Re-Readathon is Heeeeeere!

You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit excited, I've been looking forward to this practically since I came up with the idea! Today is the first day of the re-readathon; a week long readathon dedicated solely to reading things you've already read before, and yes that is literally the only criteria for taking part. You must read things you've already read. You don't have to have a blog, you can take part on Twitter and Instagram (using #rereadathon) or Tumblr or wherever. 
Here are the rules (in handy bullet points so you won't forget);

* Starts Monday 4th May 2015. Ends 11:59pm Sunday 10th May
* Read stuff you've read before
* Talk about it on your blog/twitter/instagram/tumblr/in the comments of other people's posts/not at all. Silent re-readers are welcome too! (although I do like to chat)
* Post daily, a couple of times, just once, or not at all. Link up your posts here - each link gets an entry into the giveaway!
* Twitter chat Wednesday 6th 9pm GMT (@NinjaBookSwap/#rereadathon) 
* A challenge will be announced during the twitter chat. This is just for fun, obviously. 
* Use #rereadathon on social media so I can wave at you all :-) 
* HAVE FUN! 

I'm hoping there will be a few people joining in, mostly because I don't want to be chatting to myself on Wednesday evening, it wouldn't be good for my anxiety, but also because I've already been so excited to see people's TBR piles for the week and some of the fantastic stuff that's going to be read! Please feel free to leave comments on my posts telling me what you're reading, what you're loving about rereading or just generally share your excitement, keep the conversation going!

I'm diving in with Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley; the first in the series of books which became the amazing Scott Pilgrim vs the World movie. Happy rereading everyone, give me a wave if you're here!

Day 2 & 3

Pages read: 462

Books read from: Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan and Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery

Favourite rereading moment: Everything about Anne of Green Gables. I think I'm appreciating Marilla as a character so much more this time around!

I've read a lot this last couple of days which has mostly been because Rhys had an extra day off work today so I was able to finish Maine which was just as good as I remembered, and start Anne, which I've not reread for years and years! I'm having such a good time with this readathon so far and now I'm just hoping at least one other person remembers the twitter chat in half  an hour so I'm not talking to myself!

Day 1

Pages read: 368 (technically today and yesterday as I cheated slightly by reading Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life mostly yesterday)

Books read from: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life and Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

Books finished: Both of the Scott Pilgrim books.

Favourite rereading moment: "Bread makes you fat??". I get hysterics every single time I see this scene in the movie but had totally forgotten about it until I read it in volume 2 today and couldn't stop laughing for about forty minutes. I have no idea why it's so funny but it is. 

There will be a picture or two added to this later this evening after I've charged my phone as my charger is currently in the room that Rhys is trying to get Ben settled down for bed in. 

I love how many people are taking part. I'm trying to get around to everybody's blogs but if you could let me know you've posted/tweeted/instagrammed by linking up here or commenting that would be seriously helpful. How's everyone's first day been?

(just to clarify, I count pages because I'm a geek. I like knowing how much I've read, it gives me a sense of achievement. You in no way have to do this or even keep track of your reading in any way at all. Do whatever makes you happy)

I'm here, on twitter, Instagram and Facebook and I'll be talking about this all the time this week. Consider yourselves warned. 

Re-Readathon: May 4th - 10th

As I was putting my boys to bed this evening I was gazing through the gloom at the books on my keeper shelf and realising that there were quite a few on there that I haven't reread since first reading them, in some cases, years ago. If I'm never going to read them again, what's the point in keeping hold of them? So I came up with the idea of a re-readathon - an entire week of only reading the amazing books I've already read and seeing if they hold up to my memories of them.

I'd love it if you'd join me to talk about the books you love and generally wallow in comfort reading. After taking part in the Bloggiesta twitter chats a while ago I decided I need to be doing more of them, so hopefully I'll figure it out enough to host one for this readathon at some point during the week but if not you can just use #rereadathon to talk to other people on Twitter. Sign up all month by linking up your blog below, and let me know if you post pictures or post about your planned reading, I love to be nosy!

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! 

Bout of Books Readathon!

