Spring 23 Read-a-Thon: Team Dior

[Kat]

I've finished Eight Detectives and put it against 300 to 400 pages as it's the only one left it works for. It was quite disappointing so hoping my next read is better.

[Aimee]

I finished Mr Loverman on my lunch break and have added it under "business clothes on the cover".

[Joyce]

I've finished The Reunion and entered it for a humorous book, sidestepping the whole genre question. Goodness, fluff can be read quickly, though it had one of my big bugbears in being geographically lazy. As Aimee might vouch The Peak District is not in Yorkshire, nor is Leeds near Norwich.

I am getting on with Glory to complete the business clothes but, even with the audio at 1.75 speed, it's not as fast as reading.

[Kat]

Geographical laziness is incredibly annoying. I understand that authors might not have visited certain places but the internet is right there. I'm near Leeds and Norwich is about 4 hours away.

I do find it interesting how different books or genres take more or less time to read. I'm reading a lot of mysteries at the moment and they take me longer as I read everything carefully to try and find all the clues and work out the answer.

[Kat]

We've completed our first casual outfit! Not far to go with the others either.

[Magda]

I finished Dotknij mnie today and I put it under a book that is not totally chronological and Cud, Miód, Malina and put it under a main character who works outdoors but I'm happy to change it if needed

[Aimee]

Kat wrote: "Geographical laziness is incredibly annoying. I understand that authors might not have visited certain places but the internet is right there. I'm near Leeds and Norwich is about 4 hours away. "

Weirdly, I'm in Norwich so we have both locations covered! I've never been to Leeds but I expect it would be a long drive from here, especially as Norfolk famously has no motorways.

[Aimee]

I've just added The Holy Thief under Formal - handwriting or fancy font on the cover. Looks like we're doing well, team.

[Sue]

I've just finished off the Party outfit with a book that has at least 4 colours on the cover. My book was a fascinating non-fiction - Stalin's Wine Cellar.

[Sue]

We are doing really well team, and in my experience of previous readathons, it's amazing that we are managing to fill the prompts without having to spill over to the second round too early. From now on, if your book doesn't fit into the vacant spots, feel free to start on a second round, and we can use a new colour to indicate which prompts are taken from round 2. Our team only has 7 members, while all the others have 8 and one has 9! We seem to be the 'rest of the world' team - I am proud of us!

[Aimee]

Sue wrote: "We are doing really well team, and in my experience of previous readathons, it's amazing that we are managing to fill the prompts without having to spill over to the second round too early. From no..."

I was thinking the same Sue, we seem to have done really well at sharing the prompts out and covering all bases. Well done us :)

I don't have any books close to hand that fill vacant slots but last night I started Revelation (my next AtY book, for the centuries multi-week prompts) so hopefully I'll be able to slot it in for a second round.

[Kat]

We only have three gaps left for the first round which is incredible.

It's amazing how the books we've picked have slotted in so perfectly.

[Tamara]

I Started The Light Fantastic for the set in an imaginary world prompt. I finished Gallows Hill, but it doesn't fit any remaining prompts.

[Sue]

So, I have fiddled with the spreadsheet and hope it makes sense. I added a column for our second round on both the plans and completed pages, so you can see what is used and what is needed. The # of options in the 1st round column will still be relevant for all rounds, so it should work. Colouring the box for just the relevant prompt should be enough I think. Please let me know if this doesn't work for you. I have finally finished my audiobook (which took me more than a week!) and have put it into the second round as a science fiction - I did enjoy it though this genre is not usual for me. I have also almost finished another very short book (only 118 pages!), which should be done by the end of today. Roll on the weekend!

[Sue]

Tamara wrote: "I Started The Light Fantastic for the set in an imaginary world prompt. I finished Gallows Hill, but it doesn't fit any remaining prompts."
Hi Tamara, you can slot Gallows Hill into a prompt for the second round - your choice!

