Sunday, October 21, 2018

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

Currently reading: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

Pages read these hours: 64

Total pages so far: 855

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson; The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #2) by Adrienne Kress

Snacks: None.

Current state of things: In hour 23 I did awesomely, finishing The Door in the Alley with plenty of time to spare! Then I spent hour 24 desperately trying to hold my eyelids open to read Squirrel Girl, and only getting through 16 pages of it. Boy am I ever ready for bed!

But before I do, here's my closing survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? There were a few toughies in there, but I think hour 24 was my worst this time!
2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read! The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson; The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #2) by Adrienne Kress; and the beginning of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson
3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners? The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress!! It is so good! Also I need book 2, like, now.
4. What’s a really rad thing we could do during the next Read-a-thon that would make you happy? Start saying "we're halfway done!" at the END of hour 12 instead of the beginning! You sit on a throne of lies! (I get cranky after staying up all night; I'm sorry.)
5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep? I will continue to read in every read-a-thon forever!

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

Currently reading: The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress

Pages read these hours: 72

Total pages so far: 791

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson

Snacks: Still sipping my Monster, plus some candy to try to get a sugar boost.

Current state of things: Soooo tired. Only 2 hours to go! No time for videos! Only reading!

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

Currently reading: The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress

Pages read these hours: 65

Total pages so far: 719

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson

Snacks: Just sipping my energy drink.

Current state of things: Around 1:00 I was pretty sleepy, but in the last two hours I've started to feel a bit more alert again. Possibly the caffeine gradually kicking in. I keep checking my phone and then getting distracted by Facebook, which is affecting my page counts, but at least I'm having fun! And at the rate I'm going, I should at least finish this book before it's time to go to sleep. (I hope I finish early enough to read my graphic novel after that, or I'm really gonna regret saving it for later.)

Oh, look what came up in YouTube's suggestions for me to watch next!


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

Currently reading: The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress

Pages read these hours: 66

Total pages so far: 654

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson

Snacks: Banana bread, and I started my Monster.

Current state of things: Well, the late-hours-of-the-read-a-thon tiredness has hit! It'll be ups and downs from here. I've started my energy drink and I'm reading a really good book, but right now it's still a struggle.

This update's video is some singing and dancing from Grease to get us pumped up and ready to keep reading for 6 more hours!!


Saturday, October 20, 2018

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

Currently reading: The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress

Pages read these hours: 53

Total pages so far: 588

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson

Snacks: A couple of freezies.

Current state of things: Apparently all I needed to wake up was the right book!! While I haven't disliked any of the books I've read today, this book is REALLY grabbing me! Sometimes you know a book's gonna be good just from the first line, and this is a good example of that: "This story begins, like most stories do, with a pig wearing a teeny hat." I mean, COME ON. You can't doze off after that! So the only reason I only read 53 pages in the last two hours is because I was a bit late to start after my last update, and then I got slightly sucked into Facebook once. But I'm definitely reading the perfect late, difficult hours of the read-a-thon book.

I think it's time for some Spice Girls!!


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

Currently reading: The Door in the Alley (The Explorers #1) by Adrienne Kress (just starting)

Pages read these hours: 59

Total pages so far: 535

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate; Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin; Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson

Snacks: Girl Guide cookies and Cheetos Bag of Bones.

Current state of things: I'm already getting tired! Theoretically these are the hours when I thrive. However, I'm sort of permanently exhausted these days, so that kinda ruins my good hours. I'm very tempted to have my energy drink, but also don't want to drink it too early and run out of steam before the end!

(I'm already late posting this update and did not find a video so tune in 2 hours from now for another video!)

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

Currently reading: Tales of the Interlake: A Collection of Strange Rural Stories for All Ages by Carol Gardarsson (just starting)

Pages read these hours: 78

Total pages so far: 476

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin

Snacks: A couple of hard boiled eggs. Look at me, eating stuff with nutritional value!!

