More mini-reviews! #3

 

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

SHOULD I WRITE LIKE THIS NOW? Ok, ok, cheap trick, but after having read this book, who can resist? Owen Meany was fussed about a lot among book bloggers in spring and I got curious. Read the book, thought "meh" - it is a very decent book, but what is all the fuss about? Months later, I still can't get the characters out of my head - it's that kind of a book.

4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde

The crazy literary nerdy adventures of Thursday Next continue in The Well of Lost Plots. This book features one of my favourite secondary characters in this series so far - ibb and obb (aka Lola and Randolph). Seriously, how does Fforde come up with this stuff? At times it feels that there is too much going on and it's really hard to force myself to slow down to inhale all the geeky details. I am happy I have two next books of this series waiting on the shelf.

5/5

 

 

 

Ship of Magic, Robin Hobb

Back when I started reading Robin Hobb with Assassin's Apprentice, I was really not sold. By now, I am totally sold - her works have improved for me, book after book. Ship of Magic doesn't have the full-on feel of fantasy; in fact, about the most fantastical thing about this series so far is liveships, but what a concept! In the first book of this trilogy I feel like we have only just scratched the surface of what might come out of the world where certain ships are alive. Also, I am usually borderline phlegmatic kind of reader, meaning I don't easily get overwhelming positive or negative emotions when reading, but in this book, one of the characters... maaan... I just wanted to punch him SO HARD! One of the most unlikeable characters I've encountered lately, who is definitely not two-dimensional, there are reasons for his actions, even though incomprehensible for me, but still... my fists just clenched every time he stepped into my field of vision.

5/5

 

 

 

The Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin Extence

What a precious book. A likeable main character, a likeable friendship, very likable secondary characters, focus on a very controversial topic that I personally feel very strong about. It is a very easy read text wise, but never for a moment is it dull. Parts of me sympathise with Gavin Extence (in case he is planning to publish more books) because really, after such debut, how high are the expectations and how does an author meet them?

5/5

Readathon: The End

Which hour was most daunting for you? That was definitely around 12th and 13th hour, when I arrived home 3 am-ish local time and not in the most soberest condition. However, I was very determined to read at least one chapter from Sharp Objects before passing out completely, which I did manage.

 

Smoothie speaks the truth. Or at least that's how I felt this morning.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? The only inconvenience I saw was the differences between time zones, but I think those cannot be helped. At least I got to start 3 pm and not 1 am, like some people :)

 

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I think organisational side of the event was exceptional, I got answers to all my questions from the web site. Twitter is of course ridiculously useful and entertaining helper when it comes to such things :)

 

How many books did you read? I read from two books, but finished none.

 

What were the names of the books you read? I read Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde) and Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn).

 

Which book did you enjoy most? As I suspected, Shades of Grey is maybe a bit heavy on detail for a spike readathon, so I think in that sense I enjoyed Sharp Objects more; however, in normal circumstances and without pressure the roles would be reversed.

 

The book house I hastily built this morning for Ellie's
Book Jenga mini challenge. The Lord of the Rings is
foundation of everything, apparently.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I do want to participate again as a reader and I sure hope next time will be more convenient for me time wise. This weekend I had maybe 6 hours to read because I was engaged with other things (it's most annoying how life gets in the way of our reading!).

 

Tl;dr - the readathon was awesome, organisers are superhumans, my modest page count was the fault of life. Better luck next time.

24-hour Readathon: Starting Post

Reading 24 hours in a row with no stop sounds insane, and it probably is, and even if I wanted to, I can't attempt it today because life gets in the way, but I try my best to read as much as possible from 3 pm today 'til 3 pm tomorrow.

 

As usual there are some questions for the participants, so that we can get to know each other better and socialise and all that jazz. Here goes:

 

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I am reading from Helsinki, Finland, Europe.

 

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Seriously, I don't have clear preference... Maybe Harry Potter, because I'm sure it'll be a fairly quick read? I'd also really like to finish Shades of Grey (about 1/3 through), but it's the kind of book that requires a lot of attention to catch all the awesome details so I don't know. I'm sure all these lovely books have their benefits.

