I feel a bit cheeky doing a wrap up post because quite frankly this hasn't been the best readathon for me. Better than April when I ended up not doing anything, but not by much!
My excuses - the time zones are a bit inconvenient, it was a gorgeous spring day here and it was a family members birthday so we spent most of the day outside indulging in retail therapy and sunshine.
I did manage to get up to date in Princess Bride Readalong, read a few pages of The Amazing Maurice and I not only started, but also finished The Exile by Diana Gabaldon.
I hosted a mini-challenge and had such a great time doing so! Thank you again to everyone who participated.
I spent quite a bit of time cheerleading, visiting everyone I was allocated, and also I think I managed to visit all my mini-challenge participants.
As usual I also spent a fair bit of time on Twitter. If I had to sum up my readathon experience in just one sentence it would probably be "lots of sunshine, not much reading, but heaps of fun!
Thank you to everyone who participated in my Armchair Travelling mini-challenge. If I haven't been to comment on your post yet, I will do so before the end of the event!
Now, I am happy to announce the winner of the main prize!
So Sunday is here, and it is time to get reading and cheering! I actually got a little bit of reading done, so I have at least met two of my objectives that I specified in my initial readathon post. I read up to the current goal for the Princess Bride and started The Exile.
Now to go and have a look at the posts from the participants in my mini-challenge, do a bit of cheering and then get a couple of hours reading time in.
It's going to be a gorgeous spring day here, and it is a family member's birthday so we we are going out to take advantage of the sunshine and have some lunch but after that I should be able to get some full scale reading in.
Welcome to my Armchair Travelling mini-challenge as part of this weekend's Dewey's Readathon.
My love of being taken to different places through reading started as a very young child, when my favourite Enid Blyton books were The Adventures of the Wishing Chair and The Magic Faraway Tree. In the Faraway Tree, the children climb to the top meeting a variety of characters who live in the tree, and when they get to the very top there is often a different land to explore. That sense of adventure through reading inspired my blog name and description, and now the look of my blog.
As an adult, I love to read books that make me want to visit new places. These days I can't afford to travel much, so when I read a book like that, I am limited to cyber travelling which involves searching the net for images of locations mentioned in the book, and seeing the major sites of those cities or countries.
For example, when I read The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, I can't tell you how long I spent looking at images from St Petersburg. From the statue of The Bronze Horseman, to the Field of Mars,from The Hermitage to St Isaacs Cathedral, from The Summer Palace to many, many more sites.
Over the years I have spent time armchair travelling to places like Scotland, Charleston, New York, Tuscany and so many more.
The Challenge:
My challenge to you (if you choose to accept it) is to write a post sharing some of the sites from your books, or some facts about the place where your books are set. It could be books that you are reading for readathon, or books you have read recently, or some of your favourite books ever.
In conjunction with this mini challenge I am offering up a prize to the participants. The winner will receive a book of their choice from The Book Depository and some travel themed bookmarks. I will also send some bookmarks to a couple of runners up as well.
The bookmarks may (or may not) look similar to the examples below (only because I am still making them!).
To enter this mini-challenge, leave the link to your post in Mr Linky below. The winner will be chosen using random.org. As long as Book Depository ships to you, then you are eligible to win the main prize, and I am happy to send bookmarks to anywhere.
The way the time zones work, whilst the readathon is kicking off quite early in the morning in the US, I am getting towards the end of my day with the event starting at 11pm on Saturday night my time.
Having been up since 6am my time (yes, on a Saturday), there is no way I could stay awake for another 24 hours, so I will be off to bed very shortly. I will however be back for hour 7 of the readathon when I will be hosting one of the mini-challenges! I also have some family commitments tomorrow, so I will be in and out, but when I am here I will definitely be cheering.
I don't know if this is wise given that I tend to end up cheering a lot more than I end up reading, but at this stage I am planning to achieve the following during readathon:
Finish Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett Read up to the end of the current milestone for The Princess Bride readalong Start The Exile by Diana Gabaldon
Maybe start Clockwork Angel or Lament or Leviathan or Soulless or The Ask and the Answer.
