Better late than never

It's 8:07 PM, and Laura and I are joining in on the reading fun. Don't know that I'll check in much, and I don't plan to do any mini challenges, since I need to make up the reading time. But we're jumping in anyway!

What I'm reading: All Other Nights by Dara Horn.
Current page: 310 of 363

If nothing else I hope to finish this book!

Dewey's Read-A-Thon

Well, here I sit at work on the most perfect day for a readathon. Nasty, rainy day outside. The good news is that my plans for the evening got cancelled, so I'm hoping to grab Laura and join in for a few hours at least tonight. Yippee!

Well, I tried

I decided to try to read for a few hours as a half-hearted participation in the readathon and did get a little over an hour of reading in. Then I spent the next hour and a half seething because my 10-year-old boy didn't come home when I told him to. By the time I finally was in a mental place to read again, I was zonked and fell asleep within a few minutes. I really hope I'm available next time!

Read-a-thon

I hear there's another fabulous Read-A-Thon going on today, hosted by the equally fabulous Dewey, author of the hidden side of a leaf blog. I, unfortunately, am at work all day today, and then have to work again tomorrow afternoon, so there will be no read-a-thoning for me this go 'round. There is a possibility I will be home this evening while my husband does his stargazing thing (I'm trying to decide if I want to go or if I want to recharge after working), in which case I think I will use my time reading along for a few hours. We'll see. I hope everyone is having a great time, and I hope to be able to join you the next time!

The day after

Well, I didn't read nearly as much as I thought I would, but part of that is because I spent a lot of time checking out other people's blogs. By nighttime, I was distracted and couldn't settle on doing one thing for too long. Such is my life.

I had a great time, though, even though I only read 6 hours max!

Laura did, too, and thought it was really neat that all these people all over the place were just reading.

Laura's goal reached

She did it! Laura wants to share that she finished Artemis Fowl. Way to go!

I, on the other hand, have pretty much reached my limit for tonight... YAWN!

I've taken a bit of a break...went for a nice walk with the husband and the dog, then took Laura out for a milkshake.

Since I last posted, I read a chapter of Anne of Green Gables to Laura (which adds about 8 pages to my total). I tried to read some of this Civil War diary (Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman), but the introduction is very long, and I want to read it, but not today.

I think I have to give up on Little Women for today, if I want to stay awake, so I'm going to read a bit of Sandman.

Thanks to all of you who responded with encouragement for Laura. It made her day! And I got a huge hug out of it, too. She is having fun with this and is enjoying checking in with me.

Laura's status

Laura wanted me to post that she has now read 127 pages. She is 88 pages away from finished Artemis Fowl. She says her goal is to get this one book finished, if nothing else, but she's feeling a little discouraged. I know she'd love some encouragement!

My tactic (and comment responses)

Someone asked how I'm dividing my reading (with so many comments it's easier to just make a post!). Little Women is long (duh), so I'm taking breaks from it by reading something lighter. So, I'll read a bit of Little Women (a chapter or two, or a whole hour), then read something else. I'm not reading multiple "something elses," just the one other until it's finished, then pick something else up. Make sense?

I loved It's Perfectly Normal. I think it's important to cut straight to the chase in terms of sex education, and that's exactly what this book is. It's a very balanced book and very frank. I want *both* my kids to read it, so that they can make the best decisions they can when the time comes (hopefully a long time from now, since they're only 9 and 11!). The only thing that annoyed me about this book were the little cartoon bird and bee interspersed throughout the book. It was like that annoying person who can't have a serious conversation without making a joke.

Update #4

Title of book(s) read this hour: Life on the Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and Daughter (finished); Little Women
Number of books read since you started: 2
Pages read: 224
Running total of pages read since you started: 329
Amount of time spent reading: 55 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3 hours, 55 min
Mini-challenge this hour: Nymeth's web comics
Distractions this hour: bathroom break
Current location: On my bed

I feel like I cheated a little, because, while Life on the Refrigerator Door is 217 pages, most pages consist of something like this:

Claire,

We need to talk. I'm in my room.

I love you, Mom

But 217 pages it was, and 217 pages I'm counting. Laura is mad because she doesn't read quickly. :-) I need to tell her to take a break from Artemis Fowl and read something quick, for a sense of accomplishment.

I'm starving, so I'm taking a dinner break!

The 9-year-old boys switched houses, so this was a much calmer hour!

Update #3

Title of book(s) read this hour: Little Women; It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health (finished)
Number of books read since you started: 1
Pages read: 28
Running total of pages read since you started: 105
Amount of time spent reading: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3 hours
Mini-challenge this hour:
Other participants visited: Debi, C.B. James
Distractions this hour: lots (9-year-old boys make a lot of noise)
Current location: On my bed, but I've also visited the loveseat in the family room

Laura has read a total of 81 pages and is still working on Artemis Fowl.

