Read-a-Thon,8 am, I made it!

The time is here.  I turned 40 this month and I have a 1-year-old.  My parents are here to help with Gage, but there’s nothing I can do about an already sleep deprived body.  I hope to make it the whole 24 hours, but that’s just a goal and not one I’ll obssess over if I can’t make it.  I have lots of short books for challenges and 2 audio books for when my eyes need a rest.  I’m looking forward to 24 hours devoted to my favorite hobby.

I’ll update on this post every hour or two, but do any challenges on a separate post.

1)Where are you reading from today?  Cleveland, Ohio
2)Three random facts about me…  I’m short (5’2″ is pushing it), love to play board games and cards, have colored my heair since my early 20’s because of a gray streak.
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?  About 10 to choose from (all for challenges)
4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?  I want to make it the whole 24 hours.
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?  I’ve only done it once and did make the whole 24.  Choose shorter, fast-paced books and have an audio book for those early morning hours so that you can move (laying on the couch at 6 am is a very bad idea!)

It’s 10:15 am and I’m 174 pages into my first book.  See if you can guess what it is (This is for One Librarian’s Book Mini Challenge)

 with

I’ve read the whole time except for kissing Gage goodbye and stopping to check in here once an hour.

It’s 12:20 and time for me to change into my bathing suit, step outside in the 50 degree weather, and sink into the hot tub with my current book, Earthly Posssessions by Anne Tyler.  Not loving it so far.  I finished Sprinkle with Murder, thumbs up.  Page count is up to 251.  I’ve participated in 2 more mini-challenges.  What a great day so far 🙂

Is it really 3:30 already?  I finished Earthly Possessions (that’s 2 books read) and have done some reading on a book I cracked open a few weeks ago.  I also listened to Roots in the car on my way to the martini bar where I sat and read Three Junes while I sipped in a cappuccino martini, a book and martini, not bad for a Saturday afternoon right?  Now I’m home and reading to delve more deeply into Three Junes.  I’ve read 460 pages and listened to about 25 minutes of Roots so far today.

It’s 7:25 pm and I’m getting ready to head out to find a place to eat and read that isn’t packed.  And I’ll be listening to Roots in the car.  Still reading Three Junes and am liking it okay.  I’ve done a few mini-challenges and think they’ve been really great this time around.  Happy reading everyone!

It’s 9 pm Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?  Three Junes, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, Roots
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished 2
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? staying awake and lisening to an audio books so I can visit a few other blogs.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  Yep.  My parents came for the weekend to help with Gage.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? There is a baby in the house so there have been a few here and there, but nothing more than 5 or 10 minutes.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  how much fun it is and I’ve enjoyed the mini-challenges as well.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? nothing I can think of now.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?  Get a good night’s sleep the night before (that didn’t happen for me and I’m already tired).
9. Are you getting tired yet? Guess I gave away too much info in the answer above 🙂
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 left the house twice, listening to my audio in the car and finding a place to eat and read.  A change of scenery is good.

11:30 pm and I’m listening to Roots so I can do a little blog hopping and let my eyes have a change of pace.  I finished Three Junes by Julia Glass, so that makes 3 books read.  I’m on disc 21 of 24 of Roots and plan to finish it sometime during the read-a-thon.  I’ll listen whenever I need to move.  I was also able to start What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Cleage and am enjoying it.  I think I might be able to finish it.  We’ll see.  I’m still hopeful I can make it all night.

2:30 am Still awake, but moving and reading a lot slower! Still listening to Roots and reading What Looks Like Crazy.   A Buckeye Girl Reads asks us about our pets and reading.  Some of you probably remember when Max read War & Peace with me last year……. Today we’ve had a busy place so haven’t seen much of him.  However, my cat Scout, cuddled me when I read in bed this morning.  She likes to rub her mouth on the books, making it difficult to read, but perfect for cuddling.

It’s 6:50 am and I’m still awake.  There were a few iffy moments between 4:30-5:30 and I was ready to head to bed, but I just wanted to finish Roots and What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day.  So I did and now I have enough of a second wind to get me through the last hour.  I finished 5 books!  I only had 5 cds of Roots to go when I started so really it’s like 4 and a quarter 🙂  I’m going to start listening to The Quickening on the Playaway I got from the library.  It’s my first time trying one. 

Oh, I’ve been doing quite a few of the mini challenges and I WON!  Little Black Dress by McBride is heading to Cleveland.  I’ll try and stop by for one more update at 8.

8am wrap up

I did it!!  I’m surprised and happy.  I completed 5 books and started a 6th.  I gave myself permission to leave the house and find fun places to read.  I could not have not participated if not got my awesome husband and parents.  I’m a lucky girl to have them.    So now I’m off to bed to get 6 hours of sleep before mommy duty commences once again.  The read-a-thon was a perfect mommy vacation.

• Which hour was most daunting for you?  4:30-5:30 was rough
• Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  I think mysteries are good because they move fast and the shorter the better.  I remember last readathon I read a humor book in the wee hours and that was good.  Laughing wakes you up!
• Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  I thought everything was great.  All planners, hosts and cheerers were perfect.
• What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I liked the mini challenges.  There was a good variety.
• How many books did you read? 5
• What were the names of the books you read? Sprinkle with Murder (McKinlay), Earthly Possessions (Tyler), Three Junes (Glass), Roots (Haley), What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinarty Day (Cleage)
• Which book did you enjoy most?  Sprinkle with Murder for the purpose of the read-a-thon, but Roots for reading.
• Which did you enjoy least? I don’t know.  I was underwhelmed by most of them.
• If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Stop by often!
• How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  I would love to do this again.  My parents love any excuse to come up here for a visit.  I think I’d like to host a mini-challenge next time.