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.

Readathon: Hour 16 Mini Challenge

1. Turn to page 35 in your current read.
2. Find sentence #3.
3. That’s the first sentence of a little piece of writing! It doesn’t matter if that’s a short story, a poem, the introduction to something bigger… anything creative counts. Bonus points if you make it a totally different genre to your original read!

I am pretty sure that I am not making any sense any more, but here goes ... staring with a page 35 sentence from 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -  

Ships are coming into St. Peter Port harbor every day to bring us things Guernsey still needs: food, clothes, seed, plows, feed for animals, tools, medicine - and most important, now that we have food to eat, shoes.

Our colony was still so new that when the interstellar battle started, we were completely unprepared. The terra-forming had only just been completed and the ground broken to grow the first crops. We were so busy trying to get the crops to grow that we missed the ominous signs from Brighton, when their ships began to make incursions into Islington space.

Not only were food stocks low, it also turned out that we were missing some key industries, like weaving and shoe-making. While the battle ranged on in the stars, our supplies began to dwindle and the colonists starting looking like refugees from some pre-lightspeed historical play. By the time Brighton surrendered, there wasn't a decent pair of shoes left on the planet.

Now, after being dormant for so long, the space port was a hive of activity with ships arriving hourly and the supplies divided up into load to go by ship, train, car or even wagon to enclaves all over Guernsey colony.

Hour 15 – That Reminds Me of a Book!

In Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells, Emilie runs away from home and in a effort to stow away on a steamship ends up  ...  going somewhere else entirely. The world they visit is partial undersea - semi-submerged cities with semi-aquatic people, so this picture evokes some of the feel of the strangeness of the underwater world.

Dewey’s Name in Titles Mini-Challenge

E - Emilie & the Hollow World by Martha Wells
L - Longitude by Dava Sobel
I - Irish Chain by Earlene Fowler
S - Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
A - Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Readathon Hour 13 Mini-Challenge: Book Blending!

Guess what I don't have much of ?  Books that feature large pictures of people or faces on the cover!  Trolling quickly around I found this book, a cover with Shakespeare and one with Sonia Sotomayor.

So ... here is my book blend - the expression on my face is supposed to go with the book cover, since my hair color clearly doesn't. I am not really that grumpy, honest!

Readathon Hour 12 — Mid Event Meme! You’re Halfway There!

1. What are you reading right now?
Half Upon a Time by James Riley

2. How many books have you read so far?
I have completed three books. My son completed one. 

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon
I am not sure. I think I might try Cress. I also am sort of looking forward to reading more of Packing for Mars. I also might get the e-book of Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (really Ursula Vernon).

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Haa ha ha Haaaa ! Who says I freed up my whole day ?  I have been keeping the kids entertained, doing dishing, making lunch, washing laundry, picking up my son from his play date and mostly doing it all one handed (not the driving though). 

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Um yes - see above - I dealt with most things one handed.  

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
This is my first read-a-thon and I signed up too late for any cheerleaders so honestly I am feeling a distinct lack of community.  When I participated in Bout of Books in January I felt way more connected. I have visited Twitter some but can't really keep up with it and do any reading too.  This seems pretty lonely really.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not really - I don't know enough about it yet since this is my first time. 

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
See if the grandparents could watch the kids - they are really tired and cranky today - it is cold and sleeting so they can't play outside and so the combined effect of cabin fever and general tiredness means there is lots of screaming and fighting today - way more than normal which is making it rather hard to concentrate on reading, sigh. 

9. Are you getting tired yet?
I started tired. 

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 haven't even figured out what works well for me yet!  

Dewey’s Readathon MiniChallenge – Shelfie

Yergh! I hate having my picture taken ! I doubly hate the idea of taking my own picture and showing it off. So I am going strictly with some vanity shots of some of my books. The top one is really a deskie.

Here are some of the books from my desk at work (there are many, many more on shelves.

Here is a random picture of some of the books on one of the shelves.

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon Update 3

My little Leopard and I just finished reading Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke.

