Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon

Next Morning Wrap Up (noon)

Okay peeps, I made it until 5:15 am – 21.5 hours – reading and listening and building my Mt. TBR.  I love read-a-thon time!  It’s so much fun to indulge my bookish self for a day and push the limits of the this middle aged body. Here’s what I finished and what Mt. TBR looked like this year (another post on that later today).

Closing Survey!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hours 21-22 always seem to be the witching hour for me and I’m okay with that 🙂
2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read!  I finished Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (only had 100 pages left), The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood, The Art of Friendship by Roger Horchow and Sally Horchow, Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (10 hour audio), Water Tales by Alice Hoffman, & Kathy Smith’s Getting Better All the Time.  Four of those were from my own shelves.
3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners?  I liked Charlie St. Cloud and Water Tales, both were short and easy to read 🙂
4. What’s a really rad thing we could do during the next Read-a-thon that would make you smile?  Well, I loved your new mini-challenge set up and next time I’d like to host one.
5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep?  I always love to participate when our schedule allows.  October is always tricky, but April usually works.

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This will be my post for all things Read-a-Thon Today.

Update 2:15 am

I just finished Kathy Smith’s Getting Better All the Time.  It’s 20 years old, but it was okay.

Tine for another mini-challenge…Pen Pals, What fictional character would you like to have as a pen pal, and why?

I think having Louisa Clark from the Me Before You books would be a hoot.

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Update 11:47 pm

I’ve finished my Mt. TBR and will do a separate post tomorrow, but I’ll let you in on a secret, I am very pleased.

I also finished The Art of Friendship by Roger Horchow and Sally Horchow and it was okay.

Time for another mini-challenge…Artful Covers, Find an artsy image that you think would make a great cover for your current read. 

I’m listening to Devil in Spring about a very well to do English family.  I think their yard could look like this.  (I took this picture at Versailles, France).

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Update 5:21 pm

I finished The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood and am now anxious to see the movie.

Time for another mini-challenge…Tell Me a Story, tell me how you heard about Dewey’s Readathon and how many times you’ve participated.

I’m sure I learned about Dewey’s Readathon from another blogger, but I couldn’t say which one.  At the time I was much more tuned into the blogging community and this event was everywhere 🙂  It sounded like a great challenge.  This is my 9th year participating  and I’ve actually read the whole 24 TWICE!  I love hosting mini-challenges but didn’t get signed up this time around.  If I read in April I always use the time to recreate my once a year book wall while I’m listening to audio books.  I started working on it after my snack and here’s a sneak peek 🙂

See you in a few hours when I’m done!  I’m listening to Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas on audio while I work.

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Update 1:15 pm

Fixed lunch for my guys and am reading Charlie St. Cloud and the Art of Friendship.  I participated in one mini-challenge…

Anthology of Interest –  What topic would you love to see as the central theme of an anthology?

my answer was – I love to walk around old cemeteries and am reading Charlie St. Cloud right now, where Charlie works at a cemetery and can see some of the deceased for a time. An anthology about cemeteries would be cool.

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Update 9:45am

I finished my first book, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.  I only had 120 pages left so I’m glad to be done. I also cooked breakfast for my guys and gave Gage his spelling test (he got 12/15).

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1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Cleveland, Ohio area
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Probably Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Chocolate peanut butter pie 🙂
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I love all things books, obviously since I’m participating in a 24 hour read-a-thon 🙂  I’ll be married 20 years this fall and have a 7 year old son who will  demand some of my time today.
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?  This is not my first rodeo.  I’ve lost track of how many I’ve participated in, but have made it the whole 24 only twice. I usually throw in the towel during hours 21 or 22 which I consider a win.  I’ve got a varied selection of books ready to go and some super short ones too.

 

Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

I will probably keep this one post all things read-a-thon related today.

8:31pm

We’re into hour 13 so I’m a little late with this, but I just finished my second book so this is perfect timing!

Mid-Event Survey! (add link or comment below)
1. What are you reading right now?  Just finished Dark Matter by Blake Couch.  Not sure what I’ll be starting next.
2. How many books have you read so far? Two. One paper and one audio.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  Finishing Mt. TBR.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? This is my 7th time around and since I have no plans during the read-a-thon I don’t mind interruptions here and there.  Although Gage went to Grandma’s for the night 🙂
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I’ve spent less time online this time around.  Maybe as I get more tired I’ll be on here more.

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5:21 pm

I’ve been listening to Dark Matter while I reconstruct Mt. TBR.  I’m getting near the end and am anxious to see how it ends.

A Book and a Snack mini-challenge…

Taking a break from Mt. TBR for a relaxing glass of wine and continuing The Quiet Game by Greg Iles.  Both books I’m listening and reading right now are great!

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1:40pm

I just finished Frankenstein. It took way too long for as short as it is.  Looking forward to something that reads faster.

Mini-Challenge: Six Word Story

Eyes wide, joyful, devouring, smiling, drooping.

