Spring Into Horror Readathon - Wrap Up

Now, I'm sure that you probably have forgotten that I told you I'd signed up for the Spring Into Horror Readathon (Seasons of Reading) because I haven't really read much that most people would think of as horror. But, here are the rules:

"Remember, the one main "rule" of Spring into Horror is that you must read ONE scary book (which can be a thriller, mystery, Gothic novel, or similar for those who are faint of heart). The rest of the month? Keep reading scary if you want, or read whichever genre you choose."

I actually did read several books that fall into the traditional definition of scary and spent the rest trying to read as much as I could. I actually finished seven books in April!  For the traditionally scary I read Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair At Styles and The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware. The scariest book I read in April wasn't either of these, though; it was Debra Gwartney's Life Through This. As I said in my review of that book, the scariest things for me to read about are the things that could actually happen and that book was about something that actually could have happened to me.

Did you read any scary books in April?

It's Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon Time!

Hurrah! It's Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon and I can finally participate! I'll be home and my house will be quiet for much of the day so I'm looking forward to getting in some good hours of reading. As always, I don't hold out much hope that I'll read for 24 hours but my book pile says I'm going to give it a go! I'll do all updates on this post throughout the 'thon. 

My plan is to start with Belong To Me, a book that's been on my shelves for years. I Remember Nothing and The White Darkness I'm going to hold back for the wee hours when I'm going to want to be reading something that makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere. In between that first book and the last two, I'll play it by ear. If I get to Ruth Ware's In A Dark, Dark Wood, that will work for the Spring Into Horror Readathon (hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading) as well. 

Hours Read: 14

Pages Read: 453

Minutes Listened to Books: 110

Books Read: 1 + 64 pages into a second book

Mini-Challenges: Sadly, even though I had planned to revisit these after checking them out in the mornings, I never got back to do any. 

Other Readers Visited: Checking in on Instagram via hashtags

Cups of Coffee Consumed: 2

Food: Oatmeal, two pieces of cold pizza, Simply Cheetos, bbq chicken and baked potatoes, cotton candy ice cream, and chocolate Easter eggs. 

Hour 1: Kicked the day off with a cup of coffee - after starting yesterday morning by finding out, after I'd poured the milk into my coffee, that our milk had expired and it was curdling in my cup, the hubby was kind enough to pick me up some yummy creamer. This staves off breakfast for three hours, what with all of the sugar and fat in it!

Hour 8: I've had to take some breaks, if for no other reason than to get up and move to wake myself up. I've done laundry, talked to my mom on the phone, tidied up the house. It's time for a quick nap and then I need to get cleaned up. A friend is coming for dinner so I need to get prepped for that. Once she leaves after supper, I'll be back to it. 

Hour 19: Everyone else has finally gone to bed and my interruptions are over, although I'll need to keep the television on to help keep me awake. I'm nearly finished with my first book then I think I'm going to pick up I Remember Nothing which is probably what I'll remember about the book in the morning. 

I hardly made a dent in my snacks but
they sure helped keep me going!

Hour 20: We're almost to the start of the next hour but I'm calling it a night. I'm dragging and I don't have all day tomorrow to sleep. 

Getting to Know You Survey

1)What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Omaha, Nebraska
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? In A Dark, Dark Wood, although I'm not sure I'll get to it.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I've lived all of my life in Nebraska and been a reader nearly all of that time, thanks to a love of reading that's been handed down to me. I'm thrilled to have raised three readers; even more so because my 24-year-old just really discovered the joy of reading for pleasure in the past couple of years.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I'm planning to work more audiobooks into my day so that I can keep reading while I'm doing those things that just have to be done on a Saturday no matter how much I've tried to clear my schedule.

Bout of Books 23

So my house is pretty clean and I have audiobooks again - that must mean I have time to give Bout of Books. Because I've got two books that need to be returned to the library in four days if I can't renew one of them, I'm going to plan to spend a lot of time running the battery down on my phone.

Today I've already finished Neverhome and knocked out about two hours of Special Topics in Calamity Physics (you may remember this is the book I was listening to on CD when I no longer had a CD player in my car so I'm happy to be able to pick it back up again). Because I'd already started that one, I'm almost half way finished with it already.

In print, I'm hoping to finish Jojo Moyes' latest, Still Me. If there's still time, I'm hoping to get back to Rebecca Traister's All The Single Ladies, which I'm slowing making my way through.

Maybe this time I'll actually succeed at a readathon!

