As expected, I didn’t make it til even midnight. 10:30 and I was DONE. It was still a great readathon and I’m looking forward to another one in April.
How would you assess your reading overall?
Not bad, considering I was so tired.
Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it?
My strategy was to try to read when I could, sleep when I needed to, and do very little that wasn’t reading and sleeping. I managed all of that!
What was your favorite snack?
The snacks weren’t great but they were all fine. I was shockingly impressed with the Buc-ee’s dark chocolate-covered espresso beans. Very flavorfull. I will by those again. The Asheville popcorn was good but not as good as Chicago mix.
Page 86 gift from Circus of Wonders (Once Upon a Book Club Box)
I feel like it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these but since I just finished a book, a snack, and a drink – it seems like a good time to check in.
What are you reading right now?
Circus of Wonders and Florida
How many books have you read so far?
Two! Upcycle It! Crafts for Kids and A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting
What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon?
Circus of Wonders
Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
I had a 90-minute nap – so darn tired! I might now manage to make it even til midnight, I’m so tired. I’m also very pleased at having read two whole books, even if I’ve done a whole lot of sleeping
I knew I should have done this last night, haha. I slept til 8:47 and it took almost an hour to get through my morning routine AND make some quick blueberry muffins for breakfast. I’m not really complaining about over-sleeping though. I sleep so poorly that all sleep is good sleep. Onward to the survey and then the books!
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Same as always – my home in Keystone Heights, FL. Another nice day so I expect to do some outdoor reading throughout the day. (This question always makes me think we should do an Airbnb for #Readathon someday lol.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I don’t even know what’s in my stack… I’ve been just looking at my Kindle stack, downloading random things to my library, and then reading whatever feels right. So, who knows! I am going to read this Once Upon a Book Club book from last year, Circus of Wonders. I keep forgetting about it!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
We’re low on snacks this year – trying to out the stockpile. We do have a cheeseboard that was part of TW’s year of Cheese Xmas gift, so that will be fun. I’ve also been saving some Asheville Popcorn that we brought back from my birthday trip a couple of weeks ago.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I’m a Swiftie and my Midnights vinyl is out for delivery! It’s going to be tough to not listen to it today and just stick with books, hah.
The Reverse Readathon is officially over… we’re still reading, though. (Which is why I kind of like reverse readathon more than regular readathon. I can squeeze a few more hours in a lot easier than I can on a normal readathon schedule.) I was too tired to think about the mid-event survey so let’s just jump right into the closing survey.
1)How would you assess your reading overall?
Well… considering I had to deal with a sick dog for quite a long time last night which caused me to need a very long nap around mid-day … not too bad. It turned out to be a bit of an LGBTQ sort of readathon. I read the last 100 pages of “The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes”, the entire book “Count Your Lucky Stars”, and I’m almost 100 pages into “If You Could Be Mine”. On the non-LGBTQ front (though really, it wouldn’t be shocking if at least one of these characters was a lesbian… spinsters and all that…) I’ve read another 125 pages of “The Siren of Sussex”.
2)Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it?
I had no strategy, as indicated by the fact that I totally forgot I had planned to read a Once Upon a Book Club book. Oh well… maybe I’ll read that when we go to the beach at the end of August. That might be fun?
3)What was your favorite snack?
Oddly, my favorite snack turned out to be some pretzel bites dipped in mustard, pimento cheese, and Penzey’s chip dip. Best spur of-the-moment $1 I’ve spent in a long while. I hope Kroger continues to carry this brand…. whatever brand it was, lol.
Pretzel bites with pimento cheese, chip dip, and mustard.
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I’m reading from my bedroom at the moment and that’s probably where I’ll do the bulk of my reading. Unless it gets too hot tomorrow and then I’ll move downstairs and read in any room that has air blowing on me. Gosh it’s hot in Florida. I shouldn’t complain because it hasn’t been THAT bad (yet) this summer.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
That would require me to have a stack ready to go and I don’t. Not really. I have two print books that I got from the library last weekend so I’m probably most looking forward to those because I read everything on my iPad now. So rare to hold a real book in my hand! I also have about 20 books ready to go in my Kindle app.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Hah. We were not well prepared for this readathon. I thought it was next week until my mother texted to ask if we were doing readathon, I told her we were and then went over to Goodreads to see what was being talked about for this year’s reverse readathon and realized I had the dates wrong. Hahaha. So, no time to go into town and pick out our snacks like usual. Instead, I ordered random, not-very-special stuff for my Kroger delivery today. Not much there to get excited about but we won’t starve and we’ll enjoy what we have. Oh… I’ll have a brownie for tonight’s snack. That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I used to read around 250 books a year but have been lucky to hit 50 for the last few years. I’m having a very good year this year and have already hit 29 books! Yay, me! Oy.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do differently today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I’ve done dozens of readathons and they’re all just a little different, even when they’re sort of the same. I suppose having 2 print books and a bunch of print cookbooks from the library is different from any of the readathons we’ve done for the last 2+ years. If only I’d thought to grab some middle grade fiction (again, I thought I had more time! lol), I love having middle grade fiction to fall back on when I’m tired during a readathon.
