— Abandon, Meg Cabot
(because it makes me laugh every time)
“Why does everyone think a girl who prefers books to people must be in want of a life?“
— Meant to Be, Lauren Morrill
(because I can relate to this so well).
Will You Participate in Another ‘Bout of Books’ Readathon? Definitely. See you guys in August!
penmanshipsmitten 
May 10, 2013 @ 09:55:22
Good luck and have fun – Abandon is a great read, start with that! 🙂
May 13, 2013 @ 22:52:52
Thanks! I’m going to read Abandon tomorrow, and I can’t wait to start! Good luck to you as well! 😀
May 10, 2013 @ 12:38:19
Hi! Welcome! I’m always excited to see new readers doing Bout of Books because it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Good luck with your reading goals!
May 13, 2013 @ 23:06:00
Thank you so much! Some of my friends have done Bout of Books before and I’ve always heard awesome things about it. I’m glad I was able to catch this one! 😀
May 10, 2013 @ 21:45:22
Some awesome books! Enjoy! This will be my first read-a-thon as well and I can’t wait.
May 13, 2013 @ 23:14:47
Thanks! And I’m glad I’m not the only newbie! Good luck on all your reading goals!
May 11, 2013 @ 23:47:52
I liked Abandon a lot… read that first!!!!!
Good luck!
Angie
My bout of books goals
May 13, 2013 @ 23:17:34
I keep hearing some awesome things about Abandon, so I’m really looking forward to reading it. (It’s also one of the few Meg Cabot series I haven’t read, and I need to remedy that immediately.) I’m actually reading it next! Thanks!
May 14, 2013 @ 07:42:32
Good poem… It tells a story. I like it. 😉
Have fun with the read-a-thon, and I hope you’ll be able to accomplish your goals. 🙂
May 16, 2013 @ 17:07:47
Thank you so much! (Haha, the story ended up being accidental. I was just trying really hard for it to make sense. XD )
May 14, 2013 @ 07:44:19
Great list! I also recommend Abandon. Good luck!
May 16, 2013 @ 17:10:43
Thanks! I just finished Abandon yesterday actually. (Now I’m trying to figure out if I can get my hands on the sequel any time soon…)
May 14, 2013 @ 08:22:40
Great book selection. I’ve heard great things about Meant to Be and I really enjoyed Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour. Good luck with your goals!
May 16, 2013 @ 17:24:50
Thanks! I really enjoyed Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour too (but it made me want to go on a road trip badly)! And I’m actually reading Meant to Be today. I just started, but since I’m a huge fan of contemporary YA romances, I have a feeling I’ll really enjoy it.
May 14, 2013 @ 11:35:33
Really enjoyed your spine poetry! Looks like you had a great first day.
May 19, 2013 @ 17:20:48
Thank you so much! I can’t even remember how many attempts I had at that spine poetry. I’m glad I eventually hit a combination of titles that made sense. ^^;
May 20, 2013 @ 11:13:07
It looks like you’ve had a great read-a-thon! Loved your wrap-up, it was really interesting to read it.
May 14, 2013 @ 11:35:40
Wow, that’s an epic poem, nice job! I always suck at those because I never have the books I want around, haha
My BoB updates
May 19, 2013 @ 17:23:16
Thanks! Haha, I know exactly what you mean (I went through so many attempts before I found something that made any sense). I hope you have better luck next time! It was a lot of fun!
May 15, 2013 @ 04:17:50
Wow Aimee you are doing great on your your goals so far! And I love your book spine poem! Good luck on keeping on top of your goals! 🙂
May 19, 2013 @ 17:27:46
Thanks! I still have the majority of this last book to go, but I think I’ll make it. (And thank you about the spine poem as well. I had a lot of fun trying to come up with a title combination that made sense.)
May 15, 2013 @ 08:31:15
Wow. I love your book spine poem, it’s beautiful!
