Bout of Books May 2018

I'm crazy and I want to compete in Bout of Books with a newborn. Send me mental help ASAP!!!! Honestly though I'm not sure I could read any less than I normally do with Bout of Books. I have a proud history of scarcely reading during Bout of Books... normally I forget it's happening. However, I've actually been reading more probably since our little Hobbit was born as I really have little else to do while I'm breastfeeding her then read.
Anyways.... here's the link for this Bout of Books. Be sure to check it out if you're interested in participating. It's always fun... even if you're a terrible participant like me.
My goals for this Bout of Books are...

1. Finish War and Peace.... I'm very close to being done! What better time to finish it up! 
2. Read or finish one other book. I'm currently also reading The Invisible Man (audiobook), The Portrait of a Lady and God Is and then of course there is always the off chance I'll start something else before the Bout gets started! 

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Bout of Books- May 2017

Part of me says I don't have time for Bout of Books right now... the other part of me says I need Bout of Books to motivate me to read right now! So yeah.... I'm signing up for Bout of Books!
Here's what it's about....

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

My goal for Bout of Books is to finish Home by Marilynne Robinson and read Lila by Marilynne Robinson. I'd love to do more but I'll stay conservative.

Interested in Bout of Books? Click on the link above and get in on the fun!!!

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Bout of Books January 2017

I'm excited to participate in another Bout of Books!
Here's what it's about.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 2nd and runs through Sunday, January 8th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 18 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

The dates actually run during my family's ski trip this coming year so I'll have quite a bit of car time for reading (though I'm sure I'll spend plenty of it talking too... you know me).
My goals for this Bout of Books are:

• Finish two books
• Read a little every day

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Bout of Books- May 2016

My favorite read-a-thon is here!

Here's the rundown on what Bout of Books is all about.

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 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm hoping to get a few books read during the read-a-thon, though I don't know which ones yet. What I'm currently reading and what I'm wanted to read next always seems to be changing so who knows where I'll be when May 9th comes!

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Beat the Heat Readathon Progress- 2015

This is where I'm going to keep track of my progress for the Beat the Head Readathon. I'll update it as I go along. My reading times are fairly approximate as  I don't keep track of that normally.

WEEK 1

Monday 8/24

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Peter Duck (re-read), Emma (re-read), Jo's Boys (re-read) (audiobook)

Time spent reading today: 30 minutes reading, 30 minutes listening to an audiobook

Books completed today: none


Tuesday 8/25

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Peter Duck (re-read), Emma (re-read)

Time spent reading today: 1 hr reading, 1 hr listening to audiobook

Books completed today: Jo's Boys (re-read) (audiobook)


Wednesday 8/26

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Emma (re-read), Winter Holiday (re-read)

Time spent reading today: 3 hr and 30 min.

Books completed today: Peter Duck (re-read)


Thursday 8/27

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Emma (re-read), The Wisdom of Father Brown (audiobook), Winter Holiday (re-read)

Time spent reading today: 30 min listening

Books completed today: none


Friday 8/28

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Emma (re-read), The Wisdom of Father Brown (audiobook), Winter Holiday (re-read)

Time spent reading today: 1 hr

Books completed today: none


Saturday 8/29

Currently reading: A Child's History of England, Emma (re-read), The Wisdom of Father Brown (audiobook), Winter Holiday (re-read)

Time spent reading today: 1 hr

Books completed today: none


Sunday 8/30

Currently reading:

Time spent reading today:

Books completed today:

Week 1 Summary:

Total time spent reading this week:

Books I completed this week:

WEEK 2

Monday 8/31

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Books completed today:


Tuesday 9/1

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Wednesday 9/2

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Thursday 9/3

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Friday 9/4

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Saturday 9/5

Currently reading:

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Sunday 9/6

Currently reading:

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Week 2 Summary:

Total time spent reading this week:

Books I completed this week:

2 WEEK FINAL SUMMARY

Total time spent reading:

All books completed:

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Bout of Books August 2015 Wrap Up and Beat the Heat Readathon Kick Off

Today marks the end of Bout of Books and the beginning of the Beat the Heart Readathon!
For Bout of Books I read:

• Germinal (It's entirety)
• Jo's Boys (seven chapters) (audiobook) (re-read)
• Peter Duck (six chapters) (re-read)
• Emma (five chapters) (re-read)

Yeah.... I re-read a lot! 

