Olympic Read-a-Thon: Day 4 Update

Now that the weekend is over, it's back to a normal work week. Monday morning started very early when we left the house at 5:30 heading to the DFW airport. With hubby driving, I started reading Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. This is a very short book, a very short novel—maybe even a novella. I read most of the way to the airport, though I did doze off a couple of times. After checking through security, I took advantage of the Wi-Fi network in the Admiral's Club to take care of e-mail. That means I didn't get back to reading until I had taken my seat on the plane. I quickly finished Odd and the Frost Giants and started reading The Cat, the Professor and the Poison by LeAnn Sweeney. Turns out that I didn't read for long, though, because I wound up sleeping most of the way.

I had actually forgotten about the Olympic Readathon, and didn't get registered until mid-afternoon. Even though I traveled early in the morning, the rest of Monday was a work day and afforded limited opportunity to read except during meals. I did listen to a couple of tracks of Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Levitt while I was driving from the airport to hotel and hotel to restaurant and return. This is the audiobook that I started listening to in mid-July, and I'm not likely to finish it before Labor Day since I only listen to audiobooks when I'm alone in the car.

Summary

Monday, 7/30
Number of pages I've read today: 164
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of pages I've read: 898
Total number of books completed: 4

During the Summer Olympics ...

... I will be reading along with several hundred readers in Random House of Canada’s Olympic Readathon. For this event, readers are asked to set a goal of number of pages. I figured that an average of 150 pages per day was pretty good—I should exceed it on weekends and struggle to make it on work days, thus keeping things challenging.

I was a little bit late in registering at the Random House site. Fortunately, I have been keeping detailed notes about what I'm reading, including the number of pages each day. So it was very easy for me to quickly fill in the Google spreadsheet with a goal of 2500 pages and current status of 734 pages. The Olympics are running for 17 days and I was very pleased to see that I'm almost 30% of the way to my goal just 3 days in. It was a very good weekend when it came to reading. I know, however, that on most of the work days this week, I'll be lucky to log 50 pages.

What have I been reading? Well, on Friday, I finally finished reading Nutty as a Fruitcake by Mary Daheim. I started it on the 22nd and finally finished it on the 27th. That's slower than the majority of books I read. I enjoyed it very much, but just struggled to find time to read during the week. I immediately started reading another cozy mystery, The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse by LeAnn Sweeney. I read most of the day on Saturday—staying in bed all morning allowed me to finish the book shortly after lunchtime. Mid-afternoon on Saturday, I started reading I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore and finished in on Sunday evening. Wow! It was a fantastic young adult science fiction novel and now I want to get my hands on the sequels to see how the story develops.

Summary

Friday, 7/27
Number of pages I've read today: 138
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of pages I've read: 138
Total number of books completed: 1

Saturday, 7/28
Number of pages I've read today: 278
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of pages I've read: 416
Total number of books completed: 2

Sunday, 7/29
Number of pages I've read today: 318
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of pages I've read: 734
Total number of books completed: 3

High Summer Read-a-Thon - Event summary

The High Summer Read-a-Thon has come to an end. Michelle set things in motion—recruiting readers through her blog and then kept things going by sending frequent tweets. From all that I can see, “a good time was had by all”.

As for me, I enjoyed the camaraderie and the motivation to keep records and post regularly on the blog. I don't know that I read any more pages this week than I would have ordinarily, but I did write about reading and tweet about my progress. So that's the difference that the Read-a-Thon made.

Summary

7/16
Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 76
Number of books completed today: 0

7/17
Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 142
Number of books completed today: 1

7/18
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 60
Number of books completed today: 0

7/19
Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 346
Number of books completed today: 1

7/20
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 56
Number of books completed today: 0

7/21
Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 379
Number of books completed today: 1

7/22
Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 48
Number of books completed today: 1

Totals
Total number of books I've read: 6
Total number of pages I've read: 1107
Total number of books completed: 4

Books:
* A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- finished 17 July
* Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
* Murder 101 by Maggie Barbieri -- finished 19 July
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- finished 22 July
* An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear -- finished 21 July
* Nutty as a Fruitcake by Mary Daheim

High Summer Read-a-Thon: down to the wire

It's Sunday morning, and the last day of the High Summer Read-a-Thon. I was able to read quite a lot yesterday, starting out by staying in bed until I finished reading An Incomplete Revenge. Then more dedicated reading time as hubby drove us both down to my son's house to keep the grandchildren for a couple of hours. We're talking at least one hour each way.

After finishing An Incomplete Revenge, I picked up The Hunger Games which I had set aside on Thursday when the Kindle battery ran out. I read in the car, during both lunch and supper, and then took the book to bed with me. When I finally gave in and turned the lights off, I was on page 350 of 374. So, the first thing that I did this morning was to turn the Kindle on and finish the book. It was very good—which is what most reviewers have been saying—and I'm glad I have both sequels on hand.

But before plunging back into the world of The Hunger Games, I'm going to read a couple of swap books. I'm offering Nutty as a Fruitcake by Mary Daheim in a Christmas in July swap over at BookObsessed, so I'm going to see how far I get into that book by midnight tonight.

