Sunday, October 19, 2014

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

What are you reading right now? Nothing; I finished The Map of Time with half an hour to go and was too tired to pick out a new book, so decided to just spend this last bit of time writing this update, updating my Goodreads, and completing the End of Event Survey, found at the bottom of this post.

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter, Twisted by R.L. Stine, and the last 94 pages of The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma

Pages read these hours: 49

Total pages read so far: 1092

Food consumed this hour: None.

End of Event Survey:
  1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The first, like, six of them. Mornings are horrible.
  2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? All the books I read today were perfect read-a-thon picks! As usual, I recommend Animorphs, anything by R.L. Stine, and the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Plus YA and graphic novels in general.
  3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. I continue to be impressed with the people running the show!
  4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I pretty much kept to myself and just read, so I don't have a whole lot of feedback here.
  5. How many books did you read? 5, plus the last bit of a book I was reading before the read-a-thon.
  6. What were the names of the books you read? The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter, Twisted by R.L. Stine, and the last 94 pages of The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma
  7. Which book did you enjoy most? They were all great, but probably The Kneebone Boy, just because it was the most different from anything I've read lately.
  8. Which did you enjoy least? George's Marvelous Medicine. It wasn't bad, but it just doesn't compare to other Dahl books I love like Matilda or James and the Giant Peach.
  9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a Cheerleader, and actually, I didn't get visited by any Cheerleaders this time around.
  10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will continue reading in future read-a-thons.

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

What are you reading right now? The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter, Twisted by R.L. Stine

Pages read these hours: 77

Total pages read so far: 1043

Food consumed this hour: Some roasted chickpeas.

I finished my pile! With 3.5 hours to spare! OK, so it was a smaller pile than I usually have prepared, but still. So, rather than go off in search of a new book, I just resumed reading The Map of Time, which I've been reading for nearly a month (it's a rather large book) and am nearly finished. I might just finish it before the read-a-thon's over, though the energy drink seems to be wearing off a bit early...

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

What are you reading right now? Twisted by R.L. Stine

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Pages read these hours: 116

Total pages read so far: 966

Food consumed this hour: None.

Oh my goodness, R.L. Stine is the king of plot twists. Can't talk now! Must find out what happens!

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

What are you reading right now? Twisted by R.L. Stine

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Pages read these hours: 85

Total pages read so far: 850

Food consumed this hour: Hot chocolate and then a Monster energy drink.

I'm on the last book in my pile! And still have plenty of time to get through it. Also, feeling great from my energy drink! I'm gonna finish this one strong! (Hopefully not too strong, though. My plan is for the energy drink to wear off in time for me to fall asleep fast at the end.)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

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

What are you reading right now? The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Pages read these hours: 91

Total pages read so far: 765

Food consumed this hour: Chips (Ruffles Loaded Potato Skins, which are nowhere near as good as I remembered).

Still going strong with two thirds of the read-a-thon complete! I should be finished The Kneebone Boy by my next update and be on to the last book in my pile, Twisted by R.L. Stine (part of the Point Horror series).

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

What are you reading right now? The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Pages read these hours: 99

Total pages read so far: 674

Food consumed this hour: None.

Feeling great now, and reading steadily with no droopy eyelids! The Kneebone Boy was a great slightly longer read-a-thon pick. And I love the nighttime hours of the read-a-thon!

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

What are you reading right now? The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison, George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Pages read these hours: 93

Total pages read so far: 575

Food consumed this hour: A banana, and some gnocchi for supper.

It's evening, so I'm starting to feel like myself! Gotta love being a night owl. I should be at my peak for the next 6 hours or so, after which I'll be dependent on an energy drink. The Kneebone Boy is enjoyable so far; it has a certain Lemony Snicket quality about it.

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

What are you reading right now? George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison

Pages read these hours: 70

Total pages read so far: 482

Food consumed this hour: None.

Nearly half way! I'm always amazed how fast the daytime portion of the read-a-thon flies by. I'm just finally starting to feel a bit more alert. (When I haven't had enough sleep, evenings are pretty much the only time I feel alert.)

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

What are you reading right now? Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate

Pages read these hours: 77

Total pages read so far: 412

Food consumed this hour: Some bocconcini salad. I'm quite stuffed now, thanks to me morning junk food escapades.

