And thats a wrap folks. I think I did pretty good, even if I mostly read manga. The main point was just to get me reading again and at least for now I have the urge to read some more (but not tonight I am going straight to bed).
Closing Survey
How would you assess your reading overall?
I think I did pretty good. I mostly read manga which is super easy to read but for me the goal was to start wanting to read again, and I think I have done it.
Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it?
Just to read easy thing to keep me motivated and thats what I did.
What was your favorite snack?
Didn’t actually do that many snacks. I tried a new prawn and crab dib which was ok but I think I will just go with my bottle of V. It kept me alive haha.
Here is my final bingo board. I think next time I might try and focus on this more cause it may get me to pick up something I might not naturally reach for!
I did manage to get a bingo in there!
Total Pages Read: 2598!
Books Finished:
Books Started:
Well I think I am gonna go pass out now. See you all next time!
Hello my lovelies! Well I did it, I had to have a nap. I I did make it past the half way point without taking one though so I think I did pretty good! I talked about in my mid point survey update on my instagram. I slept for just over 3 hours and I do feel a bit better, and with the help of a V I finished off Ao Haru Ride! I can tell that my brain isn’t completely up to scratch though so I don’t know how I am going to with challenges but lets have a go anyway.
I finally managed to do hour eights challenge! Find it here.
Hour tens challenge.
“What menagerie lives in your favorite books?” Find the challenge thread here.
A menagerie of animals that live on my shelf: A fox, a dog, a horse and a tiger. I tried to find a good assortment of creatures.
Hour eleven!
Bookish would you rather. Find the challenge here.
It is very important that you do not read the questions until AFTER you have completed the following:
Create a list of TEN BOOKS that you have read. You don’t need to remember everything about them, but you should be able to identify the main character, love interest, and villain for each of them.
Write down (or type) the list and number the books from 1-10.
Here are the books I have chosen. I found it actually challenging to find 10 books I remembered all the details for and that had a clear villain! Sort of by the nature of this there are spoilers for some of these books so if you haven’t read them but want to I might skip this challenge.
(Oh my god I just can’t work out this new wordpress picture insert process. I hate it)
If the main character of book 2 was trapped in the zombie apocalypse, would they have a better chance of surviving alone or with the love interest of book 7?
Definitely with the love interest of book 7! The main character of 2 while amazing isn’t useful.
Would you rather be trapped on an island with the love interest of book 1 or the main character of book 9?
Sorry Aelin from book 9, I will choose Rysand on an island any day.
Would you rather have an epic duel with the villain of book 4 or the main character of book 10?
With the villain from book 4. I am taking this to be a physical duel, an AI isn’t going to be much of a fight. If it was mental one though I will take on the Dhampir.
Would you rather trade lives with the love interest of book 3 forever or the villain of book 5 for a month?
The Villain from book 5 for month, doesn’t really matter what villain… The thought of being Daniel forever makes me want to gag.
If the love interest of book 6 were planning something dastardly, would the main character of book 1 or the villain of book 9 have a better chance at stopping them?
Oh god this one is hard… I have faith in Feyre while super useful at times I think because still learning about her powers in this book I think I will have to go with the the king in throne of glass (I went the larger villain rather than the smaller used 1). Royalty verses royalty. He has powers and many things at his disposal to help him beat the love interest in Red Queen.
Would it be better to have the love interest of book 5 in charge of the world for a week, or to have the main character of book 4 join forces with the villain of book 2?
I am gonna go with love interest of book 5 having a go of things for a week. He would make a difference in the world I think for that week, and I just don’t think the main character of 4 and the villain of book 2 would achieve anything because they are way too different.
If the main characters from books 2, 6, and 9 got together, could they defeat the villain of book 10 armed only with their wits and a bucket of rubber ducks?
Yes, 110% yes. Some of them have some strength with them and really thats all it took the defeat the villain in book 10 anyway. Well, not the ducks but certainly the wits.
Would you rather see a concert where the villain of book 8 was headlining, or a movie with the love interest of book 8 as the star?
