Twelfth Night Readathon

December 8, 2013 – December 31, 2014

End of the Year 2013 Readathon #ReadingCram

December 9, 2013 – December 22, 2013

Lit Collective: An Online Reading Retreat

Perpetual

Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon

November 22, 2013 – November 24, 2013

Night Huntress Series Discussion

December 2, 2013 – February 3, 2014

Read-Along: Wilkie in Winter

December 21, 2013 – February 24, 2014

My first novel by Wilkie Collins was The Moonstone. I was absolutely enamored with this Victorian mystery and I soon followed up this read with The Woman in White and Armadale. Since that time I’ve read some stories by Collins and several more of this novels. To say he is a favorite is an understatement.

When I had a hunkering for a winter crawl through a delightful and thick Victorian novel I knew that it would have to be Wilkie Collins. Please, give me Wilkie in Winter. Luckily, two other bookish ladies Heather at Capricious Reader and Andi at Estella’s Revenge agreed. Hence the Estella Society presents Wilkie in Winter!

Join us for two group reads:

The Frozen Deep is a play by Wilkie Collins that concerns the discovery of the Northwest Passage. This read will run from 12/21/13 -01/07/14.

We’ll follow up with a reading of The Woman in White from 01/13/2014 – 02/24/2013. I’ve read this book before and it is a treat filled with mystery.  We’ll be dividing the book into thirds (most editions have the book divided into three Epochs) with discussions on 01/27, 02/10, and 02/24.

Won’t you join us? Feel free to pick-up other novels by Wilkie Collins and let us know what you’ll be reading.

Keep track of us on Twitter with #wilkiewinter.

This reading challenge is hosted by Fig and Thistle / Estella Society. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Night Huntress Series Read-Along

November 5, 2013 – January 28, 2014

In order to get everybody ready for the release of the seventh (and last!) Night Huntress book, we’ll be hosting a read along here at All Things Urban Fantasy over the next three months. Starting next Tuesday, we’ll be reading and discussing each one of the Night Huntress books on every other Tuesday (with a break for the holidays). Here’s the schedule, so you can plan ahead:

November 5—HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE

November 19—ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE

December 3—AT GRAVE’S END

December 17—DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE

January 7—THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE

January 21—ONE GRAVE AT A TIME

Release Day Review: January 28—UP FROM THE GRAVE

On the dates listed, Julia, Kristina and I will have a post with us discussing the book. Then, everybody is invited to join in the discussion in the comments section. Plus, we’re going to have a great giveaway provided by Avon Books for one lucky participant, and even a few tidbits from Jeaniene Frost herself!

I know we’re really excited about this and we hope everybody else is too! I can’t wait to see what everybody has to say about Cat and Bones- see you here in a week!

This reading event is hosted by All Things Urban Fantasy. For more information please see this post.

Black Dagger Brotherhood Read-Along

November 1, 2013 – March 25, 2014

It is approaching that time of year again… the excitement is mounting, time is being booked off work, the special snacks are being stockpiled and the massive DO NOT DISTURB sign is being crafted. That’s right there are only 4 short months until the new Black Dagger Brotherhood book The King is out.

In preparation we have decided to do some rereading, we are in the double digits now with BDB and may need some refreshing and reminding of why we love our favourite Hellrens. So please come and participate in our read-a-long, whether you have read BDB before and like us want a refresh or if you have never read it before then you are in for a massive vampire shaped treat

With each book we are reading we will be giving away a fantastic prize to one of the lucky Maidens reading long with us!

Here is the schedule for our reads:

Dark Lover- 01 Nov-10 Nov
Lover Eternal – 11 Nov- 20 Nov
Lover Awakened- 21 Nov – 1 Dec
Lover Revealed- 2 Dec – 16 Dec
Lover Unbound- 17 Dec –  7 Jan
Lover Enshrined- 8 Jan – 20 Jan
Lover Avenged- 21 Jan –  5 Feb
Lover Mine – 6 Feb – 19 Feb
Lover Unleashed- 20 Feb – 3 Mar
Lover Reborn – 4 Mar – 15 Mar
Lover at Last- 16 Mar – 25 Mar
THE KING-  25 Mar 2014

Join the discussion in the thread for each book! You will get the opportunity of winning a Black Dagger Brotherhood Book-themed book thong with each book read-a-along. Winners will be picked from the comments on the discussion for that book. Each comment is an entry so just chat and have fun!  Where?  This discussion will be hosted at the League of Lusty Ladies group!

