Susan Used to Live on Reader Lane

[Ann A]

Boy, do I love scones! And I'm with you on being grateful for technology. Not sure what I'd do without it right now.

[Susan]

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? I’m switching back to Boxer by Gene Luen Yang, one of a pair of graphic novels about the so-called Boxer rebellion. Taking a break from a wild car chase in Airs Above Ground by Mary Stewart
2. How many books have you read so far? None completed. I’ve read 3/4s of Boxer, some of Airs Above Ground and four stories in The Captain of the Pole Star and Other Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Really looking forward to Saint, the complementary story to Boxer.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I just have a loss of focus generally. Just keep coming back to reading as soon as I realize I’m drifting into something else.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? It doesn’t change anything, but it’s still good to be reading in company with everyone. Not to mention snacking.

[Susan]

Ann A wrote: "Boy, do I love scones! And I'm with you on being grateful for technology. Not sure what I'd do without it right now."

Truly! Hope your Readathon is going well.

[Susan]

Finished Boxer (325 pages) and Airs Above the Ground (220 pages read during Readathon). Going to see if I can fit in another Arthur Conan Doyle tale and then head to bed. Hope to get a little more reading in tomorrow morning.

[Ann A]

I love Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Looks like you've had a good day! I'm also hoping to stay up for a bit, then come back for the finish tomorrow morning.

[Susan]

Ann A wrote: "I love Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Looks like you've had a good day! I'm also hoping to stay up for a bit, then come back for the finish tomorrow morning."

Looks like you had a good day, too! It’s fun reading Doyle’s non-Sherlock stories — he wrote such a variety — I’m counting one of the stories I read as science fiction for Bingo, and it was also very funny (The Great Keinplatz Experiment)

[Susan]

Good morning fellow readers! I’m up a little early and waiting for my coffee, hoping to get in a little more reading. I listened to a bit of my current audiobook, Bleak House, last night and this morning (25 minutes) — every bit counts with a 43 hr book ;), excellent as it is! Now for something completely different!

[Claire]

Good morning, hope you manage a little more reading.

[Vicki Willis]

Enjoy the last hour!

[Susan]

Claire wrote: "Good morning, hope you manage a little more reading."

Thanks, Claire. I hope you did, too!

[Susan]

Vicki Willis wrote: "Enjoy the last hour!"

I did, Vicki! Hope you did, too!

[Susan]

What I read this time:

Libby (Library) —
Boxers, Gene Luen Yang (graphic)—FINISHED, 325 pages
Saints, Gene Luen Yang (graphic) — started, 14 pages

Kindle—
Airs Above Ground, Mary Stewart (suspense)—FINISHED, 220 pages read during Readathon
The Captain of the Pole Star and Other Tales, Arthur Conan Doyle (thriller)—read 5 stories or about 50 percent — 117 pages
Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia Butler (science fiction) — read one story, two essays and brief biography of author — 34 pages

Audio — Bleak House, Dickens (classic) — listened to 25 minutes (equal to 12 pages)

722 pages total

[Susan]

Closing Survey

How would you assess your reading overall? I read 2-1/2 books and a bit of 3 others which is consistent with my usual butterfly method of reading. Probably my best total pages read (722 pgs)

Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it? I tried to limit social media, news, and videogames. I finally hit my reading stride yesterday evening and this morning. Better late than never...

What was your favorite snack? Chocolate miniatures! And decaf chai tea.

Wanna volunteer for our next event? Stay tuned for the recap post!
I do and already signed up. Thanks to all the folks who make this great event happen year after year!

[Susan]

BIngo — Completed one row:
—Read a book that has been on your TBR a long time (The Captain of the Pole Star and Other Tales, Blood Child and Other Stories)
—Eat something healthy (Amy’s vegetable soup, green beans)
—FREE
—Listen to part of an audiobook (Bleak House)
—Book with a character who works an “essential” job (Airs Above Ground where the heroine is a qualified veterinarian AND the hero is a spy ;)

[Susan]

DEWEY MEMORY

How excited I was to finally do a Dewey’s Readathon in Oct 2017 after years of hearing about them and how much fun it was!

