Read-a-thon Hour Update the Last

Reading Now: my computer screen

It's been __64__ pages and __60__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 6 hours 8 minutes

Cumulative Pages Read: 326

Books Completed: 2 - Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger and Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor

Eating?: No eating, just drinking water!


I surprised myself last night. I posted my last update in Hour 16, but I made it well into Hour 18. A quick cheerleading run around the blogosphere actually gave me a good second wind (there's just something about cheering in the late night), and if I hadn't had so much to do today, I feel like I could have definitely even started another book after finishing Sparrow Road with ease. Speaking of Sparrow Road, it doesn't hit shelves until the 12th of May, I believe, but when it does, definitely get your hands on a copy. Because it is so good. I want to say many other things about just why it's so good, but I'll save them for my review. It made me smile and cry and wonder and when the summer ended in the book, even I missed it. That is all.

And now for the end of event survey thingy...

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 15 for sure. It was only 10PM, and normally I would have plenty of steam to keep going past midnight, but when I got back from Zumba, I was so beat I didn't know if I'd make it much further. Thankfully a hot bath and some cheerleading got me back on track!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor definitely made for a good one!

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Seems like I heard about a lot of clamoring for more organization from the cheerleaders. It might be helpful to have a list of actively participating readers at the start. I was using the sign-up page to cheer for a while, and more than a few people who had signed up gave no indication that they were actually participating in the Readathon which was kind of a frustrating waste of time, but I didn't want to miss anybody who, for some reason, hadn't done the beginning meme either. *helpless shrug* With the amount of readers reading these days, it seems like a little more organization is called for so no reader goes uncommented on!

This is by no means a personal complaint. As a reader, I got plenty of support and appreciated everybody's great comments, and I know many, many readers did. All you cheerleaders did do a fantastic job! This is just a bit of what I struggled with and what I saw people saying around Twitter. =)

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

The hosts and the mini-challenges were great (even though I didn't have time to participate in many). Thanks for all your hard work guys!

5. How many books did you read?

1 and a half...

6. What were the names of the books you read?

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor, Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Sparrow Road

8. Which did you enjoy least?

No least. They were both good reads!

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

I was only cheering unofficially during my breaks from reading, but from what I saw of the cheerleaders, they did a nice job!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Very likely. I've had tons of fun in both roles before, so I guess it depends on how the mood strikes me.



Thanks again to all the organizers and hosts and helpers for all your hard work making a great event for us to all have fun together and continue to honor Dewey by coming out to read as a community year after year. I hope and I believe that she would be proud. =)

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