Medieval Bookworm

My Read-a-Thon went out with a whimper.  I got halfway through The Brontes Went to Woolworths before I started feeling nauseated from not eating in good time this morning – my husband was still sleeping or I’d have sent him.  I need to remember to keep food in the bedroom next time!  Needless to say, I couldn’t really focus on it or the computer, which is why this wrap-up is so late.  I stopped reading well before the last hour.

My final tally:

I finished four and read from two other books which aren’t listed – Germinal by Emile Zola and the aforementioned The Brontes Went to Woolworths.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Probably Hour 11, when I went to sleep, and Hour 22 when I started to feel sick.

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

How I Live Now and On the Edge were both great choices.  Wishful Drinking was a fast read but I didn’t like it all that much.

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

Not for the co-hosts, they did a wonderful job!

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

Everything!  I wished I could participate more in the mini-challenges and next time I am determined to be more active on twitter during my breaks.  I felt a little isolated even though I had cheerleaders coming to my blog.  I didn’t feel that way either of the last times, so I think I need to focus a little more on community and a little less on solely reading.  I still don’t really like where my timezone is – things get most exciting after I’ve fallen asleep!

5. How many books did you read?

I finished 4 and read some from two others.

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

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh, On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher, and read from Germinal by Emile Zola and The Brontes Went to Woolworth by Rachel Ferguson.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Either How I Live Now or On the Edge.  Both great books.  I think I may have preferred the first one there on second thought.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

Wishful Drinking.  It would work better as the stand up act it originally was.

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

I wasn’t a cheerleader.

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

I’m 100% likely.  Next time I want to sign up for an hour’s cheering for sure.  I want to feel more involved and not isolated in my book the entire time, but I still want to get a few books read.

I can never remember to stop at the actual hours and post, I tend to just stop whenever I feel like it.  I’ve just read Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher for a change from fiction.  It was okay and relatively interesting, but I can tell just reading it that it would work much better as stand-up comedy.  Still, it only took me an hour.

Right now there’s a panty-worthy mini-challenge going on, hosted by Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog, who is definitely doing her part to make reading sexy! This one’s easy for me as I’ve had the same panty-worthy author since age 14 or so.  Stephen King.  He’s a bit, um, old for me, but I have loved his books for most of my life and I’m regularly impressed by the stuff he continues to put out.  When he’s good, he’s really, really good.  I just ignore the ones that aren’t good!

In the interest of equal opportunities, I would also quite happily choose Juliet Marillier, Jacqueline Carey, or Robin Hobb.

I can’t believe I’ve been reading so long already!  I think I’ve given up on my goal to continue reading Germinal in between.  Maybe later.  Right now, though, I’m heading for Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh, which oh-so-conveniently arrived in the mail yesterday (or maybe the day before – I’m getting bad at entering books into LibraryThing when they show up!).

Oh, and I also wanted to liven up this post with a picture.  So here’s the new fish we got this morning before all the reading fun started.  We wanted a big fish for the tank and since I can’t have a cat in this apartment, I got to choose:

I finished How I Live Now, so I thought now was a good time to do the intro meme and see what everyone else is up to!  First, here’s how I’ve done so far:

And the meme:

Where are you reading from today?

I am reading from my new flat in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

3 facts about me …

This is the one I’m bad at:

1. I like cats.

2. My favorite color is yellow (I may have used this one before …)

3. I like cheese and I like hamburgers but I don’t like cheeseburgers.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

At the moment, there are fifteen left.  No, I will not read all of them.  I just like choices!

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

I’d like to read six books again.  I’d aim for seven but I think Germinal will slow me down too much. Reading more than 12 hours would be nice too.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

Keep snacks around, choose short books, move around so you don’t feel bored and stifled in one spot!  I have different rooms to read in this time and I’m very excited about it.