Starting tomorrow...

I'll be here nearly all the time!  Starting at 7AM tomorrow I'll be reading for 24 hours once again (well, trying to read for that long at least)! 

I'm still working at my local library, which has been detrimental to reading my own books, and I've sadly worn out one tote bag so far with all of my hauling back and forth. I've got some books planned out that I want to read, but my other, MUCH larger, pile of TBRs will get a small workout too.

Here's the "planning on reading" pic:

From bottom to top:

"The Unsinkable Walter Bean" by Aaron Reiner

"Notorious Ninteen" by Janet Evanovich

"Marbles" by Ellen Forney

"Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth, Vol. 1" by Jake T. Forbes and Chris Lie

"The Pirates! In An Adventure With Ahab" by Gideon DeFoe

"Living Dead in Dallas" by Charlaine Harris

And, the ones standing on their side and the audiobook on the top of the pile (ones I'm currently reading and hope to finish):

"The School for Good and Evil" by Soman Chainani

"The Charlemagne Pursuit" by Steve Berry

"And Another Thing: The World According to Clarson, V. 2" by Jeremy Clarkson

"Shadows at the Fair" by Lea Wait

(not pictured) "Moon Called" by Patricia Briggs

Aside from these, some of my TBR Soon books are two more books each in the Pirates! and Sookie Stackhouse series, a couple of ARCs from publishers, several YA's recommended by my co-workers and boss at the library, and hopefully a few ghost/haunted/spooky titles that will make their way onto my lap come Sunday morning.

For now, I'm going to make my lists (cleaning and shopping), run a couple of errands, and then head in to work this afternoon, where another book or 4 might come home with me. And, hopefully, I'll get to bed early so I can be up to start reading in plenty of time!

See you all soon!

Gearing up for this weekend

Hello, Lads & Lasses! 

Once again, it's just about time for another Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon, and I'm so happy that I will have off for the whole weekend so I can read to my hearts' content and sleep as much as I want to. 

This past week I took a little time-out for myself, and went Up North with a good friend for a few days. We stayed at her in-law's cottage (hooray for free sleeping!), went ATVing for the first time ever (and took about a hundred photos and had too much fun), took a trip into Minocqua for some shopping, and basically just laid around and read and watched TV. It was a little difficult to get used to having "nothing" to do for more than a day, but as soon as it was time to start getting ready to go, I was totally relaxed and didn't want to leave. Always happens, right? 

The colors were just beautiful, and it smelled so fresh and campfire-y, I wish there was some way to bottle it up. Except for the first night when we could see so many stars and part of the Milky Way, it rained every night. Though on the second night it took a break and we went out to try and see if we could spot the Northern Lights. No such luck, but you could tell that if it wasn't cloudy we could've seen them. As it was, we could just see parts get a little lighter and then fade away again. Oh well - that just means that we'll have to go back and do it next year!

I managed to get 7 books read this week, so I feel like that's a little warm-up for what will hopefully be a higher count this coming weekend. The good news is that I already have a giant stack of books checked out from my library, so I'm crossing my fingers that I won't bring any more home between now and then. Photos of my book piles are forthcoming (one of my favorite parts of the pre 'thon events is checking out everyone else's books they want to read), and I'm already working on a food and snack list for the weekend too. 

Wish I didn't have to work this week (or any week, really), but it'll be nice to get back into the swing of things for a while. 

Just testing...

...to see if I can figure out how to post a gif.




YES!  I guess I can learn a new trick!

Man, "Green Wing" is awesome.

So long, farewell...

Oof, was I tired.  Here are my final stats, including the mini-update that I last did at 3 in the morning.

Total pages read: 1,176 & 2 audiobook CDs

Total time reading: 12 hours and 56 minutes (what did I do with all that extra time?!?)

Book finished: 4 (see below)

Other books read from: 4 (also see below)

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 21, which is when I caved and went to bed. It's always an early-morning hour that does me in, and while I could've pushed myself to stay awake the whole time I didn't want to get myself to screwey with sleeping hours for this week, so I just went to bed.

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

Not particular books, necessarily, but I always try to have some graphic novels of some sort, or books that have a lot of illustrations, an audio book, and this time I around I read a book of essays/short stories. That was a nice change, and they were all different enough that if I needed a break from what I was reading, I could switch over and read a story or two and then go back to whatever I was reading before. 

