Reading ... and life in general

If you read my blog at all, you'll notice that the previous update took place at 7am on 13 October, just as Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon was beginning. Needless to say, I didn't follow through with the read-a-thon at all. Unlike in previous years when I had been able to set aside the entire day and have nothing else scheduled, this Saturday was full of plans and commitments. I drove to my son's house to pick up his 2 year old daughter, we drove to my produce co-op to pick up the week's allotment, the two of us went to my other son's house to stay with his 2 year old son, and by supper time, all the reading I had accomplished was listening to a couple of disks in the car. By the time I got back home around 8pm, I was thoroughly disgruntled that I hadn't been able to participate at all in any of the Dewey activities. I did run around to a number of blogs to cheer on other participants, but I just abandoned my participation entirely—which is why there's only the one post here in my blog. (That's not to say that I didn't read, I just didn't track it as closely and I went to bed at a normal time instead of staying up all night long.)

This morning is the first day of a read-a-thon we're calling “Reading Through the End of the World and Beyond”. It's being held over at BookObsessed and there's still time to join us if you're interested.

Today, I read the last page of the 148th book of 2012. At the beginning of the year, I set the goal of reading 150 books, and I think I'm going to get there and maybe a book or two beyond. All the books have been recorded in this blog at The Books of 2012. Books read in previous years are documented in the respective pages which are linked from the sidebar.

So, although months and months have gone by since I updated this blog, I have been reading. In fact, since the previous post, I have read 28 books. Maybe more impressive is that those books contained a total of 9035 pages. That's an average of 1000 pages per week.

So, I'm off to do some Christmas shopping—listening to an audio book as I drive—and then I'll settle down to some old-fashioned reading of text later today. I hope your day will be as pleasant.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: the beginning

When I went to Dewey's home page, I was blown away by this new logo! Cheers to the artist who created it. It perfectly embodies the concept—reading around the clock, night and day. And so it begins again this year. Since I'm in Texas, I'll be reading from 7am on Saturday until 7am on Sunday. Most of the day, I'll be away from the computer, so I won't be posting frequent updates as I have in the past. But I'll be reading during all my free time.

There will be less free time today as in prior Read-a-thons. I've gladly embraced the opportunity to care for my two grandkids on Saturdays. I start in the morning at Victoria's house and then the two of us pack up and head over to Aiden's house for the afternoon. When their daddies get home in the evening, I head back home. Reading-wise, I do get to spend at least 2 hours listening to an audio book. But there will be much of the daytime when I will not be reading. I hope to manage to stay awake all night—in contrast to previous events when I fell asleep in the wee hours—and therefore make significant progress through my TBR stack.

I'm starting with these books: in paperback, White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison; on my Kindle: Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble by H P Mallory; audio CD: The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan

Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

I'm at my home location in North Texas.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I really would like to finish White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison. I'm planning on sending it to a fellow reader along with other books, and this is the last one I need to finish before I can pack them up and hand them to the mailman.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Today is distribution day for Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op, so I'm looking forward to some yummy fresh fruit to snack on.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I have two grandchildren who are both 2 years old, and their parents work on Saturdays, so I get to spend the whole day with the grandkids. It's such a blessing. Of course, that cuts into Dewey reading time, but I'll still have the overnight hours to dedicate to reading.

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 7th time to participate in the Read-a-Thon. I look forward to it and try to clear my calendar so there are few distractions. Of course, caring for the grandkids restricts my reading time during the hours that they are awake.

Read-a-thon updates

   

I think it's time for another update on read-a-thon progress. Today is the next-to-last day of FrightFall and the second day of FraterFest. I took Friday off work and spent several dedicated hours reading. As a result, I read a total of 197 pages on Friday compared to an average of 75 on each on the days that I was at work. Although today is Saturday, I have family activities planned that will cut into the free time available for reading. The good news is that I'm currently at page 357 of 529 in Academ's Fury. I don't know if I will finish it today—but definitely by tomorrow.

Current reads are Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher and Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble by H P Mallory. The latter might fulfill the requirement of FraterFest to read a “bump in the night book (vampire, zombie, shapeshifter, ghost etc).” It's not very scary, but the main characters are a witch and a wizard.

Thursday, October 4

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

Friday, October 5

Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 197
Number of books completed today: 0

FraterFest Read-a-Thon - starting position

Today is the first day of FraterFest, and intense four-day read-a-thon. The sponsor, Kimba, has asked the participants to include one book by Rhiannon Frater or a bump in the night book (vampire, zombie, shapeshifter, ghost etc).

