My Bout of Books 21 Wrap Up

I participated all last week in the Bout of Books 21 Reading Challenge. It's a low-pressure way to jump-start your reading and have fun with other readers at the same time.

There were twitter chats and daily challenges and LOTS of encouragement to keep reading. Since I can't shut off the rest of the world and my responsibilities, I still had to do other things this week. But, I really tried to focus my spare moments on reading. Here is how my week turned out.

These are the books I had decided to focus on during the Bout of Books 21 week. You can see the full list, HERE. They were all books I wanted to read so I thought that would help push me to keep reading. 

Day 1 - January 8, 2018

The challenge today was to describe yourself #insixwords. 

I had a hard time choosing just 6 words because I am so much more than these 6 words. But this is what I shared anyway.

There was also a Twitter Chat that evening that was a lot of fun. 

Pages read: 96 from JUST BETWEEN US and THIS IS HOW IS ALWAYS IS

Minutes listened: 0

Day 2 - January 9, 2018

The challenge today was to post your reading goals.

My reading goal this year is 100 books. Last year I read 120 (including children's books) so this should be manageable. It is basically one regular book and one children's book a week if you figure it that way...with 2 weeks off. I will also be participating in the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2018 Reading Challenge.  I should have goals related to reading my own books from my own shelves, reading books from my Kindle and then deleting them, getting reviews done on time, etc. But, that is pretty much just setting myself up for failure. LOL!


Pages read: 15 - from THIS IS HOW IS ALWAYS IS...ugh....I was gone all day and then at a basketball game all evening
Minutes listened: 90 minutes - driving in the car throughout the day listening to FIRST WOMEN

Day 3 - January 10, 2018

The challenge today was to make a book rainbow. I chose to make two book rainbows.

The on of the left is from random to read books off my shelves. The other is from my collection of The Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Reader's Collection.

Pages read: 120 page in JUST BETWEEN US
Minutes listened: 35 minutes on audio of FIRST WOMEN

Day 4 - January 11, 2018

The challenge today was all about favorites. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to participate today.

It was a busy day. I had a lunch date with my husband and our nephew and we had a little winter storm blow through and we celebrated our daughters 13th birthday. So, not as much reading as I would have liked.

Pages read: 10 pages in THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS until I fell asleep
Minutes listened: 35 minutes on audio of FIRST WOMEN


Day 5 - January 12, 2018

The challenge today was a Newspaper Headline. I didn't have a chance to get something done for this one.

Pages read: Zero - too many things going on today and basketball in the evening. I was too tired when I went to bed.
Minutes listened: 2 hours on audio of  FIRST WOMEN- I had appointments and errands to run so I listened while driving.

Day 6 - January 13, 2018

The Challenge today was Book Spine Poetry.

I've never been very good at poetry, reading or writing it. But, I thought this left a lot to the imagination.

Fingerprints of you

Words get in the way

Promise not to tell

It gave me the image of an abused woman. Probably because I'm dealing with that subject in the book I'm reading, but the woman is thinking of fingerprints that he left behind...maybe on her neck. His words get in the way - his apologies his excuses - of her leaving him. He constantly is asking her to promise not to tell anyone. 

There was also a twitter chat, but I wasn't able to participate.

Pages read: 179 pages read and finished JUST BETWEEN US.
Minutes listened: 30 minutes on audio of FIRST WOMEN while getting ready to head to more basketball.

Day 7 - January 14, 2018

Today's challenge was to write a book review for a book you finished this week.  I didn't have a chance to do that today as we were at my parent's house all day for a family gathering. I'll be posting two reviews this week.

Pages read: 32 pages in THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS
Minutes listened: 30 minutes on audio of FIRST WOMEN while getting ready to head to my parent's house.

So, I didn't reach my goal of finishing 6 books and instead only finished one book, JUST BETWEEN US. But, I am very close to being finished with my audiobook and can focus on the others this week hopefully. I have some review books looming so we will have to see how the week plays out.

I just really appreciate these read-a-thons because it forces me to THINK about reading during any spare moment. It rekindles a love for reading. It gets me talking about books on social media. It introduces me to other readers, writers, bloggers, and book lovers out there as well. And, the best part is it always introduces me to new books I should read.

Thanks to the Bout of Books crew for hosting and if this sounds fun to you, be sure to check out Bout of Books 22 that begins on May 14. That is graduation week for our son, so I KNOW I won't be able to participate in that one. But, if you have a chance, I would highly recommend it.



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Bout of Books 21 Starting January 8, 2018

I finally am able to participate in Bout of Books again. Bout of Books 21 Kicks off Monday, January 8, 2018. This will be the third time I have participated. The Bout of Books is a week-long Read-a-Thon. It's low pressure, which I like, and just pushes you to read a bit more than you normally would in a given week. There are fun challenges and twitter parties to keep you motivated and I always find new book bloggers to follow after the event. 

