It's All About Books

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Readathon Wrap: October 2015

What a nearly perfect readathon we had! It was a quiet, rainy day. There really was nothing going on that took us away from reading. Nothing that we had to feel guilty about missing. And hardly any distractions... including being too tired! I only got sleepy for a brief moment about half way in. The only thing we could have asked for is to have others join us (in real life) like we've had in the past. But still, my daughter and I had each other and then my son even joined us in the evening for the last four hours or so. Awesome.

Also, I hit my person best record for amount of books read! I think this is because I picked a couple of graphic novels and a tiny little children's classic. It was perfect.

Another thing I find interesting is that I'm all gungho in the beginning about the social media stuff, the updating, the challenges and etc, but then I get totally into the reading and just want to read without bothering with those extra things. I feel a little guilty about that, but in the end, it's fun to truly just concentrate on reading. I think at the end there, I read for nearly four or five hours straight without breaking at all. It was great!

Anyway, here's the questions from the site with my answers:

Which hour was most daunting for you? Got pretty sleepy around 1 to 3 pm. This is a sleepy time of day no matter what's been going on! But it wasn't bad and we pushed through.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? For me, contemporary YA romances are fast and fun to read during readathons. I'm going to have to keep this in mind for future events.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I love the event and can't think of any way to improve it. Andi and Heather do an amazing job! I dread they day they get sick of it and want to quit!

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Everything! Thanks to whoever sent the rain our way. That was especially perfect.

How many books did you read? I ended up reading FIVE books! Wow! For a total of about 1300 pages, thanks to huge hefty graphic novels with lots of pages but only take an hour to read!

What were the names of the books you read? Stitching Snow, Boxers, Saints, The Canterville Ghost and This Is What Happy Looks Like

Which book did you enjoy most? Probably the two YA books, Stitching Snow and This Is What Happy Looks Like

Which did you enjoy least? Boxers was a little hard to grasp. And so terribly sad. As was Saints.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Um, VERY likely! (Depending on spring and/or fall break plans as it usually happens on this weekend!) And I'll just be a reader like always.

Bottom Line: I loved our experience this time around. We read from 6 am to 12 midnight with only a few breaks. It was a true reading marathon.

Did you read? How was your experience?

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon October 2015: Updates and Challenges

Hour NINETEEN Update

What I’m reading now: nothing! Just finished another book. Trying to decide if I'm going to start another or call it a day. I think I'll probably go to bed...but wow. Awesome day. I loved it!

How many pages read since last update: 728

How many pages read total: 1298

Books finished since last update: Two! Boxers and This Is What Happy Looks Like

How many minutes/hours read since last update: 400 minutes

What we are listening to: Gregorian radio station on Spotify for awhile... then silence.

What we are eating: ice cream

Distractions: I pretty much read right through this whole last bit. Yeah. That was awesome.

Two kids reading with me there at the end.

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Hour TWELVE Update:

Gah. Slow down time! We aren't really half way are we?

What I’m reading now: Starting book four as soon as I update here! I think I'll do This Is What Happy Looks Like. Feeling in the mood for a contemporary.

How many pages read since last update: 232

How many pages read total: 570

Books finished since last update: two more books bite the dust! Saints and Stitching Snow. Woot!

How many minutes/hours read since last update: 130

What we are listening to: lots of Mozart

What we are eating: stopped just now for a good long break which included nachos. Lots of caramel popcorn is still going down too.

Distractions: Just took an hour break to recharge. Watched the rain a bit! Perfect reading weather today! Time to hit the books again!

Haven't done many challenges the past few hours, though they are all fun! But here is the mid event survey:

1. What are you reading right now? This is What Happy Looks Like
2. How many books have you read so far? three!
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? See above.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Not many. It's been very quiet here today and a perfect day for reading.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Every year it surprises me how fast time flies. Sheesh. It's terrible.

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Hour EIGHT Update:

What I’m reading now: Almost done with Stitching Snow, but took a break in between and read The Canterville Ghost

How many pages read since last update: 190

How many pages read total: 338

Books finished since last update: one book finished... The Canterville Ghost!

How many minutes/hours read since last update: 135

What we are listening to: a random mix of easy listening CDs

What we are eating: we stopped to have scrambled eggs and toast and have also broken out the peppermint pretzel crisps!

