Bout of Books 7.0 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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

This is my first time joining the Bout of Books read-a-thon. It’s a week-long read-a-thon, running from Monday May 13th 12.01 in the morning, to Sunday May 19th at night.

***

Time devoted to reading

I’ll be reading every day, lunchtimes, coffee times and in the evening.

My goals

I calculated how many books I read per week on average over the last 10 week: 3.6 books. That’s almost four. So, in a read-a-thon setting, I should be able to read a bit more. I’ll go for 5 books.

Books to read

This is my tentative list:

De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst

A Trick I learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge

Poollicht [Pole Light] by Jolanda Linschoten

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

The Perfume Collector Kathleen Tessaro

***

Updates

Monday

Number of pages read today: (page 5, the beginning of the book, to page 102=) 97 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read: 97 pages

Number of books I’ve read today: Ha ha! This is a very short one (140 pages) and I didn’t manage to even finish this one. Zero. 

Total number of books I’ve read: Zero

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst

Comments:  I had great fun in the Twitter Chat, if it hadn’t been for that, I’d easily finished my book. But it was more fun than reading!

Tuesday

Number of pages read today: 103-140 in De laatkomer =  37 pages plus 220 pages in IV by Arjen Lubach – page 7, the beginning of the book up to page 227)= 257 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read: 354 pages

Number of books I’ve read today: Finished one book today.

Total number of books I’ve read: 1

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach

Comments: I did my volunteer work in the school library today and came across the Dutch book IV, that I have been wanting to read. I could not help myself and took it home. Started as soon as I finished my other book. In the evening I was distracted by the tv, the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was good fun. At least I read A LOT more than Monday!

Wednesday

Number of pages read today: pages 228 to 320 in IV by Arjen Lubach = 92 pages plus 52 pages in Poollicht [Dutch] by Jolanda Linschoten (pages 9-72) plus 74 pages in The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro (pages 1-74) = 218 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read: 572

Number of books I’ve read today: Finished one book today.

Total number of books I’ve read: 2

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach [DONE], Poollicht by Jolanda Linschoten; The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro

Thursday

Number of pages read today: 71 pages in Poollicht [Dutch] by Jolanda Linschoten (pages 73-144) plus 413 pages in The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro (pages 75-488) plus 21 pages in A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge (from page 14, the beginning of the book to page 35) = 508 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read: 1080 pages

Number of books I’ve read today: Finished two books today.

Total number of books I’ve read: 4

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach [DONE], Poollicht by Jolanda Linschoten [DONE]; The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro [DONE], A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge

Friday

Number of pages read today: 175 pages in A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge (pages 35-210)

Total number of pages I’ve read: 1255

Number of books I’ve read today: Finished one book today

Total number of books I’ve read: 5

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach [DONE], Poollicht by Jolanda Linschoten [DONE]; The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro [DONE], A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge [DONE]

Saturday

Number of pages read today: 56 pages in The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura (from page 1 to 56) - almost nothing!! = 56 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read: 1311

Number of books I’ve read today: Hah! About a quarter of a not-so-big book!

Total number of books I’ve read: 5

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach [DONE], Poollicht by Jolanda Linschoten [DONE]; The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro [DONE], A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge [DONE], The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

Comments: I read hardly anything but had a great day. I went shopping in Amsterdam with a friend, followed by an evening with author Joe Dunthorne and 25 strangers, talking about his book Wild Abandon. 

Sunday – final day!

Number of pages read today: 155 pages in The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura (from page 57 – 212, the end) plus 95 pages in Down the Darkest Road by Tami Hoag (from page 5-200) = 250 pages

Total number of pages I’ve read:  1561

Number of books I’ve read today: Finished one book today

Total number of books I’ve read: 6 [and a half]

Books: De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [DONE], IV by Arjen Lubach [DONE], Poollicht by Jolanda Linschoten [DONE]; The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro [DONE], A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge [DONE], The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura [DONE], Down the Darkest Road by Tami Hoag

***

Book spine poetry:

After a Starter For Ten,

The Uninvited Guests

Don’t Sing at the Table.

But Left Neglected,

They Replay Popular Music

With the Queen of the Big Time

I’ll be updating this list during the week and let’s see if I get to my five books!

Are you joining in?

Easter Read-a-Thon

I’m joining Kate of Nose in a Book in her Easter Read-a-Thon. From Friday morning until Monday evening we’ll be reading!

I need a goal. I can do a 24-hour read-a-thon and read many of those hours, and do nothing else. I cannot read 4 days straight, so I need to set a different challenge: I’ll be reading one book a day for four days. The last time I read a book a day I didn’t like it one bit. But that was a week, and it was exactly one book in each day. This time, I hope to average one book a day, so I don’t need to start and finish a book on each day. That’s a bit more relaxed!

