Tackle Your TBR Read-A-Thon

Hello to everyone who visit and read this blog. It has been quite a while since my latest update. I supposed to post a report on my visit to the Indonesia International Book Fair two weeks ago, but work has been hectic lately. I admit that when I have some spare energy after work, I would indulge myself in my cross stitch project instead of writing the event report lately ;P Anyway. I have been planning to participate the Tackle Your TBR Read-A-Thon since a few months ago. It is already started today and will end on Sunday, September 27th. You can click here if you would like to sign up. 

In this read-a-thon, I plan to finish reading at least one Indonesian literary novel. Once I finish it, I plan to continue reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am still not sure about what to read after that. Maybe I will re-start reading Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, or more Jane Austen. I am also looking forward to read the two books by Jared Diamond I just recently bought, Collapse and The World Until Yesterday. There are so many options!

I did not read much in my previous read-a-thon. I hope I can get to read a lot this time, as the project that has been taking most of my time and energy at work is nearing its end this week. I just hope I can have a decent amount of time for both reading and crafting then. 

Bout of Books 14 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, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is coming on August 17th! That will be the Independence Day in my country, and I will have a day off. I hope I can optimize my reading time on the first and last day. If you are interested to join this read-a-thon, you can sign up here. 

One of the books I will read is Emma by Jane Austen for Austen in August. But before that, I hope to finish the last 120-ish page of Pride and Prejudice first. If I still have more time in the read-a-thon, I plan to read the sequels of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Buru Quartet. 

Let me know if you are joining! :) 

#TBRTakedown Readathon 2.0

While the High Summer Read-a-Thon is still going on until Sunday, I decided to extend my readathon by participating the #TBRTakedown Readathon 2.0 hosted by Shannon @ leaninglights. This readathon runs from July 25 to 31. I never have any formal TBR list or pile, but I well realize that I have HEAPS of unread books in my shelf. There are five challenges that have been officially set up in this readathon:

1. First book in a Series
2. A Sequel
3. Out of Your Comfort Zone
4. On Your Shelf for Over a Year
5. Most Recently Hauled Book

I am still doing the 100 Days of Reading Indonesian Literature challenge and planning to continue until it ends in October, with the exception of reading for Austen in August. For the sequel challenge, I plan to read Ayu Utami's Maya, the 4th book of the Bilangan Fu series. That book can also be counted in the 4th challenge, as it has been in my shelf since 2013. As for the first book in a series, I plan to read Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Bumi Manusia. It has been translated to English as The Earth of Mankind, just in case you are interested but cannot read in Bahasa Indonesia. Out of my comfort zone, I plan to read Kumpulan Budak Setan, a horror short story anthology that tributes to the legendary Indonesian horror author, Abdullah Harahap. I have not read any of his book, but apparently he is one of the most important literary figures in my country. I think I have not read any mystery/horror/thriller book since I was in high school. I used to read a lot of R.L. Stine's books from the Goosebumps and Fear Street series, but not anymore since I got hooked in the literary world. I just recently purchased Nh. Dini's earlier memoirs and novel from Jualbukusastra, an excellent place that sells Indonesian literary books, including some that are not normally sold in most Indonesian mainstream-ish bookstores. I plan to read the 3rd book of her memoir series, Langit dan Bumi Sahabat Kami.  

Pretty covers!

As usual, I am going to update this post with wrap-up report once this readathon ended. I am looking forward to read a lot and find out how much I read until 31st!

Wrap-Up Report

Although I only managed to read 2 books (again), I really enjoyed this week of reading under the #TBRTakedown 2.0. There were sprints I always missed but still did outside their running time anyway, and they helped a lot to boost my reading time. A progress graphic will be here soon.

My current read when I started this readathon was Maya by Ayu Utami, a sequel and a book that has been in my shelf for more than a year. As how I mentioned on the previous readathon wrap up, this book was a page turner. I did not read much on the first day, but I managed to finish it on the second day. I continued with Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Bumi Manusia,  the first book of the Buru Quartet. I finished it on the last day of this readathon. I intended to continue with Jane Austen's Persuasion to kick-start the Austen in August, but I was already too tired :)) I did not read much on the sixth day either, because I got so tired after work and a long walk that day.

Total pages read: 748
Total books read: 2
Challenges done: 3 of 5 (First in a Series, A Sequel, and On Your Shelf for Over A Year)

Books read:
1. Maya by Ayu Utami
2. Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Did you participate in a readathon recently? What did you read last week?

High Summer Read-a-Thon

Eid Al-Mubarak to everyone who celebrates it! I am still on my Eid holidays since last Friday until next Tuesday, so it has been a perfect time to maximize my reading. I am happy to found that there is another readathon coming up tomorrow. I will participate the High Summer Read-a-Thon and have a lot of fun reading in the next week! This readathon is a part of seasonal readathons held by Seasons of Reading. You can sign up here if you are interested to participate as well. 

Goal

Reflecting from my previous participation in a readathon, I was able to finish a book in two days during the readathon intensity. Therefore, I aim to finish reading 4 books including my current read. In addition, I would like to see whether my reading speed has improved or slowed down. 

Below are the selection of books I am going to read in this readathon. Excluding Maya, they are Goodreads' recommendations based on my recent currently-readings that have been on my TBR pile for *coughs* ages *coughs*. There are some more recommendations, but since I am doing the Indonesian Literature Challenge at the moment, I am focusing on Indonesian literary novels at the moment. 

