23 Apr 2016

Dewey's Read-a-thon - Progress Report

T-4 hours: Not much longer to go now, so I figured it was time to get the placeholder for my progress report down :) I've picked out all the books, tidied the house so it's ready for the invasion, and just need to get dinner underway before the rest arrive. My niece, Isabella came over yesterday and has spent the night here, so she's kindly offered me to chop vegetables for dinner once she's finished the mouse she's currently crocheting :) We've had an awesome time getting our crafty geek on, watching movies, talking, putting on nail wraps (link goes to photo of our hands... even though hers keep falling off :-P Not sure if her nails aren't long enough, or if there's something weird going on with the chemistry of her nails, or if it's just because it doesn't work as well with a hair dryer as with a hot plate - ah well, she doesn't seem to mind terribly) and just generally having a lovely time together :) And now she's really eager for the readathon to start (so am I, mind you), so she can start both the book she brought along with her, and one of the ones I picked out for her.

Since she's here, I won't be following my usual tradition of going on the treadmill this morning, but I went both swimming and biking yesterday, so I'm going to count that!

Isabella has finished her mouse - time to go start dinner :) As usual, I'll just keep updating this post with my progress reports so I don't spam you too much... I'm so considerate that way... and modest too ;)

Let me know if you're reading along too - would love to come cheer you on :)

Hour 0: The house is full with people excited to read :D Love hearing all the chatter :)
Opening Meme
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Copenhagen, Denmark
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Rebekka: If I knew, I would start with that one! I want to read Fangirl, Paper Town, WitchLight, Undomestic Goddess, Casting Spells, Joy for Beginners, and Looking for Alaska!
Nina: Casting Spells
Michala: Aaaah!! I don't know either!
Isabella: Dark Tide
Mum: A Man Called Ove
Me: I don't know either - I never make up my mind until 3 seconds before we actually start.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Rebekka baked some awesome cookies as always. Mum brought along strawberries which is all kinds of excellent!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
As usual, we're turning this into a family event. I'll be my 12th time, Mum's and Rebekka's fourth time, Mixi's second time and Isabella and Nina's first time!
5) What are you most looking forward to about the readathon
Nina: Reading together with you guys.
Isabella: Because I get to read for hours of end without Mum telling me to do something else.
Rebekka: The reading experience.
Michala: The 'hygge'... and Rebekka's cookies.
Mum: Being together with you all.
Maria: Yup, me too... and then the reading of course :)

Rebekka, Michala and I still need to make up our minds which books to start with - I always change my mind 309 times within the last five minutes... that's part of the fun! ;)

Hour 1: As usual, we kept chatting until the very last minute, until Mixi suddenly called out "It's time!" and we all immediately stopped talking, and picked up our books. Nina looked around bemused, "This suddenly got silly!", but then picked up her book as well, and we've all been quietly reading ever since, with only a "please pass the M&Ms" to be heard. I ended up picking up "A Man Called Ove" as my first books, and am about 100 pages into it. I'm really enjoying it so far - much the same type of humour as "The Hundred-Year-Old Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared". Should take me another 2-3 hours to finish though, so I'll probably only have time for that one before dinner.

Mum is reading an old YA, Rebekka and Mixi are reading "If I Stay" and "Where She Went" respectively, and Nina is reading a book by Janet Evanovich. Isabella is reading "Dark Tide" as expected :)

Hour 2: Nina has finished her first book, and was very unimpressed when she heard there was no prize for doing so ;) Mixi took a small nap... having a 16-month-old daughter around takes its toll. And we've determined that Isabella reads almost as quickly as I do. Good girl!

Hour 3: Just a quick update before I get up to put the potatoes in the oven for dinner. I've another 80 or so pages to go of my book, so should finish before dinner. I can't quite make up my mind what I think of the book... It's fairly similar to "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared" in genre, but without the same vitality that made that book so incredibly charming. I think the last quarter will make it or break it.

