YALC Readathon - Day 4

Well oops. I kind of forgot to any reading for the last couple of days. No, that's a lie because I have knowingly not done any reading because I have been playing copious amounts of Pokemon like a bloody idjit. It was mainly a procrastination from my space OU work but it ended up distracting me very thoroughly from everything else as well. I have got a little bit of reading done but for someone who managed to binge read 4 Alex Rider books last weekend it's rather a pathetic amount.

What I'm Reading
Still going with Dead Romantic I'm now 110 pages in and shit is getting rather Franken-freaky which is in no way a bad thing. Camille and Zoe are getting stuck into their DIY Boyf shenanigans with aplomb and it sure as hell ain't for the faint-hearted!
I've also been reading some more of Revived by Cat Patrick. Now I know it's the wrong Cat for YALC but still it's been something to read! I had a really long spell of not reading this since I kind of just put it down halfway through but I may actually finish it this week. So yay for that.

Posts y'all should check out
Since I've been kinda MIA for the last few days there are a couple of posts from our Lovely Hostesses to share with you.
Jess has a Guest post from Holly Bourne (Author of Soulmates) about authors meeting other more famous authors. With YALC getting ever nearer it's got some excellent advice for meeting your fav writers.
Carly has had two posts. One from Lucy Saxon (Author of Take back the Skies) about some of her top Movie/Music/Book/Youtube picks. Also a fab Dream Cast of Dead Romantic from C.J. Skuse herself.
Michelle has a post from Bryony Pearce (author of Weight of Souls) talking about the book she wished she had wrote. And another post from Phil Earle (author of Bubble Wrap Boy) about finding inspiration to write.

Also do make sure to check out the YALC Readathon Twitter chat tonight at 7pm GMT! Remember to use the hashtag #YALCreadathon and enjoy all the bookish awesomeness.

Right I am going to get some of my science work done now so I can join in the chat later with no guilt :P
Keep Reading!
Ray

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YALC Readathon Day 1!

Afternoon my lovelies! Tis the start of the YALC Readathon!! Hope everyone has enjoyed diving into their stack of YALC books so far! Alas for those of us who have been working most of the day this evening may be when the real reading begins.

What I'm Reading
I've decided to start my readathon with the hilariously macabre Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse. During my lunch break earlier I managed to get 50 pages into it and so far I'm finding Camille's bizarre fascination with dead things and sudden girl crush on Zoe rather chucklesome. One of the librarians at work said she couldn't get more than 50 pgs into it because she thought it was a bit gruesome; clearly my brain is wired more along the lines of Camille because I find the resurrection of hamsters vair intriguing and I'm interested to see where this is going to lead. Some totes awesies Camille/Zoe Shenanigans in my future methinks :P.

Posts to check out
The four hosts of this readathon, Jess, Vicky, Carly & Michelle will be posting things from some of the fabulous authors due to attend YALC over the next week so keep an eye on their blogs for new posts. Today's posts:
Jess has a guest post from Katherine Woodfine - one of the organisers of YALC
Carly has a guest post from Beth Reekles - author of The Kissing Booth
Vicky has a guest post from Marcus Sedgwick - author of She is Not Invisible & various other books
Michelle has a post giving some recommendations of her favourite YALC authors.

Hopefully I'll have an update with whatever else I get read today later on but for now tis goodbye.

Happy Readathon!
Ray

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YALC Readathon Preparations

So later this month between the 23rd & 29th there is going to be a Readathon for anyone who fancies reading some of the books by authors who are going to be going to YALC in July. You don't have to be going to the Lit Con yourself but if you are it's an excellent opportunity to make sure you have read some of their works before you meet the authors.

The Readathon is being hosted by several awesome bloggers; Jess of JessHeartsBooks (Bestie Extraordinaire), Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea, Carly at Writing from the Tub, and Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies. For all the deets and to sign up with your own blog post click here to go to Jess's blog where there is a linky.

For my Readathon I've got a stack of books that I'm planning to try and get through. I won't be able to spend as much time reading as I would like *shakes fist at work* but I'm gonna try my best to work through these books in the week I've got. It's a pretty good-looking pile if I do say so myself. Only two new-to-me authors but most of these have been lingering on my TBR list for a while and this Readathon will be a great chance for me to finally read them.

On the Stack
Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman
Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse
The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
Trouble by Non Pratt
Say Her Name by James Dawson
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
More than This by Patrick Ness
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

A vair nice selection no? I have a good mix of Contemporary novels, of both the more light-hearted type and also the dramatic thriller type. Plus the dystopia entry from our Children's Laureate, Paranormal from Holly and the Horror/Supernatural entry from James Dawson.

There's no fantasy in this stack but I did read Amy McCulloch's debut book The Oathbreaker's Shadow the other week. And since the sequel to this is due out around the start of July I shall have to pick that up after the Readathon.

So that's what I'm planning to read for the YALC Readathon. Do you think I'm missing anything important? I have read several other books by the authors in the pile but I am aware that there are a lot of authors going to YALC that I've never heard of before. Although there is a limit to how much I can read in the readathon and what I can schlep to the Lit Con in the Trolley of Awesome (see Jess's Instagram for context).

