The next 6 hours

Hours 10, 11, and just starting 12

Still no reading. But it's not my fault, honestly. I had a long-distance phone call about a very ill relative, which took a long time, and then I had to call my Mom and fill her in on the conversation, and then what books we were both reading, blah blah. After that I took another wee break to play some games on my phone. But really, seriously, as soon as I check out hour 12's challenge, I am sitting down with a book in my hands!!!!

Hour 12 Challenge

Oh yeah, the mid-event meme.

1. What are you reading right now? I'm in between things and can't decide what I should sink my teeth into next.
2. How many books have you read so far? Three, but two were short, and the other was an almost-finished audiobook.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the RAT? Hmmmm. I'll say "The Second Chance" by Jodi Taylor. This is one of the best series I've ever read, and it's easy to get pulled in to the story. And it's fun, and funny, and smart, and nerdy, and romantic (sometimes), and thrilling......
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Hah! Yeah a lot, though half were self-inflicted. I just dealt with them and tried to move on. It was just unsuccessful. So unless my Mom calls or there's another family-member update, I am ignoring all calls/emails until tomorrow afternoon.
5. What surprises you most about the RAT so far? How little time I've spent reading/doing RAT things online. I'm shocked. 


Hours 7-9

In which I accidentally took a long break. I ordered and ate lunch, watched TV, and stared out the window for awhile. Not productive for reading! But still a nice break.

Hour 8 Challenge

My favorite challenge every year, this time it's hosted by Ticket to Anywhere. 

Lillian & Dash,

Coasting to the lighthouse,

Committed a murder for her majesty.

The first 6 hours

Hour 6

I've spent most of the last two hours trying to figure out how/why a photo I took wasn't appearing in this post, adding new books to LibraryThing, and putting things away. Thankfully, I had the audio of "The Ruby in the Smoke" to accompany me!

Totals
Pages read: 228
Audiobook time: 3 hrs 55 min
Total time reading: 5 hrs 36 min
Books finished: 3 ("The Martian" by Andy Weird, and "The Spiderwick Chronicles" books 1 and 2 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black)
Challenges Completed: 4 (Intro Meme, and Hour 3 Four Seasons Challenge, Hour 5 Casting Couch)

It's lunch time here, so I'll go rustle something up. It's time I stepped away from the computer for a bit, too, and picked up a physical book for a change. 

Hour 5 Challenge

Casting Couch, hosted by My Little Pocketbooks. Take the book you're currently reading and cast the main character only. 

Book: "Naked in Death" by J.D. Robb

Character: Eve Dallas (a NY cop in her 30's)

Actor: I picture her as across between Tamsin Greig (with an American accent, of course), and Stana Katic.

Why: Both of these ladies are smart and no-nonsense. Stan's character on "Castle" is smart, focused, has a good sense of humor, and is a NY copy. Tamsin Greig looks a bit more like Eve Dallas does, I think, with her short hair, non-traditionally beautiful face, and thin frame.

Hour 4

Feeling good, reading a lot, and decluttering a little bit as I go. It's a nice morning so far!
Snacks: Scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa, bagel, lots of coffee.

Time reading: 2 hours
Books reading: listening to "The Ruby in the Smoke" by Philip Pullman

Totals
Pages read: 228
Audiobook time: 1 hr 55 min
Total time reading: 3 hrs 36 min
Books finished: 3 ("The Martian" by Andy Weird, and "The Spiderwick Chronicles" books 1 and 2 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black)
Challenges Completed: 2 (Intro Meme, and Hour 3 Four Seasons Challenge)


Hour 3 Challenge: 4 Covers, 4 Seasons

Spring- The Enchanted April (because April always means Spring, right?)

Summer- That Summer In Sicily

Autumn- Autumn

Winter- Doctor Who : Dead of Winter

The Start

The first hour is already done and over with! I decided to start by finishing the last bit of my current audiobook, "The Martian" by Andy Weir. Wow! That certainly has me wide awake now! While I was listening, I caught up on the photos and stacks that I'd planned on doing before the start, and got more coffee. 

Totals

Pages read: 0

Audiobook time: 41 minutes

Total time reading: 41 minutes

Books finished: 1 ("The Martian" by Andy Weir)

Challenges Completed: 1 (Opening Meme)

And now, here are my stacks of books for the day!

 Here are my current reads. From bottom to top:

"Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen

"Sweet Filthy Boy" by Christina Lauren

"The Seven Daughters of Eve" by Bryan Sykes

"Naked in Death" by J.D. Robb (this is the first in the series)

and on my Kindle, I'm reading:

"The Sittaford Mystery" by Agatha Christie

"The Real Life Downton Abbey" by Jacky Hyams

"The Second Chance" by Jodi Taylor

 And here are my upcoming books.

