A Bout of Books

Bryan at Still Unfinished clued me in to the Bout of Books read-a-thon going on this week. Well, I have some time off from work this week, along with about 15 books out from the library. Time to put a dent in the TBR stack.

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

Goals for this week: I'd like to read 5 books. I have several in progress at the moment, but my priorities are Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch since I'm reading that for a blog tour and Knee Surgery: The Essential Guide to Total Knee Recovery by Daniel Fulham O’Neill, M.D, since I have knee surgery coming up soon. Other than those two books, I'll be winging it.

April Reading Wrap-Up

April was a very productive month for reading. I've had a lot of spare time due to a chronic knee problem that will require surgery soon. I have had issues with my left knee cap for most of my life, starting with a traumatic dislocation when I was 12 years old. One of the ligaments that is supposed to hold my knee cap in place, the lateral patellar retinaculum, is no longer doing that, which is making my left leg unstable and wont to do unnatural things. I won't go into detail here, but let's just say that over the past several weeks, I have confirmed I am not squeamish. I've been on crutches and off work, neither of which I am happy about, but I'm trying to make the best of the situation.

Like Sherlock Holmes, my mind rebels at stagnation. Unlike my knee, my library card still works, so I have been reading a great deal in an effort to stave off boredom.  (Huge props to my mom, who has been awesome about picking up and dropping off library books for me.)

This month I read:

1. Prodigy by Marie Lu
2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
3. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson
4. The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson
5. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
6. Code Name Verity by Elizabeh Wein
7. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
8. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
9. Forever by Maggie  Stiefvater
10. Divergent by Veronica Roth
11. Doctor Who: Devil in the Smoke by Justin Richards
12. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
13. A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
14. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
15. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I went on a bit of a YA binge. I have missed a lot of good young adult books in the past couple of years, so I'm getting caught up now. Out of all of these, I think the Infernal Devices trilogy (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess) by Cassandra Clare and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein were my favorites.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon Wrap Up

I started the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon as a cheerleader during Hour 2 and passed out as a reader during Hour 21. I read from Hour 13 to Hour 21, with a couple of half hour breaks mixed in with hourly five minute breaks. I ended up reading a total of 398 pages. (Really, Ruth? You couldn't have fallen asleep after breaking 400?!)

I participated in the following mini-challenges:
The Introductory Questionnaire
Book Spine Poetry hosted by Scuffed Slippers and Wormy Books
Self Portrait hosted by The Estella Society
Book Sentence Challenge hosted by Midnight Book Girl and Fake Steph
The Mid-Event Survey
Clear the Cobwebs and Recharge Yoga Challenge (which I won!) hosted by Elizabeth-Michelle

I had company during the read-a-thon.

End of Event Survey
Which hour was most daunting for you?
I fell asleep halfway through Hour 21 (around 5:30am my time), glasses still on, my arm thrown over my book. I had started yawning about an hour before.
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I went with a young adult theme for this read-a-thon. I think fast paced, action-packed reads like The Hunger Games series, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, or Graceling by Kristin Cashore make good read-a-thon selections.
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? 
I think everything went well. I would like to see more cheerleaders during the next read-a-thon. I had a lot of fun cheering and I'd like to see a little more emphasis on that.
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? 
Instagram. So fun to see what others were reading, snacking on, or seeing from their reading spots (A lot of us enjoyed great weather and outdoor reading) in real time. 
How many books did you read? 
One.
What were the names of the books you read?
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.
Which book did you enjoy most? 
See above. City of Bones was definitely a page turner for me.
Which did you enjoy least?
Not applicable.
If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? 
Don't forget about Twitter in the wee hours. I stopped blogging and switched over to Twitter as the night went on. It might be nice to have both the blogger's blog URL and Twitter handle available on the Cheerleader Team pages.
How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? 
I'll be back in October! I'm planning to do a mix of cheering and reading again then, since that worked so well for me during this read-a-thon.

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Halfway Point

We're now at the halfway point of the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon, which doesn't seem quite possible. The day has flown! I've been cheering other readers on and participating in the mini challenges. I'll dedicate a separate post to collecting those. If you're on Instagram (The first person to figure out what my Instagram username is from gets my undying affection) or Twitter, you've probably seen most of them already but I think I'd like to archive them here, too.

I'll be switching over to reading next hour, 8 PM my time. 

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
I feel great. I’ve been cheering since hour 2; switching to reading next hour.

2) What have you finished reading?
Nothing, yet. Cheering has been my top priority. Hoping to finish one book tonight.

3) What is your favorite read so far?
See above.

4) What about your favorite snacks?
Kit-Kats. I am still super thankful for my cough drops, too. 

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
So many! Just a few of the more than 2 dozen (!) additions to my feed reader:
http://the-dailybookmark.com/
http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/
http://samjaymc.blogspot.com/
http://www.midnightbookgirl.com/

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Introductory Post

My read-a-thon morning didn't quite start out as planned, since I slept through my alarm. I ended up starting about an hour and a half late. I think reading late last night and the cold I've had for the past couple of days both contributed. Hoping to make it through today!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? 
Southeast Pennsylvania.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  
City of Bones, since I just finished The Infernal Devices Series. I'm also excited for The Fault in Our Stars, since I've heard so many good things.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Kit-Kats! Although, I'll also be hitting the cough drops hard today, too.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a Doctor Who fanatic and lover of all things British. I tend to be a niche reader and right now I'm most at home with the young adult genre.  

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? 
This is my second read-a-thon, and instead of reading straight through, I'll be spending more time visiting blogs and on social media cheering other readers on. That was so helpful to me last time that I wanted to return the favor.