Tag: Reading Challenge

Triwizard Tournament Readathon: Task 1 Possibility Pile

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

*GASP*

Is it true?

Can it be?

Am I really participating in another readathon when I already struggle hard enough to stick to a monthly possibility pile?!

It’s true, gentlefriends. It’s true. I’m a masochist and like to torture myself whenever possible. I just read about the Triwizard Tournament readathon on Holly’s page yesterday and I couldn’t resist. I thought it was pretty great timing considering the challenge starts this week! I took that as a sign to participate and I’M SO EXCITED for it!

This amazing readathon is hosted by Jessica @ Chapter Charms.

Have you ever wanted to compete in the Triwizard Tournament?
Do you like reading?
Then why not join us for this epic reading event!
It will be split into three week-long rounds, each themed around and representing one of the tasks from the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Everyone taking part will be selected as a champion for one of the three schools and will be given reading challenges to complete in order to compete to win the Triwizard Cup.

Triwizard Tournament Readathon, Chapter Charms

Each participant is sorted into a school based on your birth month and that means I’m a champion for Durmstrang. I’m probably going to forget to share some key information so you can find out more about the challenge and submit your name into the Goblet of Fire to sign up for the challenge on THIS PAGE! There’s also an official Twitter page where you can find and follow other participants: @triwizardathon

This week marks week one of the challenge and the FIRST TASK IS DRAGONS! The dates for the first task are from: Monday 11th November – Sunday 17th November 2019

CHALLENGE ONE – THE DRAGON

For this task you must retrieve the golden egg that your dragon is guarding and you will have two challenges to complete. You school will be assigned a dragon and you must choose a method for facing this dragon in order to retrieve the golden egg.

First Task, Triwizard Tournament Readathon, Chapter Charms

Each school will battle a certain dragon. As I’m from Durmstrang, I will have to defeat the Swedish Short-Snout.

Swedish Short-Snout: These dragons are sought after to use their skin to make shields and gloves, re-read a favourite that makes you feel protected.

For this challenge I’m going to choose to re-read Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Erin Faith Hicks. I’m currently reading The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule and if you didn’t know, it’s about serial killer Ted Bundy. While I’m getting through it faster (and also slower) than I thought I would, it’s an intense AF read. I need a fast read that will bring back all the warm feels ASAP and there ain’t no better read than this favorite o’mine.

CHALLENGE TWO – THE METHOD

There are several methods we can choose from to face the dragon. We can pick one method or choose more to get extra skill points.

  • Conjunctivitis Curse: Temporarily blind your dragon by reading a book with eyes on the cover.
  • Bewitched Sleep: Send your dragon to sleep by reading a whole book in bed.
  • Speed: Race past your dragon to retrieve the egg by reading a graphic novel.
  • Distraction: Distract your dragon by transfiguring a rock into an animal, read a book with an animal on the cover.

I’m not going to overwhelm myself by trying to get all the extra skill points, especially since a different book should be read for each challenge, so I’m going to only choose two methods:

Bewitched Sleep: Malamander by Thomas Taylor

Speed: Good Talk by Mira Jacob

That’s it for the first task! I’m really excited to get the ball rolling on this readathon after I finish The Stranger Beside Me (which should be very soon). I’m not sure if I’ll try to use more methods to defeat the dragon but I’m not putting too much pressure on myself and I’m just rolling with it!

Are you participating in the Triwizard Tournament Readathon too?!

#Blogtober: Reading Challenge Update

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

I’ve been seeing everyone joining in on #blogtober and I was feeling a little FOMO even though it was my fault/choice to not be more organized and join in from the start. If you haven’t heard, Blogtober is a month of blogging every single day, and thanks to Anniek and Haf, we’ve been gifted with a list of autumn/halloween related prompts for every day this month! Even though I’ve already missed out on the first 10 days, I thought I’d finally join in for today’s prompt on my Reading Challenge Update!

I don’t normally participate in reading challenges throughout the year because I’m generally just weak when it comes to sticking to any sort of TBR as a mood reader. I also feel like I’m not organized enough to continuously check in on my progress against the set out prompts as the month or year goes on. If there’s one reading challenge that I always set for myself at the beginning of every year it’s the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set my first reading challenge in 2017 when I started to use Goodreads more frequently. Since then, I’ve set myself a goal that has steadily increased as the years have passed.

