My goals are as follows:
- Make it through all 24 hours.
- Read 1000 pages. (I have no idea if this is doable, as I don't know my reading speed. But my books are easy, so I'm aiming high!)
- Update this post with my progress every 2 hours.
- Participate in several mini-challenges.
- Comment on several other participating blogs.
- Don't have any university student-style mental breakdowns from lack of sleep.
- Don't die of candy consumption.
My reading list:
- The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket (337 pages)
- The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events #11) by Lemony Snicket (323 pages)
- The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket (353 pages)
- The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events #13) by Lemony Snicket (337 pages)
- The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade (281 pages)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon (graphic novel) (136 pages)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughan (graphic novel) (120 pages)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (graphic novel) (136 pages)
- The Ghosts of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright (130 pages)
- Rogue in Power: Why Stephen Harper is Remaking Canada by Stealth by Christian Nadeau (in case I'm in the mood for some light non-fiction) (138 pages)
- The Ashes of Eden by William Shatner (audiobook; read by William Shatner!) (If I complete it, I'll give myself 309 pages, because that's how long the hardcover version is.)
- Anything else on my shelves I feel like reading if these aren't doing it for me!
Notice that there are no long books! I think my only chance at making it all the way through the next 24 hours is to avoid spending too much time or effort on any one book, hence the choice of extremely easy reading material. I'll be starting with The Ghost of Ernie P.
Oh, and here's a picture of my snacks I have planned for the day! So much yumminess of the effortless-to-prepare variety!
So, without further ado, let's read!
Introduction Meme:
 | |
| My primary reading spot for the day |
My apartment in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
2)Three random facts about me…
I'm a trekkie, I'm my family's genealogist (hence the blog), and I graduated university last year.
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
11
4)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)?
1000 pages, and to make it the whole 24 hours.
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
This is my first time! I'm quite excited!
9:00 Central Time (2 hours down):
How's that going? It's pretty good. Surprisingly scary for a kids' book. Betty Ren Wright was one of my favourite authors when I was a kid, and I'm glad to know I can still enjoy her now.
Books finished so far: None yet.
Pages read these hours: 122 (almost a whole book!)
Total pages read: 122
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:44
Total time spent reading: 01:44
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:16
Total time spent blogging: 00:16
Food consumed: None yet. Starting to get hungry though!
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme
11:00 Central Time (4 hours down):
How's that going? Good so far. Funny, and nice easy YA reading.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours: 164 (finished first book, read a graphic novel, started another book)
Total pages read: 286
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:42
Total time spent reading: 03:26
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:18
Total time spent blogging: 00:34
Food consumed these hours: A bowl of fruit salad, a few grapes, and a few Rainbow Twizzlers.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme
The first volume of Buffy Season 8 was SO GOOD. It was awesome and had references to the show ("As a friend of mine once said, I'd like to test that theory.") and was just really perfect. In one frame there's a girl in the background reading Fray. AWESOME. Also, I'd like to share two quotes I enjoyed:
Awesome quote 1:
Scottish Slayer: That were a wee bit repulsive.
Buffy: Went okay. 'Cept I feel a little weird about using a crucifix to kill someone.
Scottish Slayer: Yeh dinno much about religion, do yeh?
Awesome quote 2:
Buffy: One slayer fighting alone is formidable. Two is formidabler. Or... Three? Mega-formidable. And after mega, it goes mondo, then super, hyper, beaucoup d', crazy, stupid... It gets exponentially prefixy.
13:00 Central Time (6 hours down):
How's that going? Good. I'm enjoying the story. I'm not sure why I'm reading so slowly, though. The font doesn't look that small...
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours: 88
Total pages read: 374
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:40
Total time spent reading: 05:06
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:20
Total time spent blogging: 00:54
Food consumed these hours: Some grapes.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme
15:00 Central Time (8 hours down) (Holy crap, already?!):
What are you reading right now? The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
How's that going? Good. Alona is infuriating, but kind of in an endearing way? Will is adorable and I kind of want to hug him.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours: 98
Total pages read: 472
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:52
Total time spent reading: 06:58
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:08
Total time spent blogging: 01:02
Food consumed these hours: Some grapes, and this vegetable medley salad thing from the Safeway deli.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme (several have said you can only win if you're in the US, and anyway I'm still enjoying the non-stop reading).
17:00 Central Time (10 hours down):
How's that going? WONDERFUL. I am loving Buffy Season 8 so much. (Also, Ghost and the Goth was great. I'm glad to hear that there's a sequel!)
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Pages read these hours: 111
Total pages read: 583
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:52
Total time spent reading: 08:50
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:08
Total time spent blogging: 01:10
Food consumed these hours: A bowl of raspberries, and some tortilla chips and hummus (which are really hitting the spot because I just recently became extremely hungry!).
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme.