Some of them I've started and left sitting part-way through for far too long, some of them I need to start for bookclubs, one is a re-read, and some are just shorties I pulled to read/checked out from the library. From bottom to top:

"Doctor Who: The Forgotten"

"Doctor Who: The Hypothetical Gentleman"

"Mademoiselle Chanel" by C.W. Gortner

"Bunner Sisters" by Edith Wharton

"Austenland" by Shannon Hale

"The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories" by Ernest Hemingway

"The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl" by Belle de Jour

"Cordelia's Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold (this is a collection of two books - I'm 1/3 of the way into the first, "Shards of Honor"

and the two latest issues of One Story, "Rites" by Matthew Baker, and "The Pole of Cold" by Erika Krouse

I'd take more photos and list more books that I have laying around here that I pulled to read "soon" and it's been longer than I'd like to admit, but that would essentially be photographing every room of my disorganized house. You don't want to see that, and I don't want you to see that, so I'll just let that be my little secret. 

The RAT has officially started!

Good morning, guys and dolls! I had big plans for the hour before this started, and instead of doing those things, I had to update and restart my computer. A "quick" 10 minutes turned into 45 for no real reason I can figure out. *eye roll* So all of that got scrapped.  Instead, I'll work on that stuff this first hour and then see what book falls into my lap first. 

Opening Meme:

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

The wet and chilly suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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

I don't know! My goal for the day is to finish up some of the nearly dozen books I'm currently reading. I'm also hoping to read one complete book, but I don't know if that will happen or not.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Pad Thai with grilled chicken - yum!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

Lately I've just realized that I've become the stereotypical spinster - single, has two cats, likes reading and crocheting, and living a quiet life. I'm okay with it, these are all things that I enjoy, it just suddenly hit me as funny the other day. :)

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?

I'll have to go back and count, but this is something like my 13th or 15th Dewey's. What'll I do differently this time? Well, not freak out about missing a few minutes of reading every hour, or catching every single hourly challenge, or taking a nap or two throughout the day. What I love about this is that twice a year, myself and now over 1,000 other bookish strangers make a point to carve out time in their day to make reading a priority. Even though I prefer to spend the day by myself without any contact with people in real life, it's nice to know there are others out there doing the same. 

Dewey's Read-a-thon is coming up!

That's right, it's that time of year again - Dewey's read-a-thon will be this coming Saturday, the 25th! I'm going to do what I did last time and try to condense my updates into a few posts, unless it's been hours and hours, that is. 

Goals: Honestly, I'd just like to finish up some books I've already started. I'm not going to the library to stock up on books "just in case", or anything like that. There are a few comics I've checked out already, and I purchased a few new graphic novels for myself recently, so that should set me up nicely for the early morning "need an eye break" for me. Lately I've purchased a bunch of books from some of my favorite discount online/catalog sources, so on top of my nearly 1,000 physical books I already owned, I've also got some fresh meat to choose from.

Of course I'd like to stay awake and read the whole time, but honestly, I'm getting a little too old to force myself to stay up for 24+ hours and then recover in a day. Not happening. Instead, I'll take a nap when I'm tired, and reserve a couple of hours in the early morning for a longer sleep. Plus, this week I'm (finally!) getting new windows installed in my house, and I don't know if the crew will still be here on Saturday or not. That may very well screw me up in terms of reading all day. But no matter! I'm going to do my best, take a break when I feel like it, and have a good time. 

Later in the week, memory willing, I'll post a picture of the books that I'm currently reading so you guys can get a taste of what I'll be starting with on Saturday.

Snacks & Things: I'll be doing my usual of ordering pizza and a salad to be delivered. Also, if the weather cooperates, I'll be taking a walk with an audiobook. Not sure if I'll run an errand like I usually do or not, that will all depend on the window situation. (It will be SO NICE to be able to actually use the windows in my house in a functional way, as opposed to just looking through them. Seriously, most of these haven't been able to open in decades!) Ideally, I'll have my patio table and chairs set up and it will be a quiet weekend, neighbor-wise, so I can spend some time getting some fresh air and sun, but that seems a little less likely. I'll probably just switch up from chair to chair to couch throughout the day. 

Okay - I need to get to work for the day. I hope to see a lot of you on Saturday, and have some fun with mini-challenges and a little impromptu cheering. Have a great week!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Ever timely, that's me!  This time, though, I was trying to be not-anxious about planning a Halloween costume to wear at work on Friday, so I didn't let myself get anything ready. Plus, I did an informal poll at work the day before, and it sounded like no one was going to dress up. Of course, Friday morning I freaked out, googled "last-minute costumes", printed something out, and dashed out the door. Anyone want to guess what I was?

