It’s 10:30 (hour 2.5)and I’ve finished my first book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.  LOVED IT!

I spent 30 minutes cheering and 15 minutes preparing this hour 2 mini-challenge.

These are the four books I chose to represent the four seasons. I ‘ve read and love  all four. What about you?

Thanks for the fun challenge, Darren!

I’m so excited! I’ve set aside the next 24 hours for all things books, reading and Read-a-Thon.

Opening Meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  the Cleveland suburbs
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Finishing up Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  I have knockout cake waiting for me in the frig
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I love the fun, community and, yes, the challenge of participating in the whole 24 hours.  I’ve only managed the whole 24 twice before so we’ll see how it goes today.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today?   I am planning a VARIETY of bookish things today. Reading books, listening to books while I clean and cook, reading my regular blogs, cheering other readers, and building my yearly bookwall of unread books.  Here’s last year’s wall and start to finish it takes about 4-6 hours so I’ll be doing it in spurts when I need to move around.  (and I’ll start after my 4-year-old has left for grandma’s for the night).

I’ll be doing different posts fairly often.  Happy reading everybody!

Another Read-a-Thon is in the books!

I’m always amazed at how many people enjoy my mini-challenges and am thankful.  It makes me want to be even more creative next time.  This year 79 people stopped by and left comments – holy smokes!

Thank you to the fearless leaders who make this event the very best twice a year, Heather and Andi!!!   You guys rock!  Ieven won a prize this year, woo hoo 🙂

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  Hour 22, so at 5:30 am I called it a day.  I read for 21.5 hours.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? LOVED The Storied Life of A.J Fikry.  GReat for book lovers, easy to read and not long.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  I’ll leave that to better minds than me.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  Everything workd great from my end.
5. How many books did you read?  2 halves and 3 full books.
6. What were the names of the books you read?  The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, Traveling Light for Mothers by Max Lucado, Paper Towns by John Green, and half of The Cliff House Strangler by Shirley Tallman.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?  I loved all my books this time around, but probably The Firebird and The Storied Life were my faves.
8. Which did you enjoy least?  Liked them all 🙂
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  Another fun read-a-thon.  I tried a more relaxed approach this time around, welcoming interruptions from my three-year old and not obsessing over how much I got read.  I wanted to make it the whole 24 hours, but to be honest, I didn’t want to ruin THIS day with my son too by being too grouchy 🙂  I’ll be back.

Are you still with us?  We’re well past the midway point and if your eyes are still focusing I’ve got a fun challenge.  Every year, since I started blogging way back in 2008, I post a look at my TBR pile (all the books I own and haven’t read) and I thought I’d give you all a sneak peek.  Feast your eyes on Mt. TBR!

Scary, right?  I’ll be writing a post breaking down the numbers in the next few weeks, but wanted to give you all a chance to see it first.  There are so many ways to win a prize…

#1– Guess the total number of books in the picture.  I don’t care if you are under or over, the closest guess wins. (if there’s a tie, first guesser wins) – $15 at the Book Depository

#2–See a title you’d like you have in your TBR pile?  Tell me which one.  I’ll draw a random winner at 4 EST and I’ll send it to you.

Now for the Where’s Waldo aspect of the challenge.  I chose 8 books, one bag, and a puzzle to give away, but you’ve got to earn it.  I’ll show you what I’m offering up and when you find it in the photo, it’s yours.  One book per person, please.  Get your eyes ready!

The photo quality was not as great as I’d hoped it would be so I’m giving you some help by showing the sides. These books WILL NOT be in the boxes at the bottom.  Just tell me if it’s on the top or bottom, what row and how many books down.  First one to get it right will win the book and I’ll take it off the list.

#3– Find The Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice and you will win the cool bag  (not the book).

#4– Find one of the two Jane Austen books and win the cool 500 piece Austen puzzle.

#5 & #6– I found duplicates of both Labor Day by Joyce Maynard and She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb.  Find the book and win it, the trick is that these covers may not match what you see in the picture 😉

Just tell me where you find them to win.

#7– Winter’s Child by Margaret Maron,  #8-100 Tiny Tales of Terror,  #9–The 70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time, #10–The Twelve by Justin Cronin,  #11–Schism:The Battle for Darracia by Michael Phillip Cash,   #12-The Summer Nights Never End…Until They Do by Robert James Waller

Any Questions? Ask and I’ll answer here.  Open Internationally.

Shantaram, To Kill a Mockingbird, American Pastoral, Clockers, You Know When the Men Are Gone.

12 Hours in!

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now? The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
2. How many books have you read so far? This is my third
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  More reading, a walk, maybe taking 2 hours to watch the film of Beloved to rest my eyes a bit.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  Hubby and my mom are here entertaining the little man.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Lots of little interruptions. Just took 15 minutes to put Gage to bed.  It’s all good 🙂
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I’m not reading very fast!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Not yet 🙂
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Too early to tell.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Not quite yet, but I did have half a glass of wine with dinner 🙂
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?  Read good books!

Since my last update

Reading – Finished 2 books so far, The Firebird by Suasanna Kearsley and Traveling Light for Mothers by Max Lucado.  Choosing my next book as soon as I post this.

Time Spent Reading – Took breaks to make lunch for my kid and to prep for the hot tub.  Other than that, reading.

Mini-Challenges – I tried my hand at 2, Bookish Brews and The Best of Your Reading Year

Snacks– Had creamy orzo with corn and greens for lunch and am have been munching on this

Where – I did make a trip to the hot tub with my book.  Bliss.

I’ve read 23 books so far this year so it’s a small pool.

Best Non-Fiction Book of Your Reading Year – A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Best Romance Book of Your Reading Year – The Firebird by Susannah Kearsley (just finished it a few minutes ago!)

Best Fiction Book of Your Reading Year – The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

Best Mystery Book of Your Reading Year – The Doll by Taylor Stevens

Best Cover of Your Reading Year

So we’re just over 3 hours in and I’m having a great time.

Reading– The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley.  I started it on my Nook ages ago and have failed to finish because I don’t read on my Nook very often.  Most of you say you read faster on e-readers but it’s the opposite for me, so it’s slow (but very enjoyable) going.

Time spent reading– I did one load of laundry and made toast, other than that I’ve been reading or…

Mini-Challenges– I’ve participated in all 4 so far.  It’s some of my favorite time during the Read-a-Thon.  I particularly liked the Jigsaw Puzzle Cover Challenge and hope to steal the idea for a quiz of my own soon.

Snacks– Coffee, toast and popcorn so far.

Where- On the couch in the front room.  Thinking about some hot tub reading soon!

Back to The Firebird!