I am really sorry, guys, but I am going to have to step out of the event. I’m feeling tired and queasy, so I’m going to focus on getting better. It’s not unlikely that I will do some reading in the process, but it’s no read-a-thon for me this time around. Hopefully I’ll feel better and be better prepared for the next one!

To all those of you who are participating: good luck and have fun!

For the June Read-a-thon, I signed up weeks in advance and spent a lot of time planning what to read, what to eat, how to get home in time for the start of it &c.

This time around, I signed up just a few days before the event, and I didn’t actually discover the date of it until extremely late. This is, of course, because I have been completely out of the book blog loop since the summer. The only reason I discovered it in time is because I found my friend Sam’s book blog and he’s signed up to take part as well. (It’s definitely worth checking out his blog—he reads a lot and he writes great reviews of what he reads.)

I have done some prep work, though. I’ve set up my internet so that I can surf from my bedroom (which is convenient as that’s where I tend to do most of my reading), I’ve bought snacks (and coffee!) to get me through the night and right now I’m about to go make a big batch of fruit salad, so I have something healthy as well, not just the usual crap. ;) I also need to clear some stuff out of my bedroom and go dig up my camera so that I can show you my books and anything else I might feel like.

I have assembled a huge pile of books to choose from. Most of it consists of the old murder mysteries from my grandfather’s house, but there is also some Douglas Coupland, a book by Alan Cumming (yes, the actor) and my Collected Poems of AE Housman, to get me through those patches when I don’t feel like reading much. I also have a couple of volumes of manga, in case I get really tired. They tend to be easier to get through.

I am missing my copy of A Strong and Sudden Thaw a little, though. I lent it to my friend Banquo when she was here this summer and I don’t at all regret that, it’s just that right now I have an incredibly powerful urge to re-read it. I miss David and Callan!

Kick-off in just over an hour. I better go get those last things sorted!

The Read-a-thon’s over and I’m sitting here with pasta with blue cheese, a cup of tea and my little black book of books.

I enjoyed the whole experience ever so much and next time I intend to participate again, only that time I hope to be able to do the full twenty-four hours (why must there be such a thing as work? Why, oh why?). And next time, I hope my blog doesn’t die on me right in the middle of it. Do you have any idea how excruciatingly annoying that was?

I wish I’d had more time for visiting all the other participants. I did try at the start of it, but then I hardly got any reading done, so I stopped after a while. There were a couple of people I did check in on regularly, but I was a poor commenter to be sure.

Let’s have some numbers then!
8 books finished
2 books dabbled in
1,550 pages read
12.4 hours spent reading
6.5 hours spent sleeping/watching Doctor Who
4 hours (approximately) spent blogging/visiting other people’s blogs
10 cups of tea consumed
1 cup of (shoddy) coffee consumed

Next time I want to spend less time sleeping, more time reading, and hopefully break the 2,000-page barrier. I wasn’t that far off this time, all things considered. (Eva kind of scares me, though. I think she must be superhuman…)

In the photo below you can see eight of the books I picked up and read at some point during the Read-a-thon. Only six of those I finished, though. The other two of my completed reads were e-books, which makes it a tad difficult to include them in the photo.

Post-event survey from Dewey:
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 22 and 23, definitely. I wasn’t very tired, exactly, but my eyes were finding it a little hard to focus on the text.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
My last hour I spent on The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, and I wish I’d started it a little earlier, because it’s a very fast, very fun, read and I would’ve liked to have finished it during the Read-a-thon.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not really, I think it was fab the way it was! What do you mean, next year, though? ;D

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I really loved the mini-challenges and the cheerleading. I know I didn’t participate in many of the mini-challenges (I meant to for a lot of the later ones, but then my blog stopped working so I couldn’t, and some of the earlier ones I missed because I’d gone to bed), but they are a very nice touch to keep people interacting with each other. And the cheerleaders were gold!
Another thing is I read a lot of kid’s fiction/YA, which helped move things along (even though I felt a bit like I was cheating at times, reading such “simple” stuff).

5. How many books did you read?
I finished eight and read parts of two more.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
Finished: Travels in the Scriptorium РPaul Auster, The Rose and the Ring РWilliam Makepeace Thackeray, Dr̦mponnyn РPia Hagmar, Teena g̴r til filmen РRia Tofft, Sandman: The Kindly Ones РNeil Gaiman, Lad, a Dog РAlbert Payson Terhune, Good Luck to the Rider РJoan Phipson, Melka: The Story of an Arab Pony РJoan Penney
Dabbled in: A Game of Thrones – George R R Martin, The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
See my answer to question 2. I really liked Travels in the Scriptorium too, though, as well as Gaiman’s The Kindly Ones.

8. Which did you enjoy least?
I liked them all, or I would’ve put them straight down. I can say that A Game of Thrones was perhaps not the best choice for the Read-a-thon. I was already more than half-way in by the time the ‘thon started, but I felt it was a little heavy and really slowed down my pace, so I didn’t read that much from it.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
n/a

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I should like to participate again very much! Same role as this time, except I hope I’d be able to stay awake the full twenty-four hours.

Title of book(s) read this hour: The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett
Number of books read since you started: 8 (Travels in the Scriptorium РPaul Auster, The Rose and the Ring РWilliam Makepeace Thackeray, Dr̦mponnyn РPia Hagmar, Teena g̴r til filmen РRia Tofft, Sandman: The Kindly Ones РNeil Gaiman, Lad, a Dog РAlbert Payson Terhune, Good Luck to the Rider РJoan Phipson, Melka: The Story of an Arab Pony РJoan Penney)
Pages read: 94
Running total of pages read since you started: 1550
Amount of time spent reading: 47 mins
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 12 hrs 25 mins

I ended up not going with the Hitchcock short stories after all. I had it in my hand and everything, but then I glanced at my copy of The Uncommon Reader, tried a page and just had to go on. I didn’t quite finish it, but as I’ve only got about twenty-five pages to go, I dare say I will later tonight.

And that’s the end of that. I had heaps of fun and will be posting an entry summing things up in a tick.

Title of book(s) read this hour: Melka: The Story of an Arab Pony – Joan Penney
Number of books read since you started: 8 (Travels in the Scriptorium РPaul Auster, The Rose and the Ring РWilliam Makepeace Thackeray, Dr̦mponnyn РPia Hagmar, Teena g̴r til filmen РRia Tofft, Sandman: The Kindly Ones РNeil Gaiman, Lad, a Dog РAlbert Payson Terhune, Good Luck to the Rider РJoan Phipson, Melka: The Story of an Arab Pony РJoan Penney)
Pages read: 95
Running total of pages read since you started: 1456
Amount of time spent reading: 53 mins
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 11 hrs 38 mins

One measly hour to go, but it does look as though I’ll manage my not-really-set goal of 1500 pages. My eyes don’t feel as tired now as they did an hour ago, which is certainly nice. I think I’ll round off with some Hitchcock short stories.

A big, huge thank you to Dewey for arranging the Read-a-thon. She’s brilliant!

Another big, huge thank you to all the cheerleaders! Your comments have really brightened the whole experience, and if I had gone for the full twenty-four hours, I’m sure I would have appreciated them all even more.