To everyone who is starting readathon - good luck, and have fun!
Are you participating in Dewey's Read-a-thon on October 9? Would you be interested in hosting a mini-challenge? We are looking for people to host mini-challenges during the event. It is a lot of fun, and will bring lots of traffic to your site during the read-a-thon.
Either come up with your own idea, or browse through the mini-challenges from April at the read-a-thon site.
I had every intention of cheering and reading for readathon, but unfortunately I got a phone call on Thursday night saying that my grandmother had had a heart attack.
We therefore ended up having to hop on a plane and travel to the other side of Australia. At this time, she has had surgery and is recovering well, but I am staying with my 100 year old grandfather and caring for him, so needless to say I don't have any internet access.
I hope everyone who is participating in the readathon is having a fabulous time, and I should be back online soon
This weekend is readathon weekend! I've signed up to read, but also will be helping out with the organisation of the cheerleading as well. I figure seeing as the last 6 hours of the readathon falls between 5 and 11pm on Sunday night, I can be up and relatively functional compared to those of you who are looking at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning!
Have you signed up to read or cheer? You can sign up for both at the readathon blog, and you will be able to get lots of information about cheerleading at Cheerleading HQ.
One thing I am determined to do this time is not accidentally start the readathon a day earlier than I should, so I have been constantly reminding myself 11pm SATURDAY, yes, SATURDAY, not Friday. I have managed to actually start a day early the last two times the readathon has been on, which is a bit embarrasing really.
I am actually out for dinner on Saturday night, and the people I am out with are some of my drinking buddies, so I am not sure exactly how this is going to work - reading whilst hungover isn't something I normally do particularly well!
I haven't really chosen the books that I am going to be reading, although I do have a pile of books out for the Reading Our Own Books challenge, so they will be the ones I focus on I think. At the moment that list includes:
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly
See Witch by Helen Hollick
What Angels Fear by C S Harris
The Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Devil's Conspiracy by David Liss
No, I am not planning to read all of these! I'd be happy to finish just one!
I am looking forward to reading, but also to cheering because it is just so much fun, especially if you are on Twitter as well! Hopefully you are all excited too!
And to get into the cheering mood, you could imagine me dancing around my living room just like this....or not, as the case may be!
Because of the time zones I didn't find too much daunting. Basically I started and then went straight to bed, and it is just coming up to my normal bed time! Having said that, my back is a bit sore, and I am struggling to type accurately.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
How many people were reading Suzanne Collins this year. Hunger Games and Catching Fire seem to be good suggestions, although I haven't read Catching Fire myself yet.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It worked really well this year. Only thing is to maybe try not to schedule it on the weekend that the clocks change over.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The teams of cheerleaders worked very well. The idea of having to comment on nearly 400 blogs whilst cheerleading is incredibly daunting.
5. How many books did you read?
Only finished two, but got quite a bit of another one read, and started two more.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Finished reading Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Emma by Kaoru Mori. Read quite a bit of The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick and started Heart of the Sea by Nora Roberts and Disco Boy by Dominic Knight.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I am glad to have finally finished Emma as I have started it a couple of times.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
Devil May Cry. These later books in the series are a bit hit and miss, and trying to read the various gods and pantheons warring got a bit confusing after a while.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Cheerleading is so much fun. If you haven't tried it, then give it a go! Twitter makes it incredibly easy as well, although it obviously doesn't work for those blogs who aren't on there.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I would participate again. I think I just missed the first one. I will both read and cheer again, although I would really like to get more read.
Final update re the dishes - they are mostly done! Looks like I will nagging about them again tomorrow! Once we get to the end of readathon, I might go to bed and read!