For Beat the Heat so far I've read:

• Jo's Boys (1 chapter) (audiobook) (re-read)
• A Child's History of England by Charles Dickens (three chapters)

I'm loving that these readathons are encouraging me to read more and hopefully I'll continue to keep up with it after the readathons are done. :)

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Bout of Books August 2015- Day 1 Progress

All of my posts are coming out late today. Sorry! I'm working tonight (sad life of a night shift nurse) so I was sleeping most of today so I wouldn't be tired tonight.
So here's a little update on my progress so far with Bout of Books.

I read.....

• Germinal by Emile Zola- Over half of it actually! 

I listened to...

• Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott- One chapter 

All of my siblings were starting school yesterday so I was kind of at a loss as to what to do as this whole summer I've been spending time with them but now they were all busy. The worst is that since they're all homeschooled I see them around the house but we can't hang out together because they're working on school! However in the evening we were able to a game of Settlers of Catan and I won so that kind of made up for it. ;)

Are you participating in Bout of Books? How are you doing? 

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Read-a-thon sign ups! Beat the Heat and the Re-Read-a-thon

Today I'm signing up for the Beat the Heat read-a-thon and the Re-read-a-thon! Both sound like they will be a lot of fun. I did the Beat the Heat one last year and enjoyed it and a re-read-a-thon is always okay with me as I re-read a LOT! Be sure to check them out if you're interested. :)

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Bout of Books- August 2015

There's another Bout of Books coming up! Maybe it will be the kick in the pants I need to get more reading done. ;)

Here's a little information about what the Bout of Books is.

The Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon that  begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways and a grand prize, but they are all completely optional. For more information be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 

I'm not sure what all I'll have finished by the time I get to the Bout of Books so I'm not sure what I'll work on reading during it. Here's a rough idea though.

• Peter Duck by Arthur Ransom (re-read)
• That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
• Germinal by Emile Zola 
• Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott (re-read) (audiobook) 

Happy Reading! 

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Bout of Books #3- Wrap up Post

It's been a fun Bout of Books though I don't think I was as motivated as I should have been throughout it. However, I did get a good chunk of reading done and that's what counts! ;)

Finished

• The Fearsome Inn by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Zlateh the Goat and other stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• When Shlemiel went to Warsaw by Isaac Bashevis Singer

In Progress

• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- eight chapters
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (audiobook) (re-read)- six chapters
• Trusting God by Jerry Bridges- six chapters

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Bout of Books- Days 3&4&5&6

Multiple day updates! Sorry but not sorry. ;) I've been too lazy and too busy to get these taken care of these Bout of Books posts. :(
So on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday I read:

• Gone With the Wind- 3 Chapters
• Trusting God- 5 Chapters
• Little Women (re-read) (audiobook)- 4 chapters

I need to catch up on my reading more but I keep wanting to watch stuff instead. :( I did finally finish watching Our Mutual Friend. It was good but dragged in some places... but that's Dickens. ;)

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Bout of Books #3 Sign up Post!

It's time for another Bout of Books! This one starts the day of my final so it's perfect timing. I'll have tons of free time afterwards to read! :) Well... that is I hope I'll have tons of free time. ;)

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 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm excited to sign up and hopefully get caught up with some reading!
In May I have a few books "scheduled" to read for my various reading challenges so I'll be reading those for sure. Those are:

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3. Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead

I also hope to dive into some other books though. Those are listed below.

1. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
2. Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard (re-read)
3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (re-read)

Are you joining in the Bout of Books? It's tons of fun! :)

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Bout of Books #2- Day 5

Yesterday was the fifth day of Bout of Books. I didn't get much done actually in the way of anything.
While I was doing dishes I listened to three chapters of Anne of Green Gables. After that I watched one episode of The Adventures of Merlin and then watched far too many Studio C YouTube videos. They're addictive people. :( Number one reason I should never get on YouTube... I never get off. ;)
In the evening before bed I did read one prayer from The Valley of Vision, as is my new custom. I always have to read them twice because they are incredibly theologically dense. I'd definitely recommend it.
With family coming in today and last minute preparations I doubt I'll get much reading done but I'll try my very best. At the least I'm sure I'll listen to Anne of Green Gables. :)
How is everyone else doing on their Bout of Books?

