Well it’s 1pm here in grey old England and it’s time to kick off the readathon with the Introductory Questionaire!
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? England, woop woop!
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan, it has been a to-read for ages and is by one of my favourite authors!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I haven’t in all honestly planned out snacks, when I start reading I get so engrossed that I forget about food, lol. So I will just see what takes my fancy. 🙂
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I’m a University student studying Psychology, which is great but clashes with the creative side of my brain that loves fiction and fantasy!
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? Watching my own slow descent into insanity from lack of sleep. 😛
My Stats:
Current Time: 1.12pm
Pages Read – 0
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 0
Mini-Challenges – 1, Introductory Questionnaire.
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan
1.24PM: Sooo…I still haven’t started, but I am now! Will come back and answer comments when I need a break, whoopie! 🙂
1.27PM: This book smells so good guys!
2.07PM: This room I’m in is absolutely freezing, I can’t feel my hands and I can’t really tuck them into a snugly blanket when I’m reading! First world problems anyone? 😛 Also, my dad is doing plumbing work and so has turned off the water in the house, we’ve stored loads of water in containers so we can still make tea all day. So, so British. The book is good, but I’m having trouble working out how to split time between the reading and all the crazy mini-challenges and social networking and whatnot.
2.23PM: Awwh my cat is all snugged up with me now too! I keep getting Tweets through from people that have already completed books, that just crazy, but congrats to them, they must be superhuman!
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 3 – Book Appetit!
The blogger says, “For this mini challenge if you choose to accept it, I will be asking you to come up a menu to go along with your current read or one of the books in your reading pile today”
My current read is The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan. The drink I have invented to be served at this party is ‘slum juice’ as many of the characters live in the slums and are underground thieves or poor. Folk music would be playing as the book is set in a medieval-esk period. The starter would be soup, the main course pig on a spit, because MEDIEVAL (in case you didn’t get that already :P) and the dessert would be a mixed bowl of berries to reflect the poverty of the characters. 🙂
My Stats:
Current Time: 3.47pm
Pages Read – 32 (Yes, just see how slow I am! Must get focused, LOL.)
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 20 minutes of social networking.
Mini-Challenges – 1, Book Appetit!
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan
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4.04PM: I can’t believe how knackered I feel already, I haven’t even been up long or read much. It’s so typical that I woke up early this morning when I wanted to sleep in. It’s going to make this even more of a challenge. Mwuhuu.
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 4 – Re-Title Your Current Read
The blogger says “Take your current read or the one you just finished, ReTitle it with something clever and post to your blog, twitter, facebook, or goodreads with your snazzy new title!
I would change The Ambassador’s Mission to Wounded Souls, because nobody seems to be very happy at the moment!
4.32PM: Hmm, I have to say I am not really feeling this book at the moment, I may have to switch it up a bit!
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 5 – Self Portrait.
The blogger says “Post a self-portrait on Twitter, Instagram, or your blog. Be sure to tag #readathon and #hour5! You can also link to your post below. We are not judging your hair style or the size of your coffee cup, so we’ll pick the winner of this one randomly.”
So here’s a quick snap in the name of portrait. 😛
5.10PM: In other news, I have switched to The Silver Linings Playbook that was recommended by so many of you!
My Stats:
Current Time: 5.12pm
Pages Read – 54
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 30-35 minutes, snacks and helping my dad fix the water pressure.
Mini-Challenges – 2, Re-Title your current read and self portrait.
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan
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5.18PM: I love how the protagonist Pat calls his (I presume forced) separation from his wife Nikki ‘apart time’, it’s just too funny!
5.57PM: I’ve added in some music to the mix, wasn’t liking all the silence, it seemed a bit ominous LOL. I’m really intrigued by The Silver Linings Playbook at the moment, I have a feeling I am going to really like this book!
6.27PM: Readathon, Readathon, Rah-Rah-Readathon! I’m getting into this now.
6.43PM: These chapters have the most wacky names, but it works. 🙂 This book is great so far, I feel like this is how the voice of Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower should of come across to make it a worthwhile book. I’m wondering what kind of breakdown Pat had…it’s going to be fun piecing it together!
