Final Update for the Spring Readathon:
Which hour was most daunting for you? Usually the later hours, but I had so many pauses in this read-a-thon that I didn’t have any rough patches.- Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Gail Carriger’s Soulless, Bill Willingham’s Fables series, Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten, Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers
- Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I like it, as is!
- What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The hourly updates were energetic and enthusiastic; if I’d been flagging, I’m sure they would have done the trick, and they were a lot of fun all the same!
- How many books did you read? Two slim novels and one graphic novel.
- What were the names of the books you read? I finished Elizabeth Jolley’s The Newspaper of Claremont Street, Colette’s Ripening Seed, and Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet: The Stonekeeper. And I read 50 pages in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, a Bronwen Wallace short story, and a Charles de Lint short story.
- Which book did you enjoy most? Loved returning to Bronwen Wallace’s short fiction
- Which did you enjoy least? Colette, I suppose, but only because I realized it wasn’t really read-a-thon material because I had to stop and reread so many passages because they were so evocative.
- If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Not this time.
- How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Quite likely; I’ll probably cheer next time, because I kind of missed that part of it.
What happened next: Surprisingly, I read under the covers for long enough to finish Amulet: The Stonekeeper and another 30 page of a new book that I didn’t remember at all the next day, so I’m not counting that! Clearly my eyes were just moving across the page and my brain wasn’t involved at all.
Pages Read: 137
Total Read: 520
Hour Nineteen: What? Everyone else here is going to sleep? That’s not fair. But I can still read under the covers with a light; I’ve been doing that since I was eight.
Pages Read: 24
Total read: 383
Snack? I draw the line at snacking under the covers.
Up next? Back to the kids’ books from this morning…that’ll keep me awake for another hour or so!
Back in the morning to report on the few pages to add to my total for the day! [Which never happened: I always forget about the painful read-over that follows a long, hard day of page-counting.]
Hour Eighteen: More tea? Increased distance from the sleepy-fied cat? New book stack?
Pages Read: 20 (But I read each of them three times.)
Total read: 359
Snack? None (Maybe that’s the problem?!)
Tea? None (Or that?)
Up next: Finish the Charles de Lint short story I’m reading, then try to shake things up!
Hour Seventeen: It’s after midnight; I have big plans, but I am usually asleep by now.
Pages Read: 46 (Finished Colette’s Ripening Seed, another shelf-sitter)
Total Read: 339
Snack: Ginger chews
Tea: Licorice Cinnamon
Up next? A Bronwen Wallace short story, “Heart of My Heart”
Hour Sixteen: In all that time, I couldn’t finish another skinny book? Nope, apparently not.
Pages Read: On page 77 of Colette’s Ripening Seed (1923)
Total Read: 293
Pizzas made and eaten: 2 (well, not all by myself)
Snack: Sliced pear, perfectly ripe
Up next? Finish the delightfully summery Colette novel, and read a short story
Hour Ten: So, I finished a book. A really skinny one, but still.
Pages Read: 116 – Elizabeth Jolley’s The Newspaper of Claremont Street (1981)
Total Read: 216
Blogs Visited: another 12 – You’re all reading soooo much!
Snack: Fudge walnut cookies with a nice cuppa Bambu
Up next? I’m choosing another book from the stack and aiming for another 64 pages before dinnertime. Still wide awake, but it’s still early!
Hour Six: Even though I actually got up in time to start, and was reading at exactly 8am, the rest of my day got off to a slightly slower start than expected, but the house is quiet and it’s just me and my purrrr-sonal cheerleader and my snacks now: yum!
Pages Read:
50 – Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet: The Stonekeeper
50 – Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief
Blogs Visited: 20 – Sooo many nice-lookin’ stacks!
Lunch: Home-made macaroni salad with sauteed spring leeks and broccoli with enough lemon to keep my reader’s mind alert.
Up next? Maybe because I haven’t been reading much, I’m not tired at all, so I’m setting aside the kids’ books for a spell, and planning to settle into one of the adult works from my stack. And I’ve got a dark chocolate almond bar waiting for me to pay good attention to it.
Hour Two: Introductory Questions
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Cool, grey, damp and spring-like Toronto, Canada
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Re-reading a short story from Bronwen Wallace’s collection, which was the first short story collection that I loved as much as a novel.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
New oatmeal fudge cookie recipe that I baked at midnight last night just for this event!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I’m starting the day in bed, with an afghan wrapped around me, and my personal four-legged cheerleader curled up out-of-reach with her tail wrapped around her nose, a cup of hot mango tea within reach; I’ve got the house to myself for most of the day, but there are treats hidden here apparently, and when I text Mr BIP and the little BIP girls about my progress, the location of various treats will be disclosed.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I attended workshops for most of the day during the last read-a-thon, so I only read in spare moments, but I did cheer for several hours in the evening, which was a lot of fun. So what I’m going to do different this time? Actually get some reading done!
Hour One: I’m feeling like quite the lucky reader; I didn’t think I’d be able to swing it for this weekend. Usually I sign up to cheer, but this was all very last minute, so I’ll just randomly choose some letters on the participants’ page and see what you’re all up to throughout the day.
That’s a ridiculous stack of books isn’t it? Hee hee.
