Sunday Salon - April 22

What a sad week at our house. My poor daughter, who lives for American Idol, was crushed when her favorite, Colton Dixon, was voted off. She has totally sucked me into watching the show with her and I was disappointed to see this kid voted off since he brought so much showmanship to the show. I am wondering, however, if now that he's gone, she'll lose interest in the show. If that happens, will I as well? It would sure be nice to be able to give myself those three hours a week to read again!

I feel like I'm treading water with my reading lately. With readalongs, I'm just not getting anything finished. Thank heavens for Dewey's Readathon, which I'm sleeping off right now! Much as I'm really starting to enjoy Bleak House, I'll be glad to have that chunk of reading done. Even moving at the faster pace that I'm getting through it now, every week's reading is taking me a few hours. I'd be half way through most of a "regular" book in those hours!

Books I've recently discovered that I'm looking forward to included City of Scoundrels by Gary Krist and Hollywood Boulevard by Janyce Stefan-Cole, Unbridled Books latest release.

As for the read-a-thon, here are my answer's to the end of event meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? As always, this is always the hour I call it a night. When it becomes "daunting," it's no longer fun and if I'm not enjoying it, I'm not doing it.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I didn't read any this year, but previously I've read graphic novels during readathon that really help through those late hours. 
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. I only wish that my hours were different. I think I could stay awake longer if I were able read for part of two nights instead of having all of my last six hours during a time I'm usually asleep and the house is so quiet.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Lots of fun sounding mini-challenges. If I wasn't cheerleading, I would have liked to participate in more of them.
5. How many books did you read? 2. The first readathon I ever did, I got 5 books read. I feel like such a failure every time I don't read that many. Which is every time!
6. What were the names of the books you read?
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Ron Rash's The Cove
8. Which did you enjoy least? I liked both of the books I read.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Don't put it off. I know people probably appreciate being cheered on during the later hours but you just might not make it to the end to get to everyone.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'll definitely participate in the Read-a-thon again, though I might tweak my hours a bit. Next time I think I'd like to host a mini-challenge.