Woohoo it’s nearly Bout of Books time. Instead of waffling in text I have an 8 minute waffle on video to introduce you to my goals and what books I’m reading. I am so rubbish at video editing so I apologise for the huge pause between the title sequence and the video start, plus it’s quiet as always so turn up the volume if you can’t hear me!
P.S. I do not know where the horse impression came from at the beginning. It’s meant to be a YAY. o_O
In brief, lots of reading, some blog visiting, some tweeting… I have 8 books on my pile but realistically? 5 would be good.
Updates:
I’ll be updating on this post each day so not to be spammy to those not taking part.
Good morning BoBbers! Rise and shine! Stayed up late reading? Well get some coffee down you. As expected, I only snuck in a couple of hours reading on day one but the novella tactic paid off and I have read A WHOLE BOOK. There was also Twitter chat fun and I ate too much at lunch (venison burger with smoked cheese and chips and a cheeky pint of cider). Snacks are arriving on day two.
Pages read today: 154
Books finished: 1
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
First sentence read: The third streetlamp at the end of the road had suddenly gone out.
Last sentence read: What are you working on?
Challenges: Bookish Bucket List – Hay Festival
It’s a readathon miracle! I have finished another book. All Our Yesterdays was a great gripping read which meant I didn’t fall asleep with it on my head at 10pm. I had a leisurely 5 hours of reading with a break for the Great British Bake Off and a bit of Twitter chat. I also wrote a review (I don’t know where this spurt of productivity came from). Not sure what to read next…I am still thinking about trousers of time.
In the snack department, I had some sour cream Sunbites and lots of salad. I threw couscous all over the kitchen and i drank far too much coffee. The Other Ellie will be pleased to know I have some Graze style nibbles for the rest of the week.
Pages read today: 306
Books finished: 2
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
First sentence read: “I, uh… It’s kind of hard to explain…”
Last sentence read: And, for some strange reason, I believe it.
There was also book post:
Top of the TBR
You have to say that in a dodgy Irish accent. Officially the top of the TBR is what I’m reading for BoB this week but that was carefully selected for readathonability. So once they are out of the way, the top 5 books that I want to read next but will have changed my mind by next week are:
Shift by Hugh Howey
The Throne of Glass novellas by Sarah J. Maas
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Bitter Greens by Kate Forysth
Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human
Top of the wishlist
I am offically allowed to buy books again as I made it past payday without buying books. So this is a cruel challenge designed to make me go off the rails and actually buy five books. Hard to choose just five but…
Control by Kim Curran
The Reason I Jump: One Boy’s Voice from the Silence of Autism by Naoki Higashida
Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones
The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
The curse of the readathon is nowehere to be seen and third book finished on day three. I did doze off with about 40 pages to go but I made myself finish The Best Book in the World before going to sleep properly. There some real lough out loud bits about writing/publishing but there were also a few bits that dragged.
Snacks included black pepper rice crackers and blueberry raisins.
Pages read today: 293
Books finished: 3!
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill + The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström
First sentence read: Enter The Author, stage left.
Last sentence read: Life is much more fun then.
Snowflakes: The Snow Tourist by Charlie English
Flames: Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder
City Skyline: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
Moon: Bareback by Kit Whitfield
Sword: The Scarlet Thief by Paul Fraser Collard
Wedding Dress: The Dressmaker by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck
High Heels: Bad Girls by Rebecca Chance
Fog: The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield
Christmas Tree: The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
Sunglasses: Black Light by Patrick Melton, Stephen Romano + Marcus Dunstan
Lightning: The Rapture by Liz Jensen
Tattoo: River Marked by Patricia Briggs
Combat Boots: Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
Handcuffs*: Genesis by Karin Slaughter
Road: Wounded Prey by Sean Lynch
*OK shackles but I do have a Karin Slaughter ebook, Busted, with handcuffs too but wanted a whole paper set!
I had so much fun with the challenge but it did eat into my reading time. Also I thought I had saved myself the fate of pulling books off all the bookshelves by not doing a book spine poem. The are books everywhere I tell ya! Started It’s Raining Men today and it seems to be a bit different to Milly’s other books, more high fliers but I think that’s about to change.
