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2021 Read-a-Thon #1: Wrap-Up
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1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I read 8 books - 5 real books and 3 audiobooks - a total of 1179 pages and 27.85 hrs of audio
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Yes - biggest distractions were the very hot weather (lots of time spent watering the garden) and other commitments
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes - loved the interactions with my awesome Team Sunflower!
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
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?
Not sure
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Maybe - it was exhausting!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?5 books, 625 pages, 3.5 hours
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Yes, I exceeded them. My phone died part way through, so I didn't get to read on the Kindle app one day at lunch as I was hoping. That has taught me to always have a book in hand, just in case! Lol! However, I did get a snow day, so I was able to get more reading in than I anticipated.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes. Seeing how much my team is reading provides an extra incentive to keep reading. I do like the daily games as well.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Favorite book was West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. It was an Amazon First Read choice for January, and I'm so glad I picked it.
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?
It would be fun to see how well each team is doing, like a little race.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Absolutely!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? I've completed 11, expect to finish 2 more today. That will bring my pages to 3185 and my audio hours to 23.2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? Yes - and sleeping?
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, daily games
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn
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 only thing I can think of is that I'd like to have had all 5 sets of prompts at the beginning. The 5 book prompts were the most fun for me.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Probably
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? I finished 6 books, 27 hours of Audio and 859 pages read. 2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I was able to read more than I expected my only distractions were expected.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? I enjoyed the books I read. I had three 5 star, two 4 star and one 3 star books. I also had fun with the games.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? Hard to choose between The Midnight Library, Kindred and Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Funny how they all involve alternate realties.
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? Can't think of anything right now.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes
I've had a great time with this readathon - it's the first ATY readathon I've participated in and I've had a great time. Thanks so much Emily for all your hard work in the organisation!!What I read: I've finished 8 books during the readathon which is amazing for me. My main distraction has been 2 job interviews last week!!!
Favourite Read: I read my first In Death book this year with Loyalty in Death - I just can't go wrong with those books! I also got loads out of Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard which has been on my TBR for a long time.
Readathon thoughts: I've really liked that it's not really competitive between the teams, more like just a challenge for you as a team.
Suggestions: I guess it would suit me to have a bit less choice paralysis with the individual challenge prompts! I ended up not doing anything with those as I just spent ages staring not deciding which direction to go haha
Again? Sure!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 5 books and 1375 pages so far.2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I exceeded my goals. Fortunately, I had a number of library books queued up to read, since our libraries were closed for most of the week because of weather.
3. Did you have fun? Yes... What were your favorite parts? the interaction from readers from around the world.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? It's a tie between The Kurdish Bike and The Turner House
5. Do you have any suggestions for how to make the read-a-thon better for next time? Not really, the mods do a great job of making it interesting with a good amount of flexibility 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? Yes.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?3 - Little Women, Jane Eyre and Five Feet Apart - 711 pages and 15 hours of audiobook!
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I actually did more than I had planned! My biggest distractions are RuPaul's Drag Race and WandaVision.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I loved it! I had so much fun interacting with the team and planning what to read.
4. What was your favorite book 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?
I will try to listen more audiobooks. I am glad with what I had done. I would like to see more difficult prompts.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Count me in!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I finished 12 books, reading 1,556 pages and listening to 38 hours of audio.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I exceeded my goal because I listened to so much audio.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, it was fun! I loved working with Team Rose and reading.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
I can't pick just one - The Poet X, When All Is Said and Nothing to See Here were my favorites.
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?
Thanks to the mods for making the Readathon so much fun.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I finished 9 books (2 of them were started before the read-a-thon so I only counted the pages that were read after we started.) I read a total of 1876 pages.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I surpassed them by a lot! I thought that I would barely make it through 3 books maybe 4. The only distraction I had was laundry and my job so I was able to read a lot this week.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes. I think I liked the reading itself the best.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
That is a hard question to answer...probably Beatrice and Benedick. Which is a bit ironic, because I have been putting it off because I wasn't sure I was going to like it.
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?
Not really. Once we got started communication with other group members went really well. The spreadsheet was really helpful for planning and reporting.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Probably...it depends when they are and what else I have going in my life at the time.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?3.5 books. 872 pages. 1 audio book 2.35 hours.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I wanted to read 4-5 books. I felt I did well. My biggest distractions were moving my mother from one assisted living to another during Covid. Another distraction was the weather.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? I had fun. I always enjoy just being part of the group. I like miles of pages, individual challenge & the spread sheet.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters #1) by Rita Williams-Garcia.
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? Can't think of any suggestions. I enjoy the daily games
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 4 books and 1,244 pages so far2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? Mostly - I swapped books to help the team so I don't have the winter challenge complete but I should still be able to get it done. Biggest challenge was the ice storms and work.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? Yes, definitely had fun. I like the team activities
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? Vanishing Girls
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? Can't think of any suggestions. They are always fun.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? yes I like the read-a-thons and it inspires me to read a little more than normal.
