I'm finally on holidays, and this, of course, means that I'll have a large amount of time to devote to reading. This is a very good thing, because my currently reading pile is embarrassingly large. I was looking for a read-a-thon starting now and running throughout my holidays, but I couldn't find anything that quite fit. So I'll be doing the following, tailoring each to fit my available reading schedule:
From July 29th to August 3rd, I'll be doing my own personal read-a-thon.
From August 4th to 10th, I will participate in The Book Monsters, Monster Read-a-thon.
The Monster Read and Review-a-thons are a great
chance for us all to get together, read some fabulous reads, and get to those
reviews that we know have been sitting there waiting to be done for a little
too long. You can read as much as you want. Review till you cannot review
anymore. Whatever works best for you! In addition to the Thons, we will be
hosting some fun related challenges, great prizes, and a Twitter party
From August 11th to 17th, I'll be participating in the second annual Beat the Heat Read-a-thon
The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from
August 11th to September 1st. 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 24th.
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 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.
then, from August 18th to 24th, I'll participate in the 11th Bout of Book Read-a-thon.
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 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
Previously, I've only participated in one read-a-thon, and that was only for 24 hours, so I am a little perplexed as to how to tackle these longer read-a-thons. I am so terrible with lists and focussing on specific books, that I don't want to go that route. Should I aim for a set number of pages? I have no idea the average number of pages I read per day/per week. Yikes! So I think I'm going to set my goal at 50 pages a day (this should be easy) and raise the count when I see how I'm progressing.
As for books, as I said, I have a disconcerting number of books to complete, as well as some new ones that I want to read. Here are some books on my list:
Currently reading:
The Guns of August – Barbara Tuchman
War and Peace –
Leo Tolstoy
Antigone –
Sophocles
The Book of
Margery Kempe
Surprised by
Joy – C.S. Lewis
Le Morte d’Arthur
– Thomas Mallory
The Decameron –
Giovanni Boccaccio
Barchester
Towers – Anthony Trollope
The History of
the Ancient World – Susan Wise Bauer
New Books:
The Terror –
Dan Simmons (thanks to Andrea @ Tasseled Book)
Russian
Thinkers – Isaiah Berlin
The Man Who
Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton
The Screwtape
Letters – C.S. Lewis
Metamorphoses
– Ovid
The Universe
Next Door – James W. Sire
Porterhouse Blue – Tom Sharpe
Porterhouse Blue – Tom Sharpe
I'll update when I'm able, but the plan is to read, read, read. So, happy summer reading to everyone!
** Edited to include the Monster Read-a-thon, kindly suggested by Masanobu at All the Pretty Books **
Oh, I could fancy a readathon... I might join you in one. I once tried Bout of Books, but it was like a curse - I must have read half a tiny book that week! Anyway, I've got the time for readathons at the mo - still have the bad foot (hospital tomorrow, it'll be my first appointment with a specialist).
ReplyDeletePerhaps you don't want to jinx yourself now. You have been on a reading tear and I've been so envious! I've looked at your new classics list once, but I have to give it a more in-depth perusal to see what I can glean from it.
DeleteThat's a shame about your foot. Hopefully the doctors can tell you something useful.
I'm doing a week-long readathon too at the start of August. Maybe you'd like to join? I think it fits in your schedule (it runs from August 4th to 10th).
ReplyDeleteHere is the link: http://thebookmonsters.com/monster-thons/
Thanks for the tip, Masanobu! I will add it to my post to cover more of my "holiday time period".
DeleteBravo and good luck! I admire that you are taking on so many of these readathons. I'm contemplating the Beat the Heat readathon since I'm off the week of the 11th.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have the time, so I thought I needed to focus myself with some goals. I'm not doing so well today though: so far, I've made blueberry scones, went for a long bike ride, and now I think I'm going to go swimming. I'll have to catch up on my reading tonight.
DeleteLook at you! I need to join you in these!
ReplyDeleteI have found it easiest to set mini-goals for my reads. This way I can check things off and have accomplishments.
Read Ch 1-2 of Book "X"
Read Ch 3-5 of Book "X"
Read Ch 9-15 of Book "Y"
Read 2 Essays etc....
With the whole month you can have 10 goals for each book for example. But it gives you a chance to see your progress in a book marching towards the end.
I break up the sections based on length usually. If a book has really short chapters I may group 5 in one goal, but a book with really long chapters will have just 1 per goal.
I think my problem is that I have too many books!! I can't even name the number of books I have unfinished because it is completely embarrassing!
DeleteI have "mentally" chosen about 4 books at a time, and I'm going to try to focus on those. I'm keeping track of page count and I'll post on the pages completed. We'll see how that goes. If it gets confusing I'll try the chapter approach. I have so many read-a-thons going on that I have time to refine my plan of attack!
Yes, please join me, as I know that you're in the same boat. People with book-addictions do read-alongs together. That should be a new book-ish motto, shouldn't it? ;-)
Wow you have a lot of books you are currently reading! I personally am not good about tracking pages I've read, so I just go with book count when setting goals, or hours read.
ReplyDeleteOh, hours read is a good idea! And you're right, the pages read is hard to keep track of to start ,but I think it won't be so bad on my consecutive updates. Thanks for stopping by, Kristen! :-)
Delete