Read-a-thon Final Update and End of Event Survey

Wow - I guess it's all over. I obviously packed it in quite a while ago, once I got kicked from the computer room and consequently lost access to my great support group, the magic was lost. Anyhow, here are my final statistics and the end of event meme. Hope everybody had a great time and hope you're all getting some much deserved rest now!


Reading Now: -----

It's been __86__ pages and __69__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hr 51 min

Cumulative Pages Read: 494

Books Completed: 2 - The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty and Freewill by Chris Lynch

Eating?: Had a little Mango Melon Lifewater to propel me through the last bit of my Read-a-thon


1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

I suppose Hour 16? I finished my book and couldn't get on the internet anymore, so that was curtains for me. If I'd had access to a computer, I might have tried for a couple more hours, but I'm not sure!

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

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty definitely made a great one for me this year.

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

Can I beat the dead horse and say "can we bring back the consolidated feed page?" again? Other than that, I thought it was perfect, just perfect!

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

I think the cheerleaders worked really well. You guys were awesome, and I imagine Eva's clever organizing helped. I had a pretty constant stream of cheerleaders all day, and I imagine it was really beneficial to have certain segment of readers to focus on at a given time. Though I didn't cheerlead officially this time, I know I was really overwhelmed in the spring, so the planning and the narrowing the focus seemed like a good plan to me - and I got cool comments from an even bigger variety of people as a result. I think. Maybe. I don't really know. I've never done this reading thing before... ;-)

5. How many books did you read?

Er.....2

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

Freewill and The Year of Secret Assignments

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

The Year of Secret Assignments by a long shot.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

Haha - it almost seems like this is meant for someone who's read more than two books. Oh right, yeah, the rest of you don't read as slow as me? Riiiiight. Um, my least favorite, by default, Freewill by Chris Lynch.

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

I wasn't really a cheerleader, but I thought all you Cheerleaders did a fine job. My advice is to keep on being awesome! ;-)

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

Wow, this is actually a tough one for me. Well, not the first question - I mean the second. I'm very, very likely to participate in a Read-a-thon again, of course. I really liked being a reader and picking out my pile of books and getting caught up in the anticipation, but then on the day of, while I was enjoying my reading, I was kind of bummed that I didn't have too much time to get out and read everybody's updates and cheer them on. Hey, maybe I'll do what I did this year: cheerlead for one and read for one. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. We'll see how it goes.



Many thanks to everybody whose hard work went into making this another great success! I had a brilliant time reading, cheerleading, being cheered, joining the mini-challenges (and even winning one! Thanks, Tara!), et cetera, et cetera. Looking forward to the next one already!

Read-a-thon Hour 15 Update and Honoring Dewey

Reading Now: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

It's been __60__ pages and __62__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hr 42 min

Cumulative Pages Read: 407

Books Completed: 1 (Freewill by Chris Lynch)

Eating?: Nothing (can you believe it?)


I wasn't going to update again so soon. I kind of wanted to wait until I'd finished my current book. It's getting to be kind of a downer that I'm still reading this book even though I am really enjoying it, and it seems to be going quickly even though, uh, it apparently isn't because I've got to be about the slowest reader on the planet. *sigh, grumble, mumble* P.S. If I vanish in the near future, it's not necessarily because I have quit for the night (though it could be that, too), it may just be because my dad sleeps in the room where the computers are (it's a long, boring story), and I will be sent packing.

With that in mind, I definitely wanted to slip in Eva's Honoring Dewey Mini-challenge before I get booted from the computer room.

I vividly recall the first Read-a-thon and my first brushes with Dewey. Hers was one of the first blogs I got up the guts to actually comment on. She was one of the first to comment on my blog with any regularlarity, at a time when book blogging wasn't quite as popular as it seems to be now and my posts and reviews were often met with the sound of crickets chirping. It means so much to you at that time to have someone saying something to you on your blog and making you feel like maybe it's worthwile to continue because, hey, somebody is reading. Her comments were always thoughtful, and it was always an unexpected pleasure to find her comments on my blog. I mean, what was this blogging "rockstar" doing commenting on my little old blog? But, of course, I know that she was never caught up in her own awesomeness that way that I am (we are?), and that was part of what made her so special. I know that many were much closer to her than I was, but that doesn't mean that she didn't have a profound impact on me just the same.

I was a baby blogger at the time of the first Read-a-thon, probably not even two months old. I remember I was too shy or too busy or too something to really sign on to participate officially, but I was determined to unofficially cheerlead, which I did. I credit that first Read-a-thon with my official entry into the book blogging community. That's when I really started coming out of my shell and commenting on other blogs, and when others started coming here. I can't remember which exact blogging friends came from my slacker participation in that first Read-a-thon, but I do think that Eva was one. Regardless, it put me on the path to more serious book bloggerdom, and helped me to get out and about and ultimately meet the people that make the book blogosphere so special to me today.