Distractions: breakfast and a shower. Other than that, things have been pretty strong going. Getting a little sleepy though...can't keep my eyes open... tired...

Finished!

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Hour FIVE Update:

What I’m reading now: Stitching Snow.... loving it!

How many pages read since last update: 148

How many pages read total: 148

Books finished since last update: Haven't finished anything yet. Ended up starting with a bigger book instead of one of my little ones!

How many minutes/hours read since last update: 185 minutes

What we are listening to: nothing... have yet to turn on some background music. The rest of the house occupants are STILL sleeping!!

What we are eating: a few slices of cinnamon apple bread, a ton of caramel popcorn, and a glass of apple juice.

Distractions: just stopping to do a couple of challenges and fighting the hunger pains. Need to stop now and eat some real food.

Here are the pictures I've posted on Instagram for challenges:

Cover Escape

Diversity Shelfie

Here are a couple of pictures I've posted just for the heck of it:

Good Readathon morning!

My photography helper!

What my readathon TBR pile REALLY looks like.

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It's time for yet another readathon! We are so excited around here! I'll be posting updates and challenges and other such readathon stuff on this post all day, with the newest bit up top. My daughter has participated in the readathons with me for years, but this is the first time she is blogging about it on her very own blog! Be sure to visit her there!

Hour ONE: Opening Survey

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

UTAH!

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

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I'm going to be a grandma in February! I plan to participate in Nano for the third time in just a few weeks. I've been blogging for 8 1/2 years. I love lots of things and blogged about them just the other day. I run Bloggiesta four times a year. And... I really really love to read! :)

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?

I have more smaller books on my stack today than I normally do. This means I should get through AT LEAST three of them! That would be awesome for me!

Friday, October 16, 2015

The Walking Dead: First Time Again S6E1 (SPOILERS!)

Much anticipation, as always, for the start of a new Walking Dead season. This one ended up being different from what I expected. I expected much conflict between Rick's group and the Alexandria group. Well, there was some of that, but not as much as I thought. I'm sure more of that will come later.

So this episode was interesting in the fact that we had two different timelines going on. One a little bit into the future and one just after the season finale. That one... the one a bit into the past, was in black and white. I figured the two timelines would quickly come together, which was the case.

So in the black and white bits, we have everyone recovering from what happened at the end of the last episode, namely the two deaths... of Deanna's husband Reg, and the other husband... who's name I forget and who no one is mourning.

Eugene comes in and sees that Tara is okay. He's so relieved. And then Tara asked about Noah and... sadness! Glen, for some reason, appears to be giving that jerk dude that almost killed him (dang, and now I forgot HIS name! Nicholas?) a second chance! WHAT?

But the biggest thing is that Rick takes the one dude out of the fence to bury him. While there, he discovers a huge quarry thing FULL of walkers. And he realizes that this is why Alexandria has had not many walker problems. They've all been trapped here. But he also realizes that the thing (a couple of trucks) holding the walkers into this place is about to give. Which means they have this huge threat over their heads. He hatches up a plan to lead all these walkers far far away.

The color bits are this plan in progress. So at first, as we are watching, we don't really know what's happening, but as the episode goes on, we get it. So there are different teams all stationed around, all with a different job to do and we see that panning out.

So basically, they decide to led the walkers out and have them follow the car and Daryl's motorcycle about 20 miles away. All is going well until... well... until someone (I forget his name too but we don't like him so it's okay) gets bit and he screams. All the walkers veer off the road. But they fix it. And then AND THEN a horn starts honking and CRAP... they veer off again but this time, there is no way to fix it. All the walkers... thousands of them, are now heading toward Alexandria!

The End!

But I forgot to say.. there's a cool new dude! Heath is his name. His hair was mentioned... and I loved it!!

Heath
It appears there are no good pictures of him yet out there.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Book Banter Topic 3: The DUFF

It's time for more bantering! Today we're discussing the book, The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. And we are switching it up today with Jenny taking the positive and I'm taking the negative. Don't let it throw you off too much!

Jenny Says:

Reason One: It's Readability

Whether you liked it or not, I have yet to meet a person who didn't at least admit that this book was incredibly readable. It was addicting and hard to put down. Usually when a book is that readable it's due to great writing and an intense story line. Call me a weirdo but I have to give points to a book that is THAT engaging!

