Read-a-Thon: Time's Up!

All done!

Reading Location: at home on my couch

Currently reading: Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 649

Total Time spent reading so far: 552 minutes (9 hours 12 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: None recently.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms, Attempting Audiobooks and the Mid-event meme.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton and The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner.

Comments: I enjoyed my participation and wish I could have stayed awake for the full 24 hours. Summary post to follow later.

Read-a-Thon: the home stretch

One more hour

Reading Location: at home on my couch

Currently reading: Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 627

Total Time spent reading so far: 512 minutes (8 hours 32 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: None recently.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms, Attempting Audiobooks and the Mid-event meme.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton and The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner.

Comments: Yeah, I fell asleep! While I feel really rested now, I wish I had been able to stay awake and keep reading instead of sleeping for 6 hours.

Read-a-Thon: 8 more hours

It's getting late

Reading Location: at home on my couch, but I'm still sitting up

Currently reading: Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 616

Total Time spent reading so far: 497 minutes (8 hours 17 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: None in the last hour or so.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms, Attempting Audiobooks and the Mid-event meme.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton and The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner.

Comments: I'm slowing down. My eyes feel tired and I think I'm going to need to pick up a different book for a while to build my energy back up. The house is also hot, so I'm either going to have to change into a short-sleeved shirt or adjust the thermostat. Getting too warm is a guaranteed way to fall asleep when I don't intend to.

Bad Bad Blogger.com

I just discovered that Blogger.com assigns a timestamp to the post at the time you click on the "New Post" link and not at the time you click "Publish Post". So, in those cases where it takes me 10-20 minutes (or more) to compose my post, they wind up with a timestamp that's not quite accurate. Normally that wouldn't matter, but today while I'm participating in Dewey's Read-a-Thon and posting every hour or two, that difference can really make the posts look all awkward.

Read-a-Thon: 14 down, 10 to go!

Beginning the home stretch

Reading Location:still at home on my couch

Currently reading: Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 580

Total Time spent reading so far: 440 minutes (7 hours 20 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: Azuki and Kanaye44.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms, Attempting Audiobooks and the Mid-event meme.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton and The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner.

Comments:It's been over an hour since I read anything in my book. I visited the blogs of a couple more participants in the Read-a-Thon, and I took the time to update my position in several Virtual Book Boxes at BookObsessed. I really like playing in swaps and virtual book boxes at BookObsessed. There are a great group of people who hand out there and by tracking the books we swap at BookCrossing.com, it's a lot of fun to see who has read a given book before I received it.

Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey

At the beginning of the 12th hour, someone over at the official Dewey's Read-a-Thon site posted that we were at the half-way mark. Unfortunately, she jumped the gun. The half-way mark occurs at the end of 12 hours—which is the beginning of the 13th hour. In other words, right now.

But, the half-way mark brings the Mid-Event Survey. It's fun to jump around the blogosphere and see what others have to say about their day so far.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
2. How many books have you read so far?
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
9. Are you getting tired yet?
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?

My Answers:

1. Right now—well when I go back to reading after posting—I'm reading Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton. It's the third in her Beaufort & Company mystery series and when I finish it, I will have read all three of these books this week.
2. I've completed two books. I was only 9 pages into the first book when the Read-a-Thon began, so I pretty much consider that I read the whole book during this event.
3. I'm eager to finish reading Avenging Angels, and then I'm going to turn to a book which I have loaded onto my Kindle. I'm reading Field of Dishonor by David Weber, which I purchased from Baen's Webscription eBook site.
4. I told everyone that I was busy all day and not to plan anything. That almost worked.
5. My husband's parents planned lunch today at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Hubby was helpful and I read in the car all the way there and back so there was just a little bit over an hour during which I couldn't read.
6. This is my third Read-a-Thon, and I think I'm much more prepared this time. The only surprises that I'm finding are the wonderful posts on some of the blogs I've been visiting.
7. I'd love to see the beginning time shift some next year. For three years, the Read-a-Thon has begun at 7am my local time. If the time could be shifted so that next year it would begin here at some other time like 1am—and likewise shifted around the world—and shifted again next October, then over time every part of the world would have had the opportunity to begin at a really good time or a really crummy time.
8. Next year I hope to have more of my posts pre-written so it won't take me away from my reading so long to post updates. I do think I'm doing pretty good, though, as I read almost 7 hours in the first half of the event.
9. Tired? Me? No, not yet. It's barely past supper time here. I'm afraid the hard time for me is going to be the wee hours of the morning when I'm the only one awake in the house.
10. My best tip is to find a cozy spot and surround yourself with all the supporting stuff you need. I've got a large stash of Diet Cokes in the nearby fridge and that will keep me going throughout the night.

