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Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (7)

Bout of Books

Bout of Books is my favorite Read-a-thon, and since my Goodreads group has started our first Team Reading Competition at the beginning of the year, this seems like a great way to rack up some points. :) I’m actually going to make a concerted effort to read a little more this week rather than just tracking status quo like normal.

Here’s a little more about the event:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. 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. There are challenges, Twitter chats, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 25 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Niki’s Goals:

1. Consciously spend more time throughout the day listening to audiobooks.
2. Choose reading during my nightly wind-down ritual instead of apps.
3. Focus on the number of instances reading was my choice rather than how many pages I got through.

Here’s a look at the books on my immediate radar:
(subject to change if I see something shiny)

I’ve never actually met any of my reading goals during these challenges, but I’m kind of okay with that. My main goal for participating is to kickstart the habit of choosing reading over other forms of entertainment, and I usually do just that even though my end of week book count tallies have historically been pathetic. Because of this, I’m changing how I track things this year, and instead of tracking pages read and books completed, I’m going to focus solely on how many times throughout the day I chose reading over something else. I’m hoping this will help me reestablish reading habits beyond the challenge.

 Daily Updates:

 Monday:

Book Encounters:

 Tuesday:

Book Encounters:

 Wednesday:

Book Encounters:

 Thursday:

Book Encounters:

Friday:

Book Encounters:

Saturday:

Book Encounters:

 Sunday:

Book Encounters:

Total:

Total Book Encounters:

I’ll be updating this page throughout the week and will put my final thoughts here once it’s over.

by Niki Hawkes

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Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (6)

Bout of Books

Bout of Books is my favorite Read-a-thon, and since my Goodreads group has started our first Team Reading Competition at the beginning of the year, this seems like a great way to rack up some points. :) I’m actually going to make a concerted effort to read a little more this week rather than just tracking status quo like normal.

Here’s a little more about the event:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 8th and runs through Sunday, January 14th 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 21 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Niki’s Goals:

1. Consciously spend more time at work listening to audiobooks instead of watching Netflix.
2.
Finish at least 5 books from my TBR Tackler Shelf.
3.
Choose reading before bed (instead of apps) every night this week through the Read-a-thon.

Here’s a look at the books on my immediate radar:
(subject to change if I see something shiny)

I’m halfway through a couple of these, so having a head start is nice. Four of them are scheduled Buddy Reads that I’m concerned not having time for, so a concerted effort this week for this challenge will help keep my on track for my most over-scheduled Buddy Read month to date.

 Daily Updates:

 Monday:

Pages: 153 / Books Finished: 0
A good start page-wise. Comparatively.

 Tuesday:

Pages: 227  / Books Finished: 2

 Wednesday:

Pages: 239  / Books Finished: 0
I will say this is the most pages I’ve ever maintained for this challenge

 Thursday:

Pages: 167 / Books Finished: 0
It felt like I wasn’t as focused yesterday.

Friday:

Pages: 184 / Books Finished: 2
2 Finished books – booya! 

Saturday:

Pages: 192  / Books Finished: 0

 Sunday:

Pages: 230  / Books Finished: 0

Total:

Pages: 1392 / Books Finished: 4

Yes!! This is the single best Read-a-thon I’ve ever done! I usually don’t even break 1000 pages. And considering how long the books are that I’m reading, 4 books completed is awesome! :D

by Niki Hawkes

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Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (5)

This is my favorite Read-a-thon to participate in (okay, it’s the only one… but it’s awesome!).

Here’s a little more about the event:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th 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 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Niki’s Goals:

– Finish 3 books

– Read 1000 pages

Last Read-a-thon I finished 2 books and read around 900 pages. I’m hoping to up the ante this time around. :)

Here’s a look at the books on my immediate radar:
(subject to change if I see something shiny)

I usually just update this post rather than bombarding you every day.

Daily Updates:

 Monday:

Pages: 117 / Books Finished: 1 [already in progress before challenge started]

 Tuesday:

Pages: 96  / Books Finished: 0

Wednesday:

Pages:  / Books Finished:

 Thursday:

Pages:  / Books Finished:

Friday:

Pages:  / Books Finished:

Saturday:

Pages:  / Books Finished:

 Sunday:

Pages:  / Books Finished:

Total:

Pages: 213 / Books Finished: 1

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Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (4)

bout of books

This is my favorite Read-a-thon to participate in, and even though I’m still dealing with an eye strain injury, I’m going to give it a go! (Are you all sick of hearing about my eyes yet? I sure am sick of talking about it… and, you know, dealing with it). Even when fully healthy, I’ve learned that I just can’t seem to compete with the numbers I put up during my first BoB (I was a reading machine!), So my goals this time around are somewhat less ambitious than they have been in the past.

Here’s a little more about the event:

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, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th 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 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Niki’s Goals:

– Finish 3 books

– Read 800 pages

– Don’t overdo it (eyes)

that’s it.

Here’s a look at the books on my immediate radar:
(subject to change if I see something shiny)

Three of my options are audiobooks, so I can still feel like I’m accomplishing something if my eyes don’t cooperate.

Daily Updates:

 Monday:

Pages: 120 / Books Finished: 0

 Tuesday:

Pages: 47 / Books Finished: 0

Wednesday:

Pages:  170 / Books Finished: 1

 Thursday:

Pages: 128 / Books Finished: 0

Friday:

Pages: 134 / Books Finished: 1

Saturday:

Pages: 139 / Books Finished: 0

 Sunday:

Pages: 176 / Books Finished: 0

Total:

Pages: 914 / Books Finished: 2

Two out of three goals completed! Not bad. :)

by Niki Hawkes

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ARC August: Goals & Updates!

ARC-August-Banner

This yearly feature hosted by Octavia and Shelly at Read. Sleep. Repeat. couldn’t have come around at a better time. It seems like my ARC requests double around this time of year thanks to all of the brilliant upcoming releases. Currently, I’m challenging myself to make my way through the following ARCs by the end of August (there are a couple more since my sign-up post):

I’m shooting for one a week, but I would love to read them all before the end of August.

Week 1 – 8/8/15:

I finished two ARCs this week – Fool’s Quest and Breakout!

Week 2 – 8/15/15:

I got halfway through Hunter by Mercedes Lackey and picked up two more ARCs! #Fail

Week 3 – 8/22/15:

Week 4 – 8/29/15:

Total – 8/31/15:

Wish me luck!

by Niki Hawkes

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ARC August: Niki’s Signing Up!

ARC-August-Banner

This yearly feature hosted by Octavia and Shelly at Read. Sleep. Repeat. couldn’t have come around at a better time. It seems like my ARC requests double around this time of year thanks to all of the brilliant upcoming releases. Currently, I’m challenging myself to make my way through the following ARCs by the end of August:

It hurts my heart that Soundless by Richelle Mead is not on this list… Everybody seems to have a copy but me ::sobs::

Since I had to switch my reviewing status on NetGalley and Edelweiss from “bookseller” to “blogger” I’ve been consistent with maintaining a 100% response rate. Part of it is pure stubbornness, as I’ve convinced myself the only way to get approved more often is to be a dependable reviewer. However, the main reason I’ve been able to keep that percentage perfect is because of my “read the best books first” philosophy. I’ve only allowed myself to request titles I’ve already identified as releases I have to read on Goodreads (meaning no impulse requests just because I see something shiny). Since my upcoming releases list currently has over fifty books on it, I’ve been requesting more than average lately… Thank goodness for this challenge!

What ARCS are on your list this winter?