Readathon hours elapsed: 23 hours Books completed: 2 Pages read: 440 No. of hours slept: 7 Time spent cheerleading: 260 mins Mini-challenges completed: 6 Books finished since start of readathon: Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon (paranormal romance) and Emma by Kaoru Mori (graphic novel) No. of times reminded son to put the dishes away - 10 ... so far! Still not put away!
Needed some get up and dance around the room music, and this hit the spot!
Readathon hours elapsed: 19 hours Books completed: 2 Pages read: 410 No. of hours slept: 7 Time spent cheerleading: 130 mins Mini-challenges completed: 6 Books finished since start of readathon: Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon (paranormal romance) and Emma by Kaoru Mori (graphic novel) No. of times reminded son to put the dishes away - 7 ... so far! Still not put away!
Last hour there was a mini challenge over at The Hungry Readers where you had to "turn to page 23 of the book you're currently reading (or the nearest page with text on it) and find the most entertaining phrase to complete the following sentence:"
"I would rather read than _____________ any night!"
This was mine from the book that I am currently reading:
I would rather read than be 'married off to some unlanded, unblooded upstart who wishes to use me for his own ambition.'
Readathon hours elapsed: 16 hours Books completed: 2 Pages read: 260 No. of hours slept: 7 Time spent cheerleading: 70 mins Mini-challenges completed: 3 Books finished since start of readathon: Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon (paranormal romance) and Emma by Kaoru Mori (graphic novel) No. of times reminded son to put the dishes away - 4 ... so far!
I have mentioned a couple of times, mainly on Twitter than I was on babysitting duty this morning for my nephew. I got a bit of reading done, but by far the biggest portion of my time was spent on going for a walk. I thought I would take some pictures on my phone camera while I was out and about!
A bit of Australian nature - these gumnuts very much remind me of the Gumnut babies from May Gibbs's classic Australian children's book, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. Hopefully you can see why from the following illustration
We seem to have more than our fair share of spiky plants, and this one is no exception
All the newer estates have different themes and entrances etc. This is the one to my sister's estate. They also all have individual light posts.
We ended up in the local shopping centre where there was a family fun day. From what I can gather it was being run in support of a local bikie club who were doing fundraising for Breast cancer awareness, hence all the pink. Loved these muppet style helmets! There were a good couple of hundred bikes and riders all up so it was an impressive display.
Went past the local bookstore and this is part of their "If you liked Twilight" display of books. From what I can see the books in the second picture are Vampire Kisses, Blue Bloods and Masquerade. There was also another shelf that I thought I had included but apparently not!
Readathon hours elapsed: 8 hours Pages read: 100 No. of hours slept: 7 Time spent cheerleading: 10 mins Mini-challenges completed: 1
Bethfishreads has a mini challenge where she wants to know what you have been snacking on to help you through readathon. The short answer for me is that I haven't had anything! I am just debating whether to have a smoothie for breakfast or whether I will just have toast. Decisions, decisions!
It's time for readathon to start! After the false start, and the excitement of the build up on Twitter, I am....going to bed! Feels a bit like an anti climax, but never mind!
But just have time to post the hour 1 meme.
Where are you reading from today? I am reading from Melbourne, Australia. It is now 11pm on Saturday night so no chance of me making it all the way through all 24 hours.
3 facts about me … I've been blogging for more than 4 years, I love historical fiction and I am currently watching English Premier League soccer as I type this up! I love watching EPL as a result of having spent 5 years living in the UK.
How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? At this stage five (see previous post)
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)? My main goal is to have fun, and to try and get a good mix of reading, cheerleading and blogging in. I want to focus my cheerleading from approximately hour 18 as that is when it will be Sunday evening for me so I will be far more awake than a lot of people from other parts of the world
If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?Getting the starting time right always helps!
As I am so far behind on my blog reading, I haven't seen everyone's piles of books for readathons, but I have seen a few, and I have to say there are some absolutely HUGE piles of books out there (yes, Eva, I am looking at you!)
