Merry Wanderer of the Night:
read-a-thon

Enna from Squeaky Books is hosting the: Oh-my-word-the-year-is-over-and-I-haven't-reached-my-goal Read-a-Thon. And, because I love Enna and I love read-a-thons, I'm definitely participating:)
Also, I've been rather lame with the Wrapping Up 2011 Read-a-thon & am hoping that this will give me motivation to push through to the end.

I have been in a bit of a reading slump, off and on all year, and I haven't really been motivated to read for the last 2 months or so. This means I'm really far behind on my Goodreads reading goal (like 18 books behind...) There is absolutely no way I can make that (unless I start counting the picture books I read to my nephews...) but I do hope to get a little closer. Really, even just doing something to help push me over this reading slump would be awesome!

So, right now, my goal is to read 2 books. To finish the book I'm currently reading and read at least one more. If I can manage to finish three books, I'll totally feel like I own the world:)

Are you read-a-thoning too?!?! Let me know!

Good luck to everyone!

I totally forgot that I had signed up for Remarkable Read 's Wrapping Up 2011 Read-a-thon... So, I'm a bit late, but I'm hoping to jump in now and use it to motivate myself to actually get some reading done.:)

I did read three books today, and I'm totally counting them, even though they are Roald Dahl's versions of picture books (definitely for the older kids).

For the rest of the year, I keep debating between trying to actually meet my 2011 GR Reading goal of 260 (which currently means I'd need to read 19 books by the end of the year) and just reading books that I really want to read, because some of the books that are really catching my eye right now are larger & not so conducive to the whole — read 19 books in 9 days, 4 of which are holidays (I am totally counting my birthday as a holiday...) .

So, my list of what I'll end up reading is going to fluctuate drastically and I have no idea, right now, what I'll end up picking. AND, another blogger friend talked about having a read-a-thon on the 30th & 31st, which I'll be participating in (if she does it) so it's going to be like reading BLITZ for me. Maybe I'll actually be able to meet my goal... :) We shall see what happens!

I'm participating — BooYa. http://www.whorublog.com/

So, I totally made it! Up all 24 hours, no naps, no caffeine either, which I'm ridiculously proud of and I met my goal of 10 books read! I feel rather awesome: P

My final reading tally-

Book 1 — Variant — Robison Wells (103/375 pgs)
Book 2 — Kane Richards Must Die — Shanice Williams (272 pgs)
Book 3 — Anya's Ghost — Vera Brosgol (221 pgs)
Book 4 — But I Love Him — Amanda Grace (252 pgs)
Book 5 — Geek Girl — Cindy C. Bennett (306 pgs)
Book 6 — Breaking Point — Alex Flinnn (240 pgs)
Book 7 — The Sky is Everywhere — Jandy Nelson (277 pgs)
Book 8 — Justin Morgan Had a Horse — Marguerite Henry (160 pgs)
Book 9 — Misty of Chinconteague — Marguerite Henry (158 pgs)Book 10 — Dark Eden — Patrick Carman (318 pgs)
And, for the end of event survey:
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?Probably between 1:30 and 3:00 am. I was reading a boring book, and it's right about the time that I start to get tired normally, never mind the fact that I am NOT a morning person so getting up at 6am was a struggle. 2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I STRONGLY suggest verse novels, especially for people who don't read fast or have a hard time just sitting and reading. Because verse novels read VERY quickly and make you feel like you've accomplished something big. 3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No 4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I don't know... Honestly, I read... I talk to other people on Twitter, follow the hashtag when I get online between books to update and occasionally check the main site, but not very often... I don't really do the mini-challenges or anything like that, and I don't really pay much attention to what it takes to put this together, so if I'm being honest, I highly doubt I will have anything to say in this or the improvements spot, ever...
5. How many books did you read? 10:)
6. What were the names of the books you read? They are all listed at the beginning of the post
7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. OH MY GOODNESS! AMAZING book.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I had a few disappointing ones. Kane Richards Must Die and all three of my last reads were really really Meh for me... I think I gave all 4 of them only 2 stars... 9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't 10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will for SURE participate again. I LOVE readathons and this one is seriously amazing! I'll just stick to being a reader and unofficial cheerleader. I like the idea of reading for as much of the 24 hours as possible, so I'll just stick to doing some cheerleading in between updates:)

