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 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
On the one hand, I’m behind on a lot of work, and I’ve been low on energy lately.
On the other hand…
Bout of Books Lucky-Number-13!!!
Can I resist?
You know that I can’t.
I’ve been enjoying short works lately, so I’m not going to buck the trend. My plan:
- The novella On the River, Down Where They Found Willy Brown by Theodore Wheeler. Finished!
- The “Other Stories” in Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier. Finished!
- A couple of essays from Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon. Ended at 37%, which is about where I intended.
- Rick Moody’s “The Albertine Notes” for Deal Me In from Thrilling Tales, edited by Mr. Chabon. This didn’t go so well… I DNF after 17 pages.
And hopefully I’ll hit a Twitter party too. 😉 Missed the Twitter parties, but read more than I expected. 646 pages total!
Updates
Sunday: 161 pages. Finished the de Maurier collection and the rest of October Faction.
Saturday: 149 pages. Finished the Vivi Andrews, a couple more essays from Maps and Legends, “Underneath” by Kealan Patrick Burke, and “Swift, Brutal Retaliation” by Meghan McCarron (which, it turns out, I’d read before). In need of a graphic novel break, I started October Faction Vol. 1 and remembered how annoying comics are to read in ePub form.
Friday: 151 pages. Finished Chabon’s essay on Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series and a less supernatural du Maurier story. Decided in the evening to jump in on #crushYourTBR and read some old Kindle acquisitions. Read “Overtime” by Charles Stross and half of The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo, & the Poltergeist Accountant by Vivi Andrews.
Thursday: 41 pages. I could have sworn it was more than that. Finished another du Maurier story and Chabon’s essays on Sherlock Holmes and Norse mythology.
Wednesday: 16 pages. Couldn’t get going on anything on Wednesday! Pft.
Tuesday: 27 pages on the next story in Don’t Look Now. Du Maurier has a lot of water and a lot of dead people in her stories.
Monday: 101 pages read! Finished On the River… . I’ll probably review that next Tuesday. Read “The Breakthrough,” which was more sci-fi than I was expecting from du Maurier. Read “Maps and Legends” from the Chabon book and started his lengthy essay on Sherlock Holmes. Also read a few poems from Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg.