Readathon: Hour 11 & Mid-Event Survey

What an awesome day so far!  This has been my most productive readathon, no question.  Sometimes I feel like being a social butterfly and zooming around the net to see how everyone is doing, but this time I really wanted to just escape everything and just read!  It's been a bad 6 months for reading, so this has been a great time to dive back in--and boy have I.

Here's what I've been up to!

Books Read:  3--Granted, I was 1/2 way through all of them before the readathon began, so it would be more like 1 1/2.  Still, I'm saying 3.  :)
Pages Read:  390
Hours Read:  This is always hard to calculate, but I've been reading pretty steady today.  I've taken a few breaks here or there to do laundry, get a drink, go outside to read, etc.  I'd say at least 4?  Not great, but still good for the various interruptions, right?
Challenges or Cheering:  Zip.  I know!  It's really bad this time, but I HAD to get myself out of this reading slump.  :(  I keep saying I'll host another challenge down the road.  Maybe I'll join something later tonight???  I did go stop in on some blogs to say hi and see how they were doing, so that might count?!?
Drinks:  1 Diet Pepsi, 1 16 oz lemonade, and 1 huge glass of water.
Snacks:  Well, since I've skipped eating normal meals today, in place of reading (yes, I should go eat something), 1/2 of that bag of Doterra chips & 1/2 an apple.

UPDATE:  I should have realized the Mid-Point Survey was going up right around when I posted this.  I just came back in and attached it below.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?  I'm going to grade some essays and then I'll dive into a few chapters of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison until I rotate on to something else.
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 still waiting to get back to Landline by Rainbow Rowell.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Well, just household interruptions and the pressure to get my grading finished.  That will always be there, so I've been going back and forth between the two.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  How much better I do if I stay away from the internet.  Sometimes I really like to feel connected to everyone, so I stay online a lot more, but I feel bad about how little reading time I get in.  This time, I swore to myself that I would spend as much time as possible reading.  I really needed it, so it has been great.

All right.  I think I'm off to go scrounge for some food, get my bed remade after cleaning my sheets, and grading some papers before I can sit back down and read in earnest.  I'll be back a bit later though!  Good luck to everyone!

Readathon: Opening Post & Hour 6

I've been up for a bit, but as I promised myself, I would spend some time reading as soon as I got up.  This has been such a bad year for reading and such, that I didn't want to give myself ANY excuses to wander off from the reading--so that's what I did.   I also set myself up for success and left two books that I was nearly finished with, so that I could get up and dive back into them.  It's psychologically satisfying to start the day off with a book already finished off, even if it's not a "start to finish" read.  :)


Anyway, here is my opening meme AND my report for hour 6 all wrapped into one!  I don't think I'll be back again until later this evening, unless I go a bit stir crazy (although I have a "book walk" planned in to take care of that), so here we go...

Opening Meme:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Salt Lake City
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Landline by Rainbow Rowell
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  My Doterra chips.  :)  They are these awesome mixed variety of potato chips that include different sweet potatoes as well.  Yum!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I turned 40, 10 days ago today, and it was kind of awesome!  (What's with all the 40 angst? It's really pretty cool.)
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?  I started with a couple of books that I was within 100 pages of finishing.  That way, as soon as I woke up, I grabbed one of them and just finished it as I was waking up.  It started my readathon off with a successful book finish!

Here's what I've finished so far:

I really thought that the last 75 pages of this book was a great choice for me to start my day off today.  I've read his previous autobiography, which was interesting and filled with insider information about Hollywood.  More important, I appreciate the details he includes about what he has learned about living his life and maintaining strong ties to his family and friends.  Those stories were interesting to hear and touching.

Well, there's my update and starting point!  I hope to be back in the next 5-6 hours.  Good luck to everyone and happy reading!

 

I'm Back!

Yes, I'm back.  Another readathon pulled me from the dark abyss of my own absence.  It's not that I haven't been reading, but I will admit to a bit of a reading slump and to needing a major time out from everything.  Regardless of the major silence going on here, I have read a few great things and have still been excited about this upcoming readathon!  I was especially excited to see that it fell over Fall Break this year, which meant I could actually push things aside and join in (once I knew I was going to be in town). 

Anyway, enough of the boring talk.  Yes, I'll be joining in the readathon again and will be posting.  I can't wait!  I'm a major book rotater though, so I don't anticipate finishing many books.  That's kind of okay by me.  I might be squirreling myself away this time and not jumping online very often.  In the past, that has taken my attention away from my reading, so I might stay away for large chunks of time.  We'll see though, who knows.  I miss people and I might get really overcome with a need for conversation and jump on!

Here are the books I have on rotation, with a few more on my iPad that I'll be "e-reading" along the way as well.  I'll also be breaking in to grade an essay every couple of hours or so (since that is just the norm around here).

Okay.  I have about six more essays to grade before I can head to bed, so I need to get to it.  I look forward to getting to my reading in the morning, so I'll see everyone bright and early!

Readathon Finish Line

I finally crashed last night about 3 am after finishing one last graphic novel and trying to read a bit more from goodness knows what else.  I just know I fell asleep my iPad next to me and the television on.  That's the sign that I needed to just call it a night!


Today I'm feeling a bit haggard, which I wasn't expecting.  I've been taking it easy and just doing some light reading and even took a little cat nap.  Very strenuous day, eh?