Last hour's Mini-Challenge was to write a five-word book story. I came up with "A full library - happiness achieved". Rebekka's was "She read it, and died."

Mum's finished her first book as well, and is trying to figure out what to read next :)


Hour 6: Took a break for dinner, but now we're back :) I finished "A Man Called Ove" just before dinner as expected. It was good, but not as amazing as I'd expected from other people's recommendations. Ah well. Haven't yet decided what to pick up next, which is why I figured I'd update here first.

Lars arrived home just in time for dinner :) Perfect timing.

Hour 8: I decided to pick up "Wrong Way Round" - an Australian travelogue, which is so far charming me completely. Mum finished her second book (another Danish YA), and has picked up "If I Stay" which Rebekka finished earlier this hour. She's picked up "Seeing Me Naked" which I remember hardly anything about, other than that it was one of the most charming chick-lit books I read in 2007.

And may I just take this moment to recount how much I LOVE that this is now a family event!!! Three generations this time, sitting around, having an awesome time with each our books. I love it :)
Nina left shortly after dinner though, and Mum and Isabella are leaving now... it's already long past a small girl's bedtime, but fortunately her mother has always been of the opinion that a good experience is worth staying up late for ;)

Hour 9: Only managed 30 pages this past hour, due to taking time to see Mum and Isabella off, as well as discussing new book ideas with Mixi who's finished "Where She Went", and after a lot of debating turned on to an audiobook as her next read. I am absolutely LOVING "Wrong Way Round" though - definitely awesome readathon material!

Hour 10: I'm starting to feel the effects of a long few days. It's 11pm and I'm getting decidedly tired. Fortunately the book is still fascinating enough to keep me captivated though - AND it's making me want to go back to Australia and see some of the sights mentioned here! Highly recommend this book if you want to live vicariously through others.

Hour 11: Rebekka and Michala left shortly after my last update, so now I'm reading on my own again (although it's nice to have Lars back :) ) and am wondering how much longer I'll last. My book is still really amazing, but surprisingly slow reading. Not quite sure what that is... the type isn't that small... perhaps it's just that I keep flipping back and forth to follow their trip on the map... or perhaps it's just that I'm getting tired ;) I have another 70 pages to go, and would like to finish that before I head off to bed, but am not quite sure I'll manage.

Hour 11.5: I'm throwing in the towel. I'm going to call it a night and read on in the morning. Totally weird to only have made it to 543 pages on the first day, but I'm just not reading this book at anywhere near the speed I usually do. No matter - I'm enjoying it hugely, and that's the important part :) However, just this once I'm going to give up before the mid-event survey... the questions all tend to be the same each year anyway ;)

See you when I wake up again.

Hour 20: Hi again :) I've been awake for an hour, and just finished "Wrong Way Round". SUCH a good book! One of the best travelogues I've read, I think. So even if it was slow reading, it made for perfect readathon material :)

Next up is "Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell. I've loved almost everything else I've read by her, so I have high hopes :)

Hour 22: Definitely a good book for a readathon! I'm flying through it, and am on page 120 already. Now that's more like it! Apparently "Wrong Way Round" was just a book one had to read slowly to savour. No matter - I'm happier having savoured it, than rushing through it, not remembering half of what I read.

But anyways, "Attachments" - light and engaging, just as I've come to expect from Rainbow Rowell. I'm about a third through, and while I don't like it quite as much as neither "Landline" nor "Fangirl", so far I'm enjoying it a lot more than "Eleanor and Park".

This hour's challenge is to describe the perfect reading day. I'm not sure I have one - any weather is perfect for reading. If it's rainy and windy outside, I curl up on the couch in our den with a blanket (can't wait for my hand-knit one to be finished! Isabella and I took it for a test snuggle yesterday, and it'll be perfect!) and a cuppa. If it's sunny but cold outside, I curl up on the couch in my library where I can enjoy the sun's rays from the warmth and comfort of inside. And if it's sunny and warm outside, I can bring out the hammock stand, and curl up there!