2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge
2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

At the start of 2019, I set my reading goal to 75 books (I think, my memory fails!). I really surprised myself when I managed to achieve that reading goal quite early on in the year, after which I decided to bump my goal up to 90 books. I’ve always managed to “beat” my reading goals by reading way more than I thought I would, but this year really takes the cake especially since we’ve still got a few months to go and I’ve already far exceeded my own expectations for how much I’d read and could read in one year!

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

This year has been an absolute whirlwind of ALL THE BOOKS and although I’ve always loved to dive into books and relied on them to keep me company at night, I’ve never been as into books as I have this year. I know that my reading 160 of 90 books by this point in the year is in large part due to my involvement in the book community through my book blog and bookstagram, not to mention the e-ARCs through NetGalley; although as international blogger the list of ARCs I read still pale in comparison to the new releases/backlist books I read. I know that there’s a little bit of ‘negativity’ around the Goodreads Challenge because it sets up some negative vibes when people take things too seriously and see it as a show-off competition, but I’m not bothered by how much other people read. I set my goal for me, and not to compete with anyone else, and while the rest of my life is a hot HOT mess, I can at least say that I’m proud of what I’ve managed to accomplish when it comes to books. And that makes me happy 🙂

Wowow friends, that got way deep way quick. Sorry! 🤣 Thanks for tuning in and listening to me blather on!

Do you set a reading goal for yourself every year? How is your reading challenge coming along? Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!

Wrapping Up: Goodreads Summer Reading and ARC August

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Since I posted my last update about the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge at the end of July and then announced joining ARC August at the start of this month, I hit a pretty big reading slump that derailed basically all of my plans to keep my amazing July reading streak going. Thankfully, I’m past it now, but since August and therefore summer too is over, I thought I’d put these challenges to bed and see what the rest of the year has to bring!

Goodreads summer reading challenge

The GRSRC had 11 ‘For Beginners’ prompts and I completed 8 of those! While I was sure that I’d be able to finish this challenge, I’m not mad at what I did finish. I mean, yeah, there were only eleven prompts, but I feel like August didn’t even count 😂 So here are the ones that I managed to tick off the list:

Short & sweet: Read a book with less than 100 pages (or a book you can finish in one sitting) – The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV | (my review)

On the bandwagon: Read one of the most read books right now on Goodreads & New voices: Read a debut novel – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | (my review)

Actually want to read: Read a book that’s been on your Want to Read shelf for more than a year.
This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel | If I’m being honest, this was the book that set off my slump this month. I didn’t review this book yet because it took me ages to get through, but I really did love the characters and Claude/Poppy’s story. I think it was the meandering writing and very floaty? dreamy? writing style that I didn’t gel with. So in this case, I think it was definitely a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ moment.

In the friend zone: Read a book that a friend has recommended – The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary | (my review)

It takes two: Read a co-authored book – Autoboyography by Christina Lauren | (my review)

Wheel of format: Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read in (­a graphic novel, poetry, a play, an audiobook, etc.). – Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Full disclosure, I’m cheating a bit with this one because while I did listen to Daisy Jones on audio, it wasn’t the audio I set out to finish when I made my list! I’m still counting it though because flexibility and all that, right?! This is another review that I haven’t gotten around to blogging yet, but I did gush about it on Goodreads, so you can check it out there.

Past love: Reread a book you loved when you were younger – Party Weekend (Sweet Valley High #143) by Francine Pascal | (my review)

Armchair traveler: Read a book set in a destination you want to visit – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah | (my review)

The three prompts that I didn’t manage to complete were: Good as gold: Read a book that won a Goodreads Choice Award | The book is better: Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year | Not from around here: Read a book set in a different culture from your own. I’m surprised that I haven’t even picked Vengeful up yet, but I’m not surprised by my reluctance to get into the other two. The Goldfinch has sat unfinished on my shelf since February and I finally picked it up again to take with me to a doctor’s appointment to read while waiting, but I didn’t even touch it 😭 I’m still determined to finish it before the movie comes out coz I really do wanna know what happens!