1. Maya by Ayu Utami
2. Harimau! Harimau! by Mochtar Lubis (This book has been translated to English as Tiger!)
3. Ca-bau-kan by Remy Sylado
4. Gadis Pantai by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as The Girl from the Coast)
5. Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as The Earth of Mankind)
6. Arok Dedes by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as Arok of Java: A Novel of Early Indonesia)

During this readathon, I will track the total hours of reading, total pages and books read, and a list of books I have read. A wrap-up report will be in this post at the end of the readathon. I will also post timely progress reports at my twitter.

Wrap-Up Report

I did not read as much as I wanted during this readathon. Below is a graphic that shows my daily progress during the #HSReadathon.

My current read was Nh. Dini's Dari Parangakik ke Kampuchea when I started this readathon. Unexpectedly, this book was a slow read for me. My rate was only about 50 pages a day with the book. On Saturday, I only read 8 pages because I had a date with my boyfriend. I also celebrated our 13th monthiversary on the 21st, hence my reading only 21 pages that day (what a coincidence!). Ironically, my reading amount increased when my Eid holidays was over. That may be because of the reading sprints I started to do that day. I started Maya on Friday night after I finally finished read Parangakik. Maya was not a really easy read either, but it was a big page turner, so I managed to read a lot until I finished it on the last day of the readathon. 

Total Pages Read: 485

Total Book Read: 2

Books Read

1. Dari Parangakik ke Kampuchea by Nh. Dini

2. Maya by Ayu Utami

What did you read last weekend? If you participate this readathon, how did you do?  

24 in 48 Readathon

I have intended to start participating readathons since I began to review books and manga for this blog (The reviews are coming on the next Wednesdays. Please be sure to look forward to it!). I thought the first readathon I will be participating is Bout of Books 14 that will take place in August 17-23. However, I found out about the 24 in 48 Readathon earlier today. In this readathon, we aim to read for 24 hours in the 48 hours time frame. Long story short, I signed up the readathon!

I will start mine at 12:01 AM in my timezone, which is GMT+7. I am not sure that I would read as much as I can in readathon-ing manner, since I already have scheduled a date with my boyfriend and dinner with his family on Saturday. I also have some deadlines to meet for my work, which I just remembered after I signed up the readathon (oops!! ;P). However, I am looking forward to do see how much I will be able to read during my far-from-perfect first readathon. That way I may will be able to set some visible goals for the next readathons I will be participating. In other words, I would like to measure my constantly-reading capacity through this readathon.

Goal

As mentioned earlier, the main goal for my participation in this readathon is to see how much I will be able to read during this readathon. Since I am currently reading Nh. Dini's Kemayoran 1956, another goal of mine is simply to finish reading that book. I intended to read Oka Rusmini's Sagra after finishing that one, but I have been enjoying Dini's narration a lot that it may will be difficult to part from it for a while.. *laughs*. So I may going to continue with another work of hers. Alternatively, I may will pick some thinner Indonesian literature books. Below is the pile of books to choose, with the current read on top.

Anyway, my Hoozuki nendoroid just arrived today!

During the ride back home after the date and dinner on Saturday, I plan to read an ebook. As much as I want to continue reading the printed one, unfortunately I lost my booklight. I will read Fransisca Todi's Pelangi untuk Matahariku I just recently got for free at her website. If I manage to finish them, I will continue reading one of the ebooks given by Gagas Media to celebrate their birthday, most likely Valiant Budi's Joker.

I will track the total hours I was reading, the pages I managed to read, and possibly the number of books I finished. At the end of the readathon, I will report the wrap-up in this post that will be updated on Sunday or Monday. I will also post timely progress reports at my twitter.

Wrap-Up Report

As mentioned earlier, I had scheduled a date and dinner with my boyfriend’s family on Saturday. I also fell asleep at least twice or probably three times. Last, I had some works to finish for Monday. Therefore, I could not make the full 24 hours mark in this readathon.

After the readathon, I learned that sleepiness is my major problem on constantly reading. Actually, I previously learned that I would get sleepy more quickly if I read while leaning my back on something. Another factor may be the fasting I have been doing for almost a month, since it is currently fasting month in muslim tradition. I tried to stay awake, but decided to let myself fell asleep after the texts I read began to make no more sense to me. I also learned that in average, it takes a little bit more than two hours for me to read 100 pages. Every 100 pages mark and every book finished would give me a feeling of accomplishment.

During the date on Saturday, I went to the bookstore with my boyfriend to check the latest manga release. Durarara!! was just recently licensed in Indonesia, so we were looking forward to get it. I bought my Durarara!! along with three (!) other books: Romo Mangun’s Burung-Burung Rantau, Nh. Dini’s latest memoir: Dari Ngalian ke Sendowo, and Seno Gumira Ajidarma’s essay collection: Tiada Ojek di Paris. Seno Gumira Ajidarma (SGA) has been my favorite author since I was in junior high school. So I was very excited to get that book. I intended to read the continuation memoir of Nh. Dini after finished reading Kemayoran, but I started reading SGA’s book instead. I finished it during the readathon, then continued with the memoir I intended to read earlier: Jepun Negerinya Hiroko. I mostly read and write commentary notes for my upcoming reviews on the books I read during this readathon.

Statistics

Total hour count: 13
Page count: 603
Book count: 3
Avg. reading speed: 46 pages/hour

Books Read
1. Nh. Dini - Kemayoran 1956
2. Seno Gumira Ajidarma - Tiada Ojek di Paris
3. Nh. Dini - Jepun Negerinya Hiroko (unfinished)

Did you participate this readathon? How was your readathon?