Bookish Banter: Do You Even Readathon?

A little Bookish Banter to get us through.  Bookish Banter is a little bit of banter about our bookish thoughts as we have a friendly discussion over a nice cup of tea. 

Dewey's is this Saturday and so we have to ask, DO YOU EVEN READATHON!?

Jenn-

Yes I read-a-thon. Really thought only Deweys because if its a week long read-a-thon, I feel I do that already. Maybe I should do one for the posts. Not sure. 
But... Dewey's I love because I get to set an entire day aside for reading and I can get my read on! 

 I have my favorite seats inside and outside picked out. Front porch, Den... in front of the window, comfy couch in the living room, bathtub, bed, back porch. Some place for every part of the day. I have my audio ready for the walks and for playing sims (I will get restless)

I have my pile of books picked out.... 

My snacks... they are undetermined by the decision I need to make... eat healthy or not..

generally I like...

grapes 

cheese cubes

raspberry chipotle cream cheese dip and water crackers

sprees 

pretzels

chips and salsa

M&Ms 

Of course, I always think I can read more than I can.... 

but... that just leaves me more options to choose from.

The last couple of read-a-thons, life has been crazy so they have been put on the backburner.... sort of. So this Saturday I am giving it all I got, drinking all the caffiene, eating all the snacks, and reading..... 

I am so pumped... It will be Me and Ash and my hubby... and of course the Finn! 

And John! He's planning on reading too!

Ash-
Heck yes I readathon! I'm so super excited. The past few have been missed due to parties, or... well depression. October was our Halloween party and in April I was pregnant and exhausted. So now there's nothing stopping me. MWAHAHHAHA. 

I will attempt to get up early on Saturday (6:30 hopefully. Fingers crossed) and I will drink WAY TOO MUCH caffeine and HOPEFULLY be up ALLLLL night. I'm pumped can y'all tell!? 

I'm excited for SNACKS and BOOKS and GAMES and POSTS all over my instagram!

So the snacks I'm hoping we can get/make are...
Chips and salsa/queso
Bagel bites and/or pizza rolls
Maybe some brownies!?
Fruit salad!? 
Caaaandy.

Well now I'm hungry. Oops. 

Here are the books I'm hoping to finish (This might change depending what I finish reading this week because I'm typing this up on Sunday to schedule and well y'all know how that is)
I am going to try to finish two audio, and two physical. And probably a graphic novel or two. I'm just posting a few extra so I can have some to pick out of depending upon my mood. 

Because we have started to garden I'm hoping to have the fence up and the palettes ready to plant on Saturday! I'm super excited to work in the yard and everything while I listen to my books.

      

Bookish Banter: How's your Quarantined Reading?

A little Bookish Banter to get us through.  Bookish Banter is a little bit of banter about our bookish thoughts as we have a friendly discussion over a nice cup of tea. 

This bookish banter is about real life Fiction..... How is your reading life in quarantine?

Jenn-

It's crazy out there right now isn't it? I keep thinking... what a great book this would make... or have I read this story before? Life is just weird right now. Everything is upside down and inside out. I guess its a great time to get my reading on. I mean I can read from home... and I am stocked up on books! 

I have been in a reading slump for a while. I need to get back to reading, now is the perfect time to do this. Well except for the distractions of binge watching, you tube rabbit holes, and my shelf of opportunity of board games I have yet to play. So we are not bored in this house.....

I am trying to read my books too. I have been slowly getting into some books and as of this post I have finished three this week. Not bad. They were good and I have to admit... it felt good to be into a book a again. 

I am going through audio a lot slower without my commute to work and with my hubby at the desk right beside me. I get really distracted by him. I am seeing him so much more than I usually do and all i want to do is talk with him...

Now on the bright side. I get to take a lunch with him and play a game, I get to watch tv with him while working or right after he quits work... with no commute we can start in faster... so  now I have some time before bed to read a little. YAY! 

So during this time I am going to take advantage of being stuck at home and read.... and maybe at times let the distraction take hold too. 

Ash-

I kept saying something like this was going to happen. But I never actually believed it was going to happen. It feels so apocalyptic out there. We're avoiding leaving unless we have to, and even going to the store with employees standing out front I feel like I'm going to start seeing armed guards around. 

This has been so bad for my reading. So so bad. Having Jenn and my dad home is one thing, but then I have Finn home too. Not only do I have Finn home, I'm homeschooling him too. So I spend half the day schooling him, then another quarter of the day doing chores and stuff with him, and then when I finally think I can read he is constantly "Momma come play! Momma can we play a board game!? Momma come color with me". And don't get me wrong, I love spending time with him, but man momma needs a break. I REALLY want to read.

Then hubby gets home and wants my attention, and I'm like *insert sighing emoji here* So I try to read while he plays video games or what not, he's incredibly distracting.

March felt like an entire year in itself with everything changing, so for most of March I didn't read at all. When April came around I made a vow! A vow to read a book a day! 

I haven't reached a book a day, but I am definitely reading more than I did in March. Just... not as much as I'd like.

All I'm going to say is I miss being home by myself during the day and IF it ever goes back to that I will never complain again!

      

Bookish Banter: What is Your Perfect Ending?

A little Bookish Banter to get us through.  Bookish Banter is a little bit of banter about our bookish thoughts as we have a friendly discussion over a nice cup of tea. 

This bookish banter is all about endings. What is your perfect ending? 

Jenn-

I feel this is a loaded question. At least for me. I will say that I do like my endings to be happy, resolved and complete. What that means is different for every story. I really don't like to say how a book should end because it's not my story.  So I am happy with having an ending because then I had a story. 

I do prefer my endings to be happy... preferably everyone survives, the romances are together, the main characters are in their bliss. Now I do know that this doesn't work for every story. Some stories are not meant to be happy. I also know that this isn't realistic in the real world... but I don't read for the real world. I read to escape so I like to live in a world that things are good. Happy endings make all the hardships in the book worth it. All the tears I shed, curses I shouted, and moments of throwing the book across the room... I need something to make me not regret those moments. I want to end a book smiling from ear to ear. 

With that said... Here is not my happy endings. These endings make me just mad!

Cliffhangers... I don't like these. I don't care if there are more books coming out. I don't want to wait a year or more to find out what happens. At least end it with the scene complete.

No real resolution... These stories are not complete. I need resolution, I need to know how what when why where and who. I need these answered by story end.

Leave it to my own interpretation .... No, This was not my story, I did not write this book. Don't make it up to my own brain to figure out what the ending meant. I need it ended, complete, understood, no questions left at the end. That just leaves me very very upset.

Ash-
I don't know that I have a preferred ending. I know there are some books that I've read that I've been like oh that ending sucked so bad. But I can't really tell you how the books should have ended. They just feel either incomplete, or just not at all what you expected or wanted.

I think I like twisty endings. Things you don't see coming. I think that's why I like horror, thriller, or mystery type books. Because you have absolutely no idea how it's going to end, who's going to live, or even sometimes the whodunnit. 

Jenn said she likes happy endings. I do not. I mean I guess for some books I do. But I don't read too many happy books. Usually my books are full of mental illness or murder, or zombies. 

With that being said I like books with endings that have me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, with no idea what's happening or going to happen.