Sign ups are open for the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge!

Hi guys! So remember how last month I posted about the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge that Amy at Read What I Like and I were working on a challenge for the month of April all about libraries and reading library books? Well, it’s HERE and sign ups are open today! You might’ve noticed my brand new tab at the top of my page called “#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge” – no? It just magically appeared? Yeah, I’m good like that – where you can find more information about the challenge, including a schedule, rules, and a FAQ of sorts, even though no one’s asked any questions yet. 🙂

Calling all librarians!! #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge

As a librarian, you see so many books come across your desk (either that you’ve ordered yourself or that your patrons are requesting) that you just don’t have time to read. Which sucks, honestly. Yes, you’ve ordered those books for your patrons, but let’s be honest: you’ve ordered them for yourself too. I order around 10-15 YA (and MG) books per month – remember when I said I’m at a tiny library? – all of which I want to read but end up just putting out into the library. As a library patron, I’m sure you have a LONG list of books you want to read, don’t you?

Well, Amy at Read What I Like and I have a solution for you! We’ve created the Reading My Library Challenge – a month long event in which we will try to read as many of those library books we’ve seen come in but haven’t had a chance to read yet! Sound fun? Join us!

Right now, we’re still in the planning stage, but we need help – from any other bloggers who work in libraries! This is what we know so far:

• The Challenge will take place throughout the whole month of April (April 12-18, 2015 is National Library Week)
• Anyone can participate as long as you have somewhere to share what you’re reading
• You don’t have to exclusively read library books, as long as you are reading some library books
• We’re going to have an EPIC Library Scavenger Hunt that will span all areas of a library and get you appreciating everything your library has to offer
• We’ll have TWO giveaways – one for the Scavenger Hunt and one for participating in the challenge
• We want you to have fun and save money – libraries are FREEEEE!

What we need right now is help ironing out all the details so we’re asking any bloggers who are also librarians to PLEASE sign up below (link will take you to a Google Form that will ask for your name and email). You can also feel free to send any questions or emails to caughtreadhanded [at] gmail [dot] com!

And of course, if you aren’t a librarian, but this challenge sounds like something you might like, keep your eyes open for a sign up post sometime next month! Leave any suggestions in the comments below or feel free to email me too!

If you want to talk about the challenge before April or would rather tweet suggestions, please use the hashtag #ReadingMyLibrary so we can all see what you have to say!

[Learn more about National Library Week]

The 2015 Book Memories Challenge

You guys remember how I said I was only participating in four challenges this year? Well, I lied. Sort of. I saw Ursula Uriarte post on Instagram about the Book Memories Challenge hosted by Grown Up Fangirl. I thought this was an amazing idea. Basically, you find a container and every time you read a book, you write down a quote from said book and put it in your container. At the end of the year, you get them all out and read them to see what passages or words or quotes meant something to you. How cool is that? I already write down some of my favorite lines in a notebook that I keep with me at all times when reading, so this was a perfect challenge for me. I suppose it’s not really a challenge though, more of a way to document lines in books that mean something to you. Either way, I love the idea and I jumped on board. So far, I have 5 quotes in my container and I can’t wait to keep on filling it up. I think this is going to be a perfect way to document my reading for the year but more fun than just keeping up with it on Goodreads. I love finding quotes that speak to me. After Sarah Shotts asked me if I’d posted about it on my blog (which I hadn’t), I knew you guys would probably be interested and thought I’d share. If you want to participate, the hashtag designated is #bookmemorieschallenge15. Also, don’t stress: you don’t have to post a picture of every quote. I’m taking a picture of each one next to the book, but I’m only posting one every once in a while. However, I thought I’d share the first five with you so you could see what I’ve written down so far. 🙂

First, here’s a picture of the container I found to use and what I’m writing my quotes down on (due date cards that we no longer use at the library):

 And now, here’s the first five quotes I’ve found for the challenge. I’ll include the full quote beneath it in case you can’t read my writing!

“Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back.”

“I wanted to believe I could be somebody in here just for me.”

“And despite himself, despite the terrible thing he was doing, despite all of it, Call began to grin.”

“Sometimes you have to face up to your fears to realize that they aren’t actually real.”

“Her eyes are like two open books, and I suddenly want to devour every page.”

So there you have it, the first five entries into my book memories challenge jar for 2015. Would you guys be interested in me posting more of these as I go along? Maybe doing a monthly recap using these or should I post them as I read? Are you participating in the Book Memories challenge? If so, are you posting them anywhere that I could see? I’m nosy. 🙂

Bout of Books 11 – Goals!