Read-a-Thon: Half-way there!

The Half-way Mark

Reading Location: still at home on my couch (I think I'll be here all night long!)

Currently reading: Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 550

Total Time spent reading so far: 414 minutes (6 hours 54 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: None since my last post.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms and Attempting Audiobooks.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton and The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner.

Comments: At 18:22, I finished my second book of the day, The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner. Since it was a YA book and since there was at least one blank page at the end of each chapter, the page count per hour went up quite a lot. I'm now reading the third book in the Beaufort & Company Mystery series by Mary Stanton: Avenging Angels. I need to look her up at Fantastic Fiction and see if there are any more books in the series. I'm really enjoying it and sometime next week I'll post a review of the first three books.

Read-a-Thon: At the eleventh hour

Hour the 11th

Reading Location:at home on my couch

Currently reading: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner

Total Pages read so far: 433

Total Time spent reading so far: 347 minutes (5 hours 47 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: The only place I visited during this break in reading was Devourer of Books, where the hour's challenge was posted. I got so wound up in answering Jen's question about audio books that I'm including my answer in this post.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms and Attempting Audiobooks.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton.

Comments: I have this curious relationship with audiobooks. If I happen to "read" the first book in a series in audio, I tend to need to read the rest of the series in audio instead of in text. I discovered this when, after listening to 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith, I tried to read Espresso Tales in print. I just couldn't enjoy it, so I ran out and bought the CDs and simply adored the story. So now, there's a new book in the series, The Importance of Being Seven, so I decided to listen to a sample of that book. Imagine my surprise when, unlike the 5 earlier books, this one was being read by David Rintoul and not by Robert Ian Mackenzie. Oh my! That's almost as bad as hiring a ghost writer! And, this new reader is going to take me some time to get used to.

Well, with that surprise, I decided to look at Corduroy Mansions, also by McCall Smith. Well, there are two editions available with two different readers—both unabridged! The first version is read by Andrew Sachs, and I think it is composed of all the podcast chapters which the The Telegraph broadcast as Corduroy Mansions was published in a serialized manner. The other version is read by Simon Prebble and I'm guessing it's a regular studio production. I listened to a short sample of each and I'm not sure I have a preference.

Lastly, I decided I'd see whether Davina Porter was reading the newest book in McCall Smith's Sunday Philosophy Club series: The Charming Quirks of Others. She's not! This book is being read by Hillary Neville. But, after listening to a sample, I'm feeling much better. I think she's not going to sound so terribly different from Ms. Porter.

So, while I'd much prefer to listen to Davina Porter—after all, she is Isabelle Dalhousie in my mind—I think I'll vote for Hillary Neville as my favorite reader/narrator of all the books I sampled.

Read-a-Thon: It's now the 10th hour

Beginning the 10th hour

Reading Location:at home on my couch

Currently reading: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner

Total Pages read so far: 346

Total Time spent reading so far: 312 minutes (5 hours 12 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: Darren at Bart's Bookshelf was the first one to sign the Mr. Linky at hour one and post his "3 questions about me" information, so I thought I'd check him out. After all, there are many more gals than guys participating in this thing. (Heck! There are many more gals blogging about books, too.) And, I was curious to know why Darren is blogging at Bart's Bookshelf. Check his site out. You'll find the answer to that question and some well-thought-out reviews.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge and Shake Those Pom Poms.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton.

Comments: I'm glad to be back home with no distractions. Hubby is sharing the living room with me, but he's got the remote control in his hand and he's jumping from game to game to keep up with the football. I'm hungry! He's going to fix rice to go with chili and I'm ready for him to go ahead and put it on! Who would have thought that reading would use so many calories?

Read-a-Thon: Shake your Pom-Poms Challenge

Well, I was not coordinated enough to be a cheerleader, but I was a very loud cheerer (let's be honest here—shouter). And I still remember several of the cheers from my high school days. This seems to be a pretty good adaptation:

Two books, four books, six books, a pile!
Keep on reading, can you see me smile?

Read-a-Thon: 8 hours down, 16 to go!

First book finished

Reading Location:at home on my couch

Next book to read: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner

Total Pages read so far: 282

Total Time spent reading so far: 277 minutes (4 hours 37 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: Two more of my BookObsessed friends: Marlene and Shaunesay Next break, I'm going to go check out some of the folks I haven't met yet and see how their day is shaping up.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton.

