Bout of Books 22 Read-a-thon

I am so excited to be participating in this readathon again. I believe this is my 4 or 5 time doing it.Here’s the official what’s what about Bout of Books if you don’t know about it already.

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 14th and runs through Sunday, May 20th 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 22 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

                                                                        To Be Read During Readathon:                                                     

OBSIDIO

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? 

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Blood Water Paint

A debut novel based on the true story of the iconic painter, Artemisia Gentileschi.

Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome's most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.

He will not consume
my every thought.
I am a painter.
I will paint.

I will show you
what a woman can do. 

Ice Wolves (Elementals #1)

Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragonsare sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when twelve-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Still, whether or not they’re family, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

In order to rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shapeshifting force of all.

Challenges

**This is the overall list for the challenges offered during Bout of Books 22. Make sure you check the blog each day of the read-a-thon for instructions and details on how to complete the daily challenges**

Monday 5/14
Introduce yourself #insixwords

Tuesday 5/15
Year of You

Wednesday 5/16
Show Me Your Precious

Thursday 5/17
Read Alikes

Friday 5/18
Space Scavenger Hunt

Saturday 5/19
Share Your Favorite Bout of Books Moment

Sunday 5/20
Stretch Goal

Are you participating in Bout of Books? Let me know! 

The (TBR Bust - A - Thon) Reading plan.

I am participating in this readathon. The TBR Bust-A-Thon is a seven-day readathon that occurs every two months during the first full week. R1: Feb. 4-10.  I included the description explaining this readathon below,

  "The goal is to read books that are on your TBR, so books you have already read do not count. Books you have already started but have not finished only count if you are less than halfway through. There will be seven reading challenges and reading sprints hosted throughout the week on the TBR Bust-A-Thon twitter account here. The challenges can be doubled up but not tripled meaning you may use one book for two challenges but not three. The challenges are not mandatory, just a bit of extra fun."

- from the bookworm in me blog

The Challenges:

1. Read a book that has been on your TBR pile more than 2 years

2. Read a banned book

3. Read a 400+ page book

4. Read a YA Contemporary

5. Read a book with pink and red on the cover

6. Read a popular book you haven’t read yet

7. Read a book released between November 2017 and January 2017

My TBR pile: 

1. Read a book that has been on your TBR pile more than 2 years- Moby Dick

Goodreads Synopsis:

No American masterpiece casts quite as awesome a shadow as Melville's monumental Moby Dick. Mad Captain Ahab's quest for the White Whale is a timeless epic--a stirring tragedy of vengeance and obsession, a searing parable about humanity lost in a universe of moral ambiguity. It is the greatest sea story ever told. 

Far ahead of its own time, Moby Dick was largely misunderstood and unappreciated by Melville's contemporaries. Today, however, it is indisputably a classic. 

As D.H. Lawrence wrote, Moby Dick commands a stillness in the soul, an awe . . . [It is] one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.

2. Read a banned book- Invisible Man

Goodreads Synopsis:

First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece, Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.

As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.

3. Read a 400+ page book-  The Goldfinch 

Goodreads Synopsis:

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antique store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch combines vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate. 

4. Read a YA Contemporary- Reality Boy

Goodreads Synopsis:

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

5. Read a book with pink and red on the cover- The Royal We

Goodreads Synopsis:

"I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next."

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

6. Read a popular book you haven’t read yet- Piper Perish

Goodreads Synopsis:

Now is the time for fearlessness.

Who are you now?

Piper Perish inhales air and exhales art. The sooner she and her best friends Enzo and Kit can get out of Houston and get into art school in New York City, the better. It’s been Piper’s dream her whole life, and now that senior year is halfway over, she’s never felt more ready.

Who will you become?

But in the final months before graduation, life’s got Piper a little more breathless. Things are weird with Kit and awful with Enzo; art school is looking increasingly impossible; three different guys have each claimed a different piece of Piper’s heart; and Piper’s sister’s tyrannical mental state seems to thwart every attempt at happiness for the Perish family. Piper’s art just might be enough to get her out. But is she strong enough—and brave enough—to seize that power, even if it means giving up what she’s always known?

Be now. Then be bow. Be now, now, now.

7. Read a book released between November 2017 and January 2017- Lies Jane Austin told me 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ever since Emma read Pride and Prejudice, she's been in love with Mr. Darcy and has regarded Jane Austen as the expert on all things romantic. So naturally when Emma falls for Blake Hampton and he invites her home to meet his parents, she is positive an engagement is in her future. After all, Blake is a single man in possession of a good fortune, and thus must be in want of a wife.

But when it turns out that what Blake actually wants is more of a hook-up than a honeymoon, Emma is hurt, betrayed, and furious. She throws herself deeper into her work as CMO of Kinetics, the fastest growing gym franchise in the nation. She loves her work, and she's good at it, which is why she bristles when her boss brings in a consultant to help her spearhead the new facilities on the East Coast. Her frustration turns to shock when that consultant turns out to be Blake's younger brother, Lucas.

Emma is determined not to fall for Lucas, but as she gets to know him, she realizes that Lucas is nothing like his brother. He is kind and attentive and spends his time and money caring for the less fortunate.

What she can't understand is why Lucas continues to try to push her back into Blake's arms when he so clearly has fallen as hard for her as she has fallen for him. It isn't until Lucas reveals to Emma that he was adopted into the Hampton family that she begins to understand his loyalty to Blake as well as his devotion to the child April-she is Lucas's biological niece.

Emma opens up to Lucas about the feelings of abandonment she has harbored ever since she was a child and her mother left the family. As she helps Lucas deal with his past demons, she is able to exorcise some of her own.

