August 2017 Wrap Up and September 2017 TBR!

August Wrap Up

It the last day of August and basically the last day of summer! That means it's time for another monthly wrap up. This month, I finished a total of 8 books for a total of 3321 pages. Here's how I rated the books I read (rounded to the nearest star):

5 Stars - 2 books

4 Stars - 3 books

3 Stars - 1 books

2 Stars - 1 books

1 Star - 1 books

After including partial ratings, my ratings averaged to be 3.38 stars, which significantly less than the average ratings last month. I think this is mostly because I read a couple of books that I really disliked. 

List of Books:

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stone - 1 Star
2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - 4.5 Stars
3. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay - 4 Stars
4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - 4.75 Stars
5. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - 3.25 Stars
6. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas - 1.75 Stars
7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - 4 Stars
8. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - 3.75 Stars

I'm feeling pretty good about these books since 5 of them were on my TBR at the beginning of the month.

September TBR!

Since school is picking back up and I still have a lot of experiments to complete, I will be cutting down the usual length of my list. I'm not one of those seasonal readers, so my TBRs are still all over the place.

1. Real Food/Fake Food by Larry Olmsted
2. The Secret History of Wonder Women by Jill Lepore
3. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
4. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
5. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
6. The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias

Let me know if you have other suggestions or which one you think I should read first!

Happy reading!

July 2017 Wrap Up and August 2017 TBR!

July Wrap Up

Oh my goodness! It's the last day of July already! That means it's time for another monthly wrap up. I had the best reading month of the year in July, completing 13 books for a total of 4079 pages. For me, this is is a huge number. Here's how I rated the books I read (rounded to the nearest star):

5 Stars - 4 books

4 Stars - 2 books

3 Stars - 7 books

2 Stars - 0 books

1 Star - 0 books

After including partial ratings, my ratings averaged to be 3.73 stars, which means that I have read a lot of average books, but also a lot of memorable 5-star books. 

List of Books:

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 3 Stars
2. Landline by Rainbow Rowell - 3 Stars
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling - 5 Stars
4. Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter - 5 Stars
5. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson - 4 Stars
6. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - 2.75 Stars
7. Caraval by Stephanie Gerber - 3.25 Stars
8. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - 4.25 Stars
9. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon - 4.5 Stars
10. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - 3 Stars
11. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - 3.25 Stars
12. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - 3 Stars
13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling - 4.5 Stars

August TBR!

I will still make a TBR even though I usually never end up following it. I always just think that I'll get to the book eventually.

1. The Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
4. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
5. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
6. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
7. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
8. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
9. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Let me know if you have other suggestions or which one you think I should read first!

Happy reading!

2017 High Summer Readathon Wrap Up!

It is officially the end of my second readathon this year and I think I did pretty well! This event was hosted by Seasons of Reading and I would definitely be interested in participating their future events.

In total, I finished 7 books for a grand total of 2394 pages:
1. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
2. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
3. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
4. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
5. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
6. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Even though these books deviated from what I originally planned in my TBR, I still think that I've done a fairly good job of consistently reading every single day.

Let me know if any of you guys have read the books I have posted here and what you thought of them. Also, please let me know if you can think up of future readathons that I can participate in!

24in48 Readathon: FINAL WRAP UP!!!

Woooooooooo!!! I have just finished my first readathon and I think it went pretty well. Over 1,300 people participated in this readathon, and sadly to say, I did not win any of the random prize drawings. But it doesn't matter because I read A TON, which was my goal for this weekend. 

1. How many books did you read? How many pages did you read? 

I read a little over 4 books this weekend, 3 of them from my original TBR post:

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon - 4.5 Stars

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - 3 Stars

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - 3.25 Stars

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - 3 Stars

=1,358 Pages (this doesn't include the beginning of the fifth book that I started)

2. How many hours did you read?

I read a total of 24 hours and 26 minutes! This is probably the most I have ever read!

Day #1 Times:

Day #2 Times:

3. What do you think worked well in this readathon?

I love the community support and seeing some other people's posts. I particularly liked recommendation challenges like your favorite #ownvoices books and snacks to eat while you are reading. 

4. What do you think could be done to improve the readathon next time?

I am not a huge fan of the photo challenges. This is just because I don't have an elaborate bookshelf that I want to take a picture and share with people. I think photo challenges severely discourages people from going to their local libraries to check out books. I think it would be good to post optional photos. 

5. Would you participate in future 24in48 readathon?

Yes - even though I am completely burnt out on reading right now, I think I definitely might to do this again if the timing is right for me in January (I can even try to beat my time)!

BONUS: TIPS FOR SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING THIS READATHON

• planning ahead (most important)
• creating and following a TBR
• have snacks available at all times
• block out the weekend for reading
• setting aside a really good reread book that you are familiar with the plot - this way you can still keep reading even if you feel burnt out
• have one or two audiobooks ready at all times - this is just so you can rest your eyes as you transition from one book to another
• genre recommendation: YA contemporary, thriller - honestly, I don't think I can do something that focuses extensively on setting rather than the plot. Like, if I had to read 3 pages of how Frodo hikes through the Middle Earth, I might fall asleep

Do you have additional tips for me? How much did you guy read? Any good recommendations?