Reading Challenges - Bout of Books 14 and Beat the Heat Readathon

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So, as I mentioned in this post, I haven't been reading anywhere near enough books lately. I make the excuse that I'm busy but by doing these reading challenges I hope that I will have to make time to read. This makes reading sound like a chore, which it certainly isn't in my eyes, but sometimes I get lazy and need a little motivation to read something other than Take a Break magazine (my guilty pleasure). I'll post my goals for each challenge closer to the time but here are the basic rules and details on how you can sign up.

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 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd 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 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

• The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 24th at 12:00 AM to September 6th at 11:59 PM. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for three weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal!
• There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end!
• Sign up here at Novel Heartbeat or over at Phantasmic Reads. You may join whenever you like, but to be eligible for our grand prize giveaway, you must sign up by August 28th.
• To join, all you have to do is make a sign-up post – even if it’s just a “Let’s do this!” thing – and add your post URL to the linky below! You can put your goals and progress (will be required for the final giveaway) in your sign-up post, or you can make it separate. Totally up to you! (You are welcome to use the template we provide in the kick-off post as well.)
• In order to enter for the grand prize, you must have a post to keep track of your progress so we can see that you participated.
• Follow along on Twitter and share your progress with the hashtag #BtHReadathon!

Let me know if you're participating in either of these challenges, I'd love to see your goals and progress!

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End Of The Year Read-a-Thon 2013 - Updates

If you would like to know what this End of the Year Read-a-Thon is all about, Check out my post here. This is where I'll be posting my daily challenges and updates.

Day 2
Well, it's day two of the read-a-thon and I'm doing okay, about three quarters of my way through Christmas At Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop. I've only challenged myself to read three books before the 22nd of December but with Christmas swiftly approaching work and my evenings off are going to get insanely busy so I'm happy with that amount!

Day 2 teaser challenge, hosted by Book Loving Hippo. Open the book you're currently reading to a any page and post two sentences from that page.

"Back at the sweetshop, she smiled at every child who came in, all of them bursting with secrets about what Santa was bringing them; all enraptured by the tiny train in the window; little cheeks rosy; eyes bright and round; parents tired but happy. She knew everyone now, and they knew her." - Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan

Day 3

Day three and I've finished Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop. I really enjoyed it, it really got me into the Christmas spirit so bring on the festivities! I've started The Book Thief and it's unusually written, from death's point of view, but I am liking it so far.

The day three challenge is hosted by Jessica at Let Me Tell You A Story and it's a list of your top ten books read in 2013. This was a hard one, especially as I've discovered a few brilliant series this year but instead of putting all of them, I've just put my favourite one to represent the whole series.

In no particular order :-

• Sea Sick by Iain Rob Wright
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
• Sanctum by Sarah Fine
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
• Sentence of Marriage by Shayne Parkinson
• These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
• The Boy From Baby House 10 - Adam Philips

Day 4

I'm still on The Book Thief an I'm absolutely loving it. I didn't like the way it was written at first, I didn't feel that it was very emotive, but I am so into it now. I stayed up way too late last night reading it, 'just one more chapter' hehe.

Today's challenge is hosted by Lori at Writing My Own Fairy Tale. It's a spine poetry challenge! For all of the rules, check out Lori's page. I mainly use a Kindle so I can't take a pretty picture of my spine poem!

Silent Tears fall

After The Fear.

Will You Love Me?

One Step Too Far.

Pure

Pandemonium.

It's a pretty feeble attempt I'll admit but I TRIED!!

Day 5
The day five challenge is hosted by Emily at Falling For YA and she wants to know your favourite book to movie adaptation. I loved The Hunger Games, book and film version. I found that the film was actually quite true to the book which made it much more enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to seeing Catching Fire as I imagine that it'll be really good too!

Day 6
Today's challenge is a seasonal one, hosted by Michelle at Book Briefs.

• Recommend a good book for a snowy day :-

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• Recommend a good book for a rainy day :-

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• Recommend a good book for a beach day :-

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• Recommend a good book for a spooky night :-

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Day 7

I finished The Book Thief today. My God. I'll write a full review on it soon but all I'll say is that it was amazing. I've started Gods and Warriors by Michelle Paver and I'm enjoying it so far.

The day seven challenge is hosted by Cindi at Mommasez. You have to pick a book you read in 2013 and describe the book in only 166 characters. 

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Foster carer, Casey Watson takes in a fourteen year old mother and her baby. They help Emma care for her baby whilst they care for Emma too.

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End Of The Year Read-a-Thon 2013

I have A LOT of books on my bookshelf and Kindle which have been sadly neglected and unread so when I saw Kimba's post on a December Read-a-Thon I was pleased to find something which will give me a little push to read some of the books which have been forgotten. The Read-a-Thon is hosted by Juliababyjen's Reading Room and Dana Square so head on over to their blogs to sign-up and read the rules. The Read-a-Thon is running from the 9th - 22nd December 2013 and the main goal is to read some great books but there will also be some challenges and prizes along the way. To get involved on Twitter, use the hashtag #ReadingCram

I don't really have anything which I have to read before a deadline but I have a few books which I would like to clear out of my library to make way for some new ones in the New Year.

                                       

   

All three of these books are for review and I might be able to squeeze in another but in the run up to Christmas we all know how busy it can get! I'm looking forward to this Read-a-Thon.

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