Dewey's Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

I did it! I made it the whole 24 hours! I didn't read quite as much as I would've liked since I kept getting distracted by my boyfriend, but I still managed to read more pages than I did during the last Read-a-Thon, so I'll consider that an accomplishment.

Total pages read: 768

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? From 1:00 a.m. until now I could barely keep my eyes open. I definitely recommend going to bed early the night before. I went to bed pretty late on Friday night and think it would've been easier if I had gotten more sleep.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I don't know if this question refers to books I read during the Read-a-Thon or just books in general so I'll give one of each: Video Night by Adam Cesare and The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. I thought everything was great!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I loved the Mini Challenges. They were so much fun! A nice break from reading.
5. How many books did you read? Almost four.
6. What were the names of the books you read? I read the last 80 pages of The Blondes by Emily Schultz, Baxter by Jessica Hamilton, The Hollow Skull by Christopher Pike and 85% of Video Night by Adam Cesare
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Video Night - well, what I've read of it so far.
8. Which did you enjoy least? The Blondes - I've been trying to get through this book for weeks.
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'm definitely going to participate again! I'm already counting the days. I would be a reader again.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #2

I've been so focused on reading and struggling to stay awake that I forgot to post about my progress. Well I'm still up...barely...my eyes keep trying to close. I'm using the text-to-speech function on my Kindle so that I don't really have to read. I'm trying to read along though because the robotic voice pronounces some words incorrectly and it makes the book a bit hard to understand (for example, "yeah" is pronounced as "yay!")

I finished reading The Hollow Skull by Christopher Pike and thought it was OK. The plot was a bit like his book Monster, only not nearly as good. It's about four teenagers who go down into an abandoned mine shaft. One falls into a pool of black liquid and starts acting strangely afterward, then the whole town starts acting strangely. I didn't care for the ending. The explanation behind why everyone was turning into a pod person was too out there for me.

I'm currently reading Video Night by Adam Cesare and am halfway through it. But I'm getting so tired I don't know how much longer I can last.

Total pages read: 558

Books finished: The Blondes (well the last 80 pages), Baxter, The Hollow Skull

Snacks consumed: A coffee with Cinnabon International Delight, more spinach dip

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Mid-Event Survey

Mid-Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? 

I'm not feeling tired at all yet, it must be thanks to all the iced coffee I drank.

2) What have you finished reading?

I read the last 80 pages of The Blondes by Emily Schultz, Baxter by Jessica Hamilton and I'm currently halfway through The Hollow Skull by Christopher Pike.

3) What is your favorite read so far?

I'm really enjoying The Hollow Skull. I love Christopher Pike and this is one of the few books I've never read by him.

4) What about your favorite snacks?

Spinach dip with pumpernickel bread. My boyfriend also made me a delicious dinner:

Prosciutto and Swiss cheese stuffed chicken breasts, asparagus and crescent rolls.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!

I haven't really been reading many blogs because I'm trying to focus on reading (when I'm not being distracted by my boyfriend), but there's still time!

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #1

I haven't gotten much reading done because my boyfriend has the day off and has proved to be quite a distraction. I ended up watching this week's episode of Parks and Recreation instead of reading. At least my boyfriend offered to turn the closed captioning so I would technically be reading.

I decided to finish reading the book I've been reading for the past week, The Blondes by Emily Schultz, when I realized that it's due back at the library tomorrow and since I only had 80 pages left. For a book about an illness that turns blondes into zombie-like maniacs it didn't have much action or carnage. It was mostly about the narrator's pregnancy and her affair with her married professor. There were only a few scenes depicting the blonde attacks, but I did enjoy those parts of the book.

Then I dove into my reading pile. The first book I chose to read was Baxter by Jessica Hamilton. It's about an evil dog in search of an owner like itself. It was a bizarre book. I enjoyed the chapters written from the dog's perspective. Baxter isn't a crazed killer like Cujo, he's cold and calculating. Overall, it was an all right read. There wasn't a lot of action, but it was short (144 pages) so it held my attention.

Books finished: The Blondes (I guess it doesn't really count, but I technically finished it) and Baxter

Total pages read: 224

Snacks consumed: Spinach dip and pumpernickel bread, Sweet Marie Bars, Hot Dog Lunchable, vanilla iced coffee

Next up: The Hollow Skull by Christopher Pike

Book Sentence Challenge

For this challenge, you have to use book titles to form a sentence. Here's what I came up with:

Behind the Door Something Stirs In the Dark After Midnight.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

Dewey's Read-a-Thon is today! I participated last year and had so much fun, I've decided to do it again. I will once again attempt to read (and blog about it) for 24 hours.

Here are the books I have chosen to read:

1. Baxter by Jessica Hamilton

2. The Hollow Skull by Christopher Pike

3. Video Night by Adam Cesare

4. The Rats by James Herbert

5. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

6. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King

And the food I have on hand (I'm not going to eat all of this, it was on sale at No Frills):

Lunchables, Snack Packs and Cheesestrings: perfect for a third grader's lunch box...or a read-a-thon.

• Bagels with herb and garlic cream cheese
• Gouda Babybels
• Mozzarella Cheesestrings
• Spinach dip with pumpernickel bread
• Sweet Marie Bars
• Lunchables (hot dogs, pizza or nachos)
• Snack Packs (vanilla, chocolate, banana cream pie or ice cream sandwich)
• Assorted K-cups with Cinnabon International Delight
• International Delight Vanilla Iced Coffee

Introductory Questionnaire

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

Oakville, Ontario

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

Video Night by Adam Cesare - I bought it in January and have been saving it for the Read-a-Thon so I would have a book I was really excited about.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Spinach dip with pumpernickel bread.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I have two cats: Betty and Timmy.

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 want to participate in more challenges this time.