Current state of things: Ready to start my really short book so switch things up a bit after 3 teen novels from the 90s! On a random note, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls went surprisingly well with The Wrong Number! I almost feel like I have a theme going!

For this update's video, I'm feeling in the mood for some Flight of the Conchords!



And now for the mid-event survey!

1. What are you reading right now? Tales of the Interlake: A Collection of Strange Rural Stories for All Ages by Carol Gardarsson
2. How many books have you read so far? 3
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I'm saving my one graphic novel for the tough hours, so I'm looking forward to that change of pace!
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? None at all! I've been doing the read-a-thon every April and October for the last 7 years, so my husband is used to it by now and knows how important it is to me!
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Nothing really.

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

Currently reading: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin

Pages read these hours: 75

Total pages so far: 398

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate

Snacks: A few strawberry wafer cookies and some Halloween candy.

Current state of things: Still doing fine! My page counts are a bit disappointing, but I know it's just because usually I have lots of graphic novels and this time I don't.

Now let's watch Weapon of Choice!


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

Currently reading: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) (just starting)

Pages read these hours: 93

Total pages so far: 323

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine; The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate

Snacks: Leftover cheese pizza for lunch.

Current state of things: Going strong!

Now let's enjoy some more Miike Snow!


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

Currently reading: The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate

Pages read these hours: 87

Total pages so far: 230

Books finished: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine

Snacks: Water (finally getting hydrated!), a banana, some Halloween candy.

Current state of things: Now that the morning is over I'm feeling much more awake and alert! And this Animorphs book is hilarious.

Let's enjoy the intro to the cheesy 90s TV adaptation of Animorphs! (Which I still love. Bad 90s special effects and all.)


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

Currently reading: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine

Pages read these hours: 94

Total pages so far: 143

Books finished: None yet. Almost there!

Snacks: Breakfast cereal.

Current state of things: Moved from the bed to the couch, which isn't doing much to make me more alert! But I did get more pages read than in hours 1 and 2, so I must be dozing off less.

Normally I save the music for the late hours, but maybe Genghis Khan will help wake me up a bit in these early hours too!


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

Currently reading: The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine

Pages read these hours: 49

Total pages so far: 49

Books finished: None yet.

Snacks: None yet.

Current state of things: I've just been reading in bed for the first two hours. Risky, I know, but I was just so sleepy and the bed was just so cozy! There was a little bit of drifting off but mostly I was reading!

For this update's video, behold the book trailer I made for The Babysitter by R.L. Stine for one of my library tech courses!


Read-a-Thoooooon!

It's a Saturday in late October, so you know what that means! It's read-a-thon time! The only time when people can't make me do stuff and go places because read-a-thoning is top priority! Here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, we have a 7:00 am start time, so I am groggy and not equipped for human contact! Bring on the reading!

Increasingly I find myself unprepared for the read-a-thon in terms of book choices! In particular, I'm concerned about the relative lack of graphic novels this time around. If I'm struggling in the hard hours I might have to scrounge up a graphic novel from my book shelves. But this is what I've got ready to go:
  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (120 pages)
  • The Explorers: The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress (304 pages)
  • The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine (165 pages)
  • How I Broke Up with Ernie by R.L. Stine (136 pages)
  • The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate (158 pages)
  • Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin (153 pages)
  • Tales of the Interlake by Carol Gardarsson (64 pages)
  • Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores edited by Greg Ketter (285 pages)
The total page count is 1385. That's more than my average page count, but less than the most I've ever read in a read-a-thon, so who knows? Of the books, 5 are typical novels (middle grade or YA), 2 are books of short stories, and 1 is a graphic novel.

Finally, here are my answers to the opening survey:

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

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? The Explorers: The Door in the Alley. I hear good things!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I have Girl Guide cookies! Om nom nom.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I've been bingeing Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I hadn't seen until a few months ago. I'm already almost done season 5. I am IN LOVE.

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? This is my 15th read-a-thon, not including the summer one (which I didn't do all 24 hours of). My last one was probably my best read-a-thon ever, so I won't be intentionally changing anything!!