I'm a little late getting this survey up, but I only like to jump online/update when I'm between books so I don't spend as much time online: P

First — My reading status-

Book 1 — Variant — Robison Wells (103/375 pgs)
Book 2 — Kane Richards Must Die — Shanice Williams (272 pgs)
Book 3 — Anya's Ghost — Vera Brosgol (221 pgs)
Book 4 — But I Love Him — Amanda Grace (252 pgs)
Book 5 — Geek Girl — Cindy C. Bennett (306 pgs)
Book 6 — Breaking Point — Alex Flinnn (240 pgs)
Book 7 — The Sky is Everywhere — Jandy Nelson (277 pgs)
Book 8 — Justin Morgan Had a Horse — Marguerite Henry (160 pgs)
Book 9 — Misty of Chinconteague — Marguerite Henry (158 pgs)

And the mid event survey-

1. What are you reading right now?
Nothing. I only update after I've finished a book, so I'm in between:) Thinking about starting Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere next, or I might also read Dark Eden by Patrick Carman. 2. How many books have you read so far?
Six:)
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Not sure yet. I haven't decided what other books I'll be reading for the read-a-thon, so I'll just have to wait and see. But, possibly I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert or Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. I'm pretty sure I'm going to read those, but things change... :)
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Not really, I don't work on Saturdays, and I just told family/friends that I'd be unavailable today:)
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? My interruptions have been minimal. And, I pretty much just read through them anyway:)
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Nothing.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? ... Can't really think of anything... Well, I might get more food to snack on, as opposed to just candy.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Nope. I was WAY more tired early this morning, having to get up and actually start reading and 6am. I won't be getting tired for hours yet:)
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?Not really. I'm pretty sure someone else has already thought of anything that I could add. Although, I've found it's best if I focus on books I legitimately WANT to read, instead of books I think I SHOULD be reading, ESPECIALLY as it gets later and later and you need more and more motivation to stay up.

It is now about 2:30 and I figured now is probably a good time to update!:)

I finished Book 4 a little before 2 and have been updating Goodreads, Twitter & chatting with some other participants, cheering them on. Now, I just need to finish this post and I'll be off to start book 5!

Book 1 — Variant by Robinson Wells (started on 103/375)
Book 2 — Kane Richards Must Die — Shanice Williams (272 pgs)
Book 3 — Anya's Ghost — Vera Brosgol (221pgs, graphic novel)
Book 4 — But I Love Him — Amanda Grace (252 pages)

So, it's just before hour 2 of the Read-a-thon and I just finished my first book!:) I figured now was a good time to do the little intro survey & stuff!:)

So-
1)Where are you reading from today?
Idaho

2)Three random facts about me…
I played both Flute and Tenor Saxophone in high school.
I am currently in love with puzzles.
I make some seriously delicious chocolate chip cookies.

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
Not a set number. I find it impossible to stick to a list, so really, it's however many I can read. I have my whole shelves to choose from.:)

4)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)?
To read lots of books for the entire 24 hours.:) I think I'm going to set a tentative goal of 10 books... I think I can reach that, so here's hoping.:)

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
Read books you WANT to read. Action-y books are good because they keep you interested and eager to read. Now is the PERFECT time for anyone not sure they want to read a verse novel because they read FAST. I can read 600+ pages in less than 3 hours.:)

As for my status — I have read:

most of Variant by Robison Wells (started on page 103/375)

Yo! It's almost time for the awesome Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon to begin!:) I'm SUPER excited! Last time (April) I managed to get a lot of reading done AND I stayed up the full 24 hours!:) I'm hoping to do so again this time! We shall see! And can I just say, that it is proof of how much I love read-a-thons and this one in particular that I am willing to get up at SIX AM to do this?! Seriously — if you know me at all, you know I hate mornings and think 9 o'clock is still on the early side... So... For me to be away before 6?! Lots of love I say, LOTS OF LOVE.

