The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th 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 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

It’s time for one of my favorite readathons, Bout of Books! I love this readathon because it always coincides with the beginning of the new year, and acts as a great way to jump-start my yearly reading. Since it’s a week long, I generally can finish several books, and it’s often a way for me to pick up anticipated new releases or shorter books that have been on my TBR for awhile. Keeping that in mind, here’s my TBR for this round of Bout of Books!

Physical books:

With readathons, I generally like to start with a big, unrealistically tall stack of physical books that I might be in the mood for, so that I won’t have any issues with indecisiveness or reading slumps. This time, I’ve got a good variety of mostly shorter books, short stories, and novellas to pick from.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire in an Instagram giveaway, and I’m planning on reading it on the first day of Bout of Books, since its release day is January 8th. It’s a novella, so it’s short, and I already know I love this series, so I think it’ll be a good way to kick things off. I also have a short story collection (How Long Til Black Future Month) by one of my favorite authors, N.K. Jemisin, on my list, since short stories can help break things up during the week, and another novella, The Strange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer, who is another favorite. And then I have a few more random shorter reads: Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett, which I started on a whim this week; A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan, author of The Gracekeepers; and Poison by Sarah Pinborough, a Snow White retelling.

Audiobooks:

I’m currently in the middle of listening to Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper, which has been highly recommended by just about everybody and which I chose as my first audiobook of 2019, but it’s not super long (about 7 hours) so I also wanted to choose a backup. I’m currently first in line in my library holds list for Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, which is about the Theranos scandal and which I’ve heard recommended a ton also, particularly on the Book Riot podcasts.

ebooks:

It’s always good to have an ebook option during a readathon, since when I’m out running errands or something it can be nice to have a book on my phone to check out when I have a few minutes to spare. So I checked out Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake from my library after seeing it recommended as my favorite booktuber’s favorite book of 2018.

Are you participating in Bout of Books?