Bout of Books 7.0 Readathon Goals and Updates

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Bout of Books

“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”

Well my Week in Read-a-thons did not quite go as planned since I was battling some work issues.  Now that things are hopefully settling back into a routine, I’m hoping to get back into reading and sharing my book thoughts with you. Up next, another read-a-thon of course!
Goals

boutofbookscollage

(Cover Photos Source: www.goodreads.com)

Original Goals: 1. Finish Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice on Kindle Done!

2. Finish Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald on audiobook Done!

3. The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

and if I’m really ambitious…4. Make Today Count by John Maxwell

Additional Goals: I Just Want to Pee Alone by Some Kick Ass Mom Bloggers Done!

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest People in the World on audiobook by  Eric Weiner

Across Eternity by Aris Whittier

Most of all, I like to meet new bloggers so I hope to participate in challenges, Twitter chats and comment on at least 10 new-to-me bloggers while visiting my book blogging friends who are participating too.

Updates:

Sunday, 5/12/13: Ok, the official read-a-thon does not start until 12:01am, but I was in a read-a-thoning mood and got a head start. I already finished Interview with the Vampire and also started reading I Just Want to Pee Alone by “Some Kiss Ass Mom Bloggers”, which is not on my list but hope to finish this week. It’s a lighthearted, easy, hilarious read.    I have also already commented on 30 other Bout of Book-ers goals and there are some great books on these lists.

Monday, 5/13/13: Listened to Gatsby for 30 minutes during commute to work…got to really good part and had to get out of the car! Eeek!  Read I Just Want to Pee Alone for 1.5 hours, on page 138 of 185 (75% complete).

Tuesday, 5/14/13: Listened to Gatsby for a couple of hours (about 5 chapters) and commented on at least 17 blog participants from the Day 1 update post.  Finished I Want to Pee Alone (about 50 pages) and read 16 pages of The Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Wednesday, 5/15/13: Visited 30 blogs from Day 2 Update post.  Purchased the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin from Ashley at Nose Graze. I like that it automatically updates your book review archive, easier navigation by genre, author and rating, and provides info on book and author automatically. Right now you can try a demo on her site and the plugin is 50% off. I couldn’t resist and can’t wait to try it out. I finished listening to The Great Gatsby, what a fantastic story and see why it’s so popular. I downloaded The Geography of Bliss so I have an audiobook ready for my work commute tomorrow.  I participated in the Twitter Chat and read 20 pages in The Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Thursday, 5/16/13: Listened to 2 chapters of The Geography of Bliss. I love this book so far, just the right combination of science, philosophy and interesting facts about different cultures and their perspectives on life and happiness. Read a few pages of The Girl With a Pearl Earring.  I played with the new plugin, trying to get one of my posts updated, almost ready to publish but not quite yet.  Not my best reading day.

Friday, 5/17/13: Didn’t get much done, commented on a few blogs and was trying to visit Classics Club members who are participating in the Classics Club Spin with me on Monday.  Also updated my Blogging events page for this and upcoming Bout of Books dates, updated read-a-thon info for TBR, Seasons Reading, Fairy Tales, Monster and Austen events coming up in the rest of 2013. There are a whole lot of read-a-thons, review-a-thons and blog-a-thons so check it out and let me know if you have a current or past recurring event that I can add to my page. Read 100 pages in The Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Saturday, 5/18/13:  Got through the 3rd chapter in The Geography of Bliss.  Read about 30 pages in The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Participated in the Twitter chat a litte bit from my phone while playing outside with the kids, which did not go so well, hard to do.  So I gave up and had a water gun fight with them instead.  🙂  At night, read 3 chapters of Across Eternity by Aris Whittier, Kindle copy recieved from the author.

Sunday, 5/19/13: Visited, commented and followed 20 different blogs.  Read The Girl with a Pearl Earring and have about 30 pages left.  Participated in the If You Like This, Then Recommend That mini-challenge.  I am pretty pleased with my Bout of Books progress, how did you do?

Thanks for visiting me! Are you participating in the Bout of Books 7.0? What are you reading? Do you have a favorite read-a-thon or blogging event that you participate in or host? Please share the info with me! As always, happy reading! 