Now, I hated to admit it, but I had not heard of Rhiannon Frater prior to signing up for the read-a-thon. I immediately checked out her bibliography and found out that The First Days—her first book in the As The World Dies series—is set in the Texas Hill Country just a couple hours south of my home. That certainly adds to its appeal. I'm going to try to track down a copy of that book today. The book and series have mixed reviews, so I won't spring for an eBook or a new paperback, but a used book would be good to find.

So, starting position. I am in the middle of a great fantasy novel, Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher. Academ's Fury is the second book in Butcher's Codex Alera series, set in a world where the forces of nature take on personalities. These “furies” bond with talented individuals who direct their capabilities to protect the land from their enemies. By the way, Butcher is the author/creator of The Dresden Files starring wizard Harry Dresden, a private detective who takes on paranormal investigations.

I suppose I should also include a couple of goals. I intend to read 400 pages during the read-a-thon. And, if I can find a copy, one of the books I read will be by Rhiannon Frater. If not, I will read a frightful book from my stash—either The Demon You Know by Christine Warren or White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison.

Now, less blogging and more reading!

FrightFall Read-a-Thon: the half-way mark

It's Thursday and that means FrightFall is half-way done. So far, I've read 343 pages in three different books. On Tuesday morning, I finished reading The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison. (I was on page 337 when the read-a-thon began.) I immediately picked up Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher. As of this post, I'm on page 168 and making pretty good progress considering that this is a normal work week and I don't get to read until work is over. Also on Tuesday, I listened to one chapter of The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan.

Monday, October 1

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 90
Number of books completed today: 0

Tuesday, October 2

Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 95
Number of books completed today: 1

Wednesday, October 3

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 43
Number of books completed today: 0

FrightFall Read-a-thon Begins

It begins. Sponsor Michelle emphasizes that FrightFall is to be “a week of relaxed reading during which we can personally challenge ourselves and whittle away those ever looming TBR piles/shelves/libraries.” Today, the mission is to place a stake in the ground to mark our beginning positions and list goals in the form of reading lists. Since FrightFall officially began at midnight, and I was still awake and reading, I marked my current location and that's where I'm starting.

My current book is The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison. It's got witches, demons, vampires, weres, pixies, and elves—not to mention a kitten, a Siamese fighting fish, and a tankful of sea monkeys. I think that's probably scary enough to meet the requirement for the read-a-thon. Oh? Did I mention that the story also takes place the week of Halloween? Now, this novel is book #6 in Harrison's Hollows series set in Cincinnati and starring witch Rachel Morgan. There are 10 books currently available and #11 is due out in January.

Now, when we talk about TBR stacks, there are several of them at my house. There are the BookCrossing books which I have committed to mail to book swappers at the BookObsessed forums and the books that I'm simply eager to read—most of which are in series which I have been enjoying. Since I have a couple of looming due dates, I'm going to focus on the first set, the owed TBRs, during this read-a-thon. That means you are likely to see me starting Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher, Dream Called Time by S L Viehl, Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, or The Demon You Know by Christine Warren. All from the fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal genre, and the paranormals should meet all criteria for “scary” stories.

BTT: Carry-ons

It's Thursday and Deb has posted another Booking Through Thursday prompt. This week, bloggers are asked:

Do you bring the book(s) you’re reading with you when you go out? How? Physically, or in an e-reader of some kind? Have your habits in this regard changed?

What? Of course I do. I find it hard to believe that there are readers who don't take a book when them wherever they go. I've come to accept that there are some people who just aren't readers, and I wouldn't expect that they'd take a book when they go out.

Now the remainder of the question is interesting. “How?” Any form available. Each time I leave the house I take a conventional books or my Kindle—sometimes both. It depends on which book I'm actively reading at the time. I also have one book loaded onto my cell phone so that I simply cannot be caught without something to read. When I'm the driver, I have an audiobook on CD in the car stereo. When hubby is driving, I've likely got my nose into a paperback or my Kindle. (There are currently 1685 books loaded onto my Kindle.)

One special case of “when you go out” is the road trip. We typically take at least 3 road trips a year and I prepare a small box of books which I place into the car. As we travel, I can choose my next read from the box or from my Kindle. This photo is of the book box from our most recent road trip in August as we drove from Anaheim to home in Texas. Most of the time when the car was in motion, I was reading. Since my vacation took placed during the Summer Wrap-up Read-a-Thon and Bout of Books 5.0, I completed seven books from the box along with three books from my Kindle.