Winter20 Read-a-Thon: Wrap-Up

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

That’s a wrap on our final read-a-thon of 2020!

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?

[Kim]

First of all - thanks to all the moderators for all their hard work!!!

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 8 books, 2143 Pages, and 826 minutes

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I wanted to read 3-5 books, which I did. Personally, my biggest distractions were having guests and then traveling for the holiday. But I also found the articles to be very distracting.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? I enjoyed the Fall read-a-thon much more.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon? The Tuscan Child

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons? Knowing the prompts for the group challenge in advance would have helped me, personally. I could have planned my reading around it, spent a little time reading the articles in advance, etc. I found myself spending too much of the time I would have been reading trying to figure out the article tie-ins.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? I can't say at this time. This is the second read-a-thon for me, and I enjoyed the one that I did only the Individual challenge better.

[Sherri]

1. I read 4 books 1,084 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? Yes, I did a lot better than I thought. I was aiming to complete 2 book maybe 3. My biggest distraction was the holiday week.
3. Did you have fun? Yes. I love read-a-thons. My favorite parts were the space travel millions of miles of pages. Very well done. Also I liked checking in with Team Joy. I was lucky to be placed with over achievers. Those girls are reading goddesses.
4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon? 3 of my reads were nonfiction. Those were 5 or 4 star reads. While I enjoyed them my favorite was a 3 star read. One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. I think just because it was YA & fiction. I was ready to switch back to fiction. I read that book fast.
5. I can’t think of a suggestion to make the read-a-thon better. I liked reading the essays & matching it with a book. My only thought was I didn’t feel pressed to complete this challenge. I’m used to different levels & competition. Would you like to see more read- a- thons in the future? No. I feel ATY has the perfect number of read-a-thongs. I participate in other groups & they have read-a-thons throughout the year. While doing this activity I was also doing Nonfiction November at the same time.
6. Count me in for future read-a-thons. I hope we have one during the winter.

[Sandra]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
Finished 5 books and read 1220 pages.

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I didn't meet all of my reading goals - there were a few books I wanted to finish and didn't, but overall I'm happy with the books I managed to finish. My biggest distraction was online black friday shopping!!

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I definitely had fun. My favourite part was trying to match books to the articles, even though I wasn't very successful at it.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
A Quiet Kind of Thunder

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
I'd love to see the prompts being released earlier so that there's more time to find suitable books to read during the read-a-thon.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Definitely!!

[Edie]

First, THANKS to the mods who make this happen.

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 3 books, 1,242 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? Great weather, too much time on a hidden object game.
3. Did you have fun? Yes, but it seemed more subdued than usual. What were your favorite parts? Seeing what others were reading.
4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon? True Grit
5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? While I liked the idea of the positive articles, having them as prompts were, for me, a bit of stretch, What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons? More of the quizzes or activities like literary pictures.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes!!

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[Nancy]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 3 print books, 3 audiobooks. 1,203 pages, 32:33!

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I would have liked to finish my current audiobook, I have 3:30 left on it. Biggest distraction was my family being around and Thanksgiving.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? Yes, my favorite part was bingo in the individual challenge.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon? I actually really liked all of the books I read but my favorite was Life and Other Inconveniences.

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons? I didn't love the article tie-in, I read a lot of thrillers and those were hard to tie to positive articles! This was only my second read-a-thon and I loved the Wheel of Fortune aspect of the fall read-a-thon, so something like that would be great.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes.

[Hannah]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
I finished three books and read 1,146 pages.

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I wanted to read four books, but only managed to finish three. I'm not mad, though! I used the readathon to push through One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I found hard to focus on but ended up really enjoying. So I don't mind that that took up more of my time than a quicker read would have!

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I did have fun! I liked having the encouragement to turn to reading over other leisure activities that I sometimes do without thinking, even though reading usually brings me more joy.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
I think it's got to be One Hundred Years of Solitude! Though I really enjoyed reading Sula right at the end. It was a great book to compare to One Hundred Years: they had very similar vibes, but Sula was a much shorter and quicker read.

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
I always like a good readathon tag - I just love answering questions about my feelings about books! I loved the NOPE tag in the last readathon.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes! I hadn't really been able to participate in the team challenges before now because of schoolwork making me unreliable, but now that I've graduated, I have a more regular schedule.

