Dewey's Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

I did it! I can't believe I made it to the end! I could barely keep my eyes open from 3:00 am until now, but I somehow managed to push through it. I started reading Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road at 6:00 am on my Kindle and turned on text-to-speech because my eyes were getting blurry. 

I didn't quite make it to my goal of four books, but I came pretty close - three, plus 30% of Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road. I also didn't read as many pages as I did during the other Read-a-Thons I participated in, but that's just because I had to do a few things in the morning and didn't really start reading until around 1:00 pm.

Total pages read:  551

 End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? I became really tired around 3:00 am.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? From the books I read today, Voracious by Wrath James White was pretty awesome. I also recommend The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton, Die, You Bastard! Die! by Jan Kozlowski, Suffer the Flesh by Monica J. O'Rourke and Population Zero by Wrath James White.
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 thought the mini-challenges were fun - a nice break from reading.
5. How many books did you read? Three
6. What were the names of the books you read? Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Voracious by Wrath James White, The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Voracious by Wrath James White
8. Which did you enjoy least? Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very likely. I would be a reader again.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #3

I'm still awake! I don't know for how much longer, since I've been struggling to keep my eyes open since 3:00 am.

I finished reading The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon. It's very similar to Off Season by Jack Ketchum, but I didn't enjoy it as much as that novel.

Books finished: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Voracious by Wrath James White, The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon

Total pages read: 501

Snacks consumed: Bugles, pizza, cheese & crackers, iced coffee, Reese egg (it sounds like a lot, but it's been several hours since my last update)

Next up: Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road by Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, J.F. Gonzalez, Bryan Smith, Wrath James White, Nate Southard Ryan Harding, Shane McKenzie (if I can manage to stay up any longer)

Dewey's Read-a-Thon My Name in Titles Mini-Challenge

For this challenge, you use books to spell out your name. Here's mine:

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #2

I finished Voracious by Wrath James White. Is it wrong that reading this made me hungry? I was munching on Tostitos and salsa while reading about a man craving his baby's flesh - "tender, succulent new-baby meat."

This was a pretty awesome read. Gory and entertaining, with a really interesting premise: a new weight loss treatment turns people into cannibals. There's more to it than that, but I need to get back to reading. If that brief description interests you, check it out.

Books finished: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Voracious by Wrath James White

Total pages read: 261

Snacks consumed: Tostitos and salsa, Mini Eggs, a mini Mr. Munchy chocolate bunny

Next up: The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?

I just finished Voracious by Wrath James White and I'm going to read The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon next.

2. How many books have you read so far?

Two: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King and Voracious by Wrath James White.

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

I haven't read the two books I said I was most looking forward to in the introductory questionnaire (Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road and The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line: Veronica Mars #1), so still those two, I suppose.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

I had a couple of things to do this morning that I couldn't get out of, but I already had the day off from work.

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

Since my boyfriend got home from work, he's been pretty distracting. I keep shushing him, but I might read in my bedroom (instead of in the living room) if he doesn't stop talking.

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

How little I've been able to actually read. I need to stop getting distracted.

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

I'm going to steal someone's idea that I saw in the comments on a post on the Dewey's Read-a-Thon website and say there should be a Goodreads group for the Dewey's Read-a-Thon. I think that's a great idea.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

Read more! Maybe sequester myself in my room or something so I don't get distracted. And make sure that I clear the whole day.

9. Are you getting tired yet?

I'm feeling OK at the moment.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? 

Read short books, so that it feels like you've accomplished more than you actually have. I've finished two books, but they were only a combined 261 pages. 

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #1

I haven't read much yet because I went out this morning, but I still managed to finish one book: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King. It's definitely one of the worst Stephen King books I've read. The characters aren't as fleshed out as any of his other books. The plot is just the average werewolf story and not very interesting. The best part of the book are the illustrations, which are fairly gory.

Cycle of the Werewolf was made into a pretty good movie, Silver Bullet, which I actually liked more than the book (for once). I watched the movie before I read the book and already knew the identity of the werewolf. Maybe the lack of surprise added to my dislike of the book.

Books finished: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King

Total pages read: 128

Snacks consumed: pizza buns, macaroni & cheese salad, mocha iced coffee and as I type this I'm eating Mini Eggs and drinking a pumpkin spice cappuccino K-cup

Next up: Voracious by Wrath James White

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

Today is Dewey's Read-a-Thon! I will attempt to read for 24 hours straight and post my progress here. I participated a few times before and managed to stay up the full 24 hours, so we'll see if I can do it again. Anyway, I'm excited to spend the whole day reading!

I have a few errands to run this morning, so I might not get much reading done in the first few hours, but I intend to read on the bus on the way there and on the way home.

These are my reading options (I probably won't even finish half of these, but it's good to have options):

My book pile is pretty small because most of these books are on my Kindle.

1. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King
2. The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon
3. Voracious by Wrath James White
4. Poisoning Eros by Wrath James White and Monica J. O'Rourke
5. Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road by Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, J.F. Gonzalez, Bryan Smith, Wrath James White, Nate Southard Ryan Harding, Shane McKenzie
6. The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars #1) by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
7. Queenpin by Megan Abbott
8. Money Shot by Christa Faust

And the food I will be enjoying (last time I ran out of snacks and I didn't want that to happen again, so I went a little overboard):

Mmm...junk food.

• Pizza buns
• Half price Easter chocolate
• Bugles
• Tostitos and salsa
• Frozen pizza
• Cheese and crackers
• Golden Grahams s'mores bars
• Assorted K-cups
• International Delight mocha 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?

Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road - I've been saving it for the read-a-thon. I'm also looking forward to reading the Veronica Mars book. I reserved it at the library and it's finally my turn! I need to pick it up today (I live across the street from the library, so I don't have far to go).

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Tostitos and salsa because my boyfriend made the salsa from scratch.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I started a new job two weeks ago. It's full-time and my previous job was part-time, so I'm not used to working this much and I'll probably be pretty tired today.

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 read more than I did last time. My goal is to read four books so I will no longer be four books behind schedule on my Goodreads 2014 Reading Challenge.