Hello, lovelies! This week’s content is going to be a little bit different because I am doing The Reading Rush. I am going to attempt to finish seven books in seven days, and plan on documenting my goal through blog posts. This is obviously the first one. I don’t know how this going to go. I’ll probably just come back to my laptop throughout each day and give updates on my reading and what else I’ve been up to. Hopefully, this won’t be a total train wreck and I’ll be able to make it interesting. I hope you enjoy.
(The blog post below has more information about the books I’m reading, so you should check that out first)
Related – My Reading Rush TBR | 2020
//Day 1 – July 20, 2020//
//Midnight
Last night, I had to finish the audiobook I was listening to before I could start the Reading Rush. I finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern while playing Animal Crossing on my brother’s Switch, then immediately started Push by Sapphire. I listened to that while I cleared up my inbox and later when I got ready to sleep. I was worried that the book would be too graphic for me, but it hasn’t been too much. Precious endures a lot of abuse throughout her life, but she’s so used to it that it doesn’t register with her. Both of her parents verbally, physically, and sexually abuse her, and her teachers never helped her learn to read. It’s definitely hard to listen to, but the writing style is incredibly engaging. I’ll definitely be able to finish it by tomorrow. I was able to listen to the first hour last night, and it’s a five-hour audiobook.
I went to bed before 2 AM. Before sleeping, I started Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It was a huge shift after reading Push. I was tired, so I didn’t even finish the first chapter. I got through 7% of the eBook before falling asleep. Right now, it’s setting up the rest of the book.
//Morning
I woke up at 10:30 this morning and took a shower because our AC isn’t working properly and it’s literally 86 degrees in this house. I’m sweating as I write this. I’m not event joking that my bedroom feels humid right now.
I didn’t read much this morning. I listened to 30 more minutes of my audiobook while making breakfast and doing other things. I watched the first episode of season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel before working out for 10-minutes. I wasn’t feeling it and decided to work out more later. It’s 1:30 PM now, and I’m going to get started on my physical books. My goal is to finish the two shortest books and read the first chapter of the non-fiction one.
//Afternoon
Hi! I’m back! It’s been a little over an hour since I checked in and I’m pretty sweaty. To complete the “read a book outside your house” challenge, I read The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun. It’s a 62 page graphic novel that takes place in Peru. It’s not the best graphic novel I’ve read, but the ending was really clever. I also learned that the Peruvians were also called “Indians” back then. You’d think that the Spanish would’ve figured out that they weren’t in India by the time they got to the Pacific ocean.
I read the whole thing on the balcony. There’s a shade and a mosquito net there, so it wasn’t as hot as it could’ve been. My mom called someone to come fix the air conditioning because our house is now 89 degrees. I’m going to eat lunch now, then start reading The Snow Queen.
Okay, I’m back. I didn’t end up reading The Snow Queen after lunch. I read the first chapter Organize Yourself! which gave tips on getting control of my time. The part about telephone conversation was incredibly outdated, but everything else about procrastination and preserving personal time was useful.
After that, I took a drive because my house is literally 90 degrees now and I needed cold air. I listened to Push for half an hour, so I’ve reached my 2 hours a day goal. I’m going to try to listen to another hour so that I can finish the it tomorrow.
The last two things I need to do today in terms of the Reading Rush are to finish The Snow Queen (which is 58 pages) and to get to chapter 4 of Howl’s Moving Castle. There are 21 chapters in the eBook, so I need to read three chapters a day to finish it by the end of the week.
//Evening
The AC is working again, which is great and I am really tired. I reached the halfway point of the Push audiobook, so I should be able to finish it by tomorrow. Funny story: my mom walked into my room when the audiobook said “F is for fuck” before I could grab my phone and pause it. She didn’t say anything about it.
I just finished The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. Frozen is definitely its own original story. I don’t think it should associate itself with The Snow Queen. The short story actually has seven chapters. The preface is that there is a mirror that reflects the hateful parts of a person. A demon breaks it and when the shards go into a boy’s eye, he can only see the ugly hateful parts of the world and his heart becomes cold. He follows the Snow Queen, and the story is basically about his friend’s journey to find him.
So yeah, the story is good. It has the same dark and ridiculous logic that most fairy tales have.
I’m going to read two chapters of Howl’s Moving Castle and go to sleep. I’m right on schedule with my reading goal.
