Sunday, April 28, 2013

Read-a-Thon: End of Event Survey

We're done! We made it! I'm going to bed now. :) Here's the end of event meme:

  1. Which hour was most daunting for you? There were a few of them, actually, scattered throughout the day this time.
  2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Animorphs books are really great read-a-thon material!
  3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope! It was awesome as usual!
  4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The whole thing.
  5. How many books did you read? I read 6 whole books, and started on a 7th.
  6. What were the names of the books you read? The Witches, The Change, Mockingjay, Ghosts Beneath Our Feet, Go Ask Alice, and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.
  7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate
  8. Which did you enjoy least? Surprisingly, Mockingjay was a bit of a disappointment.
  9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a cheerleader.
  10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I always participate as a reader, and will continue to do so.

Read-a-Thon Hours 23 and 24: 5:00 - 7:00

What are you reading right now? The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

How's that going? Good. I don't really remember Bree Tanner from Eclipse, but that doesn't seem to be interfering with my enjoyment of this story.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars); Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (4 stars)

Pages read these hours: 80

Total pages read so far: 1137 (Not quite but my goal, but pretty darn close!)

Food consumed this hour: None.

Read-a-Thon Hours 21 and 22: 3:00 - 5:00

What are you reading right now? Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

How's that going? Still really good. This is one messed up story.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars)

Pages read these hours: 110

Total pages read so far: 1057

Food consumed this hour: None.

Read-a-Thon Hours 19 and 20: 1:00 - 3:00

What are you reading right now? Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

How's that going? This one is really sucking me in. It's the diary of a teenage girl on drugs, and it's pretty disturbing and sad and scary.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars); Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright (4 stars)

Pages read these hours: 89

Total pages read so far: 947

Food consumed this hour: Another cherry strudel. Man, those things are good.

Feeling sleepy now, but not bad. Just sort of looking forward to curling up in bed. (University is still recent enough for me to remember the other kind of tired, the crying kind, so this doesn't seem at all bad in comparison!)

Read-a-Thon Hours 17 and 18: 23:00 - 1:00

What are you reading right now? Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright

How's that going? Good! Betty Ren Wright was one of my favourite authors as a kid, and her stories still hold a special place in my heart. :)

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars)

Pages read these hours: 98

Total pages read so far: 858

Food consumed this hour: Strawberries, and an energy drink.

The sleep-deprived tummy ache hit me about an hour ago. So I figured it was a good time for the energy drink, and that seems to have helped. I do worry I've had it too early and the last couple of hours will be tough, but we'll see! At any rate I feel pretty good right now.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Read-a-Thon Hours 15 and 16: 21:00 - 23:00

What are you reading right now? I just finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and I'm about to start Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright.

How's that going? Mockingjay definitely picked up near the end, but I still feel rather unsatisfied by it.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars)

Pages read these hours: 76

Total pages read so far: 760

Food consumed this hour: None.

I'm feeling more alert again now! My energy level has been so erratic today! I'm glad to be moving on to a light, short, children's book now.

Read-a-Thon Hours 13 and 14: 19:00 - 21:00

What are you reading right now? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

How's that going? Still good, nothing new to report here, really.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars)

Pages read these hours: 89

Total pages read so far: 684

Food consumed this hour: Another cherry strudel, more flavoured water, and some celery sticks.

Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey

We're halfway through! It's time for the mid-event survey!

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
Ugh, I'm exhausted. I got practically no sleep last night! I might have to open the energy drink a little early this time. :)

2) What have you finished reading?
The Twits by Roald Dahl and The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate

3) What is your favorite read so far?
The Change was really good!

4) What about your favorite snacks?
Oh my goodness, the Thai coconut soup was delicious!

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
I actually haven't done any socialising during the read-a-thon so far. I've followed the updates of a couple of blogs I normally follow, but that's it.

