Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon

I'm awake.  I'm out of bed.  I have coffee.  I have books.  Time to read!

For the opening post, the lovely ladies behind the scenes at Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon are asking the usual questions.  

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? - The Boonies, otherwise known as southeast Nebraska.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? - Since I rarely finish more than one book during a readathon, I didn't really make a stack this time.  But I'm starting off with The Burning Room by Michael Connelly and will alternate that with Where I Am by Billy Graham.  I also have to get in a little Christmas reading, so I have Winter Street 
by Elin Hilderbrand waiting in the wings.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  Slightly stale Cheese Puffs (it's a Read-a-thon tradition).

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  Reader's Digest version:  Wife, Mom, Grandma, co-owner of a grain bin construction business, crazed crafter and lifelong book nut!   (If you want the long version, click the "About Me" tab above)

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?  This is my 13th read-a-thon!  ** Caution - blatant self-horn blowing ahead **  If you want to know my read-a-thon philosophy, you can read my Warm-Up Post here.  (What an honor to be posted on the official read-a-thon site!  Thanks, ladies.)    If you don't want to waste your precious reading time on that drivel, here's the RD version again:  "Let it go!" is my theme for the day.  No rules, no expectations, just fun.

Now, let's read!  

But first I have to research:  Do they still print Reader's Digest Condensed Books?   Am I dating myself, and confusing younger readers, by using that reference?  

Read-a-thon Update #1

It's been four-and-a-half hours since Readathon kicked off - I've read 70 pages.  I know, pretty sad page total, BUT - I also entered several mini-challenges, started a load of laundry, cleaned up the breakfast dishes, and I'm doggie-sitting my son's Great Dane pup -- not conducive to concentration.  Considering all that, I'm not doing bad.  I'm going to fix a bite of lunch and return to the books.

This hour, Kim at On The Wings of Books is challenging readers to post a picture of one of the books they're reading, staged with items that go along with the story.  

One of the three books I'm reading today is Return to Me by Lynn Austin . . . and how can you return somewhere without a road map?  Ok, lame, I know -- but I couldn't find a shofar (that's the animal-horn trumpet he's blowing on the cover).  Fun challenge, anyway!

Now, back to the books.

The Sisters Readathon

Whoever writes those common sayings we use every day - like "better late than never" - is wrong.  Sometimes late is the same as never.  Sometimes late is TOO late.  I intended to enter the Bout of Books Readathon, but I missed the signup deadline by about 6 hours.  I was all excited - even had my sister excited about it - till I realized I was too late.

But now I'm all pumped up for guilt-free reading time.  No one expects me to do laundry or cook during a readathon - right?  And Hubs will be out of town till Saturday afternoon. So, Teri (Sis) and I are going to have our own  - the Sisters Readathon!

The plan is very flexible - actually, a little vague at the moment.  Just read whenever you get a chance from now through Saturday  Teri and I will occasionally be posting updates, challenges, or whatever else comes to mind.  There are no prizes - this is a low-budget plan - but feel free to join us.  Just read, leave a comment, gab on Twitter - you don't even need a sister!

 My goal is to finish "Devil May Care" by Elizabeth Peters, which I'm reading for the Vintage Mystery Bingo (see link on sidebar) and read as much as possible of "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkein, which I'm reading for T and T book club.  I might even make some progress on a couple of Nook books I've been reading for ages.

Teri posed a question to get us started:

Is there a time that something happened in your life and you can still remember exactly what book you were involved in at the time?  Tell what happened and what book you were reading.

That's going to take some thought!  I'll be back later tonight with my answer.  In the mean time, visit Teri's blog, grab a book and sneak in a few minutes at your desk, while in the school pick-up line, or while sitting on the out-of-balance washer to keep it from jumping across the room. (Hey, I can't be the only one who does this.)

UPDATE:  It's 6:00 p.m.  I'm home from work.  Dog's are fed.  Doors are locked (I'm home alone)....With my two favorite LARGE DOGS (just in case you're a crazed stalker).  I have supper on a festive Christmas paper plate and Diet Coke in my favorite Charlie Brown Christmas cup.  I'm in my comfy chair, wrapped in a cuddly blanket.  Time to read!

