Bout of Books 7.0 - Thursday and Friday

Books I've read from:  

Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley

Inferno by Dan Brown

Pages read today:

41 from Don't Kill the Birthday Girl

55 from Inferno

Books finished today:

1 

Running total:

  539 pages, 3 books   

Today #insixwords: 

Alcohol and chicken pox don't mix.

So this is actually a combination post for Thursday and Friday, as last night I was at the BPTC Summer Ball. I'll post a photo as soon as I find one that doesn't make me look like a scrawny boy (although someone told me I looked like a Nordic princess, and I'll admit that pretty much made my night). I actually had a good time - it's rare we're all together while not frantically scrawling statute numbers on an exam paper, so it was fun to mess about and drink for an evening.

EDIT: I found some non-boy photographs. I had my hair pinned-up that fell down the second I started dancing. It appears that was the cause of my male-to-female transformation, thankfully.

I like this one for the simple reason that I look like a ghost.

 

In addition, I do so love dancing in my heels long after everybody else has kicked theirs off :) "Well Hanna, you're used to them!"

*smugness*

Only the exertion does seem to have kicked off my chickenpox today. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it made an appearance after the Ball, but I really do not feel well one tiny little bit. It's getting quite bad now, so it's clearly going to be a few days in bed. I should still be able to post updates though, so you haven't got away with it just yet!

Reading-wise... I finished Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life yesterday and then started Inferno by Dan Brown. Despite all the vehement hatred I've seen, it's actually pretty good. His writing isn't that bad - taking a few sentences out of context to snigger at them doesn't really give you the feel of the book at all and you wouldn't think twice if you saw them in another book. 

I even managed to post a review! My target was five over this week, so completing one is hardly an accomplishment but it's a start. I should be able to do one tomorrow and one Sunday though, so I guess I'll have to be happy with three!

Bout of Books 7.0: Wednesday

Books I've read from:  

Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley

Pages read today:

185

Books finished today:

0 

Running total:

  443 pages, 2 books   

Today #insixwords: 

Book buying madness = a chipper Hanna

And now, a break from you regularly scheduled angry programming...

Why yes, this is actually going to be a cheerful post. I know, I know, I'm as shocked as you. If you are desperate for my whining though (or just find my depressive gifs amusing), you can find my previous Bout of Books updates here and here.

So this morning, I woke up and decided to be happy. Possibly temporarily, but I'll take what I can get. I got up, put make-up on and wore an outfit containing my three favourite fashion points - stripes, pencil skirt and heels. Then I pranced off into the sunrise and had myself a good ol' day.

It's amazing how good you can feel despite running around Leeds in six-inch stiletto heels...

It may also have something to do with the fact that I allowed myself a book splurge today. A very special kind of splurge... the kind with no limits. A very dangerous beast. I haven't spent a lot of money lately or had a whole lot of time so I figured I'd treat myself.

I went into Waterstones and let myself buy whatever books I wanted. I did not check the price, I did not count them and I did not even particularly think twice. Honestly, I don't think I've ever enjoyed buying books so much. It was guilt-free and I'm now sat looking at my book pile and smiling.

Hell, I spent all afternoon in the Court office pulling them out of their bags one by one, stroking them (literally), reading a paragraph from each and then putting them back. And repeat. It was so liberating. It's not something I would do often because a) it would lose its appeal and b) I can't afford it, but... argh. So good.

I don't think six books all that unreasonable really. Not considering I imposed literally no limits on myself.

But apparently this is a read-a-thon, not a buy-lots-of-books-a-thon. So what have I actually read? Quite a bit actually.

Well. Kind of. I had a class this morning and then I was working at the Court this afternoon (again), so I haven't had a whole lot of time. Thankfully I didn't have any work to do for tomorrow though, so I was able to curl up and relax without feeling that guilty pressure that I should be studying.

I've been reading Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley. It's actually very good and quite different from what I was expecting. It's not a memoir as such; it's more a look at the implications of food allergies from several perspectives, including the individual, society, restaurants, farmers, etc. It's accessible and not at all self-pitying.