Mod
How many pages did you read? 1259 plus 11 hours audio
2. Did you meet your reading goals? Yes, this is more than I thought I would finish.
What were your biggest distractions? I am in several GR groups where I had to read parts of books for ongoing discussions. Also I watched some TV. I did the most reading on the day when my TV signal wasn't working!
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I always have fun with these. I like working with a team and I enjoy the daily games/bingo-type challenges.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? None of them were outstanding but I liked How to Pronounce Knife better than I expected. It is made up of stories about Laotian immigrants in Canada. Each story is pretty short and had a different point of view.
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 know if there's any way to get around this, but I felt obliged to enter my info on my team spreadsheet, individual tracking thread, Miles of Pages thread, and if I completed a book, I put it under Winter Challenge, ATY challenge, etc. I realize it was my choice to participate in all of these!
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 5 books and 1,797 pages2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? Would have liked to finish 1 or 2 more books, as 5 is more of an average week, not a read-a-thon week. Biggest distractions were having cataract surgery which reduced my time on my e-reader and getting a new scenario for my favorite game (Arkham Horror LCG)
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? Yes, I had fun. I liked most of the daily challenges, the Miles of Pages, and the team challenge
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? My Sister, the Serial Killer
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 like to see more challenges based on the book you are reading (e.g., taking the first letter of the title to answer a group of questions)
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Of course!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? I finished 4 books and read 909 pages.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
No. I had planned to read 6 or more books. The biggest distraction was weather - my daughter's power was out for 8 days and we had her children and daughter during that time (ages 7 and 15 months). Reading books as I had planned wasn't possible this time.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Not until the last day when my daughter's power returned.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Invisible Country by Patricia Engel. The one I read on the last day of the Readathon.
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?
Maybe announce the dates a month in advance. That way I can leave and go somewhere else for a week.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes, but not until summer.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 1931 pages and 6 books2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? This was a crazy week since we had a polar vortex decide to visit Texas and knock out my power for 56 hours and still no water.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? This has been a blessing. I think I would have been a basket case without this to distract me from all the other stuff going on.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? Closely Harbored Secrets It is such a fun series.
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 this is my third and it is great each time.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? Yes!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I finished 4 books, 1321 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I was hoping to finish 5 books and read at least 1400 pages, so I fell slightly short of my goal. I decided to impromptu rearrange my apartment yesterday, which was an unanticipated distraction, but I'm still happy with my stats.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes! I decided to do the team challenge this time which was fun and helped keep me motivated.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Legendborn5. 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!
Mod
6 for 1649pg
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I was hoping to read 4-5 books, so yes (even though book #6 was only a novella). Forgetting to start last Saturday was a bit of an oops. Other than that, work was the main distraction.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes. I do enjoy finding books to fit prompts - I do various challenges as well. I especially liked the multiple books for one prompt idea.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers - the final book in the Wayfarers series.
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?
Yes!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I read 8 books completely, finished 2 books I had been reading before the start of the week, and read 3 graphic novels that were too short to count for prompts, for a total of 3673 pages read.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I read all the books I had wanted to plus a few others. No real distractions beyond life in general.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yep. I purposely didn't look at other team pages this time around, so I didn't stress about being competitive.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Before the Coffee Gets Cold was my favorite new read and The Martian was already one of my favorite books.
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 really liked the individual challenge this time around. The extra option of going for specific colours made it fun.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yep.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? I finished 8 books across 2313 pages and 13.5 hours of audio. ETA It was 9 books.2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Yes, my goal was simpy to read as much as possible. Work took some time :)
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, I love the team challenge, and reading with the sunflowers.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
I finished Ship of Destiny, I love those books.
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 enjoy the team challenges.
I loved the guessing game / treasure hunt part of the team challenge we had in the September readathon. I would love to see something like that again (though I know it's a lot more time consuming for the mods aka Emily so I understand if you don't).
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes, always!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?10 books, 2422 pages, 5 hours of audio that I didn't track as pages.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I met my goals and a little more - I wanted to get one of each color in the individual challenge, and I did that plus a bit extra. Biggest distractions were family members wanting to, like, talk to me all the time ;)
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I always enjoy the camaraderie of these team-based readathons, where you're working together to fulfill a list. To that end, I liked the multi-book prompts a lot, a clever twist on the usual list of prompts (plus it meant if one person was reading toward a specific prompt, someone else getting in there first didn't necessarily derail the first reader's plans).
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
It's a tie between Yesterday Is History and A Chorus Rises.
