September Read-A-Thons

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I should have titled this post something like "September Read-A-Thons or How to Make Myself Even More Stressed During Vacation", because I will, hopefully, be away on vacation in September for about 3 weeks. Naturally, I do plan to take books with me (and I will post my TBR online) but participating in readathons while meeting with family and friends and traveling around? Ugh, madness. Anyway. I was catching up with YT today and saw 2 announcements that immediately made me want to participate. One is Banned Books Read-A-Thon "Banned Book-A-Thon" (announcement) and another one is Slow Read-A-Thon (announcement). I am posting these links mostly for my sake, as I know I will be scrambling later, trying to find them.

Slow Read-A-Thon

Slow Read-A-Thon (and I just love tags #slowathon and #booksnals) runs September 12 and September 18. There are some prompts/challenges, but it is not required to complete them all.

The prompts: 1) Read a book and mark it up! (Tabs, notes, underlining, etc.) 2) Create something inspired by the book you're reading! (Examples: write a poem, a song, do a sketch, a dance routine, a painting...) 3) Do a buddy read (with booktube or real life freinds) and discuss the book! 4) Read a book out loud (to someone or just to yourself.) 5) Read a book that intimidates you! 6) Reread a book and compare your reading experiences. 7) Read a book and review it on your platform of choice during the readathon week. 8) Read a book, then read secondary literature on it. Or a retelling/variation of the first book.

Banned Book-A-Thon

Banned Book-A-Thon starts at midnight Sunday, 25 September, and runs till midnight Saturday, 1 October. The theme for this year is "diversity." More info about Banned Books Week: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Somehow in my brain I decided that participating in readathons during my vacation is exactly what I need on top of everything else. Hmmm... Nevertheless, I am excited about the prospect of picking books to fit some challenges. Of course, I don't plan to participate in all of them or reading a lot, but I can aim for 2-3 books, right?

Tell me, I am not crazy XD

I have done it again (disappeared and came back)

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Managing this blog turned out a bit more difficult than I expected. I have no problems with posting photos here or videos but actually writing blog posts? Here is where I have a problem. So, here is my attempt at a comeback number umpteenth.

Anyhow, I was browsing books online today (simultaneously on BookOutlet, AbeBooks, Indigo and Amazon - no, I am not joking) and came to a conclusion that I seem to be resolving to buying books that I should probably be getting from the library. But. But. But. My library holds are maxed out, that is I have 100 books on hold. And some of those have been on hold disgustingly long.

See an example.

 

OutstandingHolds

I have been waiting for "We were liars" for almost 12 months AND I am still far from being at the top of the queue, as the library obviously does not have that many copies on hand.

So, I got so annoyed to the point that I went and ordered this book at BookOutlet. This book was consistently popping up in my recommendations and I want to read it but I didn't want to own it. Alas, there is a limit I can wait for a book.

Same thing for some other books. I purchased some of them on AbeBooks and cancelled more of my requests where I was not in the top 10-15 people as the wait was getting ridiculous.

I realized that I have been adding books on hold at the library as the way to remember to read them (I am bad with titles) and therefore I keep maxing out. Which is annoying. I even have a separate wish list on Amazon that I titled "get these books from the library", so that I don't accidentally buy them.

I am a horrible shopaholic when it comes to books. I spent a ridiculous amount of money in June. It feels like July might be no better.

Do I have that much money to spend?

No.

Do I have shelf space for all those books?

Nope.

Why do I keep buying books?

Because it makes me happy! Besides I am not buying expensive tech gear or clothes. I am buying books. Mostly discounted, on sales or in second hand stores. So, I am not THAT bad.

But I am bad, and I admit it.

I also found that checking out a whole bunch of books from the library (as well as having 100 books on hold) is very overwhelming. I am trying to figure out how to get rid (meaning, read) from all of those books I have right now, so I can go on reading what I want to read right now. (This is why I do really bad with TBRs in general.)

Today is the last day of BookTube-A-Thon is which I am participating. And not doing too well. I am not bad, but I still find it hard to adhere to a set tbr.

Here are my ranty post.

Cheers.

New Year Resolutions

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I'm quite aware it is February ;) I wrote those down a month ago, but never got to share them.

  • read 70 books*
  • listen to 10 audiobooks
  • see 10 theatre plays
  • watch 50 movies
  • start art journal again
  • write more
  • blog regularly (once a day)
  • take more photos and share them
  • consistently write book reviews
  • write plays/events reviews
  • take care of my health
  • start going to the gym again
  • travel to new places
  • meet new people
  • smile every day

*I set my goal at GoodReads for 70 books as well, but it is not the same. On GoodReads I keep track of both books and audiobooks, but in my journal I keep them separate. Which means that I will hit my GoodReads goal before my personal one.

I must say that my book reading challenge is going quite nicely AND I have already listened to 10 audiobooks, so that is quite encouraging :D

I also started a new art journal. I hope to keep doing that throughout the year.

I still suck at writing and posting reviews right after the events/plays/reading books. But I am working on it!