Read-a-Thon Fail!

Over at BookObsessed, we held a Christmas in July Read-a-Thon last weekend. As organizer Shaunesay said, "We'll be reading and chatting and trying to beat the heat from Friday July 6th through Monday July 9th!"

It seems that I'm a sucker for just about any Read-a-Thon, so I signed up with every intention of reading (a lot) and conversing with the other participants in the BookObsessed Forums. And, I had planned to read at least one of the free Christmas stories that I had picked up for my Kindle from Amazon. But life seemed to have other plans. Friday was a terribly hectic day and work dominated everything. In fact, I had totally forgotten about the Read-a-Thon until nearly 4pm. I had actually gotten some reading in during my lunch hour, but wasn't making too much progress through my current read, Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear, the fourth in her Maisie Dobbs series. My goal was to complete this book and then start into one of the Christmas novellas on my Kindle.

Saturday morning came and I lay abed for about a half hour, reading more in Messenger of Truth. I then had to get dressed and into the car to drive down to my son's house for my usual Saturday "keeping Victoria" routine. On the way down to his house, I listened to First Family by David Baldacci. I didn't get any more reading done until the trip home in the evening—all told, I listened to two of the 12 disks.

On Sunday, hubby and I drove over to meet his parents for lunch. All the way over there I was reading the latest issue of Consumer Reports, but I did make a bit more progress in Messenger of Truth on the way home. And, of course, I read when I wasn't on the computer, doing laundry, or cooking supper.

Monday morning, I was back at work and getting things organized so I could fly out on Tuesday morning. I read whenever I had free time—particularly during my lunch break and supper time—but by the end of the Read-a-Thon, I probably had only read 200 pages and listened to the two CDs.

Even though I didn't finish a single book during the Read-a-Thon, I did enjoy myself. And, I finally finished the book that I was working on all weekend—Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear—about 20 minutes after take-off from DFW on Tuesday morning. Immediately, I started reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell which I will be sending to a BookCrossing/BookObsessed friend. And, while driving between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa—both ways—I listened to two more disks in First Family by David Baldacci.