Spring 2014 Readathon Updates!

Gooooood morning! It’s already a couple of hours into the readathon, but this is as early as I could manage to get myself up and going on the west coast of the US. It’s currently 6:45am here. I did sneak in some audiobook listening while I made breakfast, but other than that, I’m at my own personal starting line.

The plan is to update this post throughout the day instead of creating new posts for every check-in. That means if you’re reading this via email, you’ll have to click through to see updates. I’ll add new updates at the end of this post, so they stay in nice neat chronological order. Let’s start with the kick-off meme (a little late!).

Update #1: 7am PST

Kickoff Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
California! And my couch, hehe.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Oh gosh. Probably Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, since everyone keeps telling me how good it is. Also, listening to Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, since I was told it was only a slight exaggeration to say I was living a half life until I’d read it.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Potato chips! They’re a special occasion food only. Yum.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
It’s my first readathon in several years! I sort of dropped out of the book blogging scene for various reasons but came back in the fall of last year, right around the time of the previous readathon. I couldn’t make that one work, but I made sure this one could. I’m reading with my husband for the first time, so that’ll be fun, I think. Extra motivation.

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’m trying to strike a balance between socializing and reading as well as participating full-out and making sure I’m not a total wreck in days to come due to lack of sleep. I’ve definitely gone all to one end of a spectrum or the other in past readathons, so this time I’m aiming for the middle.

My Stats

Here’s what I’m planning to track when I update:

• Currently reading
• Currently listening to
• Running total of pages read
• Running total of time spent reading
• Running total of time spent listening

I’ll be doing some of the mini-challenges too, I hope. First up: The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies!

Ok…time to read! Have fun, all!

Update #2: 10am PST

Stats

It’s been a solid morning of reading so far. Here’s how it’s shaped up in terms of stats:

• Currently reading: Actually, I just finished The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies. It was good, but I’m looking forward to reading something less dense. I’m about to start Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. That’s probably not going to change all day, since I’m doing more reading than listening. But it’s excellent so far!
• Running total of pages read: 114
• Running total of time spent reading: 2 hours, 35 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 49 minutes

I haven’t done much in the way of socializing or mini-challenges yet. I’ve been too caught up in my reading! Aaaaand back I go…

Update #3: 1pm PST

Stats

• Currently reading: Just finished Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. I’m not sure what’s next. The other two books I’d like to tackle today are quite different from one another: The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi and Mindset by Carol Dweck. But first, some Eleanor & Park on audio and lunch!
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. That’s probably not going to change all day, since I’m doing more reading than listening. But it’s excellent so far!
• Running total of pages read: 317 (every time I do these events I remember again how slow of a reader I am!)
• Running total of time spent reading: 5 hours, 18 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 49 minutes

Mini-challenges:

• Six Word Celebration Mini-Challenge: This day of books? Utter bliss.

Update #4: 2:45pm PST

Mini-challenges:

• Shelfie: Here’s my shelfie! Mostly TBR books, with a small slice of read-and-kept books in the top left. Note the headphones — no reading time wasted! That’s Eleanor & Park on my iPod. Next up: heading out for an afternoon walk!

Update #5: 4:45pm PST

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now? I just started Mindset by Carol Dweck, the oddball book in my stack for the day and one I’ve been waiting to get to for a long time now. I’m about halfway through Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell on audio.
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished one I’d started before today, read a second one, started a third, and gotten through half an audiobook.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? …more reading!
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Somehow, no. This weekend just managed to stay free, though I had the date on my calendar months in advance and was planning to defend it if need be.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Not really! My husband is reading too, so it’s a very quiet, reading-focused day in our house.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I’d forgotten just how fun it is. Not really a surprise, but it’s fun remembering by doing!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I don’t think so. I LOVE this event. Huge thank-you to the organizers, hosts, cheerleaders, prize donors, and everyone else who makes this event so amazing!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I actually have something I’d do again, instead: pick a small pile of not-too-dense books I really want to read. I’ve always picked huge piles before, which I know I’ll never get through. But this time I might actually make it through most of my books. Cuts down on decision fatigue when you don’t have a ton of books to pick from, too, heh.
9. Are you getting tired yet? I just went for an hour-and-a-half walk, so I’m a bit more energetic than I was earlier. I’m planning to switching from reading to listening while I quilt the next time my energy flags. Keeping my hands busy helps.
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? I don’t think so. I think it depends so much on individual preferences that it’s hard to make broad recommendations.

