Books:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Starting things off with Yann Martel’s Life of Pi.

10:25am – Talk about getting nowhere fast. I got distracted in the garden and NOW I’m really getting started. Good thing I’m dragging my readathon out into tomorrow.

Took a 2-hour nap, went shopping for herbs, and now they are planted. Reading now.

3:42pm – Starting Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

5:30pm – Read 83pgs/80mins. This book is a pretty quick read. Lots of similarities with the series so far. I know that’s boring to a lot of people, but I enjoy Dexter’s inner monologue.

Breaking to clean and do some dinner prep!

MIDNIGHT - I’m not feeling too well, but I’m not sleepy yet, so I’m going to try to get more reading in. Until the Benadryl kicks in…15pgs/11mins

5:55am – I started to fall asleep in the chair last night and took myself to bed after about 15 pages. But I’m up again and joining you all for the last hour! I won’t be updating again until it’s officially “over.”

7:00am – TIME! 65pgs/60mins. Congrats to all of you who went the distance and managed to stay awake for TWENTY. FOUR. SOLID. HOURS! Now get your behinds in bed. I still feel rotten, but I’m here in my chair, engrossed in this book, so I might be here a little longer. Anyone going to be dragging their readathon out longer into the day?

Mini-Challenges:
The Cliffhanger Challenge
The best cliffhanger so far has been the human head flying out of the refrigeration truck and hitting the side of Dexter’s car. We now know that someone has upped the stakes quite a bit. There’s no way I could put it down after that!

End of Event Meme
1. Which hour was most daunting for you? – Probably the one when I took the Benadryl. Yipes.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Darkly Dreaming Dexter is the only one I made progress on (that’s what happens when this thing occurs on my planting weekend!) and it’s really a page-turner. Maybe even more if you haven’t seen the TV show.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I’d rather see it start on a Friday night locally, but that’s just me. I might do that next time.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Saw a lot of fun mini-challenges. Didn’t participate in as many this year though.
5. How many books did you read? Most of one.
6. What were the names of the books you read? (Listed at the top.)
7. Which book did you enjoy most? The only one I made progress on.
8. Which did you enjoy least? N/A
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Spreading my time commitment (one hour) over the course of the 24 hours was a good idea. I’ll do that again next time.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Without a doubt, I’ll be here again! I think next time I might try to host a mini-challenge.

Today I am participating in Bethany’s Read. Read. Readathon. You can find out more here. Not too late to jump in!

It’s 11:31 and I’m starting off with Sarum. Maybe I’ll finish it today? We’ll see.

12:31 pm – I do not recommend reading books with tiny print for a readathon. It makes your reading totals look dismal. Taking a quick break for some laundry and to grab some lunch.

2:12 pm – Sarum was just not holding my attention for any length of time and the 8pt font wasn’t helping either. So I started a new book. No Country For Old Men. It’s been in my “to read” pile for a while and now I’m going after it. LOVE. IT. Fast paced and such great writing.

6:20 pm – So…I took a nap. Back to reading though! I’ve knocked out 110 pages of No Country For Old Men. Can’t wait to see the movie now.

7:28 pm – Reading in the bathtub. It’s the way to go. Oh, and I had some chocolate Malt-o-Meal earlier. I love that stuff. It’s like hot chocolate in a bowl. That you eat.

10:40 pm – I am turning in for the night. It’s been so much fun meeting and interacting with all the bloggers participating today. There are so many blogs I have added to my feed reader today and I just can’t wait to do this again! Goodnight, all!

Time spent reading: 260 mins
Total pages: 240 pages

Taking part in I Heart Monster’s Breaktime Shindig. I typed “Sindig” on accident, but fixed it. That’s a totally different thing.

1. Lose Your Cred – I love the colors she uses on her blog! They make my heart smile. What a bright, cheery place.
2. This Bookshelves of Doom lady? Hilarious. I mean, you can kinda gather that from the header. But yeah, I think she’s really funny.
3. Okay, Emily says that we don’t have to take her too seriously, but there is just something about the header at Seriously Reading that makes me feel like I should. I’m loving the header. The red is so striking against the black and white. Hey, Emily? I don’t have anyone to talk books with either. Glad we both have outlets for that!
4. tuulenhaiven has some awfully serene colors going on over at her blog. I love it.
5. Brown Girl has got some clean lines going on and I LOVE clean lines. A sucker for them even.

I have been wondering how other people go into readathons. So far I have only taken part in one official readathon with a group and then one by myself, but when I see other people gearing up for a weekend of reading most of them take a pile of books in. Me, well, I have brought in an average of 3 pretty long novels to either finish or read from start to finish that day.

Maybe it’s because I can’t get into more than 2 or 3 books at one time. I used to, but nowadays I start getting them really mixed up.

And the snacks. What do you snack on? I haven’t found anything that’s been a good standby to have on hand. I try not to eat a lot of carbs and that can be difficult when it comes to quick snacks.

Drinks. What do you drink? I’ve been started the day off with my normal 1-2 cups of coffee, followed by a variety of herbal tea throughout the day, and water. Occasionally I’ll change it up a little with a Diet Dr. Pepper. I know that’s Ronnica approved.

So, how do you approach a readathon?

I have decided that whenever I set aside more than 2 hours specifically for reading, I’m going to let it be my own personal readathon. When I do this I will keep you all informed of my progress.

This afternoon I am working on Ami McKay’s The Birth House. To start out, the short synopsis of this book sounded far more interesting than the first 120 pages proved to be, but I will persevere.

Time spent reading: 202 minutes
Total pages read: 272

Update 1: The book has picked up. I would have liked to see a little more character development in the beginning (as that’s what really pulls me into a story), but things are better. Also, I don’t think I gave the book enough time at the beginning to “get into” it. Do you ever find that happens to you? I sometimes need to devote an hour to starting a book for the magnetism to get a good grasp on me.

Update 2: We’ve got some plot now! I’m not really sure about the first half of this book. We meet a few cliched characters and it takes well over one hundred pages before anything really gets going. But I’m enjoying it. Ready to see where the story goes from here. Have about 60 pages left and I plan to finish it before bed tonight.

Update 3: Decent book. Not one I’ll read again, so it’s going right back up on PaperbackSwap. Hope the next person enjoys!

Question for readers: How long does it take you to get into a book? (on average)