Readathon Wrap-Up

Wow!  It's 7:00 a.m. once again and the readathon is over.  I never accomplish quite as much as I planned, but I always have a great time.  Here are my final thoughts:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  Evidently Hour 19 - that's when I finally HAD to go to sleep, but I came back for hour 24
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  The only book I finished was Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg.  Very good!  For the later hours I had to move on to a thriller by James Patterson because they are always page turners and don't require deep thought.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  No - they are always amazing!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  I especially enjoyed the Twitter conversation - that seems to be growing with every readathon.
5. How many books did you read? I finished 1, but read from 6.  I have to jump around to keep myself alert.
6. What were the names of the books you read?  Tapestry of Fortunes; You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado; The Sallie House by Debra Pickman; Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite; Mistress by James Patterson
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Tapestry of Fortunes
8. Which did you enjoy least?  The Sallie House - interesting true story but by an amateur writer.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  It takes more time than you realize.  I tried to cheer for 3-4 blogs/hour but it was tough to do and still participate in reading and challenges.  Next time I will probably devote a block of time to do nothing but cheer.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  100% chance that I'll participate again!  I think I have tried all the roles now - reader, mini-challenge host, cheerleader and host.  I may leave the hosting duties for the younger ladies who are more informed on all the social media, etc., but I will definitely do all the others again.

Thank you, Hostesses and Coordinators, for all your hard work and commitment.  This is an amazing event.  I'm already looking forward to April!

Hour 19: Show it Off

It's hour 19 - and I'm winding down fast.  The house is quiet again.  Everyone has gone to bed - even the dogs.  I'm going to try to make it all night but will probably have to take a snooze.  This hour's mini-challenge is called Show it Off, hosted by Kay at Dead Book Darling.  The plan is to photograph the books from our personal library that we are proud of - signed copies, well-worn favorites, out of print - the ones you would grab in case of fire.  

Well, my bookshelves are in the guest room, which is occupied by a sleeping daughter so I can't get a picture.  I'll just have to tell you my most precious books:

Dave has a paperback signed by Louis L'Amour.  He actually has every book L'Amour ever wrote, but the autographed one is special.

I don't have any books with monetary value, but there are a few that are dear to me because they are frequent re-reads:  The entire "Cat Who . . ." series by Lilian Jackson Braun; my childhood copies of Charlotte's Web and Harriet the Spy; and, of course, three Bibles - one belonged to Dave's mother, one to his Grandmother and one is mine - a gift from my grandparents in the mid 60's.

Hour 13 Mini-Challenge: The Best of the Year

Lisa at Lisa's World of Books would like to know, "What are the best books you've read this year?"  She has a list of categories and asks us each to name a winner in at least 3 categories. My problem is, I'm not sure how to categorize some, so I'm just going to give you my three favorite reads (so far) of 2013.  And the winner is.....

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman.  Beautifully written.  A good story with that little extra "something" that moves it into 5-star category.  My review is here.

The Fate of Mercy Alban  by Wendy Webb.   "A perfect read for a dark and stormy night," according to the cover blurb.  An unusual mystery. My review is here.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  This one wins for Best Book I Should Have Read Years Ago.  

Readathon Update

As we enter hour 12, here's a quick run-down of where I am. 

Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg - on page 184 of 219.
You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado - on page 59 of 159.
The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Pickman - on page 49 of 266.

Mini-Challenges entered:  5
Prizes won:  0
Blog's visited as a cheerleader: 20

Mid Event Survey:
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? - I've dozed a couple times, but it's only 6:00 p.m. in my time zone, so the tough hours are still ahead.

2) What have you finished reading? - Nothing, because I keep switching between books.

3) What is your favorite read so far? - Tapestry of Fortunes

4) What about your favorite snacks? - I'm trying not to snack much, but I did have an apple with peanut butter that was pretty yummy.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! - I've visited a lot of new blogs and found some new friends on Twitter.  I'll have to sort it all out later when there's more time, but I'm amazed at the variety of blogs.

Readathon: Through the Tea Leaves

Love, love, love this challenge hosted by Katrina's Reads.  The idea is to make a blotch on paper using a tea bag, coffee or ink.  Then, create a drawing of a character from your book, using the splotch as your outline.  I made my spot using coffee on brown craft paper - not the best idea because it doesn't show up very well, so you'll have to take my word for it that I followed the outline.  Here is my awesome creation (not!)

Now the hard part - what character from my book does this represent?  Well, the book I'm reading is about a group of 4 women, so I'm going to say this is the ex-boyfriend the heroine is hoping to reconnect with.  Unfortunately, the years have not been kind to this poor guy. :)

Thanks, Katrina, for the fun idea.  I'm going to go spill some more coffee so I can do more of these later.

Now - since I have spent the past two hours closing out my own mini-challenge and working on others, I better get back to reading!

Readathon: Mad-Libs Challenge

This fun challenge is hosted by the ladies at Nisaba be Praised,  The idea is to select a short paragraph from the book you are reading, remove words then ask a friend, neighbor or total stranger to randomly select words to replace them - creating a "Mad-Lib".