Now that I have a little time I can post about my planned reads. I am thinking that my pile is going to be a little more modest, and because I am lazy I haven't got a photo of it, but below are the books that I am going to try to read for the read-a-thon this weekend. The first two are books that I was already reading and so I would like to finish them:
Last time I read one of the books in this series, I started it at about 10pm and read straight through until I finished it. I started this book last night, and read about 50 pages, so we will see how we go.
I am also hope to read a graphic novel:
And maybe this book, because I have heard that it is funny, so it would seem to be a good choice for the readathon
I don't expect to get through all of those, especially given that I will be sleeping for the first 8 or so hours, babysitting my nephew in the morning and then planning to cheer later in the event, but we will see how it goes.
You would think that I would be used to the time differences around the world wouldn't you? That it would cross my mind that 10pm on Friday here is actually just Friday starting for most of the world, and NOT Saturday morning?
So, I peaked a bit early in terms of the read-a-thon, and was all set up to start reading last night, even though read-a-thon doesn't start until 10pm on Saturday night my time. Doesn't really matter seeing as I was so tired that I ended up only reading 50 pages of my chosen read anyway!
Starting at 10pm tonight actually means that my read-a-thon time is a bit clearer as well, although there is no way that I will be reading through the night.
Is it just me, or does the word embarrassed always look as though it is spelt incorrectly?
It is less than 2 hours before readathon commences which means lots of blog posts to read, some reading and some cheering, or at least it would if my weekend hadn't suddenly got really, really busy!
At this stage, I will be able to read for a while tonight, and then tommorrow morning for a few hours, but then I am going to a friends house tomorrow afternoon, and then to another friend's house for dinner, and would imagine that I will be getting back home around finishing time tomorrow night. So, I think I will get maybe 5 hours reading and cheering time and that's it.
At this point, my plan will be to finish the two books that I am currently reading, and then we will see how we go. Maybe a graphic novel, and potentially a romance.
In bad news, I think I have car trouble again. I have spent a fortune on my car this year, and I am thinking that I am going to have to spend more before the year is out.
So the read-a-thon is over for this time! I have to say that I don't think it was my most auspicious effort for a first time, but there was too many other factors involved. I don't think that some of those factors are necessarily going to go away any time soon either. One is the child factor - in this weekend's case it was sport and also wanting to watch a movie together. The other factor is really the times. In less than 8 hours I need to be up and going to work, and there is just no way that that would be enough recovery time if I hadn't slept for the last 24 hours. I still had fun, I am just a bit disappointed that I didn't get to participate more in mini-challenges, or to get around to visit anyone else who was participating at all. Last time the read-a-thon was on, I was a cheerleader and I literally didn't move away from the computer for about 12-14 hours. This time, as a reader, I really struggled to string together more than a couple of hours at a time for reading.
I did end up fitting in some more reading time, but it wasn't exactly quality as I was reading whilst my son was watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Ark in the same room, and so I kept on getting distracted!
I did end up getting about 150 pages into Cross Stitch. Not as much as I would have liked, but still it is a start! All up my stats for the read-a-thon were:
Running totals
Minutes read: Approximately 320
Pages read during official readathon: Approximately 500
Pages read so far this weekend: Approx 700
Books completed during official readathon: 2
Books completed so far this weekend: 3
The books I completed on the weekend were Don't Bargain with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries, Coraline by Neil Gaiman and Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan. I also started The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson and Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon.
Now I need to go and check my emails, check into the forums I am supposed to mod on but haven't logged into for 36 hours, check Bloglines (I hate to think how many feeds there are to read given that I was already behind before this started), and think about cleaning up my kitchen and finishing my laundry. Maybe I need to take another day off tomorrow just to catch-up!
And the answer to how many Bloglines entries I currently have - 1830!
In the last 3 hours I have spent 45 minutes preparing dinner, 90 minutes sleeping, oh, and 45 minutes reading! During those 45 minutes I managed to read about 55 pages, but still! It seems the spirit is willing but the mind and body are weak!
Running totals
Minutes read: Approximately 200
Pages read during official readathon: Approximately 380