So obviously, "curling up" is the important thing ;)

Hour 23: Another 80 pages read since my last update, so I should easily finish this book before the end of the readathon :)

Hour 24: Final hour! The end is coming far too quickly - just as always. Lars saw me pottering around on the computer earlier and commented "It's the readathon and you're not reading. This is embarrassing!" Hehe ;) I only have another 50 pages to go of "Attachments" though, so should easily finish before 14:00. It'll be the first time I've only read 3 books, but I don't care - they've been good ones :) (And all physical books that I can now take off my TBR-shelf! Woohoo! That totally counts for something too!)

The End Finished with 10 minutes to spare. That was an utterly adorable book, and I'm glad to have read it :) Thus concludes yet another readathon. 6 people, 24 hours, 3 books and 951 pages. First time in awhile I didn't reach 1000 pages, but also the first time in awhile I read absolutely no graphic novels/memoirs as part of the readathon.

End of Event Survey
Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 11 or 12. I'm really not good at staying up much past midnight!
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Pretty much anything by Rainbow Rowell or Tamara Ireland Stone, "Wonder", "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight".
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season? Not really.
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The cheerleaders were more visible than last year, which was nice :)
How many books did you read? 3
What were the names of the books you read? "A Man Called Ove", "Wrong Way Round" and "Attachments".
Which book did you enjoy most? "Wrong Way Round". Utterly charming and an awesome book to live vicariously through.
Which did you enjoy least? "A Man Called Ove". Not that I disliked it - not at all - it just wasn't as amazing as I had expected it to be, so I felt kinda let down.
How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? VERY likely! It's a tradition I've come to love, and which would take a VERY good reason to skip. Especially after I've started sharing it with my family :)

Books read: "En mand der hedder Ove" (358), "Wrong Way Round" (236), "Attachments" (357)
Pages read: 951
Currently reading: ---

19 Apr 2016

Top Ten Books That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

What If? - Randall Munroe
This book of scientific answers to wacky questions had me laughing out loud repeatedly - slightly embarrassing, as I read most of it on the train to and from work ;) But it was just my type of humour.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
Aside from absolutely adoring the title, the book has to be one of the funniest and quirkiest books I've read in a long time.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
'Nuff said :)

The Martian - Andy Weir
You wouldn't expect a survival story to be laugh-out-loud funny, but Mark's dark humour just gets to me.

Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosh
Not all the essays, obviously, but the one with Allie's letters to her childhood self had me giggling frequently.

The City of Dreaming Books - Walter Moers
I've loved everything I've read by Walter Moers so far, but this has definitely been the funniest of the lot. I need to reread this one soon!

Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn
Brilliantly clever book!

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
My first introduction to David Sedaris, and still my favourite essay collection by him.

All by My Selves - Jeff Dunham
I was very pleased to discover that Jeff Dunham is every bit as funny on paper as on stage. I listened to this while biking to and from work, and more than one fellow cyclist looked weirdly at me, as I'd suddenly burst into laughter.

WitchLight trilogy - Debora Geary
Although I'll have to admit this would just as often cause me to laugh with joy as because it was funny, but this trilogy is some of her best work - under both pen names!

8 Apr 2016

April 23-24th

The signups for Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon are open for both readers and cheerleaders. I've signed up again - obviously :) - for what will be my 11th readathon :) My Mum and sisters are coming over again, and my niece might even be joining us this time, which would be awesome! I'm already thinking up books for all of us, and am preparing to have as large a stack of suggestions as always :)

This blog is already filled with posts about how to prepare for the readathon, dos and don'ts etc., so I won't bore you by repeating myself there, but just say, "I can't wait!" :-) It's been an awesome tradition for years, and has only gotten better, after my family decided to join me.

I'm always more than happy to come up with recommendations for good readathon books, so you'd like some - just let me know!