Comments: So now the Read-a-Thon is 1/3 over. Given the time zone I'm in, this is the easy stretch. I remember last April when I took an involuntary nap around 3am, so I'm going to try awfully hard to resist and keep reading through the wee hours. I'm pleased to have finished one book. It's the second of three and I have the third one sitting here ready for me to read. But for now, I'm going to take a break from celestial mysteries and read a Young Adult Paranormal book: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner. It looks like it's going to be funny.

Read-a-Thon: 7 hours in!

Update at the beginning of hour 8

Reading Location: back at home on my couch

Currently Reading: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 213

Total Time spent reading so far: 224 minutes

Other Readers I have visited: No new visits since my last post.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge

Finished Books: none so far, but I'm getting close

Comments: At the beginning of the 5th hour (11am local time), we left the house to meet my parents-in-law for lunch. Hubby was driving, so I kept reading for the 16 minutes it took to get to the Chinese restaurant down the road. Lunch took right at an hour and I immediately picked up my book as soon as we were back in the car. We had to stop at the art supply store to pick up some things I needed for my Art Journaling class and then I read all the way home. So, in the 2.5 hours we were out and about, I read for 69 minutes, covering 71 pages and bringing me to a very thrilling place in my book. I've checked in over at BookObsessed, opened my mail, taken a short bio break, and gathered another Diet Coke to keep me company through the next hour. I'm settling in for a serious hour of reading and then I'll see what's been going on over on the official Read-a-Thon site.

Read-a-Thon: A quick hour 4 update

Update at the beginning of hour 4

Reading Location: still at home on my couch

Currently Reading: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 106

Total Time spent reading so far: 118 minutes

Other Readers I have visited: Two fellow BookObssessors: VeganMedusa in New Zealand and Dancing-dog in Tennessee.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge

Finished Books: none so far

Comments: In the 3rd hour, I got myself a small snack consisting of a Granny Smith apple and some raw almonds. I should be good until lunch. Also, Hubby is watching NCAA football pre-game stuff on ESPN and I got distracted by a short feature on the Missouri-Colorado game which had 5 downs instead of the normal 4—which mistake by the officials cost Missouri the win. OK, so it wasn't reading, but I am better informed than when I sat down at the top of the hour. Otherwis, I'm making good progress through Angel's Advocate; looks like I'm reading about one page per minute on average. I'm going to pass on the mini-challenges for hour 2 and hour 3. Although I'm a big fan of Indie publishing, I'm not currently reading one right now and that appears to be the criteria for participating in this challenge.

Read-a-Thon: Hour 3 Update

Hour 3 Update

Reading Location: still at home on my couch

Currently Reading: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton

Total Pages read so far: 82

Total Time spent reading so far: 92 minutes

Other Readers I have visited: Life as List who was one of the featured participants during hour 2. I left a comment.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge

Finished Books: none so far

Comments: I'm splitting my non-reading time between Read-a-Thon activities—such as visiting the blogs of fellow participants and entering a few of the mini-challenges—and BookObsessed—where I'm posting in a Read-a-Thon thread and playing in the Cozy Mystery Swap.

My Third Read-a-Thon

Time again for Dewey's Read-a-Thon. This semi-annual event draws together hundreds of readers all over the world as they dedicate 24 hours for serious reading, blogging about reading, and reading blogs about reading. For those of us who adore books, it's positively intoxicating.

This will be the third time that I have participated in the Read-a-Thon, and I'm hoping I've gotten just a little bit smarter and more organized. I'm using the same posting template that I developed for last April. That will allow me to copy it rapidly into a new blog entry and spend the minimum amount of time updating my blog and the maximum amount of time reading. There are a couple of family obligations at mid-day which will distract me and will somewhat cut into my total dedication to the Read-a-Thon, but families are important, too. Right?

By my clock, we start in approximately 15 minutes, so I'm going to quickly fix myself some breakfast, pop open a Diet Coke, and have my finger in my book ready to start reading right on the dot of 7am.

We Begin!

Reading Location: My house; the couch in the living room

Currently Reading: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton

Comments: I'm starting on page 9 in Angel's Advocate. I figured I'd begin this 24-hour marathon with the second book of Mary Stanton's fascinating mystery series. I finished the first book, Defending Angels, last night so I'm all revved up and ready to go. I've pulled out several high-interest books to change things around during the day. It's going to be important to avoid getting tired or bored, and I'm never timid to switch things up. And, since I have several books in progress right now, I'm hoping to finish a couple of them before 7am tomorrow.