Here is my original sentence, from page 71 of Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg:

"But I think maybe it was just one of those times when a memory picks you up and carries you off like dandelion fluff." (which, by the way, is an awesome sentence)

Here's the Mad-Lib version created with random words selected by my husband, Dave:

"But I think maybe it was just one of those times when a rifle picks you up and passes you off like a pumpkin."  (not as awesome - but strangely graphic)

Thanks for the fun challenge, girls.  Back to reading.

A Puzzling Mini-Challenge: The Winners!

A great big thanks to everyone who entered my mini-challenge.  The Challenge was to identify the 10 food represented by 10 book covers.  Out of 50 entrants, 9 got them all correct: (my apologies if I got blog/Tumblr names, or participant names wrong)





Megan @ YA? Why Not?
Caladiel @ This is Neurotica
Karen
Laura @ Please Pardon the Interruption
Tiffany @ Truthfully Tichwi
Nadia @ Eu e o Ban
CaroG @ A Girl Who Lies Books
Maenad @ Naked Came the Maenad
Esther @ Are You Sitting Comfortably

Way to go, guys!  My great-niece, Elaine, drew a number to determine the winner, and the winner is:

Maenad @ Naked Came the Maenad

Elaine also drew a number to select the runner-up winner from all entrants.  And that prize goes to:

Deb Nance @ Readerbuzz

Congratulations, Maenad and Deb!  Please contact me at hcl_tami@yahoo.com with your mailing address and I'll send your prize package.

And Honorable Mention to Stacy @ Stacy's Books who got 9.5 correct.  She incorrectly identified Milk Glass Moon as Big Cherry Hollar - another book in the same series by Adriana Trigiani.  So close!  But sorry, there's no prize for that. :)

Here are the correct answers:

Fried Green TOMATOES at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The GRAPES of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the PIE by Alan Bradley
The Guernsey Literary and POTATO Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 
The Particular Sadness of LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender
Playing for PIZZA by John Grisham
CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris
MILK Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani
Green EGGS and HAM by Dr. Seuss
On the Banks of PLUM Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hour 4 Mini-Challenge

Heather at Capricious Reader is hosting this hours mini-challenge:  Book Spine Poetry.

I'm not much of a poet even when I have ALL the words to choose from. Limiting myself to book titles makes for some hilarious results.  Here's what I came up with:

In case you can't make that out - 

The wind in the willows after the rain,

Soaring eagle,

Sweet salt air,

A place of quiet rest.

A Puzzling Challenge

              THIS MINI-CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED!
I'm tallying answers as fast as I can and will announce the winner ASAP.  Thanks for all your entries.  Hope you had fun!


Hey, Read-a-thon-ers!  Welcome to Just One More Thing... where we like puzzles, books and food.  This hour's mini-challenge combines all three.  Below is a picture puzzle with portions of ten book covers.  The title of each book contains a type of food (for example: If You Give a Moose a Muffin, would qualify.)  How many can you name?

Leave your list of the ten foods represented in the comment section.  No need to include the full book title - unless your just compulsive that way.   Comments will remain hidden until the challenge closes in three hours (12:00 noon, Central Time).  The winner will be randomly selected from all correct entries.  Even if you don't know all ten, list as many as you can - there will be a second random drawing from all entrants.

And speaking of prizes . . . The winner will receive this prize package:

Recipe box, autographed copy of Peas, Beans and Corn by Jennifer Wixson, 
English Tea Murder by Leslie Meier, and The Scarlet Pepper by Dorothy St. James

An entrant drawn at random will receive a set of recipe cards.  Good Luck!

click to enlarge

A big thank you to Jennifer Wixson for donating the signed copy of her book.  Find out more about Jennifer and her books here.

Read-A-Thon: And Away We Go . . .

It's that time again -- twenty-four hours of reading,  entering challenges, reading, meeting new friends, and reading!  If that sounds like your kind of fun, you can still join.  Visit the Dewey's Readathon site for all the details and to sign up.

I am reading from my home in SE Nebraska - a two acre plot we call "Green Acres" (see the "about" page to find out why).  It is fall harvest in Nebraska, so Hubs, who manages the local grain elevator, will be at work today.  Since we are empty-nesters, the only distractions in the house are the two dogs.  I really have no excuse for not getting some reading done.

My reading plan begins with Bible devotions, then I'll be moving on to the books I've already started:  Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg and You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado, and The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Pickman (a true story of a supposedly-haunted home we visited a couple weeks ago).  My experience from past read-a-thons tells me that I get more read if I switch between books frequently.