I think I will actually go the the villain and the concert. President Snow is so posh, I am sure he has some training in a classical instrument and I can picture it being quite nice to see.
Would you rather have every meal made for you by the villain of book 5, or have to rhyme every other word with the main character’s name from book 7?
Knowing it would be signing my death warrant to pick the villain in book 5, I just don’t think I could rhyme every other word with Wanda or Wonderer. Just kill me.
The love interest of book 2 has been framed for murder! Will you have a better chance of solving it with the villain of book 6 or the main character of book 3?
Hands down the villain of book 6. One one of those options has any brains.
Now some of the challenges are just small ones for twitter, but hour thirteen is one I want to do but am just skipping. Its about making a mixtape for some books and I know I would just spend way too long trying to find the right songs to go along with the book so I am just not gonna try.
Grab a book, a piece of paper and a pen/pencil… Then close your eyes and try to draw the best way you can the cover of that book. Post it under this thread.
I tried to do an easy one… I didn’t go well hahaha. I need my eyes!
Reading Update
Total Pages Read: 2432
Books Read:
Now I spent quite a while doing these challenges and I had fun doing them! But unless one I really want to do pops up I think I will just pick a book I really want to start and just focus on that for the rest of the read-a-thon.
Welcome back for another update! I am getting quite tired, and I find myself to be freezing! I don’t know if this is because it’s actually cold or just my body desperately trying to make me go to bed haha.
Hour sixs challenge is:
Dungeons & Dragons Stereotypes – Where do your characters fit?
I’m curious, what Dungeons & Dragons Stereotypes have you found in your books and which ones would you want in your party? Create an adventuring party of characters you’ve read and use 4 or 5 of the following stereotypes.
Artificer – Gadget tinkerer who relies on machines for their abilities.
Barbarian – Always relies on their muscles and definitely an idiot.
Bard – Has incredible charisma and skills but uses them all for flirting.
Cleric – Designated healer even though they can do so much more. – Shuko seems to only be there for a strong helping hand but she would beat someone if she thought she needed to!
Druid – Uses their knowledge of herbs to get high and prefers to save the monster creatures.
Fighter – They just want to help but don’t know much about how other than hitting things. – Kominato tries so hard but he doesn’t really get anywhere. Granted he is trying to help Kou most the time and thats just a hard one to do.
Monk – Meditative fighter who uses their fists, never weapons.
Paladin – Stick-in-the-mud, goody-two-shoes, teacher’s pet, etc. – Mr. Tanaka is a stick in a the mud for a very good reason! Don’t be messing with your students boy.
Ranger – Underappreciated because it takes them so long to get powerful. – Yuri is quiet and cute but she is a strong friend and I think she deserves some more credit.
Rogue – Kleptomaniac emo. – Kou may not have really stolen anything but hearts yet, but god that boy needs to cheer up!
Sorcerer – Born talented and knows it and reminds everyone of it.
Warlock – Frequently needs to rest.
Wizard – The group nerd.
The challenge for hour eight is a book treasure hunt, but looking at the list some of the things on it that I tried finding and just couldn’t. Maybe I will try again after I have a nap…
Here is my bingo update!
Reading Update
Page Total: 1320
I finished 3 more volumes. Not as good as the last post but I blame that on doing these updates and doing some of the challenges that take a bit longer. This hour is pretty much over now for example so I wont get another volume in this one. My brain is also more tired so that is probably a key factor.
Hello my lovelies! I meant to do an update prior to now but I was in the swing of things and didn’t want to stop! How is everyone else doing in this read-a-thon? I am a bit tired but considering it is 2am in Brisbane right now I think I am doing pretty ok!
Now part of why I love this read-a-thon is the challenges. I posted hour 1 on instagram already if you want to check it out.
Now there is also a bingo happening as well!
I don’t know how much I am going to be taking part, but I hope to at least do a row. I should have given it more thought prior to the start of the read-a-thon and planned out my books better to get the bingos but I really wanted to read all thirteen volumes of Ao Haru Ride for this, so I guess when I am done with them I will think about it more. I think I would have ticked a couple of these off, but I will give an update on the bingo in a later post.