19:00 Central Time (The Halfway Point!):
How's that going? OK. I'm definitely enjoying the series, but I guess I'm discouraged by the length, even though it's still short and easy reading, because it's longer than anything I've read in the read-a-thon so far.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours: 136
Total pages read:719
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:34
Total time spent reading: 10:24
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:11
Total time spent blogging: 01:21
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (I didn't even want this to be something I had to keep track of! It was an accident! Luckily, my boyfriend happened to notice I'd dozed off and woke me up, to which I responded with "Crap! Crap!" and lots of arm-flailing.)
Food consumed these hours: More tortilla chips with hummus, and a few Rainbow Twizzlers.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme.
Mid Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
2. How many books have you read so far? 4!
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate, because the first two volumes were awesome! Buy I'm trying to spread out my limited supply of graphic novels!
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Nope! I almost had a dog-sitting gig today, but they cancelled, which worked out well.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I had to move to the bedroom for a bit when my boyfriend got home and wanted to watch TV (our apartment is small), which caused me to briefly fall asleep! So I didn't deal with it all that well!
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How quickly time goes by!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? More mini-challenges that Canadians can win! And other people who aren't United Statesians!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Remember to put more can drinks in the fridge the day before. Doh!
9. Are you getting tired yet? My brief nap kind of made me groggy (I don't nap well), but other than that I've been feeling fine. :)
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Graphic novels. Seriously.
21:00 Central Time (14 hours down):
What are you reading right now? The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
How's that going? Great. But gah, so many mysteries and so many unfortunate events and a sneaking suspicion that none of these mysteries will be solved and I will end up banging my head against my book in frustration!
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours: 149
Total pages read: 868
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:52
Total time spent reading: 12:16
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:08
Total time spent blogging: 01:29
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (and I don't intend for this number to go up, either)
Food consumed these hours: A cup of Acai Mango Zinger tea (darn my preference for caffeine-free teas!) and some celery sticks.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey.
My tummy kind of hurts. I'm in that weird place where I kind of feel hungry all the time, but none of my food seems appetising. The celery sticks seem to be working ok in this situation, but at some point I really should eat something more substantial.
23:00 Central Time (16 hours down):
How's that going? I just started, so it's too soon to tell. I have my worries about non-fiction, especially this late in the game, when I'm starting to get a bit drowsy, but it's only 138 pages, so how hard can it be?
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
Pages read these hours: 144
Total pages read: 1012! Goal accomplished with 8 hours to spare! :)
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:48
Total time spent reading: 14:04
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:12
Total time spent blogging: 01:41
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (and I don't intend for this number to go up, either)
Food consumed these hours: A cup of Acai Mango Zinger tea and some celery sticks.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey.
01:00 Central Time (18 hours down):
What are you reading right now? Rogue in Power: Why Stephen Harper is Remaking Canada by Stealth, by Christian Nadeau.
How's that going? It's a bit boring. I have a minor in philosophy and still this guy's philosophy talk is making me drowsy. Although I guess the fact that it's 1am could be contributing to that...
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
Pages read these hours: 53 (Eek! Not so good!)
Total pages read: 1065
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:55
Total time spent reading: 15:59
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:05
Total time spent blogging: 01:46
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (and I don't intend for this number to go up, either)
Food consumed these hours: A bowl of fruit salad.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey.
Let it be known that hour 18 is when this got difficult. My eyelids are getting seriously heavy. But I will not give in! Only 4 hours until my scheduled energy drink!
03:00 Central Time (20 hours down):
What are you reading right now? Rogue in Power: Why Stephen Harper is Remaking Canada by Stealth, by Christian Nadeau.
How's that going? Boring. Hopefully I will be done by my next update. I know I could just switch books, but I almost never give up on a book and I'd like to just get it over with.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
Pages read these hours: 45 (Definitely a result of the droopy eyelids. I keep rereading the same paragraph several times.)
Total pages read: 1110
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:57
Total time spent reading: 17:56
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:03
Total time spent blogging: 01:49
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (and I don't intend for this number to go up, either)
Food consumed these hours: A can of Ginger Ale, a Crunchie, and some Rainbow Twizzlers (are we seeing a downward spiral here?).
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey.
I just realised that I had some crazy math somewhere along the way, where I lost a couple hours and my totals made no sense. It's all fixed now! :)
05:00 Central Time (22 hours down):
How's that going? AWESOME. Several times I have had to focus very hard to keep my laughter from being out loud and thus waking up the boyfriend. Dracula facepalming himself and saying "Oh balls" is surprisingly hilarious. And just as I was thinking how I don't remember Dracula being racist in the show, Xander's like "You know, I really don't remember you being this racist..." Oh my goodness. This is very refreshing after the lack of fun that was reading about Stephen Harper.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
Rogue in Power: Why Stephen Harper is Remaking Canada by Stealth by Christian Nadeau
Pages read these hours: 96
Total pages read: 1206
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:47
Total time spent reading: 19:43
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:13
Total time spent blogging: 02:02
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15 (and I don't intend for this number to go up, either)
Food consumed these hours: Two thirds of a Rock Star beverage. Oh. My. God. Why did I not throw caution and money to the wind and drink these every day during university?