arc august

I’m actually really bummed that I only managed to read 5 ARCs for ARC August. FIVE ARCs IN ONE MONTH. I’m quaking with disappointment 😫 It’s not like I planned to only read ARCs in August, but I still hoped to make a bigger dent in my pile! While I might not have ‘fast-tracked’ my progress, I hope to get a 100% rating before the end of the year! Is it ambitious? Yah. Though I’m not taking or making new requests at the moment, let’s see how long I can resist the urge 😅 I’m hoping I can cut down at least five *cough* more ARCs before I cave! LOL

So what other challenges are there for the rest of the year? I think I heard about one called Series September, which involves wrapping up a series or reading the next book in the series, to get caught up. I could be completely making this challenge up based on something I heard in passing and my fragmented memory just pieced it together as this challenge, but it kinda sounds like a good idea! There’s also Non-Fiction November, which I think will be fun because I’m always looking to read more NF and a challenge will give me some good incentive to do it! There’s also the PopSugar Reading Challenge, which I’ve been doing since the start of the year, although I’ve been (unsurprisingly) horrible at actually keeping track of my progress! I did take a peek at the prompts the other day and realized that I’ve made a pretty good dent in the basic challenges, so I’m quite happy with that! I’ll probably make a post for that challenge soon too.

And that’s wrap folks! Sorry for blabbering so much 🙃

Did you participate in the summer reading challenge or ARC August? Will you be participating in any other challenges this year? I’d love to know your progress! Leave me a comment and let’s chat about it!

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [15]

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme, and this time it’s actually Sunday when I write this! 😉 This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’m pretty sure that we’ve all heard about one of the most hyped books of the year: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’ve read a few of TJR’s books this year and I’ve loved every single one of them, so I don’t know why I kept putting off reading Daisy for so long. Then I woke up this morning and I started to listen to the audiobook on a whim. It’s read by a full cast and I felt myself immediately hooked into the story. My attention span is pretty crap though and I’m still trying to find the best way to listen to audiobooks without getting distracted, so I decided to pick up the physical book to follow along. The audiobook is pretty amazing but I ended up focusing too much on wondering who was reading which character’s part and I might have ended up on a bit of a Google spree trying to figure out the who’s who. I think the narrators are perfectly cast and I love how it’s bringing the story to life even more than reading the physical book already does. I’ve found myself constantly wanting to put down the book to bring up Spotify on my phone so I can play some of their songs, only to remember that this is a fictional band! WELP. TJR doing her thing yet again! In case you don’t know about it, the synopsis is below:

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies.

What are you currently reading?

Well, it’s been a pretty funky week for me. I made a note on my late Friday Favorites post about how I had to take a break from the blog (and social media) because life and my anxiety has been particularly crippling this week. I think I really reached a ‘breaking point’ on Friday and I couldn’t muster up the energy to re-open my laptop after I got done with work, let alone finish writing my Friday post. I’ve always had issues with sleeping and it suddenly got worse two years ago, so I started to take melatonin to help me sleep. However, my metabolism is so slow that if I don’t take it at least a good 2-3 hours before I want to sleep (i.e. midnight-ish) then I won’t fall asleep until well past midnight and I’ll wake up feeling even more tired than before. Over the last two weeks I’ve not been taking melatonin because whenever I remember that I should have taken it, I find that it’s already 11PM, and because of that I’ve been running on 2-3 hours of sleep every night. For two weeks. I think my body finally gave up on me on Friday so I’ve been feeling pretty lousy and unmotivated this weekend. That said, I got a good lie in (6 hours!) on Saturday and today, so I’ feeling a bit better now. Obviously this means that my blogging has been pretty much on the ‘meh’ front this week, but thanks to the reading rush I did manage to read quite a few books this week. You’ll find a recap of what I read for the rush after my post recap below!

Friday Favorites: Tropes
ARC Graphic Novel Review: Double Vie (Rose #1) by Denis Lapière and Émilie Alibert
Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (unpopular opinion time!)
Review: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Reading Update: Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge (June-July)
#WWWWednesday: 24 July
#TopTenTuesday: Settings I Want More of…
Goodreads Monday: 22 July

If you read my post last week, you’d know that I was thinking about joining The Reading Rush (formerly known as the Booktubeathon) but wasn’t sure because of time and life etc. But then I caved pretty quickly and jumped on the challenge wagon and I’m glad that I did! Considering my state-of-mind this last week, I’m actually quite proud that I managed to read four books for the challenge (on top of other ARC reads) and that I also earned quite a few badges (more than I actually thought I would)! I did end up reading everyone’s a aliebn to fulfill three prompts, but hey, that’s okay 🤷🏻‍♀️While I’m happy that I took part in the challenge, it made me realize just how much of a mood reader I really am. I was fighting the urge to pick up any random book by the time I finished my second book, so I’m proud that I managed to finish four. Sticking to TBR lists just isn’t my jam! Since today’s the last day of the challenge, I thought I’d call it in and I’m glad that I did.

