January 2023 Read-a-Thon: Team Styczen

[Irene]

@Traci and Alicia, Elevation is my first Stephen King ever and I absolutely adore it (I actually reread it because I had put it on my favorites shelf after one read and wanted to make sure I still felt like it deserved that spot!). I know he's known for horror but Elevation is magical realism/literary fiction without any hint of horror (aside from homophobia from some characters). It's a very quick read (my copy is 146 pages with big font and the occasional illustration) and made me tear up. It's much more character-driven than plot-driven though (not much action), so I know some people might find it boring!

[Traci]

Irene wrote: "@Traci and Alicia, Elevation is my first Stephen King ever and I absolutely adore it (I actually reread it because I had put it on my favorites shelf after one read and wanted to make sure I still ..."

Hmmm...I do like character driven. I'm going to put it on my spreadsheet with a note to consider it for a read-a-thon!

[Samantha]

Irene I saw Elevation was the winner of the goodreads horror category in 2018 so not only good for the read a thon but also filled the spice girl prompt. I was surprised at how sweet it was and didn’t feel horrorish at all. I used to think I didn’t like Stephen King based on his early work. but I really liked 11/22/63 and The Institute. I thought Elevation was good and might have be great for me if it was a longer. I would recommend it for a starter king book.

[Traci]

I finished Hotel Silence and slotted it into the mental illness prompt. We need one more bookmark to fill in our completed sets, which seems doable given what we did in other days.

[Irene]

Samantha wrote: "Irene I saw Elevation was the winner of the goodreads horror category in 2018 so not only good for the read a thon but also filled the spice girl prompt. I was surprised at how sweet it was and did..."

Samantha yeah it's so misleading that it won in the horror category despite not being horror at all!! I was really surprised when I started reading it because I didn't actually know that he wrote anything but horror.

[Irene]

@Everyone, sorry for the delay in updating the spreadsheet - I expect to finish at least 2 books today, if not 3, so I'll just put them wherever they fit in the spreadsheet!

For those of you who read after midnight, do you count those pages/completed books for the previous day (thinking about it in terms of "until you go to bed" that day) or for the actual calendar day (so the next day)?

[Alicia]

I hoping to get 2 more hours of my audiobook in tonight then we can use 2 bookmarks on the 3rd Health!!!

It’s been so great reading with all of you.

[Alicia]

I think it’s ok to count when you go to bed if it’s after midnight, since the readathon starts when you wake up the first day.

I say this knowing I’m in bed by 10pm and never have this problem.

[Irene]

@Alicia I was questioning it more in general rather than in the setting of a readathon since I know the readathon is a little different and specifies from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. It's awesome that you don't have this dilemma because you sleep at a reasonable hour! xD I'm nocturnal so I struggle with this almost daily LOL.

[Alicia]

Oh haha then I think whatever feels right in your soul.

I’m actually the “wild one” that stays up late in my family. And it’s only because it’s my only free reading time or else I’d be out before 9.

[Irene]

Haha both of them feel wrong xD especially when the dates make it seem like I read a book over 2 days even though it only took one 1.5 hour-long sitting.

And that's so interesting because I'm from a family of night owls! We would always used to have breakfast around noon and go to bed after 3am (even my dad, who's over 70 and still can't go to bed at a reasonable time!).

[Alicia]

I think it’s ok to have differing standards. If you finish it in one sitting then I would 100% say that’s one day. But if you maybe started 1am Saturday and finished 3am Sunday you could say that was 2 days because it was more than 24 hours.

But I vote (because my vote is very important) the wake up to go to sleep rule if you want to stick to one rule, because it’s one day for you.

[RachelG.]

I was able to finish 2.5 books today. I had a good time with you all during this read-a-thon!

[Irene]

Your vote is very important!! <3 (Do all indecisive people like getting feedback from other people or is it just me? LOL)

[Alicia]

For sure. I took a 30 minute spiral down Goodreads and Google to figure out why a character in my book is a dick. Turns out no one knows, but it made me feel better.

[Irene]

Alicia wrote: "For sure. I took a 30 minute spiral down Goodreads and Google to figure out why a character in my book is a dick. Turns out no one knows, but it made me feel better."

I relate to that way too much...

@Rachel did you have a favorite book that your read during this readathon??

[Roxana]

Hey y'all, just got back from my weekend out of town with the world's worst cell signal. Sorry I wasn't able to contribute more at the end here, but I'll add my last few days of pages at least!

[RachelG.]

Alicia wrote: "For sure. I took a 30 minute spiral down Goodreads and Google to figure out why a character in my book is a dick. Turns out no one knows, but it made me feel better."

I actually stopped a book at chapter 5 during the read-a-thon because I disliked a group of characters so much. I don't know if I am just not in the mood for it or what the deal is, so I can relate to this.

[RachelG.]

Irene wrote: "Alicia wrote: "For sure. I took a 30 minute spiral down Goodreads and Google to figure out why a character in my book is a dick. Turns out no one knows, but it made me feel better."

I relate to th..."

I think that Adventures of a Vegan Vamp was the most fun yet ridiculous book I read during the read-a-thon. I was also very happy to finish Black, White, and the Grey: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant for the interracial relationship main challenge prompt.

[Samantha]

Rachel every time you bring up the Vegan Vamp it makes me chuckle so I just added it to my tbr. Not sure I will ever get to it but the title is funny.

I had a great time reading with you ladies!

[Alicia]

Haha I also added it to my TBR.

I find that I'm liking corny/cheesy books more and more. And I say that with total love. They just make me so happy.

[Traci]

Thanks for a fun week all! And I also added Vegan Vamp to my TBR...I always need books in mind that are light and easy since my TBR often is not.

[Irene]

Sorry for the very late update but thank you all for another great readathon! I read less than I had hoped I would read but still managed to hit my goal of 6 books :) Hope to see y'all again next time!!

(And Vegan Vamp sounds awesome! xD)