But the standy-up ones are just for reading parts of. Which makes it reasonable, right?
Three short story collections. A chunkster. The latest Brick Magazine. Some non-fiction.
And the skinny standy-up book? It’s got some stretches and poses in there, which will hopefully keep me reading longer, overall, if I can remember to take some breaks and move my body a little, other than just to turn pages.
Although my read-a-thon choices are mostly from my own shelves this time, you can see that the one borrowed book — that hard-to-read stand-up skinny book — is the one about exercise. You can see the gap in my collection, right? Yah, not many books on that topic around here. Lots of books about sitting still and reading. Many more about writers who sat still and wrote.
The flat stack is the pool of serious front-to-back reading. Plus one graphic novel that has been nominated by my younger stepdaughter, the first in the Amulet series, which I didn’t have on-hand for the picture. My older stepdaughter has recommended The Lightning Thief. (Okay, she’s been recommending it for awhile; I’m the last person in the family to get around to reading it. It’s amazing that the spine isn’t completely shattered by now.)
The rest are books that I rather randomly pulled from my shelves, all skinny books that caught my fancy in the moment. And if their spines aren’t skinny, their margins are cushy; by the end of the day, my eyes will need all the help they can get, to slide across those pages.
Most of these have been on my TBR for more than ten years though, so I’ll feel rightly chuffed to finish even three of them. (Well, the kids books are relatively recent additions — including the two I’ve mentioned and the William Joyce hardcover that shines in the centre.) Along with my odds and ends., which are designed for those moments when you need a change-of-pace.
I stayed up late last night to do some baking and put together some snacks, so I won’t be getting up right away; I’ll be starting off by reading in bed. If you’re reading this before I’ve updated it, extra-special thanks for dropping by so early!
Have a splendiferous read-a-thon!
What a wondeful read-a-thorn for you. Wonderful reads.
Thanks, Geosi: it was a lot of fun! I guess the timing would be awkward for you, hmmm?
I was wondering if you had recovered from the read-a-thon yet. 🙂
I always, always, always forget about the read-a-thon hangover that follows. It’s crazy! Heheh
You made it to hour 19?1 You did great! I made it to hour eleven before falling asleep again! LOL! Oh well! We can have a read-a-thon any time. Sweet dreams.
It was all those breaks in the middle, but then all those breaks in the middle were the reason that I didn’t end reading all that much in the end!
Congrats to making it to hour 19! Good job I only mad it to the 15th hour and read for about 12 of those hours, but I fell asleep. And thanks to you, I’ve a nabbed up a book suggesting for your reading list The Newspaper of Claremont Street. Congrats on a successful readathon
You can do it, rah rah rah, I’m impressed by what you have managed to read, keep it up:-)
Thanks, BB! You’ve convinced me to give it another hour, at least. The DeLint story is a good one, too, which also helps. Hope you’re having a good night, too!
I agree with tanabata – the cookies sound delicious Congrats on finishing a book, 11 hours left, hopefully you can finish another
Thanks, Jules: I did finish one other skinny book, and that might be my last. I’m actually feeling rather awake right now, but that could change if I get anywhere near a pillow…
You’re doing great! I just woke up after a three-hour nap so now I need to catch up. 🙂 Oh well. I think I’ll start GoT while I’m ahead. Happy reading and snacking!
Well, no wonder, with your 5am start! I’m into a familiar short story next and then I might move into GoT, though someone left a comment on your blog warning about cliffhangers with every chapter, which makes me wonder if we’ll be able to stop at page 100!
Fudge walnut cookies? Dark chocolate almond bar? I want to readathon at your house! Congrats on finishing a book, and good luck with the rest of your pile!
Cocoa and nuts = irresistible. I realized during the last read-a-thon that I had spent too little time planning for the right kind of snacks! Thanks for stopping by during the event: I saw your first update this morning, but I think you’ve been a-tweetin’ since?
Good luck with your pile, some book to titles are catching my eye! Grey days in Toronto, or anywhere for that matter are perfect for readathons hope to to see y it around later tonight, unless I fall asleep
That’s true…easier to snuggle down with an afghan and read when it’s uninviting outdoors. Keeps those pages turning! Yah, I think I’ll be reading into the evening. Make up for a slow morning!
Hidden treats! What a great idea.
Have fun readathon-ing and discovering your treats!
Thanks, Olduvai. Yah, the only thing better than just plain treats. Will the wee reader be prepped for his first read-a-thon next year, do you think?
This year’s readathon just sneaked up on me! Plus it’s my in-laws’ last weekend here before heading back to Singapore, so yeah, it wasn’t a suitable weekend. Hopefully next year!
Or maybe October? If you can get the date far enough in advance, and circulate it among the whole family, surely overseas visitors would understand that the read-a-thon would come first? (Kidding, of course!)
Yay! You’re up! My daughter really enjoyed the Amulet series. Kibusihi is a great illustrator. Looking at your stack makes me want to change my stack around! 🙂 Happy reading!
What is it about that, Vasilly?! The reading always looks cooler from the other side of the shelf? Heheh. I’ve read the first 50 pages of the Amulet story and I can see why they’re so popular with the kids; if we were doing this as a family event today, I think the entire selection would be GNs!