Good luck with your goals, I hope you’re enjoying Abandon! 😀
Happy reading 🙂
May 19, 2013 @ 17:33:44
Thank you so much! I finished Abandon (and now I’m trying to figure out where to get the sequels). Hope your readathon is going well as well!
May 15, 2013 @ 12:24:34
Aimee, so many fantastic books in your list and I LOVE your Book Spine Poem…wish mine was as good, I don’t think mine made as much sense LOL
My BoB updates.
May 16, 2013 @ 16:53:19
Aimee I LOVE your new cover 😀 I actually prefer it to the original, you should send that cover to the Author 😉 I didn’t do this challenge as I am horrible at any photo manipulation.
May 19, 2013 @ 17:43:33
Thanks! I had to rewrite that spine poem so many times, so I’m glad the end result made some sense. (The first fifteen attempts were awful. ^^’; ) And thank you SO MUCH on your kind words about the cover. I have the worst trouble when it comes to Photoshop, so it took a while, but I loveeee the city of Prague, and I knew I wanted to feature it on my alternate cover somehow (I was so disappointed the real cover didn’t have images from the city, since most of the book takes place there). So it means a lot that you liked it. (I recommend attempting the challenge next time though, just to play with images, if you have an idea of the images or photos you want to use. In my experience, if you just play around with the features in programs like Photoshop, you can eventually hit the coloring you want through experimentation, even if you can never reproduce the results – which is what happens with me every time because I actually have the most trouble with photo manipulation as well. So just try it and see if you can create anything (if you have the time – I learned that it was difficult to do complex challenges AND meet my daily reading goals).)
Hope your readathon is going well!
May 16, 2013 @ 01:35:52
Wow, I love your alternate cover. I may even go so far as to say I like it better than the original. Wish I could have participated in that challenge as well but whenever I start looking for the right image to put on a favorite book, I end up spending hours on the internet not really doing anything.
Can’t wait to see what you’ll do with the other challenges.
May 19, 2013 @ 17:48:54
Awww, thank you so much! And agh, yeah, that’s exactly what happened to me. I ended up spending MORE time looking for an image and then trying to make POhotoshop do what I wanted it to do, than actually reading that day. (But I had fun and I’m still on target, so I guess that ended up being okay.)
I’ve entered a few more challenges, but given that it’s the last day and I still have one more book to read, I’m probably done. It’s been a lot of fun participating though! I’m definitely glad I gave some of them an attempt!
May 16, 2013 @ 06:04:08
Your book list looks great. Love your attitude to the readathon, think I need to take a page out of your book, my first Readathon aswell 🙂
Good luck for the rest of the week 😀
May 19, 2013 @ 18:29:21
Thanks! I didn’t want to struggle through my first readathon, so I tried to be as realistic (and positive) as I could. I’m glad I did because I ended up enjoying the experience instead of going through it panicking and anxious. Hope yours has been going well too!
May 16, 2013 @ 12:03:15
Really great list of books to read! I want to read 4 which double what I generally read during the week. So far, I’ve read two. Yay for me for actually finishing my goals for once…I think I can this time!
May 19, 2013 @ 18:35:19
Glad to hear that! Yeah, I’ve also discovered that setting realistic goals makes this readathon experience a lot more fun and less anxious than I thought it would be. Hope you’re having fun on this last bout of books day!
May 16, 2013 @ 13:01:46
Welcome to the Readathon! I hope it’s really fun for you and that you do more in future! 🙂
I like your pile….I love reading manga too. I enjoyed the first volumes of Skip Beat and then was lured away by Kitchen Princess but that’s my personal problem, haha!
Happy reading!
May 19, 2013 @ 18:47:11
Thank you so much! It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m so glad I found out about it in time to participate! I’ll definitely be doing it again in the future!
