Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?
Squire by Tamora Pierce. It's a reread, but perfect for this time of night (it's currently 1am here), as it's engaging, well-written and - probably most importantly for this stage - an easy read.

2. How many books have you read so far?
I've completed 3 and am half-way in a fourth.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I haven't completely decided on which books to read for the rest of the challenge, so I don't quite now. Perhaps more Tamora Pierce, in which case it'd be In the Hand of the Goddess. Perhaps I'll need a break from her after finishing Squire and pick up something else entirely, in which case I have no idea what that'll be.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
No, because I didn't free up my whole day ;) The read-a-thon started at 2pm DK time, and I was out until 4pm, so I missed out on two hours of reading time there. I have no other plans though, so should still get quite a bit read :D

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
After returning home I've pretty much only been interrupted to make and eat dinner and to update my LJ and read other people's progress reports.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
Nothing yet. It's my second read-a-thon, and I'm having just as much fun as the first time around! Oh, perhaps that it's quite a bit harder to stay awake, but that may just be because I hit the wall (and fortunately now also my second wind) earlier than last time.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I wish more mini-challenges offered prizes from other places than The Book Depository. Not only do they not offer free shipping to Denmark, they don't offer any shipping to Denmark, so there are SO many contests where I'm ineligible. I wish those had the alternative of a gift certificate to an Amazon of your choice instead.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
I'd really, really try to free up my entire day. Sometimes it just won't be possible - like this year, I really couldn't/wouldn't use a read-a-thon as a reason not to have our birthday brunch today - but it could be fun to actually be available for all of it :)

9. Are you getting tired yet?
At 1:11am? You'd better believe it! Usually I've been in bed and asleep for 1-2 hours by now!

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
I don't think so, no. I'd tell people to stick to light literature (YA and childrens' lit is great for that!) and well-known/trusted authors, so you're pretty certain to pick books that catch your attention, but most people seem to have figured that on their own ;)

Dewey's 24-hour-read-a-thon, 2010

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!

Last year I discovered that shortish and light books are necessary in order not to get bogged down - especially in the later hours - so I was actually considering rereading a number of Tamora Pierce books. I'm not as much in the mood for her books any longer, so I'm reconsidering that, and trying to come up with other ideas. Funnily enough, there are very few YA books on my to-read shelf... didn't really plan that part too well, but like I said, I was planning on Tamora Pierce ;) On the other hand, I do have a LOT of YA on my e-reader, but I have a feeling that an e-reader won't do as well for a read-a-thon - I need the variety of physical books. Anyway, as I've always known, I'm an erratic reader at the best of times, and like to choose from book to book, so the following list is just a brain storm and me shouting to make a noise.

The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
Page by Tamora Pierce
Tunnelmanden by Dennis Jürgensen
Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede
Lake News by Barbara Delinsky

Last year I managed to read around 1000 pages. I'm not expecting to be able to do the same this year, as the family birthday will last longer, and Lars is home (he had a night shift last year). I'm going to give it my very best shot though! :D My reviews will be up at bogormen sometime after the Read-A-Thon has finished.

T-6 (8:00) This will be my progress post 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 head out to the birthday brunch my cousins and I are having, so I won't be back until the read-a-thon is well under way. I'll see you then!

Hour 2 (16:00): Back from a lovely brunch with my family (19 people!!!!) and ready to start my first book. I'm going to deviate from the list already and start out with a very quick and easy read, to get myself motivated for a lot of reading. Claudia and the Perfect Boy by Ann M. Martin.

Hour 3 (17:01): BSC books always have been quick reads for me, so it was definitely a good book to start with. Wasn't the best BSC book ever though, but it seems to be that the later into the series we get, the weaker the books get. Ah well, it was a good way to spend 45 minutes ;) I've now started Tunnelmanden by Dennis Jürgensen - a quite famous Danish author. So far it seems good :)

Hour 4 (17:52): Tunnelmanden isn't half bad! Typically Dennis Jürgensen (thriller/horror for kids/YA), but a quick read and I'm actually really enjoying it. Progress: 235 pages. I'll need to take a break in about 30 minutes to make dinner, but hopefully I can finish it before then - I'm only missing 80 pages, so it should be do-able.

Hour 5 (18:29): Finished with one minute to spare! It was surprisingly good (although I don't know why I'm surprised - Dennis Jürgensen usually is good. Now on to some Tamora Pierce I think. But first - a break for dinner.

Hour 7 (20:55): Dinner made and eaten and I'm back at reading :) I picked up Page by Tamora Pierce, and just as expected, as soon as I started reading her books, I got into the mood for her writing again - she really is excellent! We'll see how many of her books I get through, or if I decide on something different again once I've finished this one ;) Progess - 103 pages.

Hour 9 (22:54): Finished Page and have picked up Squire. Yeah, yeah, I know. I take back everything I said about not being in the mood for Tamora Pierce. It wouldn't even surprise me if I end up picking up some of the Lioness series as well at some stage! But they really are perfect reading material for a read-a-thon, and as far as I can see, there are no rules against rereads ;) Progress on Squire - 26 pages.

Hour 10 (00:04): I'm paying for my lack of sleep right now. Last year I lasted until around 2am before having to give up and go to bed, but I only had 6 hours of sleep last night, and I can definitely feel that now. Staying up after midnight gets increasingly more difficult the older I get. So even though it's definitely more fun to be up when other participants of the read-a-thon are (and most of those are in the US), I think I'm going to have to give up and head off to bed now. See you in the morning. Oh, and progress on Squire - 100 pages.

ETA: Oh, I forgot the Mid-Event Meme occurs in one hour. I'll have to stay up for that! I don't mind doing some things out of order, but doing the Mid-Event meme 8 hours late just seems wrong. You're stuck with me for another hour then ;)

Hour 11 (01:01) Honestly I think I may have gotten my second wind, it's easier to stay awake now. I obviously don't read quite as fast when I'm tired though. Only another 62 pages read since last.

Hour 21 (10:54) I'm back! Not that I actually slept for all 10 hours, I just haven't had my computer on to update. I only have another 60 pages to go of Squire, so as you can see, I've been keeping busy! Oh, and happy 10-10-10! Thankfully a date USians and Europeans agree on ;)

Hour 22 (12:05) Only two hours left! I wonder if I'll have time to finish another book before the read-a-thon ends. I finished Squire about a half-hour ago, and have decided to take a bit of a break from Tamora Pierce and read Sorcery and Cecelia instead. I'm only 40 pages into it though, so haven't formed too much of an opinion about it yet.

Hour 24 (14:00) Alas, the last book I picked was too long for me to finish by the end of the read-a-thon. I'm only 239 pages into it, so still have another 80 to go -- meaning another 40 or so minutes to finish it. So that brings my grand total to 4.75 books read, 1388 pages read and 12h25m spent reading! I feel a bit bad for only spending a little over half the time reading, but at least I more than met my desired goal of reading more than 1000 pages :D

It was a LOT of fun! I'll definitely be doing it again next year, if time allows.

Books Read: Claudia and the Perfect Boy (150p), Tunnelmanden (314p), Page (245p), Squire (380p), Sorcery and Cecelia (239p, WIP)
Time Spent Reading: 12h25m