These books (and more) from my own shelves are waiting in the wings: 

Along with these books from the library:

I like to leave my options open - obviously.

So - time to pour a cup of coffee and get started on twenty-four glorious hours of reading.  Come back at 9:00 a.m. (Central Time) for my Puzzling Mini-Challenge.

Read-A-Thon: The Wee Hours

My read-a-thon was interrupted to run an errand for Dave.  I picked up everything he needed at the store in one town and drove it to the next town to meet him (only 7 miles apart).  We transferred the supplies from the car to the pickup and I headed back to my comfy couch.  But it was not to be - the pickup refused to budge.  To be more specific, it refused to budge in reverse.  "Drive" was still functioning, but not all that helpful when parked at a curb.  So - blah, blah, blah (cause I know you don't really care about the details) Dave got where he was going, blah blah blah, I'm home again.  

I'm caught up on all the mini-challenges to this point (at least the ones I'm still coherent enough to enter) and I'm going to settle into bed with my good book.  It's 1:15 a.m. and we have to be on the road by 8:00 a.m. for a family reunion.

So good night, sweet read-a-thoners.  Parting is such sweet sorrow, but I'll never get out of bed when it is 'morrow. (My apologies to Shakespeare.)

The Casting Couch Challenge

Alysia is making me think tonight!  Her Casting Couch Challenge requires me to imagine a book I've read during read-a-thon is being made into a movie - who would I cast as the main character?  Hmmm.....

I just finished Wonder Show, a YA novel about a teen-age girl who is left at a bleak, prison-like home for "wayward girls".  She runs away and joins the circus to look for her missing father.  I picture the main character, Portia, as tall and lanky with an understated beauty.   Portia reminded me a bit of Katniss from the Hunger Games series - quiet but strong, a tough exterior with a tender heart - so I am casting Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss, in the role of Portia.

Mid Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? - I dozed a bit during that last hour, so got up and made a salad that I need for family reunion tomorrow.  Now I'm feeling rejuvenated and ready to read.  Best of all, the "twitchies" have stayed away - thanks to regular doses of medication - but it adds to the drowsiness.  Oh well, it's worth it to get to sit and read comfortably.

2) What have you finished reading? ARC of Peas, Beans and Corn by Jennifer Wixson and Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

3) What is your favorite read so far?  I have to go with Wonder Show because it was so  different from my usual picks.

4) What about your favorite snacks?  Apples and peanut butter - the perfect combination!

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! - Haven't taken time to visit other blogs yet - but I'll get there.  I usually find two or three new ones to follow during every read-a-thon.

"Picture It" Mini Challenge

The assignment from Kristen at The Book Monsters is to post a picture of where/what I'm reading this hour.  

"The Fate of Mercy Alban" by Wendy Webb
Still reading from my favorite couch corner.

That was easy!

Hour 8 - The Book Sentence Challenge

Compose a sentence using only the titles of books on your shelves.  Sounds simple enough.  Oh, so misleading!  If I ever write a novel, the title will begin with a verb just to make things easier for future challenges.  Here's my best effort:

After the rain, Lark and Termite, famous investigators, 

ride the dark trail around the world in eighty days.

Hey, nobody said it had to be a good sentence.

Hosted by Midnight Book Girl and Fake Steph.

Hour 7 Mini-Challenge: The Cover

Time is flying!  We're already into hour 7 of the read-a-thon and, as usual, I haven't read nearly as much as I had hoped.  But I'm having lots of fun, so it's all good. 

The challenge this hour is to pick the "best" and "worst" of the available covers of one of the books we are reading or plan to read today.  At the moment I'm working on an ARC with no cover at all, and a new book that doesn't have multiple covers yet, so I'm choosing a couple of old favorites.

Talk of cover art brings up one of my pet peeves:  book covers with pictures from the movie.  Case in point:

We won't go into the many reasons that the original cover (left) is better than the movie tie-in version, because that's not really the book I intended to talk about.  

The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch by Marcia Moyer is one of my all-time favorites.  It was one of those random library picks based mostly on the original cover (left).  The paperback version is the one I own, but I never would have picked it off the shelf based on the boring cover.  And red heels have nothing at all to do with the story - they don't even convey the feel of the story.  The third cover is one I hadn't seen until just now when searching for images.  At least it reverted to boots, but pink and glitzy are certainly not apropos.

Obviously, the original cover is the winner in my view.  Visit Maria @ Reading My Way Through Life to see what covers other read-a-thoners love to hate.

Hour 5 Mini-Challenge: Self-Portrait

The ladies at The Estella Society want to see who's reading today.  I'm home alone (at least for a few hours) and curled up in my favorite spot on the uber-comfy sofa.