Since my reading took a downward slide during my long-term sub job, I am excited to dedicate a week to catch up on my reading!  

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram to see how my reading is going throughout the week. I'll do a wrap-up post here to let you know everything I read.  If you would like to join me, you don't have to have a blog to join in. Check out this post HERE to sign up and join me and other readers all over the world dedicating a week to reading! 

To see my other posts from the previous Bout of Books challenges, click HERE. The first time I participated, I read 1 1/2 books. The second time, I read 2 1/2 books. This time, I am hoping for four books. I'll have to see how this week goes with reading before I decide which books I'll be reading next week. Check in here Monday to see what I'll be hoping to read next week! 

Bout of Books Wrap Up

I spent last week participating in the Bout of Books Reading Challenge. There are no parameters. No hours you have to read. No amount of pages or books to be read. Just a casual atmosphere, where books are loved and read...as much as possible.  There were fun daily challenges to participate in and a couple Twitter Chats where you could chat and answer questions and meet other book lovers.

When I originally signed up to participate in Bout of Books, I was only scheduled to substitute teach 1 1/2 days during that week. By the time Bout of Books rolled around, I was subbing every day during the week, 3 evenings were full, and the weekends were shot. So, I did the best I could with the time I had. See my original post about Bout of Books, HERE.

I was happy because I finished two books that I had been reading for the last couple months.

I finished BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande.



I also finished FIND THE GOOD by .



I started reading THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah and I am over half way through it.



I wanted to start on two other books but with the week I ended up having, it just didn't work out that way. I finished the challenge with a total of 300 pages read for the week.

I participated in 3 of the Daily Challenges and one of the Twitter Chats. The Daily Challenge themes were lots of fun and one of them may be leading to a new feature on the blog!

1 ~ Post a photo of one or all of your bookshelves. This is one of my many to-read shelves in our house.

2 ~ 5 Favorites: I chose to share 5 of the Favorite Books from My Childhood. I read these books over and over as a child. I bet I could still recite some of them by heart. What I noticed was that they all had a theme of kindness and being generous to others.

PETUNIA By Roger Duvoisin
GUS AND THE BABY GHOST By Jane Thayer
SOCKS FOR SUPPER by Jack Kent
LITTLE BEAR By Else Holemelund Minarik
ONE KITTEN FOR KIM By Adelaide Holl

3 ~ If you liked this....then you'll like.....

I had a hard time deciding what to choose for this challenge. I think I will definitely be doing some more blog posts on this topic and maybe even a regular feature.

I decided to choose ~ If you liked THE HELP, then you would also like YELLOW CROCUS and THE KITCHEN HOUSE.

Not related to the Bout of Books Challenge, but I did attend a Book Reading/Signing Event for a local author. I featured her book here a week ago and I wanted to meet Carol Steingreaber in person and hear her read from her 1st book, PANTS OPTIONAL.  You can see my original post about the author and her book, HERE.

Carol was so awesome to meet. She is down-to-earth and absolutely hilarious. She read stories from her book using the people from the stories to read their actual lines. It made the stories even more real and way more hilarious. We had a lot of laughs in this room.

Carol even surprised me this week with this gorgeous flower bouquet to thank me for the feature article I wrote about her book for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. It is rare that I am thanked by an author in this way. Usually, it is through an email, Facebook comment, or Tweet on Twitter. These flowers made my day and I felt great knowing I am helping spread the word about a great book and wonderful author.

So, even though I didn't meet all my goals during Bout of Books, I had a great week of reading and enjoying a love of books. In fact, during my subbing, I read a couple of the books that I had recently reviewed to the elementary kids. They loved hearing a new story.

So, that is my wrap up for the Bout of Books Challenge. If this sounds like something you would like to do next time it rolls around, mark your calendars for the week of August 22, 2016. You could join in just like I did.


A post from today, 8 years ago - Flowers and Daughters
A post from today, 2 years ago - Children's Book Review: Bitsy Bear By Anne M Jenks



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I'm Joining the Bout of Books 16 Next Week

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon that begins at 12:01 AM on Monday, May 9 and ends on Sunday, May 15, 2016.  Bout of Books is organized by Amanda at On a Book Bender and Kelly at Reading the Paranormal. This is a worldwide event that encourages our love of reading. Bout of Books is low-pressure. Throughout the week, there will be challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize. You can read one book or twenty or just check in on the challenges and giveaways. If you think this sounds like something you'd like to check out, click HERE for all the information and to sign up.

I participated in Bout of Books in 2014. I like this reading challenge because it is extremely low-key and there are usually lots of fun challenges and giveaways. As of now, I don't have a lot going on that week, so I'm hoping to be able to devote a lot of time to catching up on my reading. 

These are the books I'll (hopefully) be reading for Bout of Books....in no particular order.

THE NIGHTINGALE - I've been wanting to read this since it came out. This is my "for me" choice.

I LET YOU GO - This is supposed to be one of the big books of the summer. 

