25 Oct 2009

Dewey's Read-A-Thon

Yes, I'm joining Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

The timing isn't optimal for me - it runs from 2pm Saturday - 2pm Sunday, meaning that I'm going to miss out on quite a number of hours because of sleeping and a family birthday. Still, it's a read-a-thon, so I'm sure I'm going to have a blast no matter what!

The idea is that I pick a list of books to read, and then spend the day alternatively reading and updating here on my progress. I'll probably just have the one post and then update as I go along. Cheering would be lovely - or join in the fun yourself!

Past readers suggest reading shortish and light books in order not to get bogged down and stay motivated, so here's a list of the books I'm contemplating. Mind you, I'm a very erratic reader, so chances are quite high that I might end up picking up something else altogether ;)
Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson, 400p
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 215p
Gifts by Ursula Le Guin, 288p
Tre piger i en bil by Estrid Ott, 200p (estimate)
Evermore by Alyson Noel, 301p
Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede, 336p

No, I am NOT expecting to be able to read almost 2000 pages in just 24 hours, but at least this gives me a nice selection to choose from. It'll be fun! And slightly insane ;)

T-4 (10:00) This will be my blogpost for the Read-a-Thon Challenge. I'll be updating it throughout the day, so those interested can bookmark it, and those not can just skip this post and forget all about it ;-) Right now I'm about to read out to run my weekend errands, so I'll be ready for the non-stop reading to commence once the clock strikes 2pm. see you then :)

Hour 0 (13:55): Ready to start with a glass of water and my first book Lærkeunger by Helene Hørluck.

Hour 2 (16:00): Okay, Lærkeunger was no fun. I wanted to start with a trip down memory lane, but I've obviously outgrown the book. I read the first 10 pages and by then I'd had enough. Instead I picked up Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry and am already half way! :-) Have exchanged the glass of water for a bag of chips and a Pear Somersby.

Hour 3 (17:10): Finished Gathering Blue. It's not quite as good as The Giver but I still really enjoyed it. I wish I'd known I'd like it so much, and I'd have bought The Messenger while in NYC. I'll have to see if the library has it. Next up: Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson.

Hour 4 (18:30): Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 78 pages. I'm taking a break from that now to go make dinner and listen to The Angel's Game by Carlos Zufon on my audiobook :) I'm glad audiobooks count as well!

Hour 7 (21:00): Got about half an hour's worth of listening done while making dinner. Had to take a break while eating though, as Lars has a night shift, and I wanted to socialise with him during the meal. He's left now, so I'm all by myself until 8am tomorrow morning... which is really 12 hours from now since we're falling back tonight. I probably won't be able to read through the night, but I'll give it my best shot! :-D Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 120 pages.

I cannot write the title of that book without thinking of I Go To The Rock sung by Breeze of Gospel. Go listen to it, it's excellent!

Hour 8 (22:00): Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 202 pages. That's 80 pages in 45 minutes, not too shabby, eh? I've got another 193 pages to go, so if I don't take too many breaks, I may just make that by midnight. We'll see.

Remember to go cheer the others on as well! :)

Hour 10 (23:50): Made it with 10 minutes to spare! :-) And it was EXCELLENT. After my disappointed reaction to Where Do I Go?, Neta Jackson more than redeemed herself in this one, and had me alternatively laughing and crying. Alas, the next book doesn't come out until June next year - go figure!

Next up... haven't quite decided yet. Either Gifts or Evermore. Since it's getting late, I'll be going for whichever has the biggest chance of keeping me awake for a couple of more hours.

Hour 11 (01:14): Gotta admit, staying awake is getting harder! It's at times like these I wish caffeine helped me stay awake. I ended up picking Evermore and have read 68 pages. It's interesting enough to keep me awake so far, but I keep shaking my head at how much of a Twilight-wannebe it is. I'll try to finish it, but it's another 230 pages, so I may have to admit defeat sometime before then.

Hour 12 (02:00): Still reading, but am going to turn off the computer now. Expect the next update in 7-9 hours. Progress on Evermore - 130 pages.

Hour 21 (10:00): No, my maths isn't off, we fell back ;) Once again awake, once again reading. Progress on Evermore - 217 pages.

Hour 22 (11:00): Just finished Evermore. Wow... people who think Edward was a creepy stalker SO shouldn't read this one. I have no qualms with Twilight, but Evermore reminded me a bit too much of Hush, Hush (which made me feel dirty by reading) for comfort.

This will probably be my last update until the Read-a-Thon is over. I'm going out shortly and won't be back until after the 24 hours are up. I'll still be reading though :)

Running Totals
Number of books completed: 3
Total number of pages read: 909
Number of hours reading: 12 hours out of 22

My reviews will be up at bogormen sometime after the Read-A-Thon has finished.

2 Oct 2009

Fall Into Reading 2009 - DONE

Okay, I'm back. Fall Into Reading over at Callapidder Days was my first and is still my favourite challenge, so I'm going to have to join in on this one. Of course it helps that the criteria are really, really easy to fulfill :)

Simple: List any number of books you want to read (or finish) between now (or September 22nd rather, but I forgot all about it and thus am late) and December 20th. No book limit at all. Easy, right?

I figure listing books I've read since September 22nd would be A) cheating, B) defeating the purpose, so I'll make a brand new list of books I want to read from now on. One book per week left comes to 11 books.

Hmm... looks I have a bit of a fantasy/paranormal/goth theme going ;)