Tuesday 13 May 2014

Bout of Books Update #1 and Classics Club Spin Number Announced.


Day: 1/7
Books Started: 1 (We Need New Names)
Books Completed: 0
Time Spent Reading: 1 hour and 30 mins
Pages Read: 130

I'm going to try to post updates throughout Bout of Books as much as possible.  I don't think I'll have time to take part in any chats or challenges, but I should be able to update on my progress a few times throughout the week.

I'm really pleased with my reading from the first day.  Monday is my busiest work-day as I have meetings in the evening as well as a full day's teaching load, so I'm thrilled that I managed to squeeze in an hour and a half of reading, exceeding my goal of one hour.  It helps that We Need New Names is such an engrossing book.  It's about a girl called Darling living in a shanty town and dreaming of escaping to the West and it's simply written but very powerful.  I can't wait to pick it up again tonight, especially as I'm almost half way through already.

Tonight I'm on track to meet my goal of an hour, but I can't see myself exceeding it by much.  I think I'll get close to finishing We Need New Names, so I'm already starting to think of what I should read next.  Maybe A Girl is a Half Formed Thing?


In other bookish news, the Classics Club announced the lucky spin number as #1, which means I'll be picking up Lord of the Flies soon.  I'm quite excited to start it - my husband loves it - so it's good that I've had a push to finally take it off my shelf.  As a teacher, I find group dynamics between groups of children fascinating, especially the way children act completely differently when they are away from their parents.  Hopefully I will enjoy it!

If you're taking part in the readathon, how are you getting on?
And are you pleased with your spin number?

14 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you mentioned We Need New Names! That one is waiting on my ereader for me, and I want to read it really soon. I'm glad it's an engrossing read! As for Lord of the Flies, I adored it when I read it in school, and it's quite slim so it'll probably be a quick read for you as well. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've finished it now and it was so good, I can really imagine you enjoying it. Hope you get a chance to pick it up.

      Delete
  2. Nice progress! I also read about an hour and a half on day 1, but I definitely read at a slower pace. I often have wished I could read faster, but it just does not work for me -- oh well! Good luck with the rest of the week :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An hour and a half is a decent amount of time to read, it's a shame I can't do it more often....

      Delete
  3. did quite well yesterday, with 150% more pages than my daily goal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congrats! Good luck for the rest of the readathon :)

      Delete
  4. I'm glad readathon has started successfully for you! Also I find it a bit creepy you got picked The Lord of the Flies, given that the baby is on the way... I never wanted to read the book because our literature teacher read this book aloud in class, and I got spooked out by the cruelty of children. :o

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been teaching for 5 years now and have come across my fair share of children of all different dispositions. They can be very cruel at times, so I'm not thinking the book will shock or upset me, although I would hate it if my baby turned out the same way...

      Delete
  5. I read quite a bit on Monday but haven't been able to read much yesterday. Hopefully, I'll make a huge dent on my stack today. Glad your reading is going great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope you enjoy Lord of the Flies... I remember reading that early in high school. This spin has me reading The Bell Jar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I love The Bell Jar! Will it be your first read?

      Delete
    2. Yes, not sure how I missed it when I was younger.

      Delete
  7. I've seen so much about the bout of books...after the event! I'll have to be more organised/aware next year as it sounds like a wonderful community event.

    I got a Wilkie Collins for my spin - No Name. I've just started it (thanks to a couple of sick days off work) and love it.

    Good luck with all things baby in the next few weeks/month :-)

    ReplyDelete