I LOVE reading manga, so much that I had to realy watch myself and make sure I didn’t just read manga this entire readathon. (I wanted to use it to make a dent in my YA reading list!) Thankfully, I’ve managed to balance the two! ^^;;
May 16, 2013 @ 13:32:41
You picked some great books and are making amazing progress! Go you!
May 19, 2013 @ 18:52:37
Thanks! I’m having my blast making my way through some great titles. I can’t believe I haven’t read some of these books before!
May 16, 2013 @ 17:59:15
I like what you did for the Spine poetry! It’s lovely 🙂
Mel@thedailyprophecy.
May 19, 2013 @ 19:48:45
Thank you! It was one of my favorite challenges to do, and I’m glad I decided to give it a go. I’ll definitely be participating in future spine poetry challenges!
May 16, 2013 @ 23:34:24
Your poem should be the back of the book haha it’s a great summary! I’m supposed to be rereading Delirium series for this readathon, but idk if I’ll get to it. I haven’t read Requiem yet and I’m very excited.
May 19, 2013 @ 20:04:28
Awww, thanks! I’ve had the Delirium trilogy on my mind since I finished Requiem, so I had to use it! And definitely read it soon! I personally had so many mixed emotions about it, but I enjoyed it for the most part, and I hope the series does get made into a film one day.
May 17, 2013 @ 03:24:13
You’re doing FANTASTIC! Seriously, 7 books in 4 days is really, really impressive even if some of them are manga. You should be pretty proud of yourself!
Also, I really like your “Quote of the day” thing, I may have to steal that idea for the next B.o.B. readathon 😉
Hope you have a good Friday!
May 19, 2013 @ 20:35:02
Thank you! I’m on my last book right now and feeling pretty good, so I’d definitely say this readathon was a success!
Oh, feel free to use that! I love noting quotes when I read, and usually at least one sticks with me after I’ve finished a book, so I couldn’t help that. I’m glad you like it!
May 17, 2013 @ 09:18:09
You’re doing really great with your goals. Keep up the good work. Love your spine poetry. There are a few books in that pile that I have on my TBR list.
May 19, 2013 @ 20:37:21
Thank you! It was my first time doing spine poetry, and I’m glad I took the opportunity and gave it a chance. Ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would, but also a lot more fun, so I’ll definitely be checking out future spine poetry challenges!
May 18, 2013 @ 01:03:24
I like how you do a quote of the day and a one sentence summary. Gotta remember that for next time! Great job so far. And season finales are very important! lol.
May 19, 2013 @ 20:57:13
Thanks! The summary just kind of happened (I tend to ramble a lot), but the ‘today in six words’ thing I saw on twitter from other bout of books participants and really liked. I love quotes, and I have the tendency to note passages in books that really grabbed me or stayed with me even after I finished reading, or something that just made me laugh out loud, so that’s how that came to be. You should definitely go for it next time!
(And haha, I tried to hold off with season finales, since this week was actually REALLY full of them. But Nikita is my FAVORITE show that I couldn’t help it on Friday. But I still managed to catch up with my reading, so everything worked out okay.)
May 20, 2013 @ 00:30:58
I love the quotes! I keep track of my favorite quotes too. You did great this week. Great job! How was Meant To Be? I’ll have to read your review. I’ve been wondering about that book.
May 20, 2013 @ 13:24:43
I liked Meant to Be a lot, though I found the characters a little frustrating at times. I probably would have really loved the book if part of the ending hadn’t seemed so anticlimactic, but I still really enjoyed the book, and I’m glad I read it for Bout of Books. It’s one of those books that, once you get into it, you won’t be able to stop reading, but most of the reviews I’ve seen for the book are extremely positive if they love the characters and extremely negative if they don’t. (I’m somewhere in the middle, leaning towards positive.) Sorry if that explains nothing. ^^;; I haven’t written my review yet, so I haven’t thought about it in detail.