7.07PM: Do you think it’s a crime to drink hot chocolate out of a Keep Calm and Drink TEA mug? :S
It looks so good! Especially since my hands are so cold. Dilemma – drink it or use as a handwarmer…hmm.
My Stats:
Current Time: 7.10pm
Pages Read – 97
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 2 minutes-ish dancing to the Gangnam Style video readathon posted (God dammit why is that addictive?) and another 5 minutes of stroking my cat. 😛
Mini-Challenges – None, the one posted was for people in the US only *sad face*.
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick.
Thoughts on my current book: Something about this book feels so unique, the writing style is refreshing and I have never come across a character quite like Pat before (although I have to say I hate his name, lol). I love that he believes everything has a silver lining which is so unusual these days. He see’s his life as film and is anxiously awaiting the happy ending, as the ‘down, everything goes wrong’ bit of the movie seems to have gone on quite long enough now. This thought process seems completely pragmatic to him, but saddening to everyone else. His reactions to famous literature like The Great Gatsby are hilarious too and yet insightful at the same time. The character Tiffany has just been introduced and I am looking forward to finding out more about her!
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Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 7 – Best and Worst Covers
The blogger says “Your challenge – should you choose to accept it (which I hope you will!) – is to look up one of the books you’re reading for the read-a-thon on Goodreads or Amazon, pick out two or three covers and describe which one you like the best, which one you like the least and why.”
The two books that I have started so far don’t have many variations in their covers as they are both pretty new releases, so I have chosen to look at another book in my readathon stack which I may or may not read, Stolen by Kelley Armstrong.
The first book on the left is the copy I own and I love the front cover because of the beautiful font and the slickness of it. However the second cover I think is absolutely horrible and just makes it look tacky! I don’t feel like it represents the kind of books Armstrong writes at all and I never would have picked up the book if it looked like this.
8.25PM: It’s getting dark guys! THE LIGHTS ARE GOING ON. SHIT JUST GOT REAL, OOOH.
9.38PM: ARRRRG! MY INTERNET WENT OUT. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. AHBDNJFJFFFF!!! Guess I’ll do an update now seeing as ridiculous amounts of time have passed.
My Stats:
Current Time: 9.40pm
Pages Read – 129
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – Urmmm about an hour because I had dinner and then needed to sort out the internet.
Mini-Challenges – 1, Best and worst covers.
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook
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Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 8 – Book Sentence Challenge
The bloggers say ” create a sentence using the titles of books. You must use every word in the title, but you can add punctuation.”
Here goes nothing!
10.30PM: So I just had another break (if you can call it a break because I was still technically reading) to be social and pop over to some other bloggers sites. Good job readers, you’re doing so well. I’m having fun checking out loads of your blogs that are new to me!
Thank you so much to everyone who has stopped by my blog so far and cheered me on, it means the world. 😀
10.50PM: Much deserved dessert break! New York style baked vanilla cheesecake with a cup of tea. Mmmmm…at this point it tastes like the best food I’ve ever had. 😀
10.55PM: LOL. My cat is sniffing and staring intently at my cheesecake, I think she wants some. 😛 The Silver Linings Playbook is still great, they have just gone off to the beach which is making me all nostalgic about past summers. BRING ON SUMMER 2013.
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 11 – Picture it!
The blogger says “Take a picture of the place and/or book you are reading currently and post it somewhere – twitter, your blog, your choice.”
Well, you’ve kind of already seen it before in some of my other pictures because I haven’t moved but here is my cozy little reading spot!
11.45PM: I wonder if I will actually win any of these mini-challenges I have been entering….hmm. If not, it’s still a lot of fun. 🙂
My Stats:
Current Time: 12.00pm – I’ve hit Midnight, woohoo!
Pages Read – 154
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 15 minutes of social networking and cheesecake.
Mini-Challenges – 2, the Book Sentence Challenge and Picture it!
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook, but about to switch back to The Ambassador’s Mission for a change!