MISSING PIECES - This one has been in my pile for much too long. 

MODERN GIRLS - I love this premise and there have been some great reviews for it. 

And I have a few books I'm trying to get finished.....

BEING MORTAL - I am finding this book really fascinating, but it's going a little slow for me.

FIND THE GOOD: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small Town Obituary Writer - I'm enjoying the stories and life lessons in this short read.

A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN - This was my First Book of 2016 and yes, I'm still reading it. I read a bit and then put it aside for awhile. It's not a page-turner, but when I do read it, I enjoy it. 

This is definitely a huge list for me to read in just seven days. But, I am hoping that with the motivation of other readers and these great book choices, I'll be excited to read.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter where I'll be posting any updates on my Bout of Books challenge. I'll try to do a wrap-up post once I'm done and definitely post some reviews. 

A post from today, 7 years ago - A Weekend Recap 

Bout of Books 14 Wrap Up

Last week I participated in the Bout of Books 14 Reading Challenge.  In my original post, (see HERE) I committed to reading four books totaling 1,273 pages.  I was hoping to read 181 pages a day to stay on track. By Thursday, I had only read a total of 225 pages and was still reading the first book.

I participated in 3 challenges and one twitter chat that allowed me to interact with lots of new bloggers that I hadn't previously known. I was even reminded of my love for unicorns (I collected them when I was younger).

By the end of the challenge:

I read 529 of 1,273 pages

I actually decided NOT to finish AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS. I'll talk more about this in an upcoming post, but the depressing subject matter, the discombobulated (is that a word???) storytelling, and general lack of disinterest in the characters made me decide to stop reading and move on.

I finished one book, 30 LESSONS FOR LOVING.  This makes me sad because I was hoping to finish 4 books, but spending time on AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS held me up and put me behind. I just happened to choose to start with that one and it knocked off my momentum.

I'm so glad I was able to be a part of this read-a-thon. I have always wanted to participate in one, but the timing has never worked. I loved the daily challenges and the ability to be flexible with my posting and reading. I will definitely be interested in doing this challenge next year.

Bout of Books 15 Starts January 4, 2016. So mark your calendars and plan to join me and other readers with a week of reading and sharing our love of books!

Bout of Books 14 Check-In

I've been participating in the Bout of Books Reading Challenge this week. To see more about this challenge, check out my original post, HERE.

I participated in a couple challenges:

#FictionalWorldTravel

with Between Library Shelves

#4SeasonsBookCovers

with Kimberly Faye Reads

I've been busier than I expected this week...that always seems to happen and reading seems to fall to the bottom of the list.

I chose AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS as my first book choice because I have it as an eBook and is a little more portable and can read it easier at night. It is moving along quickly, but honestly, I am not really "enjoying" it. It's a depressing subject and one I don't enjoy reading about. The format of the novel is also weird and makes the traditional reader in me have a hard time with the flow of the story. Anyway, I'm still reading through it and I still have the weekend to catch up on other great books.

I've read 225 out of 1273 pages. I said I would have to read 181 pages/day to meet my goal. Well....At least I read MORE than 181 pages in 3 days.

I've finished no books this week....yet.

My plans for the rest of the challenge: I plan to finish AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS and since this book deals with the sadness of infidelity, I'm going to switch gears and read 30 LESSONS ON LOVING. It's full of stories of love and devotion and marriage.

For more about Bout of Books 14, be sure to click HERE.

I'm Signing Up for Bout of Books 14

Well, I've always wanted to do a read-a-thon but they are usually on weekends when I have something going on with the kids.  So, I've never felt like I could join in because I'd be lucky to get an hour read let alone 24 hours.

Bout of Books is a week-long challenge and there is no reading requirement.  Here is the blurb:

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 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd 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 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I've been in a bit of a reading slump after reading 3 books during our 10 day vacation in July.  Nothing seems to really be exciting me and there are so many other things going on that have been taking me away from my reading.

Since this is our last week of summer (school starts next Monday), this is the perfect week to make the time to sit on my porch and read.  My goal is to read two hours each day at the minimum. The four books I have chosen have a total of 1,273 pages, give or take. That figures out to be 181 pages/day that need to be read to finish all four book in these 7 days. Probably not realistic on my part since I do have some commitments this week, but hey, you gotta have a goal right? So, here are the books I'd like to read to this week:

A SMALL INDISCRETION BY Jan Ellison

30 LESSONS FOR LOVING by Karl Pillemer, PhD

THE SOMEDAY JAR by Allison Morgan

AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS by Julia Pierpont

These are all books that I am behind on reading and reviewing. I am hoping this Bout of Books is the kick in the pants I need to get back on track. I'm also finishing up two books, BELOW THE WATER LINE, which I am loving and THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US, which is going slow for me. I would like to have these finished before I start on on the other books on Monday. 

Be sure to check out the Bout of Books Blog for any info throughout the week! I plan to do a mid week and wrap up post to let you know how I did!