I’m finally on holidays, and this, of course, means that I’ll have a large amount of time to devote to reading. This is a very good thing, because my currently reading pile is embarrassingly large. I was looking for a read-a-thon starting now and running throughout my holidays, but I couldn’t find anything that quite fit. So I’ll be doing the following, tailoring each to fit my available reading schedule:
From July 29th to August 3rd, I’ll be doing my own personal read-a-thon.
From August 4th to 10th, I will participate in The Book Monsters, Monster Read-a-thon.
From August 11th to 17th, I’ll be participating in the second annual Beat the Heat Read-a-thon
then, from August 18th to 24th, I’ll participate in the 11th Bout of Book Read-a-thon.
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 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
Previously, I’ve only participated in one read-a-thon, and that was only for 24 hours, so I am a little perplexed as to how to tackle these longer read-a-thons. I am so terrible with lists and focussing on specific books, that I don’t want to go that route. Should I aim for a set number of pages? I have no idea the average number of pages I read per day/per week. Yikes! So I think I’m going to set my goal at 50 pages a day (this should be easy) and raise the count when I see how I’m progressing.
As for books, as I said, I have a disconcerting number of books to complete, as well as some new ones that I want to read. Here are some books on my list:
Currently reading:
The Guns of August – Barbara Tuchman
New Books:
Porterhouse Blue – Tom Sharpe
I’ll update when I’m able, but the plan is to read, read, read. So, happy summer reading to everyone!
** Edited to include the Monster Read-a-thon, kindly suggested by Masanobu at All the Pretty Books **
Oh, I could fancy a readathon… I might join you in one. I once tried Bout of Books, but it was like a curse – I must have read half a tiny book that week! Anyway, I've got the time for readathons at the mo – still have the bad foot (hospital tomorrow, it'll be my first appointment with a specialist).
Perhaps you don't want to jinx yourself now. You have been on a reading tear and I've been so envious! I've looked at your new classics list once, but I have to give it a more in-depth perusal to see what I can glean from it.
That's a shame about your foot. Hopefully the doctors can tell you something useful.
I'm doing a week-long readathon too at the start of August. Maybe you'd like to join? I think it fits in your schedule (it runs from August 4th to 10th).
Here is the link: http://thebookmonsters.com/monster-thons/
Thanks for the tip, Masanobu! I will add it to my post to cover more of my "holiday time period".
Bravo and good luck! I admire that you are taking on so many of these readathons. I'm contemplating the Beat the Heat readathon since I'm off the week of the 11th.
Thanks! I have the time, so I thought I needed to focus myself with some goals. I'm not doing so well today though: so far, I've made blueberry scones, went for a long bike ride, and now I think I'm going to go swimming. I'll have to catch up on my reading tonight.
Look at you! I need to join you in these!
I have found it easiest to set mini-goals for my reads. This way I can check things off and have accomplishments.
Read Ch 1-2 of Book "X"
Read Ch 3-5 of Book "X"
Read Ch 9-15 of Book "Y"
Read 2 Essays etc….
With the whole month you can have 10 goals for each book for example. But it gives you a chance to see your progress in a book marching towards the end.
I break up the sections based on length usually. If a book has really short chapters I may group 5 in one goal, but a book with really long chapters will have just 1 per goal.
I think my problem is that I have too many books!! I can't even name the number of books I have unfinished because it is completely embarrassing!
I have "mentally" chosen about 4 books at a time, and I'm going to try to focus on those. I'm keeping track of page count and I'll post on the pages completed. We'll see how that goes. If it gets confusing I'll try the chapter approach. I have so many read-a-thons going on that I have time to refine my plan of attack!
Yes, please join me, as I know that you're in the same boat. People with book-addictions do read-alongs together. That should be a new book-ish motto, shouldn't it? 😉
Wow you have a lot of books you are currently reading! I personally am not good about tracking pages I've read, so I just go with book count when setting goals, or hours read.
Oh, hours read is a good idea! And you're right, the pages read is hard to keep track of to start ,but I think it won't be so bad on my consecutive updates. Thanks for stopping by, Kristen! 🙂