 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Oh dear, I haven't really given thought to snacking at all. I'm not a big snacker in general, but maybe I'll seek for something for tomorrow morning/lunchtime, because snacks kinda go in spirit with the readathon, as I have understood.

 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! *fiddles with fingers* I'm a bookworm and a nerd in general, I have unexplainable obsession to wombats and alpacas. Me and my fiancé have two cats, who are the coolest little buggers in the world. I work in translating/media. My favourite authors are Ray Bradbury, Haruki Murakami, Robin Hobb, Jasper Fforde.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? It's my first readathon and I am looking forward to general reading craziness that's gonna take over Twitter and book blogging world. Oh and also I am looking forward to reading some awesome books.

Closing the lid of September

September, what a glorious month you were.

 

I finished 8 books. And, the number would have been higher if I hadn't decided to pick up the 900-page brick in the last week (which I also have finished by now).

 

* The Night Circus by E. Morgenstern (RIP VIII)

* Villette by C. Bronte (Classics Club)

* The Well of Lost Plots by J. Fforde

* Gardens of the Moon by S. Erikson

* The Universe Versus Alex Woods by G. Extence

* Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

* The Unbearable Lightness of Being by M. Kundera (Classics Club)

 

That's 3483 pages. Three books were 500+ pages.

 

Since I rated all of those books with 4/5 or 5/5, with the exception of the first Harry Potter (which got 3/5), it got me thinking if I am the kind of reader that is just very generous or if I am just awesome at picking books to read. I kinda lean towards the latter, at least for this month, because there really aren't many random books among those. Okay, classics can be hit and miss - but The Unbearable Lightness of Being was a re-read, so I knew I like it, and Villette I was fairly certain I will like. I love Thursday Next books and Harry Potters are simply very well written. Alex Woods got a lot of praise from bloggers I trust, so I was fairly confident about that as well.

 

Also, right now I am reading The Turn of the Screw (for RIP VIII) and I am not really feeling it (about half way through), so possibly there will be a story rated 2 or so...

Top Ten Books I Want to Read This Autumn

So my participation in Top Ten Tuesday is very random, depending on the appeal of the topic, and this time the topic is pretty appealing (mainly because I love autumn and I love lists), so I decided to do it. The meme is hosted by folks at The Broke and the Bookish, go check 'em out for more information.

 

It was easy to make this list because I am kind of hoping to get a lot of reading done this autumn, and I am already on a good path thanks to RIP VIII event. There is also the 24-hour readathon coming in October, so the reading scene looks pretty shiny indeed.

 

All the books are from my already existing shelves, 'cos that's how I roll (I really like to prioritise the books I already own, which is why I also find these lists and events very helpful).

 

 

 

1. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James -  short, spooky and classic.

2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - I failed to re-read this during the reading slump I had in summer, and actually this is autumn book instead anyway.

3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - I mentally added this to RIP VIII list because it's appropriate and there's a readalong coming in October, and also it's a small book.

4. Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb - I actually read a bit of this one recently at the point when I was between the books, and it was really good! Ships that are alive? Crazy. But potentially awesome.

5. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde - I loooove Fforde's Thursday Next books and after having seen a few good things about this book, I just decided to check it out. Curious to see how Fforde writes other things!

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker - it's going to be the Halloween read.

7. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (currently reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) - so yes, this is bad, but I have never read those books. I just finished the first one last night. When I saw the news of the 15th anniversary edition covers in spring, I decided to get the series in autumn because I really love these covers. So I now own the first three books and will get the rest as well.

8. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - just because I want to read it.

9. NW by Zadie Smith - I still have a few Women's Prize books on my shelf, and I want to get done with the shortlist by the end of this year. (Shortlist minus Hilary Mantel's book that is since I just couldn't get into Wolf Hall, at all...)

10. Bullerby lapsed (Barnen i Bullerbyn, The Children of Noisy Village) by Astrid Lindgren - this is the star book of my childhood, probably. Well I had piles of favourites, but the very favourite must come from among Lindgren books, and it's probably this one. And I want to read it again (I think the number of my re-reads of this book must be over 30 by now).

 

Let's break it down:

* 5 Classics Club books

* 3 RIP VIII books

* 3 fantasy books (yay!)

