Dewey’s Readathon

We’re coming up on the end of this year’s Reverse Readathon (reverse because this one starts at night, instead of in the morning) and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The snacks weren’t as good as I’d like – since we don’t go into grocery stores, we’re limited to what is available at the two local shops where we can do curbside pick up. We didn’t get to go to the library and pick out books especially for this readathon because the library is not fully open AND because we don’t go inside places, even if it was.

But, as always, we enjoyed being at home and focusing only on reading. This is especially nice for me since I read A LOT less now than I used to.

Here’s what I’ve read in the last 24 hours:

The Prisoner in the Castle – a Maggie Hope book that has been on my shelf for YEARS. (336 pages.)

The Princess Affair – a lesbian romance e-book that I checked out from the library last night and read on my kindle. (264 pages.)

Two “workbooks” that aren’t workbooks that I forgot I’d bought for JMP. This Is Not a Science Book and This Is Not a Math book. I think they will be the foundation of an art curriculum for next year… stay tuned. (192 pages total.)

I’m about half way through Trop 6000: The Girl Scout Troop That Began in a Shelter. (Thanks Sassymonkey!) (130 pages in… 132 to go and I’m pretty sure I can finish it tonight.)

I’m looking forward to October’s #Readathon.

Updated… oh, there’s a closing survey!

• How would you assess your reading overall?

Pretty darn good since I’m out of practice and seem unlikely to get back into practice.

• Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it?

No strategy this go round.

• What was your favorite snack?

Hmmm probably the everything french bread with guac.

• Wanna volunteer for our next event?

Possibly. It’s been awhile since I volunteered.

LOL I went looking for the mid-event survey shortly after dinner, didn’t find it and shrugged it off. Looked for it again a couple of hours later and when it wasn’t there, I assumed they weren’t doing it this year. This year is not exactly like previous years, no big deal.

Turns out, they just plain forgot to do it. Hah. So here it is, a wee bit late.

1. What are you reading right now?

I just started Clay’s Ark (book 3 in the Patternist series)

2. How many books have you read so far?

I’ve finished 2, read about 100 pages of three others.

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

Well, errr, the second half of the #readathon is when I actually read Mind of My Mind and I’m pretty much about done for this event.

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

I’ve had the least number of interruptions, ever. Being furloughed and in a pandemic will do that, I guess.

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

No real surprises, this year. I’m just happy to be reading and snacking again.

I’m on a roll now… finished the next book in The Patternist series, Mind of My Mind – also excellent and I’m not 100% sure I’ve read this one before. Characters felt familiar but that might just be because it’s part of the series. I definitely didn’t remember that ending and I’m pretty sure I would have, if only because I did not like Emma’s ending.

I’m starting Clay’s Ark now and I know I have not read that.

I won’t be reading much longer but I’m calling this #readathon a big success. Finishing two books, reading another 100 or so pages of three more books – that’s more than I’ve read in the entire year, I think. Yep, I’m definitely calling my 15th #readathon a success.

I finished a book. It wasn’t even a book I started fresh today, lol. I’ve become a much slower reader over the last few years and it’s really apparent during a #readathon when it takes me about 12 hours to read 300 pages. It doesn’t help that I took a 90 minute nap mid-day. Back pain is making sleep pretty difficult so a long nap was definitely in order today. Anyway… back to the book I finished.

Wild Seed, the first book (chronologically) in Octavia Butler’s Patternist series. This is a re-read for me. I first read it in the 90s and decided to re-read it last week. It was as good as I remember and I’ve already moved on to the next book.

(I’m also casually reading another book, The Art of Noticing, and listening to Alexa read How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community Community for Your Nonprofit in 90 Days.)

It’s that time again and I’m actually looking forward to this opening survey because I have new and different things to say. Thanks, pandemic?!?

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

No change, still reading from home in Keystone Heights. Mostly in the bedroom but also from the bar in the kitchen and possibly a wee bit on the deck, if it’s a clear day.

