Monday 14 January 2013

Bout of Books Wrap up post

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon

I can’t believe its Monday already and the Bout of Books read-athon has come to an end. I remember like it was yesterday I was compiling my goal posts. This being my first Bout of Books read-athon it was quite a successful one. I decided to keep my reading goal quite low, as it was going to be my first week back at work and I didn’t think I would get a lot of reading done. But I actually read more than my reading goal and had so much fun along the way.

My goals:

To read at least three books from this stack
To take part in at least three challenges
To take part in one twitter chat



By the end I had accomplished the following:

Total number of pages read: 1551
Total number of books I've read: 4
Books: Fever Moon by Karen Marie Moning, The Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo, Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill and Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
Challenges completed: 6
Twitter chats taken part in: 1

I was able to knock two books off my tbr pile and already find a favourite for this year in The Gathering Dark, meet some great new bloggers and complete some awesome challenges along the way. My favourite being;

The 48 page challenge hosted by Booking in Heels.

Challenge:   
  • Turn to page 48 of your current book, or 48% if you're using an e-reader. 
  • Take the first complete sentence on that page and copy it. 
  • Now you're going to continue the story! Ignoring the real plot or anything else you know about that book, add four new sentences of your very own. You can morph the plot completely, kill everybody off or go off on a huge tangent - anything goes!   

    My current read is Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. (page 48)

    Poor kid can’t catch a break, but I suspect he’s so drunk he’s not feeling much of anything at this point...  He swaggers slight to the left and then lands with a loud thump on the clutter of mess on the bed. I take that as my sign to quickly hightail it out of there, I don’t want to be there when he wakes up with a big bump on his head and so many questions that I can’t answer. I run out of the room and weave through the crowded mass of bodies swaying to the bass pumping through the speakers, by the time I make it out of the house I’m completely breathless and I can feel sweat beads forming at the side of  my head. My phone suddenly lets out a cheery tune from the bottom of my bag, but I ignore it, I quickly run off into the night, without a backward glance.

    Book Spine Poetry challenge hosted by Escape through the Pages

    Challenge:
    The concept is simple – using books you have on hand, create a poem out of their titles. There is no theme and no set number of books to use, just whatever poem pops into your head and however many books you need to create it.



    Can You Keep a Secret? because
    I'll Be There so
    Send Me a Sign were
    Meant to Be my
    Starcrossed lover.







    Name your Book Crack challenge hosted by Bookgoonie

    So I want you to reflect and identify your deepest, darkest addictions. What is your Book Crack? What can you NOT SAY NO to? What bookish things make you blissful?

    My Book Crack is buying books on their release date, despite having a ton of books in my tbr pile at home already. It’s like I get an odd feeling in my stomach if I don’t by the book on that date, I think I’m most likely scared that all the copies will run out and there will be no more left for me. So it’s kind of satisfying when I buy a copy on the release date, so that I can then take it home and know it will be sitting safely on my bookshelf. The bad thing is sometimes it takes me ages to get to the book, for example I brought Divergent by Veronica Roth on its release date, but didn’t get around to reading it until nearly a year after its release date. Other books which I still have to pick up and brought straight away include I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Die for Me by Amy Plum.


    My favourite section in my bookstore. How can a girl resist?

    The Bout of Books read-athon was a perfect way to start the New Year. I will definitely be signing up to more Bout of Books read–athons in the future.


    23 comments:

    Tanja - Tanychy said...

    Wow you're great :) I can't wait to read Shadow and Bone :) I'm actually waiting for it from TBD :) Will you write a reviews? I'm curious what you think of Meant to be :) Once again congrats :)

    PS. If you have got some time I'd like you to check the new design on my blog ;)

    Emma said...

    That sounds like a brilliant challenge to be a part of1 I love it when you knock off some of the titles off your TBR and you find a favourite as well. I love the poem you done, works for me! I love that section of Waterstones, I could there for hours! :D

    miki said...

    Congrats to did really well!! and yes when i see a bookstore like that i couldn't resist!

    Victoria Hooper said...

    Congrats on meeting your goals! :-)

    Unknown said...

    Fantastic, Jasprit! You did so well. So jealous that you knocked off four books in the span of the challenge. Congratulations!

    Stephanie @ Love. Life. Read said...

    Great job! I missed the Book Crack challenge/question this week and it would have been fun to do. Love your answer! I am so bad about buying books too. Happy Reading!

