Posts Tagged ‘Dewey’s 24 hour readathon’
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The Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon is Over!
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Before I give all the facts and figures, I’d like to share a wonderful quote from Reading by Moonlight by Brenda Walker, a book that I’ve started during the Read-a-thon.
A good book laces invisible fingers into the shape of a winter armchair or a hammock in the sun. I’m not talking about comfort, necessarily, but support. A good writer might take you to strange and difficult places, but you’re in the hands of someone you trust.
Final Update
- Hours read since last update: 2 hours
- Pages read since last update: 122
- Total hours read: 6 hours 15 minutes
- Total pages read: 328 + 75 minutes of an audio book and a children’s picture book
Final Post Meme
1. Which hour was most daunting for you? I’ve had numerous distractions since the read-a-thon began. The first few hours went well, but after a few hours sleep there were early morning distractions with the kids and then a BBQ lunch with my husband’s family that took 7 hours out of my day. So, no specific hour was daunting but the many interruptions were
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? An engaging book is such a subjective thing – what interests me might not suit everyone. My suggestion would be to always include a variety of books – something serious, something fun, some non-ficion – and to make sure that at least a few of the books in the Read-a-thon pile are reasonably short so that you can get that wonderful sense of achievement that comes from completely finishing a book.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Read-a-thon is already awesome. How do you improve on that?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The Read-a-thon blog is great. It’s wonderful to have a central point with all the links and information. The cheerleaders and mini-challenge hosts also do a great job.
5. How many books did you read? One complete book, 3 partial books, one picture book and half of an audio book on CD.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
- Conspiracy 365: February by Gabrielle Lord (complete – 185 pages)
- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (partial – 104 pages)
- Reading by Moonlight by Brenda Walker (partial – 22 pages)
- Macquarie Pen Anthology of Aboriginal Literature (partial – 12 pages)
- Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales (1 of 2 story CDs)
- Nursery Time with Thomas (Thomas the Tank Engine picture book read with son)
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I particullary enjoyed Before I Fall and Reading by Moonlight and I’m looking forward to finishing both in the next couple of days.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I didn’t have any books that I struggled with.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn’t a cheerleader this time around, but I think I’ll put my name down as as a cheerleader for at least some of the next Read-a-thon.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I’m really hoping that I will have the weekend free for the next Read-a-thon. I’ll register as a reader, but I think I’ll skip taking part in the mini-challenges and use that time to be a cheerleader instead. I’ve missed having time to visit the blogs of some of the readers taking part in the Read-a-thon this weekend or chatting with other readers on Twitter.
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Read-a-thon Mini-Challenge Catch-up Post
1We’re at hour 13 and I’ve missed the deadlines for quite a few mini-challenges, but I thought I would go back over the ones that have been announced since I went to sleep and take part in some of them anyway.
Mini-Challenge: Rebecca at The Booklady’s Blog - The #Pantyworthy Challenge
Authors as rock stars? Why not. The way to take part in this challenge was reasonably flexible, so I’m choosing to list the authors that I think are “pantyworthy” – the one’s that have written books I can’t wait to recommend to others and those whose books have stayed with me. For more details about what it means to be “pantyworthy”, check out Rebecca’s original Pantyworthy blog post.
- Jasper Fforde – Love, Love Love the Thursday Next series and Fforde’s latest book Shades of Grey
- Chris Cleave – Finished The Other Hand in record time and couldn’t stop myself from underlining sections as I went because I thought they were so amazing.
- Jane Austen – A devoted Austen fan here. How could I not include her on my list?
- Douglas Adams – The Master
- Shakespeare – I’m a traditionalist at heart and I just can’t resist The Bard. Heavens forfend that I would leave him off my PW list.
- Alain de Botton – modern day philosopher
- Terry Pratchett – there’s nothing like a Discworld novel to make me smile. I loved his latest stand-alone novel Nation as well.
- George Eliot – I’ve only read one of Eliot’s books, Daniel Deronda, but I loved it and was absolutely amazed that a woman of her generation could display such a broad general knowledge plus write such an amazing book.
OK. I could go on all day. I’m obviously just a serial author groupie. No doubt I’ll come back and add more names to this list, but I should move on to more mini-challenge catch-ups.