For hour 3s challenge we were to look at all the characters in that hour and see what names of characters we get introduce to are and pick another name for myself. I chose the name Yumi. I like the way it sounds and the characters while only in the manga volume for about 3 pages really inspired me. She shows up to apologize to the main character for something she did that was horrible to her earlier on in their lives, and I just really hope that if I am ever faced with a situation like that that I have the courage to own up to what I did, no matter the outcome.
Reading Update
Total Pages: 760
I have read 4 volumes thus far! I wont get one finished this hour as I am taking the time to write this up but I will catch back up in the next if I don’t stop to look at challenges haha. Pages are a bit hard to keep up with in manga since they don’t really number them, so my count is going by what good reads is telling me!
Also, as a side note. It took me way too long to work out how to get the pictures to do what I want in this new wordpress set up. Like 40 minutes…
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created over at Broke and the Bookish, but has now been taken over by That Artsy Reader Girl where every Tuesday, Top Ten things of anything are listed. Todays Top Ten things are:
Top Ten Upcoming Releases I’m On The Fence About Adding To My TBR
This one was both easy and hard to make. I had zero idea what books were coming out this year and oh my god there are so many! It was easy to find books to add to this list because there were so many things to choose from, the hard part was actually going through all the new books. This list is in no particular order, and there are many more than ten so I have just selected random ones to put here. They all pretty much have the same issue, I can see how they can go wrong if they are not done properly.
4. The Fever King by Victoria Lee. I like the idea but the general idea has been done before so I would hope this one takes it in a different direction.
5. We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet. This one will either be really interesting or really boring. I don’t think it will have an in between.
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.
There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.
As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
This book creeped me the hell out. I mean this in a good way, but the combination of the writing style, unique character perspective, and the great voice acting in the audiobook left me feeling creeped out pretty much the entire way through the book.
And I will never again underestimate the power of anticipation. There is no better boost in the present than an invitation into the future.
In You, we are gievn the perspective of a sociopathic stalker. You follow his actions as he follows and obsesses over a girl that came into his bookstore one day. I think the most confronting part for me about getting things from this perspective was listening to his interpretation of his actions. He looked into them in a way that fed into his delusions but looking at the same things from my perspective or from the perspective of a sane girl of about the same age, I just kept wanting to scream at him.
“NO! YOU ARE A CRAZY PERSON! IN NO WAY DID I DO THAT FOR YOU! YOU ARE WRONG!”
I think the writing in this book was amazing. I was hooked from the get go and it even made me a little paranoid. I thought it was pretty accurate as to how someone like this would think and behave. I would avoid listening to this book at night because it was just too unsettling.
Other than Joe and Beck, we don’t get very many characters that are really relevant to what is happening in the story. Beck is the main person that Joe is focused on, and he only cares about the other people around them as far as they were suiting his obsessions or if they were getting in his way. I can’t even say I liked any of the characters in the story. There are no golden people in this story. They are all human, and they are all flawed. None as flawed as Joe except for maybe Mr. Mooney who I think just strengthened a lot of Joe’s craziness. But I was so stressed about what was going to happen next, if any of the characters did anything actually good I worried about what Joe was going to do to them because of it.
SPOILER – There was one thing that bothered me about the overall story though. He seemed just a bit too lucky. With all the things he did over the course of the book, he didn’t get busted on anything. He even managed to put some of those things onto other people with seemingly little effort. I don’t know, it seemed to easy. Perhaps I have too much faith in the idea that the bad guys actually get caught. – END SPOILER
The only thing crueler than a cage so small that a bird can’t fly is a cage so large that a bird thinks it can fly.
I am eager to pick up the next book in this duology, but I will be giving myself some breathing space between the two because I just need to get away from the inner workings of Joe’s mind for awhile. If you like thrillers I think you will really enjoy this book. I haven’t read anything with this perspective angle before.