One of my traditions is that whatever book I list in the mid-day survey “ What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?” does not get read ;) At least not in the Readathon ;). It’s not deliberate, just seems to work out that way

[Susan]

Fun reading with you all as always! I still have all my healthy snacks ;) and plan to spend the day carrying on the Readathon momentum with reading and book related activities. I have a small IKEA bookcase to put together and organize, maybe while listening to an audiobook. I also want to put together a “care” package of mysteries for a friend who has read all her library books ;).
Enjoy your day!

[Susy]

Susan wrote: "Fun reading with you all as always! I still have all my healthy snacks ;) and plan to spend the day carrying on the Readathon momentum with reading and book related activities. I have a small IKEA ..."

It sure was fun! I carried on as well and finished another 2 books.

Susan wrote: "What I read this time:

Libby (Library) —
Boxers, Gene Luen Yang (graphic)—FINISHED, 325 pages
Saints, Gene Luen Yang (graphic) — started, 14 pages

Kindle—
Airs Above Ground, Mary Stewart (suspe..."

Looks like you did great, Susan!
I managed more hours than usual but less pages...

Already looking forward to October!

[Susan]

Susan, it looks like you had a phenomenal day. Way to go!

[Claire]

Susan wrote: "Claire wrote: "Good morning, hope you manage a little more reading."

Thanks, Claire. I hope you did, too!"

Finished my second book & started my third.

[Ann A]

Susan wrote: "Fun reading with you all as always! I still have all my healthy snacks ;) and plan to spend the day carrying on the Readathon momentum with reading and book related activities. I have a small IKEA ..."

I love that you are carrying on with "Readathon momentum". And putting together a book care package is very nice of you. You have inspired me to think about who would enjoy borrowing some of my books. Can't wait until the next RAT! (In the meantime, I'll look forward to seeing what you're reading.)

[Cynda]

Glad you enjoyed readathon Susan. What a delight to have read with you again.

[Vicki Willis]

Wow! You had an amazing RAT this time.
How did the bookcase turn out?

[Susan]

Excited to see on Facebook that the Reverse Readathon is on for Aug 7-8. Starting to plan books (and snacks)

[Susy]

Yay! I have a readathon next weekend. Will do my planning after that.
Looking forward to seeing your TBR Susan!

[Jamie]

What readathon is next weekend!

[Jamie]

Looking for something to replace my time since other weekend events were cancelled.

[Susy]

The reading rush is all week.
In the weekend there’s 24B4MONDAY.
And I’m doing my own 24in48 readathon with friends.

[Jamie]

Susy wrote: "The reading rush is all week.
In the weekend there’s 24B4MONDAY.
And I’m doing my own 24in48 readathon with friends."

Ooh busy weekend! I almost forgot about the reading rush! 24in48 type readathons are always fun :)

[Susan]

Susy wrote: "Yay! I have a readathon next weekend. Will do my planning after that.
Looking forward to seeing your TBR Susan!"

Enjoy your reading next weekend, Susy! I look forward to seeing your TBR for the Reverse Readathon, too. Maybe I can get some more ideas ;).

[Susan]

Gosh, time has flown, and the Reverse Readathon is coming right up! I’ve got a tentative list to pick from:

My Books
**The Plot Against America, Philip Roth (loan from friend)
Black Water Lilies, Michel Bussi (mystery)
Business as Usual, Jane Oliver & Ann Stafford (novel)
Just One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor (fantasy)
The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis (novel)
A Wolf by the Ears, Wayne Karlin (historical novel)
March 3, John Lewis (graphic)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Sci-fi)
1919, Eve Ewing (poetry)
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates (fiction)

Library (Thanks to Cynda for idea)
El Cid: The Conqueror, Garry Reed (graphic)

Audiobooks —
News of the World, Paulette Jiles
A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, Ben Garrod
The Real Sherlock, Lucinda Hawksley
The Dispatcher, John Scalzi
A Mind of Her Own, Paula McLain