Life: It Goes On - July 22

Good morning! It's a beautiful, sunny morning here and I'm headed out shortly to do some reading on the patio. There are plenty of other things I need to get done but it's the 24 In 48 Readathon so I have an excuse to read as much as I want to read this weekend. I'm certainly not going to come any where near to 24 hours of reading this weekend - those other things that need to be done keep calling and my family wants attention - but I'm getting a lot of reading done so that makes me happy.

Last Week I:

Listened To: I've been all over the place with what I've been listening to: NPR, podcasts, lots of music.

Watched: Two more movies for Paris In July: Midnight In Paris and The Phantom of the Opera.

Read: I finished Paris for One by Jojo Moyes and Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mama. I've started Rebecca Traiter's All The Single Ladies but may set that aside for today for something that's a faster read.

Made: Salads, pastas, s'mores - it's summer and we're keeping it light. I don't think the oven's been on all week.

Enjoyed: The play by my book club friend that a few of us went to see last Sunday. It's called The Dairy Maid-Right which may sound light and fun (and there are a lot of laughs in it) but it's also a very serious piece about immigration.

This Week I’m: 

Planning: Hopefully a trip to meet my new great-nephew (who I'll just refer to from now on as The Prince) and his cousin, The Princess. Oh, yeah, and my brother and the rest of his family!

Thinking About: What my next project should be. Paint my office, perhaps?

Feeling: Happy to have finally gotten my front door painted!

Looking forward to: Mini-him's 30th birthday! How in the world can we possibly have a 30-year-old son?!

Question of the week: Mini-him's been requesting the same things for his birthday dinner for about half his life. Do you have a go-to food that you always have for celebrations?

Readathon Time!

If I'm reading again, it's probably time to start readathoning again, right? I think I've earned the right to just sit and read as much as I want to for a couple of weeks. Who am I kidding? We've all earned that right!

First up is Michelle's High Summer Readathon. Michelle's readathon's are always very relaxed and last a while so it's usually pretty easy to find time in that two week period to sit down and read. Never as much as I want there to be but given that my calendar for the month is pretty empty (other than just  spending as much time on the patio as possible), it might just work this year.

Tucked right into the middle of the High Summer Readathon is the 24 in 48 Readathon, hosted by Rachel, Kristen, and Kerry. The idea here is to read for 24 of the 48 hours of the weekend of July 22 and 23. Rachel created this readathon because she could never handle reading the full 24 hours of Dewey's readathon but liked the idea of cranking out that many hours of reading in one weekend. Since I can never seem to get more than a few hours of Dewey's in either, I think this might just work for me. If I can get my family to play along better for this one. That's a big "if."

Because I couldn't really think much past the wedding for the past two months, my reading commitments are minimal this summer. Which means that I can pretty well read whatever catches my fancy during the readathons. I'm ridiculously excited to just grab a big pile of books and go to town!

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon!

It's time for the spring 2017 edition of Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon! You know by now how much I love the idea of this bi-annual readathon. You're probably also aware by now of how badly  I generally do at it when I think I'm going to do the full 24 hours. This time I'm being more realistic.

The Big Guy's been out of town for several days and will arrive home about 4 p.m. tomorrow. That means I have about ten good hours to read. After that, let the talking begin. Because, guys, BG loves, and I mean LOVES, to talk. After all of these years, I still don't have him properly trained to be quiet when I have a book in my hands. Also, we have a dinner party to go to tomorrow night which means I'll be gone for those few hours plus I have to get a dessert ready to take. It also means wine. Which means I'll fall asleep shortly after I arrive home.

So, ten hours it is. And I'll be happy with that. Of course, I'll still have a snack/food pile that looks like it could last at least 24 hours. And, maybe, once I get back home tomorrow night I'll still be awake long enough to check in with everyone and maybe do a mini-challenge or two. Who knows?

What I hope to read:

• Concepcion and The Baby Brokers by Deborah Clearman - I'll finish this one for an upcoming TLC Book Tours review
• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell - this one's been on my nightstand forever and I want to get it finished
• Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
• The H Spot by Jill Filipovic

And you joining us? What are you planning on reading?

PAGES READ: 254
PAGES LISTENED TO: 70
HOURS READ: 6
MINI-CHALLENGES: 2

OPENING SURVEY:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Omaha, Nebraska, US

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
The H Spot

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
G H Cretor's Chicago Mix Popcorn

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a wild party girl trapped in the body of a terribly responsible, terribly rules-oriented woman

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?