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74 Comments

  1. Pingback: It's Monday, What Are You Reading

  2. Wow great books! I haven’t read any of them yet, but they’re on my TBR list. I’m just waiting for a day without any distractions so I can give them my full attention haha

    You did great with the Read-a-thon 🙂 I understand having work issues, but as long as your happy with your accomplishments, that’s all that matters 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. Hope you had a good weekend!

  3. Hope you’re enjoying your last day of the readathon, and good luck meeting your goals! It was awesome meeting you in the chats, and thank you so much for visiting my blog! Hope to see you in another Bout of Books readathon in the future!

  4. Hey. Just dropping by to see how the BoB went for you. Looks good.

    I’d pick a water gun fight over reading too. Books will wait. Water bandits will not.

  5. Your doing a great job Tanya 😀 I really want to re read The Great Gatsby soon. I didn’t like it in high school (WAYY too long ago) but I hated everything I had to read back then lol.

  7. So jealous that you had a water gun fight! So fun! The Great Gastby and The Girl with the Pearl Earring are definitely on my TBR list. Can’t wait to read what you thought about them. I hope you are enjoying the last day!

  8. Blimy ‘eck, you’re on a roll! I read Interview with the Vampire years ago, but I bought a new copy recently and I’ll be interested to read it again, see how I feel about it all these years down the line. And I STILL haven’t read The Great Gatsby, despite it being on my mental to-read list for about the last five years. 😉

    Hope you’re having a cracking last day, I’m already looking forward to BoB8.0!

  9. Hi, thanks for stopping by my Bout of Books! And for the follows 😀 I can see you are doing great with your goals as well. Good luck and happy reading on your last day!

  10. You’re doing fabulous on your goals Tanya! You’ve really been inspiring me with your classic challenge! I downloaded several classics today as a matter of fact – some old favorites, some I’ve been wanting to read forever!

    How did you like Interview With The Vampire?

  12. Wow, you got some great books lined up. Interview With The Vampire has been sitting on my shelf for years… maybe even a decade. I should really read it soon. Do you also have that problem that you buy tons of new books and the latest ones always look shiniest and want to be picked up first and then older books get left behind?

  13. Thursday wasn’t great for me either. Hopefully we will both have a good day today! You’re doing so well with your goals though 🙂

  14. Interview with a Vampire and Gatsby are two of my favorites. I am glad that you finished them. You’re doing really good on blog commenting. I wish I could be that productive!

  16. Good luck with the challenge! Let me know how you enjoy The Great Gatsby, I started reading it about 2 years ago but put it down after the first third and haven’t picked it up again since. But with the movie approaching maybe I should get to it…

  17. You’re making great progress Tanya! I really want to read The Great Gatsby! That would have killed me if I had to stop at a really exciting part.
    Good luck with the readathon! 🙂

  18. I just got The Great Gatsby for mother’s day and I cannot wait to read it again. I read it in high school and I remember enjoying it. I’ve been wanting to re-read it before I see the movie. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Happy reading! 🙂

  19. Good luck with the reading! It looks like you’re doing well.

    What a drama to leave the car when you’re at a really good place in the audiobook. Couldn’t you have driven round the block once or twice? 🙂

  20. I need to read The Great Gatsby soon. My friends are all bugging me about it because it’s awesome according to everyone. You’re doing great! Keep up the good work and enjoy all your books!

  21. Oh, you’re reading The Great Gatsby! I want to read it for the movie, but I don’t think I’ll have the time. Good luck with your goals!

  22. Ah, Great Gatsby 🙂 I kind of like it when movie industry turns to encourage people to visit classics/Really Good Books 🙂 It must be interesting “reading” that in audio-format! Good luck and happy reading/listening 😉

  24. I love the books you’ve selected. I’ve read the Great Gatsby for the first time just last week and I really loved it. It’s beautifully written.
    Good luck with your goals! 🙂

    1. I’d really like to see the Gatsby movie but I will probably wait for it on Blu-ray. The comfort of my own home, couch, blanket, popcorn and cuddly husband is better than paying full price for a movie in my opinion 🙂

  28. I think it’s really cool that you’ve got three definite books you want to read. I haven’t read either The Great Gatsby or The Girl with the Pearl Earring but I have read Interview with the Vampire and I thought it was a great read.