Winners will also be randomly picked from the comments on the book discussions to win LOVER AT LAST posters throughout the whole read-along.

Are you in? Just leave us a note on the welcome thread on the group saying you’re in! And come back starting November 1 to start chatting!

This reading event is hosted by Under the Covers Book Blog. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Classics Retold Read-a-thon

September 13, 2013 – September 20, 2013

Read-a-thon is Hosted by Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages

Classics Retold is Hosted by Alison @ The Cheap Reader, Alyssa @ Books Take You Places, Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy, Wendy @ Excellent Library, Brittany @ Book Addict's Guide. Alison @ The Cheap Reader came up with this idea after project Fairy Tale was such a huge hit. She tweaked the challenge a bit to include classic books and their adaptations.

With Alison's permission I will be hosting a read-a-thon for Classics Retold.

I have been looking for read-a-thons to participate in September and there is nothing. There is one at the way end of the month. I decided that I needed a read-a-thon to participate in so why not host another one on my blog.

This read-a-thon will take place from Friday September 13th through Friday September 20. That is 8 full days of reading.

I realize I will be in classes most of those days as will most other people be, but any amount of reading that gets done counts.

You are not required to read classics during this read-a-thon, but if you are participating in classics retold I encourage you to read a book for your project so you can get the review up during September.

Rules

1. Sign Up with the Linky Below

2. Read

The challenges are completely optional. If you can think of any more challenges that should be done during the read-a-thon please leave them in the comments below.

Optional Challenges

1. Read 100 pages per day

2. Read a Classic or a book for the project related to your classic

3. Read a Library Book

4. Read a book that you really want to read, but have been putting off

5. Read a book by one of your favorite authors.

This reading event is hosted by Rachael Turns Pages. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

FrightFall Read-a-Thon

September 30, 2013 – October 6, 2013

It's here! The official sign up for the FrightFall Read-a-Thon! A week long fest of scary reading (well, at least one scary book anyway).  All you have to do to participate is read at least one horror/scary book.  For the faint-hearted among you, it can be a spooky mystery, a scary thriller, or something classically gothic.  Children's books are also allowed. It's not so much about the quantity of our reading, but the quality, right? But...if this read-a-thon helps you to mark a bunch of books off your TBR pile, so be it! As you all know, I will not be hosting any mini-challenges. I prefer to focus on the reading, as many of my participants do. However, if anyone else would like to host a mini-challenge, you are more than welcome.  Of course, there will be a big giveaway at the end.  And we will have a few scheduled Twitter chats again. Schedule will be listed in the starting line post. Our twitter hashtag is #FrightFall. As I did during High Summer, I will post a midway check in too.

Official dates and times for the read-a-thon...Monday, September 30 at 12:00am EST through Sunday, October 6 at 11:59pm EST (adjust times according to your particular time zone).

This reading event is hosted by The True Book Addict. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

War Through The Generations Reading Event

September 1- 27, 2013

Reading Event 

We hope you will join us for the September read-a-long of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson as part of the American Revolution Challenge 2013.

We will read a handful of chapters every week throughout September, and every Friday, we will post discussion questions here. We welcome you to post your thoughts on your blog and provide a link or just type your thoughts in the comments section of the discussion post; whatever works best for you. You can answer our questions or just discuss whatever you found most interesting in each section.

Here is the Reading Schedule, Discussion on Fridays:

Sept. 1-6: Chapters 1-10

Sept. 7-13: Chapters 11-24 (end Part 1)

Sept. 14-20: Chapters 25-36

Sept. 21-27: Chapters 37-45 (the end)

This reading challenge is hosted by War Through The Generations.  For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

The Arrow Chest Read-a-Long and Gothic September

September 2013

In September, we will have Gothic September! A month of reading gothic lit. I'm hoping to get some guest bloggers who love the gothic in literature, whether it's a guest post or a guest review. If you're interested, leave me a comment below. Check out these lists on Goodreads for some gothic inspiration: Best Gothic Books of All Time, The best gothic novels, ghost stories and early horror 1764-1937, and Best Gothic Novels/Suspense Novels.

Also, in conjunction with Gothic September, I'm hosting a read-a-long of the gothic historical fiction novel The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry. In addition, the author will be stopping by as a guest during Gothic September and offering a giveaway of the book! Grab a copy and join me! I will post the reading schedule soon.