Read-a-Thon Hours 11 and 12: 17:00 - 19:00

What are you reading right now? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

How's that going? Pretty good. I've never been this sleepy at this point in the read-a-thon before! It's really slowing me down.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars)

Pages read these hours: 59

Total pages read so far: 595

Food consumed this hour: A couple of Airheads my fiance brought me. :)

Read-a-Thon Hours 9 and 10: 15:00 - 17:00

What are you reading right now? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

How's that going? Really good!

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars)

Pages read these hours: 81

Total pages read so far: 536

Food consumed this hour: Flavoured water, and this pre-packaged meal that included couscous salad, crackers and hummus, and trail mix.

Read-a-Thon Hours 7 and 8: 13:00 - 15:00

What are you reading right now? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

How's that going? Better now. I'm still fuzzy on some of the details from the last book, but I'm following things.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars)

Pages read these hours: 58

Total pages read so far: 455

Food consumed this hour: Thai coconut soup, which was delicious!

I got a bit sleepy these hours, which slowed my reading down a bit. More rereading of paragraphs when my eyes go blurry. :) The weather's finally nice enough that I can open the windows for a bit, and the lovely fresh air combined with my cozy blanket is not a recipe for alertness!

Read-a-Thon Hours 5 and 6: 11:00 - 13:00

What are you reading right now? Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins

How's that going? Well, I'm feeling like I don't really remember Catching Fire as well as I'd like. But I'm sure as I get further in it'll all come back to me.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars)

Pages read these hours: 115

Total pages read so far: 397

Food consumed this hour: A cherry strudel and some Teddy Grahams (some time soon I should think about an actual meal).

I won a prize!! And there were some awesome prizes listed! I picked The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa (I read The Immortal Rules and loved it!). :D

In other news, The Change was awesome! These Animorphs books just keep getting better and better!

Read-a-Thon Hours 3 and 4: 9:00 - 11:00

What are you reading right now? The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate

How's that going? Action-packed! The Animorphs have found a pair of Hork-Bajir that aren't controlled by Yeerks! And crazy things are happening with Tobias!

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars)

Pages read these hours: 142

Total pages read so far: 282

Food consumed this hour: Some bocconcini salad (basically cherry tomatoes and cheese with some kind of herbs).

I'm feeling a bit better now. A bit more rested. And so far my reading material is perfect!

Read-a-Thon Hours 1 and 2: 7:00 - 9:00

What are you reading right now? The Witches by Roald Dahl

How's that going? Really good! Roald Dahl books are great read-a-thon material.

Books finished so far: None yet.

Pages read these hours: 140

Total pages read so far: 140

Food consumed this hour: Cereal and orange juice.

I'm off to a rough start, since unfortunately I had trouble sleeping last night, so I'm not as well-rested as I'd like. :( Hopefully with time and food I'll feel better later!

Read-a-Thon: Introductory Questionnaire

Slightly late due to some unexpected internet problems that happened right at the start of the read-a-thon (seriously?!), it's time for the introductory questionnaire!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I'm reading in my big, comfy bean bag chair, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Mockingjay! I read Catching Fire in the last read-a-thon and loved it, and I can't wait to read the conclusion!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I bought this thai coconut soup that looks quite delicious!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Just a couple of days ago I signed up for my first college class (having already gotten a university degree a few years ago), towards becoming a library technician! I'm very excited about that, as scary as career changes are.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
The last read-a-thon went really well for me, so I'll pretty much be sticking with what I did then! One thing I'm doing a bit differently is the food; I made much more effort this time to get healthy food instead of junk food, because staying up all night and eating junk food make for an unhappy tummy! So there will be actual meals this time. :)

It is time! Let the reading begin!

You guys! It's here! It's time for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon! The timing is perfect for me. I just recently got out of a month long reading and blogging slump, and nothing gets me back in high gear like a good read-a-thon!


