Hour 24 - Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon - Updated slightly

Updated slightly since I didn't realize how cranky I was when I wrote this early this morning.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I am not sure how to answer this one. I was daunted for many reasons at various times - there is generally lots going on in the house over the weekend and I can't just put it all aside to read so I already knew that I would only participate in a somewhat limited way.

There wasn't an hour that I found daunting so much as trying to figure out how to participate and connect in any way that was daunting to me.  Trying to read, looking at/doing challenges and posting some sort of update - tough. I never found a balance and since I signed up too late for cheerleaders, updating turned out to be kinda pointless since I had very few visitors and only a couple of comments. I did use Twitter some, but it is not my native habitat, so I connected a bit more there but was really hard to keep up with.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
It turned out for me that epistolary books worked best.  I really enjoyed 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - they held my attention and were easy to stay engaged with. And Nurk is short, sweet and awesome.    

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I have no idea - this was the first one that I participated in so I am not sure what to suggest that would logistically be doable.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Again, I am not sure, since I have no basis for comparison. Sorry.

5. How many books did you read?
 Read something out of ... 8
 Finished ... 5

6. What were the names of the books you read?
Nurk: The Strange, Surprising, Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew by Ursula Vernon. 
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
Giants Beware by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Changeless by Gail Carriger - I managed about 8 pages and realized I just wasn't interested right now.

Half Upon a Time by James Riley - which I got 56 pages into and had to stop since it was lights out and I had a paperback copy. I want to read more of this one today.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - I read about 50 pages (it's downstairs so I don't know for sure) but it is a hardback and was a pain to carry around.

I read to the 27% mark of Austenland by Shannon Hale, since I like her kids books, but I found the whole premise creepy and was not enjoying it.  I gave up and switched to Guernsey Literary ... Society  which was much more to my taste.

Oh, I also read a few pages of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard but OMG ick, ick,  ICK!!!

I also read some children's books with my daughter - Donald Duck and the Magic Stick, The Princess who Never Laughed and the like, but I wasn't counting those.

I ended up having to stick with small books because I spent most of the day trying to do things one-handed and carrying around heavy books was too much of a bother. Then switched to e-books when the kids were asleep.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Nurk: The Strange, Surprising, Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew  - Ursula Vernon is awesome and I love her sense of humor. 

8. Which did you enjoy least?
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard ! Ick! I couldn't get past her graphic biology of decay - yuck! Nightmare inducing stuff.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
N/A  - Thought clearly Cheerleaders are super-important since the readers are so concentrated on reading that they don't get a chance to visit other sites. Kudos to the cheerleaders out there!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
At this point I really don't think I am likely to do something like this again.  I really enjoyed Bout of Books, the only other thing of this type I have tried, and that seems to be way more my speed. The super-condensed format of doing everything in 24-hours just wasn't much fun for me.

I am glad that I tried this, and if I had signed up sooner and knew that I would have come cheerleaders visiting occasionally, I think that would have made a difference in my attitude, especially in the wee hours.  The challenges were also outside my ability to attempt - balancing books on either me or to make a Jenga stack would have woken everyone else in the house - so no good. And dressing up - couldn't do that either without waking people up to rummage around in a closet.  I was feeling really left out.  So - might not be for me unless I can ditch the family for 24-hours and right now, I would rather spend that time with my kids than without them.