Every readathon I wish I had spent more time interacting with the community instead of burying my nose in a book the whole time. I know, I know it's a readathon but the thing that makes it great is the community. So today, even though my time is limited, I'm going to spend a lot of it on the internet talking to other readers.

A Winter's Respite #Readathon

Michelle, of Seasons of Reading, a.k.a. the queen of readathons, is once again hosting A Winter's Respite Readathon. This winter the readathon lasts two weeks. An excuse to read as much as I possibly can for the next two weeks! I'm starting off with On The Sickle's Edge, which I hope to finish in the next couple of days. Then it's on to Aravind Araga's Selection Day, followed by Julia Baird's Victoria: The Queen. C'mon, it's the depths of winter now - you know you'd love nothing more than to curl up in your cozy reading spot and reading for the next couple of weeks!

High Summer Read-A -Thon

Hey, are you surprised to see that I'm, once again, late to the party. Well, at least as far as remembering to post about the read-a-thon, which is, once again, hosted by Michelle of Seasons of Reading.  I did spend Monday night reading (more because I had to finish my book club book for the month than because I was read-a-thoning, but still!). Book club last night but I'm about to settle in for tonight. My plan for the rest of the week is to finish Leaving Lucy Pear which I started today and then it's on to Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy In France. We're having ridiculously high temps this week (it really is high summer!), so spending all of my free time curled up inside reading is just the thing!

Seasons of Reading: Sci-Fi Summer Read-a-Thon

Michelle, of Seasons of Reading, is hosting the Sci-Fi Summer Readathon this week. I had planned to read The Martian during the read-a-thon but it's Mini-him's and he took it with him when he moved. Rotten kid. Instead I'm reading Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead. I'm not sure that it rightly qualifies as sci-fi because I'm not sure there's any actual science involved. Although there is a pandemic. So, science, right?

There's not a lot of time to read this week so my read-a-thon may be nothing more than the usual amount of reading, just a book out of my usual comfort zone. Which is a good thing.

What book(s) would you read if you were joining us?

Dewey's Time!

Well, I'm off to a terrible start! Stayed up much too late last night and, consequently, slept right through my 6 a.m. alarm. What? It's 8:15 a.m. already? Yeah, that's how I'm rolling today.

Grabbed my coffee, a bowl of cereal and my iPad to get this readathon started. Of course, life has already interfered so I've gotten all of about 1 hour of reading done as we head into hour five of this 24 hour funfest. But, I've cleared the calendar and the family will largely be out of the house today so I'm hoping to still get in a lot of reading today.


Hour 1 Mini-Challenge: Opening Meme

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

Sunny, soon to be very hot, Omaha, Nebraska - right smack dab in the middle of the U.S.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I'm very excited to be back to Chris Cleave's Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. Hope to finish it before I break for lunch. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

All of them? Because, really, readathon is the only day we give ourselves permission to eat all of the snacks in one day. 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I'm a mom of three who, at this point, should be an empty nester. For a few months I was. Then two of my birdies flew back home. And I'm okay with that most of the time because being a mom is my very favorite thing. Sorry, books. 

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?

Stay out of the room where someone is insisting on watching t.v. I prefer to read curled up in a corner of the sofa but that's in the room where everyone else will end up. With my comfy sofa in my living room for the time being, I'll be able to stay away from the noise as much as possible.

HOUR 7:
Well, I've been waylaid by lunch (made some chicken salad - protein for the energy, don't you know!) and a long search for an elusive peace symbol flag which took more than a half hour. Miss H is about to get home from work and the peace and quiet that just befell my house is about to be disrupted. Still, I will try to read on!

HOUR 13:
Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?

Finally finishing up Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. In an hour, I'll finally be able to start my second book.

2 . How many books have you read so far?

See question #1.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

I'm having a change of heart about what I'm reading next. Was going to finish Why We Write About Ourselves but I'm thinking I need something I can really sink my teeth into now that I finally have the house to myself. Also, thinking I need to go with a "real" book which rules out the third book I had planned to work on. So my next book will be whatever strikes my fancy on my bookshelves.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Endless interruptions, including my eldest coming by for a couple of hours unexpectedly. I always try to soldier on but next readathon, I may just take to my room for the duration. I should have done this:

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How fast the daylight hours go by. Which is actually something that surprises me every readathon for some reason!