This is what I’m planning to read:

Four books for four days. Three of them are Dutch, two of them you might recognise, the others you probably won’t have heard of (unless you’re Dutch, maybe) -

1. DONE - I’ve already started with Het Diner [The Dinner] by Herman Koch. I’ve read it before but now that it’s so popular in the English translation, I decided to re-read it. I’ve got a flip-back book version, a nice, handy format. It’s the first time I read such a book.

It’s about two brothers and their wives who meet up for a meal in a restaurant. The story is told by one of the men and I find his observations very funny.

2. DONE -  Starters by Lissa Price. My son read this YA book and loved it. I had seen it on some people’s blogs, too, so I now want to see for myself what it’s like.

It’s a dystopian story involving body banks and a cool teenage girl who is to carry out a dangerous assignment.

3. Dieptepunt [Low Point] by Maria Rijk. A Dutch book I came across in the library. I’ve never heard of this (Dutch) writer but the book looked interesting.

A thriller about a woman who is attacked by another (unknown) woman. This affects her life thoroughly.

4. Een stil vertrek [A Quiet Departure] by Annette Zeelenberg. A Dutch book I’ve had for ages, it’s on my to-read list for March anyway, so the read-a-thon is a good time to read it.

Kay leaves the Netherlands very suddenly for a job in the USA. She feels unsafe and buys herself a little pistol, that she uses to threaten a man with. He claims to have come to protect her. Sounds really weird!

What will you be reading this Easter?

Bloggiesta: Finishing Line #bloggiesta

Bloggiesta is organised by Suey from It’s All About Books and 1st Daughter of There’s A Book. Bloggiesta is an online event for (book) bloggers in which we are encouraged to spend the weekend working on our blog in any way we see necessary. We Plan, Edit, Develop, Review and Organise – no wonder our mascot is called PEDRO! Olé!

Finishing Line It went really well! I worked on Bloggiesta Friday and both weekend days. My to-do list seemed awfully long before I started, but in fact, I did most of it: I wrote eight of the twelve posts I had planned and ALL of the other items on the list. See below.

I was especially pleased to sort out an alternative for Google Reader. And I have a number of posts ready to be posted… on both blogs!

It was fun to sit and work on the blog – funny how things that seem tedious are actually very rewarding once you’re doing them. I commented on other participants’ blogs and it was nice to connect up with some old and new friends.

My to-do list

Small, quick items:

• DONE - Back-up blog (LW, BB).
• DONE - Add links in reviews to reviews by same author (LW, BB)
• DONE - Email author of DNF book
• DONE - Reply to review requests (email)
• DONE - Ask for review books
• DONE - Shelfari – Update reviews (already written and on blog).
• DONE - Adapt menu above blog (LW)
• DONE - Send links of blog posts (reviews) to publishers
• DONE - Update reviews list Dutch challenge (BB)

Items taking more time:

• DONE - Do at least 2 mini-challenges. Not quite completed but I had the Google Reader item on my list anyway.
• DONE - Update Reviews page (since February 4th) (LW, BB)
• DONE - Shelfari – update “now reading” books – write small reviews where needed and move to “read”.
• DONE - Sort out alternative for Google reader.

Write posts:

• DONE - New Arrivals (LW)
• DONE - Ditjes & Datjes (BB)
• DONE - New Books (BB)
• DONE - Review Schreiber
• DONE -Review Grant
• DONE - Review Ariely
• DONE - Finish Noordervliet
• Review Noordervliet
• First chapters post
• Blogoversary post
• March overview (BB)
• DONE - March overview (LW)

Can’t wait for the next Bloggiesta – I’m already starting a list for next time!

Bloggiesta: Starting Line #bloggiesta

Bloggiesta is organised by Suey from It’s All About Books and 1st Daughter of There’s A Book. Bloggiesta is an online event for (book) bloggers in which we are encouraged to spend the next three days working on our blog in any way we see necessary. We Plan, Edit, Develop, Review and Organise – no wonder our mascot is called PEDRO! Olé!

Hurray! It’s Bloggiesta time! I’m all ready for it. For 3 days we’re going to give our blogs a technical and artistic check-up, take it apart and put it back together again.  This is a popular event amongst book bloggers so you may come across a few other bloggiesta-blogs this weekend.

I’ve got two blogs and will do some work on each: Leeswammes (LW) – which is my English-language Book blog and De Boekblogger (BB) – which is my Dutch-language book blog. Actually, I use Bloggiesta to work on anything related to books, reading, and reviewing, so some of the things I’ll be doing this weekend are not directly related to the blogs.

Here’s what’s in the planning…. 

