Dewey's Read-a-Thon: End of Event Meme

At the end of the 24-hour Read-a-Thon, participants are asked to answer 10 questions to summarize their experience with the event. The questions:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
5. How many books did you read?
6. What were the names of the books you read?
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
8. Which did you enjoy least?
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?

My answers:

1:  I started getting tired of reading around 10 pm, hour 18. At that time, it wasn't so much that I was sleepy, but that I *really* wanted to do something other than reading and updating my blog. I wanted to prowl around on the Internet. I wanted to play solitaire. I wanted to mess around with the photos we took at Redwood National and State Parks. All the stuff that I normally do when I'm not trying to stick with the 24-hour Read-a-Thon.

2:  I'm not sure that what I think of as high-interest would be appealing to other readers. I will suggest that if you read series, pick a couple of books in series that you have been enjoying and keep reading. Also, YA/teen books may be a good choice since you're likely to be able to finish those more quickly that a more serious book.

3:  The only improvement I can think of would be to shift the start/end times so that certain areas of the world don't always have awkward schedules. Otherwise, I think that the Read-a-Thon is a fine event and I'm proud to have participated 6 times now.

4:  As usual, I think that the hourly postings at the main site worked very well. The volunteers are to be commended for all the work that went into preparing the encouraging messages.

5:  I read two books, finishing one.

6:  I read and finished Shattered by Karen Robards. This mystery/suspense novel was excellent and although I figured out part of the mystery early on, I didn't guess who the murderer was until it was revealed by the author. She did her job very well. The second book that I read was A Face Turned Backward by Lauren Haney. I completed exactly 50% of this mystery set in ancient Egypt, reading 143 of 286 pages during the Read-a-Thon. I'm enjoying it very much and expect to finish it later today.

7:  Since I only read two books this time, I don't really have a favorite. I enjoyed both of the books which I read; I'm only sorry that I wasn't able to read more and have more variety in what I was reading.

8:  Since I didn't enjoyon book more than the other, I didn't enjoy one less than the other. It was a tie, a toss-up—dead even.

9:  I did not sign up as a Cheerleader, but I'm thinking this might be a great way to participate in October. As a Reader, I really appreciated the visits and messages from the Cheerleaders during the event.

10:  Unless something interferes, I'm going to participate in October. I'm thinking that I may try out a couple of new roles at that time—definitely as a Cheerleader, and maybe as a more visible volunteer helping out with the web site.