My First Bout of Books Read-a-Thon!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books 6.0 team

My goals for the read-a-thon are as follows:

• Read at least 200 pages a day. I can't really set a book/day goal because of the varying lengths of my choices.
• Watch a maximum of 1 hour of television a day.
• Read at least two hardcopies from my TBR shelf instead of cozying up to my Kindle the entire week.

I'm going to list ten possible books to read this week because I want options, but I'm only aiming to read around five. These are my choices:

1. The Innocent Mage

2. The Midnight Mayor

 

3. A Game of Thrones

 

 

4. The Hunchback Assignments

 

5. The Blade Itself

 

6. The Way of Shadows

 

 

7. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

 

 

8. Assassin's Apprentice

 

9. The Name of the Wind

 

10. Lord Foul's Bane

 

 

Happy reading!!

2011 Debut Author Challenge

The third annual Debut Author Challenge is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. If you're interested in participating, check out the information page here.

2011 Debut Author Challenge participant information:

• The objective of the DAC is to read at least twelve novels from Young Adult or Middle Grade Authors. While twelve is the minimum there is no maximum limit! I encourage readers who can read more than twelve to do so!
• Anyone can join. You don't have to be a blogger, and you don't have to live in the United States. 
• You do not have to have an blog written in English to participate. 
• You can join at anytime. The challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

Since my list of must-read debut books for 2011 is 65 books long, I'm only going to post the first twelve here. If you're interested in seeing the rest, or need some ideas for your own list, then you can check out the rest here.

1. Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey
2. Die For Me by Amy Plum
3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
4. Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
5. Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach
6. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
7. Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
8. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
9. Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
10. Luminous by Dawn Metcalf
11. Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic
12. Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

The books that I own are in bold and the ones I've read are in italics.

Link to your list in the comments if you already have one. I'd love to see what other people will be reading!

September Spectacular Reading Challenge

Steph from The Thoughts of a Book Junkie is hosting a reading challenge for September that looks like a lot of fun, so I thought I'd join in.

* It will start September 1st and go on through September 30th.

* There will be a 5 book reading challenge, ( one book a week) that you will have to read. Which books? Any 5 you want. Its your choice... Easy huh. At the end of that week you will post your review on your blog and add your link to the Mr. Linky at the bottom. ( If you don't have a blog you can either post a comment, letting everyone know what you think about the book or sent me an email with your review)

* Sep first starts on a Wednesday so you can start your first book on Sunday the 29th if you want.

* At the end of each week a giveaway will be posted. That's 5 giveaways!! The only thing you have to do to enter is, link your review on that week's Mr. Linky. Plus get an extra entry if you add the September Spectacular button to your post or sidebar! ( Open Internationally)

My books are:

Summer Beach Reads Challenge

Jessica at A Fanatic Book Blog is hosting a nice summer challenge for light, beachy reads, as interpreted by readers, so basically whatever you usually like to read for fun in the sun. For me, that's mostly young adult and paranormal romance, since neither are generally dark or difficult reads, therefore perfect for using to avoid the sun :D

The categories are as follow:

* Tadpole - Read 4 books in this challenge.
* Minnow - Read 8 books in this challenge.
* Dolphin - Read 12 books in this challenge.
* Shark - Read 16+ books in this challenge!

Since I have absolutely no life, I've decided to go with the Shark. Well, also because it sounds cooler, and who doesn't want to sound cool? Why walk around saying, "I'm a Minnow," when you could be saying, "I'm a shark. Rawr." Really. No one wants to be a tadpole, or a minnow. I'm sure some people like dolphins, but me, I'm a shark. And a dork, which happens to be part of a whale, which should so have been a level for this.

Well, on with my choices!

1. My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

2. Shadowland by Alyson Noel

3. Rogue by Rachel Vincent

4. Pride by Rachel Vincent

5. Prey by Rachel Vincent

6. Shift by Rachel Vincent

7. Bloody Good by Georgia Evans

8. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

9. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews (So what if it's a bit dark?)

10. The Glass Dragon by Irene Radford (A nice fantasy re-read.)

11. What's A Ghoul to Do by Victoria Laurie

12. Nightingale's Lament by Simon R. Green (Dark, but short.)

13. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Hey, I have to have something that makes me look smart!)

14. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

15. Dead Is the New Black by Marlene Perez

16. Bitten & Smitten by Michelle Rowen

I'll add links to the reviews when they go up.

Alternatives:

1. Alpha by Rachel Vincent (If I can get it in time.)

Here's to reading as an excuse to avoid the beach! That's what Southern California's for, right? Right.

2010 Debut Author Challenge

A nice little challenge from The Story Siren :)

The goal is to read at least 12 YA books from authors debuting to the genre this year, but, being me, I have decided to try for 13. No tristadecaphobics here! (Links go to Goodreads pages.)

1. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (CURRENTLY READING)
2. Sea by Heidi R. Kling
3. Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
4. Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
5. Wereling by Steve Feasey
6. Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
7. Glimmerglass by Jenna Black
8. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
9. 13 to Life by Shannon Delany (My Review)
10. Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
11. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
12. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
13. Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton (My Review)