I'll be sticking with my usual method of blogging updates every 2 hours, which I've found is the perfect frequency for me. I'll probably do a few challenges (at least the surveys), but mostly I find the most enjoyment from challenging myself to spend as much time as humanly possible reading, and to read as many pages/books as possible.

Here's my planned reading for this read-a-thon, in no particular order:
  • Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (185 pages)
  • Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright (137 pages)
  • The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (162 pages)
  • The Witches by Roald Dahl (208 pages)
  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins (390 pages)
  • The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (178 pages)
Those add up to a total of 1260 pages, which is totally doable, if my past results are any indication, so let's call that my goal!

Happy read-a-thon, one and all!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Animorphs #11 - The Forgotten by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Forgotten (Animorphs #11)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: October 1997
Length: 162 pages

When the Yeerks crash a bug fighter, the Animorphs take the opportunity to try to steal it, with the intention of landing it on the White House lawn to reveal the Yeerks to the human world. The mission starts off well, other than Jake having these weird flashes of a jungle. But when they get in a fire fight with the Blade ship, and the ship's dracon beams collide, the Animorphs are thrown into another time, and find themselves in the jungle of Jake's visions.

Though a lot of the time travel stuff confused me, that tends to be the case in every time travel story I read or see, and there was nothing that seemed really unbelievable to me. The explanation for Jake's visions, and for how they got out of there, was really cool.

This is also the Animorphs book with the best Star Trek reference so far:
Marco put his hand on my shoulder. "Phasers on full power!" he said in a Captain Picard English accent. "Arm photon torpedoes! If the Borg want a fight, we'll give them one! Make it so!"

This was another really good, action-packed Animorphs book, and the time travel aspect added some extra sci fi goodness.

5 stars.

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Ghost Witch by Betty Ren Wright

Title: The Ghost Witch
Author: Betty Ren Wright
Publication Date: 1993
Length: 101 pages

Jenny and her mom inherit a house from an old lady named Miss Nagle, and Jenny's excited to be able to move out of their tiny apartment. That is, until she goes to the house, and starts seeing giant snakes, dragons, and other beasts. It turns out Miss Nagle's grandmother was a witch, and now she's a ghost witch who haunts this house. Jenny has to find a way to get the ghost witch to leave her alone so she can live in peace.

This is the first Betty Ren Wright book I've reviewed on this blog, but I've loved her books for a long time. I discovered her in the children's section of the public library when I was a kid, and then a few years ago I found a bunch of her books at the library book sale so I quickly scooped them up!

I love the way Jenny figures out how to deal with the ghost witch, making a deal with her that will let her scare way more people than just those that live in her house. Characters in Betty Ren Wright books tend not to just run away in fear, but instead confront it and find a way to deal with it, which I quite like. This was a fun ghost story.

5 stars.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Burnish Me Bright by Julia Cunningham

Title: Burnish Me Bright
Author: Julia Cunningham
Illustrator: Don Freeman
Publication Date: 1970
Length: 80 pages

A young mute boy named Auguste, kept as a servant and abused, escapes to live with an old man named Hilaire, a retired famous mime. Auguste is amazed by Hilaire's skill, and learns from him how to communicate without words.

I'm not sure when and where this story is supposed to take place, but it's in a time and place in which it's socially acceptable to be horribly cruel to a mute person, and witch hunts are apparently not out of the ordinary.

But amidst all the cruelty, several children become better people as a result of Auguste's magic. So there is a message of hope even during the sadness.

4 stars. A really nice story.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl

Title: The Enormous Crocodile
Author: Roald Dahl
Illustrator: Quentin Blake
Publication Date: 1978
Length: 48 pages

An enormous crocodile living in a river in Africa boasts to another crocodile that he's going to eat a big, juicy child for lunch today. He says he has "secret plans and clever tricks" to catch them. As he travels through the jungle toward the village, he talks to various other animals, and brags about how he's going to eat a child. But every time he tries one of his tricks, one of the other animals foils his plans.