Here are the books that I managed to read for the #ReadingRush:

Here are the badges that I earned:

How has your reading and blogging week been? Did you also join the Reading Rush Challenge? Are you happy with what you’ve read/achieved?
Come let me know in the comments and let’s have a chat 🙂

Reading Update: GR Summer Reading Challenge (June-July)

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

I posted about joining the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge earlier in June and as is pretty standard with my lazy ass, I have been really horrible at tracking my progress. Honestly, I’m just really bad at keeping up with challenges, lol–it’s not so much the reading that’s a struggle for me but the tracking (excel files hate me as much I hate them). But I’ve been thinking about the challenge lately because I just finished reading one of the books on my list and I was wondering how I’ve done so far. If you want to see a recap of what books I set for the challenge, check out my original post!

what I’ve finished so far:

Short & sweet: Read a book with less than 100 pages (or a book you can finish in one sitting) – The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV | (my review)

On the bandwagon: Read one of the most read books right now on Goodreads & New voices: Read a debut novel – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | (my review)

In the friend zone: Read a book that a friend has recommended – The Flatshare Beth O’Leary | (my review)

It takes two: Read a co-authored book – Autoboyography by Christina Lauren | (my review)

Armchair traveler: Read a book set in a destination you want to visit – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Seeing as how I’ve not ‘intentionally’ read these books over the last month, I’m happy to see that I’ve almost ticked off half of the challenges. I still have a ways to go but hopefully my confidence isn’t misplaced when I say that I think I can complete this challenge 😃 The only book I’m nervous about picking up (again) is The Goldfinch because its been sitting half-unfinished on my shelf since February. I started it for a group/buddy read but it was admittedly the worst reading month–my book slump was epic and trying to force myself to get through this wasn’t ideal. BUT I’m hoping to get it read before the movie comes out this September. The trailer is beautiful and I’m so excited to watch the movie; plus, it’s also really good motivation to finish the book!

Are you participating in the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge?
If you are, how’s your reading progress coming along?
Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!

If I Joined the Reading Rush…

Dini @ dinipandareads22 Comments

Over the last week I’ve been seeing so many people in the book community talking about The Reading Rush. If you’re like me and have never heard of this challenge before, here’s a little bit on what it’s about:

“The Reading Rush is a week long readathon for book lovers all around the world. For one week readers gather together to read as much as they possibly can and to participate in challenges and giveaways online. Starting in 2019 the Reading Rush introduced a website, in order to allow anyone taking part in the readathon to track their reading statistics and come together in a central place. The Reading Rush started as the “BookTubeAThon” in 2013.”

You can find out more and sign up on their website. So, this totally sounds like fun, right? When I read more about it and looked up the prompts, I immediately felt the urge to sign up and join in on the fun, but I’m really not so great with sticking to TBRs and completing challenges, plus I feel that work is going to be a little bit hectic next week so I felt apprehensive about committing my time when I’m not sure I could do it. That said, I also started to get excited thinking about what I’d choose, so I decided to do a post of what I’d be reading for The Reading Rush, if I joined. 😉

READING CHALLENGES

1/ Read a book with purple on the cover

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

2/ Read a book in the same spot the entire time

Everyone’s an Aliebn When You’re an Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun
To be read on the couch in my reading corner at home!

3/ Read a book you meant to read last year

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

4/ Read an author’s first book

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

5/ Read a book with a non-human main character

Everyone’s an Aliebn When You’re an Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun
Yep, I’m doing a double for this read!

6/ Pick a book that has five or more words in the title

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

7/ Read and watch a book to movie adaptation

The Green Mile by Stephen King.
For some reason I’ve been thinking about this book/movie a lot lately. I still haven’t read the book and it’s been years since I watched the movie, but I remember how much I cried in the end.

Bonus/ Read 7 books!