I remember it hitting me like a ton of bricks when I heard that Dewey was gone. It was hard to believe that somebody I'd "known" practically since I'd begun this blogging thing, somebody who'd been the cornerstone of my whole book blogging experience, was there one day and just gone the next. I remember how hard it was to explain to my parents why I was so sad, but even if I didn't really know her, I did *know* her, in a way.

This whole Read-a-thon thing is so bittersweet now, as many others have said. Dewey gave us a great gift in it, and it's a privilege to see it grow and thrive even in her absence, knowing that it was her great brain child and that many of us carry on with it expressly in her honor. Thanks, Dewey, for showing me that blogging was fun, for helping us to build a community with staying power, and for giving us a bi-annual day of reading to share with each other and remember that, at the end of the day, regardless of anything else, we're all here because we love to read. You were, and still are, the best of the best.

Read-a-thon Hour 13 Update and Mid-event Survey

Reading Now: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

It's been __62__ pages and __52__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 6 hr 40 min

Cumulative Pages Read: 347

Books Completed: 1 (Freewill by Chris Lynch)

Eating?: 1 piece fried chicken brought by dad from the grocery store, the rest of the Dr. Pepper, an oatmeal raisin cookie, handful of actual movie theatre popcorn (also compliments of dad and mom who elected to share it)

It seems like I'm doing less and less reading now and more and more...other stuff. I'm gonna do this mid-event survey here, and then it's right to the books.

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now? - Still The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty.

2. How many books have you read so far? - 1 and 1/2

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? - I doubt if I'll be going for all 24 hours, so I dunno if I'll even be able to get another one started. Maybe Life as We Knew It? World War Z? Wild Roses? I dunno!

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? - Not really. Just had to remember not to make any plans with anybody!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? - Not too many, the parents were gone for most of the day, so they didn't disturb me too much. I just had to trade in the recliner for my bed for a reading location. My biggest interruption was probably when dad brought dinner, but I needed the break and some normal food anyhow!

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? - I'm surprised by how quickly the day has gone by! For some reason, I was sure it was going to drag, and it's not - it's flying by!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? - The only thing I kind of wish we had was that consolidated feed page we had for the spring one to aid my unfortunately minimal cheerleading efforts. That was pretty nice and it helped me visit more people that I might not have visited.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? - I'd probably start the Read-a-thon with a book that I'd actually been told was good instead of an untried, untrue book. That and I'd probably hire a little math gnome or something to keep track of my progress because I'm becoming less and less confident of my ability to calculate such things and am concerned that my numbers might be total fiction and I might not even realize it. Zoinks.

9. Are you getting tired yet? - I've actually been going pretty strong all day, but now that you mention it, my eyes are feeling a little droopy. Stupid Dr. Pepper isn't really doing it's work. Maybe I need to go back to the Lifewater!

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? - I don't think so.... I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything particularly new and innovative that others haven't already done!

Keep up the great reading and cheerleading all! =D

Feed Me Seymour! Mini-Challenge

Nicole from Linus's Blanket has a fun mini-challenge going on right now. She's looking for passages involving food from the books we're reading. I've got one. Now it's not all that descriptive, but it does involve food and is kinda funny. The book is Jaclyn Moriarty's The Year of Secret Assignments, and this particular passage is a mock legal statement of sorts from a character's lawyer father recounting the "investigation" after she and her friends use his pricey vintage wine to cook up some chicken casserole.



Here it is...


Emily: Oh, hang on. Wait a minute. We made a chicken casserole for dinner when you were away at the start of the holidays! Remember? At your conference?

Me: Did you? Lovely.

Emily: No. It wasn't very good in the end. Anyway, we thought some wine would make it better.

Me:

Emily: Lydia got a couple of bottles from the cellar, but I told her to get the older, dustier ones 'cause you probably wouldn't miss them. That's okay, isn't it?

Me:



Okay, that does it for my entry. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Read-a-Thon Hour 10 Update

Reading Now: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

It's been __95__ pages and __100__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 5 hr 48 min

Cumulative Pages Read: 285

Books Completed: 1 (Freewill by Chris Lynch)

Eating?: Just a few more pretzels and a couple of sips of the lone Dr. Pepper I allowed myself for the day.

I've found a real winner in The Year of Secret Assignments. The pages are flying by, well, for me they are. A faster reader than I probably could have finished it three times by now. Nonetheless, it is just the sort of compulsively readable book that one needs for the Read-a-thon. And, if I didn't mention it, it's hilarious. I'm approaching the halfway mark and looking forward to getting back to it.

My parents returned from all their errands, so the dogs were barking and the TV was playing, and they were, like, talking to me and stuff, so I retired to my bedroom for some more reading. Much to the credit of Jaclyn Moriarty's book, I didn't feel compelled to sleep despite the over-coziness of my environs.

We're approaching the halfway mark - hope everybody's still going strong! Thanks all you cheerleaders for stopping by - I'm mightily enjoying your comments and would reply if I wasn't supposed to be, um, reading.

Now, I'm off for a little cheerleading and mini-challenging before I get back to my most excellent book.