- Pages Read Day 1 ~ 294
//Day 2 – July 21, 2020//
//Afternoon
Hello again, lovelies. There isn’t a “morning” section for today because I didn’t read anything this morning. I started The Alchemist this afternoon and listened to Push for an hour while I did other things. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be a 5-Star book and I already know that The Alchemist is five stars, so it’s been a pretty good reading day despite not reading much.
This is my third time reading The Alchemist. It was one of my favorite books read in 2018, and I listened to the audiobook last year. I’ll probably end up reading it slower this week because I’ve been writing down my favorite quotes, but I’m currently ahead of schedule and should still finish it by Sunday. It’s a pretty short book.
My current plan of action is to finish the Push audiobook then hopefully start listening to Daisy Jones & The Six. That’s the book I’ve been most excited about. As for my physical books, I need to read the second chapter of Organize Yourself! and would like to get to page 50 of The Alchemist.
I’m going to try to read chapters 4-6 of Howl’s Moving Castle before editing and publishing this blog post, but that may not happen. I’ll still read it tonight and include information about it in the next post. I finished chapter 3 last night before going to sleep. I don’t think I’ve given a synopsis of this book yet. Basically, the main character Sophie has been turned into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste and needs to break the spell. I’m still in the set-up stage of the story. She’s already been turned into an old woman and has gotten to the castle, but she has not met Howl yet.
//Evening
I just finished the audiobook for Push while working out, and it was so good and very sad. The ending had a bit of hope in it even though I know that Precious won’t have a very happy ending in life.
I’ve also read the second chapter of Organize Yourself! This chapter was about paperwork, so it discussed calendars, filing systems, health records, how to organize your desk and bookshelves, etc. Some of the information was outdated since most things are digital now, but it was still helpful.
Now, I’m going to reread and edit this blog post. Tonight, I plan on getting to page 50 of The Alchemist and read the next three chapters of Howl’s Moving Castle. After that, I will have read about 208 pages today. I’m also going to start Daisy Jones & The Six tonight, which I’m predicting will be a five-star book.
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- Pages Read On Day 2 ~ 208 pages
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//Day 1 & 2 Reflection//
I have finished three books so far and have read approximately 502 pages in the past two days, which is insane! I haven’t been able to finish a physical book this month up until now, but I managed to finish two of them in a day. The books I have finished are pretty short books, but it’s still an accomplishment.
My biggest takeaway from this is that when I sit my ass down to read, I actually read. Normally, I find other “more productive” things to do and listen to audiobooks, but having “read this many chapters” on my to do list each day helps a lot. Another huge thing I noticed is that I’m on my phone less (outside of listening to an audiobook). My daily social media use has been cut in half according to Instagram, but I’m also texting my friends and checking the news less (which could be considered a good and bad thing).
Based on the past two days, I’m pretty confident that I will finish seven books by Sunday. There are some other things I would like to get done this week, but I’m making the Reading Rush a priority.
//Completed Challenges
Technically, I’ve finished all the challenges because Tintin fulfilled all seven of them, but I’ll list the completed ones here, anyway.
The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun by Hergé
- Read a book with a cover that matches the color of your birth stone – Yellow
- Read a book that starts with the word “The”
- Read a book that inspired a movie you’ve already seen – Tintin Cartoons/Tintin Movie (2011)
- Read the first book you touch –This was the first physical book I touched this week
- Read a book outside your house – I read it on the balcony
- Read a book in a genre you’ve always wanted to read more of– Graphic Novel/Action/Adventure
- Read a book that takes place on a different continent – South America
The Snow Queen by Hans Cristian Anderson
- Read a book that starts with the word “The”
- Read a book that inspired a movie you’ve already seen – Frozen
- Read a book in a genre you’ve always wanted to read more of – Classic/Short Story
Push by Sapphire
- Read a book in a genre that you’ve always wanted to read more of – Urban Fiction/Bildungsroman/Domestic Fiction
//Books In Progress
I’ll base this on how much I plan to read by the end of tonight
- Organize Yourself! – pg. 65
- Howl’s Moving Castle – 27.6% of eBook (~ pg. 91)
- The Alchemist – pg. 50
- Daisy Jones & The Six – 20 minutes (1 chapter). I’m loving it so far.
That’s it for now! I doubt a lot of people have read this since it’s a bit outside of my niche, but I enjoyed writing this. My day 3-4 update will be up later this week, days 5-7 should be up on Sunday. I should be back to my typical lifestyle content next week. Until next time!
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Are you doing the Reading Rush? If so, what’s on your TBR? Do you have any book recommendations that fit into the challenges?