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 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th 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 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
I decided to sign-up almost at the last minute. I've participated in all Bout of Books so far, although the last two have been a (not)reading disaster for me, as has been my reading this year in general. Therefore, I set my self pretty low GOALS:
Books to read/finish:
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni(finished)- Eighty Days Yellow by Vina Jackson
- Love and Intrigue by Friedrich von Schiller
Other goals (aka trying not to be a hermit and to reconnect with blogging community):
participate in at least one challenge(participated in 4)participate in one twitter chat(participated in 2, on Monday and Saturday)visit at least one 'new' blog each day and commentand visit at least two 'old' blogs each day and comment
WRAP UP:
Books I've finished: 1 (Angelology)
Total number of pages I've read: 241
The number of challenges I took part in: 4
The number of Twitter chats I participated in: 2
Blogs visited: at least three per day
Overall, Bout of Books 8.0 has been a huge success for me on most levels.
Reading: I finished a book. That's an achievement, since I seem to be in a constant reading rut this year. Also, I read every day.
I found out that a little pressure, namely people seeing my progress, makes me more likely to read at least a few pages a day. So, I decided to use that to further motivate myself by putting a sticky in my sidebar where I can write in the number of pages I read each day and in a week. Maybe this will help me be a more constant reader and finally overcome this ridiculous slump.
I also read over 100K of fanfiction during the BoB week. Oh, of course, I don't have a reading slump when it comes to fanfiction. (I can't help myself, okay, I only discovered fanfiction a year or so ago – I had known about it before, but I had never ventured into reading it, and I guess your are never too old for such things. Besides, some fanfiction works are better – even much, much better – than original published works.)
Socializing: I participated in 4 challenges and had a lot of fun doing that. Some other challenges I didn't take part in seemed cool, too, but I just didn't have the time to do everything, but that's fine.
Both Twitter chats I joined – on Monday and Saturday – were great. I was in a seriously bad mood on Saturday, one of those when I feel completely unaccomplished and incompetent, so I joined the chat a little later, and I'm so glad I did that instead of wallowing in self-pity, it was a major boost for my good mood.
I hopped around other participants' blogs every day, but I didn't comment a lot. While at that, I realized why I often find it difficult to comment and I', planning to write a discussion post about that, soon-ish.
Miscellaneous: I found out about BookLikes thorugh BoB. Where was this thing when I started book blogging? I know, I know, it was only set up last year, but it's so cool. I really like how it makes book blogging look so easy: a blog and goodreads in one on a tumblr-like platform. I'm seriously tempted to join, although I really don't need another social thing online to maintain. But it probably wouldn't take a lot of my time and effort, perhaps I'd just cross-post my reviews there. I'll give myself some time to decide and let you know.
I'm so happy I joined this Bout of Books, I got a lot from it. And if I think I would almost decide to sit it out. I'm glad I didn't.
How about you? Anything interesting you've discovered or learned through BoB? Have you achieved your goals? Did you have fun?
I hope you did, because that's the most important.
I think it's great you met all your social goals, even if the reading side was a little slower. The books will always be there, but BoB is just such a great opportunity to connect with other bloggers!
ReplyDeleteActually my reading was a lot faster than my normal week this year, so it was great! And meeting new bloggers is always fun.
DeleteI'm not even doing a wrap-up because I sunk like the Titanic. LOL!
ReplyDeleteHow was Angelology? I'll have to watch for your review. I've had that on my shelves for years.
Did you look me up on BookLikes? I accepted your request on Goodreads. Did you know you can sync up your BookLikes and Goodreads so everything you do on BookLikes (reviews, add books, rate books, etc) will automatically be done on Goodreads? I added a crap ton of books last week and it worked like a dream. I want to continue using both sites and that makes it so easy. =O)
Oh, sometimes it's just not meant to go that well. :)
DeleteI have mixed feelings about Angelology, in short, I guess it got me into a critical mood. I'll post the review tomorrow.
Yes, I did look you up on BookLikes - actually I first stumbled on BookLikes through a mention on Twitter and shortly after I commented on your blog and saw your BookLikes shelf, so I clicked and explored a little and everything looks so cool and easy. and thanks for accepting my request on Goodreads. I can't believe how I overlooked you so far, lol.
I saw you can import your books from Goodreads to BookLikes, but I didn't know you can also sync the two. That is awesome! That's another point in favour of joining, which I really think I'll do.
Yay for a successful BoB! I really do love the extra little motivation it gives you.
ReplyDeleteBookLikes! I'm on it, and love it. Of course I haven't really posted reviews on it yet - mostly just reblogged funny stuff, or posted GIFs. But I really like the Shelf feature, since I don't use GR anymore. I hope you join, if you do then tweet me so I can come find and follow you! (That sounds creepy if someone didn't know we were talking about a website, lol.)
I know, I needed that extra motivation. :)
DeleteThe more I learn about BookLikes, the more appealing it sounds, I think I will join and of course I will let you know (if)/when I do, so we can follow each other. (Lol, yes, I imagine if someone randomly overheard the last sentence without context, it would sound creepy. :D)