Friday, May 16, 2014

Bout of Books Days 3 & 4

I must say I'm enjoying my first Bout of Books very much! In addition to my usual bedtime reading, I've been reading for a half hour in the morning before I start my day and also on my breaks from work. Since I work from home and choose my own hours, you'd think I would already be in the habit of doing this, but far too often I flip on Netflix or get lost online on my breaks instead. I was actually much better at reading in the mornings and on breaks when I worked at my old job with a much more rigid schedule, which I find rather ironic. I'm loving this new routine so much though that I hope to continue it going forward, read-a-thon or not!

Wednesday

Time spent reading: 3 hours
Pages read: 135
Books completed: 1 (Dark Tide)
Challenge: 'This' Made Me Think of 'That'



Thursday

Time spent reading: 3 1/2 hours
Pages read: 256 (graphic novel) + 2 hrs. 15 min. audio
Books completed: 2 (Noah & Beowulf)
Challenge: Spell It Out


Total books completed: 4
Total time read: 10 1/2 hours
Total pages read: 517 + 3 hrs. 15 min. audio

While I'm a firm believer that all books "count," about half of my total pages read are from a graphic novel -- I didn't gain super-human speed-reading powers overnight :)

20 comments:

  1. My main book yesterday was A Monster Calls, which is considered YA or MG, but is formatted more like a children's book than anything - large-ish font, lots of pictures, etc. So, yeah, I feel a bit weird saying I read 230 pages in an hour and a half.

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    1. Exactly -- there is no reason why these books don't count like any other, but a put a bit of a disclaimer in because I don't want people comparing themselve to me (of all people!) and thinking I have some some magical speed-reading abilities all of a sudden :)

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  2. It's great that you're enjoying this readathon - and that its instilling potential lasting habits for your reading. I'm kind of kicking myself when I see the updates from everyone on Twitter and on blogs because I did want to join in on this one seen as its a week long and so not so intense, however I know I'll benefit from leaving it this time and jumping on next time it rolls around (aka, when Alexander is a bit older and the chance of fitting in more reading is actually feasible, not just a dream!)

    I hope the rest of your week goes as well as currently is.

    :-)
    Bits & Bobs

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    1. It would be great if you tried it some time! It really is quite low-key and everyone is very encouraging and constanting telling you to not put a lot of pressure on yourself since it's supposed to be about having fun and enjoying books. I have kicked myself many times seeing everyone's updates in the past so I decided it was time to finally go for it :)

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  3. That Spell It Out challenge looks like so much fun! I'm happy to hear you are enjoying bout of books, I always found it to be a blast.

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    1. It really was & Bout of Books in general is even more fun than I was ever expecting :)

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  4. Hey I'm really glad you are enjoying the experience because I was a bit worried and really didn't want you to have negative experience. I also think all the books count, but in the sake of clarity if I read graohic novels I'd also mention it because the fact is that there is a lot less text on a page than in a "regular" book.

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    1. A couple of times, I looked back on my goal post with a goal of 7 books and I really thought I had lost my mind! But I definitely picked the right kind of books to read and reaching that goal is within sight because of that. And yes, I mentioned the fact about the graphic novels for the sake of clarity, and because I didn't want anyone else feeling bad about their own page count because I flew through a book that was mostly illustrations!

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  5. You're doing really well! I read fast in comparison to most people I know but I not in comparison to other bloggers so I thought the bout of books thing would be too much stress for me! lol

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    1. It's really quite low key and I think you'd really enjoy it if you gave it a try sometime! It can be hard to not compare yourself to others, but I just love the idea of carving out just a bit of extra time in the week for reading. It's really all in good fun & community :)

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  6. Christine you are rocking this thon! Congrats. I look forward to your thoughts on some of these reads.

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    1. Thanks Kimba, it's been so much fun! I have quite a backlog of thoughts now, LOL

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  7. I am seriously impressed with the amount of reading hours you are managing every day and pleased that you're enjoying Bout of Books so much :)
    I'm loving it too, just have a bit of a review backlog now!

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    1. Thanks Sam! It's amazing how it adds up when I squeeze in a half hour here and there throughout the day (and audio books help a lot too!) I think a review backlog is a natural consequence of an event like this -- at least we won't have to worry about running out of books to write about...even if it takes us a while to get all the posts up :)

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  8. This is my first Bout of Books too! I've read three books, but I'm hoping to finish another one to at LEAST have four books through the week, which is really good for me. haha

    -Lauren

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    1. Anything more than one book a week is great for me, except maybe when I'm on a graphic novel or kid book kick -- heck, sometimes just finishing one whole book in 7 days is an accomplishment! I definitely chose wisely for this week's event though. Glad to hear your first Bout of Books is also going so well & thanks for stopping by :)

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  9. You've done much MUCH better than me this Bout of Books! But I love that reading schedule you have - I may just have to nab that idea for myself. I also work at home most days and tend to get lost on the internet during my breaks, so I love that idea!

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    1. I'm amazed how those extra half-hours have added up, even for a slow reader like me! They were so simple and rewarding to work into my schedule that I'm hopeful the new routine will stick. I hope it works for you too if you try it! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  10. OH MY GOSH, I want First Impressions so bad! That sounds like something right up my alley.

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    1. I knew a Jane Austen literary mystery would interest you! I don't want to rush summer, but the fall pub date, feels really far away...

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I'd love to hear what you think :)