* 1 Women's Prize book

* 1 children's book

Sunday Snippets #9

Okay, this time's Sunday Snippets will be mega short because 1) nothing remarkable happened for the whole week (I was kinda sick-ish) and 2) I am SO HOOKED to the book I am reading right now that I just want to, you know, read.

 

However, it's worth noting that this being only 8th date of the month, I have already managed to finish off three books - The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), The Well of Lost Plots (Jasper Fforde) and Villette (Charlotte Brontë). Villette is one of those books I had started in June and then stopped reading, so I'm slowly starting to sort these out too. I've also read more than 1/3 of the Sherlock Holmes stories I planned for the RIP event and am about 3/4 through Gardens of the Moon, which is ironic and when I write about this book, it will feature a funny story, and some things to learn from (let's just say this is about 5th time I attempt to start this book - last time I made it to 300-ish pages). Anyway, right now I'm hooked, and it's going mighty fast for a 700-page brick (that being said, the series has like 10 books and the next one is about a 1000 pages so fun times ahead).

 

In other news, Mammu the cat is feeling a lot better (she still gets medicine three times a day) and my Finnish classes start again as of tomorrow.

 

Buut now I really need to get back to my book. Have a nice week, everyone!

Mini-reviews #2

Basically my whole summer has been a big blogging slump (in addition to reading slump that I suffered from in the beginning of the summer), so to start from kind of a clean sheet in the beginning of autumn, I'm going to simply mark down all the books I read in summer but did not write about (except for Classics Club ones, since I want to talk about them longer).

 

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde - there is nothing I did not love about this book, except that I only managed to find a copy with this horrible cover. Covers by Hodder are wonderful and I managed to find four other books out of the first five with these covers (although I had to order them from different sources), but not the second one. Bummer. It's always going to stare at me from the bookshelf yelling "I'M THIS DIFFERENT COVER AND IT'S EVEN MORE ANNOYING 'COS I'M AWESOME AND YOU KNOW THAT".

Anyway, the wonderfully literary-witty-hilarious adventurers of Thursday Next continue in this sequel, which I maybe liked even a tiny bit more than book number one.

 

5/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin - a well-crafted and -flowing book on a sensitive subject of intersex people. Multiple POVs were well done, characters were able to draw my sympathy, there was no sugar-coating and many events happening in the book felt very life-like, instead of fairytale-ish.

Despite its very accessible writing, the book has potential to make you ponder over all kinds of deep and existentialist matters, such as staying true to yourself (trust me, in the light of the subject discussed in the book, it doesn't come off as cheesy as it may sound).

 

4/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

 

May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes - how can I even begin to think anything remotely objective about this book, having read it after it became announced as winner of this year's Women's Prize? It was a very different book and it made me curious about the author's other works (apparently she has quite a lot of published texts out!) This was not your smoothly following narrative, no; this book was dry, and snarky, and sarcastic; it dared to make fun of its own heros and the world in general. I can't remember a single descriptive scene from May We Be Forgiven! And that is exactly what I appreciated about this book. Although it did not sway my (undying?) love for Life After Life, I gave May We Be Forgiven a solid

 

4/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld - I won this book full of intelligently funny comic strips from a giveaway, which was perfect since I had almost bought it myself once, earlier. (So I was going to buy it if I didn't win it.) If you haven't visited Tom Gauld's Tumblr page, do your literary slash geeky self a favour and do it - although I did not get all the jokes (which unfortunately lowered my rating because even though it may be my own lacking level of intelligence that stops me from getting references, I think a good comic should attempt to apply very wide audiences), this book and Tom Gauld's works are hilarious. (Oh and did I mention literary? And nerdy? Yes.) And the drawing style is just adorable. 

 

I hope I'm not violating copyright, but here's a strip from Gauld's site that I linked above, the one that inspired the title of the book, and is poignant, and so hilarious:

 

 

 

4/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

Matk naeratuse eest by Adam Bahdaj, Agu Sihvka annab aru by Jaan Rannap and Roostevaba mõõk by Eno Raud - the middle-garde reads that my young self enjoyed (all are re-reads, obviously; some even multiple re-reads). First two books are outright funny - these guys know how to write hilarious characters. The third one is more of adventurery type, focusing on comeraderie and moral values. How can you even begin to give rating to the books that shaped part or your childhood? (And so many books did that for me, and I am willing to give 5/5 to them all, without a blink of an eye.)