Thoughts on current book: This book mentions football a hell of a lot. Normally that would really get on my nerves but it deals with it in a really clever way. The football is never just about the football, it’s about the connection Pat has with his family, or with Nikki and his turbulent emotions and assessments about the world. I’m amazed that I have been reading this book for so many hours and yet I am not bored with it at all, it keeps a really good pace and every chapter is interesting!
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12.46AM: SLEEEEEEPY. :O
The Readathon Mid-Event Survey
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? My eyes are starting to feel a little heavy now definitely, especially after my lack of sleep yesterday but I still feel pretty alert and am definitely up for reading great books!
2) What have you finished reading? Nothing yet I’m afraid, but that was never my goal, I just want to enjoy myself. I’m almost half way through The Silver Linings Playbook.
3) What is your favorite read so far? As I’m sure you can already tell from my updates I am really enjoying SLP. 🙂
4) What about your favorite snacks? Oooh I tell you what, that cheesecake earlier was amazing, but that’s the only snack I’ve really had so far apart from main meals.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I have indeed! I’ve chatted quite a lot with Kimberley who is very new to WordPress. Head on over and give her some encouragement!
1.44AM: Had to take a break and print out some university work that I will need for Sunday. Ever prepared. 😛
1.56AM: I swear I can hear some weird consistent beeping going on faintly in the background, it almost sounds like a fog horn or something… Is it real or do you think the hallucinations are starting? :S
My Stats:
Current Time: 2.08am
Pages Read – 180
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 30 minutes to answer comments and print of some work for university.
Mini-Challenges – 1, Mid-Event Survey
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan again!
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2.42AM: The night owl in me that is normally around finally seems to have snapped into action! I now feel much more awake and am looking forward to getting further into Trudi Canavan’s book! I’m enjoying it a bit more now, a few more events are starting to occur and I can tell she is starting to set the storylines up now!
2.47AM: MEEEEEEE AND MAA TEAAAAAAAAAAA. 🙂 AS HAPPYYY AS CANNN BEEEEEEEEEE.
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 14 – Share a Quote
The blogger says “this challenge is about sharing a quote from the book that you are reading or books that you’ve read during this read-a-thon. I love quotes, so I would really love hear the one that made a big impression on you. Or that you’ve found it completely hilarious! Or that you’ve simply found it beautiful!”
I’m choosing a quote from the Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canvan, there’s nothing poignant about it or moving or anything like that, but there is something in the way the sentence is constructed that I just love and I think it is Trudi’s way of writing like this that makes me love her work:
‘Along with the desicion to accept entrants to the Guild from outside the Houses, it had been decided that family and House names would no longer be used during Guild ceremonies. All who became magicians were expected to risk their lives to defend the Allied Lands, so all should be shown the same level of respect’ – page 68
3.08AM: My blog stats are very happy today/yesterday, they don’t know what’s hit them!!
3.22AM: I am definitely enjoying this book more now, there’s more action and less recapping and I’m finally relaxing into it. 🙂
3.56AM: YOU GUYS, I HAVE HIT MY STRIDE. I am enjoying myself so much and I don’t feel tired AT ALL. THIS IS AWESOME. The headache has gone away too (probably due to the caffine boost, lol).
My Stats:
Current Time: 4.00am
Pages Read – 200 – Whey, a nice round number! It sounds so small though. :O Although quite a lot for me, considering how slowly I read…
Books Finished – 0 – Lets face it, I might as well take this category off here, it was a bit optimistic. 😛
Breaks – 10 minutes-ish of social networking.
Mini-Challenges – 1, Share a Quote
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan
Thoughts on Current book: I am so glad I decided to pick this book up because I am enjoying it much more now than I was at the beginning. I think it took me a while just to relax, at the start of the readathon I felt like I was reading for the sake of reading, now I am definitely all chilled and reading because I want to!
This book see’s many of my favourite characters return, although they are now more like shells of their former selves after the horrific events of the war from the previous book, which is a little saddening. They are also much older, which I am having trouble processing because I keep picturing them how I saw them originally! Already several story-lines have been set up, a mysterious killer is roaming the slums killing the top thief’s in charge, a main characters family has been murdered (I won’t say who) and Sonea’s son, Lorkin is applying for a position that will take him to the far away lands of Sachaka, dangerous territory they have been feuding with for centuries and who they recently fought the war against – with horrific consequences.
