Friday Reads | 3rd January 2014

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's 2014, which means it's time to make resolutions we won't keep, grow another year older, and start panicking about how fast the previous year went. Seriously, I say this every year, but where did the year go?!

Anyway, one of my 'resolutions' a.k.a. 'things I'm going to do for maybe, a month?' is to post on my blog a lot more. I'm sure those who know me / read my blog know that posts are irregular and I'll be lucky to remember such a thing exists. HOWEVER (yeah, capitals, bolded and underlined - I'm attempting some seriousness here, guys), I intend to actually stick to this and if I don't well then, more fool me for being a complete waste of space.

So, I decided to start the year with a classic 'Friday Reads', something I rarely do but now intend to post every week or so on my blog, just so I've got something to definitely post on my blog. And with Friday Reads should come a review on at least one of those books read... hopefully, definitely.

This weekend I'm attempting to finish:

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (Heroes of Olympus #1)

I've become one of the Percy Jacksons and the Olympians series' number one fans after reading them last year, they're a great set of adventure stories that are more aimed at the middle-grade audience (9-12), but I can't help but read them or else I would feel like those middle-graders would have gained something I'd missed out on, and we can't have that happening. I need me some children's fiction, even if it does prompt strange looks on the bus to campus.
I'm currently (as of 9.27pm) on page 208 of 551, so I do have a bit to go but so far, so good. The series follows predominately new characters/heroes than its predecessor but that shakes the world up a bit, makes it a little more interesting as the opening was a fast-paced, fantastic one. Excited to finish this.

I'm not going to add anything more. I have a busy-ish weekend and this will probably be the only book I read, but, not bad, that'll make 2 books read within the first week of 2014, which means I'm on track to read a total of 52 books for the year (that's a book a week, but you worked that out already).

OK, I'm off to read and watch The Great British Bake Off.

Have a great weekend & Happy Reading,

Rob.

Bout of Books 8.0 | Update One

Hey guys, this is my first update in the Bout of Books 8.0 readathon.

You can see the Bout of Books blog here, and my introduction and goals here.

I'm currently reading 'The Sea of Monsters' by Rick Riordan and it's brilliant! This is the second in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, a 'Children's' fantasy novel that is rooted in Greek mythology, in which the gods of Olympus have come down to earth and had children with mortals and thus creating 'Half-bloods' such as Percy.

Percy has such a unique voice through the way he words things. But he introduces everything to the reader once again, at first I thought it was just a part of Percy, now it's annoying, but I guess it is so that children who read it don't forget information and can follow the books easily. It makes me wonder if Riordan continues this throughout the series.

So, I'm 101 pages into 'The Sea of Monsters', as I finished the remaining 135 pages of 'The Maze Runner' by James Dashner. I posted a review of it here. It wasn't the best book in the world but it had its moments.

I read 236 pages yesterday so I'm on top of my goals, today I haven't read anything though and it's already 12.30pm. I better get making progress.

Hope the readathon is going well for everybody, leave your blog in a comment if you wish so we can spur each other on together. 

I'll post a shorter update tomorrow and will probably post a mid-week update on my channel. 
See you soon, 

Robert.

Bout of Books 8.0

Hey guys, so I've decided to sign my blog up for the bout of books readathon, the only readathon I've done was the booktube-a-thon and that was a lot of fun and made me read so many great books. So this post will be about signing up and what is in my TBR.

"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 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th 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 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

So, what to read? 
I'm going to challenge myself to read around 200 pages per day, (1, 400 pages all together). And in this readathon I hope to read the following books:

Stephen King - 'Misery' (369 pages)
James Dashner - 'The Maze Runner' (the remaining 163 pages)
Rick Riordan - 'The Sea of Monsters' (265 pages)
George RR Martin - 'A Feast for Crows' (778 pages)

Obviously, I do not intend on finishing 'A Feast for Crows' by George R.R. Martin, however, I did place this in my August TBR and I feel this readathon will be beneficial in helping me start this MASSIVE book. 

I plan on making update blog posts on what I've read every 1/2 days. 

Robert.