Sunday, October 23, 2016

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

Currently reading: Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Pages read these hours: 90

Pages read so far: 1148

Books finished:
  1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
  2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
  3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
  4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
  5. The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine
Food consumed: None.

Status report: Made it to the end! Here's my end of event survey:
  1. Which hour was most daunting for you? I had a few sleepy hours right at the start, and a few more around hour 18 or so.
  2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Georgia Nicolson books by Louise Rennison are very enjoyable to read in one sitting.
  3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season? Nope!
  4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I really like the Facebook group. I'm not very active on Twitter and find Facebook more natural to engage with other read-a-thoners.
  5. How many books did you read? I just about finished my 6th book.
  6. What were the names of the books you read?
    1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
    2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
    3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
    4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
    5. The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine
    6. Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
  7. Which book did you enjoy most? I'm loving Anything but Typical.
  8. Which did you enjoy least? The New Girl, mostly because the main character was too stupid.
  9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I always do! I just like to be a reader for the whole thing.

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

Currently reading: Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Pages read these hours: 79

Pages read so far: 1058

Books finished:
  1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
  2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
  3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
  4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
  5. The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine
Food consumed: None.

Status report: Since my energy drink I haven't dozed at all! Finishing strong! I have 116 pages left in this book, so it's possible I might just finish book number 6 by the end. Either way I'll be thrilled with my accomplishments this read-a-thon. In other news, this book is awesome.

If you're in the mood for a giggle and don't mind sacrificing 7 minutes of reading time, enjoy Jenny, one of my favourite Flight of the Conchords videos.

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

Currently reading: Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Pages read these hours: 95

Pages read so far: 979

Books finished:
  1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
  2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
  3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
  4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
  5. The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine
Food consumed: Most of a 550mL can of Monster and a few strawberries.

Status report: Uuuugh, so tired. Must carry on! Doing so well! Starting book 6! Almost at 1000 pages with 4 hours to go!

This hour's YouTube video brought to you by the fact that it's 3:00 AM here.

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

Currently reading: The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine

Pages read these hours: 73

Pages read so far: 884

Books finished:
  1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
  2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
  3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
  4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
Food consumed: Some strawberries, and I just started my giant can of Monster!

Status report: Aaaaand, the sleepiness hits! With 6 hours to go it's getting tough. But I just brought out the Monster so that should help me bounce back. I also did some jumping jacks.

I think now's a good time to bring out the big guns, energetic YouTube video-wise:

Saturday, October 22, 2016

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

Currently reading: The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine

Pages read these hours: 135

Pages read so far: 811

Books finished:
  1. The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate
  2. Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
  3. Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison
  4. Feathers by Jorge Corona
Food consumed: Oreos

Status report: Still going strong! I always have a lot of energy in the late evening. And I'm four books in, so feeling accomplished! I'm also very pleased with my page count so far; looks like I might set myself a new record this read-a-thon.

This hour's YouTube video is less energetic, but is definitely interesting! Learn some facts about the difficulties encountered by translators of the Harry Potter books:

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

Currently reading: Feathers by Jorge Corona

Pages read these hours: 82

Pages read so far: 676

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate, Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi, Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison

Food consumed: Water! I drank water like a grown up type person!

Status report: And one of the big books is done! Time for a nice graphic novel. I just picked this one up at the library yesterday.

For this hour's YouTube video, it's the multilingual version of Let It Go! Since I love both Frozen and languages, this is one of favourite videos. Enjoy!


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

Currently reading: Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison

Pages read these hours: 65

Pages read so far: 594

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate, Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Food consumed: Cheese pizza and a couple more Pull n Peels.

Status report: Got distracted a little more during these hours, bringing down my page count, but my tummy's feeling better! And I'm getting into the part of the day when I, extreme night owl that I am, feel at my best. Onwards and upwards!

And now it's time for my favourite Epic Rap Battle of History: Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison!


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

Currently reading: Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison

Pages read these hours: 84

Pages read so far: 529

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate, Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Food consumed: One cranberry ginger ale.

Status report: A good two hours of solid reading. My stomach hurts, though. Why do read-a-thons always make my stomach hurt? I haven't even eaten anything out of the ordinary. It's a mystery.

Random fun video time! It's Beauty and the Beat Boots by Todrick Hall!

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

Currently reading: Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison

Pages read these hours: 80

Pages read so far: 445

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate, Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Food consumed: two avocado and tomato sandwiches.

Status report: Walked on a treadmill while reading for a little bit, which helped keep me awake. But since getting back I've only been sleepier, so that was obviously not a long-term solution.

For this afternoon's video, why not the Supernatural Parody song!

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

Currently reading: I just finished Amulet, so I'm about to start Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison.