Additions:
The Greatcoat, Helen Dunmore
The Revisioners, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Glasstown, Isabel Greenberg

Manga:
Guardians of the Louvre, Jiro Taniguchi
Sherlock — The Great Game
Sherlock — A Study in Pink

Snack ideas:
—hummus, crackers, and veggies (carrots, pea pods and grape tomatoes)
—grapefruit seltzer, Dunkin Donuts ice coffee, homemade ginger beer?
—popcorn, brownie crisp cookies, peaches, peanut M&Ms

Meals:
Breakfast — toasted bagel, banana and coffee
Lunch — tuna fish salad and veggies
Dinner — fig, cheese and arugula pizza with Caesar salad

bully stick for Jaxie D. Barker ;)

[Elyse]

Great selection! All Systems Red is great! Oooh homemade ginger beer!

[Leni]

Agreed, All Systems Red is great! I should really get the next book. Just One Damned Thing After Another is superbly entertaining too. But unfortunately I found that the subsequent books got progressively worse (and formulaic) to where I just quit after book 3 or 4. First book is still well worth reading though.

[Susan]

Elyse wrote: "Great selection! All Systems Red is great! Oooh homemade ginger beer!"

We’ll see how the ginger beer turns out — there’s a shortcut using a simple syrup and seltzer that sounds a lot easier than fermenting a batch...;)

[Susan]

Leni wrote: "Agreed, All Systems Red is great! I should really get the next book. Just One Damned Thing After Another is superbly entertaining too. But unfortunately I found that the subsequent books got progre..."

With you and Elyse and others praising it so highly, I can hardly wait to start All Systems Red. Thanks for warning about sequels to Just One Damned Thing After Another — too bad, though.

[Elyse]

Susan wrote: "WWe’ll see how the ginger beer turns out — there’s a shortcut using a simple syrup and seltzer that sounds a lot easier than fermenting a batch...;)..."

You should make it both ways and see which is better! Maybe make it the easy way for the 'thon and make it the harder way next weekend. lol.

[Susan]

Elyse wrote: "Susan wrote: "WWe’ll see how the ginger beer turns out — there’s a shortcut using a simple syrup and seltzer that sounds a lot easier than fermenting a batch...;)..."

You should make it both ways ..."

I dunno. I was a little put off by the part of the instructions where they said you have to check the fermenting versión every day or it may explode :o

[Elyse]

Susan wrote: "I dunno. I was a little put off by the part of the instructions where they said you have to check the fermenting versión every day or it may explode :o..."

Oh wow! That could be...exciting...lol.

[Susan]

I’ve followed Leni’s great idea and did my BINGO “blind pick” now for my first read. With a mix of paper, audiobooks, and ebooks on my list, I used a random number generator and got #13 — A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs (audiobook). I never would have picked it to start with, but it should be a fun read/listen!

[Leni]

That sounds fun. I miss my Youngest's dino phase. He was like a little walking encyclopedia of dinosaurs. He once, at maybe age 6 or so, raged at a non-fiction dinosaur book aimed at children because it had pictures of herbivores in a grassy field (there was no grass in the Mesozoic) and said that T-Rex was fast enough to chase and catch some small dinosaur, might have been Compsognathus (and maybe it would have been fast enough, but they lived millions of years apart on different continents, so it doesn't matter who was faster). I got a bit bored just reading dino fiction and dino facts to him every single bedtime, but now I'm sad that he seems to have forgotten most of what he knew!

