Finishing up

So tired. I will do a better wrap up later-
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
5. How many books did you read?
6. What were the names of the books you read?
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
8. Which did you enjoy least?
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

 I don't know how I am going to last :P But as Dori says - Just keep reading and as Marlin says:

Hour 19

5 more hours....I'm not sure I am going to make it. But gosh dang it I will try.

Since we last met I have listened to one little fluffy piece...and read another.

They are both on the same vein - something not to taxing to read in the later hours.

I have realized that I can get E-audiobooks through my library. Which makes me very happy and so I can stay awake and crochet/knit while listening to more books.

I really am hoping that this is going to make the next stretch work out.

Another thing I have been doing is alternating between chapters of different non-fiction books - 5 all told.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

The Hero with A Thousand Faces

It Starts with Food

Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment

and

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

It may be a bit scattered, but I have noticed in past years that this is the time when I am getting too tired to focus on one thing for too long. Check back in an hour!

Hour 11 - Almost Halfway There

I fell asleep - just for a bit. I really need to get better at the night time sleeping thing.

But I just finished Twilight Child. "Gentle" is the best word that I can use to describe this book.

It's a nice little story about Eleni - a child born at twilight and therefore gifted to see the other folk - the fey. Her life takes her from Finland to Scotland when her father decides to take her after her mother's death. She finds herself in Tobermori, a small town in the Scottish highlands.

My Thoughts:

Its a short nice read about Eleni and her life and experience with the other from the tonttu of the Finnish sauna to the brounies of her Scottish home.

I read it once years ago and remembered it as a nice read and wanted to go back to it. I was glad that I did because it was a nice story. But I believe that's the best I can say of it. It was nice.

Well now I am in for the harder bit of staying up for the next 12 hours.

Wish me luck and I hope you all are enjoying your marathon!

Hour 7

Lucky Number 7.

I have just finished the second book of the day "A School for Unusual Girls" by Kathleen Baldwin.

Set between Napoleon's exile to Elba and his attempt to reclaim the continent Georgiana Fitzwilliam finds herself trying to develop a truly invisible ink to help the British in maintaining peace.

A cast set with 4 girls and their teacher Ms. Stranje this school is far more than meets the eye. Each girl having their own special talents they train to be able to enter the world of espionage.

My Thoughts:
This is definitely for a younger crowd than my last read. Shinn is more for college and beyond whereas this felt more high school. Not that I didn't enjoy it but it definitely felt younger. Several of the characters and some of the dialogue felt flat - and the action a little rushed. I found myself thinking - ah yes, here is the "oh my he touched me and I can still feel it even though we just met and I'm sure he hates me" cliche.

I do recognize that it's an extremely specific cliche but when you think about it - you know I'm right...it happens a lot.

It was fun - it did veer off of the history path which is always fun. Revised Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres and I think I will find myself seeking out the sequel and reading it with pleasure.

Hour 3 update

I have finished my first book from today's Read-a-thon. It is one that I was coming back to reread.  Royal Airs by Sharon Shinn.

I love this series. I love Sharon Shinn, she is one of my favorite writers and I can't wait for the final installment of this series to come out...Any word on that Sharon??

Hers is a world based on the classic 5 elements and their human counterparts (I have already shared my feelings about Troubled Waters and deeper feelings on Royal Airs read deeper if you so desire) and it is one I love going back to. The next Chapters Jeweled Fire and Unquiet Land are just as jam-packed of adventure, with well rounded characters and I love them dearly.

They are actually one of the few series I own that is in hard back. Because I know that I will read them over and over.

I have a habit of signing and dating my books every time I finish them. (just the ones I own, not the ones borrowed from either library or friends.) I find that it's great to go back and to see when the last time I read it was. And think how much I have changed since my last reading

Anyway. I have already taken a shower break and I really don't know how but I'm already a little drowsy....ok I do know how - not nearly enough sleep last night...oops.

Check in with everyone later.

Hour 0 Prep/Getting to Know Me.

Good Morning Happy People.

The sun is not out yet, the birds are singing and it is earlier than I would ever consider waking up under normal circumstances 



...but these are not normal circumstances and I am so happy to be doing this.  

So to answer a couple of get to know me questions:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Salt Lake City, Utah
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Toss up between "The Accidental Empress" by Allison Pataki or "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell"

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I didn't go all out on the snack front this year, just popcorn, swedish fish, little spearmints to get me going. So I'm pretty chill.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm living with a couple of roommates who aren't huge readers but who are wonderfully supportive of the read-a-thon plans. I really shouldn't be doing this this week as I'm going to Europe with a couple of friends on Tuesday...so I should be prepping for that...
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 not my first rodeo. I have done at least 4 other read-a-thons in the past. This time I will be a little more lax in the timing and probably will end up taking a nap somewhere between the 8-12 hour mark (not the whole time but for a bit) so that I can stay awake longer. I really do want to participate in as much as I can so I figured that for me this was the best way to go.


Anyway. Happy Reading everyone!

It's that time of year again!!!

It's time for the Dewey 24 hour Read-a-thon!!! I have done this several times in years past and I am so excited to get back to it. I have been prepping, stocking up on caffeine and popcorn and have a deep pile of books I'm hoping to get through.

I check in regularly and also be trying to get a handle on the whole instagram thing....I know I should be able to do that by now but hey, I'm late to the party social media-wise.

Anyway I hope you check in occasionally and I also hope that you read along - doesn't have to be for the full 24 hrs, but still feel free to join in and let me know what you are reading!

In the Shadow of Lakecrest

By: Elizabeth Blackwell
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Gothic
Rating: 3.5 stars
Summary:
The year is 1928. Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.

After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

My Thoughts:

I will start out by saying that Gothic stories are not my favorite. I don't have much patience for the woman going mad story. I prefer to cut to the chase, figure out what is going on and actually having problems that you are capable of facing. Ghosts are not my things, thinking that you are being driven insane is also not my thing, being put in a position where you feel that all of your power is taken away from you - MOST DEFINITELY NOT. MY. THING.
 
I read it in just 2 days - so it was compelling. Irritating as anything, but compelling.

Kate makes a case for not marrying a man until you know who your mother-in-law is going to be. The first Mrs. Lemont is controlling, cold, manipulative and really I couldn't find anything redemptive about her. She is the spider and everyone in her family is caught in a web of her design and she comes across - at least to me - as flat out evil. Emphasis on the "flat" there wasn't enough of a development of her character to make her compelling. 


With all of the frustration from the MIL I will say that this was a book that made my lunch hours fly by. I was entertained by it and I needed to read it faster so that the book would actually get to the part that it had been hinting at so heavily.

If I find more of Elizabeth Blackwell's work I will definitely give it a go though this isn't a book that I would buy for my shelves. 


I was given a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.