IT’S GETTING GOOD.
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4.24AM: I have been visiting a few other blogs, everyone is staying strong and are still enthusiastic, it’s amazing. Keep going guys!! Just keep reading, just keep reading, reading, what do we do? We read. 😛
4.25AM: Ohh also, I found out that weird noise from earlier wasn’t my imagination, it was the washing machine trying to trick me!
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 16 – Turn the Page
The blogger says “For this challenge, you must turn to page 32 of the book you are currently reading (or the nearest page with text on it) and find the most entertaining phrase to complete the following sentence ‘I would rather read than ________ any day!’ ”
So I used The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan and created…… ‘I would rather read than have a firm circle of snooty friends any day!‘
4.47AM: I can hear the birds tweeting!!!
5.06AM: The sky is changing colour and the birds are getting louder! I’ve almost made it through the night, and that’s got to be the hardest part right? The book is still great, Sonea just had a huge face off with her son about whether he could go to Sachaka or not, she pulled him front of a jury and everything! Now that’s extreme parenting. 😉
Mini-Challenge Allert! Hour 17 – Six Word Celebration
The blogger says “Your challenge is to creative a six-word celebration of Dewey’s Read-a-Thon. Go on, you know you want to!”
So here I go! Dewey’s genius remains, literary lovers unite.
5.15AM: SUNRISE GUYS, SUNRISE!
My Stats:
Current Time: 6.00am
Pages Read – 232, yipeee!
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 20 minutes of social networking and basking in the fact that I made it through back to sunlight hours!!!
Mini-Challenges – 2, Turn the Page and Six Word Celebration.
Currently Reading – The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan
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6.04AM: Hmm my tummy is grumbling, time for a super duper early breakfast?
6.07AM: Oooh it’s so misty outside, I hope Dracula’s not sneaking up on me!
6.20AM: I MIGHT HAVE WON A PRIZE! I MIGHT OF! MAYBE. POSSIBLY. BY DEFAULT I THINK. BUT MAYBE! OHH YEAH. Gotta wait to hear back…this victory celebration could be too early…lol.
6.23AM: The readathon site put a parody of the song Thrift Shop as the stay awake video. Hell yeah, I LOVE THIS SONG.
6.38AM: I have a feeling my dear character Sonea is falling into the trap of a douche bag that shouldn’t be trusted, and that she should know better than to trust. Don’t do it Sonea! Use your brain. I’m going to switch back to The Silver Linings Playbook before I get annoyed at her stupidity, lol.
6.48AM: Note – The Silver Linings Playbook spoils the endings of a lot of classic books, you have been warned!
7.05AM: Ok, I feel very sleepy again now, which is probably due to the fact that I put the snugly blanket back over me and I am slouching much more. It would be sooo easy just to close my eyes, agh, but I can’t!
7.19AM: I feeeeels vair tired y’all.
7.22AM: I’m seriously wondering where Pat’s fear of Kenny G the musician comes from. It must be psychologically connected with his Nikki related trauma, I’m just wondering how. I looked up the song by him that he keeps going on about and it’s kind of slow jazz. Current prediction – In the past Pat walked in on Nikki cheating with another man and that song was playing in the background. Educated guess, but could be totally wrong! I’m looking forward to finding out. 🙂
7.53AM: Ew, cold tea! Whoops.
My Stats:
Current Time: 8.00am
Pages Read – 278
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 20 minutes for an early breakfast.
Mini-Challenges – 0.
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Thoughts on Current Book: I think I have been given a few more clues about disaster that led to Pat’s spiral into a breakdown, but I can’t be sure. There hasn’t been much on Tiffany in this section, but rather more on Pat’s parents and their relationship, an interesting change of pace but I will admit not as interesting as some of the other sections of the book!
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8.33AM: Aghh my eyes feel crazy weird. I think I’m spiralling into that insanity we talked about earlier. I feel like I should be grabbing at some shaky handheld camera like in The Blair Witch Project and saying something like, ‘hour 19, still no sign of life on planet book, have been experiencing strange mood swings and mirages of giraffes wandering around in pajamas.’