Hello my lovelies! How is everyone going with their novels this week?
Again I am happy but not happy with mine. While I can see that my story still sorta sucks, I feel it is more because it needs a whole load of editing rather than me just not being happy with the actual story. I decided on a big plot point when it comes to what is going to fuel parts of the story and I have started writing it in and thus far I am really liking the direction that it is taking my story.
The part I am not so happy with this week is my word count. I had a few long days at work or just long days with life in general and I couldn’t get my brain to focus on writing enough to keep up with the daily word goals. Lets compare some charts shall we:
First of all here is my daily word counter. Please note that some days are a bit off because I forgot to update my time zone location when I moved from Melbourne to Brisbane, so if I updated after 11pm for that first week and a bit the words between my last update and then got counted for the next day. I think I have fixed it now but I haven’t had a chance to test it yet.
Here are the daily word count goal charts. The first one is where we ended off last week and the second one is this weeks update.
As you can see there were a few days where I did nothing and even though I pushed out 2455 words this morning before I started writing this blog post, I am still quite behind. I obviously need to take a bit of a mental break now but I hope to write at least another 2000 words today and set myself up for a lot of writing for tomorrow (Sunday). I really want to be over the desired word count by tomorrow because I know I am having another really long week at week and I probably won’t gemuch writing done.
Now lets take a look at my chapter differences. The first picture is where we left off last week, and the second is where I am currently as of 1:19pm on Saturday the 10th of November.
As you can see I have not gone back to look at that first act. I am finding it a lot easier to pump out words for the second act, and as I am umping them out I am finding out more about my character and how their lives work and the people who are in it. I am starting to feel as though I am getting to a place where I can go back and fill in some more of the build up to me turning point between the acts. I was going to try and do a bit before writing this post, but after about 3 hours of straight writing I could feel my mind drifting and decided it would probably be better to try a bit later after my mind has had a rest.
And thats all the update I think I have for you guys this week. As always, link me, tell me how you are going, share any update posts. This community is part of the thing that makes this month so fun.
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear.
A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly–she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza’s way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
This book had been on my TBR since about the time I started reading really. This is one my mum read when she was younger and she was always raving about it and telling me to read it. This however was always followed by “It took me about nine years to finish it because the start is really boring, but the end was worth it.” So as you can imagine I was curious, but also a little hesitant.
But I needed a new long audio book to listen to on my long driving trips I do every day, so I thought why not and picked it up. I am so glad I did.
My mum was right. The start of the book did have one seriously sloe part where the properties of plants was talked about for quite awhile. If I had not had the warning beforehand, and had been reading a physical copy of the book rather than an audiobook, it might have taken me an extra moment to get through it as well if at all. Maybe not nine years, but probably awhile. I think the audio aspect really helped me here, as while I was driving I could start to zone out on the road for the sections that were boring. The voice acting was also very good and easy to listen to.
The rest of the book up until the last chapter was evenly paced and was interesting the whole way. I loved the sort of old magic that came with the Clan and the way Ayla’s new worldness affected them, and her way of thinking about things conflicting with what they have taught her her whole life. Then it rushes at you at the end.
All the characters are well written, at least all the ones you deal with on a regular basis. I love Ayla, Iza, Uba, and Creb. Their family dynamic was so beautiful at times. Ayla’s relationship with the rest of the clan was strained at times but there were shining moments of glory when they accepted her. Brun was a good leading and considering their way of thinking he was very reasonable to her and his act of kindness to her at the end was lovely. Their way of thinking about women though really irritated me and it was hard for my ‘strong independent woman’ brain to swallow the more degrading parts of the book. Broud is everything I hate in someone.
The overall sort of sad tone to the book and the rush of things left me wanting to pick up the next book. I made the mistake to read goodreads reviews though and none of them are too positive and my mum never once told me to read the next one, so now I am oohing and aahing about it. One day perhaps.
