Friday 9 May 2014

BOUT OF BOOKS READ-A-THON

Bout of Books


-Bout of Books Updates-

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, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th 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 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog


I have had quite a poor few weeks reading wise, so I want to use this fab read-a-thon from Bout of Books to really get ahead with my reading. I do work full time, so the times I will dedicate myself to reading are on the train in the morning and evening, during my lunch hour and before I go to bed. So I reckon that is about 4 hours reading I can get done a day Monday-Friday and then on Saturday and Sunday I will obviously have more time :). So I am setting myself the goal of reading 4 books. The most I normally manage to read is three, but that's only usually if one of them is quite short. 

So here are the books I'm going to try and read :) (See Updates, Challenges and Wrap Up at bottom of page)


1.The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings

Synopsis

Scars. We all carry them. Some are mere scratches. Others run deeper. 
At a school rife with bullying, Will and his best friend Luke are involved in a horrific incident that results in Luke leaving. 
Twenty-five years later their paths cross again and memories of Will's painful childhood come flooding back to haunt him. His wife, Harmony, who is struggling after a miscarriage that has hit her hard, wishes Will would open up about his experiences. But while Will withdraws further, she finds herself drawn to the charismatic stranger from her husband s past, and soon all three are caught in a tangled web of guilt, desire, betrayal and revenge.




2.The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene

Synopsis

An immensely talented writer whose work has been described as “incandescent” (Kirkus) and “poetic” (Booklist), Thomas Christopher Greene pens a haunting and deeply affecting portrait of one couple at their best and worst.

Inspired by a personal loss, Greene explores the way that tragedy and time assail one man’s memories of his life and loves. Like his father before him, Arthur Winthrop is the Headmaster of Vermont’s elite Lancaster School. It is the place he feels has given him his life, but is also the site of his undoing as events spiral out of his control. Found wandering naked in Central Park, he begins to tell his story to the police, but his memories collide into one another, and the true nature of things, a narrative of love, of marriage, of family and of a tragedy Arthur does not know how to address emerges. Luminous and atmospheric, bringing to life the tight-knit enclave of a quintessential New England boarding school, the novel is part mystery, part love story and an exploration of the ties of place and family. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, The Headmaster’s Wife stands as a moving elegy to the power of love as an antidote to grief.



3. Don't Even Think About it by Sarah Mlynowski

Synopsis

We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots. We were prepared for some side effects. Maybe a headache. Maybe a sore arm. We definitely didn't expect to get telepathic powers. But suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking. Our friends. Our parents. Our crushes. Now we all know that Tess is in love with her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That, um, Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper.
Since we've kept our freakish skill a secret, we can sit next to the class brainiac and ace our tests. We can dump our boyfriends right before they dump us. We know what our friends really think of our jeans, our breath, our new bangs. We always know what's coming. Some of us will thrive. Some of us will crack. None of us will ever be the same. So stop obsessing about your ex. We're always listening.




4. Gretal and the Dark

Synopsis

Gretel and the Dark is Eliza Granville's dazzling novel of darkness, evil - and hope.Vienna, 1899. 
Josef Breuer - celebrated psychoanalyst - is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings - to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.

Years later, in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta's Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the 'animal people', so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper, and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could have ever guessed . . .


So those are the books I am hoping to read next week! Please do let me know if you are taking part!


Updates

Monday
Books read today:
Completed: Dance Until Dawn by Berni Stevens
In-progress: The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings
Total Books read: 1
Total Pages read: 233

Tuesday
Books read today:
Completed: 
In-progress: The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings
Total Books read: 0
Total Pages read: 200

Wednesday
Books read today:
Completed: The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings
In-progress: Gretal and the Dark by Eliza Granville
Total Books read: 1
Total Pages read: 188

Thursday
Books read today:
Completed: 0
In-progress: Gretal and the Dark by Eliza Granville
Total Books read: 0
Total Pages read: 149

Challenge: 
Today's challenge is happening over at kimberlyfayereads and it's a really fun one. It's a Spell it out challenge. I have decided to spell out my twitter name (excluding the number) with books I have to read. Here it goes:

Marlford by Jacqueline Yallop 
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowksi
Nearest Thing to Crazy by Liz Forbes
Ivy Lane by Cathy Bramley
Goose by Dawn O'Porter
Half Bad by Sally Green
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Secret by L.M Adeline
The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene
A gift to remember by Melissa Hill
Requiem by Lauren Oliver


Friday
Books read today:
Completed: Gretal and the Dark
In-progress: The Headmaster's Wife
Total Books read: 1
Total Pages read: 170

Saturday
Books read today:
Completed: The Headmaster's Wife
In-progress: Don't Even Think About It
Total Books read: 1
Total Pages read: 214

Sunday
Books read today:
Completed: 0
In-progress: Don't Even Think About It
Total Books read: 0
Total Pages read: 105

Challenge:
Todays challenge is happening over at Oh Magic Hour and the challenge is to come up with a new title for our current read, or really anything we’ve read during this Bout of Books 10.0.

So here it goes:
I would rename Don't Even Think About It:> Telepathy-High School just got a whole lot harder. Well at least I tried :D

Wrap up

Even though I did not complete my own personal challenge of reading four books, I think I did pretty well for myself. I started off behind as I still had half of a book to read, but managed to finish that on Monday and then I started reading the books I had set myself to read. By Sunday I had managed to get 100 pages in to my fourth book and I probably could have got further but I was with family on Sunday so I wanted to spend time with them rather than read. So all in all it was very helpful to my TBR pile, but maybe not something I can do every week as it took up a lot of my spare time. I shall be joining again in August though :)



8 comments:

  1. Good luck! You have four very interesting looking books. I hope you enjoy them!!

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  2. Gretal and the dark sounds very interesting. I'm going to keep an eye on your progress to see what you think about it :D Happy reading!

    Mel@thedailyprophecy

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    1. Thanks so much :) I'm halfway through Gretal and the Dark and it is very dark! Hoping to try and finish today!

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  3. Thanks for participating in the Spell It Out Challenge! Good luck with your goals!

    Kim @ kimberlyfaye reads

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    1. Thank you! I really enjoyed this challenge :)

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  4. Don't Even Think About It sounds very intriguing! I am going to add it to my read list.

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    1. It's absolutely brilliant! Definitely recommend!

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  5. Congrats on making a dent in your TBR! :) Looking forward to the next one as well. Here are my Bob RaT Stats

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