Bout of Boooooks is here! And I've already read about 33 pages! Annnd... Now I'm on the internet instead of reading. But OH WELL. I have, at least, made a book pile which I can tell you all really want to see, so I'm going to show it to you!
I'm really happy with it, actually! There are kind of 3 sections to it (although the books aren't stacked in these sections... Whoops.) Which are:
- Books I've already started: Wizard and Glass by Stephen King and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I would REALLY REALLY like to finish them, but mostly I just want (NEED) to finish Les Miserables. I have less than 200 pages left. I can DO eeeeet.
- Books that have something to do with Little Women: I've sort of managed to acquire books about Little Women without really meaning to, and I feel like I should probably read them! So those are March by Geraldine Brooks, The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott. These are kind of my 'A' books (after Les Miserables).
- All other books: These are basically books that I had ready for the 24-Hour Readathon but haven't read yet (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto) and also a couple of books that I KNOW are going to be good (At Home by Bill Bryson, and Wallflower at the Orgy by Nora Ephron). I guess they're kind of in reserve in case the Little Women books suck, OR I finish all the other books. Although they're also SORT OF the books I actually want to read the most, so... That might happen too.
And, I guess I should have some goals and stuff? Ok, so basically all I want to do is:
- Go to bed early this week to read some (and by going to bed, I mean turning off mobile devices, too).
- Read, say, 1000 pages (is that too many? I just don't know...)
- FINISH LES MISERABLES
- See what everyone else is doing, but also don't spend TOO much time doing that.
Those are reasonable, right? I think so. Right! Well, I'm off to read before I have to go to work, so I'll probably update this evening. Have fun reading, fellow participants!
11am Update:
Pages Read: 35
Books Finished: Come on now...
Snacks consumed: Nah, just breakfast.
Blogs Visited: I'm just about to! Leave me alone, me.
8pm Update
So, since I last updated, I read some Les Miserables, to which I say AWESOME, and also GO ME. I now have about 140 pages to go, which I feel like I can do tonight, as long as 1) I don't spend too much time on the internet after I've updated here (AS IF I WOULD) and 2) I read like a motherfucker. There are a few obstacles, which are mainly that this book is a Penguin Clothbound Classic, which means that I can't 1) read it while I'm eating watermelon (as I am doing now) or 2) take it in the bath with me, which is something I'll be doing later.
But NEVER MIND, because I will read it. It is my cross to bear, but so help me god, I will buy myself that damn present I promised myself if I finished it today. So, ok, yeah, I'm off now, and this was a really sucky update. I will try to be better at the whole internet part of this readathon tomorrow!
Pages Read: 70
Books Read From: 2
Books Finished: Nope. Ask me later.
Snacks consumed: Like... The watermelon? Although it's basically just dessert from dinner. So, not even a snack, really.
Blogs visited: Um... Just blog friends' blogs at the moment... Leave me be, I'm shy!
10.45pm Update
BIG news- I have DNFed my first book of the week. NOT Les Miserables, obviously (I've made it this far, there's no turning back!) but The Little Women Letters, which... Was not good.
I wanted to like it SO BADLY, but the characters kind of talked like English wasn't their first language? And it actually was supposed to be? And I skipped riiiight to the end, and Jo March had written a letter to her great-great-grandaughter which was such bullshit that I could just smack everyone. And it was like set out so that in the present, the oldest sister was Meg, and the middle sister was Jo, and the youngest sister was Amy, and I just... No. Please stop it now.
In happier tales, I read about 50 pages more of Les Miserables! I'm going to read a tiiiny bit more before I sleep, but I'm definitely not going to finish tonight. So, NEW RULE- if I finish it before my DVD of the movie arrives (which was NOT today because, come on, I'm obviously not going to pay postage for anything, ever) then I can still have a present. Just... Maybe a smaller present than the one I was anticipating.
Anyway! I will be back in the morning (ooh... Maybe not in the morning... Going to the shops with my mum and nan... Hmmm. Well, maybe in the morning!) so... read read read everyone! (Even if you're not doing Bout of Books! Just read!)
10.45pm Update
BIG news- I have DNFed my first book of the week. NOT Les Miserables, obviously (I've made it this far, there's no turning back!) but The Little Women Letters, which... Was not good.
