Hours 5 - 8

Hours 5 and 6

Pages read: 0

Time reading: 0

Totals

Pages read: 0

Time reading: 3 hrs 10 minutes

Hour 5 Mini-Challenge: Book Staging by On the Wings of Books

Thoughts: Well, I've gotten zero reading done in the last couple of hours. I spent about a half an hour on a break, putting on sweats, having breakfast (veggie omelet and a bagel), puttering around the house. My Mom came over and we chatted for an hour and a half or so. She's just left, so I'm getting ready to get tucked into a book for awhile.

Hours 7 and 8

Finally - some book time! After reading for an hour I took a break for lunch (ham and cheese sandwich, chips, and a lemon lime fizzy water) and to catch up on the internets. So far, I'm not tired at all, but I know that will be short-lived. 

Totals

Pages read: 96

Time reading: 4 hrs 10 min ( audiobook - 3 hrs 10 min)

Hour 4

The time seems to go so quickly at the beginning, and at the end.... slow as molasses. 

Hour 3 Challenge - Shelfie

This is what I spend most of my time looking at, as it's the wall with the TV in my living room. The small shelf on the left is poetry, and the rest of the shelves starting at the upper left and wrapping down towards my DVD/CD shelves are some of my TBRs in reverse alpha order. Stacked on top of the DVD shelves are my RAT books, and you can just see the corner of my fireplace mantel (with my essential oil diffuser) and the top part of my red chofa (chair/sofa) with a very unattractive 80's pillowcase on top to help keep some cat hair off. It's a losing battle, as that's one of their favorite places to lay, but it does help a little. Believe me, there are PLENTY more shelves I could've chosen, but this is the one I see all the time, so I figured it was the best choice. 

Hour 4 Challenge - Quotable Quotes

This is right from the beginning of "The Bone Season".

I like to imagine there were more of us in the beginning. Not many, I supposed. But more than there are now.

We are the minority the world does not accept. Not outside of fantasy, and even that's blacklisted. We look like everyone else. Sometimes we act like everyone else. In many ways, we are like everyone else. We are everywhere, on every street. We live in a way you might consider normal, provided you don't look too hard.

Not all of us know what we are. Some of us die without ever knowing. Some of us know, and we never get caught. But we're out there. 

Trust me. 

 

What I'm reading: "The Bone Season" by Samantha Shannon

Time reading/listening: 3 hours

Here's hoping I can get a little actual book time soon!

Hour 1

Good morning, everyone! I don't know about you, but I slept through my alarm and am getting up exactly when this starts. Oh well! Plans for this hour are to make a cup of coffee and start reading something easy while my brain wakes up.

image from risingabovereallife.com

Opening Meme
1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
My house just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I really don't know this time! Maybe the next one in the Jane Austen Vampire series by Michael Thomas Ford, "Jane Goes Batty", or the "Shackleton" graphic novel I won the last RAT.

3. Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Honestly? I'm planning on roasting a giant pile of veggies later, and that will be soooo good!

4. Tell us a little something about yourself!
Mid-30's rumored crazy cat lady, overworked, underpaid, and most of my free time is spent reading books. Also, I'm considering going to get my MLIS degree, and pro/con list is about even, so I'm not sure what will tip it either way. 

5. If you participated in the last RAT, what's one thing you'll do differently today?
I did, and I think I'm going to be a little kinder to myself today and not be such a reading Nazi. I haven't gone obsessively mental about what books to read, snacks to eat, etc. I've had my book stacks for about a week and haven't touched them, and I didn't do a separate  shopping list for food, so I'm just going to try to relax and enjoy myself this time around. I'm planning on doing a little yard work, and I have to take care of my neighbors' cat for awhile, but other than that I should be here. One thing that is different though, is that I'm taking a CPR renewal class tomorrow afternoon, so I am going to have to get some sleep today/tonight at some point so I don't look like I'm hungover in class tomorrow.


Okay, off to start this Thon off right!  

R.A.T. TBR pile

I'm really trying not to be an over-planning, over-library-checker-outer of books this time around, despite the fact that 9 graphic novels came home with me on Friday, and I have another 7 regular books sitting here. Just ignore those piles, and check out what I pulled off of my shelves for Dewey's this time!

These three are oversized/easy/quick reads that I can use to either boost numbers or keep me going when my brain is tired.

This stack is full of scary, creepy, Halloween-y things like ghosts, vampires, and aliens. A couple of them I've been saving for the October Dewey's, and they've been sitting on my shelves, unread, for years. I'm hoping to get at least a couple of these bad boys finished.

