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remindmetoread.wordpress.com

Since I didn’t do a “September Expectations”, I won’t call this post “September Reality”. In September I read 2 books and they were both from the Harry Potter series. I am now 9 books away from my 2018 Reading Goal and 5 books away from completing the Harry Potter series. I really want to read other books, but I like sticking to one series, but also want to read something else LOL. After I finish the series I’ll need to read 4 more books to reach my 2018 goal, so hopefully Harry Potter doesn’t put me in a book slump and I’m able to read something else.

My experience with reading Harry Potter has been great, amazing, magical, fun, nostalgic, hopeful, and freeing. Books like this remind you why reading is an incredible hobby. Why getting lost in fiction can improve your day and state of mind. A good book is everything.

If you would like to see my review on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I’ve posted non-spoiler reviews on my Goodreads, linked below. When I finish the entire series, there will be an overall review on my blog and a Reading Vlog on my BookTube channel.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Goodreads Review

There is no “real” September TBR expectations this month because I am doing a Harry Potter: Read With Me! I’m simply reading the Harry Potter series from book 1 to book 7 and vlogging my experience along the way. I haven’t made the announcement on my BookTube channel because I haven’t had the time to sit and film it, but this has been a long time coming.

I’ve been saying for years now that it’s time I read the Harry Potter series. I’ve seen 7 out of the 8 movies at least once. So I know it’s a good story. I’ve been surrounded by the fandom as a member of the book community and I’ve even done sorting quizzes for the Houses. So I said to myself, “If I’m going to read the series, I want to own it, and I want to own it via a nice special edition box set”. It took years for me to be comfortable spending the money. I finally bought a UK edition that fit my wants and it is beautiful. 

The different colored covers, the illustrations, the sparkle; stunning books.

So my goal was to read these books in September, but seeing as how 3 weeks have passed and I’m only on book 2, it may just take a while longer. I have a target to complete the series by Halloween. I’ll do my August wrap up here and say that I didn’t complete any of the books on my August TBR. If you’re new here, it might seem that I am not a reader since I have not been finishing any books, but here is my excuse: THE MONTH GOES BY SO FAST! I’m honestly terrible at saying I’m going to read something and actually reading it. My reading mood does what she wants, which is why I’m reading Harry Potter now and only Harry Potter. 

For this blog, I will make separate posts for each book and by Halloween I will be having a marathon of the movies. So far, I am having the best experience with my reading of the series and I look forward to finally knowing the story so intimately like all the fans. 

We are 11 days into August and I’ve already read 3 books due to BookTube-A-Thon. I’ll save their titles for my August Wrap Up, but you would know their titles from my BookTube-A-Thon posts.

I’ve officially read 11 books for my Goodreads Reading Challenge, so I have 13 books left to read by the end of the year. I want to read 7 books this month to make up for not winning BookTube-A-Thon and these are the books:

1. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

2. A Mind For Numbers by Barbara Oakley Ph.D

3. Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

4. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

5. Circe by Madeline Miller

6. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

In July I meant to read 5 books. These are the books I managed to read in July:

1. To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han

2. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Last month I said I wanted to complete the series written by Jenny Han by the time the Netflix movie comes out. I only have the last book to complete. I started it but stopped reading because I’m not ready for it to end, but I still have time to read it. I put up reviews for both books and hope to get to the 3rd in August.

I read Mindy Kaling’s first book because I participated in BookTube-A-Thon. BookTube-A-Thon was a TBR of books that weren’t on my July TBR. It started at the end of July, which goes to show I was not deep into my reading.

Books that I didn’t get to in July but they were on my TBR:

1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, so I was waiting 

2. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

I bought The Night Circus and was waiting for it to come in the mail. It came during BookTube-A-Thon so I didn’t get to it A Torch Against the Night got put off in place for To All The Boys I Loved Before. I’m hoping August is a good reading month. I have a week left till school starts so I want to finish 5 books.

I did not complete BookTube-A-Thon. I didn’t even read today.