In happier tales, I read about 50 pages more of Les Miserables! I'm going to read a tiiiny bit more before I sleep, but I'm definitely not going to finish tonight. So, NEW RULE- if I finish it before my DVD of the movie arrives (which was NOT today because, come on, I'm obviously not going to pay postage for anything, ever) then I can still have a present. Just... Maybe a smaller present than the one I was anticipating.
Anyway! I will be back in the morning (ooh... Maybe not in the morning... Going to the shops with my mum and nan... Hmmm. Well, maybe in the morning!) so... read read read everyone! (Even if you're not doing Bout of Books! Just read!)
Pages Read: 145
Books Read From: 2
Books Abandoned: Just the one...
Books Finished: Also 0 (think how good these sections are going to look by Sunday!)
Snacks consumed: Noooo. I think I should probably just take this part out...
Blogs visited: I cannot, for I must sleep. I'll do better another day. Maybe Wednesday.
Books Read From: 2
Books Abandoned: Just the one...
Books Finished: Also 0 (think how good these sections are going to look by Sunday!)
Snacks consumed: Noooo. I think I should probably just take this part out...
Blogs visited: I cannot, for I must sleep. I'll do better another day. Maybe Wednesday.
Oooh, March is reeeeally good - read that one!! I can't wait to see your review of Les Miserables, (though it does feel like you've been reading it for ever!) I'll be interested to see if you've enjoyed it as much as the film.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, OK! Spoiler alert for that review: I didn't. BUT the book definitely has its merits. Which I will obviously discuss at a later date :)
DeleteSuch an awesome pile Laura! YOU CAN TOTALLY FINISH LES MIS. I BELIEVE IN YOU!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day today :)
SARAH! I WANT TO SO BADLY BECAUSE IF I FINISH IT TODAY I GET TO BUY MYSELF A PRESENT! (This is my own rule, and right now? I HATE THE RULE.) I've got, like, 140 pages to read, and it's 8pm here. I can totally do this! Right? Right.
DeleteI can totally not do these multiple day readathon things. But I applaud your efforts in this area.
ReplyDeleteAllllso that's obvs a lot of Little Women books. Godspeed.
I don't know if I can either, because the only one I've tried was three days long and made me not want to read anymore? But I had a looot more free time for that one. Today? I've read like 50 pages. Which isn't bad! So I'm really all about the just making a liiittle bit more time for reading.
DeleteIsn't it?! I've never read anything Little Womeny that wasn't Little Women, so chances are I'll hate them! But we'll seee.
I generally love Bill Bryson's books, and have one on my Bout of Books reading list, but I was disappointed in At Home. I will be curious to see what you think? Have you read other Bryson?
ReplyDeleteOh no! I'm quite excited about the premise of At Home, so hopefully I'll like it! I have read many many other Brysons, and I just finished Down Under about a month ago... So yeah, I'm pretty into him :)
DeleteWallflower at the.... I am DESPERATE to know what that is about. Aside from the obvious. Please read that one, Laura. Please.
ReplyDeleteYay for Les Mis progress though! And a good chunk of it too! 60 pages of that is like... 250 pages of another book in the world.
Well, Miss W, I can in fact tell you right now because I did start reading it once but I reaaally wasn't feeling non-fiction at the time and yeah. BUT Wallflower at the Orgy refers to Nora's thoughts that being a journalist is like being a wallflower at an orgy, because you just have to stand on the sidelines and watch everything and then report back, rather than actually participating. (She adds that, of course, journalists nowadays are expected to GET INVOLVED in any feature they might write and put themselves in the story, so she then felt like an idiot for saying that. But anyway.) SO basically it's a collection of magazine and newspaper articles she wrote, I believe! No orgies. Maybe.
DeleteI have read like another 50 pages too! I do believe it is the most Les Mis I've read in one single day! *feels all proud* Goooooooo Bout of Books! :)
I think it was better in my head... although I'm sure you can imagine what was going on in there! Tsk Laura, you shouldn't have burst my bubble - you should have let me amuse myself with my Wallflower-y Orgy images :)
Delete1. NORAAAAAAAAAA! Yeah, I can make that noise too. :)
ReplyDelete2. Penguin Clothbound Classics do NOT go with food. Especially watery food. This is why Jane Eyre has languished for so long that I keep forgetting I'm even reading it.
3. I'm only keeping up with bloggy friends at the moment too. Not even that yesterday! I shall make an effort to stop by and see new people today WITHOUT spending ten hours online. We'll crack this eventually, Laura. WE WILL CRACK THIS.
Good luck with Les Mis today! :D