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey.
Get Up Offa That Thang Mini-Challenge:
I just did the Get Up Offa That Thang Mini-Challenge, and it was so much fun! I danced to the following songs:
1. Lil Mama - Lip Gloss
2. Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way
3. Weird Al - White and Nerdy
07:00 Central Time (The End!):
How's that going? Swimmingly.
Books finished so far:
The Ghost of Ernie P. by Betty Ren Wright
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10) by Lemony Snicket
Rogue in Power: Why Stephen Harper is Remaking Canada by Stealth by Christian Nadeau
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon
Pages read these hours:128
Total pages read: 1334
Time spent reading these hours (hh:mm): 01:47
Total time spent reading: 21:30 (Yay! Nice and round!)
Time spent blogging these hours (hh:mm): 00:13
Total time spent blogging: 02:15
Total time spent sleeping: 00:15
Food consumed these hours: The last third of a Rock Star beverage.
Mini-challenges completed so far: Introduction Meme, Mid Event Survey, Get Up Offa That Thang, and coming up next, the End of Event Meme.
End of Event Meme:
- Which hour was most daunting for you? Around hour 18.
- Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8!
- Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? More mini-challenges that aren't for US residents only would be nice.
- What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I enjoyed having the cheerleaders commenting on my post.
- How many books did you read? 7! I can't believe it!
- What were the names of the books you read? The Ghost of Ernie P., Buffy the Vampire Slayer Volumes 1-3 (I won't type them all out again...), The Ghost and the Goth, The Slippery Slope, and Rogue in Power.
- Which book did you enjoy most? Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 3
- Which did you enjoy least? Rogue in Power
- If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a cheerleader. Just keep doing what you're doing!
- How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely participate again, as a reader.
Books read: 7 and a bit
Pages read: 1334
Time spent reading: 21:30 (Wow!)
Time spent blogging: 2:15
Time spent sleeping: 00:15 (Whoops!)
Mini-challenges participated in: 4
Averages:
Average pages per book: 190
Average pages per hour: 56
Average time spent reading per hour: 53.75 minutes (not bad!)
Well, that's all folks! Now, I hope I didn't drink that energy drink too late in the game, jeopardising my ability to sleep through the day... G'night! / G'morning!
*Go, reader, go* I am here to cheer you on!!!! Don't forget to take a small break so you can keep on reading reading reading!
ReplyDeleteYay, a cheerleader! Yeah, I haven't really been doing the break thing... Even when I get up for food I take my book with me! We'll see how long that lasts. :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Lianne! :)
ReplyDeleteLadystorm and I belong to the same cheering team, #cheergolden and we'd love to help you out with anything regarding the read-a-thon. Do hop on to twitter if you need some words of cheer! ;)
@travelingreadr
Btw, I found Alison Dare really funny and fun when I got to read The Ghost and the Goth a while back. Glad you like it also. ;)
Happy read-a-thon! Your book choices look fantastic. Fellow first timer here too!
ReplyDelete@thetravelingreader - Alona Dare is one of those weird characters that I enjoy reading about, even though I'd hate her in real life. Kind of like Georgia Nicolson from Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. I definitely identify more with Will, though. :P
ReplyDelete@Alexa - Thanks for stopping by! I'm definitely happy with my book choices so far. Happy reading!
Wooow you're doing so so great!! Hope you're having fun!
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Well, aren't you the epitome of ROCK THIS 'THON, YO? Keep up the fantastic work!
ReplyDeleteI've got The Ghost and The Goth on my TBR list, and those snax look totes yummy!!!
Buffy season eight ended up being a total waste of time...but don't let that put you off. Although currently reading season nine now and it's going pretty well.
ReplyDelete@A Damned Conjuror - You didn't like Buffy Season 8?! I've only read the first 2 volumes so far, but so far I am loving it so hard.
ReplyDeleteLemony Snicket! Woot! GREAT choice for a read-a-thon! I didn't get candy for snacks, but I DID get a lot of quick-but-bad-energy snacks like Cheetos, muffins, and an apple pie snack. You're doing great! Keep it up and have fun!
ReplyDeleteRah! Rah! Shish! Boom! Bah! Reading books will take you far!
Don't give in, don't give in... or if you do, a quick nap and come back to the fun! :-)
ReplyDeleteYour page count is incredible and I admire your fortitude, reading about Harper in the waning hours when you're getting weary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the encouragement, cheerleaders and other visitors! It helped me through a tough time where my eyes were quite droopy. Now I'm drinking an energy drink (not something I normally do), so I'm feeling much better!
ReplyDeleteWoow 1334 pages!! Congratulations!! Hope you had lots of fun! :)
ReplyDelete