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
If by some miracle I am able to finish one book per day(ish) and will be able to manage a seventh book, I’d pick this one to fulfill the prompt for a book with a non-human main character.

So there you have it, book friends! Books that I would read for The Reading Rush if I were to participate in the challenge! Honestly, I’m still really tempted to sign up and try even though I might only end up reading only two or a most three of these books! What do you think? Should I just say to hell with it and sign myself up?! 🙃

Are you joining The Reading Rush? If you are and you’ve posted about it, leave me a link in the comments. I’d love to see what books you’ve chose to do! Also leave me your username so that if I *do* sign up, I can follow you!

The Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge

Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Have you heard about the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge? Thanks to Brenda and Norma (Traveling Sisters), who have an active The Traveling Friends group on Goodreads, I learned about this summer reading challenge over the weekend and I think I’m keen to join! To be honest, I’m pretty horrible with challenges, mostly because I’m really terrible at keeping track of what I’m reading and for what specific challenge/prompt, but this one is fairly short, so I think it’ll be a lot easier to keep track of since I’m only aiming to finish the “For Beginners” list. Also, this might sound like a silly question but what constitutes summer? When people talk summer I always assume June/July, but according to Google (yes, I Googled) the summer months are June, July, August. Here’s what the challenge looks like:

Good as gold: Read a book that won a Goodreads Choice Award.
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab. Vengeful won for the Best Science Fiction of 2018 on Goodreads. I’m excited to read the sequel to Vicious because I absolutely loved it when I read it earlier this year!

The book is better: Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch movie will be coming out in August and the trailer looks seriously amazing! I’m so excited for it, so I’m hoping to have finished this book by then. I started reading this as a group read in February but I was in such a heavy slump that month, it really affected my mood and made me unable to finish the book.

Short & sweet: Read a book with less than 100 pages (or a book you can finish in one sitting).
Is it cheating if I choose a graphic novel for this prompt? I’d like to read the graphic novel The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV. Since we’re talking about less than 100 pages, I’m approximating that’s probably just Vol. 1.

On the bandwagon: Read one of the most read books right now on Goodreads & New voices: Read a debut novel.
I’ll be reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens for two of the summer challenge prompts for practical purposes. I’m so excited to finally be reading this book! It has absolutely gotten all the hype on bookstagram especially and I’m so curious to see if it will live up to all the hype.

Actually want to read: Read a book that’s been on your Want to Read shelf for more than a year.
This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel has been on my GR Want to Read shelf since December 2017. I’ve heard so much about this book so I’m looking forward to finally ticking it off my list!

Not from around here: Read a book set in a different culture from your own.
Our Kind of People by Uzodinma Iweala. I had the privilege and pleasure to meet Iweala last year at a book festival in Bali called the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. I wish I also got his recently released fiction novel: Speak No Evil, but I only picked up this non-fiction (signed and personalized)!

In the friend zone: Read a book that a friend has recommended.
In the Traveling Friends group there’s a thread of recommendations from reader friends for this prompt. I have chosen to go for The Flatshare Beth O’Leary.

It takes two: Read a coauthored book.
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren. Christina Lauren is probably my favorite writer duo. Their books never fail to make me laugh, cry and genuinely feel all the things. This is a fitting book for the challenge as it is also one of my planned reads for Pride month!

Wheel of format: Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read in (­a graphic novel, poetry, a play, an audiobook, etc.).
This is the perfect prompt for me to finally finish the audiobook for Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. It’s narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who I stan so hard, so I honestly don’t know why I haven’t finished it yet!

Past love: Reread a book you loved when you were younger.
For this one I’m going to choose one of the Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal books (which surprisingly are all on Kindle Unlimited right now)! I used to LOVE reading about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. I really wonder where all those books of mine went to. I haven’t chosen a particular book from the 100 book long series, but I’m excited to read one of them on Kindle and see how I feel about it now!

Armchair traveler: Read a book set in a destination you want to visit.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I’m (low key) obsessed with Alaska. I think the first time I really fell in love with Alaska was when I read a Nora Roberts novel that was set there, and after that there was no looking back. I honestly can’t even tell you why specifically because I’m sure I’m romanticizing it in my head, but one of the reasons is definitely for the natural environment.

Will you be participating in the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge? If you are, I’d be curious to know what books you’ll be reading!
Let me know in the comments and let’s chat 🙂