Update #2

I've decided to label my posts with my update number instead of hour number, since I may not post every hour.

Title of book(s) read this hour: Little Women; It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health
Number of books read since you started: 0 (I'm not keeping track of fractions of books - I'll update this when I finish one)
Pages read: 36
Running total of pages read since you started: 77
Amount of time spent reading: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 2 hours
Mini-challenge this hour: Nymeth's web comics
Other participants visited: None yet this hour
Distractions this hour: bathroom break
Current location: On my bed

Laura has read a total of 47 pages so far; she's currently working on Artemis Fowl.

Hour 2 mini challenge

Nymeth's mini challenge for hour 2 was to read a web comic and write a short post about it. I caught up on my Unshelved feed, which I was many posts behind on. Unshelved is a web comic set in a public library, that deals with many of the common situations that occur in a library. When I worked in a public library I found it spot on, and now that I'm not in a public library, I find it fun to remember. Sometimes the posts are relevant to special libraries, too.

Hour 1

Title of book(s) read this hour: It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris
Number of books read since you started: .5
Pages read: 41
Running total of pages read since you started: 41
Amount of time spent reading: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 1 hour
Mini-challenge this hour: Introductory Meme
Other participants visited: Eva, G-Town Reader, Word Lily
Distractions this hour: bathroom break, 1 doorbell ring
Current location: On my bed with my kitty laying across my book, head on my arm while I type!

Off to lunch for a few minutes.
Prize you’ve won:

READ-A-THON!

I'm going to use this graphic on any updates I have throughout the day, mini-challenges, etc. Any reviews I post won't have this graphic, but I will tag it as a read-a-thon post. (I may choose a smaller graphic to add...haven't decided yet.)

Here's the first mini-challenge! I'm posting a few minutes early so I can get started reading right at 11:00. This challenge was posted by Reading Derby.

Introduction Meme

Where are you reading from today? I'm reading from my home in Houston, Texas (well, technically a small suburb right outside the city limits called Meadows Place).

3 facts about me …

• I am a librarian, currently in a medical library in a local cancer center.
• I have 2 kids, one who plans to read along with me today
  
• I am a terrible housekeeper, and I feel slightly guilty for reading all day today instead of trying to get some housework done.
  

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I don't really have a TBR pile specifically for this read-a-thon. I've got a stack of about 8 that looked like good light choices, but I reserve the right to pick up anything in the house that grabs my interest.

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)?
I just want to have fun. I don't have any idea how many books I might finish (if I even finish any). I want to visit a lot of blogs and read. I do want to make a large dent in Little Women. I know I won't read for 24 hours, but I would like to get in at least 7 hours today and a couple of hours tomorrow morning. I'd love to read more today, but I'm trying to be realistic.

Any advice for people doing this for the first time?
I haven't done this before, so I'll get back to you on this tomorrow!

Read-a-Thon Meme

Snagged from Debi's blog

If I had 24 hours to read, my goals would be:
I don't think I would set any goals, unless I had something very specific I had to have read by a certain time. Thankfully, this is rare these days. I guess I would just want to put a dent in my TBR pile.

This is what I am going to have to do to get 24 hours of reading:
Well, I am under no delusion that I will read for 24 hours. I'm expecting to get 10 hours, at the most. I'm hoping to get my daughter on board, too, and my son spends entire days outside in the summer. My husband is entrenched in lesson planning for classes he's teaching this summer and a new class in the fall, so I suspect he will be doing a lot of that. There should be very little I have to arrange in order to get my reading time in.

If someone asked me for recommendations of “can’t put down” books for the read-a-thon, I would recommend:
Stardust
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The Road (yeah, I know this one is bleak, but I did have a hard time putting it down)
graphic novels
Persepolis


If you participated in the October 2007 read-a-thon:
I didn't participate last October.

I tag anyone who wants to do this...

Read-a-Thon a comin'!

Last year when Dewey hosted her first ever read-a-thon, I was a new book blogger, and it also was in October, which is a notoriously busy time of year around my house. So, I had to pass. Needless to say, I was hyped when I saw that Dewey was going to host another, this time in June! We tend to not travel much in the summer, and the kids aren't involved in any weekend activities, so there's no reason at all that I can't participate this time. Yay!

Here's information about the Read-a-Thon, from Dewey's blog, the hidden side of a leaf.


Anybody that knows me in person knows that there's no way I'm actually going to read for 24 hours straight, as once the sun sets and my book and I hit the sofa, I'm heading for sleepytime. But there's nothing to stop me (other than my family) for reading the daylight hours away.