High Summer Read-A-Thon

Today is the first day of the High Summer Read-A-Thon (07/16-07/22) and I have decided to participate because of two things: fun and a stack of books that will topple soon, if I don't do anything about it. If you'd like to join, the link above will get you to the right spot. The action takes place at the Seasons of Reading blog hosted by lovely Michelle, owner of her personal book blog, The True Book Addict. Who knows, maybe you'll even decide to hang around for the future read-a-thons :-). I think I will.





Books I really want to get read:

1. In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
2. The Prophet by Michael Koryta
3. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
4. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

My plan is to stick to physical copies this time and stay away from my kindle for the whole week. I hope it works.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon - April 21st, 2012

It's that time again! While most of the book bloggers are long-time veterans, I have been so out of touch for the past two years (two new babies and what not), that I'm a little bit nervous going into this 'reading challenge' I will probably not be able to read for 24 hours with or without breaks but it's always worth a try.

Here's the lowdown for those of you who'd like to join:

What is Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon? For 24 hours, we read books, post to our blogs about our reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day. It happens twice a year, in April and in October.
It was created by the beloved Dewey (her blog has since been taken down, so the link won’t work). The first one was held in October 2007. Dewey died in late 2008. We’re still saddened by her absence, but the show must go on. The read-a-thon was renamed to honor its founder in 2009.
Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon is hosted by Trish and Shesten, with help from volunteers.

To sign up and find out more about this fun event, visit the Read-a-Thon website.

I don't yet have a list of books I'd like to read but I'm pretty sure they will all be review copies I'm in great need to read and review.

Good luck to all and happy reading!

Dewey's Read-A-Thon: back from hairdresser and ready to read.

It is hour 12 now, we are mid-way there and I have not done so well with reading. But my hair looks really good (she cut the bangs a little too short for my liking but I love the color) and I actually got to read while sitting in a chair getting 'pimped out'. I am still on Mercury in Retrograde and it really is quite fun to read about the life of a working girl in New York City.  I had to give my son a bath and then feed him tons of times, lol, but I am hoping to get a lot more reading in the nighttime than I did in the daytime.

Stats:

Books read - 1 (still reading)

Pages read since last update: 77

Total pages read: 189      

I will probably not be writing another update for a few hours but I'm hoping to have the current book done.

I hope you all guys are hanging in there and having fun!!!!                                                                                                    

Dewey's Read-A-Thon: 3.5 hours done, 20.5 more to go.

I am still having a lot of fun, it's only been three and a half hours of reading and surprisingly I did manage to read through about 90% of the time. I have finished reading The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw and am now reading Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich. As I suspected, it is a fun, light read and even though I just started, I am already liking it. The Swimming Pool, on the other hand, was kinda depressing but still a good read.

Pages read from 8 am to 11:30 am:

The Swimming Pool: 82

Mercury in Retrograde: 30

Total pages read: 112

Happy reading. I will now try to read other blogs and ten go for my hair appointment.

Let the fun begin.

It is now 8am and I am ready to read (well, I'm always ready for that). I hope to last a little longer this year than last time. Having an infant is kind of a blessing this way because I no longer sleep so much at night and consequently I hope to read at night as I nurse him (it's amazing on how little sleep one can go on when necessary). But for now let's concentrate on what my nearest plans are:

1. I am going to finish reading The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw (a really good book so far)

2. Next, I'll move on to Mercury In Retrograde by Paula Froelich (I am hoping for a nice, light read that won't take up too much time).

That's that for now. I read tips that Irish from Ticket to Anywhere had for read-a-thoners and decided that posting updates every few hours instead of every hour is a very good idea. Therefore, my next update will be around noon, right before I have to go to my hair dresser.

Happy reading everyone! Hopefully I'll be able to visit some of you.

Dewey's 24-hour Read-A-Thon - End of Event meme

It is hour 24 and I was awake for only 17 hours out of 24. I tried to stay past midnight but my eyes kept closing and I think I spent 30 minutes reading the same page. I am nonetheless happy altogether with how the whole event went. I didn't expect myself to stay up past 10pm and I honestly had lots of fun.

Admittedly I only read one whole book, No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer.

I did read bits and pieces of The Tattoo Machine by Jeff Johnson and listened to The Summoning by Armstrong for about 15 minutes.

Total books read: 1

Total pages read: 374 (one whole book - 346 and The Tattoo Machine - 10)

Total time staying awake and trying to read: 17 hours (8am-12am Saturday & 7am-8am Sunday).

Let's move on to the last meme of this year's event.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

hour 13, 9-10pm

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?

Psychological thrillers definitely. I just read A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi a couple of days before the read-a-thon and I wish I put it away and read it during the event instead.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

I honestly don't. I think it went very smoothly and I met new bloggers too which was an added bonus. I am just very happy that there are bloggers who organize this event everytime and make sure it runs smoothly.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Cheerleaders. These girls were absolutely amazing.

5. How many books did you read?

I only read one full book which is still more than I usually manage (the fastest I can read is a book in two days).

6. What were the names of the books you read?

No Wind of Blame, The Tattoo Machine and The Summoning

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

No Wind of Blame but The Summoning is an audio book that I am enjoying a lot as well.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

The Tattoo Machine, not that it's bad but I a

m at the beginning of it and the author comes off cocky and better than....