Well, here's my readathon wrap up!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 3 am, when I finally threw in the towel!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  Eleanor and Park.  I didn't get it finished, but I really enjoyed what I started and can't wait to finish it this week.  I've learned that the key it diving into a book that makes you forget about the pages your turning and the time that's passing. 
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Not really.  I just really enjoy being involved and appreciate all the time and effort that everyone puts in to putting it together for us.  THANK YOU so much!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  The hourly posts and all of the constant communication.  It was easy to see where we were at and how everyone was doing, which was nice.
5. How many books did you read? 3, but they were pretty short.  I read a book of poetry, 2 graphic novels, and several hundred pages in a couple young adult novels.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Poems from Homeroom, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Graphic Novel, and The Uglies Graphic Novel.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?  The book of poetry was a nice diversion and had some great stories.
8. Which did you enjoy least?  None of them.  I liked them all.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  No.  They were great!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  Well, I need to see how things are going in the fall and how busy I am.  I'd love to try to host a challenge, if things are going well.  Sometimes it's all I can do though to just participate.

Well, I'm off to get ready for a busy week!  Thanks again to all those who put this together.  You all did an amazing job!

Readathon Update: My Late MidPoint Survey

It's getting close to Hour 19 now, and close to midnight.  Sleep is hard to ward off when you're used to crawling in bed before 10 pm so that you can be up before 6 am every day, but I'm hanging in there for the moment.  We'll see how much longer I last though!

Since I started WAY later than everyone else, I figured I'd catch up with the Mid Point Survey.

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now?  Well, since I just finished a graphic novel, I'm going to move back to a novel.  I think I'm going to bounce between Eleanor and Park and Diamonds and Deceit.  Both are YA novels that keep things moving, which I need right now. 
2. How many books have you read so far?  2--amazingly enough, considering when I started.  I finished a short book of poetry and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Graphic novel version.  I've also read over 100 pages so far in Diamonds and Deceit and listened to a bit in an audiobook. 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  Well, since I'm probably in my final stretch, I think I'll settle in with those listed in #1.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  No.  I really should have, but this has been my first day "free" for weeks, so after sleeping in and then running a quick errand, it was not quite the full day that I would have wished.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  More than I expected.  I'm always surprised by the little things that interrupt a readathon.  Oh well!  You just dive back in and go back to reading.  :)
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  The crazy weather we've had that has made reading perfect.  We've had non-stop, constant rain here, which has been glorious!  When you live in a desert, the sound of rain on the windowpanes is absolutely hypnotic. 
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Not that I can think of.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?  Start earlier.
9. Are you getting tired yet?  I live with tired, so that's a given!  :)  Yes...I don't think I'll make it much longer.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?  Finding a good story that makes sleep the farthest thing from my mind is always the best thing possible.  Really, that's the key.

All right, it's time to fight the good fight and see how much I can read in these final hours.  Good luck to the rest of you as well!

Readathon Kickoff: SO Late!

Yep.  I'm just kicking off here.  Let's state the obvious and get it out of the way.  I haven't posted in forever!!!  What better way to "try" to get my groove back than with a readathon though, right?  Life has really kicked me in the rear end in so many ways over the past six months, that it has been crazy.  I don't even know if I've read/finished a book in the last month, which is sad enough as it is, so I'm just happy to be here!  Work always overwhelms me with all of the grading & responsibilities for one.  But my grandmother passed away the first of this month, so I'll admit it--I clammed up a bit.  Not always my best quality, but now I'm ready to step back out.   


Thank goodness for a readathon to move things along though!  The grades have been graded, the sleep has been slept, the errands have been erranded (ha, ha).  Let me get reading now! 

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Salt Lake City
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Eleanor & Park, Allegiant, or finishing up The Chocolate Touch (It's all about the escape read for me today!)
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  Crackers & Cheese--I picked up some of those fancy water crackers w/ sesame seeds.  I love, love, love them.  I'm a bit more of a savory gal than a sugar fan, so this is what I'm actually getting ready to snack on. 
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I'm a book "rotator," (20 books at a time to be exact--yes, it's an illness, I think)  so I'm worried that I won't actually finish a darn thing with as little time as I'm giving myself!  I have a feeling I'm going to get going and will flip to something else.  I might have to grab a graphic novel just so I feel like I can accomplish something before it's all said and done.
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?  Relax.  I've learned it doesn't do me any good to fret over what I can't do.  I can't do it perfectly, so do what I can do and enjoy my time here!  It's just great that we have a community of readers who enjoy doing this in the first place.  I'm just thankful that there are amazing folks who are still so willing to put it together.  THANK YOU!!!

Review: The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgment of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes, in Toibin’s searing evocation, a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. This tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed."

Review:  When the long list for the Booker Prize came out, I saw The Testament of Mary and was pretty intrigued by the idea of Mary's story and what she might have had to say about her son's life and death.  Having visited Ephesus and the home that is believed to have been Mary's home, this all felt like a story that really was waiting to be told by someone.  The question was whether someone could tell it in a way that would feel honest and with the right tone, not fearing the backlash that might come from taking on such a character. 

We pick up the story after Christ's death, with Mary reflecting on her son's life and those who she seemingly felt might have pushed and pulled him along the way.  Her tale is a sad one, filled with the words a mother might speak about her lost child; however, in this case, that child is one whom she has lost in a most horrifically jarring way.  Yes, he was a religious figure, but she was his mother.  Her thoughts are a mother's thoughts, and we see her filled with anguish over the mortal actions and decisions surrounding her child.  Mary speaks not as a mother heralding the Son of God, but as a mother concerned for a child who might have been pushed and pulled in too many directions in his short life.

I found this short novella to be incredibly moving, and an interesting tale to be told.  Granted, this was a piece of fiction, and not a piece of Biblical writing, and yet the title and characters lend themselves to that immediate and strict judgment and comparison.  I simply couldn't do more than listen to the story being told and consider how Mary, as presented, really felt.  Wouldn't her isolation, hiding, frustration, and deep sorrow make sense to any person at this point in the story?  Her lines were haunting to read, but so interestingly moving and thought-provoking.  This is one of those stories that will stick with me and have me thinking for some time.