But check back to ze blog on the 23rd for when the Readathon starts and keep an eye on Twitter for updates during that week.

Now to get on with last minute ironing,
Toodles chaps!
Ray

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So I kinda suck at Read-a-thons

Good evening all you lovely people, it's a tad embarrassing coming back here after supposedly starting a readathon last Monday and realising that I just, sort of stopped by Thursday. While I did get some reading done that day (Started on the Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor) events conspired against me and I just didn't get round to updating the blog that day. Then the weekend arrived along with that wonderfully lovely specimen of awesomeness (Also known as my boyfriend, Mark :D) and all blogging went out the window and was replaced by Doctor Who marathons and copious amounts of Cricket (Alas not the Bell variety).

Hilariously I did get a bit more of the Repossession read on Saturday morning while I was volunteering at my local library. I've been helping with the Summer Reading Challenge for les enfants and there was quite a hefty lull so one of the librarians asked if I wanted a magazine to look through, I said thanks but I've got it covered and whipped the book out of my handbag. I'd got it with me just in case although I felt very odd about bringing my own book to a freaking library but eventually got over the weirdness and zoned out. Thankfully there were not many other kids during the two hours I was there.

So my Readathon was somewhat curtailed but it was really great to be able to sit and actually read since July was a very low yield reading month. I think I blitzed about 5 6 books in the first week of August which already has equalled July so I'm hoping to get through a fair bit more before we hit September (although srsly what the frack? I'm gonna be 22 around the start of October and that's getting scarily close!).

The final tally for my Readathon was as follows;
Frostfire by Zoe Marriott - 45 pgs. 4 stars
Slated by Teri Terry - 327 pgs. 5 stars
How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn - 375 pgs. 4 stars
Fat Cat by Robin Brande - 327 pgs. 4.5 stars

I think it is rather fabulous that I managed to read four completely different genres of books that almost perfectly sums up the majority of my book collection; Fantasy, Dystopia, Historical and Contemporary. Yea I do have a lot of "classics" but seriously when have I last read a good chunk of those?

I do actually want to write reviews for all the books I've read so far this month (including at least one from the end of last month) so maybe I shall get uber productive and post a review a day for a week or more sensibly post two a week so they last me a bit longer since who knows when I might write another?!

Well this has been a rather lengthy ramble about my inability to finish another project (C'est la vie non?)
But I shall now bid thee adieu.

Yours wistfully
LadyV

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Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-thon Days 2 & 3 Update

The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

So update time! I didn't actually switch on my computer all day yesterday so I wasn't able to post my update for Tuesday and since I only really read in the wee hours of Wednesday morning it would have been a fairly tiddly update.

What I'm Reading: Currently on the Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer. Started it yesterday but not sure if I'll read more today.
What I've Already Read:

 Number of Pages read today: 0 (as of 1pm)
Total number of Pages Read: 1209
Total books read: 4
Non-Reading Activity: Today I've got to go be a helpful and supportive sister as my lil' sis is going to take her Driving Theory test this afternoon *crosses everything* but I will get some time to read in the car while I wait. Then later it's ironing at Gran's time again - possible chance for reading again

I will update things more later on but I have to dash and get ready to actually go out since I've been idling far too long. Plus I need to eat something for lunch!

Yours Leisurely,
LadyV

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Summer Wrap-up Read-a-thon Day 1

The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

Well since I did actually sign up to do this read-a-thon I had better get a post up for it! Only really starting today since I was away all weekend and only got home earlier this morning.

What I'm Reading: Just finished Slated by Teri Terry.
Already Read: Frostfire by Zoe Marriott

Number of Pages read today: 485

Total Pages Read: 485

Total Books Read: 2

Non-reading Activity: Got some tedious errands to run shortly so I'm going to have to take a break from trying to read. Will also acquire some noms before my stomach starts roaring at me. 

Thoughts on Read-a-thon thus far: It's been a long time since I did any kind of serisous reading stint so I don't quite know how I'm going to do. I don't think I'll be able to quite manage a book a day since I'm going to get pressganged into doing productive things on numerous occasions methinks. It's sort of a cheat that I've already finished one book since I read the majority of it on the train journey to and from London on Saturday when my boyfriend and I went with the intent to maybe see some of the Olympics. We ended up eating at Pieminister for lunch and Paul Rhodes for dessert and then staggering through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park (getting ripped off for merely sitting on some deckchairs for a break along the way) before tripping into Foyles *heheBOOKS* and then back on the train home. Very little olympics seen but an awesome day nevertheless.

Update 9:30pm
Holy Shit I've just finished Slated and *flails* My God that is one *hell* of a book! You would have had to have been there to understand the noise that I made when I reached the last page and realised there wasn't anymore to read. Outraged indignation is probably the only description I can give it. I'm now going to have to sit glaze-eyed marvelling over this fantastic and slightly terrifying book and also bemoaning how long it will be until the sequel comes out. Teri Terry I salute your awesomeness *doffs hat*

Leave me to wallow into my mug of tea.... *sniffs*

Yours Busily

LadyV

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