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I weren't one but whoever decides to be a cheerleader next year just do what the girls do this time :)

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again?

What role would you be likely to take next time? I would love to participate in every read-a-thon from now on, preferably as a reader. I want to see if I get better with each event but more importantly make it a tradition and something my family can finally get used to and know not to bother me those two days in the whole year. However, next spring when the read-a-thon comes along I will have a baby boy infant to take care (I am due February 7th, 2010) of so I would have to wait and see how it goes.

I just wanted to finish it up with saying thank you to all the fantastic bloggers, readers,cheerleaders and everyone who visited my blog and commented and kept my spirits up even though they didn't participate in the read-a-thon at all. I am very taken aback by the wonderful atmosphere that permeated the blogosphere (a little rhyming here) and for that alone it is worth participating in this even any and every time.

Dewey's 24-hour Read-A-Thon - hour 9 update

Phew, is it just my life that works this way or do other people have to deal with this as well? The one day that I want to sit down and spend as much time as I can reading, there are people coming over (my sister, my niece and my nephew) and my daughter has all kinds of questions and problems to be discussed, and my husband feel the need to talk to me about his mountain biking and the race he's joining next week. I swear right now I am ready to choke them all.

Anyway, I am still on book no. 1 but I am nearing the end, thank the heavens!

Pages read since last update: 136

Total of pages read: 252

I also had to take about an hour break for my daughter's Halloween party (where she fought a little with her best friend and I was tempted to intervene but decided to let them handle it, I'll find out the outcome on Monday).

I did manage to visit quite a few blogs and am enjoyed what i find there. i try to leave as many comments as possible but I also see that cheerleaders are really keeping everyone's spirits up.

I am counting on staying up for the night with maybe only a couple of hours napping and then reading a lot more :).

I am still very happy though and enjoying No Wind Of Blame tremendously. Ms. Heyer made me laugh out loud quite a few times.

24-Hour Read-A-Thon - first update

Okay, I have been reading now for three hours (from 8 am to 11 am), not counting the 30 minute break in which I visited as many blogs as I could and commented on all of them. I apologize right away if I don't get to leave comments on all the blogs participating but I will try my best to visit as many as possible.

As far as the update goes:

I started with No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer. I am still reading this one but I think I will be switching to something else soon.

Pages read so far since the beginning: 116

Books read : not yet one full book :(

I am still having fun and enjoying the reading but on a side note, my husband is being a little pest and trying his best to distract me. Someone please make him behave!!!! Till next time, HAPPY READING TO EVERYONE & BIG, BEAR HUGS HUGS TO ALL THE CHEERLEADERS!!!!!

YAY CHEERLEADERS!!!

Dewey's 24-hour Read-A-Thon warm-up

It is 7:34 am here on Long Island and I am getting ready to start reading. Can I just tell you how excited I am? I am almost jumping out of my socks :-). Anyway, I was thinking how to go about the whole Read-A-Thon thing, the updates, the books, the snacks and all that jazz, and I decided to post short updates every 3-4 hours (maybe even not that often). I also for the first time in a very long time will try reading more than one book within one day. I am currently reading Dragon House by John Shors but I will put it aside for the marathon, at least for the beginning of it because it is a very serious novel and I feel I need something light first. Therefore, I am starting with No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer and see how it goes.

Breaks: I will be taking breaks every couple of hours to read blogs and write comments. Also, I don't snack or eat while reading, so those breaks will contain my snacking and eating time. I will also have to drop my daughter off and pick her up at the Girl Scouts Halloween party so this will take some times as well.

Okay, I'm off to have some breakfast and I wish you all luck who participate and cheerlead and an awesome Saturday to everybody.

24-Hour Read-A-Thon is coming.

Yes it is and I am probably the last person in the blogosphere who only now posts about it :)

Initially, I didn't plan on writing about my preparations for this super event but then I felt guilty that I didn't so here I come.

This is my very first Read-A-Thon and it will probably be my last for at least another year because next year there will be an infant in the house and I will be trying to catch up on sleep any chance I get. That's why I decided to join now. I wanted very much to do it last time but was afraid I wouldn't last and if there is one thing I hate, it's not finishing what I started (maybe because it's happened to me one time too many?). Anyway, I do have a list of books that I might want to read and I will present it below but before I do that I just want to say that I am in no way committing myself to this list, lol! I will most likely change it in the process but it's good to have one if only as an insurance against my "I don't have anything to read" whining. I put aside six titles, and while I realize not all six of them will be read since I am a rather slow reader, at least it's a good mix from which I will be able to choose if I get bored with one book or the other. Mainly, my goal is to catch up on some of my challenges and the books below are all part of three of them: What's In a Name - 2, Mystery & Thriller Reading Challenge, 999 Reading Challenge.

1. The Mosaic Crimes by Giulio Leoni

2. The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

3. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

4. The Devil You Know by Mike Carey

5. No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer

6. The Fourth Hand by John Irving

Have you signed up yet? Try it if you haven't. All you have to do is visit the website, commit yourself by signing up and then just be super excited. I think we all are, the readers and the cheerleaders alike. It is a great fun where we have a chance to meet other bloggers that we maybe haven't heard of and to entertain each other (maybe even steal book ideas). Oh, and you don't really have to stay up 24 hours, you can sleep and you can take breaks as long as you're honest about it. I know I will need my sleep :). I'll see you there!