Mini-Challenge: Carrie at Nomad Reader - Where in the World have you Read Today?
Carrie asked readers to visit this Google Map and mark where they had travelled in their reading during the read-a-thon so far. For me, that means Richmond, Australia, Africa and Conneticut in the US. I’m obviously still a bit sleepy, because I can’t work out how to add my markers, but I will head back to the map and do so later.
Mini-Challenge: Joy Renee at Joystory – Reading is Fundamental
This challenge involves reading with a child and I am planning to this later today with my daughter, who is reading The Tale of Despereaux for her school book club. I’ll come back and post some details once we’ve spent our time reading.
If I don’t stop now, I won’t get a chance to get some more reading done before I have to head out to lunch.
Happy Reading Everyone. Hopefully I’ll be able to udpate again soon.
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Hour 13 – Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon Update
1Ok, so it was probably a bit unrealistic to think that I’d only sleep for 3 – 4 hours. Thanks to some ongoing neck/back pain, it took me at least half an hour to get to sleep and then Islept for 5 hours. Since waking up I’ve managed to have breakfast and get some more reading done. I’ve only got about 1.5 hours before I have to head out to a family lunch, so this will be a quick update so that I can grab a shower and hopefully get another hour’s reading done before I have to leave.
Update
Title of book(s) read since last update:
- Conspiracy 365: February by Gabrielle Lord
Number of books read since you started: 3 (partially)
Pages read since last update: 102 pages
Running total of pages read since you started: 206 pages and 75 minutes of the audiobook.
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 4 hours 15 minutes
I’m about to do a mini-challenges catch-up post, so I will include a list of the mini-challenges I have taken part in with my next update post. I haven’t visited any other readers since my last post either. I’m feeling a bit frustrated by all the interruptions and I’m wondering whether anyone would notice if I disappear into the corner with a book at the BBQ lunch today. It’s probably worth giving it a try.
Happy Reading Everyone.
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Hour 5 – First Official Read-a-thon Update
1It’s just hit 3am Sunday morning local time and I think I might head off to bed for a few hours sleep before the kids wake up and the day officially begins.
Before I go to sleep, I thought I would post an update of my progress so far. After getting off to a delayed then slow start, I’ve actually managed to get some reading done in the past couple of hours.
Title of book(s) read since last update:
- Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
- Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
Number of books read since you started: 2 (partially)
Pages read since last update: One CD of the Mandela set and 104 pages of Before I Fall.
Running total of pages read since you started: 104 pages and 75 minutes of the audiobook.
Amount of time spent reading since last update: This is my first official update. So far I have spent 3 hours and 15 minutes reading.
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3 hours 15 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:
• Intro Challenge
• The Kick off of Champions Challenge
Other participants you’ve visited: So far I’ve left 6 comments. Not many, I know, but I’ve been trying to get as much reading in as I could before I fell asleep. Of the blogs I’ve visited, I’m really keen to go back and have a good look at Allie’s A Literary Odyssey. I love the idea of working through a list of classics, which I guess is what I’ve tried to inspire myself to do with the Popular Penguins Reading Challenge here at Reading Upside Down as well as a few other perpetual reading challenges I have in the pipeline.
OK. Now that I’ve posted an update, I’m off to bed for 3 – 4 hours sleep. I’m really enjoying Before I Fall, but may try something else for a while when I wake up.
Happy Reading Everyone!
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Hour 2 – The Kick Off of Champions
1We’re in the final minutes of the second hour of the Read-a-thon as I write this. It’s almost midnight here and I’m looking forward to making myself a cup of tea and curling up with a book in just a few minutes.
First, I want to take part in The Kick Off of Champions, the Hour 2 mini challenge hosted by Miss Remmers at Miss Remmers’ Review. I’m afraid it will have to be a boring text post. At the moment, I’m using my laptop and I’ll have to wait for a few hours before I can download some photos to add.
At the moment, I’m sitting in our loungeroom in my pyjamas (an attractive green and hot pink ensemble emblazoned with the phrase ‘boys have cooties’).