I wasn’t in a reading mood, so I decided not to force it for the sake of the challenge. And also, even though it wasn’t a big deal to finish, I feel bummed that I wasn’t able t finish all 7 books. I do plan on reading them this year. I might even put some in my August TBR. But for now, I hope you guys had better success and if you’re like me, YAY! We will try again next year.

Some tips for success:

1. Small books/graphic novels.

Books that you can finish in a couple hours or in one sitting are key to BookTube-A-Thon. They’re less daunting that a 300+ page book and you’re free to do more than just sit and read all day to complete a book.

2. If you do read a bigger book, be realistic of how many pages you can read per hour.

Before BookTube-A-Thon started, I made an excel spreadsheet that documented the numbers of pages, my page per hour speed, and how my speed factored in the number of hours it will take me to finish the book. You’ll have to do math, but I think it was a great outline of what to expect. And it’s different for everyone’s TBR, so I think that’s cool.

3. Make reading your free time.

I think since I was off from my job and it’s summer break, reading turned into work, so I would put off my reading in exchange for scrolling my Instagram and other socials. Plus I started vlogging, I think recording, editing, and uploading took a lot of reading time from my day. So don’t start anything new during the readathon unless you’re really good with time management.

4. Create a reading space and bring snacks and tea/coffee/etc.

Creating your own environment is just fun, but when you declare it as a reading zone and all you have is pillows, blankets, mood lighting, etc. and no phone, it becomes a place for strictly getting your reading done.

5. Finish books you’ve already started.

This could be cheating, but as long as you finish the book the week of BookTube-A-Thon, it has to count. Plus if you’ve already got to a certain point in a book, you’re more likely to force yourself to finish the book or be excited to finish.

6. Participate in the Twitter reading sprints.

The book community on Twitter is vast. You’ll find a lot of inspiration and conversations on there. The BookTube-A-Thon account has these reading sprints where you read for 30 minutes or so. They have a whole schedule for when the reading sprints start. Set a timer and they’re great for focusing.

7. Don’t do everything.

BookTube-A-Thon offers all these opportunities to win things and get followers and interact with other readers, but you can’t do it all. The YouTube challenges are fun and the Instagram challenges give you a chance to show off your creativity, but if you try to do each one every day, you’ll exhaust yourself. If you want to do them, that’s fine, but I’m just saying it’s a lot when you’re also trying to read 7 books in 7 days.

Updates from Day 5:

I finished the Mockingjay movies and barely started Isla and the Happily Ever After. I really just didn’t know what to pick up, what would best suit me to finish BookTubeAThon. 

TODAY

I’m not going to complete BookTubeAThon. I was determined but now I see 3 books out of 7 with 2 days left is completely impossible for me. I’m going to make a post of what I wish I did differently, but until then, you can check out my reading vlogs on my BookTube. 

Updates from Day 4:

I finished Mockingjay and loved it. Since Mockingjay was my Book-to-movie adaptation challenge, I watched Mockingjay Part I. I had already seen it when it first came out, it’s just Mockingjay Part II I’ve never seen and I’ll watch that today. 

I also finished Barracoon. The book was shorter than I originally thought because the last 50 or so pages were extra information, such as notes for what was in the actual reading. So I put the book down after the last chapter.

TODAY

Updates from Day 3:

Listening to the audiobook of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins really helped me make a break in my TBR. If you read my previous posts, my reading schedule is nothing like I planned. But I managed to get 7 hours into Mockingjay with 4 hours left. I plan to finish it today and then start The Perks of Being a Wallflower or finish Barracoon. 

I’m saving Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling till the last minute because I believe I can finish it in day. All that’s left is Isla and the Happily Ever After and Little Fires Everywhere. 

If I had to guess which book will make me fail the challenge, it would be Isla and the Happily Ever After. I don’t know, things are piling up so quickly.

Check out my latest photos on Instagram: @/remindmetoread

I’m slacking!

So far, I’ve finished 1 book. I’m definitely behind.Technically I should be finishing my 3rd book today. But today I have to move out of my dorm and that is going to take a bit of my time.

A lot of factors are taking away from my reading time. I’ve been recording vlog footage for the BookTube-A-Thon but haven’t uploaded Day 2 yet because it still needs to be edited. 

