Sunday, October 13, 2013

End of Event Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
1 am, probably. By then my sleep schedule was disturbed.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Light novels and manga are so good for this! Fast paced and interesting. I highly recommend Sword Art Online, Accel World, and Attack on Titan.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not that I can think of... Cheerleaders seemed in fewer numbers than usual, which was sad.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Loved the hosts!

5. How many books did you read?
Three completed and two more worked on.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
One of Our Thursdays is Missing, The Woman Who Died A Lot, Sushi for Beginners, Versus, and Flight Toward the Blue Sky.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Hard question. Versus was probably my favorite because it was fast and fun.

8. Which did you enjoy least?
I never could get into Sushi for Beginners.

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

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Very likely, as long as I can get it off work. I'd like to host a mini-challenge next time; already have one in mind!

Thanks to everyone who helped put this together and who participated! It was so much fun!

Hour 24 Update

Summary
Book: Versus by Reki Kawahara
Flight Into the Blue Sky by Reki Kawahara
Pages: 55+70; 853 total

Goals
Books Completed: 3/10, 2 in progress
Challenges Completed: 10/10
Comments Left By Me: 3/25
Miles Biked: 0/20 Walked: 6

Accel World sure moves a lot faster than Thursday Next. Maybe I should have made the change sooner.

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Hour 23 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 366; 728 total

Goals
Books Completed: 2/10
Challenges Completed: 9/10
Comments Left By Me: 3/25
Miles Biked: 0/20 Walked: 6

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Hour 22 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 277; 639 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 9/10
Comments Left By Me: 3/25
Miles Biked: 0/20 Walked: 6

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Hours 19, 20, and 21 Update

I'll admit it.

I caved. Slept for an hour and a half. The other hour and a half was spent reading, though.

It's become rather apparent that goals will not be made tonight. I think I'd be happy to just hit 1000 pages read, or maybe five books. I also walked five miles, so I'm subbing that in for my biking.

Three hours to go! Back to reading.

Hour 18 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 178; 540 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 7/10
Comments Left By Me: 3/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Went to Denny's for some mediocre food and never-ending hot chocolate. It wasn't at all busy, so it was nice. Got almost 100 pages done while I was there!

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Hour 17 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 107; 469 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 7/10
Comments Left By Me: 3/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

The only goal I'm really doing well on is that challenges one. Ah, well. Seven hours left!

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Hours 15 and 16 Update

Summary
Book: Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Pages: part 6/24

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 6/10
Comments Left By Me: 2/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Still having a hard time with the changing perspectives, but it's an audiobook. Went to a friend's house to drop something off and ended up talking for an hour. Back to reading!

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Hour 14 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 90; 452 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 6/10
Comments Left By Me: 2/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Making good progress on this one!

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Hour 13 Update

Summary
Book: The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 46; 408 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 6/10
Comments Left By Me: 2/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

On to the next Thursday Next book! Excited for this one, and it's moving at a decent speed. Still unsure if I should revise my "books completed" goal, but for now I'm just heading on. I guess we'll see!

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Mid-Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
I'm doing surprisingly well, though... not really. I wake up at 5:30 every day, so this morning wasn't any different, and I'd still be at work on a weekday. So I'm just going. The walk was a good refresher. Gym later tonight and hot chocolate.

Y'know, I don't think I could fall asleep right now if I wanted. The noise from the Homecoming Game is too loud. I can hear all the announcing and everything.

2) What have you finished reading?
Only One of Our Thursdays is Missing.

3) What is your favorite read so far?
Definitely that one.

4) What about your favorite snacks?
I've been good about not overeating, to my surprise. I had Kneaders cinnamon french toast for breakfast and a quarter of a chocolate bar in the afternoon. Got some California Rolls from the store just now, and that's probably my favorite.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
I've left a couple comments, but considering how rarely I use this blog, I haven't really been too invested. Maybe I should be better...

And that's where I'm at!

Hours 11 and 12 Update

Summary
Book: Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Pages: 362 total, 3/24 parts audiobook

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 5/10
Comments Left By Me: 2/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Went on a walk and stopped by the grocery store to do shopping for the next two weeks, plus some Read-A-Thon treats.

Not sure how I feel about this book. The lady reading it isn't great, and the writing switches point of view very frequently, with little warning. It's kind of hard to follow, but I'm only an eighth of the way through, so we'll see.

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Hour 10 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 362 total

Goals
Books Completed: 1/10
Challenges Completed: 5/10
Comments Left By Me: 2/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

I finished! I'm very, very glad I decided to re-read that before going on to the next one, because there were a lot of things I'd forgotten over the last couple years. For now I'm going to turn on my audiobook and head out for a walk.

I'm thinking strongly about reducing my book goal. I picked too many really thick books, and it's going to be my downfall. We'll see at the halfway point if I actually decide to change it.