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 felt kind of unsure about how the wildcards ought to be used? We ended up with a ton that we didn't use, because we couldn't get a second set of prompts until we were down to five prompts without using the wildcards anyway, so there was no point in using wildcards to fill in the list and then not have a new list...so...I guess I don't really get what the wildcards were for? Maybe I'm just missing something.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Definitely, I always enjoy these.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?5 mostly short books, 1271 pages and 6.5 hours of audio.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I didn't read as much as I'd liked. I had a busy work week, and trying to fit in reading in the evenings made me quite aware of how much stuff I usually do in the day when work is quiet!
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
I got behind updating my pages but I loved the miles of pages updates. The team prompts were flexible and I liked the multi-book ones as then I didn't feel like I was filling a prompt only for someone else to get there first.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Out of ones I finished The Gilded Ones but I half read The Galaxy, and the Ground Within and I think it's gonna top that.
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 know if I just missed it the announcement of it, but I wasn't keen on the surprise prompts once we were down to a certain amount left without wildcards. It felt like a moving target and by the time they were announced I didn't feel like I could contribute to finishing. I guess some teams finish early and need more, but I don't mind just having freebie time to do the individual challenge or games at the end.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes!
Mod
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?10 books, 2957 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
As a first-timer I didn’t have any goals. I should have been distracted by work and the garden but I read instead. I now feel like I’ve come back from holiday and have a whole lot to catch up with.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, I think it’s done me good to put some other demands to one side. I definitely enjoyed the camaraderie- thanks Team Orchid!
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
A Bird in the House but I was already a Margaret Laurence fan.
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.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes, though I always read less in the summer.
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? I finished 20 books and read 6,170 pages. I also listened to a few hours of my audiobook.2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? Yes. We had 3 snow days and the first day I had people calling me that I hadn't spoken to for months.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? Yes. I enjoyed how the team worked together to get each prompt met. This got me to read books that I might not normally read.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? I have two: Opium and Absinthe and Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa
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? Yes!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I read 10 short books and short stories for a total of 882 pages
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
I met my first goal of completing enough books to fill all the yellow stars. My next goal to finish the pink stars didn't work out at all.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes, it was fun. I don't know about my favorite part, just getting to read the short stories that I have been looking forward to I guess.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Probably Firefly: Generations, I love anything related to the Firefly Tv series
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
Emily wrote: "Ellie, I only gave the extra prompts to teams that specifically requested it! Two teams managed to out-read what we had planned for so we made up those prompts on the fly lol."Ah, I didn't really see the optional bit. I guess I just prefer taking it easy at the end. Maybe I can request to be on the slowpoke team next time. 🤣
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read? 6 books, 4 audio and 2 Kindle. 39.25 hours and 631 pages. 2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions? I didn't really have goals, but 6 books in a week is pretty good for me! I would have liked to read more pages and not just do audio, I barely read my Kindle this weekend.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts? Yes, I liked the prompts this time for the team challenge, and the candy hearts was fun. At first I had no idea how to make my books fit but then it all came together and I got bingo.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon? The Book of Lost Names
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 like to see more competition between teams.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons? For sure.
Mod
Maybe announce the dates a month in advance. That way I can leave and go somewhere else for a week.."
LOL!
1. How many books did you finish? How many pages did you read?I read a total of 5 books, one of which was started before the readathon, and I was about a third of the way through my 6th book by the end of the week. I read a total of 1891 pages, if I count my one audiobook as the equivalent number of physical pages.
2. Did you meet your reading goals? What were your biggest distractions?
Pretty much. My goal was to get to the Curse So Dark and Lonely series, and I read the entire first book plus a third of the second. My biggest distraction was a work project that took double the amount of time that it should have because coworkers didn't get me their parts in time. To be fair, it was a memorial edition of our newsletter for a participant who passed away (not covid), so it was understandably hard.
3. Did you have fun? What were your favorite parts?
Yes! I liked that I actually completed the individual challenge for once. Some of my interpretations for what fit to get the bingo tasks might have been a bit of a stretch, but the rules left it pretty open.
4. What was your favorite book of the read-a-thon?
Red, White & Royal Blue
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 especially liked the individual challenge this time. The team challenge was pretty fun too and I was happy to be able to be a little more actively involved in this one.
6. Do you plan to participate in future group read-a-thons?
Yes, as long as I have the time. I always feel a bit bad that I don't check in with my team until the end of the day. I can technically check in earlier, but I don't have any reading done until the evening so I don't really see the point of posting anything until I actually have something to contribute.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Red, White & Royal Blue (other topics)The Book of Lost Names (other topics)
Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa (other topics)
Opium and Absinthe (other topics)
A Bird in the House (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Margaret Laurence (other topics)Kate Clayborn (other topics)
Lynda Rutledge (other topics)
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 book 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?