Updates from Day 1:

I DID IT! I finished Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling in one day. 

She’s funny, cute, inspirational. Will post a review next week because I took notes. I actually listened to the audiobook since it was available and finished it in 4.5 hours.

I didn’t read anything else. I changed plans and picked up Barracoon, but I was distracted by filming different videos for my BookTube channel, taking pics for my Bookstagram, and editing my BookTubeAThon Day 1 video. But at least it’s only Day 2 and I only have 6 books left, instead of 7.

TODAY

IT’S TIME! July 30th, 2018, midnight in Florida

This is my first time doing the BookTubeAThon. I don’t think you need to read 1 book each day or read the books in any particular order, so I’m just going to do what I feel in my gut in order to get reading and finish this challenge successfully. 

I’m starting with Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. I love Mindy Kaling. She is one of my favorite celebrities. I find her inspiring. She is a healthy dose of admiration. I’ve read this book years ago! I remember the only thing I didn’t like about it was all the references to The OFFICE. I’ve never watched the show. I’ve seen mini clips that were really funny, but when I tried to watch it on Netflix, I fell asleep on the first episode. I heard it picks up in the 2nd or 3rd season, so I’ll try again in the Fall. But I love The Mindy Project. I love her Instagram, her commencement speeches, and her style.

I said in my BookTubeAThon Announcement that I want to re-watch all the Hunger Games movies up until Mockingjay Part I, so that I’ll be refreshed on everything that happened and I can finish reading the Mockingjay book as part of my challenge. But it was silly of me to think I needed to do that, especially since I’d have to pay to watch them. I’m going to save my money.

Anyway, since it’s Day 1,

I might as well create a plan so I can watch it fall a part as the days go on, haha. After Day 1, I want to Start Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. If I can hit the half way mark of that book on Day 2, this readathon will not be doomed. It’s the largest book on my TBR.

Then The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky will be a quicky. Then I’ll read Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston as just another quick read. I can definitely read them both in one day. That’s the goal!

By Day 4, I want to start Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins. It’s contemporary. I take my sweet time with contemporaries and it’s one of my favorite romance stories so I can’t just put it aside till last minute. I’ll also start reading Mockingjay from where I left off last year. I didn’t get very far into it, so hopefully I still remember where I left off, or I can just start from the beginning. 

When I’m done with reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, that’s when I plan to actually watch the Mockingjay movies.There is a Part I and a Part II so I might make a day of it and then try to finish Little Fires Everywhere.

If all goes as planned, I’ll make it to Day 6 and start Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling. I picked up a bunch of different genres, I’m a little scared I might fall into a book slump mid-readathon. Or the multiple genres could actually save me from a book slump. You never know. Reading moods are complicated.

Then Day 7, I’ll finish Isla and the Happily Ever After, cry about how much I love the story, and then fall asleep. I really hope this is how it all goes down, but best case scenario, I’ll be able to use Day 7 as a catch up day. Worst case scenario, I just forget the BookTubeAThon and binge The OFFICE.

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No spoilers if you’ve read To All the Boys I’ved Loved Before. But possible spoilers included if you have not.

Summary

In this book we return to Lara Jean’s world. We left off with her writing another letter to Peter. A letter that is supposed to help her let him go. But can a fake relationship, turned real relationship, turn heartbreak really be the end? Or does it become a real life teenager love affair?

Overall

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han is another re-read. I’m making my way through the series so I can read Always and Forever, Lara Jean. And wow. I did not realize how much I forgot occurred in this book. This book, though shorter than Book 1, had so many different occurrences. Lara Jean was always doing something or had something coming up. It felt like a whole year flew by, when honestly I don’t even think they made it to midterms yet. It picked up where it left off in the first book and there were a handful of new characters with their own opportunities for lengthy dialogue. No character in particular felt out of place, but it was quite a few new people for Lara Jean to interact with and for the reader to remember. 