Stats

• Currently reading: Mindset by Carol Dweck (just started)
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I’m about halfway through, I believe, and loving it.
• Running total of pages read: 336
• Running total of time spent reading: 5 hours, 44 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 3 hours, 17 minutes

Mini-challenges:

• First Editions: I’ve got a first edition of Mindset by Carol Dweck on my hands from my trusty library:

Update #6: 7:45pm PST

Stats

• Currently reading: I’m in between books. Might start in on The ACB with Honora Lee, or I might save that one for later. I’m done with nonfiction for tonight, which means I need another novel!
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.
• Running total of pages read: 397
• Running total of time spent reading: 7 hours, 31 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 3 hours, 34 minutes

Mini-challenges:

• Book Blending: Here’s me plus Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee!

• Name in Titles: And here’s my name, spelled out using the spines of four of my very favorite books.

• That Reminds Me of a Book: I picked this image for Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Last Survivors series. Add a giant moon and it could be one of the covers!
• Page 35, Sentence 3: I’m in between books right now, but the one I know I’ll pick up before the readathon is over is The ACB with Honora Lee, so I went with that. It’s a middle grade book, but I’ve turned the third sentence on its thirty-fifth page — “Doris blew a lot of kisses.” — into the rhyming prologue/summary of a contemporary romance novel!

Doris blew a lot of kisses.
And though most of them were misses,
And her friends would always scoff,
Every time she fired one off,
She was sure she’d find her man.
Then one fine day she fired at Dan
And the rest, as you shall see,
Is the stuff of history.

Update #7: 10:30pm PST

Stats

• Currently reading: I just finished The ACB with Honora Lee, and I’m finally starting to get sleepy. I’m switching to my audiobook so I can quilt at the same time. Hopefully that’ll keep me awake!
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Running total of pages read: 516
• Running total of time spent reading: 9 hours, 2 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 4 hours, 2 minutes

Update #8 (Last One!): 12:15am PST

Stats

• Currently reading: Nothing! I finished The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi today. Now I’m off to bed!
• Currently listening to: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell — I made it to a disc and a half from the end!
• Running total of pages read: 516
• Running total of time spent reading: 9 hours, 2 minutes
• Running total of time spent listening: 5 hours, 38 minutes

And with that, it’s bedtime for me! If you’re still reading, best of luck in these final few hours. You can do it!!

End-of-Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? From 9-10pm (hour 17?), I actually started nodding off while I was reading. Luckily, I was reading a middle grade novel, so I managed to keep going.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I thought Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn was a great readathon book. Not for too late in the day, because it’s rather wordy, but it’s fun and quick and interesting. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell was an excellent audiobook choice.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope — I loved it!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The hourly posts seemed particularly well organized. I liked the door prize approach as well. Those might not be new — it’s been a couple of years since I participated.
5. How many books did you read? I finished three during the event (one of which I was already maybe three quarters of the way through) and started a fourth. I also made it through six of seven discs of an audiobook.
6. What were the names of the books you read? The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi, Mindset by Carol Dweck, and on audio, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? They’re all so different, it’s hard to say! I think Eleanor & Park engaged me the most, though The Cunning Man and Ella Minnow Pea were a close second. Mindset is straight nonfiction, so I’m not really counting it here, heh.
8. Which did you enjoy least? The ACB with Honora Lee. It was fine, just not as good as the others because there was less substance to it.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? If my schedule works out, then absolutely I’ll participate again! I’ve done the cheerleading thing multiple times in the past and may consider it again. I’d be more likely to do the mini-challenge thing, though. I’d like to host one of those.