Dewey's Read-A-Thon: Midevent Survey

1)  What are you reading right now?
      I have about a quarter left of "Shouldn't You Be in School?" by Lemony Snicket to finish

2)  How many books have you read so far?
     2, couldn't get into the third one

3)  What book are you most forward to for the second half of the Read-a-Thon?
      I might start to tackle The Child Thief by Brom

4)  Have you had many interruptions?  How did you deal with those?
     There was a movie watch-a-long planned for the day by House Glados of IGGPPC, which I really wanted to participate in so I just considered it a nice long extended lunch break.  I also used to it to write up a blog post and go through twitter and instagram.

5)  What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
     That my initial plan for reading totally went out the window.  I'd thought I would have gone through more of my books to determine whether I should keep them or not, but I've read more than I'd thought I'd accomplish, so it's not a bad thing.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: 1/3 Way Through

Well, we're a third way through the read-a-thon by now.  It's incredible how fast it goes!

I've finished two books up to this point: Zyword vol 1 by Tamayo Akiyama and Soulless by Gail Carriger.  I think I might just start all of my read-a-thon's with a manga - they're an easy, quick read to get things started and to help you wake up if you have an early morning start time.  Soulless was the one book that I was determined to finish fully since I've read the first book of the Finishing School series but I didn't realize until later that both series are set in the same world.  I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue the Parasol Protectorate but I did enjoy it (though I'm not a fan of the cover art).

Right now, I'm taking a break and  participating in a movie watch-a-long with my fellow Iggles.  The movie that won the vote is Howl's Moving Castle, which is definitely one of my favorite Ghibli films.  I had actually just finished the second chapter of the next book I had started, Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon right when we were supposed to start the movie!  I'm not entirely if I'll go back to it after the movie is done.  While I probably should give it a few more chapters before I make a final judgement, there's just not enough build up for me not just with getting introduced to the characters, but learning about the world itself.  Which is another issue I had with Parasol Protectorate - you have to make a lot of deductions about the way things are based of the little tidbits given.  These two books are also the first ones that I've read in a while that aren't in first person, so that could be a factor in how I'm perceiving the storytelling.

Page Count:
Zyword - 256
Soulless - 357
Trading in Danger - 38

Dewey's Read-a-thon April 2015 - Opening Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
     The Pacific Northwest - Washington State

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
    Nothing is really jumping out, mostly because I'm using the readathon as a way to clean out my collection

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
     Did not prepare that far ahead this time around. Will be rummaging through the kitchen later.

4) Tell us a little somthing about yourself!
     I'm the oldest of 3

5)  If you participated in the least read-a-ton, 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'm going to try to be more active on leaving comments and cheering others on today - even though I'm not a cheerleader, I'd like to try to be more active on social media this time.

Getting Ready To Read Again

The last time I sat down to read a book was probably back in October during the read-a-thon.  Since getting back into watching anime, I stopped bringing books with me to work and instead watching episodes on my phone during my breaks.  Lately though, I've been itching to go to the bookstore to pick up some new reads but have stopped myself with the reasoning that I shouldn't be buying any new books before I move (even if I'm not taking any of my books with me just yet).  I was certain that I wasn't going to be able to participate in the next Dewey's Read-a-Thon, but I was lucky to get actual weekends off for April.  So next Saturday, April 25, I'll be getting up and reading for 24 hours with plenty of blogging and posting on Instagram throughout the day.

I have a very specific goal I'd like to accomplish with this read-a-thon.  I love book swaps - I think any new book I have gotten in the past couple of years is in result of a book swap.  However, I haven't gotten around to actually reading a lot of them (aka - almost none).  So, I plan to at least read the first few chapters of every book I've received to determine whether I actually want to keep the book and finish it, or if the book is going to get donated.  It's a task that accommodates the fact that I need to continue to go through my things for my big move.  Some of the books are ones that I never would have picked up myself but I always say that I'm willing to try something new.

Is anyone else participating in the read-a-thon?

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: End of Event Meme

Which hour was most daunting for you?
I got really comfortable in my reading position in bed during hour 4 but quickly shook my feelings of sleepiness away with some moving around.  I think it might be actually this moment now - it's finally hit me that I'm tired (this has been the easiest 24 hour day I've ever experienced) but I still actually need to 'get ready' for bed after this hour is up instead of just crashing and going to sleep.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I find that either a fun YA or children's book offers a fast but entertaining read and is a nice break before going back to the 'heavy' stuff.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I can never really answer these 'how to improve' type questions and since this is my first readathon, I feel like I have no suggestions based off of comparisons.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I like the hourly mini challenges - it's an opportunity to take a minute to see something to checkout and offers a way to have a short break from reading and a chance to socialize (the socializing part I need to work on).