About the book

London, 1876. The painter Amos Roselli is in love with his life-long friend and model, the beautiful Daphne - and she with him - until one day she is discovered by another man, a powerful and wealthy industrialist. What will happen when Daphne realises she has sacrificed her happiness to a loveless marriage? What will happen when the artist realises he has lost his most cherished source of inspiration? And how will they negotiate the ever-increasing frequency of strange and bizarre events that seem to be driving them inexorably towards self-destruction.

Here, amid the extravagant Neo-Gothic culture of Victorian England, the iconic poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ blends with mysterious and ghostly glimpses of Tudor history. Romantic, atmospheric and deeply dark.

About the author

Robert Parry is a UK writer of historical fiction with special interests in Tudor and Georgian England, Victorian Gothic and Pre-Raphaelite art. His debut novel, ‘Virgin and the Crab’ appeared in 2009, and his 2nd, ‘The Arrow Chest,’ in 2011. His latest, entitled WILDISH, has just been published, March 2013.

A fresh and original voice in historical fiction, his work spans the Tudor, Georgian and Victorian eras, and combines reality, mystery and imagination within a well-researched and vivid historical setting.

Details, plus news, competitions and more can be found at http://robertparry.wix.com/author  Also, various articles by Robert Parry can be found at http://endymion-at-night.blogspot.com.

This reading event is hosted by Castle Macabre. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Free eRead-A-Thon

January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013

It’s here! Sign-ups for the first ever Free eRead-a-thon are NOW open! It’s a very low pressure event that begins on Sunday, August 11th and ends on Saturday, August 17th in your location. The best part? No money involved! The goal of Free eRead-a-thon is to tackle those free downloads we all have on our Kindles, Nooks, Kobos, etc. The schedule includes a few challenges, a Twitter chat or two and throughout the read-a-thon there will be prizes awarded. Anyone can join in on the fun even if you don’t have a blog.

This reading event is hosted by Consuming Worlds & Literary, etc. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Bout of Books 8.0

August 19, 2013 – August 25, 2013

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 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th 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 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

This reading event is hosted by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Something in a Summer’s Day: August Poetry Project

August 1, 2013 – August 31, 2013

Somehow, at every library book sale I come away with poetry books: anthologies, individual authors, it doesn’t matter. Somehow I buy them!

This year in April, I did not focus on reading poetry as I have in the past. It’s about time.

This August, I pledge to read poems and write about them on this blog.

Would you care to join me?

On August 1, I’ll have a linky open. If you post on a volume of poetry, an anthology, a single poem, or a book about poetry during the month of August 2013, come link up! Even if you don’t get anything read and posted about, you can read our posts.

Sign the linky if you have a blog and would like commit to joining in! If you don’t have a blog, you can also join in by sharing your thoughts in the comments.

This reading event is hosted by Rebecca Reads. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

High Summer Read-a-Thon

January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013

It's time to sign up for the High Summer Read-a-Thon! I hope you will join me this month for the week of July 22. We will start on Monday, 7/22 at 12:00am CST and finish on Sunday, 7/28 at 11:59pm CST (adjust times according to your time zone). Read what you like during the week. I've decided it's not about quantity, but quality (although those who rock the quantity...I salute you!). So, if you have kids and want to read children's books, go for it! As always, this is a week long read-a-thon, but you can join in and read whenever it's convenient for you. It's all about being laid back and getting some reading done.

I will not be hosting any mini-challenges, as we learned from my last few read-a-thons, focusing on the reading rocks. However, if anyone else would like to host a mini-challenge (or giveaway), you are more than welcome...just let me know. If you know someone who would like to donate a prize, or authors, if you would like to promote your book through the read-a-thon, please contact me via the tab at the top of the blog. We will also have a few scheduled Twitter chats again. I will announce the times in the starting line post. Our Twitter hashtag is #HSreadathon

You do not have to have a blog. You can sign up using your Goodreads, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.

If you are planning on joining me (I hope so), please sign up in the linky below. You don't have to do a post now, but if you would like to help me spread the word, that would be great. Don't forget that this is just the sign-up linky. There will be a starting line sign-in and wrap-up linkies during the read-a-thon and doing both is required to be eligible for the giveaway (s). I will also be adding a mid-week check-in post, but you are not required to link up for the giveaway (s). Just if you want us to check out your progress. You can sign in at the starting line any time during the week up until Friday night at midnight CST.

This reading event is hosted by Seasons of Reading. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Library Books Read-A-Thon

June 22, 2013 – June 28, 2013

I'm very excited to announce my very first read-a-thon. I love read-a-thons and I really think they motivate me to read. I present to you the Library Books Read-A-Thon. June read-a-thons seem to be in short supply so I hoped to fill in the gap.