Sueys Says:

I have no argument against this one. It was readable in a sense, kinda of like not being able to look away from a train wreck. :) I didn't find the writing to be anything special. Mostly I just kept reading, hoping for some sort of change that would make the whole story make sense.

Jenny Says:

Reason Two: The Flawed Characters

While not entirely believable, Bianca's life is not and has not been great. Her mother is absent. She knows there's marital problems with her parents and her father, an ex alcoholic, is drinking again. Both her parents have stress outlets. Bianca see's it. She learns her behaviors from them. No her stress outlet is not very smart. It's not a great thing to put in a YA book (I totally think this one should be categorized as NA) but I can understand it. I can sympathize.

Suey Says:

The characters were terrible. I didn’t like anyone in this book. And I’m usually okay to find the good in even a questionable character. I’m often rooting for the villain, or liking the mean guy, or wanting good things to happen to the underdog, etc. But everyone in this book was just dumb and stupid. They had no brains, like, at all. I couldn’t root for anyone and when that happens, it makes me sad and the book becomes not fun at all.

Jenny Says:

Reason Three: The Romance

Alright so it might not have started as a love based romance but that doesn't mean it wasn't steamy. I liked that there wasn't that many details about the sex but it sure was sexy! As unreal as it was, I liked that Bianca was lucky enough to have found a guy that didn't just use her too but was willing to admit there was something more to their relationship and stick with her. They may have not been perfect but these two were perfect for each other and with everything bad in their lives I'm glad they found some good in each other.

Suey Says:

All that sex without romance. Call me old fashioned, but I find sex without love and romance to be no fun. Wrong for sure. Boring even. No chemistry. No feeling. No intense emotions. Mix in the fact that these are teenagers and, yeah. Just, no. I kept hoping throughout the whole book that maybe, just maybe, they’d find some romance to throw into the mix. But nope. It never happened. Well, maybe at the very bitter end. And even then, I’m not sure they ever decided for sure if they really liked each other. Or if they were just jealous of anyone else who got to, you know, “be” with that person. Which was the reason I kept reading just to see if it would appear, the romance angle. I was disappointed and let down.

And finally Suey Says:

There was no point. Most books do try to make one. Sometimes it’s pretty vague. Sometimes it’s in your face. But usually you come of off a read with some sort of satisfying feeling, some sort of redeeming thought, some sort of accomplishment. This one had nothing for me. Nothing. Except maybe, “hey kids, perhaps if you feel bad you should talk it out with someone and not have nonstop sex with a guy you can’t stand.” Maybe that was it.

Bottom Line: Skip this book! But don't take my word for it... see what Jenny has to say!

In case you wondered, the movie is a little better, but not much.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Author Pairings

Today's prompt at The Broke and the Bookish is to think up some authors you'd love to have write a book together. I sort of did this awhile back when I came up with the Author Amazing Race teams. So instead of thinking up news ones, I thought I'd repost (kinda of like a Throwback Thursday too, only it's Tuesday, yeah.) I did make one change and throw out John's brother Hank and added in an author instead.

Author Pairings:

John Green and Maggie Steivfater
Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier
Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins
Shannon Hale and Libba Bray
Markus Zusak and Melina Marchetta
J. Scott Savage and James Dashner
Dan and Rob Wells
Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss
Kiersten White and Aprilynne Pike
Bill Bryson and Michael Perry

But wait! I do have some new ideas! Here are some more I could add:

Rainbow Rowell and Erin Morgenstern
Kasie West and Amy Finnegan
Sarah Maas and Laini Taylor
Cinda Williams Chima and Julie Kagawa
Jenny Han and Jandy Nelson
Veronica Rossi and Meagan Spooner/Amie Kaufmann
Veronica Roth and Suzanne Collins

Oh my word, it kills me thinking about what these authors might come up with to write together!!! AHH!!!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Fifty Things I Love

And the countdown begins. In an attempt to celebrate the big 5-0 I plan to share fun (hopefully) lists of 50 things over the next few weeks. We'll see if I can manage it.

Anyway, here's my first list, and today it's 50 things I love! I know long time (and even short time) readers will find this list familiar since I tend to go on and on about many of these things. So, here we go again!

Which ones do we have in common?

FIFTY THINGS I LOVE