Eclectic Readathon 2015!

[Amanda]

I have been out Christmas shopping allll day. I really thought it wouldn't take so long! Let's see... right now going on in the background my husband is watching hockey while I wrap Christmas gifts and read - one gift then one chapter! I am going to continue reading tonight since I spent so much time out today. :)

[Meredith]

Yay, I finished the book I was reading, which was really my goal for the readathon (especially since today was my last day for my ebook checkout from the library!)

I've been reading sporadically throughout the day while doing other things, so haven't been around for the usual check-ins, but I have been reading!

1.) I started reading when the readathon started last night at 8:00pm for maybe half an hour, but I didn't really get to read again this morning until around 10:30am. My plan was to finish the book I was reading.
2.) I'm just a member of Eclectic Readers :)
3.) Fanfic Title: The Black-Eyed Traveler
4.) Song: The only thing I can think of right now is "Brown-Eyed Girl," since one of the main characters is a girl and has brown eyes
5.) Tweet: 4 Different Londons. Lots of Magic.
6.) In the background: Tyler's switching between Hockey and Batman while I finished up reading.
7.) New Title: Ummm, I dunno, probably what I put as the Fanfic title.
8.) I read approximately 119.5 pages

As for my points:
A twist I didn't expect: 3
Spunky female character: 2
A book on a friend's list: 1
Author I've never read: 1
Place I've never read (a movie theater!): 2
Reading with a warm beverage: 1
Quotes in the book I highlighted: 3

And I have one that I'm not sure if I can count or not, the one about a protagonist not understanding a language being spoken; I feel like there are two main characters in this book, and one of them doesn't understand a couple different languages being spoken, so, if that counts, that would be an additional 2 points.

So, my score is either 13 or 15, depending on the final ruling ;)

I had fun and hope everyone else did as well!

[Kim]

Renaming a book:
Giraffes Can't Dance = Do Whatever Makes You Happy

Hours/pages read:
No idea on number of pages since I didn't keep track but I read at least 2-3 hours total throughout the day.

My points still stand at 12. Nothing else earned.

This was fun and it gave me the push I needed to just read! I still managed to get some things done at home and we took Lexa out to an open play place, but it was nice to ignore the rest of "real life" and just read. The challenges were a nice way to make myself switch it up, and some were hard to earn points for!

I think we should do this once a month or every other month. We could just use the same points sheet too. No need to reinvent the wheel. I just think it would be a nice way for me to be selfish for 24 hours and tackle some serious reading.

[Jeannette]

Thus ends the first ever Eclectic Readathon, guys. Thanks to everyone who played along with us. Please feel free to give us your final point totals, continue catching up on your check-ins, and definitely share your experiences with us. If you have suggestions for how to improve the Readathon, or when we should have another, add that too!

For me...

8:00 PM: How many hours/pages total did you read today? Share any great experiences you had completing these challenges.

I read 653 pages (poetry and a graphic novel account for most of that, so don't freak out at me) and for approximately 10 hours of the Readathon, off and on, beginning at 7:30 this morning. My final point total was 11. The books I read today were all really interesting and fun to read, and I really loved being able to take that time out for it, especially after a really heavy grad school semester.

The absolute BEST part of the experience though, was signing on to this board periodically and seeing new posts and connecting with everyone else as they read. Even though we were all reading different things, it was so much fun to hear what you guys were doing on your end (And it was great to add a new member to our Goodreads group - yay Amanda!). Even if we don't have another Readathon any time soon, we should definitely have more days where we just check in with each other! <3 <3 <3

[Jeannette]

I think we should do this once a month or every other month. We could just use the same points sheet too."

I was thinking we should do this periodically too! I think monthly might be a little frequent, with a bunch of members who have kids and responsibilities (stupid adulting), but every other month? Every 6 months? What do we readers want?

And did everyone like the point sheet? We can always continue to add/subtract for the next event!

And I have one that I'm not sure if I can count or not, the one about a protagonist not understanding a language being spoken; I feel like there are two main characters in this book, and one of them doesn't understand a couple different languages being spoken, so, if that counts, that would be an additional 2 points.

I'd go ahead and count it if it's a main character. Go for it!

[Kim]

Jeannette wrote: "I think we should do this once a month or every other month. We could just use the same points sheet too."

I was thinking we should do this periodically too! I think monthly might be a little freq..."

I'd be ok with every other month or even once a quarter (sorry, finance person talking). Just throwing it out there!

[Sue]

The end time is right when I am completely unavailable online. Haha!

First, the check-in:
8:00 PM: How many hours/pages total did you read today? Share any great experiences you had completing these challenges.
I read about 5.5 hours and about 558 pages (of adult books. I did not count children books)

It was so fun to see what everyone was reading and talking about the check-ins. And, I'm right there with Kim. This was a wonderful way to be selfish and actually sit down and read. I can't remember the last time I read for more than an hour and it was glorious.

Also, we got a new member!!!! Thanks for joining Amanda!

My points total is 8.

And as for frequency, I like the idea of every 6 months. That way we can have one ind the middle of the month and at the end of the year. Also, if we keep doing this, I think we would have a master list for check-ins and challenges and rotate through them so it keeps it a bit more interesting.

Thank you guys for participating in the readathon! It was a lot of fun!!!!

[Kim]

Sue wrote: "The end time is right when I am completely unavailable online. Haha!

First, the check-in:
8:00 PM: How many hours/pages total did you read today? Share any great experiences you had completing the..."

I like the idea of the master list and rotating through challenges. I'm ok with every 6 months too. Really, any frequency is fine by me. If we do go with 2x a year, I wouldn't mind if we did them in "off months", meaning not smack dab in the middle of the summer and again during the holidays. I love any excuse to read but sunshine in Chicago is very precious and we'll want to take advantage of that as a family, and future holidays with a kid who will learn about presents and whatnot may be difficult to incorporate reading time. So something more like April and October would be cool. That's just my selfish request though. I'd still try to do it whenever its planned for!

[[deleted user]]

Disappointed I didn't get to take part in this, especially since it was almost perfectly timed for me. 8PM EST is 1AM here in Ireland, so I could have had a full day of reading. On the down side, I didn't get the notification that it had started until I woke up and by that time it was well under way.

[Jeannette]

Sean wrote: "Disappointed I didn't get to take part in this, especially since it was almost perfectly timed for me. 8PM EST is 1AM here in Ireland, so I could have had a full day of reading. On the down side, I..."

Don't worry, Sean! A similar thing happened to me: I was sick and missed the first few hours, and then got going late on Sunday. From the positive reaction, it looks like we'll be doing it again though, so stay tuned...