I don't have an awesome picture of my read-a-thon pile today for two reasons. One, because I can't find my camera and two, because I'm absolutely terrible at sticking to a list. Instead, I'm going to read the two books I absolutely must have read by next week and then move on to some others. I have a feeling that this read-a-thon is going to be very heavily Contemporary YA because that's what I've really been in the mood for lately and I have a few more books I want to get read before Just Contemporary month starts! It's getting so close!: D

Anyway — I shall update often, I'm sure throughout the day, both in this post and subsequent posts! If you are read-a-thoning too, best of luck! I'd LOVE to chat on Twitter, cheerlead, share what we've read etc, so if you are participating, leave me a comment here or come chat with me on Twitter! (I'm @BasicallyBooks) I will most likely be getting on after each book finished so I can offer updates!

See you in a few hours readers!:)

I've been stressing and down all week (and most of last week too) because I'm really behind on my reading and I haven't really had the motivation to read lately. It's seriously bumming me out, because I have a lot of books that I need to get through, especially since Just Contemporary is coming up, and I have a ton planned for that.

SO — Imagine my delight when I get home to see several posts in my GoogleReader talking about how April at Good Books and Good Wine is hosting an Impromptu/Last Minute Read-a-Thon, running from whenever today until October 3rd. It's not a big prize/challenge filled read-a-thon, just a bunch of people getting together to whittle down that towering pile.

SO

My goal, between now and Monday is to read 8 books. I think that it totally possible IF I stay motivated and DO it. Maybe I'll even get more. That would be awesome, but for now, I'm just hoping to get through these books demanding my attention.

I'll probably update this post, but no promises. But, know that I'm excited for the read-a-thon and hope it will help me get my groove back on!:)

Are you read-a-thoning?! Let me know! I LOVE having read-a-thon buddies! We can chant and cheer each other on! Yay for reading lots of books!:)

So, I'm a total sucker for a read-a-thon. I've been a little stressed lately at how much I need to read and now. I feel really behind on my books and with two events coming up (Psychtember at A Tapestry of Words in September and Just Contemporary in November here) it's getting even worse. So, when my friend Kristen mentioned Once Upon a Chapter's read-a-thon, going from Friday (today) until Sunday, I decided that I'd sign up last minute.:)

So, this is my starting post.

I could technically count the last 100 pages or so of Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys in my read-a-thon totals, since I finished it after midnight (and... Wow, btw. Amazing) but instead I'm just going to start with what I read starting in the morning. And, I might extend my own personal read-a-thon time into Monday, since I already have the day of work. It is also the day that my sister will be home from vacation, so I might spend time with her instead, so we shall see.

I do know that I won't spend the whole time reading either. I have stuff that needs to be done this weekend, and I need to finalize the pen-pal stuff so I can get that post up and that stuff started this weekend. But, I do plan to get a lot done. I'm going to set my goal between 6 and 9, with a hopeful possibility of 12.

The read-a-thon hosts did ask for a general idea of reading plans and goals, so — at the start, here they are:

What books are you starting with?
Rules of Attraction by Simone ElkelesBet Me by Jennifer Cruise
Also hope to read: Ashfall by Mike Mullin Willow by Julia Hoban Pearl by Jo Knowles The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly Raven by Allison van Diepen
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I hope to read: 9 books (or more!)
Status:
Total Books Read:
Books Read Since Last Update:
(there are more questions on the host's updates than mine, like pages read, time read. I might add it later, but I doubt it. I don't really keep track of time or pages, and don't want to.: P)
I'll update this post periodically, and will probably have a finish line post, although I might just update this one. We shall see.: P
Wish me luck!:)

I know I should have had this up earlier, but I'm lazy & have an embarrassing little to report...

This has been, by far, my worst read-a-thon ever.: ( I started The Kid, which ended up being a DNF for me, and then spent the rest of the time trying to read through Kara, Lost. It was a combination of picking meh books (The Kid was absolutely terrible and Kara, Lost was rather bland) and also just not having motivation to read. So, I think I managed to read about 420 pages or so... In THREE days... Talk about a fail... : (

I did complete a few mini-challenges, (maybe only 2) but I did host one! I've been having a lot of fun reading the books that everyone has been recommending to me!! I have no idea how I'm supposed to narrow this down to which blurb I like the best!! I haven't even read half of the entries yet and already I'm struggling to narrow it down!

Hope your read-a-thon was better than mine! I had a lot of fun with it though, even if my end result was majorly lame!:)

ALRIGHT — The contest is now over! It's going to take me a while to go through all the entrants, so I'm hoping to have the winners listed by Sunday! Good luck to everyone!