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Bout of Books #2- Day 4

Yesterday was day four of Bout of Books.
I read a chapter of Book of Lost Tales part 2, listened to seven chapters of Anne of Green Gables and read a couple more prayers from The Valley of Vision. 
I love the time I have right now to study and I'm not looking forward to the resumption of school in a couple weeks and the lessening of time for reading. However, I think I need school in my life again as I feel I'm just getting lazier and lazier. :(

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Bout of Books #2- Day 2

Yesterday I listened to a couple chapters of Anne of Green Gables and read a chapter from The Book of Lost Tales part 2 (The Fall of Gondolin!). Not too much I'm afraid. I was running around getting my hair cut and shopping. To clarify, I wasn't running while my hair was being cut. ;)


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Bout of Books #2- Day 1

Yesterday was my first day of my second Bout of Books! Somehow I kind of forgot it was going on until this morning... no worries though! I still read a lot! :)

• Book of Lost Tales part 2 by J.R.R. Tolkien- I read one chapter of it, which constituted about a quarter of the book (i.e. pretty long). It was great though! It was the story of Túrin, which is one of my favorites but incredibly tragic.
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Re-read) (audiobook)- I listened to multiple chapters (I'm not sure how many). I'm about a third of the way through it and I realized I haven't met Gilbert Blythe yet! I didn't realize it took quite so long get to him. I was listening to this while doing dishes and cleaning the sink. It sure made the chores go by faster! 
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski- I started and finished this last night.... it took me about an hour and a half to zip through it. It was a Newberry award winner back in the day and I though it was pretty good. :) It was a cute story and a little reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. Reading it made me feel incredibly lazy... like I should go out and hoe the garden in 100 degree weather for a few hours. 

So all in all a great first day of Bout of Books, despite me forgetting it was happening. :) The joys of not having started the semester of school yet and having lots of time. :)

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It's Monday: A New Year and a Bout of Books

It's 2015! Already I'm heading into the new year full speed. I began reading Beowulf just shortly after midnight New Year's Day just for the fun of it and then finished it later that day. :) This is also my first day of Bout of Books!
I don't know if people get reading cravings but I if they do I have one! For the last few days I've been longing for a re-read of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I can't get rid of the longing! This is not planned into my schedule of reading this year but I'm thinking I'm going to have to work it in somehow. It's such a great book that I don't see why I should resist this craving. ;) For now I'll probably just suffice with Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales but I think I'll take LOTR along with me when we go on our family ski trip next week. It's rather appropriate actually as the last time I re-read LOTR was two years ago on our last ski trip. :)

Finished this Week

• Beowulf by Unknown- Excellent poem! I was surprised to love it! A beautiful mixture of the epicness of Tolkien and the poetry format of Homer's Odyssey. A full review will hopefully be coming soon. :)
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus- Somewhat difficult to read and comprehend but interesting nonetheless. 

Currently Reading

• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (re-read) (audiobook)- A classic childhood favorite. :)

Coming Soon

• The Book of Lost Tales part 2 by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (re-read)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy (re-read)???

Book Reviews posted this week

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 

Let the reading commence!

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TBR Readathon- Midpoint

While yesterday's update on my TBR Readathon (hosted by Wishful Endings) showed little hope for the future, I hope today's brings you just a little. ;) I stayed up till almost 2:00 last night finishing The Help! I really wanted to find out what happened... really, really bad. Considering the fact that when I started in reading last night I was only half way through, I'm not really sure what I was thinking. That's okay though, I often feel that way. ;) However, now I'm done and I really enjoyed it. Five stars on Goodreads but if I could do half stars I would say four and a half. Hopefully I can whip out a snippet of a review sometime. Now I really want to see the movie. :)
So that's ONE book done for the readathon but my goal is five books so I need to get with it! The unhappy fact that I have a test this coming Friday means I won't have as much time to read but hopefully I can at least get a couple more books read. I have started Christianity and Liberalism but I'm not finished with it yet. I keep getting sidetracked with my re-read through Harry Potter, which doesn't even count for this readathon! Another instance of me not knowing what I was thinking... told you it happened often. ;)
So that's what's up with me and my current readathon.... how about you?

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TBR Readathon: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday update

Not so great! I read some more of The Help last evening but Wednesday and Thursday all I read was from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which is a re-read and therefore does NOT count for this challenge. I knew that but I still read it. Bad Lois!
Anyways that's all my update for now. Must study!

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Tackle your TBR Readathon- Monday and Tuesday Update

I decided to do every other day updates for the Tackle your TBR Readathon cause I'm busy and don't feel the need to write a post every day. :)
Anyways, I'm currently reading Christianity and Liberalism, which I'm three chapters into, and The Help, which I'm about three chapters into as well. I'm liking them both a lot so far. I'm pleasantly surprised with The Help. I'm not much of a person for modern books but I'm really enjoying it. Christianity and Liberalism is very deep and therefore more difficult to read but it has a lot of great food for thought in it.
So that's what's up with me right now! I have to go to my psych clinicals now so I must bid y'all adieu! Don't pity me... at least not yet. ;)

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