This book was a tougher read than the first, as far as emotions. It’s up and down and all around. We get more letters in this book, but not in the way you’d expect them to be considering the plot of the first book. I think the best thing you can look forward to in this book is a continuation of drama. There is a story in this book that truly needed to be told and we also see Lara Jean’s growth. I feel this is the main focus of this book to bring it to it’s conclusion. Since it was originally a duology, I believe the ending was so fitting. But now it’s a trilogy and I’m a little scared. Lara Jean started out as you remember in the first book, judgmental, sheltered, child-like, and stagnant into this fun, inquisitive, busy, loving girl. She really became self aware and grew up in this second novel.

I love Lara Jean. I love Peter. There’s not much of Margot or Josh in this book. This is all Lara Jean’s time to shine. I feel Jenny Han did a great job of writing relationships and what’s it like to be a teenager. A particular teenager who needs to get out of their shell. A shell they were forced out of, but it was a necessary force. I give this book 5 stars. The countless events in this book made it seem like it was dragging on, but by the ending, I’m so glad there’s a third book to get more love letters.

Summary

Lara Jean is a girl who loves love, but never experienced it firsthand. Whenever she has a crush on a boy, she writes him a letter putting all her deepest thoughts and emotions about each boy in writing. She seals each letter in an envelope with the boy’s address and never sends them. But one day those letters are sent out without her knowledge and she has to deal with the aftermath of her crushes finding out all the details of her feelings for them.

Overall

To All the Boys I Loved Before is a re-read and I must say I loved it just as much as I did three years ago. You have this story from the perspective of a Korean American girl, she keeps to herself mostly, invisible to the majority of her classmates, most of her time is spent with her family and baking. Without the love letters, this could have been a very bland book, but thankfully we have drama. I loved this plot. I feel like one of the best parts of this book was being able to read the letters Lara Jean wrote. They were all s beautifully written, detailed, specific, and lovely. Sure it’s embarrassing on Lara Jean’s part, but none of the letters made her seem anything less than a poet. I would have loved to get one of her letters. 

As an introvert, I relate so much to Lara Jean. I’m perfectly fine in my nest of the usual. And she gets her human interaction from her loving family, she gets her physical activity out of baking, reading, and knitting. She has a friend that keeps her on her toes, but doesn’t expect her to participate in wild acts. I’m not sure if this was Jenny Han’s expectations, but she wrote a book that can inspire getting out of your shell.

I didn’t expect the sisterhood relationship. I have two sisters just like Lara Jean, and I feel the dynamic of loving siblings was captured perfectly. 

ANOTHER READATHON!!!

This one is called “BookTubeAThon” and in comparison to the last challenge I did, this one is 7 days long. The main rule is to finish 7 books within the 7 days! The readathon starts July 30th at midnight till August 5th 11:59pm, so this is just an announcement for the books I plan to read. There are guidelines for what books you have to read that are pretty fun so I will be sharing that below. I want to say thank you to BooksWithEmilyFox because I saw her video first, but the actual challenge was made by Ariel Bisset, who also has a BookTube.

The guidelines for the challenge is as followed:

1. Let a coin toss decide your first read.

2. Read a book about something you want to do.

3. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation.

4. Read a book with green on the cover.

5. Read a book while wearing the same hat the whole time.

6. Read a book with a beautiful spine.

7. Read 7 books.

In order to make this a successful readathon, I want to pick books that are no more than 300 pages max and books that I’ve already started but never finished just to make the task easier on my slow reading eyes. So here we go.

For #1, I guess you just pick two books you’d really like to read for the readathon. Assign one book as heads of a coin and the other book as tails. Then whatever the coin lands on will be one of the books on your BookTubeAThon reading list. I’m choosing between two memoirs, We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union (heads) and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (tails).

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I flipped a coin and it landed on tails! So Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling is the winner. Sorry, Gab Union, I really want to read your book, but next time.

For #2, I’m picking Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins because this book has some romantic adventures around Europe and it’s definitely something I want to do.

For #3, I want to read Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I started The Hunger Games trilogy last year and it’s time I put this book to bed. It’s been so long since I picked it up. And I will watch the movie. I want to rewatch the whole series because Mockingjay Part II is the only movie I haven’t seen in the series in anticipation of finally reading Mockingjay, but it might interrupt my reading goal and make the challenge hard to finish. I don’t know what to do just yet.