So next week is Bout of Books again! I had a lot of fun last time, so I decided I’d participate again. I’m especially excited this time, because I have broadened by reading horizons since the last Bout of Books, so I can read a wider variety of things this time around.

Bout of Books 11 will run from August 18 – August 24!

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, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

Here are my goals for the week:

– Read two novels

– Read five children’s books

– Read at least three single issue comics

– Read two trade paperbacks or graphic novels

– Post reviews of at least half of what I read

– Participate in at least two Bout of Books challenges

– Participate in at least one Bout of Books Twitter chat

 ~

I’m looking forward to participating this time because I have a better idea of how everything happens throughout the week. I’m excited to meet some new bookish people. I really enjoyed the Twitter chat last time, so I’m looking forward to that for sure.

Are you participating in Bout of Books? Link me up to your goals so I can see what you plan on doing! Or head over to the Bout of Books blog to find out how you can participate too!

My update post will be updated throughout the week, and I’ll post that on Monday.

Bout of Books – Wrap up!

So I’m sure you noticed this past week I participated in Bout of Books, especially if you follow me on Twitter.

I had a blast! Though I didn’t reach my book goal because I was/still am sick, I thought I did pretty well anyway.

Here’s my wrap-up.

Books I read (these are all linked to my reviews):

1. Gone by Michael Grant (558 pages)
2. Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson (449 pages)
3. The Eye of Minds by James Dashner (308 pages)
4. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (234 pages)
5. And I read half of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (I read 212 pages of 408)

I read a total of 1,761 pages! My goal was to read five books and post five reviews. I read 4.5 of 5, so that’s not too shabby. I also posted 4 of 5 reviews.

Challenges I participated in:

1. Books I’m Looking Forward to
2. Spell It Out
3. Rainbow of Books

My goal was participate in at least two challenges, so I definitely met that goal. These challenges were really fun! I loved digging through my bookshelf to find all the colors of the rainbow and to spell out TARDIS with the first letter of titles!

Twitter chats:

I participated in the Saturday Bout of Books challenge on Twitters. I found some new, amazing book blogs/BookTube channels to follow, which is awesome! Here’s my favorite tweet (this was in response to what is your favorite mythical creature):

https://twitter.com/katieyatesbooks/status/467695385721704448

So funny. The Twitter chat was really fun, so I’m definitely glad I participated in it.

The bottom line:

Overall, I had a really great Bout of Books. I was sinusy sick for most of it, which sucked because I had a sinus headache pretty much the whole time I was reading. I’m really glad I participated in the readathon and I can’t wait for the next one! Did you participate in Bout of Books? Link me up to your wrap up post/video so I can see what you read!

 

Bout of Books!

So I was over on fellow book blogger Joey’s blog, Thoughts and Afterthoughts, and I saw that he was going to be participating in something called Bout of Books. I’d never heard of it, but after checking out the website, I thought it was right up my alley!

Here’s the little about paragraph from their website:

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, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th 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 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

It’s perfect for me because I’m already going to be reading next week, of course. I love challenges, especially when it comes to reading. Why not participate?

One of the requirements for participating is posting your goals for the week: what are you going to do this week that is going to challenge you?

Here are mine:

• Read 5 books; the picture below is my tentative TBR for the week, but I have a feeling I might change this a little depending on my mood, as everything I’ve chosen is sci-fi/dystopian/fantasy. I might need a little YA/contemporary in there, especially since I just found out Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson is available at my local library! Do you have a book you think I should read?

Gone by Michael Grant; The Eye of Minds by James Dashner; If I Stay by Gayle Forman; The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater; The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

• Review all 5 books & post these reviews on my blog, on Goodreads, on Amazon
• Track my progress each day on a single post on this blog & track my progress on Twitter; I will create a progress post on my blog on Monday and will update it throughout the week
• Comment on at least two other Bout of Books participants’ blogs per day
• Participate in at least one Twitter chat with other BoB-ers

So I don’t know if that’s too ambitious as I’ve never participated before, but I’m pretty sure I can do all of it. Look out for my progress post on Monday.

Are you participating in Bout of Books? What are your goals and what books are you reading?

I’m really excited for this, and I can’t wait to get started! Follow me on Twitter to stay updated with my progress (I’ll probably Tweet several times a day vs. just one progress post on here!)

Do you want to participate too? That’d be awesome! Sign up HERE.