I have my books in a pile next to me with my iPod resting on top playing Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales. The current tale is being read by Matt Damon. Does that mean I can say that Matt Damon and I are curled up on the lounge together enjoying the Read-a-thon? Sounds good to me.
Back to reality. I have to be very careful where I put my feet, as my younger son has an elaborate train track set up on the loungeroom floor and will chastise me in the morning if I move anything.
Once this post is finished, I will go make myself a cup of tea (probably a nice mug of peppermint and English toffee) and I’ll probably start my reading with Lauren Oliver’s If I Fall.
Time to get on with some reading.
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Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon – April 2010
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Finally a Read-a-thon has fallen on a weekend when I didn’t have back to back commitments, so I’m excited about being able to take part this time.
Since the Read-a-thon is based in the US, the 5am Saturday April 10th starting time equates to around 11pm Saturday night locally. Since I have a few commitments on Sunday that will eat into my reading time, I’m hoping to get started a few hours before the official kick-off to make up for the time I will lose later.
I’ve picked out eleven books that I want to read over the 24 hours. Yes, I know that there is no way I will get all (or quite possibly any) of them finished, but it gives me a targeted selection to choose from rather than contemplating the overwhelming collection of books in my TBR.
My book selection:
- My Story: Who Am I? The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 – Anita Heiss
- Conspiracy 365: February – Gabrielle Lord
- A Girl Like Me – Penny Matthews
- Australian Classics: 50 Great Writers and Their Celebrated Works
- Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
- Battlefield: One Boy’s War – Alan Tucker
- Below the Styx – Michael Meehan
- Macquarie Pen Anthology of Aboriginal Literature – ed Anita Heiss & Peter Minter
- Laughter is the Best Medicine – Jean-Paul Bell
- Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook – Willie Harcourt-Cooze
- Reading by Moonlight – Brenda Walker
- At least an hour reading my uni lecture notes
So, that’s the impossible task I’m setting for myself this weekend. It will be interesting to see how much I actually get read and which books end up appealing to me when the time comes. Hopefully I’ve got enough variety that there should be something on the list that I am interested in at any given moment.
Now I just need to spend the next couple of days catching up on some reviews so that all those lovely Read-a-thon Cheerleaders have something to look at when they come calling.
It’s not too late to sign-up if you’d like to join in with the Read-a-thon as well. You can sign up to read, be a cheerleader or both. Full details are at the Readathon website which includes a detailed FAQ page answering any questions you might have. All you need to do is add your name and join in the fun. Don’t forget to add the #readathon tag if you’re tweeting about your read-a-thon efforts.
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I’m a Cheerleader. Stop Laughing! It’s True!
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I am an official Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon cheerleader. Yes, I can hear you chortling in 
the background Meredith, but it’s true. I. Am. A. Cheerleader.
Okay, I’m willing to concede that the only reason I qualified for this job is because, unlike other cheerleading positions, it does not require youth, good looks, athleticism or co-ordination of any kind. All it requires is a good helping of team spirit and a love of books, and those are qualities I have in spades. So I will ignore Meredith’s mocking laughter and embrace my cheerleader role with enthusiasm and pride.
The Read-a-thon starts in about an hour and a half, so I have already been visiting a few of the early starter blogs to offer some early encouragement. I’m disappointed that I have joined up as a reader myself, but with several family commitments this weekend and the difference in time zones I decided that cheerleading was probably the best way to go this time around. Hopefully I will be able to join in as a reader next time.
I’m part of the Post Modern Cheerleading Team. My trusty, rusty Collins Australian Internet-Linked Dictionary tells me that postmodernism is “a style and school of thought that rejects the dogma and practices of any form of modernism”. Rejection? Dogma? That’s not sounding very cheerleader-y to me. I think I’ll aim for something a little more upbeat. 
Unfortunately, I’ll probably miss the first 6 – 7 hours of Readathon (since it starts at 11pm local time), but I’ll be there with bells on and pom poms waving tomorrow. If you want to help me cheer on all the intrepid Read-a-thon Readers, here is the Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon participants list.
I’m off to fluff my pom poms (no, that isn’t a euphemism). Good luck to everyone involved. I’m looking forward to hearing about some great books and meeting more wonderful book bloggers.