Happy reverse readathon to all.
View of my bedroom while I’m sitting in my recliner. Just 2 dogs because it’s storming and the 3rd is in his crate listening to relaxing music.
Well, I didn’t manage to read 300 pages after the mid-event survey – because I went to bed before midnight. I was tired and since there was no way I was going to make 300, I just called it a night and slept fairly well. Then I got up a little early and read for another hour.
My final total:
Read for 16 hours. Finished 3 books (one was 1/3 of the way through before it started) and read another 202 pages of a 4th book. (650 pages) I was able to open all of the gifts attached to that book from the Once Upon a Bookclub box.
I ate a LOT of food – some #readathons I eat very little and others I eat a LOT. There’s still a ton of food down there so it looks like we won’t be worrying about menus til late in the week, which is fine and good and there’s nothing better than having a ton of good #readathon food to eat during your post-#readathon recovery period.
How would you assess your reading overall?
I did really well – considering I didn’t have any children’s books, middle grade, or YA in my stacks. Heck, I didn’t even have a coffee table book and I didn’t open the cookbook. I’m happy with where I’m finishing.
Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it?
I didn’t. I was too tired for strategy. If I had it to do over, I’d probably not have read 200 pages of a Kindle book ON MY PHONE. Hindsight etc.
What was your favorite snack?
Cheese straws. (I wonder how many of my #readathons have included cheese straws. I would guess most of them.)
Did you add any new books to your TBR/wishlist after seeing what everyone else is reading?
I did. I grabbed the Hippopotoums Pool and then grabbed the first book in the series – something about a crocodile? I’ll probably start that first one later today.
What was your favorite book or experience from this readathon?
I enjoyed reading Creating Your Life Book – I’m hoping to start doing a little bit of art journaling again. Or just art. I don’t know. Something with paint and glue and paper and ink. We’ll see.
Funny. I’ve done a million #readathons and I’ve done very few mid-event surveys. I wonder why. Very weird.
What are you reading right now?
I’m going back to the Once Upon a Book Club book, The Roughest Draft.
How many books have you read so far?
I’ve finished three books – but I was 1/3 of the way through one of them. So far, I’ve finished Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Part (I was 110 pages into it when I picked it back up today), I read Create Your Life Book, and of course The Woman of Andros.
What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon?
I think I’m most looking forward to finishing The Roughest Draft. All of those presents to open along the way!
Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Well, the chickens refused to go directly from their day time grazing yard back to their night time area. It took two of us and a lot of cajoling to get them to all move in the right direction and stay in the right area. I mean it’s not like it took an hour to round them up but it was a good 15 minutes. That’s pretty much the only real interruptions, so far.
What surprises you most about the readathon, so far?
I’m doing better than I expected, considering how tired I was when I got up this morning. I’m about 450 pages down – that’s not going to break any records but all things considered, I’ll take it. If I can get another 300 pages done before I call it a night, I’ll be exceptionally happy.
Last night, I wandered around my bookshelves looking for a middle grade or YA book I hadn’t read. Something I could use as a palate cleanser… I didn’t find that. But I did notice The Woman of Andros in the Penguin Books section of my rainbow shelves and realized I’d never read it. Since it was short, I added it to my stacks and for some reason woke up this morning and decided to start with that. Weird but quick and easy if a little deep and desperate. Those Greeks, y’all.
But that’s 80 pages and one book finished, just a few hours into the morning. I’ll take it.
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Still here in Keystone Heights, FL. I may try to do some outdoor reading this morning and I’m considering suggesting we take a drive and listen to an audio book that’s due back to the library on Monday… we shall see.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Alas, I’m not really excited about any of the books in my print stack OR in my Kindle. That does not bode well for the day, does it? I’m sure it will be fine. I have two Once Upon a Book Club books to read so that will certainly be fun. And at least one graphic novel and at least one art journaling book and at least one cookbook. It’s all good.
Just the print books in my TBR stack. I have a half dozen Kindle books on my virtual stack.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Tough question – there are so many great snacks this time around. Chicken salad sandwich, maybe? Those pastries though… tough question, very tough question.
Mmmm pastries from Uppercrust
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Let’s see… what should I say this time around? Oh, I know…. I think this is the very first #readathon that I will do without checking in on work or doing some amount of work during the day. So weird to say that – I know a lot of people don’t work on their days off, I’ve never been one of those people. I guess I am now? Weird. Very weird.
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?
The biggest difference between this #readathon and previous #readathons (besides not doing any actual paid work all day long) is I didn’t go shopping for snacks. TW went alone since she had a couple of appointments in the big city this morning and I needed to stay home and work. I thought about us driving back into town tonight after work and shopping but changed my mind. I made a small list of things I’d be interested in (and I got most of what was on my list) and then just told her to choose the rest on her own. She did well. She did very well.
