Bout of Books Read-a-thon Final Update

So, the read-a-thon just ended less than an hour ago.  I just finished my forth book in the read-a-thon a little over a half hour ago. A little after midnight I finished it, so it was TECHNICALLY finished after the read-a-thon ended, but whatever.

I read The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

This book was good.  It was Agatha Christie's first novel, I believe.  If not, it was one of her first. It's the first book with Hercule Poirot in it.  He was a joy to read about, he was fun, wittle, and smart.  Made me laugh quite a bit.  The story is told by the main character, Hastings.  Kinda odd that I go to a bookstore called hastings all the time.

I enjoyed this book, it was a fun mystery that kept me guessing till the end.  I didn't guess the culprit.  There's something about Agatha's writing that throws you for a loop.  Definitely want to read more books by her in the future.

So, in total for this read-a-thon I read 4 books:  The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Shroeder, and finally The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. I also read 22 pages of Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles.

I read a total of 1136 pages this week.  Crazy! I never though I could read that much that fast!

Hope everyone else did awesome on the read-a-thon!  Happy reading everyone!

Bout of Books Days 2-4 Update

So, forgot to update you on my progress for a couple days, too busy reading.

On Tuesday I started reading Identical by Ellen Hopkins, and last night, or this morning technically at 4:30 am, I finished it.

It was absolutely fantastic.  Raw. Real. Disturbing. Mind-blowing. 

It tells the story of two twins, Raeanne and Keiliegh who live with their abusive father, who starts to sexually abuse one of the twins.  It's a really dark story about the painful reality of sexual abuse and how it affects everyone surrounding it, mentally and physically. 

Again, such a brilliant read.  I really am so glad I finally read it.  I had bought this book at Ellen's signing at my local library over three years ago.  Can't believe it took me so long to read it.

Please check this novel out, but only if you have the stomach to read it.  It really is an important book with a powerful set of life lessons.

Now then, today I decided to read I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Shroeder.

This book was a pleasant surprise.  I had bought it a long time ago, at Hastings.  I can't even remember how long ago, before I got Identical I'm sure. And ironically, I finished reading it in the very store I bought it in today.  Just cause I wanted to relax and read in an environment of books.

Anyway, this book is about a fifteen year old girl named Ava whose struggling with the grief of losing her boyfriend.  Twist is, she starts seeing his ghost in her house. 

I truly enjoyed this book.  It was a great little novel about the grief process, that almost made me cry in public.  I got chills reading it in the bookstore, like feely chills.  It was really good.  If you like a good short verse novel, or books about grief, I highly recommend this one.

I also started reading Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles tonight. 

Going to try finishing this one soon, I'm enjoying it so far.

Hope you're all doing well on your challenges.  Keep reading everyone!

Bout of Books Read-a-thon Day 1

Day 1 of the Bout of Books Read-a-thon has started!

I read most of the day, with some time spent on the computer, chatting with friends and playing a bit of League of Legends with a good friend.  Okay, I realize I'm talking about video games on a read-a-thon post, but every reader needs a break.

So, what have I read today?

Well, I finished reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen today.  Only had 150 pages left to read when I started the read-a-thon. 

This book was amazing!  I am so baffled why it took me so long to read her books.  It's a brilliant read.  It tells the story of a girl named Macy, who's father died recently of a cardiac arrest.  Her family's still coping with the loss and she's having boyfriend troubles.  They're on a "break", she's working a bad summer job, when she by chance meets the catering team of Wish, and they show her what living is all about. 

Again, such a brilliant book.  It had amazing characters.  Deliah and Kristy were hilarious.  "God, please, I'm begging you" to read this book! It's genius!

Currently I'm reading Identical by Ellen Hopkins.  On page 99/565 so far, and it's great so far!  I'll talk about it more when I finish it. 

So, that's it for this post, Day 1 is coming to a finish and I'm going to end it reading, of course!  Good luck to everyone in this read-a-thon! Hope you're all doing well.  Have a nice day!

Bout of Books 7.0 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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team Books I'll try to read: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradburry Identical by Ellen Hopkins May try to squeeze in: The Statistical Probability of Love at First sight by Jennifer E. Smith Goals: My biggest goal is to just read more. Now that school is over I will have a bit more time to read. Even if I read one or two of these books I'll be happy. I also want to just relax as I read. I don't want to feel pressured, I just want to enjoy myself. Really want to read a Classic, haven't read one since high school. I started Identical two years ago, really need to finally finish that. Discuss books with friends. I'm not doing this alone, I have booktube friends to cheer me on. :)

That's the button, hope it worked! Good luck to everyone participating!

You can find me on youtube here:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Dmfriend26

goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1340499-dylan

twitter:  https://twitter.com/Dmfriend25

Halloween Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

Author Courtney Allison Moulton is hosting a give-away on her website. Go check it out here: http://courtney-allison.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-party-trick-r-treat-giveaway.html

Please send the author your support, her debut novel, Angelfire comes out next year! Add it to your reading lists. :)

Carrie by Stephen King

Going into this book I knew what to expect, because I've seen the movie. What I didn't expect was this becoming one of my favorite books of all time.
It's actually very different from the movie in many ways. The main plot is the same, but it isn't as artsy-fartsy as the movie. (the hand coming out of the grave at the end...where the hell did that come from?!...so...Carrie's a zombie?...it didn't make sense to me.)
The book is sooo much better! If you put off reading this book, because you've already seen the movie then please read it! Stephen King is quite possibly the best author I've read in my entire life. He doesn't sugar coat anything, and he doesn't rely on gore to scare you. He leaves a lot of the frights to the reader's imagination.
The theme of this book is learning to watch what you say about your peers, because you never know what that may lead the person to do.
I seriously loved Carrie. I wanted to go into the book and hug her...and strangle her mother. Margeret White is one of the WORST mothers in any book I've ever read!
I highly recommend this book; King's introduction to the genre of horror, and a fine one at that!

Leaving Paradise Book Review

Sorry for my absense. I've been putting off making posts for no good reason. I'm lazy, sorry. Anyway, here's my review of Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles. This book is amazing! I read it a bit slowly, because I couldn't get enough of the characters. I did the same thing with Perfect Chemistry, which is written by the same author. I really like the idea of a guy helping a girl come to terms with herself and realize she is a wonderful person. And Simone does this flawlessly. Simone Elkeles is an amzing author and really has a way with creating believable characters that you really care about. My favorite character was Maggie's boss. She was a riot, and really inspiring. The sequel, Return to Paradise came out September 1st by Flux. I highly recommend ALL of Simone Elkeles' books! Currently I'm reading Glass by Ellen Hopkins, Carrie by Stephen King, and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Hope you look forward to seeing my reviews. I promise I'll write them earlier this time. :)