Bout of Books 14 Updates

Here are my updates for The Bout of Books 14 readathon! I have decided to put it all in one post to keep everything looking a little bit more organised. (And so that I do not feel the urge to write an essay a day.)

Goals

1. Read a LOT of female authors. 
2. Put a dent in my TBR pile to promote guilt-free book shopping.
3. Don't get fired while doing goal 1 and 2 - as it will put an end to book shopping as a whole!

Day One

Books completed: The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
Books started: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Pages read: 219
Challenges: Confession time here. I started doing it. And then it grew to be a massive project. Two hours later, I was no where near done and it had morphed into something extraordinary. I gave up and went back to reading. Maybe one day I will finish it and give it its own blog post.

A great beginning, especially considering that my Grade 12s start writing their trial exams next week, and work is crazy! As the majority of my reading this month has been a bit heavy in nature, I decided to pick up The Bone Season, hoping for a lighter, faster read. It is definitely fulfilling that so far.

Day Two

Books completed: 0
Currently reading: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Pages read: 111

A not-so-stellar second day. It was a little more focused around the third goal, in other words, I had to get a lot of work done. My reading time was also interrupted as my cat decided to go and walk in paint (where? why? how? wtf?) at around 11pm at night, so he and I had a bit of a struggle as I tried to clean him up. You would be amazed as to how long that took. Here is to hoping day 3 is going to be much more productive. With only 4 hours left and zero pages covered, I am not getting my hopes up. But at least I have almost cleared my 'to do' list at work.

Day Three

Books completed: 0
Currently reading: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Pages read: 77

Reading is proving to be a bit draining this week. Actually, perhaps it is pretty much everything else that is proving to be draining - like the riots going on, which make getting to work a nightmare, as there is a huge safety concern, and the attempt to miss trouble by being on the road before 6:30am. No one should be on the road for work at 6:30 am when work only starts at 7;30 am (and the trip takes 10 minutes). although, the other day, it took 45 minutes... Yay for riots - not.

I am hoping to finish The Bone Season tonight though. So, no challenges for me. I am going to read.

Day Four

Books completed: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Currently reading: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Pages read: 171

My second best day of the readathon so far. The Bone Season was a pretty good choice for BoB as it really read quickly, even though it was a bit of a chunky book. Miss Pettigrew, which I picked up around 9:30pm, is also proving to be a pretty quick read. While I can't say that I am completely invested in the story yet, the 50 pages I cleared went by in what felt like a few seconds.

Day Five

Books completed: None
Currently reading: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Pages read: 34

Oh deary me. What an appalling total. I got into bed early, with every intention to finish Miss Pettigrew. But then my eyes got heavy and I was cosy and warm, and I couldn't keep my eyes open, not even by hoisting my eyebrows into my hairline. I gave up and went to sleep.

Day Six

Books completed: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Currently reading: We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Pages read: 207

A much more productive day on the reading front. I managed to spend about 2 hours or so reading outside (the weather was unusually perfect for it). We Need to Talk about Kevin is perhaps not the best book for a readathon. While it is beautifully written, I am finding the topic draining. Maybe I will try and finish it on day 7, or maybe I will pick up something lighter and faster.

Day 7

Books completed: None, but it was close
Currently reading: We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Pages read: 378

I missioned through more than 50 pages of We need to Talk about Kevin before I decided I needed to give myself a break. Because I had heard that Beauty Queens was satirical, I decided it might lift my crushed spirits. I was right. Had I been 10 years younger, I would have completely ignored the fact that I had to be at work in the morning, and have just finished the last 90 pages. (Yes, I got that close to the end.) Oh well, I will finish it up tonight, after my obligatory 2 chapters of Kevin. Beautifully written, one seriously dense and draining topic.

TOTAL

Books completed: 3 and two halves!
Pages read: 1197