[Susan]

My youngest nephew was like that — just dinosaur intense —once we went on a tour of a park near where they lived in Connecticut that had dinosaur footprints, and he was not only following every word the park ranger said, but supplementing it! But I think he’s outgrown dinosaurs now too. (sigh)

[Susan]

Ok, I’ve fine tuned my Readathon list with one eye to the BINGO card — added The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore for a wintry read, some manga for books outside my comfort zone, and some women in translation for the make your own challenge square. Obviously, I won’t read everything on the list, and there are a “few” other books around that might get swapped in ;), but that’s the starting lineup

My Books
**The Plot Against America, Philip Roth (fiction)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Sci-fi)
Just One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor (fantasy)
1919, Eve Ewing (poetry)
March 3, John Lewis (graphic)
The Greatcoat, Helen Dunmore (suspense)

Library (Thanks to Cynda for graphic ideas)
The Revisionists, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (fiction)
The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer (historical romance)
El Cid: The Conqueror, Garry Reed (graphic)
Glass Town, Isabel Greenberg (graphic)
Guardians of the Louvre (manga)
Sherlock — The Great Game (manga)
Sherlock — A Study in Pink (manga)

Audiobooks —
A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, Ben Garrod (non-fiction)
News of the World, Paulette Jiles (fiction)
The Real Sherlock, Lucinda Hawksley (non-fiction)

Women in Translation —
Flights, Olga Tokarczuk (fiction)
Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich (non-fiction)
Sofia Petrovna, Lydia Chukovskaya (fiction)
Memoirs of Hadrian, Margaret Yourcenar (fiction)

[Elyse]

Nice list! Have fun!

[Susan]

Opening Survey!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Maryland (East Coast US). It’s supposed to be a rainy night, so perfect for reading.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Hard to pick, but I’m really intrigued by the premise of Guardians of the Louvre.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Dewey’s Bakery Brownie Crisp Cookie Thins. Never had them but they sound delicious. Also, cantaloupe.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I love to read and have a few too many books ;). My reading buddy today is a sweet rescue pooch named Jaxie, who will probably spend most of the Readathon sleeping on my bed.

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?
I’m going to try checking into social media less frequently since it can be a distraction. Will see how it goes!

[Cynda]

We had the weakest part of Hurricane Hannah. My family got much needed rain. Hope Susan you too get just the amount of rain you need from Isaias.

[Susan]

Cynda wrote: "We had the weakest part of Hurricane Hannah. My family got much needed rain. Hope Susan you too get just the amount of rain you need from Isaias."

We were lucky, Cynda — both plants and people were happy and not too much flooding. Feeling grateful

[Susan]

Off to a good beginning with 1/2 A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaur’s finished (and very interesting, too) and 1/2 of Guardians of the Louvre, which is fantastic — the illustrations are like watercolors. Going to rest and see if I can listen to another chapter of Dinosaurs before I fall asleep. Snacks so far — cantaloupe and chocolate gelato .

[Ann A]

Great start! Hope you enjoy a nice snooze so you can power through many pages tomorrow.

I got such a late start that I'm going to try to stay up for awhile - we'll see how that goes ;)

[Susan]

Ann A wrote: "Great start! Hope you enjoy a nice snooze so you can power through many pages tomorrow.

I got such a late start that I'm going to try to stay up for awhile - we'll see how that goes ;)"

Hope your night reading went well, Ann!

[Susan]

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now? Just getting ready to start a new book — think I’ll try The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore.

2. How many books have you read so far? Guardians of the Louvre and 80% of A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? All Systems Red and The Plot Against America

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Biggest interruption was catching some sleep but for me, it’s essential to having a productive Readathon. Ditto multiple walks with pup.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How much I’m enjoying my reads! Also, no BINGO!

[Susan]

Feeling like I need a break so here's an update as the readathon heads into the home stretch
-- I finished 3 short books so far -- an audiobook (A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs by Ben Garod -- great fun and mostly based in the UK) and The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore (a wintry ghost story) plus a wonderful manga adventure Guardians of the Louvre.
--I've got three more (short) books underway -- 1919 (poetry), Glasstown (graphic), and Sophia Petrovna (Woman in Translation)
--Need to read in one more place for a Bingo blackout.
--Lunch was tuna salad with veggies and crackers. Drinks -- DD iced coffee, San Pellegrino lemon seltzer. Snacks -- chocolate gelato, peanuts.
--Now to take pooch for a walk before settling back down to read for a couple more hours. Enjoy your reading!