The goal of this read-a-thon is to read as many library books as possible. If you are like me you always have books that are close to due that need to be done and fast so this read-a-thon is a great time to get those books done and get them back to the library.
I'm not going to be picky. If you want to read your own books go ahead. I just love read-a-thons so I would love anybody who could join.

This Read-A-Thon will start at midnight on June 21 and will go until midnight of the 28th. I will put an update, linky post up every day during the read-a-thon so you guys can link your progress and we can meet new bloggers through this read-a-thon. 

This reading event is hosted by Rachael Turns Pages. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Exploring China Through Books

Summer 2013

For me, one of the greatest pleasures of reading is an author's ability to transport a reader to far away lands and introduce ancient and contemporary histories, as well as cultures and traditions.  I have always been fascinated with China and during the summer of 2004, I was fortunate enough to spend six weeks in this fascinating country teaching English to elementary school children. I have since developed an ever-growing list of books to be read that in one way or another are related to China.  I'm convinced that I am not alone; there must be others who would enjoy this type of reading as well.  So, I've decided to host a summer reading program entitled, Exploring China Through Books, here on my blog.  I have chosen six books with the intention of discussing one book every two weeks during the summer months.  Essentially, this will be an on-line book club with scheduled live chats as an option.

Guidelines:

• To sign-up, simply add a link to your blog or Good Reads profile to the linky at the end of this post. If you are a blogger, please post this event on your blog with a link to this post in order to share this with others.  Once you sign-up, please leave a comment on this post and let me know if you would be interested in the live chats. (I need to know an approximate number of participants in order to adjust the ChatRoll widget accordingly)
• You do not have to commit to read all six books; you may pick and choose those that interest you the most.  However, these should be books...not audio books.
• At the beginning of each new discussion week, I will create a post of the book being discussed with some possible discussions questions and I encourage to develop your own questions as well.  With each post I will also include a schedule for live book chats.  This is optional, and I will do my best to offer at least three different times to choose from to accommodate the various time zones.  Prior to participating in your first book chat, you will need to sign-up with Chatroll.  This will only take about 5 minutes and you can access Chatroll through the widget in my sidebar.
• If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment on this post and I will address it as soon as possible.

Reading Schedule:
(Books should be read by the date listed for that week's discussion)
JUNE 9TH

Red Sorghum By Mo Yan
Description:
The acclaimed novel of love and resistance during late 1930s China by Mo Yan, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.

JUNE 23RD

Bound Feet & Western Dress
By Pang-Mei Natasha Chang
Description:
"In China, a woman is nothing." Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture. Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years. In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.

JULY 7TH

The Concubine's Daughter By Pai Kit Fai
Description:
In the bestselling tradition of Memoirs of a Geisha, a riveting saga of early twentieth-century China, where a mother and a daugther fight to realize their destinies in a world where woman could still be bought and sold. Lotus Feet. He would give his daughter the dainty feet of a courtesan. This would enhance her beauty and her price, making her future shine like a new coin. He smiled to himself, pouring fresh tea. And it would stop her from running away… When the young concubine of an old farmer in rural China gives birth to a daughter called Li-Xia, or “Beautiful One,” the child seems destined to become a concubine herself. Li refuses to submit to her fate, outwitting her father’s orders to bind her feet and escaping the silk farm with an English sea captain. Li takes her first steps toward fulfilling her mother’s dreams of becoming a scholar—but her final triumph must be left to her daughter, Su Sing, “Little Star,” in a journey that will take her from remote mountain refuges to the perils of Hong Kong on the eve of World War II.

JULY 21ST

Red Azalea By Anchee Min
Description:
Red Azalea is Anchee Min’s celebrated memoir of growing up in the last years of Mao’s China. As a child, she was asked to publicly humiliate a teacher; at seventeen, she was sent to work at a labor collective. Forbidden to speak, dress, read, write, or love as she pleased, she found a lifeline in a secret love affair with another woman. Miraculously selected for the film version of one of Madame Mao’s political operas, Min’s life changed overnight. Then Chairman Mao suddenly died, taking with him an entire world. A revelatory and disturbing portrait of China, Anchee Min’s memoir is exceptional for its candor, its poignancy, its courage, and for its prose which Newsweek calls "as delicate and evocative as a traditional Chinese brush painting."