Today is my mini-challenge for the Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon!! I'm hoping to make this one easy for you.:)

Anyone who talks to me on Twitter knows that I simply live for book recommendations and getting someone to read a book I recommend is awesome. Even better though, is having that someone turn around and tell me how much they loved it.:)

Because I'm such a fan of book recommendations, I want you to recommend books to me. I want you to recommend 2 books to me.

The first is any book of your choice. Pick any book you want and tell me and the world why it should be read and loved.

The second is what you would pick as your favorite of the read-a-thon. You can chose to answer this question now, during the third day, or I'll give you one extra day to give that book just waiting to be picked up a chance.:)

How to enter — write your recommendation pitches into your read-a-thon update posts and then come back here and leave a link in the comments. IF you do not have a blog, you may leave your recs in the comments as well, but I would prefer you to link me to a post if possible.

This giveaway is only open to participants of the Read-a-thon. It will be open from now (the time of posting) until Friday around noon MST. That should give you plenty of time to pick those favorites and pitch them to me.

There will be two winners — One winner will be chosen from Random.org. The second winner will be whoever manages to write the most convincing and compelling pitch. If your recommendation manages to instill that happy giddy feeling I get when I hear about an upcoming book I just know I'm going love, you win. (Which, in case you didn't guess, means that this winner will be a completely subjective choice)

:) I'll contact both winners via email, and on Friday, I will also announce the winners on the blog, along with their winning recommendations!:)

*Note — These recommendations are designed to get someone knew to read a book you love. Which means I do not want to see any "Read Book X because it totes rox!" But I also don't want to see a 4 pg review of the book. So, convince me in a standard sized paragraph.:)

*PRIZES:
The winner(s) will have their choice between a copy of
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott (PB)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (PB)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (PB)
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (HC)
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (HC)

If they both pick the same book, whoever emails me back first will get their first pick.

Alright, so as everyone should know by now, I'm a complete sucker for a read-a-thon. There is something about the idea of being handed an excuse to ignore everyone and everything and just READ that seriously appeals to me.:) You can all relate to that, right?!

So, Candace, Lori and Angela (all names linked to their respective blogs) are once again hosting the Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon. And, if I'm remembering right, this was my very first read-a-thon last year when I very first started my blog. I'm so excited to have come back to it again, and I'm really hoping I get a lot read!

The read-a-thon will last from Monday to Wednesday from midnight to midnight. You have the option of starting in EST, or your own timezone. I'm personally going to read by my own time zone (MST) and hope it goes well.:) I do have to work each day this week, but if it's slow, I'll have a chance to read while I'm there. (Cross your fingers for me!) I also have some other things going on after I get home from work that will eat into my reading time, but I'm hoping I'll still be able to get a lot accomplished.

There are also going to be mini-challenges hosted over the course of the next few days and I've got one going up on Wednesday! I'm pretty excited for it, and hope you will all participate!:)

There are a few books that I know I have to get read, because I have specific dates I need to have the reviews up by, so I'm hoping to mix it up a bit, get a bunch of review books read, but toss in a few books read, just because I want to. We'll see what happens!!

I know I need to read

The Kid — Sapphire (my review goes up Tuesday: P)

and Raw Blue — Kirsty Egar (reading as part of a tour w/ Linds @ Bibliophile Brouhaha)

and Kara, Lost — Susan Niz (review goes up Friday)

So, those are the books that I absolutely must get read, but I'm also hoping to whittle down my tbr pile by at least 8 books, more if I can manage it.

So, the other books I'm hoping to try and read are

Gathering Blue — Lois Lowry (reread)
Messenger — Lois Lowry (reread)
The Beginning of After — Jennifer Castle
Want to Go Private? — Sarah Littman
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour — Morgan Matson
Ashfall — Mike Mullin

I know I won't get to all of these but a girl can hope, right?! There are also a bunch of other books I know I want to read soon, like Sean Griswold's Head, Deadline, Twenty Boy Summer, Between Shades of Gray, and Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie that I really want to get read, and might add into the reading mix. We'll see how it goes.