This last one has short, picture-filled, or comfort reading. I'm currently reading all of the Poirot books in order, so #4, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", will be next for me. And most of the others in the stack I've wanted to read earlier, and put them back in anticipation for the RAT. "Shackleton" was a win from the last RAT (and my first RAT win ever!!!), so I figured it'd be appropriate to save it for this next one. And I'd read bits and pieces out of the "Twitterature" book, but now I'll actually go and read it straight through. 

I'm not going to picture my library book stacks now, since I'll either read them before Saturday, or I'll save them to read on Saturday and would like a spur of the moment thing to happen. Plus, you guys don't want to see and hear about the same books all the time, do you? Didn't think so. 

Normally, I like to save the night before the 'thon to grocery shop, prep food, clean up the house, start my meme's, etc. This time around, I work until 3, have a 5:00 massage client, and have a writing group meeting after that, so I'll have to plan everything out this Thursday instead. Here's hoping I don't forget anything or think that I'll have time the next night, when actually, I'm just hoping to be in bed and sleeping by 11!  

See you all at 7 AM on Saturday, if not before!

Dewey's R.A.T. is almost here!

image from theguardian.com

Are you guys ready for another round of Dewey's? I know I am!  I've been waiting a long time for this one, since I didn't do that great for the Spring one. My big plan is to read some "spooky" books during the 'thon, and I'm going to try (for real this time, dudes) to not go cray-cray checking out books from work. Seriously. Maybe just a couple of graphic novels, but that's it. *fingers crossed* At any rate, I was going to really go for it this time and try to make it for the full 24 hours, but now I have to take a CPR recertification class the next afternoon, so who knows how my willpower will hold out. (Plus, I don't want to look like a hungover chick during class.) 

Getting excited? Picking out your books? Already making up a menu of snacks? Don't forget to ask off of work - who wants to be working when you could be reading?!?

Bout of Books Updates

Hello everyone!  I kept thinking this RAT was next week, and suddenly - BOOM - it's already started and I'm a day behind. But no matter - what counts here is reading and having fun, right? 

I'll be updating this one post (don't know why I haven't done that before, sorry) throughout the week unless it gets to be too unwieldy. 

My goals for this week are to:
-read the rest of the Sookie Stackhouse series (currently on book #11)
-get started on at least one book from either of my book club selections
-read at least another 20% in "Outlander"
-read for at least an hour a day
-have a good time!

Update #1 - Tuesday afternoon

So far this week I've read 3 books, but that was just on Sunday, so it doesn't really count for this 'thon. After I worked this morning I had lunch with my Mom, came home to make a few phone calls (ugh, insurance!), and am getting ready to settle in to reading for a while while I pop up every hour or so to switch loads of laundry. I'm hoping to be able to finish "Dead Reckoning" by Charlaine Harris today. Only 300 pages left, it should be doable. 

Update #2 - Friday afternoon

I have NO IDEA what my problem is, but I've hardly read a thing all week. Partly it's probably because I've been working/running around a little more, and it's partly because I've been catching up on recorded TV more than usual. I've only managed to get another maybe 50 pages read in "Dead Reckoning", and a little further into both "Outlander" and "Pirate Vishnu" on my Kindle. The goal to read an hour a day has been essentially ignored. Today is a day off for me and I've been spending it cleaning up and sorting out some paperwork. (It seems I do this a lot and there are always piles still sitting around. WTF?!?) At any rate, I'll be having a break for lunch soon, and perhaps after that I can at least put on an audiobook so I get reading done somehow. 

Also, I've just realized that one of my book clubs is meeting Monday night and I have yet to start the nearly 500 pager. Oops? 

Bout of Books Totals

Books completed:
Pages read: ~50
Time reading(ish): 

Final Update
Well, kids, I Super Failed at this. My brain just wouldn't function every time I sat down to read, and it kept staring out the window or who knows what. So I stunk it up. But this was just my first BOB RAT and I did virtually zero planning for it. Next time, I'll be more prepared and will hopefully be able to have off one whole day to sit and read. 

My first Bout of Books read-a-thon

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the radio silence on my end. 

My Mom is just about halfway through with her radiation treatment, which means it's nearly the end of the road for her breast cancer journey. Neither of us will miss the constant hospital and doctor visits, and we both look forward to having some time to figure out a new normal. Mom's hair is coming back slowly but surely, and it just starting to get that wacky post-chemo curl. As soon as I let my guard down, I got a doozy of a flu/cold combo and was out for a week, not feeling normal for almost 2 weeks after that. But work (at all jobs) is pretty much back to its regular status, which is seemingly constant, and I'm reading up a storm in my spare time.

My good friend, Jenna (from The Girl With Book Lungs), signed up to do the Bout of Books read-a-thon, and after giving it about a half a seconds worth of thought, decided I'd join in too!  It's very casual, and lasts a week long. Here's the official blurb from the website:

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

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Why don't you come and join in - I know you've got shelves and stacks of books you're meaning to get to!