    Good luck with your target, I hope you get to read book four too.

    1. Thanks Becki, I’m taking a bit of a detour and reading my 5th book 3rd. oops, so much for my list! Glad you enjoyed Interview with the Vampire, did you read the rest of that series? Loving Great Gatsby at the moment, it just got really good! It certainly makes commute to work more enjoyable listening to the audiobook but then I don’t want to get out of my car! Happy reading and good luck with your Bout of Books!

  29. Good luck! I love The Great Gatsby. I think a re-read is in order now that the movie is coming out soon. The other books look good too. I hope you are able to reach all your goals!

  30. Pingback: It's Monday, What Are You Reading
  31. Pingback: Some more books with which to bout | Still Unfinished

  32. Hey there! So glad your are back to reading and you are doing this read-a-thon. I loved Interview with a Vampire. Looking forward to reading your review.

    Sorry I haven’t been by in forever. Hope you and your family are well.

    Love the new (to me) design!!! 🙂

  33. Looks like a good list, especially The Great Gatsby. I need to reread that too before seeing the movie, which probably won’t be a problem because I most likely won’t be able to see it in the theaters and will have to wait for it until it comes out on DVD.

    1. I’m with you Bryan, I look forward to watching the movie but would rather watch in the comfort of my own home. Thanks for stopping by and hope you are enjoying your Bout with Books, I’m signing off so I can knock out some Kindle time 🙂

    1. Thanks Melinda for your concern. I’m much better now! I haven’t heard anyone that didn’t like Gatsby and I’m starting to see why, it is fantastic! Enjoy your reading this week!

  37. Both Girl with A Pearl Earring and The Great Gatsby got 5 stars from me, and has become my faorites 🙂 Can’t wait to read your reviews on them.

    1. Glad to hear you enjoyed them Fanda. Hope you’ll stay tuned and to chat with you more next week during the Bout of Books!

  38. These look like some great books! I just recently bought myself a copy of The Great Gatsby to re-read (I’m SO excited for the movie). There are a bunch of great sounding audiobooks out there too for it. Great goals and I hope you are able to do all the reading you want to 🙂

    1. Thanks Rachelia, by the way I love your unique name! Quite enjoying Gatsby and look forward to the movie as well! Thanks for stopping by and hope to chat with you again soon!

  39. Tanya thank you for commenting on my reading goals. I see you’re going to be reading some really interesting ones. I have yet to read an “Interview with a Vampire” but I hope to one of these day. I saw the movie but of course the books are always better than the movie.

    Good luck with the read-a-thon.

    Book Girl

    1. Thanks for stopping by Book Girl. I think we saw the movie quite long ago and I think I must’ve fallen asleep cause I don’t remember a thing about it! I would be interested in seeing it now again. Good luck with your readathon goals as well.

    1. Yay, always glad to chat books with you Michelle. Looks like you’ve got a great list of current reads and interested to see what you pick for the read-a-thon. I’d love to see a picture of your 3000 book collection…that amazes and baffles me! I am 90% done with Interview with the Vampire and it’s so good and I just got to the part where all I could say was “what the what?” I have really enjoyed it and although I didn’t finish it for your Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon, I guess it’s better late than never. Thanks for the recommendation. Glad to hear Girl with a Pearl Earring is good, I kinda like that it seems pretty short! 🙂 Hope I can cruise through it! Thanks for stopping by as always Michelle.

      1. You can see pics of my library here: http://thetruebookaddict.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-reading-life-home-is-where-library-is.html

        Not the best pics (cell phone crap camera), but that’s all of them except for my huge corner shelf that houses my fave authors books (Anne Rice, Stephen King, Jane Austen) and others that I have entire series of like Terry Brooks, Stephen Donaldson, etc. That shelf is in mom’s living room. We couldn’t fit it in my room. 🙂

        So glad you’re enjoying Interview. I hope you will continue with the series when you get time. Queen of the Damned is my fave. I’ve read it four times!

