Bout of Books 5.0 MASTER POST

I did originally have all this info on my Bout of Books sign up and goals post, but decided it was going to get ridiculously long what with mini challenges and my tendency to ramble, so I've moved my running daily updates here instead! My official goals are here, but here's a photo as a quick recap. 

The pile I'll be reading from this week!

Monday

Woke up this morning super excited for the readathon! I plan to do some baking today, but we're nearly half way through and I'm currently still in my pajamas with the biscuit tin so we'll see! So far I've been very distracted by the internet, and by managing to totally screw up my entry to my first mini challenge by trying to split my posts in half, but I have read a little bit of Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel which is great so far. I really didn't intend to read it this week at all but now I'm engrossed and so I have to! Once I finish sorting out this post, I'm going to get dressed and do some reading!! Come on, motivation! 

Mini Challenges

The first mini challenge I'm entering for this readathon is hosted by Reading in Texas and The Space Between. They want to know what I do with my books after I've read them. Up until recently the answer would have been, keep them! But I'm getting better, and so this answer has three parts:

1) If I love the book so much it immediately goes onto my five star books list, I keep it. Write my name in the front and put it on my shelf of favourite books. 

2) If I can immediately think of somebody who would love the book, it gets passed on. A lot of my books circulate through my family and friends this way. 

3) If none of the above applies, the book goes on ReaditSwapit, which is probably my favourite discovery of the past ten years. When my list for that gets too long (over 100 or so) and my shelves look like they're about to break, I pull out some that have been on the list for ages and take them to the charity shop!

So there we go. I used to hoard all of my books forever, regardless, but as I get older I think I have a more mature approach (i.e I've realised that if I keep every book I ever buy I won't have any space for new ones). 

Number of pages read today: 222

Number of books read today: 2

Total Number of Books Read: 1

Books: Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel, Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (12 pages...)

Other Comments: I had a really good day today, mostly because I got really engrossed in Goodbye for Now, which hopefully I'll manage to review at some point later this week. Just started Agnes Grey, because my plans were foiled by a combination of accidentally napping for an hour and the need to make dinner! 

Tuesday 

Slightly stressful morning so far - hubby's alarm didn't go off so we were in a rush to get him out of the door in time for work. I'm now trying to relax back into my morning routine (or what there is of it!). It's likely yesterday will be my best reading day, as my little sister is arriving this afternoon to keep me company and 'stop me freaking out while I'm on maternity leave' (Mum's words, not mine!), so we'll probably end up talking a lot and I'll be running round the house finding books going 'oh oh oh and you HAVE to read this one!' adding them to the tottering pile which will undoubtedly be in her arms already... Also, today I *will not* get distracted by Twitter. Or not as distracted anyway... :-/

Number of pages read today: 26

Number of books read today: 1

Total Number of Books Read: 1

Books: Goodbye for Now (finished Monday), & Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Other Comments: I knew today would be worse, but it was worse than I expected. I got distracted by movie watching and then I fell asleep and then after I picked up my sister we spent the rest of the afternoon pretty much playing a Sherlock Holmes board game we found in a charity shop, and watching series 2 of the BBC Sherlock, because she hasn't seen it all and it's awesome.

Wednesday

Not sure how today will go. Rhys is off work as well as the sister being here, and it's folk week in town which means they have an awesome massive tent full of craft stalls, so I'll be getting caught up in that! I'll definitely try to get some reading done, but no idea how much!

Number of pages read today:110

Number of books read today: 1
Total Number of Books Read: 2

Books: Goodbye for Now, Baby Talk: The Secret Diary of a Pregnant Woman by Julie Walters

Other Comments: I got entirely distracted from what I was meant to be reading yesterday and read Baby Talk instead as I was freaking out about baby having and thought I should probably read something that would at least be funny. It was, and also fairly informative, so I'm feeling better! I've really not been getting much time to read with my sister here, because we've been out doing things. We went to see Brave today and it was awesome!

Thursday

Woke up this morning with the MOST annoying One Direction song in my head (seriously seriously hate that band), and a gigantic headache. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the day, but hopefully I'll get something done at least! I'm still fairly proud of myself for the amount of reading I've done this week :-) 

Number of pages read today: approximately five... :-/

Number of books read from today: 1

Total Number of Books Read: 2 finished (Goodbye for Now and Baby Talk), 2 unfinished (Agnes Grey and 1602)

Books: see above

Other Comments: Did a lot of shopping and pointless TV watching today, hardly got any reading done except a few pages of 1602 on the train. I did however manage to buy The Norton Anthology of American Literature vol 1 for £5 in a charity shop, so I was very excited about that. The Norton Anthology of English Literature (both volumes) were pretty much the only text book I couldn't bring myself to part with after finishing my degree, and I've been saying to hubby that I'd love to take a class in American Literature since I know so little about it. However, this part of the country where we live is, in my opinion, where your brain comes to die if you move here and already have a degree, so there are no decent literature courses of any kind anywhere which are shorter than a full on BA (which I already have), so the Norton will be a good starting point I think!

Friday 

I'm going to be honest and say that I probably won't have a much better day today, reading wise. My family are coming to visit, and my sister and I are currently watching The Artist. I will do my best though, and hope to get through a bit more of 1602. And maybe write a bit more of my review of The Taste of Sorrow!

Number of pages read today: 10 of Agnes Grey

Number of books read from today: 1 

Total Number of Books Read: 2 finished, 2 unfinished

Books: Goodbye for Now  & Baby Talk finished. Agnes Grey & 1602 unfinished

Other Comments:

Saturday 

Number of pages read today: 70 of Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba

Number of books read from today: 1

Total Number of Books Read: 2 finished, 3 unfinished

Books: Goodbye for Now, Baby Talk (finished), Agnes Grey, 1602, Umbrella Academy: Dallas (unfinished)

Other Comments: An unplanned visit to my family to drop one of my younger sisters home took up some of the day, but I managed to read half of a graphic novel at my parents' in the evening, so it wasn't a totally unproductive day!

Sunday 

Number of pages read today: 220 (122 of Umbrella Academy: Dallas, and 100ish of 1602)

Number of books read from today: 2

Total Number of Books Read: 3 finished, 2 unfinished

Books: Goodbye for Now, Baby Talk, Umbrella Academy: Dallas (finished), Agnes Grey & 1602 (unfinished)

Other Comments: Graphic Novels seemed to suit the end of this week better. I think once my family were here, my reading ability got a bit disjointed anyway, and then unplanned attendance of my parents' housewarming party Saturday night/Sunday put paid to any big weekend plans I had!