For #4, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Trees are green and they’re all over this cover.

For #5, I’ll read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky because it’s short, so I don’t have to wear a hat for very long, haha. I’ve also been meaning to re-read it. It’s one of my favorite books for sure. I own it now, so I can annotate it.

For #6, Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston has a rustic, antique look. I think it’s my favorite book cover/spine of 2018.

For #7, I’ll read Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling since it’s the sequel to the very first book on my list.

It’s time for the To All the Boys I Loved Before series 24 hour Readathon!

So I had some technical difficulties that wouldn’t allow me to record my first few hours of reading, but I’ll be typing up how far I get in the book, page number updates, what time it is, strategies for completing my reading goal, and thoughts about the book here so all that content isn’t completely lost. I didn’t mention in my announcement that I’ve already read the first two books of the series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. That was back in 2015. I loved both books. My reviews are on Goodreads; I gave them 5 stars each, but it’s great to return to a series and see if you feel the same about it or see anything you missed now that you know the ending. Don’t worry, there will be no spoilers in these updates and I’ll try to not make this a long post.

JULY 14, 2018

12:00am: It’s officially time. I will be starting with the first book of the series (TATBILB), of course. The first book has 355 pages. I think I’m great for 50 pages per hour (I’m such a slow reader) so if my math is correct (I’m an engineering major so this should be easy)...50 pages per hour should allow me to finish the first book in 7.1 hours. The 2nd book is even shorter (337 pages), that can be finished in 6.74 hours if I read 50 pages per hour. The 3rd book is 325 pages, so that would take 6.5 hours. In total that’s 20.4 hours of reading. Less than a day if I only sleep for only 3.6 hours. Haha. Mathematically this challenge is 100% doable. I’m a lot more confident. I’m not going to pull too much of an all-nighter. I want to at least finish half of Book 1 before going to bed. That’s 177.2 pages which should take me no more than 3.5 hours. I’ll definitely push for more than 50 pages per hour, but it’s good to have a minimum goal. Okay I’m rambling. I’ll be back to update before I go to sleep!

2:30am: I actually only read for an hour and half and got to page 47. All of a sudden, I wasn’t in the mood. I was having technical difficulties with recording video and now I’m sort of scrapping the whole vlog idea. It soured my plans, but I pushed through and I’m going to try to wake up early and continue where I left off. I go to work at 2pm, It would be great if I could finish the book by then *fingers crossed*

7:30am: I’m picking up where I left off. I’m continuing my 50 pages an hour goal. I’m giving myself till 2pm, but should actually be done by 1:30pm if I go fast. I wanted to say, I’m enjoying the book, but it has choppy sentences. A lot of the sentences have 6 words and their not very descriptive. It helps to see the naivety in the main character, Lara Jean.

9:04am: I’m so tired. I’m reading in bed and I want to take a nap. I reached page 107 out of 355. So far I’m noticing it takes me about an hour and a half to finish 50 pages. That’s a bummer! And I really want to take a nap. Good news is, I think I will finish TATBILB today, though I’m not sure if I can finish the 2nd one.

1:00pm: I fell asleep after an hour of reading. I’m awake now in time to get ready for work, but I lost 3 hours of reading *sad face*. I have work at 2pm. It’s really chill so I can spend the time reading.

5:45pm: Left work. I was able to read quite a bit. I really got into the story and now I plan to continue reading into the night. Still haven’t broke 200 pages yet, but once I reach the halfway mark, i’m sure the climax will come and I’ll read faster.

9:19pm: Less than 100 pages left!!! 

12:30pm: I definitely won’t be able to finish the challenge. I have 34 pages left and I would have finished, but police came to my door about a noise complaint for the people living above me. I had to talk to them and that threw off the whole mood of my reading. I recorded my reading throughout the day with the best of my abilities and mentioned it in the video. No footage of the police, but I am not that type of “vlogger” right now and will probably never be. I do plan to finish TATBILB before going to bed and there will be a review about it after this post. I’ve read it already but never gave it a review on this blog. I think I read for about 11 hours total, 8 hours of sleep, and 5 hours of random miscellaneous things like getting food, checking my phone, and doing my job.