Any of you read-a-thoning too?! If you are, let me know! I love reading/update buddies! Especially on Twitter! During read-a-thons, I spend a majority of my 'online' time updating the blog post & Goodreads and then checking out the read-a-thon happenings on Twitter. So Tweet my if you want to be reading/update buddies! More are always welcome! I'm @BasicallyBooks!

I'm participating in another read-a-thon this weekend! This one is hosted by Back of the Book Reviews! This read-a-thon is quite a bit longer than any other I've participated in, going from Friday to Monday (96 hours!). I'm not sure what the official starting and ending time zones are (will update if/when I figure that out) so for now, I'm just acting as if it's by individual time zone.

I don't know for sure how dedicated I'll be each day, because I do have plans for this weekend, but I'm hoping to get a significant amount of reading done. My tentative goal is to shoot for 20 books. I managed to read 10 during my last (36 hour) read-a-thon, so really, this should be a piece of cake.:)

I don't really want to make a list of all the books I plan to read this weekend, because I never stick to it, but I will be back here to periodically update my status. I'll keep an update on this post of all the books I've read, and maybe how long I've spent reading. We'll see how it goes!:)

The Spring into Summer Read-a-Thon is over! It did end about 3 hours ago, but I was off hanging with a friend... So, I'm just now getting it posted.: P

Survey:

Give us an end of read-a-thon status update:

Total Books Read: 10 Total Pages Read: 2129
Books Read Since Last Update: 1 Pages Read since last update: 80 Total time read: 17 hours How I'm currently feeling: Awesome!! I got a lot of reading done, and I'm definitely feeling good about the progress that I made! List of books read- 1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder 2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor) 3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, Reread) 4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom 5 — Dobry- Monica Shannon (Newbery Award) 6 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor) 7 — Where the Red Fern Grows — Wilson Rawls (Reread) 8 — After the Kiss — Terra Elan McVoy 9 — Scars — Cheryl Rainfield 10 — Animal Stories Daddy Told Us — Innocent Emechete
What is your favorite book you read during the read-a-thon? Such an impossibly difficult question to answer! I read and really enjoyed quite a few books! Where the Red Fern Grows is one of my favorite books of all time, but it's also a reread, so I feel kind of like I'm cheating to mention that one, so I'll have to keep it with I Heart You, You Haunt Me. Seriously folks, Lisa Schroeder is awesome! Did you participate in any mini-challenges? Which ones? Not too many. I did the book titles, which book I think should be taught in schools and... I think that might have been it... : / Which mini-challenge was your favorite? Probably the book titles. It's always a fun one to see what people come up with. What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Having a reason/motivation/excuse to sit around and read. Read-a-thons are incredibly motivating to me. Especially when I talk with a lot of other people, sharing progress, cheering and being cheered etc. Are you satisfied with how much reading you got done? Did you do more/less than you expected? I am pretty satisfied, yes! Although, I do wish that I had spent more time reading. I spent 17 hours reading, which is a lot, but out of 36, it's just about half. Which means, I could have gotten a lot more read if I hadn't wasted so much time. I spent more time that I would have liked on Twitter & checking/writing updates.: P But, I still got 10 books read in 2 days, and I refuse to feel bad about that progress.:) As for expectations, I intentionally didn't give myself any, other than read a lot, because if I meet my goal, I feel like I can stop. But if I don't meet my goal, I feel really bummed and down. So, my only official goal was to 'read. A lot.' I did make a few smaller goals after I had judged my current progress, and that seemed to work really well. What did you think of the updates? I liked them okay, but as I mentioned before, I thought there were too many of them. For the most part, I was more interested in reading my books than other peoples updates or writing my own. I really like end of day/end of event/mid-point surveys, but don't love regular updates, which I'm sure you can tell, because I didn't post very many of them. I feel like so many updates forces me to take artificial breaks in my reading time. If you could change one thing about the read-a-thon, what would it be? See above. Would you participate again? Most definitely!! Any last comments? Thank you! I had a lot of fun & would definitely participate again, so... You should definitely host again!:)

* Just realized that I didn't actually post this at 5:30 like I thought I had... So I'm posting it now. Hours later. My apologies.: P Update: Day 2 — 5:30
Total Books Read: 9
Total Pages Read: 2049 Books Read Since Last Update: 2 Pages Read since last update: 619 Total time read: 16 hours How I'm currently feeling: Good! I'm excited that I've made so much progress, and I'm hoping that I'll get at least one more book read before 8. Shouldn't be too hard! I'm sure I can get it done!:) List of books read- 1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder 2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor) 3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, Reread) 4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom 5 — Dobry- Monica Shannon (Newbery Award) 6 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor) 7 — Where the Red Fern Grows — Wilson Rawls (Reread) 8 — After the Kiss — Terra Elan McVoy 9 — Scars — Cheryl Rainfield
So, here is my update post for day two! It is now about 11:30. I went to bed about 4:00 last night and now I'm up and plan to get lots more reading done!

