Bout of Books: Snippets of my week

1. The house we stayed in for the week 2. started Otherbound 3. A delicious lunch 4. Buddha wants to read too 5. Breakfast time! 6. Started Landline 7. More breakfast and reading 8. Reading together 9. My view from the house

1. On our way to Amsterdam 2. Started this graphic novel series 3. Lunch at Bagels & Beans, yum! 4. Reading in my Star Wars PJ's 5. Rice crackers for two 6. Started Monument 14 7. Snuggling with Buddha 8. Started since you've been gone 9. Cheese and wine

Bout of Books: Wrap up

Hey there! The end of the week is in sight and the Bout of Books read-a-thon is almost over. I'm spending two weeks in a vacation house in Amsterdam where I don't have an internet connection. But, right now we're home to pick up some stuff (new books!) and I decided to make this blogpost a little bit early. Because we go back to our vacation location later today and I wont be able to do this update until next week. So anyways, here is my wrap up!

Monday:

• Started Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis, I'm planning of posting a review of this here on my blog, so I'm just telling you guys, I loved it.

Number of pages read: 200
Total of pages read: 200

Tuesday:

• Finished Otherbound
• Started Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Number of pages read: 287
Total of pages read: 487

Wednesday:

• Finished Landline 
• Started and finished Saga Volume 1

Number of pages read: 258
Total of pages read: 745

Thursday

•  Started Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Number of pages read:170
Total of pages read: 915

Friday

• Finished Monument 14
• Started and finished Saga Volume 2

Number of pages read: 268
Total of pages read: 1013

Saturday

• Started Since you've been gone by Morgan Matson

Number of pages read: 100
Total of pages read: 1113

Sunday

• Finished Since you've been gone

Number of pages read: 349
Total of pages read: 1462

I'm very pleased with my very first read-a-thon! Because it started the same day as my vacation, I had lots of time to read. If I had to work during this read-a-thon I wouldn't have read as much as I did. I have another week of from work, so I'll continue to read a lot! Not as much as this week, probably a lot slower, lol! I still have to finish The 5th wave and I want to read another Karin Slaughter novel, I'm almost up to date with re-reading all her books!

So, how did you do this read-a-thon?

Bout of Books: TBR and goals

Next week I'll be participating in my first Read-a-Thon, Bout of Books 11. I have a two week vacation, so plenty of time to read! I've picked four books from my TBR pile and two graphic novels that just came in.

1. Corinne Duyvis - Otherbound This is a Dutch author and I've heard great things about this book, she'll be signing books at ABC in the end of August, so I want to read the book before I go there. Who wants to join me?
2. Morgan Matson - Since you've been gone I've been seeing this book pop up everywhere and I picked it up because it seemed to be the perfect summer read. I can't wait to start this one.
3. Benjamin Alire Sáenz - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe I've got this book for months now and this read-a-thon will be the perfect opportunity to finally read it!
4. Rainbow Rowell - Landline Again, I've heard lots of great things about this book and I loved reading Fangirl a while ago. I've bought this book because of that, but I also loooove the cover. I can't help myself when a pretty cover is involved, hey don't just me, I'm a graphic designer ;)
5. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Stapels - Saga volume 1 I haven't read a lot of graphic novels yet, but this one looks amazing, I love the artwork.
6. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Stapels - Saga volume 2 Same story as above. Because these weren't that expensive, I've decided to buy volume 2 too.

Some other goals:

• Update daily on my Instagram and Twitter
• Socialize with lots of people

Because I wont be home during the read-a-thon, I wont be able to do daily updates on my blog. But I'll make a big wrap up at the end  of the week. Sharing all my Instagram photos I've made during the week and I'll share my daily progress.

Book Haul: S.

A really small book haul post about this beautiful book: S. by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams. It arrived last month and I just wanted to show how awesome this book is. So I took some photos:

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

THE BOOK: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V. M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

THE WRITER: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumours that swirl around him.

THE READERS: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

S. , conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don’t understand. It is also Abrams and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.

August TBR

This month's TBR is kinda short, because I'm participating in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon and I'll do a separate TBR list for that later this month. Because I'm still waiting on a book order to arrive.

What I'll be reading this month:

Karin Slaughter - Broken (Will Trent, #4)
When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner’s death. He doesn’t understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn’t understand her role in the death of Grant County’s popular police chief. He doesn’t understand why that man’s widow, Dr. Sara Linton, needs him now more than ever to help her crack this case.
Rick Yancey - The 5th wave

Rick Yancey - The 5th Wave (The 5th wave, #1)
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.
Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Cassandra Clare - City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4)
The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
 But nothing comes without a price. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

July wrap up

Hey there! It's time for my monthly wrap up of the books I've read in July. I've read a total of 6 books and I'm really happy about that, since three of them were pretty big. Now, let's talk about the books!

Sally Green - Half Bad (Half Life, #1) ♥♥♥
I gave this book 3 out of 5 hearts. I enjoyed reading it, but I thought it wasn't that interesting or exciting. Halfway through the book I realized we hadn't gotten anywhere in the story and I got a bit bored with it. But this book is well written and I feel this book could be a great intro into the rest of the series. But for me, it's not more than an intro.

George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones (A song of Ice and Fire, #1) ♥♥♥♥♥
This was as good as I remember. The world building is flawless, the characters super interesting. When I've read this book for the first time I often was confused with all the characters, but now I've read it for the second time and I've seen the TV series and I liked the book even better, probably because I know all the characters already. Loved it.

Karin Slaughter - Undone (Will Trent, #3) ♥♥♥+0,5
This is a re-read too and I enjoyed reading it again. I love the suspense in her books and this book wasn't an exception. I do get annoyed sometimes with all the stuff that happens to the characters. But most of them bring the misery upon themselves, this can be frustrating for the reader and this is one of the reasons I only (re-)read a book of her a month and not more.

Michael Grant - Messenger of Fear ♥♥♥♥
This book was an advanced reader copy I got from the American Book Center to review, so the review will be posted on my blog as soon it's on theirs!

Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1) ♥♥♥
This was a fun and quick read, which I needed after reading all the big books. I enjoyed it very much and I'll continue the series. I wasn't blown away by the story and I kinda felt a bit to old to read it from time to time. But it's enjoyable and I can imagine I would've loved this when I was a teenager.

Cassandra Clare - City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3) ♥♥♥♥+0,5
Okay, I liked this book soooo much better than City of Ashes. There was a lot of action and stuff going on, I loved finding out the truth about some topics and I like how this book ended. I can't say a lot without spoilers, but Clary and Jace... I'm so happy how this turned out before it got too awkward, lol. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. You can expect it on my TBR for August!