Pages read these hours: 158

Pages read so far: 365

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate, Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Food consumed: One Pull n Peel. Just about to eat lunch!

Status report: Starting to feel a bit more alert. Eager to eat lunch. A quick graphic novel perked me up and I'm now ready to get into a longer novel.

This hour's upbeat YouTube video is Oh No! by Marina and the Diamonds:

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

Currently reading: Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Pages read these hours: 113

Pages read so far: 207

Books finished: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate

Food consumed: One grande double chocolately-chip frappuccino.

Status report: Uuuugh mornings are SO awful. I'm actually getting sleepier, despite the caffiene. Perhaps more food will help. In other news, The Sickness was an excellent Animorphs book.

For this update's random YouTube video, enjoy Genghis Khan by Miike Snow, one of my favourite music videos! Those dance mooooves!!

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

Currently reading: The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate

Pages read these hours: 94

Pages read so far: 94

Books finished: None yet.

Food consumed: A bowl of cereal, and I just started in on a double chocolately-chip frappuccino.

Status report: Considering how much I intensely hate mornings, things are going well! I haven't even fallen asleep. I'm sleepy and cranky but also cozy in my bean bag chair and reading at a good pace. And now I have sweet, sweet caffeine.

I am the exact opposite of a morning person. Here, enjoy this Julian Smith video on the subject!


Read-a-Thon Opening Questionnaire

 It's time for the opening meme!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Probably the strawberries.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm the pround auntie of three little niblings: two are my sister's kids (one was just born a few weeks ago!) and one is my close friend's baby.

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 few read-a-thons, I've done less frequent updates. Today I'll be returning to my old habit of updates every 2 hours, which I think keeps me more engaged!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Let the Games Begin!

Good morning one and all!! It's 7:00 a.m. here in the middle of Canada and that means Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon has begun!!

(If you know me at all you'll realise I wrote this last night, and am probably not at all cheerful right now as mornings are horrible.)

The situation for this read-a-thon is as follows: as usual, I have booked the day off work. I do not have to go to any weddings, showers, or other social engagements, unlike my last few read-a-thons. AND, for the first time in 3 years, I am not in school, so I am quite a bit less sleep-deprived this time! So I'm feeling very excited and optimistic about the next 24 hours.

I chose more books for my read-a-thon stack this time than I normally do, so I'll have plenty of choices on hand throughout the day. (Plus, you know, the thousand other books I own.) Here's what I've got picked out, along with page counts:
  • Feathers by Jorge Corona (graphic novel) (160 pages)
  • Amulet, vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi (graphic novel) (213 pages)
  • Twin Spica, vol. 4 by Kou Yaginuma (manga) (190 pages)
  • Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin (195 pages)
  • The Sickness (Animorphs #29) by K.A. Applegate (152 pages)
  • Elfangor's Secret (Megamorphs #3) by K.A. Applegate (208 pages)
  • Stop in the Name of Pants! (Georgia Nicolson #9) by Louise Rennison (286 pages)
  • The One (The Selection #3) by Kiera Cass (323 pages)
  • The New Girl (Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine (168 pages)
  • The Surprise Party (Fear Street #2) by R.L. Stine (167 pages)

Thursday, October 13, 2016

FrightFall Read-a-Thon 2016 Wrap-Up


So, as usual, week-long read-a-thons don't really work for me! As it turns out, I can book a weekend off for a 24 hour read-a-thon, but I can't magically make more time in a week for reading. And I usually end up forgetting that I'm doing them.

Anywho, this is what I ended up reading:
  • Deadlight Jack by Mark Onspaugh (the last 36 pages)
  • Bone, vol. 5: Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border by Jeff Smith
  • Amulet, vol. 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi (but I didn't finish it until after the read-a-thon ended)
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker (the first 3 hours and 11 minutes of the audiobook)

Monday, October 3, 2016

FrightFall Read-a-Thon 2016!


It's been a while since I've felt like I had time to do one of these week long read-a-thons! This seemed like the perfect time to try one again, since I have a very large pile of library books checked out right now that I need to make time for. FrightFall is a flexible read-a-thon that only requires that something you read is horror.

The books I've picked out for the read-a-thon are as follows:
  • Deadlight Jack by Mark Onspaugh (36 pages remaining)
  • Amulet, vol. 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi
  • Bone, vol. 5: Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border by Jeff Smith
  • Scary Myths and Legends from Around the World
  • The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow (to start if I have time)
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker (audiobook for my walks to work)
I want to finish Deadlight Jack (a horror novel), read a few short library books (one of which is scary stories, so that counts!), and spend my remaining time starting on The Iron Wyrm Affair. Throughout, I'll listen to the Dracula audiobook on my commutes.