Bout of Books 7.0 | Challenge - Create a Cover

Original cover:

My cover:

Image taken from here | Artwork created by Lala Vicencio

I looove create-a-cover challenges, they are my favorite! While I didn't get a chance to join the contest, I still wanted to participate anyways because I found that awesome image above (which can also be purchased as a poster here) and thought it would be a great cover for one of my favorite books of all time, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Bout of Books 7.0 | Challenge - Book Soundtrack

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

"I was sitting up and flushed, and so determined I could barely feel my lungs or any other part of me. Sophia dropped my hand, and she looked as though she was going to cry.

'Please try to believe me,' I said. 'This didn't happen by accident. You have been with me from the first life. You are my first memory every time, the single thread in all of my lives. It's you who makes me a person."

First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes

"Yours is the first face that I saw. I think I was blind before I met you. Now I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been, but I know where I want to go...and so I thought I'd let you. Yeah these things take forever, I especially am slow. But I realize that I need you, and I wondered if I could come home."

First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty

"'Of course I loved you!'

'Loved?'

The past tense clanged like a prison door shutting, and changed everything; the room itself was transformed by it, the bed, the dresser, the bare floor, the window, all seeming to step back while absorbing the word's singular power."

House Full of Empty Rooms by Kathleen Edwards
"And I'm far from perfect, I'm far from anything but I swear that when we started I used to make you happy but I don't know you...not the way that I thought I did. Maybe you don't know me and you don't wanna be the first to say. I've been wondering about what we're gonna do and I've been wondering about what we're gonna do. A house full of empty rooms."

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

"There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well. So I take the memories as they come, accepting them all."

Fire Escape by Diane Birch

"Goodbye my love. I'll be seeing you when the lights go, when I put my head on the pillow...I'll think of you. My crimson dove, wish that I could save you from the sadness. Honey, all around me lies the madness, oh, of your love. What makes the price good enough to wanna pay? What makes the hurt go away? Fire escape when all that I can do is ache, since you've gone away..."

This is one of my favorite things to do, choosing songs for books, but it is also really tough and I couldn't think of a whole soundtrack for one book! These three songs and books are old favorites that I have blogged about before and I decided to share them again. 

Bout of Books 7.0 | Challenge - Book Spine Poetry

Follow me to where it began,

So far away, and past midnight 

the night enchanted by starlight

beyond...and what happens next?

Forbidden bliss. 

I've never done a book spine poem and coming up with one was really tough! It was a lot of fun though, so I am glad I participated. I used 9 books and only 5 extra words.

Bout of Books 7.0 | Goals & Updates

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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 team

I've signed up for the last two years, but unfortunately for various reasons, I was never able to participate in the entire Bout of Books read-a-thon. This year, it falls on the last week of school (a.k.a. finals week) but school is officially over for me on Thursday and then, freedom! So I plan to spend my first few days of freedom getting back into reading.

Instead of making a list of books that I plan to read, this year I decided to set up my goals a bit differently.

+ Read approximately 2 hours/day

+ Finish 2 "currently reading" books

+ Participate in at least one challenge

+ Comment & meet new bloggers!

Monday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Hours read today: 0

Total number of books I've read: 1

Total number of pages I've read: 0

Books: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Tuesday

Number of books I've read today: 0 

Hours read today: 40 mins

Total number of books I've read: 1

Total number of pages I've read: 65

Books: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin | Ghost Hand by Ripley Patton

Wednesday

Number of books I've read today:  0

Hours read today: 30 mins

Total number of books I've read: 1

Total number of pages I've read: 80 (approx.)

Books: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin | Ghost Hand by Ripley Patton

Thursday

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Friday

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Saturday

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Sunday

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