Summary

7/21
Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 379
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 5
Total number of pages I've read: 1059
Total number of books completed: 3

Books:
* A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- finished 17 July
* Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
* Murder 101 by Maggie Barbieri -- finished 19 July
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
* An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear -- finished 21 July

High Summer Read-a-Thon: rolling into the weekend

My work week has ended! Today was a normal (non-travel) workday and I was not able to read at all except for my lunch break. I'm finally done and the weekend is MINE. I do have to watch two 2-year-olds on Saturday, but the rest of the time I'll be reading for the High Summer Read-a-Thon.

When the book fell out of my hand last night, I was on page 53 of An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear. I managed to squeeze an hour's reading in during my lunch break and then a few pages while eating supper, so now I'm on page 109. The story ends on page 306, so I don't think I'll finish tonight—but tomorrow looks really good. I should be able to have at least two hours of uninterrupted reading time while I travel to and from my son's house.

The twitter chat tonight has been fun. If you weren't able to join us, just search for #HSreadathon to read the tweets. This chat was leisurely instead of frantic like during Bout-of-Books, so I could actually follow the conversations.

Summary

7/19
Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 346
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 5
Total number of pages I've read: 624
Total number of books completed: 2

7/20
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 56
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 5
Total number of pages I've read: 680
Total number of books completed: 2

Books:
* A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- finished 17 July
* Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
* Murder 101 by Maggie Barbieri -- finished 19 July
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
* An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

And the High Summer Read-a-Thon continues

Yes, the High Summer Read-a-Thon continues. Since today was a travel day, I managed to get through quite a few pages while I was in transit.

First, I listened to a full disk of Keturah and Lord Death while driving from Providence, RI, to Boston. I need to try and figure out an approximate page location so I can update my statistics. Then, as soon as I boarded my plane, I pulled out Murder 101 and read for most of the flight, finishing the book about an hour out of DFW.

At this point, I turned on my Kindle to resume reading The Hunger Games. I had started reading it back in June, but set it aside early this month because I really felt the pressure to read a couple of the books which I have promised to send to fellow readers that I swap book with at BookObsessed. Kindle power level was very low, but it wasn't long before they had us turn off our electronics in preparation for landing. I returned to the Kindle on the way home from the airport, surprised that it didn't run out of battery before we got to the house. Once I had brought my luggage inside, I plugged the Kindle into the wall charger to recharge the battery.

Ninety minutes later, when I took the Kindle off of the charger, it started complaining about the battery level being critically low. Since I didn't want to take a chance that it would crash on me during supper, I decided to take a paper & ink book with me. So, I picked up the next episode in Jacquelyn Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mystery series, An Incomplete Revenge.

Summary

7/18
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 60
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 3
Total number of pages I've read: 278
Total number of books completed: 1

7/19
Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 346
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 5
Total number of pages I've read: 624
Total number of books completed: 2

Books:
* A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- finished 17 July
* Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
* Murder 101 by Maggie Barbieri -- finished 19 July
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
* An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

High Summer Read-a-Thon Update: #HSreadathon

It's now day 3 in the High Summer Read-a-Thon. In the first two days of the Read-a-Thon, I have read 218 pages in three different books. If I can maintain that pace throughout the rest of the week, I'll hit around 700 pages for Read-a-Thon. Actually, I'll be happy if I read at least 500 pages by Sunday evening.

Like the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon, the participants are being encouraged to communicate with each other using Twitter. In this case, we're using a hashtag of #HSreadathon. I haven't tweeted too many times:

Summary

7/16
Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 76
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 2
Total number of pages I've read: 76
Total number of books completed: 0

7/17
Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 142
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 3
Total number of pages I've read: 218
Total number of books completed: 1

Books:
* A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- finished on 17 July
* Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
* Murder 101 by Maggie Barbieri

High Summer Read-a-Thon

This is a week-long Read-a-Thon sponsored by Michelle at True Book Addict. This time, there appear to be no challenges—just plenty of reading and communicating about reading. Primary site of discussion will be at Twitter using hashtag #HSreadathon. Since I'm still feeling like a bit of a looser from the Christmas in July Read-a-Thon at BookObsessed, I'm hoping to accomplish more during this particular event. Of course, since my travel will take place during the Read-a-Thon, I know I will have a much higher chance of completing at least one book during the week. And, I can tweet about my progress even when I'm not able to be connected to the Internet!

Starting Position

I'm currently reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. On Monday morning, I started reading at page 269. I intend to complete this book early in the week since I need to mail it off to a fellow BookCrosser in Missouri.

This is a fascinating historical fiction set in 1943-45 in northern Italy. It's the story of the Italian Catholics and the Jews—both Italian and refugees from all over Europe—whom they hid from the occupying German forces. It's the story of ordinary people responding to extraordinary challenges. I heartily recommend it.

In the car, I'm listening to Keturah and Lord Death by Martin Leavitt. I started it this morning, listing to the first 8 tracks of disk 1 on the way to and from the dentist office. This is a charming fairy-tale type of fantasy novel which I received from a BookCrosser in Florida. When I've finished listening to it, I will be passing it along to another. I'm heading to Rhode Island tomorrow—flying into Boston and driving to Providence—so I'll have plenty of time to "read with my ears" this week.

Come back periodically to see my progress and what I choose to read next.

Summary

7/16
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 76
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Total number of pages I've read: 76
Total number of books completed: 0
Books: A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

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.