This story is pure Roald Dahl goodness. It goes alongside Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Twits, belonging on every child's bookshelf. The crocodile is a delightful villain, coming up with many clever tricks, but ultimately defeated by his own bragging.

Like many Roald Dahl books, this one is illustrated by Quentin Blake, who is awesome. So the pictures are perfect for the story.

5 stars.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Animorphs #10 - The Android by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Android (Animorphs #10)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: September 1997
Length: 170 pages

Warning: This is a review of a book that is not the first in its series. It may contain spoilers from earlier books.

While in dog morph, Marco comes across an old school friend of his, Erek, handing out flyers for the Sharing. The weird thing is, Erek doesn't smell human. Even a human with a Yeerk in his head would still smell human. When Erek gets hit by a truck, his holographic human body flickers, and for a moment his metal body beneath is revealed. The question is, whose side are these androids on?

This was an interesting story. I liked the idea of a species being incapable of causing harm, even to defend themselves, and wanting to change that for their own safety, but then the horror of killing being so terrible to them that they give up that chance. Also, alien species that aren't humanoid (in this case, looking like dogs), are awesome. Sci fi has entirely too many basically-human alien species. Animorphs is great for breaking out of that mold.

This book had some good action, as well as philosophical issues, which are both components of all the best Animorphs books. I really enjoyed this one.

5 stars.

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Title: The Archived (The Archived #1)
Author: Victoria Schwab
Publication Date: January 22, 2013
Length: 336 pages

I reviewed the sneak peek of this book back in January, so you can read about the premise of the book, and how I liked the beginning, over there.

Basically, it continued on being awesome when I finally got the full book. The twists and turns were wonderful; I never saw them coming, and I was always surprised (in a good way) by who was a good guy and who was a bad guy, and every other revelation that was thrown at me.

I was shipping Mackenzie and Wesley right from the start, and the interactions between them were some of my favourite parts of the book. I did not much care for the other boy who comes along in the middle of the book, but he was definitely an interesting story line.

I'm not doing it justice, but this was really a fantastic book. I couldn't put it down, and I can't wait for more in this series!

5 stars.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Bright Star by Nickie Anderson

Title: Bright Star
Author: Nickie Anderson
Publication Date: November 9, 2012
Length: about 248 pages (ebook)

Sadira is sad when her father doesn't make it home for her birthday, but things get worse when her class goes to see a hovership launch, her father gets on the ship, and then the ship falls from the sky. The government tells her her father is dead, but a private named Baruj is sure that the crew is still alive, and wants to head out into the desert to find them.

I was expecting a bit more dystopia from this one. There was good set up for one; citizens are required to take a pill each day! So much potential! But nothing much comes of it. Eventually past events come to light that explain how this is a dystopia, though, which is a good subplot. I wish that were more of the story, instead of being sort of on the side.

The problem I had with the main plot of this story is the lack of motivation. Sadira goes in search of her father, which may seem like motivation enough, but her father is, to put it lightly, a huge jerk. She seems obsessed with him, yet in all her memories she describes of him along the way, he comes across as mean and uncaring. Who teaches a child not to cry, because crying doesn't solve problems? And I can understand still loving your father even if he's not very nice, but she acts like he's perfect, and seems somehow surprised when he acts like a jerk some more.

So, I definitely liked the premise of this story, and the dystopian elements, but I had trouble connecting to the characters, which can really throw off a book for me.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the author.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Caarina the Cooking Fairy by Julia Dweck

Title: Caarina the Cooking Fairy
Author: Julia Dweck
Illustrator: Gemini
Publication Date: December 2012
Length: 26 pages

Caarina is a cooking fairy, and one day the fairy queen announces that there will be a feast, which Caarina will prepare. But as she tries to make her delicious dishes, things start going awry, thanks to a gremlin playing tricks. Caarina has to figure out how to outwit the gremlin, or the feast will be ruined!