I was pumpkin pi! Nerdy, yes, but easy, cheap as chips, and I could still wear my regular work clothes and not worry about getting anything I spent a bunch of money on dusty and dirty. I'm trying to think of a literary character or author I could dress up as next year, but so far I'm coming up empty. Any suggestions?

Dewey's Wrap-Up

Wow, that was a great nap! And don't think I'm not heading back to bed today, I need to get a little more sleep to start feeling normal. 

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was the most daunting for you?

I think it was just after 2 in the morning, and I caved to get some sleep. I've learned the hard way that while forcing myself to stay awake may result in a few more pages read and some unintentionally hilarious posting, it's better if I just sleep and wake up in a couple of hours.

2. Could you list a few high interest books to keep a Reader engaged for next time?

Of the books I read from this time, I'd recommend "The Bone Season" if they want to focus on reading gone big book, and "Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants" for something fun and funny to get you through the early mornings hours or a rougher patch that you're finding difficult to keep your brain on reading.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the readathon?

Not now. The only thing I thought of from last time was to post the introductory meme earlier than the official start time, but you guys did that this time around! That was very helpful, thank you.

4. What do you think worked really well this year?

I liked the variety in the mini-challenges, posting the first meme early, and it seemed to be a little smoother running ship than before. 

5 & 6. How many and what books did you read?

I finished 5

   "The Journey" by Sarah Stewart

   "Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants" by The Oatmeal

   "The Exile" by Diana Gabaldon and Hoang Nguyen

   "Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey" by Nick Bertozzi

   "Jane Goes Batty" by Michael Thomas Ford

And I read from 2 more that I didn't finish

   "The Bone Season" by Samantha Shannon (on audio, but I also own the print version)

   "Ghost Hunting" by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

I think it has to be Jane Goes Batty, but The Bone Season had me really captivated. Sometimes it was hard to listen that closely all the time, though, so Jane wins by ease if nothing else.

8. Least?

The Exile. It's a graphic novel retelling of "Outlander" from Jaime's POV (well, the first third, anyway) and while it really does condense the storyline nicely, and the artwork was very well done, it somehow just didn't seem to fit in, or grab me, or something. I'd still recommend it, but not heartily.

9. If you were a Cheerleader...

N/A

10. How likely are you to participate next time? In what role?

I'll be back again as a reader, for sure. Maybe next time I'll try some freelance cheering (thanks for the term, Sherry Ann!) and see how that goes. As it is, I feel like the internet distracts me enough, so we'll see. 

A big thanks to my faithful RAT Buddy, Sherry Ann, for sticking with me once again. I don't know how I'd do this without you! And thanks to the cheerleaders (Yay Deb Nance!), participants, and our overworked and fantastic organizers who do such a bang-up job just for the fun and love of reading. You're all the best!

And now, time for me to do this...

Hours 18 - 24

Man, Kelly Kapowski and I are pooped!

Hour 18

Still awake, and I've started reading "Ghost Hunting" by the guys from the show Ghost Hunters. Since they're fairly short chapters, I'm hoping that whenever I fall asleep I won't have much to catch up on after the book falls out of my hands. It's just after midnight here, and I'm usually asleep on the couch by now, or I'm in bed with my Kindle, so who knows what will happen? Hint: it won't be a dance party.

Hour 19:30 - 23:30

I slept. It was lovely, and I want to do more of it!

But before I fell asleep, I did read, and I somehow managed to write it all down before slipping into oblivion.

Pages read 125
Time reading 1 hr 8 min

Totals
Pages read - 774
Books finished - 4
Time reading - 10 hrs 49 min (audiobook- 5 hrs 21 min)
Challenges completed - 7 (Hours 1, 3, 5, 11, 12, 15, and 16)

Thoughts: That was a wonderful nap, if longer than I expected. But that's okay! I'm going to try and read a graphic novel and then get back to the book I was reading before I fell asleep. Is anyone else awake? 

Hour 22 Challenge is the Best Of challenge, hosted by Lisa's World of Books.

Best Author of your reading year: Louise Penny. She's so good!
Best Book of your reading year: This was incredibly difficult, but I'm going with "Just One Damned Thing After Another" by Jodi Taylor. This start to a series has it all, and it's essentially story crack. 
Best Series of your reading year: I'm going to have to go with the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I'll have read the whole thing in a few months once I wrap up the last book, and it was such a wonderful trip. 

That's all, folks!

Pages read in the last hour: 193
Time reading: 50 min

Final totals
Pages read - 967
Books finished - 5
Time reading - 11 hrs 39 min (audiobook - 5 hrs 21 min)
Challenges completed - 9 (Hours 1, 3, 5, 11, 12, 15, 16, 22, and 24)

Thoughts: Well, I made myself a cup of decaf coffee to help perk me up a bit to get through the last hour, and it really helped!  And now, I'm off to sleep for a few more hours. I'll be back later to do my wrap-up post. *yawn*