It is a fun sequel to the graphic novel Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke.  The only down side is that it ended with a cliffhanger!  Now we have to wait for the next one! 

My little Leopard really liked the kitty, a new character in this installment.

We are off to pick up my son and get some snacks!

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon Update 2

I just finished reading 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. It was an excellent read but quite the switch from my last book. The ending was so sad!

I just ordered a used copy of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street though.

One sprout is now at a play date and the other is watching Disney's Jungle Book - she had me read the story to her last night and seems to be having lots of fun.

I have to find something fun to read to make me feel better!

A couple of short quotes from some of Helene Hanff's letters...

Kindly inform the Church of England they have loused up the most beautiful prose ever written, whoever told them to tinker with the Vulgate Latin? They'll burn for it, you mark my words.

or how about ...

You may add Walton's Lives to the list of books that you aren't sending me. It's against my principles to buy a book I haven't read, it's like buying a dress you haven't tried on, but you can't even get Walton's Lives in a library over here. 

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon Update 1

 My son read for just under two hours and finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  He really likes this book and loves the idea of inventing an automaton.

I just finished Nurk: The Strange, Surprising, Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew by Ursula Vernon. It is a short book but I loved the language so much I kept going back and re-reading parts.  I love this book. It is going to get a full review after the read-a-thon.

Here is a sample ...

... the voice was very scary. 

"Stay back!" He cried. "I have - um - socks!" 

There was a pause while the voice considered this threat.

"Dirty or clean?" it asked.

"Clean," Nurk was forced to admit. 

"Then I am afraid that I'm not very scared of your socks," said the voice. "Dirty socks, maybe. Clean socks, however, are just not scary." 

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon Hour 0 – Kick Off Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
       From the Northeastern United States - Western New York

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
      I am not that organized - I didn't pick specific books to read. Instead I have a whole bunch of books piled around me that I might read and I look forward to lots of them.  I am also going to read several books to my daughter. My son plans to read The Invention of Hugo Cabret (he loves that book).

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
      We are going to have some toasted cheese bread- yum !

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
   I am Earth Scientist (mostly environmental stuff) and I just started blogging this year (for fun not work - I have done lots of webstuff for work). The idea originally was to have the kids do short book reviews to help them with restating themes and expressing their opinions. I had so much fun that I started doing lots of book blogging myself, though I am still trying to convince the kids to do more. 

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 first read-a-thon!  The thing I am looking forward to is ... getting to do some reading!  We are off to a slightly awkward start - I was explaining about the read-a-thon to the kids. So as we were getting ready for bed my daughter walks up with a big pile of books and starts reading titles and describing them to me. I asked if they were for the read-a-thon and she said yes.  But then she climbed into bed with them and handed me one.  "Do you want me to read them now ?" "Yes!" "But the read-a-thon is tomorrow." "You can read them to me again tomorrow!"  O-o

So we read Button Soup, The Princess who Never Laughed, Brer Rabbit and his Friends, Disney Jungle Book and There's a Wocket in my Pocket before she finally would go to sleep.

And I handed my son a book to read - thinking that he could wake up in the morning and pick it up to read - he read the whole thing before going to bed last night.

Now - I am going to pick up something and read! 
 

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon

I have just had a temporary attack of insanity and have signed up for Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon. I was behaving myself with the realization that I would not have the time and/or focus to do a Read-a-thon, much less one that can involve staying up for 24 hours, but this has been such a disappointing week that I lost my marbles and signed up this morning. Or at least I tried to, the linky stuff was all down. But, I am pretty sure that I am signed up now so I will be gearing myself up to do something readerly for as much of the 26th as I can.

My plan is to include the kids as much as possible - reading books to them, with them and probably getting something new for my son to read.  We might also spend part of the day hanging out at either the library or the bookstore.

So - FUN read-a-thon:

This will involve kids books like Half Upon a Time by James Riley

and graphic novels like Giants Beware by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado

and if I am feeling really inspired I might read something grownup. 

This will also have to involve snacks! I am crossing my fingers and hoping that this works out.