Really fast update before I disappear to read:

I read one more book before falling asleep, which brings my current total to 7 books and 1430 pgs. I finished Where the Red Fern Grows, which has been a very, very favorite since 4th grade and never fails to make me cry. Hard. It had been a long time since my last reread, so I was due.:) I've read the book somewhere over 50 times and it never gets old, never gets dull, and never fails to touch something emotional within me.

I will do a more indepth update later.:) For now, I'll answer the update question and get to reading!

Book I think should be taught in school?

I definitely agree with Enna that The Book Thief is amazing and would go over well in a classroom.

But for this question, I think I'm going to pick Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. It's one of my all time favorite books. I love it so, so much. It's a powerful book about learning who you are, living, moving on, forgiveness, trust, death, life, pain, grief, happiness, etc. etc. etc. There are so many things happening in this book, powerful, wonderful things. It also makes great use of flashbacks and dual story lines. Seriously. I think everyone should read this book.

AND if you start it, you HAVE to finish it. Every single negative review I've read of this book came from people who didn't finish. Of people who have read the whole thing, I have never talked to anyone who didn't end up really liking, if not loving this one. Seriously folks.

Because this is a much bigger post than an update, I'm going to post it separately.

Click the image to learn more!
I decided that midnight would be my stopping point for this post because (unless my math is horribly off) this is the midway point, halfway between start and finish. So, here is my first official reporting!

First of all, give us an end-of-day status update.

Total Books Read: 6
Total Pages Read: 1218 Books Read Since Last Update: 2 Pages Read since last update: 394 Total time read: 9 hours How I'm currently feeling: SO great! I think I'll read for a while longer, but I'll probably go to bed at a semi-reasonable time (meaning, of course that it's still going to be around 2 or 3 before I finally turn off the lights)
Books read:
1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder
2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor)
3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, reread)
4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom
5 — Dobry — Monica Shannon (Newbery Award)
6 — Repossessed- A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor)

What is the favorite thing you have read today? I've actually been quite pleased with everything I've read today, except for book five. But, if I had to pick a favorite, I'd say it was probably I Heart You, You Haunt Me. It's the second book by Schroeder I've read and I've officially decided that I love her. She's incredibly talented and she is a perfect example of why novels written in verse can be so powerful.

Which mini-challenge was your favorite? I haven't really participated in the mini-challenges today. I've been too busy reading.:) The only one I actually participated in was the book title sentence, so I guess I'll pick that one.

What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? An excuse to just sit and read and munch on junk food.: P I also love that it gives me more motivation. I'm motivated to read more, so I get more done. It's not everyday you get through 6 books!:)

What has been your LEAST favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Nothing really. The only thing that I don't love is how quickly and often the update posts are up. When I'm reading, especially during a read-a-thon, I don't want to be stopping. My preferred way to read is straight through, getting the whole book read in one sitting. Which means I either miss the updates or I have to pause my book, which throws off my reading groove. I think I'd have liked it better if they were either spaced out more, of left 'open' longer.

Are you on track to meet your goals? Yes! Completely! It's actually quite the rush!: P I initially just wanted to get as many books read as I could, not really putting a number to it. But shortly after my third book, I realized I was only 3 books behind on my GR challenge, something I've been far behind on all year because I started the year in a reading slump.: ( So, I decided that I was going to try and get all caught up today, and I finished my 6th book 15 minutes before midnight!:)

Will you be participating tomorrow? Do you have any new goals? Definitely!! I'm am most certainly going to be participating tomorrow!! I'm not all the way sure about goals yet, although 6 more books would definitely be amazing! Not sure I can manage that though, because I do plan to get some sleep tonight, so really, I just want to read as possible! I'm thinking I will probably read one more book tonight, two at the most before I need to go to bed, and then waking up at a (hopefully) decent hour and getting more reading done.

