Sunday, April 10, 2011

Readathon Wrap Up for Sunday Salon


Another readathon bites the dust! Wow, what a day. Once again, the thing that blows me away is how insanely fast it flies by! It's truly incredible.

So I got up about 6:30 a.m. to join the party,  which was about 1/2 late. And I dropped off just a little after midnight. It's lucky that,  for me, that this party lasts mostly during daylight hours, otherwise, I'd never make it. So, I did pretty much 18 hours worth. But four hours of that was going to a work party of sorts with my husband, for a co-worker's baby. Interesting it was, but lasted WAY longer than I expected! The other birthday party I thought I'd be going to didn't happen, but hopefully I'll see those birthday people today, one of them being my mom! :)

Which all means that I was actually trying to read for about 14 hours, and I probably actually read about half that time, with the other half taken up by blogging/twittering, and other various interruptions. So one thing I've decided about me and readathons.... I HATE keeping track of the numbers! I just want to read, and play on the computer and read and play on the computer and forget about pages, and hours and clocks and times and math. WAY too much math involved. Can I try that next time? JUST SAY NO TO MATH!!  :)

I finished two books... two VERY little books. Both wonderful though. I'll be giving them five stars over at Goodreads. And then I read about 80 pages more in City of Bones. I ate a ton of caramel popcorn, which is a perfect readathon snack we've decided. We're talking the crunchy BAKED kind you know, not the sticky gooey kind. Oh so good. And lots of chocolate of course. I needed to drink more water. I always forget that part. The weather was perfect for staying home and reading all day long... it snowed the entire day! And was gray and gloomy. Not one speck of sun did I see.

I wasn't that tired at the end of the day really, so I thought I'd go later. But then I decided to curl up in bed to read, and guess what? I was suddenly overwhelmingly tired! It was over. I was done! Couldn't keep my eyes open if my life depended on it. So I caved and went to sleep. But that's okay because it just so happens that I'll probably read today... and tomorrow... and all this week even! :)

Here's the official questions we are all answering today:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 
    The first hour is hard... it's hard to get up on a Saturday when you normally sleep in.
    I didn't have sleepy hours in the middle like I usually do. That was interesting.
    And then the last hour (hour 18 for me) is hard because that's when my eyes close whether I want them to or not.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
    My mind is blank at the moment. 

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

    No suggestions really. It seems like it's pretty much all figured out pretty well. Maybe a heads up on the opening meme so we can have that done and ready to go right at the start. Maybe a list of the mini challenges from the start so we can beginning thinking on the ones that require thought....get a little head start on some of them so we don't have to spend reading time thinking about challenge tasks. Know what I mean?

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
   I noticed more of the mini challenges were just completed by commenting on the blog post. That made it easier I think, rather than having to come and do your own post to complete it. Also, I really like the interaction on Twitter and seriously, how did we do this thing without that? Dewey would be amazed at the whole Twitter thing, don't you think?

5. How many books did you read?
    Two books, from start to finish.

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

    If I Stay by Gayle Forman and Skellig by David Almond

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

    They were both wonderful. I little too poignant. I was feeling a bit weepy during both. 

8. Which did you enjoy least?

    I didn't enjoy my 80 pages read in City of Bones a whole lot... still too much explaining of the world going on. I'm ready for some action. I've heard so much about this Jace dude that I want to see him DO something... so far, he's just sort of there, you know. ACTION people! Action!

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

    Not a cheerleader, really. I mean, I end up cheering people on a bit through Twitter, but I am TERRIBLE about going around to other blogs, so way to go to the cheerleaders that do that! 

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

     If life allows it, I will read again. 

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a great Readathon! I love reading during the event, but I also love the twitter chat- it's just amazing connecting with so many book lovers... of course it always makes my tbr pile grow!

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  2. Oh, all this talk of the Mortal Instruments series is making me nervous. If YOU can't make it through them...this does not bode well for me. I think you and I will have the same opinion on these ones, so I guess that's something.

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  3. Ohhhh the math! I agree--I seemed to have a harder time with stats this go around--plus it is embarrassing to see just how much my son out reads me!
    Have a wonderful Sunday!
    *smiles*

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  4. I hate keeping track of the numbers too! It sounds like you had a good day!

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  5. OMG I agree with you - I hate keeping track of everything! Let me just read and post my updates however :)

    You did great!

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  6. It may not have panned out the way you envisioned it but...you lived your life around it and I think that's awesome. For the most part I find it difficult to fit in a Read-a-thon that I did not schedule. Life happens and goes on. I haven't picked up a book all weekend but I have made memories!!That's the best trade of all.

    I enjoyed If I Stay but I haven't tried Skellig. Let us know how you felt and what it's about. I think I have a David Almond phobia or something.

    I was home sick one day this week and read Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner. I guess that was MY read-a-thon.

    Hope spring comes to your valley soon. I am coming up for Women's Conference in 3 weeks. I need to know what to wear!?!?! Snow, spring, snow, spring?

    Relax now...

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  7. Considering that you had some "life interruptions," I think you had a pretty good Readathon! I agree with you re: advance posting of the opening meme - that would be a great idea. I pre-scheduled my own starter post, but never did the "official" opener; if it had gone up ahead of time, I would have, though.

    If I Stay was in my Readathon stack, but I didn't get to it - I only read two books too, but they were both really good.

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  8. I'm with you, I couldn't believe how quickly the hours flew by!

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  9. I love reading in bed but oftentimes I figure out real quickly that it just puts me to sleep!

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  10. Snow? *Shudder* Spring has finally arrived here (hopefully to stay), so I was busy with spring cleaning/organizing kind of things. Oh well. I need to host my own read-a-thon in the dark days of January when there's nothing to do and nowhere to go! You spent an impressive amount of time reading, and you're lucky that you read two amazing books back-to-back. Sounds like a great read-a-thon to me!

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