[Kristina]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
5 books, 1537 pages

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Yes, my goal was 4 books and 150 pages per day (1350 total) and I surpassed both. I had no major distractions.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes! I liked the daily games and the millions of miles of pages.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
Thick: And Other Essays

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
No suggestions.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes :)

[°~Amy~°]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
- I completed 4 short books/graphic novels

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
- I didn't go in with a real goal so....yes? lol

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
- I had fun during the week. Over the weekend I was too busy (and lazy) to read.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
- March of the Penguins: Companion to the Major Motion Picture was interesting and the pictures were gorgeous.

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
- I don't have any suggestions

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
- Absolutely

[Laurel]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
6 books and 2115 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I didn't have a specific goal. My biggest distraction was watching videos
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I did have fun. The Millions of Miles was very clever and my favorite part
4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
There There by Tommy Orange
5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
I was so caught up in the group challenge that I kept forgetting about the individual challenge - would have liked some reminders/encouragement about that
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Definitely!

[Marin]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
4 books, 1,421 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Pretty much -- the biggest distractions were cooking and getting on calls with family, so I can't complain
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes! I liked the positive news stories.
4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. I think one thing I realized is that my reading tastes don't really line up with a positive news theme!
5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
For another challenge like this, it would be good to know the prompts in advance to be able to plan more.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes!

[Jillian]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
5, 2756 (most were audio hours)

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Pretty much, I wanted to read A Tale of Two Cities but I ended up going with The Chimes to meet a challenge goal of reading a book by Charles Dickens this year. My biggest distraction was feeling blah last week with all the COVID restrictions in my area and 2020 in general.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I like seeing what everyone is reading especially the books that are on my TBR list.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time?
I think, in the team sign up the question of how many books you generally read in a week needs to be changed to how many books you plan on reading during the read-a-thon. (This always drives me crazy because I read a ton more during a read-a-thon that my general weekly reading).

It also might be nice to mix up the teams. I have always liked everyone on my teams but since teams are based on time zones they are pretty similar teammates. It would be nice to be on a team with other people in our group too.

What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
Something that requires a bit more interaction with in the team. You all picked just the right amount of tasks. I also don't feel burnt out from reading this time so that is nice.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
I'm planning too.

[Kendra]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
I read 10 books, for a total of 2744 pages.

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I didn't want to push myself to hard and then end up burnt out like I did last read-a-thon. And I still managed to get at least 200 pages read a day. No real distractions.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yep. I liked the bingo individual challenge a lot.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
I started a reread of The Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs.

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
The prompts didn't quite work this time. Either my books wouldn't work for a prompt, or they'd work for a prompt that had already been filled, and I'd have to try and bug someone to add new lines... I'd rather a system where we get points for each book read and then maybe bonus points if it satisfies certain prompts (Own voices, set in place X, etc.) The Wheel of Fortune was great for encouraging team interaction, but I know how much work that would have been....

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Of course.

[Rachel]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
1313 pages + 9 hours audio

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I never have very strong goals for a read-a-thon, but I finished 4 and a half books, so I'd say so. Granted, one of those was a book i started before the readathon. I wish I would have finished off that last book though! I got new bookshelves this week, so that was a huge distraction.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I had fun with it in general, but I don't think I have a specific favourite part.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
Thunderhead, which ironically enough was the book I already had in progress.

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
I liked the concept of matching books to articles, but I just didn't have time to really look at the articles in enough detail to search for connections. Even when I did find something that kind of worked, it felt like a huge stretch to make it fit.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Most likely yes. I always sign up for them and do my best to participate, but always feel a little bad that I don't end up contributing as much as I'd like.

[Ellie]

1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?
I finished 4 books and read 1407 pages.

2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
My only goal was to finish ATY which I did! I had a hectic week at work so my brain wasn't in tip-top readathon condition by the time it came to reading, but I picked up easier books because of that.

3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, but I didn't really do any of the games due to above.

4. What was your favorite read of the read-a-thon?
Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild

5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? What would you like to see more of in future read-a-thons?
I like the sentiment of the positive articles but because there was so many of them, it was quite time consuming to read them all. I loved the fall readathon team challenge (hangman game), even though I know that was loads of work for Emily, it would be great to have something of a similar style that was less work for the mods.

6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Sure!