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

I was going to say no, but if you could post the next date as soon as possible, that'd be fantastic. I know this is a personal thing, but my work schedule starts filling up a month in advance, and this takes out 2 working days for me. I'm more than happy to reschedule people to do this, don't get me wrong, but I don't like rescheduling clients in general. This is really a small thing, though, all of you guys who work "backstage" do an excellent job!

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

I don't know why I think this, but I feel like the prize winning was better than normal, and there were A LOT of mini-posts that were fun this year! I just couldn't participate since my phone and computer were not getting along, for whatever reason.

5. How many books did you read?

4, and I read from 4 more.

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

The ones I finished: "Sizeable Reflections", edited by Shelley Bovey

     "Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 1" by Gail Carriger

     "Max Hamm, Fairy Tale Detective" by Frank Cammuso

     "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King

The ones I didn't finish: "Grace: A Memoir" by Grace Coddington
     "Servants' Hall" by Margaret Powell
     "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde (audio)
     "Changeless" by Gail Carriger

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
"The Beekeeper's Apprentice", it was the longest, most engrossing, and only (!) regular book that I finished.

8. Which book did you enjoy least?
This is kind of unfair to call it my least favorite, because I still really liked it, but "Max Hamm...". No reason, it was the definition of clever, and I like stories that turn fairy tales on their heads, but it was my least favorite. 

9. If you were a cheerleader... N/A

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-Thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Of course I will, and, like I always say, I'll for sure be a Reader, and will think about being a Cheerleader. Again. 

Thanks so much to all who hosted and worked behind the scenes, to all of my cheerleaders, newly-discovered bloggers, and trusty friend Sherry Ann, for making this another great 'Thon! I'm off to read and nap for the rest of the day, yahoo!

Update #6

I've read 92 pages in "Grace" in 1 hour and 11 minutes. I'm wiped. I'm going to grab a book, and read in bed until I fall asleep. Hopefully, I'll be back before the end at 7 a.m., but if not, I'll just do my final post whenever I wake up!

Hope you guys are still at it, reading those pages with the greatest of ease!

Update #5, or, Hour 19

Baby, I feel ya...

Pages read: 296
Total time reading: 1 hr 40 min

Total pages: 1,068 & 2 audio CDs
Total time reading: 11 hrs 30 min

Books finished: 4 - "Max Hamm, Fairy Tale Detective" by Frank Cammuso, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King, "Sizeable Reflections" ed. by Shelley Bovey, & "Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 1" by Gail Carriger

Books read from: "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde (audio) and "Grace: A Memoir" by Grace Coddington

Menu: a bowl of broccoli slaw with italian dressing, and I just caved and ate a donut. A delicious, lemony donut. And of course, water.

If I didn't know better, I suspect myself of taking some kind of caffeine pill or something - there seems to be no other logical reason for my being this awake and this (well, relatively) coherent this early in the morning. I'm baffled. But, I'll take it, as I can feel my body getting more tired and my eyes are just starting to get dry and a little droopy. Now if I could only find a comfortable way to sit and hold up the big hardcover book that is "Grace" I'd be thrilled...

Never mind. I think I just jinxed myself as I'm thinking desperately about crawling into my warm bed. But soldiering on is what I'll do for now! 

Update #4, Hour 17

Pages read: 206

Time reading: 2 hrs 35 min

Total pages: 772 & 2 audio discs

Total time reading: 9 hrs 50 min

Books finished: 3 - "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King, "Sizeable Reflections" ed. by Shelley Bovey, & "Soulless: The Magna, Vol. 1" by Gail Carriger

Books read from: "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde (audio)

Menu: water

I finished Beekeeper! It was great, and though I'm a bit disappointed that I figured out whodunit at least halfway through, it was really interesting and held my attention the whole time I was reading it. The temptation is there to dive straight into the second book, but while I'm still awake (a shocker!) I'd better pick up another regular book and save the ones with pictures until a bit later on. For now, a bit of a stretch, find something to snack on, visit a few blogs, and pick something out to read! 


Hour 16 Mini-Challenge

"I would rather read than drink a lot of sherry to feel like getting into bed with an old man of sixty any day!"

From "Servants' Hall" by Margaret Powell