I was first alerted to this readathon by Ellie of Musings of a Bookshop Girl, who is pretty much the queen of several day long readathons. The only readathons that I've ever participated in are Dewey's 24 hour Readathon (twice,both times in a slightly failing manner), and recently I even more spectacularly failed Sarah's Mini Readathon. I've been thinking that a longer one would be less pressured, and indeed Bout of Books claims to be totally low pressure, as all they ask you to do is to read more than you usually would. Currently, what I would usually read in a week is not a lot, so it shouldn't be too difficult to beat that! If you're interested, here is a bit of information from Bout of Books about the readathon:

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 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th 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 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

I don't really have many goals for the week. Currently it's been taking me over a week to read a book, so as far as I've planned is that I want to start (and finish!):

• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (I'm on such a Bronte roll at the moment having just finished The Taste of Sorrow which was amazing!)
• I also have Three Men in New Suits by J.B Preistley, which my sister has lent me so I should probably try to get to that as well.
• 1602 by Neil Gaiman, as it's been a while since I read a graphic novel.
• Comment on at least 2 other blogs a day

I will plan to update this post every evening, as it seems the easiest, most consistent way to keep myself motivated! At the moment, I'm also consistently hungry so my snacks will probably also feature heavily this week. First off, I really want to bake these as they look AMAZING!

So... Here goes!!

Mini Readathon Wrap up Post

I'm doing the wrap up post for this readathon, even though I barely participated. I do really love the button for it though - so cute and summery and BEES! My sisters and I had this thing for a while where we threw bees at each other whenever we were pretending to be annoyed... I think it was from one of the Robin Hood movies. I can never remember the full stories behind these things, though, and just end up looking mad...Anyway! Moving along, here are the wrap up questions!

1. How many books and/or pages were you able to read? 

Pathetically, I read about 50 pages of The Taste of Sorrow, and 10 of Yes Man by Danny Wallace. Even after I said I was going to start reading, I got distracted by Olympic swimming (yay, Rebecca Adlington!), so I really didn't get as much done as I wanted, but such is life.

2. About how many hours were you able to read for? (Were there many distractions, breaks, etc?)

I would say that in the end I only really read for approximately 4 hours. There were ALL THE DISTRACTIONS.. house cleaning, Olympics watching, dinner making, sleeping....

3. Do you have any likes/dislikes about the 12-hour readathon, compared to a 24-hour readathon?

If I'd remembered to start earlier in the day 12 hours would have been perfect I think. I really struggle with the 24 hour one although it is great, I would love to try the 12 hours again, hopefully with more success next time!

4. Favorite and least favorite books that you read today? Favorite / least favorite challenges? (Not that there were many, but if you want to comment about any of the ones from past mini-readathons feel free to do so).

I really like The Taste of Sorrow. I did have to stop reading it last night because it was depressing me, but in its' defence, it is about the Bronte's, and their story is pretty sad which I knew before I started. I'm having a bit of a hard time with Yes Man, which is weird because I love Danny Wallace but this one just isn't grabbing me like some of his others have. 

5. Do you have any suggestions for things you’d like me to do differently for the next mini-readathon?

It all seemed pretty great to me! :-) 

Despite my enormous failure in this readathon, it has had the great effect of making me inspired to participate in more readathons, which is something I'm always meaning to do but then I feel bad about neglecting my husband (who says he doesn't mind, especially at the moment, because it means he gets to watch more football/play Fifa on the Wii without anybody whinging at him that it's boring...), so I don't. BUT Ellie tweeted about the Bout of Books Readathon this morning, which is a week long, so I'm going to give that one a go I think!

Summer Mini Readathon!

So, today is the day of Sarah's mini Readathon, for which all we have to do is read for a 12 hour block at some point starting today... I will be honest, I forgot about this until about 3pm, mostly due to being awake since 6am entirely against my will due to baby related kicking. Then we went to some car boot sales, and then I got home and thought, 'oh yeah, readathon!'. And so here I am. I am starting now, which means that I would be finishing approx 7.30 am tomorrow morning. Obviously due to pregnant (30 weeks today!) tiredness, I will not be reading the whole 12 hours, but I will be attempting as much as I possibly can! I've just started The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan, about the Bronte's and so far it's really great, so I'm hoping to make a bit of progress with that. 

For fun, and to set me up, here are my answers to the first mini-challenge questions!

1. Tell everyone three random things about yourself:
- I am obsessed with Mars Ice Creams and KitKat Chunkies
- I really, really hate coffee
- I go through very obsessive foody phases. This is one of them.