        1. Thanks for sharing your library, that is so cool! I often get library books and my shelves are filled with toys, action figures instead of books. I have a small collection of books and of course, growing the ones that are signed by the author. I think those are the ones I treasure most. I finished Interview last night and just found the Anne Rice Challenge today so thought about signing up since I’ve already completed at least the Louis level having read one book. It certainly wasn’t what I expected and I liked it more than I thought I would. First vampire book completed and I’ll continue with the series. Thanks for the recommendation, only wish I’d actually finished it during your readathon!

          1. I’m glad you liked it. Some people might see it as excessive, but my library is truly my pride and joy. Someday I’ll have an ideal place for my books. It’s a dream.

            You would be surprised how many signed books I have bought from library sales/Goodwill/etc. I can’t believe someone would get rid of a signed book.

            Hey, no worries about not finishing during the read-a-thon. I didn’t finish The Exorcist during it either. I’m so glad that you plan to continue with the series. I will look forward to hearing what you think about Queen of the Damned when you get to it.

          2. Well I hope you get your dream Michelle. We have an excessive number of toys (“action figures” as Superhubby would say), but it’s his dream to have such a man cave 🙂 I am surprised you find signed books in library sales. I did find my signed book put on a sticky kitchen counter while I was at work today. Wasn’t too happy about that but luckily wiped off…nothing is safe in my house unless I hide it well! 🙂

  41. Did I hear this is your first Bout of Books? Yay! Welcome aboard! Personally, I can’t wait until Monday…

    I really enjoy Tracy Chevalier’s books. She seems to hit a good spot between historical and literary. Enjoy!

    1. Yep my first Bout of Books, I’m a sucker for signing up for readathons, reviewathons and reading challenges! I love the chance to connect with other bloggers and catch up on some reading/blogging to do’s. I can’t wait until Monday either, in fact, I’ve already visited about 30 new-to-me blogs and almost done with Interview with the Vampire. It’s a miracle, but I’m actually kinda ahead of the game and I kinda like it.

      Glad to hear about Tracy Chevalier’s books, this is my first one and I look forward to it. Thanks for stopping by Katherine and look forward to chatting more with you during the Bout of Books!

    1. Sure thing Rebecca, you know me and read-a-thons, I can’t resist signing up! I’m actually doing well already with getting some of these goals worked on. Talk to you soon!

  43. Hi Tanya

    Thanks for stopping by The Lair. I like your four books 🙂

    I don’t think I’ll have a problem with the book number, it’s the page count that may kill me 😉 Plus two of the books on my list need reviews and one has a sequel that needs a review.

    1. Writing the reviews is what I have trouble with. usually I finish reading a book late at night in bed and then don’t want to get to writing right away. Then I start another book and can’t put it down to write a review. Vicious circle and probably why I need to force myself to do a review-a-thon right after a read-a-thon! Lots of reviews to catch up on because I love sharing thoughts about good books. I noticed on your blog a library book challenge. That’s so totally me, most of what I review is from the library 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Gina and hope to chat with you more soon as our Bout of Books gets underway!

    1. Hi Rachael, good luck with getting your books read. I did pretty good commenting, visited 31 new to me bloggers from the Bout of Books. There are lots more signed up and would love to visit everyone before the week is through. Thanks for visiting and hope to chat with you more soon.

  45. I love audiobooks. If I finish up my list early, I’ll try to add a short one into my challenge list. I’ll drop by next week to see how you things are going for you. I am curious to see how you like “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

    1. Hi Tallulah, thanks for visiting. I love audiobooks too, and much prefer them when I’m driving. Better than hearing annoying commercials and having to flip radio stations. I figured Gatsby has been on my Classics Club list and best to read it now while the movie hype is ramping up. Hope to hear from you again soon. Happy reading!

  46. I love how you are doing a kindle book, audiobook, and a hard copy! Great way to make sure that you can get some reading in when or where ever! Thanks for stopping by my blog I hope you make your goals!

    1. Thanks Abbi, I do have to sneak reading time in whenever I can as mom of 3 very active boys. Thanks for returning the visit and happy reading gearing up for the next week!

  48. Thanks Allison. I am doing great. I made the difficult decision to follow my heart and leave my full-time job. It’s hard knowing I need insurance to manage my RA and I didn’t want to put the financial burden on my husband but I really wanted to focus more of my time on my health and my kids than my job. I am ecstatic and excited and just gotta survive the next month!

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