Sunday, August 17, 2014

Bout of Books 11: Sign-Up & Goals

It's Bout of Books time again! This is only my second time participating, but I had so much fun my first round that I have been looking forward to giving it a second go. If you're not familiar with this read-a-thon, here's the info:

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 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

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Regular readers of this blog might remember that my first Bout of Books helped me start some better habits to fit more reading into my day. Overall, I'd say a lot of it stuck in the weeks and months after, but definitely not all! I'm hoping this week will be a nice little reboot and my goals are pretty simple:

  1. Read every day, even if it's only a little bit.
  2. Whenever possible, read in the mornings before work, on my lunch breaks, and before bed. (These are my usual reading times, but far too often I get distracted by unimportant nonsense, so I want to work on breaking those time-wasting habits!)
  3. Finish current audiobook & start a new one
  4. Finish/read 3 print books -- most weeks I only read one book, so I'm going for two bonus books (plus I don't have a whole lot left in my current book that I will be starting off the week by finishing!)
  5. Participate in at least one mini challenge

Some reading options:


I'm currently re-reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and don't think I will quite finish it before the read-a-thon begins at midnight. I should be able to cross that off my list pretty early on. Then there is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to continue with my re-read of the series. I also have The Maze Runner and The Painted Girls which are upcoming book club selections I'd like to get started on. (I'm also toying with the idea of listening to that last one on audio instead, but I'll see how things go.)


So far I've also only read one of the books from our fancy-schmancy new Harry Potter Page-to-Screen collector set and may throw a couple of those in there as well (they are heavy on the pictures & definitely fast reads, not that I want to rush through them!) I'm thinking this week might be a good week to explore a few more if I need a break or want to mix things up.


Lastly, the audiobook I want to finish is Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma which I am already halfway through. I think I will then move onto his most recent book Cooked. I've been on a foodie-audiobook kick lately because I find them informative and interesting without confusing whatever other fiction print book I have going. I've listened to a lot of audiobook fiction this summer, but I do get distracted if I am reading more than one fiction book at a time.

If you're participating in Bout of Books, good luck! And if not, happy reading anyway :)

20 comments:

  1. Yay for Bout of Books! We will have to cheer each other on. I love your goals, I wish I would have made mine a little more specific.

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    1. Thanks Kay -- in retrospect, I may have been a bit too specific myself!

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  2. Good luck with the readathon! Your goals are always so sensible, which I like. I'm skipping Bout of Books this time around as I'm really not feeling the readathoning right now.

    Is The Omnivore's Dilemma audiobook good? I was thinking of getting this one in audio format as well.

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    1. This response is quite overdue, but thank you!

      Omnivore's Dilemma was very interesting -- I don't know if it could have really held my attention as a print book, but I really loved listening to it. I think I liked his In Defense of Food a bit better, but probably because that was on the more practical side whereas Omnivore is a journalistic exploration of a topic. I've been awful about reviews, but I should do a little round-up of Pollan's reviews once I've finished his latest Cooked.

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  3. I really like to see so many people rereading HP :D I always enjoy that myself. Happy reading and good luck!

    Bout of books - Mel@thedailyprophecy

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    1. Thanks, it is fun to re-read HP! I am finding it is also easy to take a break if needed because I do know the stories so well -- which is good so I don't feel *chained* to them until I finish all 7!

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  4. Ohhhhh, I've been wanting that collector set. I hope it is as good as it looks. :) Good luck on your goals!

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  5. That Harry Potter Page-to-Screen collector set looks like so much fun! I've heard good things about The painted Girls, hope it goes well for you. Happy Reading!

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    1. It is fun! And Painted Girls seems to be off to a slow start, but seems like it will be interesting -- I'm hoping I will finish in time for the book club meeting!

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  6. Great goals! I love rereading HP, especially right around Christmas time!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

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    1. Christmas does seem like a good time for them! I do love all the various holiday chapters/scenes in the series :)

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  7. Harry Potter! :) I just read The Painted Girls last week. Hope you enjoy it! Good luck on your Bout of Books goals!

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    1. The Painted Girls has been a little hard to get into for me, but it's certainly not bad -- I think I've been a bit too distracted these days!

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  8. Do you seriously have The Monster Book from HP!? So jealous of you right now (;
    I was rereading the HP series the other day. I stopped though. I still have the 6th and 7th books to go.
    Good luck with your reading goals!

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    1. I do! That one isn't really a *book* but more of a prop replica, but very cool to have in a HP collection. I'm finding I need to take breaks too as I don't want to burn out on Harry and continue loving the books :)

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  9. You know there is a Maze Runner read-a-long going on as well too. I wish I could read that many books during Bout of Books. I have a goal of 2 this time. LOL! Good luck Christine and have fun.

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    1. I totally suck at read-a-longs but thanks for letting me know! I should have left my goal at 2 books myself -- I got a little overambitious for sure!

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I'd love to hear what you think :)