2. Is this your first readathon?

No, but I don't do anywhere near as many of them as I'd like! And so far I've only participated in Dewey's 24 hr Readathon twice, and never any longer ones. 

3. Do you have any specific goals for today? (# of books or pages to read?) No. I'm starting so late that if I get anything read at all it will be a huge bonus!! 

4. Do you have any specific snacks, drinks, or books planned? Books - The Taste of Sorrow (as mentioned above), and if I don't feel like that, Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore, which is great and which I've been reading for weeks, so it would be good to get closer to finishing that! No specific snacks, but I'm about to have roast dinner, and there are also Mars ice creams in the freezer... And then there's biscuits. Always biscuits. 

5. What hours do you plan on reading during? 7.30pm GMT - 7.30 am GMT. Not continuously, but at various points between... Next time I promise to start earlier!

Readathon Update #2

Today, my plan was to get loads of reading done, as I had the day off. Unfortunately I forgot that not only did my fiancé also have the day off, but that we had a car on loan for the next few days.... Suffice to say, we ended up going on a road trip, and I didn’t get much reading done! That said, I have managed to get to page 197 of How I Became a Famous Novelist, and I’m really enjoying it! It’s a totally satirical and very funny deconstruction of the process of writing, selling, and marketing novels. I do wish I’d got to read more for the Readathon, but it’s mostly been my own fault that I haven’t, and hopefully I’ll do better next time. Crappy internet hasn’t helped, but I have got very excited about reading again.  I’ve had so much fun participating, and I’ll keep reading right up to the deadline. Next time, I will go away from home for at least part of the time, as it’s just not  fair to ask people not to disturb me when I’m sat at home.

Mini – Challenge Entries!

I’ve been really excited to enter some of the mini challenges going on, and have been getting all antsy to post my entries!  So, for Monday’s mini challenge hosted by IB Book Blogging, here are my answers!

Question 1- What is your favourite type of myth? (Greek, Roman, Egyptian etc)

This is a difficult question, as mythology and folklore is my specialist area, and I really really love most of it! However, I think if I have to pick a favourite, it’ll have to be Greek, purely because I’ve got more engrossed in the Classic literature surrounding it, and love how sneaky the Gods often are!

Question 2 – What is Your Favourite book with some type of mythology in it?

Again, difficult, but got to be American Gods by Neil Gaiman! I love it, although having finished Percy Jackson, I’m fairly sure that if the rest of the books are as good, the series will be making it onto my favourites list as well!

For  Tuesday’s mini challenge, hosted by YABliss, here are my top 3 Love Triangles (it doesn’t say they have to be YA based, so mine aren’t all, hope that’s ok!)

1)      Katniss/Peeta/Gale from The Hunger Games.

2)      Jo/Laurie/Mr Bhaer in Little Women

3)      Bella/Edward/Jacob in Twilight (sorry! I can’t help loving it!)

My Very First Readathon!

I'm so excited! From Monday to Wednesday (11th - 13th) of this coming week, I'm going to be participating in my first ever readathon. For the last 7 months I've been blogging, I've seen people getting all hyped up about readathons, and been extremely jealous, but never actually joined in with one, so I decided it was time to change that!

Lori at Pure Imagination is hosting the Once Upon a Time Read-a-Thon, and despite the fact that I'm working all day Monday and Tuesday, I'm still hoping to read as much as I possibly can! It's been a while since I've been able to read uninterrupted, and as my fiance cleaned the house thoroughly today, I'm hoping to get by with as little housework as possible. If the weather's sunny, I'll be taking my stack of books to the beach on Wednesday :-)

I've set out a preliminary list, but having never done one of these before, I've no idea how much I can realistically read in the time. I've probably wildly over-estimated! Anyway, here's what I have:

• Finish off A Clash of Kings by George R. R Martin
• Finish In the Kitchen by Monica Ali
• How to be a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely
• Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Looking at it, I feel there's not much chance I'll get through those, but hopefully I'll make some progress with some of them. My couple of backups, in case none of these appeal when we get to Monday, are Happily Ever After (edited by John Klima, introduction by Bill Willingham), as it's short stories and I'm SUPER excited about it, and How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, which Hanna sent me as a surprise today. (Yet another reason why she is amazing!)

If you haven't signed up to join in the fun yet, you can do so HERE

Let the games begin! :-)