 

5/5, 5/5 and 4/5, respectively.

Closing the lid of August

From last autumn.

It's AUTUMN! I am beyond pleased, because as for many, autumn is my absolute favourite season. Summer is actually my least favourite season, so I am double pleased that it is over.

 

How did it go on reading front? I was mega relaxed in my reading, even though I had (and still have for one more day) three weeks off from work. I used to think of myself as a fairly fast reader, but I'm thinking I might have to adjust that mindset - it took me 8 days to get through A Prayer for Owen Meany, and it's not like it's a bad book or anything! Maybe I'm just a slower kind of reader, afterall.

 

Let's get down to numbers. The books I read in August:

 

* J. Fforde "Lost In a Good Book"

* J. Austen "Mansfield Park" - Classics Club; Austen in August

* A. Bahdaj "Matk naeratuse eest" ("Podróz za jeden uśmiech")

* J. Rannap "Agu Sihvka annab aru"

* E. Raud "Roostevaba mõõk"

* J. Irving "A Prayer for Owen Meany"

 

399+439+214+106+159+637= 1943

 

Page count ain't actually too shabby, I used to be around 2000 pages a month in the beginning of the year, so I think I'm getting the mojo back.

 

The three books in funny languages (Polish, Estonian, Estonian) are children's books (actually I think they are more like middle grade) and I brought them to Finland from my childhood home. They have been ridiculously comforting comfort reads this month. I'll do mini reviews on the books I've read in summer (except for Mansfield Park) next week.

 

From last autumn.

So we had Austen in August event, which was successful for me since I only set one goal (read Mansfield Park) and I managed to meet it.

 

September and October will be ridiculously exciting because of RIP VIII reading event. I already started The Night Circus, mostly because I finished A Prayer for Owen Meany on 30th and I knew I wasn't going to finish another book in 1.5 days, so I figured I'll just start with the RIP stack. And, I did have a lot of reservations about this book, but has it managed to grab my attention! I bought it back in January and am glad I finally got the proper push to read it. So far, RIP has started very successfully for me. Next up, I think, will be at least a few Sherlock Holmes stories, and then I'll probably move on to Henry James.

 

 

Closing the lid of June and July

Due to tumultous events and overall busy times, I missed my June recap post, so I will do a recap of two months now.

 

June-July 2013:

 

* M. Flyte "City of Dark Magic"

* R. Yancey "The 5th Wave"

* D. Leon "Death at La Fenice"

* A. Tarttelin "Golden Boy"

* A.M. Homes "May We Be Forgiven"

* T. Gauld "You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack"

 

448 + 460 + 338 + 343 + 480 + 160 = 2229 pages in two months. Jetpack-book doesn't actually have page numbers (which I found so odd!), so I'm relying on Goodreads information here.

 

This month it's Austen in August, and also Bout of Books, which I still haven't decided on.

 

I'm currently reading Mansfield Park (2 chapters a day), and The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde - I think Thursday Next are my choice for the best summer read.

Catching up - a bunch of mini-reviews

Since I am so much behind with my book-reviewing, I decided to just take the easy way out and write only a couple of words of those books I have read in the past months. (Except for the Classics Club ones, of which I want to write longer.)

 

 
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - I loved this book so much. Booknerd's dream. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequels, if what I heard is true, the series will become even better.

 

5/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

 

The Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan - this book is about a less-known Tudor, Queen Margaret of Scotland. Maybe her life has not been covered so much because there was not much to say? This is what I felt when finishing this book. Margaret's character comes out as really annoying by the end (she makes a lot of questionable decisions, especially when it comes to her relations with men, and she seemed to have some serious self-esteem issues). I appreciate all that I learnt from this book, but mediocre plot + nothing-special writing didn't suck me in that much (it took me a long time to finish the book).

 

2/5 on Goodreads (just as a reminder - 2 on GR means "It was okay", so it's not even a negative rating).