[Ira]

I finished reading Lost in the Moment and Found. I will see where I can fit it when I come home from work

[Joyce]

Thanks largely to an early morning coughing fit I've finally (finally!) finished Glory which completes the Business attire. I haven't raided the underwear drawer to mark it as complete though.

I now have several short books to hand that can complete a second round of Casual wear.

[Kat]

I've finished The Sugared Game and put it into the second round. I should finish my final planned book tomorrow which has a black and white cover for the final first round prompt.

[Tamara]

Added Gallows Hill and Death in the Clouds. Currently reading House of Many Ways.

[Kat]

Woke up early today so stayed in bed and finished The Five which finishes round one. That's the last of the books I had planned to read this week so will start looking for something quick that can fill a second round prompt.

[Joyce]

I’ve added A Whole Life to the casual clothes. It turns out that both the novellas I picked out are too short to count so I’ve started The Couple at No. 9 which looks likely to be a quick read.

[Tamara]

I've finished House of Many Ways. Currently reading Poison for Breakfast and The Twelve Doctors of Christmas.

[Joyce]

I've finished The Couple at No. 9 and entered it as non-chronological.

We are bound to finish our second avant-garde outfit but the question is what, if anything, do we put on next? Assuming our undies are decent, of course. Tamara, it looks like you mostly suit party wear. I can slip into anything and my next chance to read will be very early tomorrow after a middle of the night airport run so, if anyone has ideas, I can see then what fits.

[Aimee]

Joyce wrote: "I've finished The Couple at No. 9 and entered it as non-chronological.

We are bound to finish our second avant-garde outfit but the question is what, if anything, do we put on nex..."

Sadly my two in-progress reads only work for business, not partying.
I'm expecting to finish The Spanish Love Deception later tonight, so I might have time to squeeze in a quick read tomorrow. Will see if I can dig out anything party appropriate from my TBR.
I'm also reading Revelation on audiobook but it's a long book and I don't know if I will finish it by the end of tomorrow. It will be good for undergarments at least.

[Sue]

I've finished another audiobook The Other Side of Beautiful, and put it in to complete our second Avant-Garde outfit. It does fit a few other prompts, so can move it if it looks as though there will be a flush of last minute completions! We have also now used most of our available undergarments, though it is likely we will accrue a couple more. Here in Australia I only have a few hours to go before the end of the readathon, and am sure to finish my paperback this afternoon as it has started to rain. Happy final reading day team!

[Kat]

I finished Things We Never Got Over and have put it against Formal. Looking at the plans tab we might be able to fill that out before the end of the day.

I'm going to be busy for the next few hours but will see if I can find something short to read this afternoon.

[Aimee]

I didn't manage to finish The Spanish Love Deception last night but I finished it this morning instead. I put it under 'high heels' for Formal because it has a wedding in it.

I'm going to focus on finishing Revelation because it can work for the fancy font prompt in Formal, which means we only need a grey, black and white book to finish it off. I have a short one that works (The Raven and the Reindeer) but I still have a decent chunk of Revelation left and I don't know if I'll manage both. If anyone else wants to try for the grey, black and white book then go for it!

[Joyce]

Ok Aimee, challenge accepted. I think I can read Hindoo Holiday: An Indian Journal in what remains of today.

[Tamara]

That's been a great readathon. I'm glad we were able to accomplish so much. Today I'll finish the books I'm reading.

[Aimee]

Good luck Joyce! Looks like an interesting read.

[Joyce]

Made it! I've finished Hindoo Holiday: An Indian Journal and used it to complete our second formal outfit. We have two sets of underwear remaining which is the first time I've seen this since the system was introduced so we must have put in a lot of pages/hours between us.

Thanks for the companionable reading and goodnight!

[Aimee]

Well done everyone! I think we should be proud of ourselves.

[Kat]

Well done everyone. It's been great reading with you all this week.

We've completed 8 outfits and 18 undergarments which is incredible with a small team.

[Ira]

It's been a blast. Unfortunately I did not manage to read as lot as would like, because my week got unexpectedly busy. But it was fun reading with you...