If you like historical fiction, don’t mind a bit of plant talk, and are open to history with a bit of magic, I think you will really enjoy this book. The second half is beautiful, and the first half is too between the boring bits.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created over at Broke and the Bookish, but has now been taken over by That Artsy Reader Girl where every Tuesday, Top Ten things of anything are listed. Todays Top Ten things are:
Top Ten Backlist Books I Still Want To Read
For this weeks list I decided to do just a giant shame list for myself. I went back to my first TTT that was a TBR and took any books I still wanted to read on the list. Some of these have been on my TBR for years.
1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This takes the first place, as it was on my TBR post from March 18th, 2014.
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Same as above. I hope to actually do this book this month though as I am going to an author talk for his latest book.
There are of course many more from this year and all the years between now and then, but this isn’t a list every book on your TBR list. That would take a very long time.
If you want any of the books listed please click on the thingyami below.
And Nano is off! We are currently on day four and I am really loving everything that is happening at the moment, except for my story which sorta sucks. But before I get into my thoughts lets look at some charts.
Stats from day two as I forgot to take a picture on day one:
The chapter went on far longer than I intended it too and basically just become a giant introduction dump. All the chapters and general acts are a guess at this point as well. I also changed all the labels after taking this shot so there wasn’t one, because I found all that excess green really distracting and off putting when it came to the goal bars on the side.
Stats from day four at about two in the afternoon and plenty of time to keep writing:
The only reason the day four stats are captured so early in the day is that I wanted to get this post up at a more regular time for myself, and because I am going out to a friends house later so while I have time between now and then I may not do much more writing.
Thus far I have written every single day which I am so proud of myself. When they words are flowing I am truly enjoying the experience. You may see between the two pictures that I moved from trying to write in order to just writing the parts I had a clear image of in my head. This I am coming to find is a result of an insufficient amount of outlining on my part. I am releasing that I may not be cut out to be a pantser. I spent much of yesterday looking up castle designs and floor plans, and even spent some of today sketching things out because I found myself unable to write a scene unless I where everything ever was. I still don’t have a clear idea, but I am trying not to focus too much on the little things and just put words down.
Much of the words I do put down though I am struggling with. Unless its one of the scenes that have been crystal clear in my head since I thought of the idea for this book, the words come out much like pulling out one of my own teeth. This again I relate to my lack of an ability to be a pantser. I have a clear idea in my head of they key turning points in the book, who the villain is and what he does to my main characters, but I just cannot settle on a good reason as to why. I am working with an idea right now that is keeping me moving but I haven’t decided if it is actually enough to have sparked the plot.
Then the things I do get out I just want to go back and change straight away. Chapter one for example, is just a giant here s everyone and all the things you need to know about them all at once. I am unhappy with how the chapter turned out and my mind is just always nagging at me to back and change it and some of the dialogue of the chapter, which I am finding stale because I am not completely connecting with my characters yet. But I know going back and changing things this early on is stupid, specially since I am not set with the driving force to the plot, and I should just focus on getting as much as I can down and setting up something I can go back and work with at a later date.
My mind really doesn’t like it though which is why I am letting myself at the moment just write the parts I am sure of. In writing these out I am hoping I can work out a few things that would have had to come before and once I get the ball rolling the after will come naturally to me.
Now as you can see above that I just about a hundred words off of being up to date with the daily word goals. My work schedules for Monday and Tuesday are full though, and while I might get a couple hundred words in on Monday I am fairly certain that I will not get anything done on the Tuesday. Like I have stated before for other posts on this blog, Tuesday is just a dead day to me. So even though I am going out and I want to write up a review for Kingdom of Ash before I forget too much today, I want to try and get two days worth of words done so that I am not scrambling on trying to keep up too much during the week.
The general amount written each day is also a bit different to what is shown here. I am finding that if I update late at night it counts for the next day even if my day hasn’t ended yet, so I haven’t actually written 2537 words today, though I hope to write more than that.
I think thats all the updating that is required for the day. If you are participating let me know how you are going! I always love seeing other peoples progress and I can always use more nano friends.
Jazmin Jade Reviews 