    Livvy said...

    Congrats Jasprit!

    Looks like a fabulous week and you surpassed your target. That is great. I love the poetry you made from the book spines and the photo of your favourite section of the bookstore. It looks so awesome. I'd definitely like that too.

    I'll look out for all your thoughts on these babies, particularly the favourite of the year for you so far! :)

    Jenny said...

    Looks like you're hitting all your goals Jasprit, good for you! So glad you loved The Gathering Dark, I absolutely adored that one as well. The Darkling was such an interesting character I though - I want to hug him and punch him at the same time:) Also, I want to live in that section of your bookstore. Just set a cot up for me and I'll be in heaven:)

    Unknown said...

    Wow, awesome job! 4 books is fantastic. I wish I could sign up for a challenge like this but I'm not sure my schedule would allow it. Maybe someday!

    Sam (Realm of Fiction) said...

    It’s like I get an odd feeling in my stomach if I don’t by the book on that date, I think I’m most likely scared that all the copies will run out and there will be no more left for me.

    Me too! I had this pretty bad actually, where I would take days of uni or work to wait for my local Waterstones to open. I pre-order a lot now, so it's not so bad. ;) Anyway, congratulations on completing your challenge! I hope you can slip in Unspoken some time though. Brilliant book that. :)

    Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

    You've been busy! I hope you enjoyed your four books. I was kind of hoping you'd read Pink, can't wait to see what you'll make of that one.
    And I feel the same way about not buying books on the release date. I ALWAYS pre-order those I care about the most. :)

    Gabby said...

    Congrats 4 books! you have done amazingly well Jas! I NEED to read The Gathering Dark but every time I go into the bookstore they never have it in stock. Every. Single .Time :(

    Hmm MY books crack I have so many, but my main one it a deal packages. I will go into the store for one book and exit with like 3. Currently my WHSmiths is having a deal that if you buy one book you will another book for £1!! How can I resist?!?!

    Gabby~

    Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

    Wow you did awesome. Loved that book poetry. You read some great books during your stint. KM Moning and Meant to Be, great choices. I really enjoyed Meant to Be so I will be watching for your review!

    Sarah Elizabeth said...

    Well done on your bout of books challenge! 4 books is really good! I want to read The Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo too :)
    Love that photo from the bookstore! I seriously want to go there!

    Suzanne (Parabooklover) said...

    Well done Jaspirit and you have me wanting to read The Gathering Dark now. I loved your 48 page challenge and you're little poem too :)

    Hollie said...

    I love your book poetry! I'm really excited to read The Gathering Dark, even more so now you've said it's already one of your favourites of the year.

    Keertana said...

    Yay, congrats on reading so much, Jasprit! I am DYING to know how Fever Moon was - I really need to read that already!(:

    I always have to pre-order books, which can be a little bad because I get panicky when I own books I don't like or know I won't re-read, but sometimes, my heart gets the better of my purse! ;)

    Also, wonderful poem, dear!<3

    Henrietta @ Leisure Reads said...

    I love the poem that you made from the book titles :)

    I also have a habit to buy books on their release date - it's like I want to celebrate their book birthdays by bringing them home and then the books and I can live our happily ever after :)

    Congratulations on your over-achievement! Jas, you certainly start your year strong with a big success :)

    Unknown said...

    Wow! You did a great job w/the read-a-thon. It seemed like a lot of fun. Way to go, Jasprit!

    Montana @ The Book Belles said...

    That's great you read those books! I thought Meant To Be was especially cute :)

    Aneeqah said...

    Yay, it looks like you did so fantastically during this readathon, Jasprit! It's great to see you had so much fun. =) I didn't get to participate in any of the challenges this year, but I may be going back to read the Book Crack addiction posts, especially because I love learning people's darkest secrets. ;) But you picked up so many lovely books- and I'm thrilled that you loved The Gathering Dark! It's definitely something amazing.

    Lovely post, Jasprit, and congrats for getting so much reading done! <3

    Jasprit said...

    Hey Tanja yes I'll have reviews for both books up soon! For once I actually sat down and wrote my reviews straight after finishing each book. I hope your copy of Shadow and Bone arrives soon! :)

    Anonymous said...

    Wow, congratulations Jasprit! :) I'm so pleased that you were a huge fan of The Gathering Dark - it's one of my favourites! Also, I LOVE your book titles poem.So cute and clever! Thank you for sharing!

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