HOUR 15:
Well, as much as I loved Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, it was oh so sad. I've had a terrible time settling on something new. Finally, I decided I need something completely different and funny. So begins Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which is, at least, one of my #owndamnbooks.

HOUR 17:
So, I may have snuck a nap in during hour 16. I was rudely awakened when I thought I heard the garage door open when no one was supposed to be coming home. False alarm. You'd have thought that nap and startling wake up would have brought me back to reading life. Not so much. Don't know how much longer I'm going to make it, folks.

HOUR 19:
Woohoo! I'm still at it! I got a second wind and have been killing it with the reading.

HOUR 21:
Well that's it for me! Did more mini-challenges than I usually manage to work in and read enough to have finished a good length book start to finish. But this girl's got to get something done tomorrow so I've got to get some sleep. Good luck to those of you are are going the distance!

Hours Reading: 12            

Books Finished: 1 1/2 

Mini-challenges: 6

Pages Read: 427

END OF EVENT SURVEY

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Curiously, the seventeenth. I'd had a bit of a nap, I'm always still awake at that hour, and I'd just started a book which was light and brought back characters I was already familiar with. 

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

I always suck at this question because I usually haven't read very many books during readathon. I guess I'd suggest the Bridget Jones books because they are quick, light reads, although Edge Of Reason is not particularly short.

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

Nope. It was great as usual! I didn't cheer this year because I was hoping to really knock out a lot of reading. I wish I would have because, seriously, 76 cheerleaders for 2000 readers?

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

I didn't ask to be cheered because I knew it would be a few people trying to hit up a lot of people but I really liked the idea of doing it by Twitter. So, so much easier to do all the cheering at one place instead of trying to go to all of the blogs individually.

5. How many books did you read?

One and a half. Had so hoped to knock out a couple. One of these years I'm going to head into readathon without so many upcoming reading commitments!

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

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Enjoyed them both.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

See above.

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

I will definitely readathon again; I love, love the idea of reading along with 2000 other people all over the world. I would, as I said, definitely cheer again. Something more? Maybe.

Bout of Books

Jumping in to Bout of Books Read-a-Thon at the last minute. The Big Guy is out of town this week and I deserve the chance to relax and read a lot this week! I'll knock off this month's book club selection today then I'm on to Tana French's The Likeness. The question after that will be if I should move onto French's third book Faithful Place or join the readalong for The Snow Child which I might not get to this month otherwise.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Sorry I Haven't Visited Lately But I'm Reading!

I can't chat long, I've got to get back to my books but wanted to let you know if you needed an excuse to plop down and read all weekend, it's never to late to join the A Winter's Respite Read-A-Thon. 

I'm taking advantage of it to work my way through several books I have going. I read and reviewed Mr. Popper's Penguins, which was on my Classics Club list, I've got a good start on Girl Runner for an upcoming TLC Book Tour and I'm making good progress (finally!) on Death Comes To Pemberly, for a readalong. A nasty allergic reaction one day, some extra hours at work, and a birthday have cut into my reading time some but I'm hoping to get things in order so that I can spend most of Sunday reading. I'll finish the books I've gotten started and then I think it's time for another nonfiction read. I'm thinking maybe Tolstoy's Purple Chair. Or not. Whatever strikes my fancy when the time comes!

Bout of Books 12

After the hubbub of the holidays, I'm giving myself permission to just relax this week.
Therefore, Bout of Books Read-a-Thon. 

From The Bout of Books blog:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

First up, Island Fog by John Vanderslice. 

It's On Like Donkey Kong!

I must be excited for Dewey's this year - I actually woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. If you know me, you'll know how weird that is - I am so not a morning person. Although I am a middle-aged person and I find myself awake in bed earlier and earlier on the weekends. Must find a way to stop doing that - Z-Quil at night, maybe? But I digress. On with the reading!

Up and ready!

Today's opening meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I'm in the heartland of the United States, almost the true center of the country.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? This Dark Road To Mercy - I loved Wiley Cash's previous book, A Land More Kind Than Home so hopes are high for this one.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I didn't, gasp, actually pick up any snacks this time.  Although The Big Guy did pick up some Halloween candy yesterday. What were the chances that was going to last until Halloween anyway? So I guess I'm most looking forward to a couple mini Kit Kats in the late hours as a reward for staying up late.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! Oh, what do you not already know between my About Me page, all the memes I've done over the years, and the fact that I spill my guts to you every Sunday? Have I ever told you how much I like my collections? Frogs, a napkin collection handed down from my mom, old books, sugar and creamer sets, witches, boxes, a bottle collection that belonged to my grandma, and lots and lots of sets of dishes. That's secretly why I have to keep decluttering my house - to make room for my collections!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I'm going to give myself permission to take at least one nap and make sure I participate more in the activities. After all, what's the point of participating in a world-wide event if you never interact with the other participants? I was, by the way, the 725th person to sign up this year!