I do strongly disagree with all of the Anna and the French Kiss comparisons though. I enjoyed Anna a lot more than Meant to Be. But also, Anna felt like a more mature heroine than Julia, and the story in Anna is about friends falling in love despite so many obstacles, whereas Meant to Be is more like enemies falling in love accidentally while one of them is on the quest to find her soul-mate. (So the two don’t have much in common other than contemporary romance and romantic setting, and the comparisons are a little unfair.) I also liked Jason a lot, but he is no Etienne St. Clair.
May 19, 2013 @ 07:40:50
Awesome job with the spine poetry, I love it! Great job with your goals. I have yet to read a John Green book but really want to. Nice meeting you during the twitter chat and I follow you now on email also. Good luck with the last day! Here are my Bout of Books Read-a-thon Goals and Updates if you’d like to stop by.
May 19, 2013 @ 21:05:57
Thank you so much! I’ve never done spine poetry before, but I’ve seen it around and I’ve always been curious about it. (It’s a lot harder than it looks, but also a lot of fun.) John Green is one of my favorite authors, though some of his books are a hit or a miss for me. My favorites are Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars, but I’m really enjoying An Abundance of Katherines right now! Definitely give him a try.
It was nice meeting you in the twitter chat too!
May 19, 2013 @ 16:59:54
You are doing a GREAT job! I love your enthusiasm and this whole entire post! Thanks for inspiring me! You’ve got another follower!
May 19, 2013 @ 21:26:07
Awww, thank you! I had a lot of fun during bout of books, so I’m glad it shows. 😀 (And thanks for the follow! Following you as well!)
May 19, 2013 @ 18:59:08
Good luck with the last day of the readathon!! 😀
I hope you manage to reach your goals!
May 19, 2013 @ 21:41:48
Almost done with my last book, but thank you!
May 20, 2013 @ 01:51:36
Awesome job on meeting your goals! Some of the books you read look interesting and I have added An Abundance of Katherines to my TBR list. Will we see you in August for Bout of Books 8.0?
Jun 26, 2013 @ 21:46:41
Thanks so much for dropping by! (Ahh, sorry this is so belated. Hiatus’d for academia/work.) I’d love to join Bout of Books again, but I don’t think I’ll be free for a readathon in August. Fingers crossed that I can though because this was a blast!
May 20, 2013 @ 03:06:49
Woah, that’s what I call a wrap-up! I love the idea of different categories – although I myself probably couldn’t come up with the patience to do it 🙂 anyway, I totally get what you said about Abandon. Read that one last year and didn’t like it half as much as I wanted to . I really hope I’ll enjoy the rest of the trilogy, though 🙂 Also, congrats on your reading accomplishments!!!
Jun 26, 2013 @ 21:49:45
Thank you! Haha, it took me a while (but the genres were either very similar or something so different that the category wrap up just fell into place). I’m checking out Underworld soon, so I’m hoping the Abandon series gets better. Thanks for stopping by!
May 20, 2013 @ 03:10:40
2512 pages Aimee, well done!
Jun 26, 2013 @ 21:52:37
Thank you!
May 20, 2013 @ 16:10:08
Nice job!
Jun 26, 2013 @ 21:55:07
Thanks! (:
May 21, 2013 @ 00:35:32
WOWOWOWOW it looks like you had a GREAT Bout of Books!!!!!!!!! I’m so glad you resummarized Meant to Be. I ALSO read that book this week and I totally love both the real summary and yours!! It really is a hard challenge but it can be SO MUCH FUN. I think you did a GREAT job! Thanks for taking part in the challenge!! ^_^
Jun 26, 2013 @ 21:58:27
I did! Thank you! Meant to Be was fun to resummarize because all I seem to be able to write are romantic-y novels, and who doesn’t love a strong female heroine who takes charge of her own destiny? I really enjoyed the challenge, so thanks!
Jul 18, 2013 @ 10:16:09
Well done! It looks like it was a motivating challenge and a fun week. Would live to do one with you in the future 🙂