 

 

 

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker - I had problems with this book, partly maybe caused by high expectations (golems? djinn? I am bound to love it, right?) First, the writing just didn't appeal to me that much. I didn't write down a single quote from the book. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't for me. The characters showed a lot of promise, but in the end, I wasn't emotionally invested into any of them. I see what the author was trying to do and say, but for me it just came out kind of lacluster. It's quite a long book and by the end I really just wanted to get finished. Given my slight obsession with the djinn, I was also disappointed because the djinni in the book wasn't humorous or witty at all, he mostly embodied the negative characteristics (selfish, with anger management issues). I don't know, seeing all the praise for this book I was kind of sad it didn't do that much for me. That all being said, the setting of New York in the turn of the century was kind of captivating.

 

3/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte - this book proved how important it is to choose the right story for the right moment. I chose City of Dark Magic to read for the Prague trip, and it worked well, because the novel is set in Prague and it's the kind of easy reading that suits me when I have problems concentrating. I was bound to enjoy it because I was basically wandering around in those same places where characters of the book did. Aside from those subjective feelings, I got a lot of Dan Brown vibe from this book. At some point I had problems with info-dumping. Some of the things didn't make sense. I had no problems with the paranormal element. I will probably read the sequel, just because, you know, Prague.

 

3/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - this is a young adult dystopian book that I have seen getting a lot of praise. I am not a young adult reader, so I am always in fear that I am being unfair just because the genre is not my favourite. I think it's actually a decent book. I wouldn't jump on the fangirl/-boy wagon, but it was a decent story. A few things disturbed me - given that the novel was written by several different POVs, there was really nothing except for the plot itself to give any indication that these were different characters, so I don't think the different POV-thing was done well at all. But it was a gripping read and the whole idea of by whom the earth was taken over was kind of new and captivating.

 

3/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon - I picked up this detective story after I heard the news that my grandmother has passed away and I knew for sure I won't be able to read anything heavy or actually anything that would require any kind of emotional investment. I think it served its purpose well, although it made me rething whether I want to continue with Leon's Brunetti-series. But I probably will because this being the first book of the series is definitely not the best one. The books are set in Venice, which was a huge pro-factor for me when deciding which contemporary detective series I'd like to start.

 

3/5 on Goodreads.

 

 

Top Ten Books I Have Read This Year

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the people over at The Broke and the Bookish and today's topic is "Top 10 books I've read this year". According to my Goodreads statistics, I've only read 28 books this year, but I can still easily make a Top 10 because most of them have been really nice reads. I don't participate in TTT a lot because most of the topics are not that captivating for me, but this one I felt is a really good one. 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson has been the number one read in 2013 for me for quite a while now. What can I say - I loved this elegantly written time-folded story, full of interesting and life-like characters.

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - this clever story with fantastical elements was such a pleasant surprise! Never did I expect it would captivate me so. And let's not forget the jinni.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple - quirky, fast, captivating epistolary novel with hilarious and accessible characters. So funny.

A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin - I heard many complaints about this one before I read it in the beginning of the year; however, I liked this one more than a few previous books in the series.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - big thanks to all who said good things about this book, it will be the series I will definitely continue with.



Germinal by Émile Zola - a haunting book, beautifully and descriptively written. There are scenes in Germinal I am not sure I can ever get out of my head.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - this was the first book I finished this year, and what a start to the reading year of 2013. Atwood's text is almost mesmerising.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - one of the best re-read experiences I've ever had. After plowing through this novel in high-school, all I remembered now was a bunch of guys all named Aureliano or Jose Arcadio, and a strange girl who ate soil. This time I devoured this book - such beautiful language (I read it in Estonian and it is one of the rare cases when I can say that the translation was absolutely brilliant), and my faith to magical realism has been restored.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - four words: fantastic characters, Marian Halcombe.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - even though it is not one of my favourite books, I listed Jane Eyre because it was a very successful re-read experience. I saw completely different things than back when I read it at the age of teens. There is so much more than just questionable romance in this novel.

Useless statistical list: that makes - 

- one fantasy series book;

- one simply an awesome book;

- three Women's Prize contestants;

- five classics books. 