Pages read today: 177
Books finished: 3
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill + The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström + It’s Raining Men by Milly Johnson
First sentence read: Lara Rickman took a large gulp of coffee and then swallowed hard and fast before she could spit it out.
Last sentence read: Obviously the village-drum system of communication worked efficiently then.
Help! I’m being held captive next door, by Gestalt!
It is very grim here!
They are demanding 26 letters to set me free!
I have just discovered that Tybalt was captured too!
On second thought, please send chocolate, and don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for awhile!
Much Love,
Ellie
A. My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott
B. Gestalt from The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
C. The Grim Company by Luke Scull
D. The A26 by Pascal Garnier
E. To the Letter by Simon Garfield
F. Tybalt from the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
G. The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
My reading was nearly derailed by Hanna and the Other Ellie with their talk of poles and flutes (you had to be there). Much hilarity but I did manage to peel myself away to finish book four.
Plans for the weekend? At least another two books and do some review writing.
Pages read today: 287
Books finished: 4
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill + The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström + It’s Raining Men by Milly Johnson
First sentence read: My name is Raine.
Last sentence read: But isn’t it wonderful to believe in a little magic in life?
I had a major faff and didn’t start reading until well into the afternoon, so didn’t read nearly as much as I was hoping too. Plus I fell asleep on my book (I woke up in bed with two books this morning, the scandal). I really enjoyed The Coldest Girl in Coldtown although it took a while to really get into. Deranged vamps are the best.
Pages read today: 405
Books finished: 5
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill + The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström + It’s Raining Men by Milly Johnson + The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black + The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock
First sentence read: Tana woke lying in a bathtub.
Last sentence read: The phobia wasss the product of the procedure, but to be perfect itss primer chemicalsss needed to be pure.
I bowed out of Bout of Books around 5pm to watch some Buffy. I think 6 books in a normal working week is pretty good going for me and I wasn’t struck down by The Curse of the Readathon at all. I probably could have squished in another book but the reading part of my brain needed a break.
I’ve made it round more blogs than normal and done a bunch of challenges. I did miss Saturday’s Twitter chat because I had my nose in a book and by the time I realised there was only about 10 minutes left…which would have translated in me faffing around online for hours. So I stuck with the book. Now I just need to write 6 reviews!
Pages read today: 381
Books finished: 6!
Books: The A26 by Pascal Garnier + All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill + The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström + It’s Raining Men by Milly Johnson + The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black + The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock
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I've only got 2 books for this readathon so how pathetic am i? 😛
Not pathetic at all! I would normally read 3 books in a week and a couple of mine are tiny novellas 🙂
Good luck! Novellas and quick reads are for sure a big help!
Nice to see you in person! First time I really saw your face haha 😉 I'm also participating! I'm aiming for 4 books, but I have a whole lot of stuff to do next week, so I'm afraid I'm not going to make it through 4 books, but I'm going to try!
Loving all the videos. I agree about the novellas… I don't have a lot on my list this time but I always manage to sneak a couple in. Mine are usually on my Kindle so I can pick them up for a quick late night read. Good luck and have fun!
Good luck meeting your goals!
I loved that you did a vlog, it made a nice change as I was browsing through blogs 🙂
Good luck with your reading!!! Can't wait to see what you get read!
Ooooh, a video! I've never seen you in a proper photo, even (your half-covered Woman of Mystery profile photo doesn't count!), so this was fun! Quick question – did you move from Scotland?! Your accent sounds like the Scottish/English version of my sister's friend who moved to Canada, she got a distinctive twang to her voice after a while so certain words sounded very English, some words sounded distinctly Canadian…
I'm very much looking forward to your thoughts on 'The Best Book in the World' – even though I haven't read THYOMWCOAWAD – just because that title is so frickin' ambitious, I probably couldn't resist it if I saw it in a bookshop. I've never read any Milly Johnson or Holly Black either, and I've vaguely heard about The Scarlet Plague and decided THIS MINUTE that I should probably read it.