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

Tough question since I don’t have a stack! I don’t read much any more so I’ll just wander around the house or library stacks or my TBR shelf in Libby or Kindle and pick what looks good at the moment. This is a huge change – not just the not reading much thing but that we didn’t go to the library yesterday specifically to find new and interesting #Readathon books. Thanks, pandemic?!?

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Oh look, another change! Since we are in a pandemic, we don’t go out for groceries. We just pre-order from Walmart and hope for the best. We didn’t even buy anything special at Walmart for this #Readathon! Which is also good, since I’m furloughed and we are watching our pennies. Thanks, pandemic?!?

That’s not to say we aren’t going to have good snacks – because we totally are.
– Grapefruit mimosas and little mini donuts (from Schwan’s) for breakfast in a bit.
– 3 different kinds of ice cream in the house!
– a HUGE bucket of cheese balls (the orange fluffy kind.)
– I pre-made Bisquick sausage balls so we’d have something with protein that didn’t have to be cooked.
– Leftover apple crisp.
– Every variety of potato chip you can think of – cheese nips and popcorn, too.
– Caprese salads with tomatoes from the produce stand and basil from the garden.
– I just remembered there are leftover salt & vinegar wings in the fridge that I must eat today. #Winning!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I live in a small town in north central Florida. I thought last weekend was #Readathon so we did a #FakeReadathon and enjoyed it immensely. We do #FakeReadathons a lot – sometimes because real #Readathon is not on a convenient for us day but also sometimes when we need to decompress from everything. BIG #Readathon fans here.

I was furloughed from my Marketing job at a nonprofit last week. If you’re looking for an Audience Engagement professional, (social media, newsletters, online communities), holler! I’m looking for work in no small part because the Florida Unemployment system is miserably broken and it’s unlikely that I’ll ever get unemployment or CARES checks. oy.

We have 3 dogs, 1 prairie dog, and 12 3 week old chickens. #Readathon with baby chickens is a whole new experience. They can be a little loud and one of our coonhounds is a little too fond of live bird snacks. Chaos!

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?

#NotMyFirstReadathon – and my entire opening survey was about all the things that are different this time around vs any other time we’ve done #Readathon (which is a lot of times.) Change is good and #Readathons are always good.

Happy reading!

I thought about posting my closing survey last night when I decided to call it a night. But that would have meant getting the dogs wound up and asking to go back outside and ain’t nobody want to chase a dog around the yard at 11 p.m. after having just chased one around the yard at 10:30 p.m.. So here I am this morning.

How would you assess your reading overall?

Considering I haven’t finished a book in forever (which isn’t really true, I’ve read a bunch of curriculum books and elementary education books but I’m not really counting most of those) I’m pretty pleased with my reading. I’m pretty sure I’ll even finish the book that I got halfway through last night.

Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it?

I had no strategy. Or if I did, it didn’t look anything like my previous #readathon strategies. I just read what I thought I could finish and I did it. (Though honestly, it was touch and go there for a minute with one of the books.)

What was your favorite snack?

I don’t think I had a favorite snack this year. That’s what happens when you don’t buy anything really special for #readathon snacking.

Wanna volunteer for our next event?

I will if it doesn’t conflict with other work/family stuff.

Total pages: 600
Three books complete, one in progress.

I feel like I often skip the mid-event surveys? I certainly don’t have these questions memorized the way I do the intro survey questions. lol

1. What are you reading right now?

I just finished My Halal Kitchen and I think I’m going to read The Midwife and the Assassin

2. How many books have you read so far?

I have finished 3 (one I’d started before #readathon began… I’m just shy of 500 pages down.

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

Probably The Midwife and the Assassin. I think it’s the final book in a series I started years ago (and often read during #readathon, I think…) and it’s been on my bedside table for three months.

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

I had to run to the pharmacy and the vet to pick up meds for everyone – and then I had to do some work that I wasn’t planning to do. I also took a two hour nap – I have a bit of a cold and October has been stressful. The nap was good for me, that’s for sure.

I had intended to listen to an audio book when I ran my errands but it apparently hadn’t finished downloading when I left the house so I shrugged it off and was gone less than an hour.

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

Nothing ever surprises me about #Readathon They’re always just a little different.