Realizing that her love life is as complicated as anything Jane Austen could have dreamed up, Emma must find a way to let Blake know that it's time for him to let her go and to let Lucas know it's time for him to love her back.

Tome Topple Readathon 2017- Recap

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote this very excited post: 

"Having insomnia really is a blessing and a curse. I decided last night to go crazy and do the Tome Topple read-a-thon. This is a readathon where the whole purpose is to read the big books that may overwhelm us. I have always had a problem reading anything over 500 pages, so I thought this might really challenge me. 

The challenges this time are: 

1. Read more than 1 tome 

2. Read a graphic novel (still over 500 pages!)

3. Read a tome that is part of a series 

4. Buddy read a tome
5. Read an adult novel" 

I had all of these intentions of finishing this read-a-thon strong. The problem is that I was seriously ambitious and really fell short. I completed one challenge. 5. Read an adult novel is the challenge I actually completed. Some sing, Some Cry is the only book I finished that was a Tome during this week. 

I was hoping to be more successful but you know what sometimes life happens and things go a different way than expected. I really wanted to write this post to sort of put an end to the Tome Topple Read-a-thon topic for 2017 and show that not every read-a-thon is successful! 

Tome Topple Readathon 2017- TBR

Having insomnia really is a blessing and a curse. I decided last night to go crazy and do the Tome Topple read-a-thon. This is a readathon where the whole purpose is to read the big books that may overwhelm us. I have always had a problem reading anything over 500 pages, so I thought this might really challenge me. 

The challenges this time are: 

1. Read more than 1 tome 

2. Read a graphic novel (still over 500 pages!)

3. Read a tome that is part of a series 

4. Buddy read a tome

5. Read an adult novel

Here is my extremely ambitious to be read pile. I really like my picks, as they are all books that have been on my shelf. I have read the sculptor before, but I am excited to read it again. Also, Lux is a bind up so it won't count to the challenges but I want to read it! 

Challenge it meets:  Read more than 1 tome 

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

 BELIEVING IS DANGEROUS...

Darcy Patel is afraid to believe all the hype. But it's really happening - her teen novel is getting published. Instead of heading to college, she's living in New York City, where she's welcomed into the dazzling world of YA publishing. That means book tours, parties with her favorite authors, and finding a place to live that won't leave her penniless. It means sleepless nights rewriting her first draft and struggling to find the perfect ending... all while dealing with the intoxicating, terrifying experience of falling in love - with another writer.

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, the thrilling story of Lizzie, who wills her way into the afterworld to survive a deadly terrorist attack. With survival comes the responsibility to guide the restless spirits that walk our world, including one ghost with whom she shares a surprising personal connection. But Lizzie's not alone in her new calling - she has counsel from a fellow spirit guide, a very desirable one, who is torn between wanting Lizzie and warning her that...

BELIEVING IS DANGEROUS.

In a brilliant high-wire act of weaving two epic narratives - and two unforgettable heroines - into one novel, Scott Westerfeld's latest work is a triumph of storytelling.

Challenge it meets: Read a graphic novel (still over 500 pages!), Read more than 1 tome 

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

David Smith is giving his life for his art—literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding  what  to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn't making it any easier! 

This is a story of desire taken to the edge of reason and beyond; of the frantic, clumsy dance steps of young love; and a gorgeous, street-level portrait of the world's greatest city. It's about the small, warm, human moments of everyday life…and the great surging forces that lie just under the surface. Scott McCloud wrote the book on how comics work; now he vaults into great fiction with a breathtaking, funny, and unforgettable new work.

Challenge it meets: Read more than 1 tome 

The Harp and the Ravenvine by Ted Sanders

IN THE WORLD OF THE KEEPERS, IT'S BEST NOT TO SPEAK IN TERMS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Horace F. Andrews, Keeper of the fabled Box of Promises, knows that nothing is impossible. After all, he has the ability to see into the future, and his friend Chloe can walk through walls. But before either of them can master their Tan'ji--their talismans of power--a new threat looms over all Keepers, and they must prepare to battle their eternal enemies--the Riven.

Far away, drawn by an irresistible summons, a mysterious girl is making her way to the Warren, the Keeper stronghold. She wears the Ravenvine and is learning to wield its fascinating power; but this Tan'ji is damaged. There's no telling what will happen to the instrument or its Keeper if it cannot be made whole again. April's journey is long and dangerous, with strange new companions at her side and a pack of sinister hunters tracking her. Will she reach the Warren in time, and is it a safe haven, or will it offer only more danger?

Ted Sanders's magical series began with The Box and the Dragonfly and continues with this powerful sequel that expands the extraordinary world of the Keepers, where nothing is ever ordinary and three words rule: Curiosity. Discovery.

Challenge it meets: Read an adult novel and  Read more than 1 tome 

Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange, Ifa Bayeza

Award-winning writer Ntozake Shange and real-life sister, award-winning playwright Ifa Bayeza achieve nothing less than a modern classic in this epic story of the  Mayfield family. Opening dramatically at  Sweet Tamarind, a rice and cotton plantation on an island off South Carolina's coast, we watch as recently emancipated Bette Mayfield says her goodbyes before fleeing for the mainland. With her granddaughter, Eudora, in tow, she heads to Charleston.

 There, they carve out lives for themselves as fortune-teller and seamstress. Dora will marry, the Mayfield line will grow, and we will follow them on a journey through the watershed events of America's troubled, vibrant history—from Reconstruction to both World Wars, from the Harlem Renaissance to Vietnam and the modern day. Shange and Bayeza give us a monumental story of a family and of America, of songs and why we have to sing them, of home and of heartbreak, of the past and of the future, bright and blazing ahead.