How many books did you read?
6 - 3 manga, 3 novels

What were the names of the books you read?
Codename: Sailor V vols 1 & 2, Stardust, The Mark of Athena, Fairy Tail vol 3, and One Salt Sea

Which book did you enjoy most?
Probably Sailor V - I think it was a good first book when I woke up fifteen minutes before the start of the marathon and I love character.

Which did you enjoy least?
I guess Fairy Tail - it's a series that I'm not really attached to even after reading 3 volumes now but it's not like I'm bored with it and do plan to continue reading it, but I know it's a series I wouldn't actually buy

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Wasn't a cheerleader this time, but maybe in a few rounds I'll give it a shot

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I"m definitely participating in the next Read-a-thon.  I'm definitely plan on being a reader again but with a goal to be more social

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Hour 22 Mini Challenge

Having finished One Salt Sea, I thought I'd do this mini challenge that caught my eye while I was a little over halfway done with the book (but I didn't want to stop reading).  Choosing my top picks of my reading year:

Best Book of Your Reading Year/Best Fantasy Book of Your Reading Year
These two go together because it's the same book: An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire. It's the third book of the October Daye series, the most intense, and the best of the series so far from what I've read. It's a very fast pace novel and I could hardly put it down once I started (I had to since I was reading it on my break at work).  If you like fantasy, especially dealing with the fae and the like, I highly suggest you check the series out.

Best Author of Your Reading Year
Seanan McGuire, the author of the October Daye series.  This is probably my current favorite series to read.  I have the first book of her InCryptid series to read which I'm hoping is as entertaining. She's also one of the few female writers that I like.

Best Story Line of Your Reading Year
There were a lot of great lines in The Mark of Athena which, naturally, I can't find most of them right now except for the first one: "Boys," Annabeth interrupted, "I'm sure you both would've been wonderful at killing each other."  One of the reasons I love the Percy Jackson series so much is for the humour.

I feel like I've done more reading this year than the past couple of years combined, which on one hand makes me happy but I still feel I need to branch out and explore more.  I definitely need to pick up some new science fiction (especially to read some more of the classics in regards to that genre) but I'm slightly discouraged by what I see coming out in bookstores.  I sadly do judge a book by it's cover at times and the summaries really don't encourage me either. Ah well - that's what book swaps are for.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update #2

Well, I've finally finished The Mark of Athena.  I wished I had The House of Hades with me, but I have to wait for my library hold. I also have The Blood of Olympus on hold as well, but the last time I checked, I was over the 1,000 placement on the waitlist.

Dinner!

My dinner break was much longer than I anticipated but it was good to see my friends and a nice break from the near constant reading since 5 AM.  I actually mentioned the readathon over dinner - my friends thought it was interesting but that they probably couldn't do it.  Two of them are in school and the another had gotten an English major, so all the major reading they have/had to do has kind of sucked the joy out of pleasure reading (or at least reading for fun for such a long time).

My next two books: Fairytail volume three by Hiro Mashima followed by One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?
     Still on Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan - I don't know how many hours (at least three).  I'm on what I believe is chapter 35 (page 437)

2. How many books have you read so far?
    I've completed three, this is book #4

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
     I think I'm going to start reading the next October Daye books I have waiting.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
    Not many - just being asked some questions from the parents, and taking a break to cook lunch. Though I am going out in just a few minutes to go celebrate a friend's birthday.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
     It really feels that time is going by a lot faster than I thought.  I also thought I would have read more books, but it does feel good to save I've read at least 600 pages so far today - hoping to make that at least 1,000 before the end.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update 1

Hello fellow readers! It's a little weird to think that we're in hour 4 of this reading extravaganza! I've just finished reading Codename: Sailor V volumes 1 and 2.  I"ve been a big fan of Sailor Moon for years and was so excited that when the series was being reprinted and Sailor V was finally going to be published in English as well!  This is actually my first time reading Sailor V, though I had bought the manga a few months ago.

 

And now it's on to the next book.  I'm going to be reading my very first Neil Gaiman story, Stardust.  I love the movie though I heard it's very different from the book so this should be a interesting read.  I actually just picked this up from the library a couple of days ago - it was the one Neil Gaiman book on the shelves.