Speaking of... I did have a bit of a cry, but it was during a rational conversation. You know, where you're crying a bit but you're still capable of talking around it? And it helped that I could see my Waterstones bags on the sofa and they cheered me up. True story.

Bout of Books 7.0: Monday

Books I've read from:  

The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman

Pages read today:

79 of The Secret Life of Houdini and 17 of The Pirates! in an Adventure with Napoleon

Books finished today:

1   

Running total:

  96 pages, 1 book   

Today #insixwords: 

One small blip, but otherwise acceptable.

Non-reading progress:  

Umm... I wrote this post, didn't I?

Today has been a busy day with not a whole lot of time for reading. I had to get up fairly early to head for a hospital check-up, where I was informed by my rather sour doctor that I've somehow managed to contract chickenpox.

For those without the benefit of having read my frequent medical whiny posts, here is the basic gist:

Lupus = Lack of Immune System = Bad Things

So I can catch everything. I'm single-handedly keeping Purell in business, I swear. Then obviously when I do catch something, even something simple, it can have really bad consequences.

So, yes. Chicken pox.

 Except I don't actually have it, as such. As in, I'm not all spotty or contagious. The virus is just looming dangerously in the background, likely to hit at any minute. Honestly I'm not actually that concerned though (famous last words?). I have regular check-ups so they can catch these things in time and whilst I am likely to be ill shortly, I will be less ill than if they hadn't caught it at all.

So that was my morning.

In the afternoon I was attending meetings with the Social Events Committee to try and plan our Summer Ball, which isn't exactly going well. The hotel we/they had chosen required a minimum number of 100 people and if we didn't reach that amount, we personally would be liable for the amount. I've said from the beginning that 100 people is an ambitious number and that this is actually an incredibly horrendous idea, but it's taken until today, until actual seeing the contract in print, that they finally listened.

But it's okay. We found another hotel with a minimum number of 50 people, which is much more doable and much less scary. Problem (probably temporarily) solved.

Then I got home, did some work, had a little cry. I know one of my Bout of Books goals was to become a rational human being again, but it was only a little cry...

 Had a short conversation with my ex/current/who-the-fuck-knows boyfriend and then I remembered that I miss him and then I cried. It's up in the air in the minute. To be fair, I haven't actually cried all that much this week and it was a rare moment of weakness.

Blame the chickenpox.

I swear I will actually talk about books tomorrow.

Bout of Books 7.0 Master Post and Goals

This actually kind of snuck up on me this time. I knew it was happening sometime vaguely soon but let's just say I haven't had the best month and I've been a little preoccupied. It wasn't until goal lists started popping up over the weekend that I realised I'd better get a move on!

It actually falls at a good time for me, which is rare considering how the past couple of times I've been busy with too much law work and school visits. This week I do have work to finish, but I actually have a fortnight's break from exams so I don't feel too bad about getting some good ol' reading done!

I'm going to make a separate post per day because I like to babble, but I'll be linking up my progress here.

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 at 12:01am on Monday 13 May and runs through to the end of Sunday 19 May 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 7.0 team

My Goals

I don't usually make horribly concrete goals because I never stick to them. Like, ever. 

I'd like to read three books though, in addition to finishing my current book, The Secret Life of Houdini. My chosen books may (or may not) be taken from the following possibles:

In addition, I'm horribly behind with reviews so I'd like to get five reviews written and posted. Yes, five. That's less than one a day. Theoretically more than possible.

I'm also going to try to visit five new-to-me bloggers per day and comment on their Bout of Books posts. Or any other post, really. I love the happy friendliness of these read-a-thons and it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't make an effort on that front as well.

On a more personal note... my non-book goal is to become a reasonable human being again. In the last seven days, my relationship, career and health have all pretty much died horrible, painful deaths in unconnected ways. Every single blow hurt like a mother-***er and I've pretty much spent the week sleeping, crying and throwing up.

BUT NO MORE. From tomorrow I am once again going to be a fully-functioning member of society. Who's with me!? :D

Sign-up here!