8.39AM: Participate in the readathon they say. It will be FUN they say….
8.40AM: Kidding.
9.06AM: Must. Keep. Going. Arrgh. Can’t. Think. Of anything. Intelligent. To say. *Brain melts*.
9.50AM: Playing this in an attempt to keep me awake, among other upbeat songs. I can do this. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS.
My Stats:
Current Time: 10.00am
Pages Read – 303
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – 20 minutes of trying to prevent myself from falling into a book coma.
Mini-Challenges – 0.
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Thoughts on Current Book: Tiffany just gave Pat a mysterious letter that he is not allowed to open for 48 hours and must be in a good mood to read. Intriguing, no? Enough to make me continue reading anyway, even though the book seems to have gotten even more sports orientated. Come on Matthew Quick reel it back, get back on track with the story!
Also I swear I just keep reading and reading this book feeling like I’ve read loads, but then I look at the side of it and I still appear to be in the same place. It’s taunting me people!
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10.01AM: Three hours to go!!!!!!!!
10.17AM: Sleeeeeeeep. NEED SLEEP.
10.44AM: The finish line is getting closer and closer!! Really don’t feel all that good now if I’m honest, I think my body clock is EXTREMELY confused.
11.06AM: The book has suddenly take a random turn, he’s decided this certain point of his life is like a montage so this section of the book is made up of tonnes of little snippets. It’s weird, but it works! 🙂
11.08AM: Not too long to go now, I’m going to do it! I really am! 😀
11.29AM: This book is quoting Bonnie Tyler. That was unexpected.
11.42AM: This part of the book is so good! It’s all happening at once, like a big crescendo.
My Stats:
Current Time: 12.00pm
Pages Read – 358
Books Finished – 0
Breaks – None.
Mini-Challenges – 0.
Currently Reading – The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick.
Thoughts on Current Book: This great book is definitely now winding down the story to a finish, along with the readathon! Whether the book will have a happy or sad, I am not quite sure! Annoyingly I don’t quite think I will finish it in time either. 😛
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1.00PM: I’VE FINISHED, HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I MADE IT. 😀
End of Event Meme
- Which hour was most daunting for you? I think right around the 6.30am mark it really started getting to me. I felt like I was through the worse because I made it to daylight again, when reality I actually had about 6 hours left!
- Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Silver Linings Playbook seeing as managed to complete it, but also any Lindsey Kelk books, they are very lighthearted. Basically just books that won’t give you a headache from concentrating so long!
- Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, I thought it was really great, I don’t really know how you would improve it!
- What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The cheerleads and the rest of the blogging community were so great keeping me motivated, and the mini-challenges were great for breaks.
- How many books did you read? I read two books, but I only finished one.
- What were the names of the books you read? The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan and The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick.
- Which book did you enjoy most? The Silver Linings Playbook because I manged to complete it right at the end!
- Which did you enjoy least? Well there’s only two, I think you can do the maths. 🙂
- If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
- How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I would definitely participate as a reader again, or maybe a cheerleader if I had deadlines and wasn’t able to do the full thing.
My Stats:
Current Time: 1.00pm
Total Pages Read – 413
Books Finished – 1! I ACTUALLY FINISHED A BOOK, RIGHT LITERALLY IN THE LAST MINUTE. YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Talk about cutting it fine. 😉
Breaks – None.
Mini-Challenges – 1, End of Event Meme.
I really can’t believe I made it! THANK YOU so so much guys for following me along on my journey and checking back in every so often. It really means so much to me and your encouragement helped me complete the entire 24 HOURS! I hope you had fun seeing me struggle along into the early morning and back again, I know I did. 😀
Although it may look like I didn’t read all that much considering my number of pages, I spent almost every moment reading apart from updating this blog. The rest of the time I was either reading your lovely comments, or reading other people’s blogs, and discovering some great new blog owners, I think that counts don’t you? 😉
Speak to you all later! I’m off to catch some Zzz’s O_-