Oh, and I get attracted to shiny new books too, which is why my mother just read me the riot act when she found three new ones lurking on the floor of my bedroom. Must learn to put new books away out of sight. 🙁
GOOD LUCK CHUCK, I'll be a-stalking you as always! x
Your accent identification is spot on! I never had a strogn Scottish accent as my parents are English and we lived in by the border but it does creep in occasionally.
With your moving nightmare you deserve some shinies!
Woohoo! I am actually quite proud that I got that right! 🙂
And, ummm, it's probably PRECISELY that moving nightmare that means I SHOULDN'T be buying shinies at the moment… BUT I COULDN'T RESIST! Quite the Catch-22, that one. *sighs deeply and thinks she'd probably better read plenty this week, just to make up for it*
I have the same shiny new book problem. Lol
I hadn't heard of most of these books and now I'm totally curious about them. I'm going to look them up right now.
Good luck!
Hallo, Hallo!!
Its my first Bout to participate in, and I decided that the best way to get to know other Bout'ers is to drop by their blogs AHEAD of the Bout!! 🙂 Yours is the first vlog I've seen for the Bout, and I think you did a fab-job!! I totally understand where your coming from on *reading what your itching to read!*, because my entire Bout is set up for that!! 🙂 🙂
I love how your reading a heap of books I have *never!* heard of before! It would be rather keen if you write a bit about them as you go along, but being that you'll be on the train quite a bit, perhaps that will be a time issue! Drat!
Love your accent, by the by, as I have friends across the Pond, but I haven't heard their voices in awhile! I will definitely be back! Check out my Goals & Motivations if you get a chance!
Well I'm only on the train the first day but I always feel like I'm starting behind everyone! Hope you have fun this week 🙂
novellas are great books for read-a-thons, especially 24-hour ones! ahem, Dewey *cough*
sorry, didn't watch the video, I don't know where my headphones are.
Hello Ellie (and Kermit!) Great video. I agree that novellas and chick lit are good for readathons. I think short stories are quite good too: you might not be able to claim to have finished a lot of books, but you can list the short stories individually so they sound like you've got somewhere. Well… that's what I did yesterday.
I love the sound of The Best Book In The World, and will have to look out for that one. Great title and premise – I hope we get to see exactly what makes a book The Best Book In The World. And I haven't read The City's Son, but I do like the look of it. Love all things London, especially a magical, secret London.
Good luck for your reading.
Great start!! All Our Yesterday's looks good. See you around BoB
Amy @ http://www.bookgoonie.com
YAY FOR DAY ONE! A cheeky pint of cider sounds like a good lunch accompaniment to me. I did not read A SINGLE PAGE after the Twitter chat last night, such was the social media madness in its aftermath, but I'm doing okay so far today. Plenty more hours ahead, then a massive carvery dinner out for my grandad's birthday, and after that it'll either be reading until I've stopped feeling sick, or I'll be in a roast potato coma and watching something on my laptop until I fall asleep.
Have a wonderful Day The Second, and I'll come back for more jovial progress-stalking later! 😀
The novella idea is sneaky and clever, I like it! Will have to try that tactic next time. 🙂 Congrats on the progress so far!
ACK! I want to read All Our Yesterdays SOOO bad and everyone seems to be reading it right now! (pouting) NOT FAIR!
Good luck with the rest of the read-a-thon!
I really, really cannot read The Rithmatist. Not without a permanent marker handy to keep correcting it. THANKS FOR COMING AND ENTERING THE CHALLENGE, I was a bit nervous about whether anyone would like it, so getting you lot to come and get stuck in helped no end! 😀
Well done on your reading so far Ellie! It's my first time taking part in this readathon and I'm enjoying it, though I wish I'd more time for the challenges etc. Hope you enjoy the rest of the week 🙂
You did so well at the I Spy challenge! It was a toughie! I had to really search for some of them and kinda cheated slightly (okay, a lot) on the Christmas tree one. xD
Congrats on all the books you're getting through! 😀
The Snow Tourist, yaaaay! I love that you laid out all the book covers for the I Spy Challenge, so much fun to stare at! 🙂
Yay! You've done really well Ellie! Congrats on reaching your book goal! You did really well on the I Spy challenge! I never did it because I couldn't find books with half the stuff on them.
Good luck for the last day! 😀