Bout of Books 7.0: Goals & Updates

This week I’m participating in Bout of Books 7.0, which runs May 13th through 19th. I’ll be updating this post with my progress each day.

I’ve been looking forward to Bout of Books, and now it’s here! Of course, when I signed up this week seemed ideal for reading, I was going to read ALL the books. Ha! Now, we’re stripping and staining our back deck this week, I’m painting my home office, and prepping for company to arrive this weekend. And there’s work of course. *sigh* Oh well, I’m still going to give this Read-A-Thon my best shot. I’m just having to adjust my goals and re-think what I’ll be reading. Mainly, that I’ll have to rely on listening to audiobooks this week. To me, audiobooks totally count, so this works for me.

I really hate listing books I hope to read, because as soon as I do I want to read/listen to something else. But here I go anyway, I can’t guarantee I’ll stick with this list…. I’ve listed WAY MORE than I could possibly read, but below is my list to choose from (I’m a mood reader).

Reading List

• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (audiobook to finish, at 67%)
• Pretty Dark Nothing by Heather Reid (to finish, at 10%)
• Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols (to finish, at 7%)
• MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (to finish, on page 80)
• If You Stay by Courtney Cole (book club pick)
• Falling for Her Fiance by Cindi Madsen
• Crossing the Line (Pushing the Limits #1.5) by Katie McGarry
• Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry
• The Elite by Kiera Cass (audiobook)
• Crash by Nicole Williams (audiobook)
• Clash (Crash #2) by Nicole Williams (audiobook)
• Crush (Crash #3) by Nicole Williams (audiobook)
• The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy (audiobook)

Goals

• Finish/read 2 books Update: Finish/read 3 books
• Finish/listen to 3 audiobooks Update: Finish/listen to 5 audiobooks
• At minimum, draft reviews immediately for each review book I finish
• Respond to all comments left on this post
• Participate in 1 challenge

Updates

Monday

How much I read or listened to today: Finished Ender’s Game audiobook (33%); Started The Elite by Kiera Cass audiobook (56%)
Total number of books I’ve read: 1 (hey, I finished!)
Thoughts: Audiobooks for the win! I ran errands and prepped my office walls for painting tomorrow all while listening to books :).

Tuesday

How much I read or listened to today: ~ 1.5 audiobooks! I finished The Elite and started and finished Crash by Nicole Williams (loved it)!
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Thoughts: I feel so productive today! I painted my office (picture on Instagram) AND finished 2 audiobooks today :).

Wednesday

How much I read or listened to today: Read Crossing the Line, and 60% of If You Stay by Courtney Cole
Total number of books I’ve read: 4
Thoughts: I already consider this RAT a success for me, I’ve already listened/read double what I typically read in a week!

Thursday

How much I read or listened to today: Finished reading (remaining 40%) If You Stay, and listened to 56% of Clash (Crash #2)
Total number of books I’ve read: 5
Thoughts: I don’t know how I’m reading so much considering the week I’m having but I’ll take it :). I hope to keep up this pace!

Friday

How much I read or listened to today: Finished listening to Clash (44%)
Total number of books I’ve read: 6
Thoughts: I didn’t get to read a lot today 🙁

Saturday

How much I read or listened to today: Listened to 50% of Crush 
Total number of books I’ve read: 6.5
Thoughts: Need to read more, but still happy with how much I’ve read this week :).

Sunday

How much I read or listened to today: Finished listening to Crush, read 45% of The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla
Total number of books I’ve read: ~7.5 (Read 2.5 books, and listened to 5 audiobooks)
Thoughts: So I didn’t get around to participating in a challenge, and I didn’t comment as much as I wanted to… but reading wise, this RAT was a huge success for me! I’ve  caught back up to being “on track” with my 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge, YAY!