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Book Trailer Mini Challenge

Book trailers are the subject of this mini challenge. I'll be the first to admit that I am NOT a fan of book trailers, so this one was a bit harder for me. This one, while short, is one of the books I'm most looking forward to today.



This one, while not entirely accurate and pretty low budget, is probably the best one I've seen in a while. It's also one of my all-time favorite series.

Hour 9 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 288 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 4/10
Comments Left By Me: 1/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Sooooo close to finishing!

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Books on Books Mini Challenge

For this mini challenge, we were told to find books of ours that had books on the cover. Here are mine:


I love them both!

Hour 8 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 242 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 3/10
Comments Left By Me: 1/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Ugh, I fell asleep. Only for half an hour, but I was definitely out. I think arguing about grammar must make me tired.

In any case, I'm getting REALLY close on this first book! Hoping to finish this one this hour, then take the audiobook and go for a walk and out shopping. Maybe do some cleaning and cooking.

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Hour 7 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 206 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 3/10
Comments Left By Me: 1/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Finally got out of that meeting! Phew. Got some pretty good reading done this hour. Getting hungry again, though... Who would've thought that reading would burn calories?

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Hour 6 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 161 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 3/10
Comments Left By Me: 1/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

STILL stuck in this meeting. I gave up when people started arguing grammar and started reading during it, but it's been slow going. Hopefully I can spend most of the next hour actually reading.

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Hour 5 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 149 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 3/10
Comments Left By Me: 1/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Hoi. This meeting is going on FOREVER. I'm not even really participating, but I have to be here, so I'm missing good reading time. Ah, well. I did get another challenge and a comment done, so at least I've made SOME progress!

I'm starting to feel sleepy, and that brings me to an important point. If I get really tired, I'm going to take a nap. I dont want to push myself to the point that Read-A-Thon isn't fun any more. That said, I'll hang on for as long as possible!

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Hour 4 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 149 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 2/10
Comments Left By Me: 0/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Just got back from Kneaders. It was mildly amusing to me that halfway through a girl sat by me and was writing. The reader and the writer.

This next hour will be fairly unproductive, as I must stop for a Sibyl's Scriptorium meeting. Luckily we'll still be discussing books!

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Hour 3 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 99 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 2/10
Comments Left By Me: 0/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Went to Kneaders. Delicious.

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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hour 2 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Pages: 62 total

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 2/10
Comments Left By Me: 0/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

Spent most of THIS hour trying to get my computer to run correctly. It's having issues, but I'm hoping it'll hold out for the day! Heading off to breakfast now.

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Hour 1 Update

Summary
Book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
This is actually a re-read from several years ago, but since I'm reading the new one today, I needed a refresher. Hopefully that means it'll go fast!
Pages: 44

Goals
Books Completed: 0/10
Challenges Completed: 0/10
Comments Left By Me: 0/25
Miles Biked: 0/20

I spent most of the hour trying to figure out why my blog wasn't publishing the way it should and seeing if I could resurrect my computer for use today. It's already getting really hot, so we'll see how long it lasts. A mini-challenge is up, so I should go do that! I'll also be getting breakfast soon. I'm thinking all-you-can-eat cinnamon french toast at my local Kneaders...

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Introductory Questionaire

...And we're off! It's time to start reading, but first a few questions:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
A little apartment in the grand state of Utah!

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Hm. Many of them, but probably either Accel World volume 4 or The House of Hades, which I saved specifically for today.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I'm hitting up the store with an audiobook later this morning, so it'll depend on what I feel like! My lovely mother, who is also participating today, gave me a large Symphony bar, so that'll be good.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I just graduated from college with a BA in music, but I also love web design and illustration. Basically anything that tells a story gets an A+ in my book, no matter what medium was used. Books were definitely my first love, though, and I'm excited to spend some time with them 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?
My last read-a-Thon was in June 2008. I finally am free on the Saturday of the event, so I'm back! Surprisingly, not much has changed. This year I'm going to try to eat more healthy food and set some slightly higher goals. Whatever happens, I'm just happy to be here!

And now, for this year's goals!
Books read: I'm aiming for 10. Might be crazy, but since I have about 20 on my stack (both physical and digital), I might as well set my sights high!
Challenges done: I'll also aim for 10. If I can do more, great! If not, 10 seems pretty good.
Comments left for others: We'll stick with last time's goal of 25. Seems like a nice number. Challenges don't count toward this number.
Miles biked: I'm going to fit in some exercise today. 20 miles on a stationary bike while reading should do it.

Okay, time to start reading! Updates should be posted every hour, so stick around!

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

It's Been A While

Even though I haven't posted here in over five years, I'm resurrecting this blog for use in Dewey's 24-Hour Read-A-Thon. Join me on October 12th for lots of reading and fun!