I must have nodded off a little bit, because I felt like I was reading the same page over and over again and suddenly I looked and I was late for my update post! So that's why my pages read these hours are not so impressive, though I'm still on track overall.

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

What are you reading right now? Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate

Pages read these hours: 131

Total pages read so far: 335

Food consumed this hour: More Pull 'n Peels. I should probably eat some more real food. Sitting about reading all day with nothing to break the day up tends to result in me eating junk food steadily throughout the day, which doesn't feel that great.

Oh, Georgia Nicolson, you are such a goof. These books are endlessly entertaining, but it is also frustrating to watch Georgia fall in love with ALL THE BOYS except apparently the obviously best one (Dave the Laugh).

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

What are you reading right now? Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson # 6) by Louise Rennison

How's that going? It is full of hilariosity.

Books finished so far: The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate

Pages read these hours: 99

Total pages read so far: 204

Food consumed this hour: A bowl of cereal.

There was a little bit of struggling to keep my eyelids open in hour 3, but I think my body is beginning to accept that it's daytime now. I'm also experimenting with reading in my new glasses. I just got them on Thursday, and don't really need them for reading but was told that they might make the letters crisper. Anything that might help keep my eyes from getting so tired today I'm willing to try! But it's weird reading with something on my face. My instinct is to smush my face into a pillow when I'm reading, but now there's a counter-instinct shouting "Don't break your glasses!!"

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

What are you reading right now? The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate

How's that going? One thing I love about the Animorphs series is how they actually explore the tricky scientific questions that come up. In this book, we get to learn more about what happens to your excess mass when you morph a smaller animal. Plus, there's the usual intense action and moral debates. I love these books!

Books finished so far: None yet.

Pages read these hours: 105

Total pages read so far: 105

Food consumed this hour: Hot chocolate and a Pull 'n Peel. (Yes, I had candy before breakfast. It's hard getting up this early!)

Waking up at 7:00 was brutal, but I'm feeling pretty good now. My reading this year has been really unimpressive, thanks to nonstop work and homework, so it's nice to have a whole day set aside just for reading. I had to get ahead on a lot of homework to prepare for this so I'm going to enjoy it!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon begins!

Yippeeeeee! It's time for 24 hours of non-stop reading!

This one snuck up on me a bit, so I nearly didn't have a book pile ready! I totally threw it together last night. So, I'm leaving it open to mid-read-a-thon switch-ups if necessary.

Here are the books I've tentatively picked out, in no particular order:
  • The Decision (Animorphs #18) by K.A. Applegate (161 pages)
  • The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter (280 pages)
  • Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #6) by Louise Rennison (300 pages)
  • George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl (89 pages)
  • Twisted by R.L. Stine (168 pages)
That gives me a total of 998 pages. In my more successful read-a-thons I've exceeded that number, so there's a chance I'll finish this pile and have to find something else. I do have a few chapters left of The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma, so I could just finish that if I have some extra time. We'll see how I do!

Happy reading, everyone!

Friday, October 17, 2014

September 2014 Wrap-Up

Here's a summary of my book-related activity for September 2014. The Children's Hospital Book Market came around again, but I think I exercised remarkable self-control! :)

Books I read (linked to the reviews)


Broken (Women of the Otherworld #6) by Kelley Armstrong (TBR pile)
The Map of Time (Trilogía Victoriana #1) by Félix J. Palma (TBR pile) (in progress)

Books I bought


German Pioneers of Toronto
and Markham Township:
The Story of William
Moll Berczy
Hallowstone by
Brendan Myers
The Legend of Pierre
Bottineau and the
Red River Trail


The Shadow in the North
by Philip Pullman
Escape from Horrorland
by R.L. Stine
Beware! R.L. Stine Picks His
Favorite Scary Stories

Weirdo Halloween by R.L. Stine
Ancestors of Avalon
by Diana L. Paxson



Progress on challenges



I read 2 books for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

I completed the following squares for the Book Bingo Challenge:

I read 0 books for the Diversity on the Shelf Challenge.

I read 0 banned or challenged books.

I read 1 book written by women.

I read 2 books for the Seriously Series Challenge.

Progress on my TBR pile: I added 8 books to my to read list and removed 2, so my pile increased by 6 this month!