AUGUST 4TH

Waiting By Ha Jin
Description:
The demands of human longing contend with the weight of centuries of custom in acclaimed author Ha Jin's Waiting, a novel of unexpected richness and universal resonance. Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese Army, returns to his village to end his loveless marriage with the humble and touchingly loyal Shuyu. But each time Lin must return to the city to tell Manna Wu, the educated, modern nurse he loves, that they will have to postpone their engagement once again. Caught between conflicting claims of these two utterly different women and trapped by a culture in which adultery can ruin lives and careers, Lin has been waiting for eighteen years. This year, he promises, will be different.

AUGUST 18TH

Miss Chopsticks By Xinran
Description:
Xinran takes her readers to the heart of modern Chinese society in this delightful and absorbing tale of three peasant girls getting to grips with life in the big city. The Li sisters don’t have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because she hasn’t managed to produce a son, and they themselves only merit a number as a name. Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. Men, on the other hand, are the strong rafters that hold up the roof of a house. Yet when circumstances lead the sisters to seek work in distant Nanjing, the shocking new urban environment opens their eyes. While Three contributes to the success of a small restaurant, Five and Six learn new talents at a health spa and a bookshop/tearoom. And when the money they earn starts arriving back at the village, their father is forced to recognize that daughters are not so dispensable after all. As the Li sisters discover Nanjing, so do we: its past, its customs and culture, and its future as a place where people can change their lives.

This reading event is hosted by The Book Barista. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon

Aril 22, 2013 – April 28, 2013

As scheduled almost a year ago, the Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon is almost here! It's coming to put some scare in your Spring on Monday, April 22 at 12:00am CST through Sunday, April 28 at 11:59pm CST (adjust times according to your time zone). Now don't let the word 'horror' scare you away. You only have to read one scary book during the duration of the read-a-thon. However, that book can be horror, paranormal, thriller, mystery, etc. The rest of the read-a-thon, you can read whatever you want. More horror/scary stuff or just your regular reading repertoire. As always, this is a week long read-a-thon, but you can join in and read whenever it's convenient for you. It's all about being laid back and getting some reading done...with a little bit of scary thrown in.

I will not be hosting any mini-challenges, as we learned from my last few read-a-thons, focusing on the reading rocks. However, if anyone else would like to host a mini-challenge, you are more than welcome...just let me know. If you know someone who would like to donate a prize, or authors, if you would like to promote your book through the read-a-thon, please contact me at truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom. We will also have a few scheduled Twitter chats again. I will announce the times in the starting line post. Our Twitter hashtag is #SpringHorrorRAT

You do not have to have a blog. You can sign up using your Goodreads, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.

If you are planning on joining me (I hope so), please sign up in the linky below. You don't have to do a post now, but if you would like to help me spread the word, that would be great. (Don't forget that this is just the sign-up linky. There will be starting line sign-in and wrap-up linkies during the read-a-thon and doing both is required to be eligible for the giveaway). You can start any time during the week up until Friday night at midnight CST.

This reading event is hosted by Seasons of Reading. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Follow Friday Hosted by Anniesh Imaginary Adventures

March 1 - June 1, 2013
Hosted by:
Anniesh Imaginary Adventures

As you may know, every Friday people tweet the names of Twitter users they'd like others to follow and tag it with #followfriday and/or #FF. My idea of this monthly feature originates with the aforementioned feature on Twitter.  Follow Friday should become a great way for bloggers to socialize and network their blogs, and to share upcoming events! I hope that it will help many bookworms not to miss any interesting event as well as my fellow bloggers to attract more participants or even more blog followers.

And, this is how it should work:

• On the third Friday of every month I will share with you a bookish challenge, a read-a-long, or a readathon that I've found in the blogosphere and will start soon, and the entering of which I'd recommend to every kindred spirit.
• Create your own Follow Friday post and recommend upcoming bookish events hosted by other bloggers that you find interesting. Even though I'm addicted to the classics, please feel free to recommend events from any genre that is dear to your heart! You may keep your FF post short or you may write a lengthy one; it's up to you. You can also praise the whole blog that hosts that particular event, if you like.
• It would be nice, if you would use my official graphic and please link back toAnneish Imaginary Adventures so that other people wanting to participate know where to get the information to do so!
• Once you have your Follow Friday posted, come back to Anneish Imaginary Adventures and add your link to the list.
• Visit other participants' link to find out what events they recommend and please do share with them as well as with me, if they inspired you to enter an event!
• Finally, have fun and read on!

This meme is hosted by Hotchpot Cafe. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.