I'm so excited for this read-a-thon today! I have a huge stack of books just sitting here, waiting to be read! I am really hoping to get a lot of reading done, but we shall see. When I initially signed up for the read-a-thon, this weekend was almost completely empty. But it seems like things keep popping up, so I might have to take more breaks that I thought I would.: P We shall see.

Click the image to learn more!
Anyway, as mentioned over on Enna's blog, there are going to be regularly spaced giveaways throughout the day. Because entry into each of these giveaways requires a blog entry or update, I'm just going to use this post here to keep track of everything and offer each of my updates, so as not to overwhelm anyone's feed readers.:)

I'm going to keep a running list of each title that I complete at the very bottom of the post, so if that's what you are interested in, scroll all the way down.

I'll also be on Twitter and snooping around other blogs throughout the day, as I finish books, or need a break. If anyone wants to be update buddies, let me know! It's always more fun to have someone specific to share your progress with. If you want someone, I'd be more than happy to welcome in another update buddy!:)

I'm off to work for a few hours now, where it will hopefully be slow enough that I'll be able to get some reading done.

Fingers crossed and happy reading!

This is today's first update!! I had to work this morning, from 9 till 12, so I wasn't able to get online, although work was really slow today and it was 'movie day' for the kids so I had a lot of down time, which meant I got to read for pretty much the whole 3 hours (although, I did have to stop frequently to help take care of the aforementioned kiddies). I did take a break when I got home to eat lunch and then help my sister for a few minutes, check my email & Twitter) but then I got right back to reading. I'm going to try for one more book right now, and then I might take a quick power nap to kind of recharge. We'll see what happens.: P

I've chosen at this point not to do the update activites, because I'm too tired to think that hard, but I will return to at least a few of them later. I think a Wordle would be fun, and I always like to get my rant on about movie adaptations (because I hate them, but for now, I'm going to skip it. We'll see what happens at the 4:00 update.: P)

Figured I should probably tell you which books I've read!: P

1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder
2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (NBH)
3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (PA, reread)
4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom

Mini-Challenge w/ update 5: Sentence from book titles — (I couldn't take a picture because most of my books are in storage, and my copy of the final book title is the America version, not the Australia version, so it drops On the, which ruins my sentence.: P)

Beauty Queens Wither On the Jellicoe Road

UPDATE 2: (About 7:30)

Total Books Read: 4 Total Pages Read: 824 Books Read Since Last Update: 1 Pages Read since last update: 196 Total time read: 6 hours How I'm currently feeling: Awesome!:) I took a short nap at 4:00 because, as I mentioned, I was really tired. I decided sleeping now and having more energy was better than fighting to stay awake. Definitely a good plan!:) I'm ready to jump right into my next book! Make up some of the time I wasted on Twitter earlier!

UPDATE 1: (About 3:00)
Total Books Read: 3 Total Pages Read: 628 Books Read Since Last Update: 3 (first update...) Pages Read since last update: 628 (first update...) Total time read: 4 hours How I'm currently feeling: Good! I'm really enjoying the extra reading movitation!:) I'm hoping to get a lot more reading done today! I've made good progress, 3 books before 4:00 and I find that very encouraging and happy making. However, I am really tired today. I've been staying up later than I should the last few days (ahem... okay, fine. Weeks) and that's catching up to me, especially when I'm sitting in one place without moving for long periods of time. So, I might take a quick power nap here coming up, but I'm afraid a quick nap will turn into a looonng one. So, I'm undecided. I shall let you know at next update!:)

I know that neither of the reading challenges I'm participating in this weekend have officially finished, and I could easily squeeze more reading time in if I wanted to stay up all night. But, the last three hours of my evening have been spent reading the hashtag on Twitter — #YASaves. The hashtag ended up trending last night for quite a while, and it's in response to an article published by the Wall Street Journal. I've linked it here, but it's likely to make you angry... It's an article talking about how horrible the current YA market is, because so many of the books deal with dark topics like cutting, suicide, abuse, eating disorders and more.

Wait, what?! Seriously?! Somedays, I really hate people.