HOUR 2 UPDATE:

Pages Read: 46
Books Read:
Hours Spent Cheerleading: 30 mins
Mini-Challenges:
1. Voted for coffee (#TeamTrollope) at Fig and Thistle's picture challenge
2. Posted a picture on Twitter of one of my bookshelves for The Book Monster's "Shelfie" challenge

HOUR 5 UPDATE:

Pages Read: 106
Books Read: 0
Hours Spent Cheerleading: 1 hr 20 mins
No New Mini-Challenges
Haircuts: 1 (not even mine - had to cut Mini-him's hair for a wedding)

HOUR 8 UPDATE:

Pages Read: 179
Books Read: Finished Ann Leary's The Good House
Hours Spent Cheerleading: 1 hr 45 mins
No New Mini-Challenges
Meals Eaten: 2
Needy, Distracting People In The House: 2

HOUR 9 UPDATE:

Pages Read: 240
Books Read: 1
Hours Spent Cheerleading: 1 hr 45 mins
Mini Challenge: Show It Off!, hosted by Dead Book Darling, a photo of a prized signed book
Character Cheering, hosted by Love, Laughter, And A Touch of Insanity

My Late Night Buddy

HOUR 20 UPDATE:

Pages Read: 440
Books Read: 2 - just finished This Dark Road To Mercy
Hours Spent Cheerleading: 1 hr 45 mins - a cheerleading failure!
Mini-Challenge: The Pet Parade, hosted by Estella's Revenge
Meals Eaten: 3
Football Games Watched: all of one plus several others out of the corner of my eye - very distracting
Unexpected Guests: 1

That's it folks. I'm calling it a day. Oh so much less reading than I was hoping to get done...once again. I really did think I'd have two books finished before the Husker game came on but no such luck. After that, it was tough to get back in the groove. I've gotten a bit of a second wind but I have a feeling I'd walk up in a few hours asleep on the couch with a book at my feet and a major back ache. I never did find time for those naps I had planned! What fun to spend so much time talking to people on Twitter, checking out mini-challenges, and giving myself permission to read as much as I could for the past 20 hours!

End of Event Meme:

Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 19 - it was all I could do not to just take a "little" nap, i.e. fall asleep for the night on the couch

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Every year I think I need to add mysteries. Literary fiction is fine early on but later on, you need short books, graphic novels or mystery/thrillers to keep going.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No - it was great! So many people do such great work to make this event something that pulls readers together worldwide.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? As a cheerleader, I really liked the spreadsheets as a means to make sure everyone got contacted and to provide each other updates on the blogs on our list.

How many books did you read? 2

What were the names of the books you read? Which book did you enjoy most? The Good House, This Dark Road To Mercy - I really liked them both a lot.

Which did you enjoy least? n/a

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? You have to make a choice - more comments (i.e. shorter, more generic) or more personal comments directly relating to the post you are commenting on. To do the latter, you've gotta know going in, cheerleading will take a chunk of time.

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 again and absolutely cheer. I'd like to say I'll be able to do more, but we'll have to see what life is like by then.

Bout of Books 9.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional.

What better way to kick off a new year, especially when it's ridiculously cold out, than a read-a-thon. All of those challenges I've just signed up for, all of those goals I've just set for the year? I'm ready to get started on them! Here's what I'm hoping to get read this week:

1. Get caught up with Possession which I'm reading as part of a readalong (about 75 pages)
2. Finish Life of Pi. (about 200 pages)
3. Eleanor and Park (336 pages) which the Omaha Bookworms are reading for January.

All books I've been looking forward to or are already enjoying so it should be a good week!

High Summer Read-a-Thon

This is just what I need, an excuse not to do much on these very hot days except read, read, read! The High Summer Read-a-Thon, hosted by Michelle of Seasons of Reading and The True Book Addict, runs from yesterday (I know, I know, I'm late to the party) through Sunday, July 28th. I haven't got much on the calendar this week and Miss H is out of town for a couple of days (I can't tell you how much quieter that makes my house!) so I'm hoping to find some good chunks of time to read.