Small, quick items:

• DONE - Back-up blog (LW, BB). In WordPress, go to Dashboard, Tools, Export, choose All (first option). Backup failed for me – it seems my total number of data is too big now. I chose All Posts, and then only since January 3013 (I had backed up the blog regularly anyway).
• DONE - Add links in reviews (since February 4th), to reviews by same author (LW, BB)
• DONE - Email author of DNF book
• DONE - Reply to review requests (email)
• DONE - Ask for review books
• DONE - Shelfari – Update reviews (already written and on blog).
• DONE - Adapt menu above blog (LW)
• DONE - Send links of blog posts (reviews) to publishers
• DONE - Update reviews list Dutch challenge (BB)

Items taking more time:

• DONE - Do at least 2 mini-challenges. Not actually completed but I had the Google Reader item on my list anyway.
• DONE - Update Reviews page (since February 4th) (LW, BB)
• DONE - Shelfari – update “now reading” books – write small reviews where needed and move to “read”.
• DONE - Sort out alternative for Google reader (see emails, blog posts, and mini-challenge) -> I finally got it!!! First, Bloglovin’ didn’t seem handy as I didn’t see how you could subscribe to comment feeds (Atom) – you probably can but I only figured out how when I was playing with Feedly (in Chrome). In Chrome, first you need an RSS feed extension that will appear on the right in the address bar (duh, I should have figured that out ages ago). With it, you can subscribe to blogs and comments (on individual posts). Download Feedly. When you have that RSS button in the address bar (e.g., when your visiting a blog that you can subscribe to), right-click on the button, choose Options, Add, enter Feedly as description and as URL enter this: http://www.feedly.com/home#subscription/feed/%s%5Baction.subscribe Save and then you can subscribe to a site with Feedly in Chrome. Phew!

Write posts:

• DONE - New Arrivals (LW)
• DONE - Ditjes & Datjes (BB)
• DONE - New Books (BB)
• DONE - Review Schreiber
• DONE -Review Grant
• DONE - Review Ariely
• DONE - Finish Noordervliet
• Review Noordervliet
• First chapters post
• Blogoversary post
• March overview (BB)
• DONE - March overview (LW)

Part of the fun of Bloggiesta is connecting with other bloggers so I expect to spend some amount of time tweeting (#bloggiesta) and reading other people’s posts and commenting.

Good luck to everybody who is taking part. If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloggiesta to keep in touch with other participants. I am @leeswammes.

Could your blog use some extra work?

Mini-Bloggiesta: Starting & Finishing Line #bloggiesta

Bloggiesta is organised by Suey from It’s All About Books and 1st Daughter of There’s A Book. Bloggiesta is an online event for (book) bloggers in which we are encouraged to spend the weekend working on our blog in any way we see necessary. We Plan, Edit, Develop, Review and Organise – no wonder our mascot is called PEDRO! Olé!

Hurray! This event is a mini-Bloggiesta, in which we do a bit of work on our blogs in between the Big Bloggiesta events (the next one is March 22nd – 24th, 2013).

Finishing Line I’m combining my starting and finishing post so it’s all nicely together. I spent especially Saturday doing a lot of items from my list, some more on Sunday night. I wrote three of the seven posts I had planned and ALL of the other items on the list. See below.

It was fun to sit and work on the blog – funny how things that seem tedious are actually very rewarding once you’re doing them. I commented on other participants’ blogs and it was nice to connect up with some old and new friends.

Can’t wait for the next Bloggiesta – I’m already starting a list for next time!

---

Starting Line I’ve actually done a lot of work yesterday (Friday), not so much on the blog itself, but things around it. I cleaned up my email boxes (mostly filled with book-related emails), sent off emails to publishers with links to the reviews of their books that I did last month, I posted (existing) reviews on amazon, goodreads, and shelfari and wrote a few blog posts. Now it’s time for some more work!

I’ve got two blogs and will do some work on each: Leeswammes (LW) – which is my English-language Book blog and De Boekblogger (BB) – which is my Dutch-language book blog. Actually, I use Bloggiesta to work on anything related to books, reading, and reviewing, so some of the things I’ll be doing this weekend are not directly related to the blogs.

---

The List Here’s what’s in the planning…. and everything in Italics is DONE!! ****

• Back-up blog (LW, BB). In WordPress, go to Dashboard, Tools, Export, choose All (first option). DONE for BB, for LW it didn’t work (error message)
• Add links in reviews, to reviews by same author DONE
• Shelfari – update books that I have finished DONE
• Update ereader with ebooks I want to read in February DONE
• Check out the mini-challenges on offer and do one or two DONE
• Update Reviews page with links (LW, BB) DONE
• Prepare Giveaway Blog Hop email to participants DONE
• Update copyright notice to 2013! DONE

Write posts:

• Review of The Power of Habit
• Review of Vanity Fare DONE
• New Books post (LW)
• January overview post (BB) DONE
• Ditjes & Datjes post (BB) DONE
• Prepare Giveaway Blog Hop post
• 12K Challenge starting post (goals)

Part of the fun of Bloggiesta is connecting with other bloggers so I expect to spend some amount of time tweeting (#bloggiesta) and reading other people’s posts and commenting.