I could seriously rant about this for a long time. But, I won't. I'm going to rein in my tongue and accept that the many YASaves tweets last night from myself and so, so many others is enough to express my anger and disappointment on the issue. So, I will simply say that I am, once again, incredibly disappointed that they are letting someone who doesn't read YA lit, or understand the importance of YA lit to millions of people, speak as if they are the authority and the voice of the people. Really? Sigh. If you want people to take you seriously, you should probably read the books you are dismissing, demeaning and condemning.

I know I said I wouldn't really rant. But I had to let just a little out. Maybe later I'll have more to say, but right now, all I want to do is spew venom at the people who are so small minded they can't understand that not talking about a problem doesn't make it magically disappear, so I'm going to move on.

I spent hours on Twitter tweeting my own thoughts and reading about the experiences and thoughts of others. Which means, I wasn't reading my books.: P Because I spent to much time doing things not reading, I'm choosing to stop my readathons now, so that I can get some sleep tonight, and be awake and alert when I have to help keep 8 different 5 years old attentive and sitting still for 2 hours.

I did keep a fairly detailed accounting of my time spent on the challenge, but because I'm stopping so early, I don't actually think that time really makes a difference at this point, so I'll just tell you what I read.:)

Even with all the time I spent doing other things, I did manage to get 5 different books read, 6 if you count the book I read Friday morning, before I 'officially' started my challenge. I read:

What Daddy Did by Neal Shusterman (Friday, before the challenge began)
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
The Mermaid Summer by Mollie Hunter
The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols
Endless Summer — Jennifer Echols
King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry

Even though I spent a lot of time doing other things, I'm pretty proud of my reading progress this weekend. I *might* get a little more done tomorrow, but who knows. For now, I'm just glad I was able to participate and managed to read a little more than normal.:)

So, I know I have been going a little crazy with the posting. I feel like I've posted a lot in the last few days... Sorry about that. I'll keep this one short.:)

Mother Reader is hosting a 48 hour reading challenge on her blog this weekend. From Friday to Sunday, you pick your best, consecutive 48 hours and you read, all that you can. Taking time to write reviews of the books read counts for your time, as does 1 hour of social networking (blog/twitter comments) per 5 hours of reading time.

I'm behind on my reading (although, not as behind as on reviews!) so this chance to just read like crazy is awesome, and pretty much exactly what I need.

So, I'm starting now (3pm) and will go until 3pm on Sunday afternoon, MST. I'll most likely post another update tomorrow at some point, let you all see how my progress is going, and will also post on Sunday, to let you know how I did.

Because I'm crazy & also have no problems double dipping, I'm also participating in the Saturday readathon as Awesome Bookworm 's blog. So, on Saturday, I'll be putting a more intense focus on reading, and less on writing reviews (even more behind...) and not as much tweet checking.:) But, it should still be a lot of fun! The 24 hour readathons are even more motivating!:)

If any of you are participating in any of these readathons I'd love to hear from you! Stop by, say hello, leave a link, tell me what you're reading etc.

Wish me luck!:) Happy Reading

What I hope to get read:

The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer — Jennifer Echols
Mermaid Summer — Mollie Hunter
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour — Morgan Matson
Stolen — Lucy Christopher
Please Ignore Vera Dietz — A.S. King
Dobry — Monica Shannon
That Summer — Sarah Dessen
The Burning Bridge — John Flanagan
Twenty Boy Summer — Sarah Ockler

This post is to announce to the world that I'm participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!

This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It's two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It's a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.

But that's not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that Ashley sent you, you'll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! in my blog to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.

Here's my goal:

I plan to participate on: BOTH DAYS (Duh, I'm a total sucker for a readathon: P)
I plan to read: as much as possible! Between the two days, I'm hoping that I can get at least 8 or 9 books read.
I hope to read: a lot.:) I'll update the list as we get closer, because my reading moods change pretty quickly and I am pretty likely to have some of these already read by the time the readathon gets here, but for now, a few titles I'm thinking of are:
Deadline — Chris Crutcher
Birdwing - Rafe Martin
Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green & David Levithan
Delirium — Lauren Oliver
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks — E. Lockhart
King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry

Well, have you signed up yet? DO IT NOW!

in my blog TO SIGN UP