I'll be finishing up Nancy Bilyeau's The Chalice today. Next up, I think, will be Beth Hoffman's Looking For Me from the review shelf and then I'm pulling something off the book shelves of neglected books. Perhaps something that's been there for years, like Miriam Toewe's The Flying Troutmans, or one of the books from my classics challenge list. Of course the biggest challenge is always doing all of that reading without guilt. Wish me luck!

A Winter's Respite Read-A-Thon Wrap Up

As I said yesterday, there just wasn't as much reading time this past week as I had hoped for. Thanks to a push last night, though, I did manage to finish a second book yesterday.  All told I read for 15 hours for a total of 499 pages. I finished Across The Endless River by Thad Carhart and American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White The Birth of the "It" Girl And The Crime of the Century by Paula Uruburu.

Charla of Book Talk with Charla won her choice of books in my mini-challenge for the readathon. She left me a couple of great words she found in her reading including "sesquipedalian" which means given to using long words or containing many syllables. Love it!

Sunday Salon - January 29

I had such high hopes this week for getting a lot of reading done. After all, it's usually cold (and often snowy or icy) this time of year and my natural instinct is to burrow in to a corner of the sofa with a warm blanket and a good book. A week or so ago, it seemed like this was the perfect week to participate in a read-a-thon.

Then life, once again, intervened. Mini-me got an apartment was was able to move in this week which meant mom, of course, had to drop everything and help pack and move. Tuesday night the Omaha Bookworms met to discuss Nicole Krauss' The History of Love. Wednesday evening Mini-him came into town and announced to his astonished parents, as we cleaned up dinner, that we needed to clean ourselves up because we were headed downtown to see Craig Ferguson (of the Late, Late Show on CBS). Finally, it was The Big Guy's birthday yesterday which meant we had to celebrate that all weekend. So it was a fun week but not a good week to get a lot of reading done.

Still, I will have finished two books by the end of A Winter's Respite today and gotten a start on a third so I'm feeling good about the read-a-thon. Better yet, I'm feeling like I've gotten my reading mojo back, something I've been missing terribly in the past few months.

The History of Love, by the way, was a spectacular bust with the Omaha Bookworms. Three people didn't bother to finish it even and those that did had a hard time with the story line and no connection to the characters. I think I was the only one that found anything to like about it at all.

I've got reviews of The End of the Affair and Left Neglected coming up this week and I will, finally, return to Fairy Tale Fridays. This week, Hans Christian Andersen will be making an appearance. For some reason, one of the songs from Disney's Little Mermaid popped into my head which meant, of course, that I had to read the original story and at least one story inspired by it.

It also meant that I'll be starting Carolyn Turgeon's Mermaid today and will also pick a new nonfiction book, although I haven't decided on that one yet. What are you reading this week?

A Winter's Respite Read-A-Thon - Giveaway

For those of you participating in A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon, here's a chance for you to add back to your TBR pile just as you thought you were whittling it down!

I'm a lover of new words (imagine how excited I was to pick up my slim copy of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair and find that it had more new-to-me words than most books twice a long!). So here's what I want from you: leave me a comment by the end of the read-a-thon on Sunday with at least two new-to-you words and their definitions. My brain will get a chance to work and you'll get a chance to win a new book. The winner will be drawn on Monday, January 30th and will have a choice of books. U.S. residents only (sorry!). Winner will be selected by random.org.

There are 3 books to choose from: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, or Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. In your comment, please let me know which book you'd like if you are picked as the winner.

A Winter's Respite Read-A-Thon Kick Off

Actually, I started reading for the Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon (hosted by Michelle of The True Book Addict) yesterday but already had a review scheduled so held off until today to do my kick off post.

With no football to watch, I figured that there would be lots of reading time for me if I just decided to make it so. But Mini-me had other ideas; he is moving, starting yesterday, into an apartment a few miles from home. Which, of course, means that mom has had to help him back, help get things the guys need for the apartment, and help them move. All of which I love to do but all of which really cuts into my reading time!

I'm still bound and determined to finish at least two books this week, the two books that I started last week but which almost completely got set aside when I picked up Left Neglected by Lisa Genova to read at work and which I finished last night. I've got a good start on both of those so finishing them should be no problem. The bigger question will be what to start next and here's where I'm asking for your help. Which of these should I read after I finish Across The Endless River by Thad Carhart?

Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon

The Only True Genius in the Family by Jennie Nash

The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry

 Hours read: 12

Pages read:  367

Books finished: 1