Okay. So...obviously I completely dropped the ball on any updates for Bout of Books 25. But I did participate! I was able to attend the first Twitter chat and did a couple of Instagram challenge posts, but life was just a little too crazy for more. That's what happens when you have a trip across the country with an infant in the middle of the read-a-thon...especially when it's a quick trip.
And though it's been a few days since things wrapped up officially, I'm just now getting to my own personal wrap up.
I'm doing things a little different this time around in terms of the organization of this post, so just bear with me. Always good to try out new things, right?
So...we're starting with the summary of my stats via the tracker.
I did manage to read every day of the week. Every day contained at least 30 minutes of reading, with the exception of Saturday. Saturday was my one full day in Idaho and I was absolutely beat by the time I got to bed. I had good intentions, but there was some craziness near bedtime that changed my plans. Thus, there was minimal reading that day...really just barely enough to consider it a reading day. But...I did spend some great time with family and friends, so I consider that day a total win just the same.
As far as minutes and pages go, this was on the lower end of my averages for weekly read-a-thons. I usually get to at least 400 in each category. That's a bummer, but I think I still read fairly decently considered the chaos that was my week. However, the minutes and pages accounted for does not include anything done via audiobook...so I've got that going for me.
I read pretty well with the boys, mostly thanks to a recent BookOutlet order that showed up mid-week. I was also (thankfully) able to participate in the initial Twitter chat. That always totally makes my read-a-thon week.
Now...let's talk about that dreadful empty column.
No. I didn't finish a book of my own. But...there were three books technically involved in the week.
Before Us Like a Land of Dreams by Karin Anderson was the book I started the week off with. I was part way into the book when the read-a-thon start and I tried desperately hard to finish it. But...ultimately, this book was just not a book I could connect with. The narrative felt overly disjointed and I couldn't keep a focus or identify an actual plot. More than a novel, this really felt like a collection of family history anecdotes. For the first time in 2019, I DNF'ed a book. In sum total, I've only ever put a small handful of books (under 10) in the DNF pile. I am an obsessive reader in that way. I hate giving up on a book. But this one sucked up four days of my read-a-thon and I wasn't going to take it anymore.
Checking Out by Nick Spalding is the audiobook I started listening to last week. This one has been a pleasant surprise. I've never read Spalding before, but I'm definitely going to be picking up more of his novels. His writing is flippant and hilarious. Despite the serious backstory of the plot, the book is highly entertaining and comical. I have a little over an hour left of the book and I sneak it in while I'm getting ready in the mornings and when I'm doing housework. The language of the book isn't very child appropriate, so there hasn't been the usual use of the audiobook on our walks or in the car, but I keep itching to get back to it.
Lastly, Things That Fall From the Sky by Selja Ahava was my primary read for the week once I decided to let go of Before Us Like a Land of Dreams. This one is a comfortably gloomy read. I'm not sure how to describe it without making it sound so awful, but gloomy really is the right word. I'll be doing a full review on the book when I finish it, but trust me when I say that gloomy isn't necessarily a bad thing. I snuck my book club read in right in the midst of this one, but I'm getting back to it now. I'm hoping to wrap it up by tomorrow.
And there you have it. Maybe not the most eloquent of wrap-ups (and definitely not the most timely), but it's there. Now...let's hope the rest of my May reading goes a bit more smoothly. I'm terribly behind on my TBR plans with no chance of catching up by the end of the month. But...if I can finish Things That Fall From the Sky and then get to two more books before May wraps up, I'll consider that a success. And I'm more or less caught up on ARCs, so that's a big win.
Happy reading, everyone!
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