Hour 20

Pages read: 149

Time reading: 1 hr 13 min

Books completed: 1

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 650

Total time reading: 13 hr 27 min

Total books completed: 6

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

It's official - I'm freakin tired. A few times in the last hour or so, I've nodded off for a second, just enough so that the book (and my head) droop and then I catch myself again. Getting up to come over here and post an update is helping a bit, thankfully. I should probably make something to drink or eat something, keep me conscious for a bit. In the interest of honesty, if I had my heated mattress pad on my bed, I'd be crawling in there right about now, but I don't, so I won't. Ugh, where are my eye drops? How can one person be so tired when all they've done is read all day long?

Okay, it's been a few minutes since I wrote that last paragraph and I feel MUCH more awake now that I've had a snack and some V8. Look out books, here I come!

Hour 18

Pages read: 125

Time reading: 1 hr 50 min

Books completed: 0

Blogs visited: 3

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 501

Total time reading: 12 hr 14 min

Total books completed: 5

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

Sleepiness is starting to settle in. It all started when I started to get cold, so I put on a sweatshirt. Then I moved over to the recliner and put a pillow on my lap (both to keep warm and to protect myself from the size and heft of my current book). Then one of my cats decided to join me. So I got a little cozy and snuggly and now I'm tired. Dangit. If I do need to take a nap, I hope I can at least hold out until I finish the book. Once I put it down I'm not going to want to hold it up for any length of time, even though it's wonderful and I'm loving it.

p.s. The craziness might start to creep in on these updates from now on. Just so you're warned.

Hour 16

Pages read: 125

Time reading: 1 hr 50 min

Books completed: 0

Blogs visited: 3

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 501

Total time reading: 12 hr 14 min

Total books completed: 5

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

I finished two more books, one of them on audio, so now I've changed what I'm listening to. Currently, I've got NKOTB on my iPod, turned up a little loudly to keep me awake. Since it's such a big, heavy book, I've started "Alice in Sunderland" while I'm sitting at the dining room table. Plus, it's filled with small writing and lots of beautifully intricate illustrations and mixed media collages so the bright overhead light helps out. Hope you're still up and reading along!

Halfway Survey

1) What are you reading right now?

I'm listening to "Bet Me" by Jennifer Crusie. Getting ready to pick up "Alice in Sunderland" by Bryan Talbot

2) How many books have you read so far?

Four.

3) What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

"Radioactive" by Lauren Redniss. I've been looking forward to it for weeks!

4) Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

Not really. I just had to make sure I didn't work this weekend. (I need tomorrow to recover.)

5) Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Well, I always plan to run one errand during these 'thons just to do something so I don't end up sleeping by hour 8, but then my parents stopped over for longer than I expected. And then there was those 2 loads of laundry. Oh well. I just get right back to reading as soon as I can.

6) What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon so far?

Honestly? How little time I've spent reading. I know I got a late start, but I feel like I've hardly missed more than an hour and a half. The clock doesn't lie, unfortunately.

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

Not that I can think of.

8) What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

I'll do it again next year for sure. I think the only difference I'd make is that I'd make sure to keep the day before free - completely free - so I can do all of the house stuff and make a final grocery run. I didn't give myself any prep time this time around.

9) Are you getting tired yet?

Yes, but just barely.

10) Do you have any tips for others, something that is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

I'm a big big fan of audiobooks. They're great for a break from holding up a book for so long, and if you're going to walk or run errands you can still "read".

Hour 12

Pages read: 145

Time reading: 2 hrs

Books completed: 1

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 229

Total time reading: 7 hr 24 min

Total books completed: 3

Total blogs visited: 5

Total challenges completed: 2 (Intro and Book Sentence)

One more book down, and I'm still listening to "Bet Me". Just had a disgustingly greasy and good Chinese food dinner and I'm so full I could burst. I've had enough of the crappy food and will stick to healthy stuff for the rest of the night. It's the only way I'll make it through!

Hour 10

Pages read: 84

Time reading: 1 hr 26 min

Books completed: 2

Blogs visited: 3

Mini-challenges completed: 1

Total pages: 84

Total time reading: 5 hr 24 min

Total books completed: 2

Total blogs visited: 5

Total challenges completed: 2 (Intro and Book Sentence)

I'm finally done with "Stiff"!!!! No more rotting corpses for me - at least not the literal variety - and I'm starting to read physical books instead of just listening to them. My parents stopped over to drop something off and ended up staying for over an hour, so I lost some good reading time. But that's okay - it helped keep me awake. Now it's just starting to get a little darker outside, and I'm worried that when it's pitch black in a couple of hours that I'll crash and want to take a nap! Alright, back to reading. How is everyone else doing?

Hour 9

This mini-challenge, hosted by Midnight Book Girl, invites you to make a sentence out of your book titles. Mine reads "Things in the night, bound to shadows, committed the murder at the vicarage". Spooky, right?