Closing the lid of May

May - what an overall successful and pleasant month. So much happened. Spring finally arrived, my Finnish classes ended for this half-a-year, we were reading lots during Bout of Books 7.0, I made some important health-related decisions that should promise for better future. I am happy with you, May!

 

What I read in May 2013:

 

* M. Atwood "The Blind Assassin" (Classics Club big list)

* D.L. Bogdan "The Forgotten Queen" 

* B. Kingsolver "Flight Behavior" (Women's Prize shortlist)

* R. Bradbury "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (Classics Club big list)

* J. Fforde "The Eyre Affair"

* H. Wecker "The Golem and the Djinni"

* G.G. Marquez "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (Classics Club big list)
 



This is my boyfriend reading one of Martin's books. With
Robert. What lovely emotion on this photo.

Page count: 521 + 315 + 436 + 290 + 373 + 484 + 337 = 2756 pages

I think 7 books is the most I've done during blogging since the beginning of the year, so thanks a lot, Bout of Books!
 

In Classics Club May Meme post I set down the three classics I wanted to read in May. Well, I only read the Atwood book - I didn't really get into Conan Doyle and Dickens at all, so I didn't force them - the better time will come. However, I did read three CC books in May, which I am very happy with. And also enjoyed all of them, so that is a good thing too (I really have to catch up with the reviews, though...)
 

Okay, plans for June (and what a busy month this will be).
 

* Classics Spin #2 Summer Edition - I get to read "Villette" by Charlotte Brontë. I am excited! "Jane Eyre" is such a famous book, but it's also a story a bit overly chewn by the world by now, so I am so so curious to discover the later works of Charlotte. I started the book last night after I finished "One Hundred Years..." (very suitably on the last day of May) and read a few pages; I don't have opinions yet but it's definitely Charlotte's style there.
 

* O from Délaissé is hosting 18th Century English Literature Event for June - even though it will be a super busy month  for me, I wanted to take part because I am scared of the 18th century English lit and I am especially scared of Defoe and "Moll Flanders", which I picked to read. So hoping that reading with the rest of the classics-loving folk will make it easier!
 

* We are going to Prague this month for four days (this is like my dream destination for a city holiday ever). I am slightly obsessed with Prague and I want to read two books around the time of the trip - Magnus Flyte's "City of Dark Magic", which is set in Prague, and re-read Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", one of my favourite books from high-school reading programme (oh yes, we got to read some interesting books there :) ).




Robert got tired :)

It will be also the Midsummer's holidays this month, coinciding with my week-long vacation from work. We will likely be heading to boyfriend's parents' summer cottage in the middle of nowhere - which is actually the most perfect place for reading, ever (the forest, the lake, the nightless nights of Finland - this one day of the year when sun doesn't set).

 

Also, Women's Prize winner for this year will be announced on 5th of June, which is already next week - I really want to know which book wins.

It's over - Bout of Books 7.0 Wrap-up

Never would have thought I would enjoy a reading event as much as I enjoyed Bout of Books 7.0 readathon.

 

So to wrap it up, what happened during this week:

 

Total books read: 3

Total pages read: 949 (oww... so close!)

The books I finished: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (Women'z Prize shortlist), Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (my Classics Club list), The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (simply an awesome book).

Number of challenges I participated: 3

 

How did I do regarding to the goals I set myself before the readathon?

 

Let's see...

 

1. Finish at least two books - check!

2. Read at least two hours a day - I am not even sure why I set this goal as it is basically impossible for me to keep track on reading time. But I'm positive that at least half the days I did read around two hours.

3. Visit at least 5 Bout of Books blogs a day - check. I visited, I commented.

4. Regular daily updates - CHECK. This is what I am really proud of, as doing something regularly can be very challenging for me. However, during the readathon I posted every single morning. (That is almost achievement enough to buy a book as a reward...)

 

It was nice to read the blogs of other participants and see how everyone was doing. It was nice to find comments in my own blog - thank you, people!

 

The next Bout of Books readathon will take place in August and I very much would want to get involved again.

 

As for now, let the normal reading, reviewing and posting schedule to commence - I miss my routine :D