Good luck to everybody who is taking part. If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloggiesta to keep in touch with other participants. I am @leeswammes.

Could your blog use some extra work?

Announcement: Literary Giveaway Blog Hop (February 9-13)

*****

The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop is an event taking place from Saturday February 9th until (and including) Wednesday February 13th. If you’re a book blogger and you’d like to give away a book to your readers, maybe to show your appreciation or because you have a special celebration, this is your chance to join up with others.

Most giveaway blog hops seem to be directed towards young adult and romance audiences. Those hops are not so ideal if you want to give away more literary books (but if you’re interested, I Am A Reader Not A Writer runs frequent blog hops).

This will be the seventh Literary Giveaway Blog Hop (there are 3 per year). So far, it’s been a great success, with between 30 and 70 participating blogs every time. It’s time for the next one and I hope you’ll join in. More details:

This event is an opportunity to give away prizes and get more traffic to your blog. You will run your own giveaway, but it will be linked up to all other participants via a links list. That way, not just your readers, but also the readers from the other participating blogs will stop by your blog.

You can offer one or more books, a gift voucher (for instance, to amazon or bookdepository), or anything else related to books and reading. There is no minimum or maximum value that your prize should have.

The only restriction is that if you’re giving away a book, that it should have some literary merit. It does not have to be the most difficult classic ever, but please no romance, urban fiction or YA. Quality thrillers, poetry and non-fiction are fine, as are contemporary fiction, literary fiction and any other genres not in the categories above. If in doubt, please ask!

Further information on the prizes: a book can be new or “gently read”. Your giveaway can be just for your country, for your continent, or word-wide. Offering a book via bookdepository.com is a good way to make your giveaway world-wide (although not all countries are available) as it offers free postage.

Last day for signing up is February 6th. Only sign up if you intend to have a giveaway post up on your blog on February 9th. I will send you an email with more information and the full linky list on February 7th.

*****

.

Copy the image to put the button on your blog (e.g., in your sidebar and/or in a blog post), so you can advertise the Blog Hop and attract more participants to make this a big event and/or tell your readers about the event coming up.

——> Fill out this form <——

*****

I’ll add your blog to the list with links below once I’ve seen that you’ve filled out the form. You cannot add yourself to the linky list.  Last signup day: February 6th!!

Linky List:

Leeswammes The Book Garden Sam Still Reading Candle Beam Book Blog Ciska’s Book Chest Too Fond Alex in Leeds Under a Gray Sky Bibliosue The Book Club Blog Fingers & Prose Lori Howell Rikki’s Teleidoscope Girl vs Bookshelf Lizzy’s Literary Life (Europe) Booklover Book Reviews The Blog of Litwits Reading World (USA/Can) Seaside Book Nook Curiosity Killed the Bookworm The Book Diva’s Reads Breieninpeking (Europe) Giraffe Days Lucybird’s Book Blog Roof Beam Reader

The Relentless Reader Read in a Single Sitting My Diary (Malaysia) Heavenali The Misfortune of Knowing My Devotional Thoughts Nishita’s Rants and Raves Book Nympho Kaggsysbookishramblings Quixotic Magpie Lost Generation Reader BookBelle Under My Apple Tree (USA) Mondays with Mac Page Plucker

If you have questions, just ask in the comments, or email me at leeswammes at gmail dot com.

****

Secret Santa Has Visited!

I participated in the The Broke & Bookish Secret Santa Exchange and a few days ago Santa left a package on my doorstep! I know my Santa is called Francesca and she’s from Italy but I have no idea what blog she’s from! Do you know her? I’d like to say Thanks for a wonderful parcel.

This is what she sent me:

.

And this is what was in the parcel:

Yes, a lot!!! So very nice! So, I got:

• A Christmas card (home-made)
• A book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (which was on my wishlist)
• Another book: The Solitude of Prime Numbers (which was also on my wishlist)
• Two small Moleskine notebooks (I LOVE notebooks and never had a Moleskine before – I’ve only looked at them and admired them in the shops )
• A tube of chocolates – individually wrapped, each with a motto, e.g., Kisses kept are wasted. Love is to be tasted.
• Also a bar of chocolate, real Italian, says the note
• A set of home made items (I forgot to take individual pictures): a pair of earrings (made with corn kernels), a small Christmas tree magnet, and a bookmark)

And everything had a little post-it on it to explain what it was or with a little story. I felt VERY spoiled.

I really liked that Francesca chose an Italian author for one of the books. I sent my Santa two books too, one of which is from a Dutch author. We obviously agree that our national authors should be read!

Thank you, thank you, Francesca!

Do you know Francesca? Please tell me who she is.

What did your Secret Santa send you?