Review Copy Cleanup/Random Reads

Yes, I know I've already signed up for far too many read-a-thons and assorted challenges over the summer period.  Some of them even overlap each other, which is going to be interesting (and potentially boring for my readers, but I'll do my best!  Hey, it's better than an all-out blogger break, right?!)  But you know what?  I have a feeling it's going to be good for me!  I may not read as much as everyone else, because I'm going to be seriously busy at work.  I may not cram in as much reading after work, because if I'm exhausted I tend to reach for the DVDs rather than my book.  But having an exterior focus that also happens to be a great distraction could be very beneficial this summer.  I really struggle with the noise, commotion and general chaos of the shop during the holidays, so anything that takes me away from that, a few sweet pages at a time, is fine by me!

So what's this challenge all about?  Hosted by Celine at Nyx Book Reviews and Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea, it pretty much does what it says on the tin.  During the month of August, your challenge is to get through some of the review copies that inevitably pile up.  For me they certainly have been, because I've been finishing a stack of library books and then reading a few books I'd been dying to get to for a while but couldn't read because of the library books!  (Vicious circles, too many books, yeah yeah...)  There'll be mini-read-a-thons and Twitter chats, and people will be using the #RCCleanup hashtag to chat too.  Head over to one of the host blogs (the linky is the same on both) for more details - sign ups are open unti 15 August so you have plenty of time.

Like I said, August is a fairly crazy month here in TouristTown (it's already started!), so I'm going to aim to read 2 books from my review pile.  I don't want to cut off my options to read other books too, so I won't aim for more than that - but if I feel like toppling an extra title or two then so much the better!  Some of the books I have to choose from, new and old, include:

Wish me luck!  I'll probably just keep tabs on what I've finished and report back in a wrap-up post at the end - so keep an eye out for reviews in the mean time!  :)

 As you all know, Project Mount TBR is now well underway - but most of my progress so far has been in culling unread books, not actually, y'know, reading them.  So I'm thinking this challenge is going to be good for me.  It's hosted by I'm Loving Books, and it pretty much does what it says on the tin.  You use some method of picking a random title from your TBR list (using a random number generator, throwing something at your bookcase, whatever), add your Random Reads post to the linky, then read your book(s) by the end of the month.  Tres simple, non?

JULY PROGRESS REPORT

I optimistically chose TWO Random Reads last month to get me off to a good start.  A random number generator gave me Hunter S. Thompson's cult classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as my first read.  This one was a definite success - I finished and reviewed it during the High Summer Read-a-thon earlier this month.  The 'Random Books from My Library' box on LibraryThing threw up my second read, the royal biography Diana by Sarah Bradford.  I started this one and have been steadily plugging away over the last week or two.  It's quite rigorous so it's not a quick read and I haven't finished it yet, but I'm glad RR prompted me to finally pick it up because the writing is better than I expected and it's fascinating so far!

THIS MONTH'S BOOK

I've just picked one book this month, because things are pretty hectic at work, I still haven't finished Diana, and it's also Review Copy Clean-Up month so I'll be concentrating on those at least some of the time.  Once again I used Random.org and my Mount TBR page to choose my next read.  This gave me letter 25 (Y), book 3 - The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs.

I've had this one for over a year - it was bought in the same uber-order as The Perks of Being a Wallflower last May (the post, rather fittingly, opens with "Bless me readers, for I have sinned"!) - so it's high time I finally cracked the pages.  I've heard good things about this guy's 'life experiment' books, so I'm hoping for an amusing, thought-provoking and slightly bizarre read!

That's what I'll be reading this month!  Have you read any of these already?  If you're a RCC-er, what are you hoping to topple from the pile?  If you're taking part in RR, what did fate/the universe/a handy website throw up for your reading pleasure in August?