Saturday, October 21, 2017

Dewey Day October 2017

That's a wrap! I ended up staying awake until around 12:30, then went to bed and read for another hour or so. And, as usual, I'm all whacked out today and am good for not much more than reading, napping, and catching up on TV from the week. 

Closing Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
After midnight, for sure. I was the most tired, and dropped a book on my face...twice.

2. Tell us ALLLLLL the books you read!
I didn't finish "Princess Jellyfish Volume 1" and "The Loney".
Here's what I finished:
"I Am George Washington" by Brad Meltzer
"I Am Martin Luther King, Jr" by ""
"I Am Lucille Ball" by ""
"I Am Jim Henson" by ""
"I Am Albert Einstein" by ""
"Robinson" by Peter Sis
"Literary Life" by Posy Simmonds
"Jessica Jones: Alias, Volume 1" by Bendis and Gaydos
"Sex Criminals, Volume 4" by Fraction and Zdarsky
"Mr. Squint" by Jenny Partridge
"Read or Die, Volume 1" by Kurata and Yamada
"Death by Drowning" (audio) by Agatha Christie
"Death at First Sight" by Lena Gregory
"Malice in Maggody" by Joan Hess
"Five Little Pigs" by Agatha Christie

3. Which books would you recommend to other RAT'ers?
Anything Agatha Christie is ALWAYS a recommendation from me, and I really loved the "I Am" series by Brad Meltzer. They nearly always make me cry, they are perfectly illustrated, and the stories are so interesting and inspiring. The one that made me cry the hardest was "I Am Helen Keller" (which I read a few weeks ago) - SO GOOD!

4. What's a really rad thing we could do next RAT that would make me smile?
Hmmm. Not sure. But I like stats, so if you would publish maybe the percentages for formats that people read, or genres, or something, that would be interesting to see!

5. How likely are you to participate again? Would you be interested in volunteering to organize or prep?
I'll be back for sure, though I do more read-a-thons now than I used to, so I don't feel pressure to read all the things during Dewey's anymore. That's okay! I'll say maybe to volunteering. I might be back in school in the spring, and I don't want to say yes to something I may not be able to do once the date rolls around.


A big THANK YOU to Andi and Liberty and everyone else at Dewey's HQ, and to all of the volunteers who give up their time to work hard and make this such an enjoyable event! And another big THANK YOU to my long-time read-a-thon pal, Sherry Ann - I think there's only been one or two 'thons that we didn't do together, and even though we don't check in with each other constantly, it's been Weird when we weren't doing this together. Thank you so much for hanging with me and cheering me on and cracking jokes twice a year for so many years now. You are The Absolute Best! 




See you all in April!



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Hour 15, after 9PM

Well, I sure seem to have gotten the hang of doing nearly anything but reading. My quick dinner break ended up being well over an hour. A phone call, some texting, taking the garbage out, etc - it adds up. And I'm reading a creepy book right now ("The Loney"), and I'm thinking that it might be better if I finish it during the daylight. Otherwise I may not close my eyes tonight! 


And only a few hours late, here's the mid-way meme:

1. What are you reading right now? 
"The Loney" by Andrew Michael Hurley and I'm listening to "Death by Drowning" by Agatha Christie

2. How many books have you read so far?
I've finished 7.

3. What book are you most looking forward to in the second half?
It was "The Loney", but now that I'm getting spooked, it might be some of the "I Am" series of kids books by Brad Meltzer.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with them?
 I rolled with it. If I force reading I read a lot slower, so it's better if I just do whatever I feel like doing and get back to the books when I'm done.

5. What surprises you most, so far?
How many I'm finishing without trying too hard. Yes, there are a lot of thin ones with illustrations, but they've been lurking on my TBR Soon piles for too long and were starting to seem like they'd be unreadable. 


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Just after 2PM, in hour 8

I've managed to finish a total of 5 books so far (it's not that impressive - mostly GNs and short illustrateds) and while I haven't totted up my time yet, I know that it's probably only a few hours. I just said to someone on Litsy that it's amazing how much time you spend not-reading when you're reading-all-the-time. And it's so true! 

There seem to be a lot of excellent and new mini-challenges this time around, which is exciting! I'm hoping to retroactively participate tomorrow in some of them, and maybe later on today when the focus is waning I'll get to a few while they're still "live". 

Time for another break to do some dishes and switch some loads of laundry before hittin' the books again!

*************************

9:30 AM

First book is finished, and I just got a refill on my coffee, so things are looking up! I'm going to reuse my Litsy picture this morning for the Book and a Beverage challenge.


#RATbookdrink  Thanks for the challenge, @bookgoil! 


***********************

Hello, and good morning! Technically I'm awake, even though it doesn't quite feel like it. For some reason it seems darker than normal at 7AM, so as soon as I'm finished with this I need to start the coffee and turn on some lights. 



Opening Meme:

1. What part of the world are you reading from?
My book-filled house in the 'burbs of Milwaukee, WI.

2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I'm so unorganized this time around - I have no idea.

3. Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Roasted chicken breast and roasted squash. Yum! 

4. Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a massage therapist and thinking of going to grad school for an MLS degree. Adjusting to life as a one-cat household after having to put my sweet girl to sleep in June. Her brother and I have our moments but are mostly okay. 

5. If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what's one thing you'll do differently today?
I plan on posting on Litsy the most often. And even though I had more time off yesterday to prep than usual, thanks to some upcoming work on my house I spent hardly any time cleaning and sorting than usual. Makes me a little anxious, but it is what it is. 

Okay, off to caffeinate and grab a book!

Friday, October 20, 2017

Do you know what weekend it is?

That's right, it's Dewey's weekend!  



I'm hopefully wrapping up what has been a mini-slump over the past month or so. Partially it's because I'm reading some chunksters (which take forever since they don't travel with me when I leave the house) and partially it's because... well, I don't quite know. I've been waiting for a date from a handyman who will be doing some painting and plaster repair, and since I have dates as of 2 days ago, that means that I need to pack up/shift both bedrooms worth of stuff (including around 1,000 books), plus clean up and out as much as I can along the way. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it. 

What I'm hoping for during this readathon is that I finish up at least 1 book that I've been "currently reading" for months, and get through a few library books. Foolishly I agreed to go to see Janet Jackson in concert on Sunday night. It'll be fun, yes, but I really like reserving this entire weekend for reading my eyeballs out and recovering from said reading. I just said yes without thinking, and once I realized what I'd just done it was too late to go back. *sigh* I'll be napping and sleeping for sure, but since I'm having several insomnia episodes a week, it could work in my favor. 

Like last time, I'll update one post for the whole readathon. If you want to find me posting more frequently, you can find me on Litsy as @LauraBrook. 

Looking forward to it, and I'll see you all tomorrow morning!