Caarina the Cooking Fairy is another example of the delightful stories I've come to expect from Julia Dweck. Caarina is such a clever character; I was really rooting for her. And the gremlin is funny. The rhyming always flows really naturally, which I find really important in rhyming stories. Forced-sounding rhymes really throw me off!

Dweck has also teamed up with another great illustrator for this one. Gemini draws fairies wonderfully. They're so pretty, and literally sparkle!

4 stars.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Damage Control by J.A. Jance

Title: Damage Control (Joanna Brady #13)
Author: J.A. Jance
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Length: 374 pages

An elderly couple drive their car off a cliff, apparently in a suicide pact. But when their daughters show up, fighting over the inheritance, it seems there's more to this case than meets the eye. Meanwhile, there's a fire in a mobile home and human remains are found in a trash bag that washes up after a storm. All this in a weekend in a small town.

This book is really ridiculous.There's so much going on at once; isn't one mystery enough for a mystery novel? I didn't really see the point in having multiple unrelated cases. None of them get at all interesting until right near the end. And I only made it that far because I was reading this for the Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge, so it seemed wrong to give up on a book that's out of my comfort zone. But this book is just really boring.

Also, the writing had me laughing frequently, and not in a good way. I can be pretty forgiving of writing that's not very eloquent as long as the storytelling is good (I always argue that if I can't put the book down, that's a good writer, even if not by technical standards), but since I was bored through most of this book, I was painfully aware of every instance of "as you know, Bob".

1 star. I'm not giving up on mysteries altogether, but this one definitely wasn't for me.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Shadows of Kings by Jack Whitsel

Title: Shadows of Kings (Dragon Rising #1)
Author: Jack Whitsel
Publication Date: June 15, 2012
Length: about 248 pages (ebook)

The Harhn, somewhat orc-like beasts that plague the human villages, are suddenly attacking with more strategy than usual, and posing a real threat. Led by a powerful sorceror, and allied with dark elves, the Horde marches through the Hugue, laying waste to settlements. Lucia, a Viscountess and Dragon Maiden, begins to question the motives of the Dragon Order to which she has devoted her life, as she, a warrior named Lord Beaudoin, and a brave lowborn named Gui do everything in their power to protect their homeland.

Shadows of Kings is the kind of fantasy I wish I read more of: epic battles, sorcerors battling with their minds, and people worshipping dragons. Fights that are gory without being pointlessly so. Characters that swear profusely in a realistic way. Despicable villains. A story that wraps up nicely, but still leaves you excited for the next installment.

My only complaint is that I really wish there were a dramatis personae in the front of this book! I love fantasies with lots of characters, but in the beginning, before you really get to know them, it can be quite difficult to keep track of them all. I'm a big fan of characters lists. Maybe in book 2?

I recommend this book for fans of high fantasy!

4 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the author.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Giving Bloglovin' a try!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm trying out various Google Reader alternatives as I prepare for its untimely demise. Bloglovin' seems to be popular amongst the book bloggers I follow, so I've signed up there. It seems promising so far!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Blog Update

Wow, was March ever a weird month. Between reading a book that took me over a month to read, even though I don't think it was all that long (hard to tell with ebooks) and simultaneously having major writer's block on my reviews, I basically stood still in the book world for weeks. I apologise to any authors who are waiting on my reviews; I'm reading almost entirely review copies for the next couple of weeks to catch up, so hopefully you won't have to wait much longer!

As many of you probably know, the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon is coming up in just 3 weeks! During my weird, off month, I didn't even think of it. But now I've booked the weekend off work and am starting to get excited! This is just what I need to get me back in the swing of things. So my goal for the next 3 weeks is just get caught up on my reviews, and to get a couple review copies read so I can have total reading freedom for the read-a-thon. Then the read-a-thon will get me caught up again on my reading goals, and more importantly, filled with my usual enthusiasm for reading that's been lessened of late! A read-a-thon cures all! :)