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It’s 8am and I’m up and ready to read!

First mini challenge – A little about me

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  a Cleveland, Ohio suburb.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Frankenstein, The Quiet Game, finishing the Dark Matters audio…
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Peanut butter chocolate pie 🙂
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I’m 45 and have a husband, a son in kindergarten, and two cats, Razzi and Sammi.  I started this blog in January 2008.

 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?  This is my 7th read-a-thon and my advice is to have a selection of  shorter books, graphic novels and audio books to choose from.  And to have coffee ready at all times.  Oh, and to come back at 4am for my Picture Perfect mini-challenge 🙂

So, stayed awake until 6:15 am, that’s hour 23! I missed almost 6 hours during the day because of this

playdate and thisbirthday party but then started working on my yearly inventory wall and finished around 3am.

More details in a later post, but needless to say, I may getting too old (or out of shape) for this! I listened to my two audio books during the Mt. TBR construction and relocation.

End of Event Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? At 6am I was moving at a snails pace trying to move all the books back to their homes and listening the The 9th Girl (still) when I just couldn’t take one more step.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  I think graphic novels are great, and happened to be the only thing I managed to finish this time around.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?  More cheering?  I don’t think I had one cheerleader stop by my blog.  But I thank my blogger friends who did stop by to say hi!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?How many books did you read? I only managed to finish 1 graphic novel, but am almost done with the two audio books I was listening to.
5. What were the names of the books you read? I finished How To Be Happy by Eleanor Davis. I’m almost done with The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
6. Which book did you enjoy most? I’m really enjoying The 9th Girl.
7. Which did you enjoy least? The only one I finished 😉
8. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely participate again and hopefully set aside the whole day. But if I have to choose between those happy faces and reading more I will choose the happy faces every time!

 

Well, another read-a-thon is in the books and this may have been my favorite one yet, even if I didn’t make it the whole 24. It seems 21 hours is my sweet spot as far these things go, sometimes I’m crawling, eyes barely open, to get there and other times, like this morning, I was surprisingly fresh and just decided to call it a day.  I credit this to spending a big chunk of the time listening to audio books and building my yearly book wall.  I was moving most of the day.

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  I’ll be honest, at 4:30 am I got tired for the first time – that’s 21 hours in, I decided that I had read and done a majority of what I wanted to do so I headed to bed.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I LOVED all three books I finished this year and would recommend them all…All different and all excellent choices.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  I thought the cheering was great this year. Team Popper was very generous with their comments 🙂
5. How many books did you read? Finished 3 and half of a fourth, 
6. What were the names of the books you read?  Se above
7. Which book did you enjoy most?  
8. Which did you enjoy least?  I liked them all.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  I tried to cheer more this year and probably got a few hours in.  I thought the spreadsheets were easy to use and well maintained throughout the day.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  I participate every year my schedule allows me and I’ll continue to do so. My husband’s birthday is in April and Gage and I have birthdays in October so I usually miss at least one of the two due to parties or travel 🙂  Thanks for another great read-a-thon, ladies!!!

It hour 19 and I’m still going strong 🙂 I’ve been listening to The Hard Way by Lee Child and am just a few pages away from finishing The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos.  Amazingly I have LOVED all three of the books that I’ll have read by the end of the hour.  Woo hoo!!

Okay, for the challenge

Best Book of Your Reading Year  Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes

Best YA Book of Your Reading Year  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, winner of the 1977 Newbery Medal

Best Mystery Book of Your Reading Year  The Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Arthur Doyle

Best Non-Fiction Book of Your Reading Year  The Residence:Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Anderson Brower

Best Cover of Your Reading Year  Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag

Best Setting of Your Reading Year  my favorite city in the world, Venice, Italy in The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore

Best Story Line of Your Reading Year  Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes made me laugh and brought me to tears.

Ah, just over halfway through this 24 hour read-a-thon and I’m feeling good, mainly because I’ve spent the last several hours creating my yearly book wall of unread books and it’s one mountain of a TBR 🙂  Moving over 800 piles of books twice is a good workout, no?  I’ll give you read-a-thonners a sneak peak before my official post next week…

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? I’ve been listening to The Hard Way by Lee Child while working on the book wall.
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished two and loved them both.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  Reading more of The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Not any interruption more than 5-10 minutes so it’s been a great day 🙂
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  No surprises, just fun!

We’re into the 7th hour and I fee like I haven’t gotten enough reading done, but I’m not stressing about it because I’ve had fun visiting old friends and cheering for new ones.

Since the last update during hour two, I’ve eaten lunch (pulled pork sandwich with chips and salsa), fixed Gage lunch (hamburger & grilled cheese) cheered for team Sherlock, visited participating blog friends via Bloglovin, read some of The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos, and listened to The Reader by Bernhard Schlink while cleaning.

I’m having a perfectly bookish day.

I embraced the challenge of the hour to find a book with snow, a tree, and a weapon.  I’ve read all three but Lamb is my favorite.  What about you?