April 21st Toppler Reporting Thread

[Kat]

OK I've found my next book, something easy (ish!) and I think I can finish in three hours Fracture

[Sam]

I've choosen my next one, only a short one with Inside the Skull of David Priest which I should finish before having to leave for the rugby :-)

[Tajma]

I've enjoyed following this thread! Next time I am hoping to fully participate.

[Anne]

Tajma wrote: "I've enjoyed following this thread! Next time I am hoping to fully participate."

Ditto!

[Sam]

Right people that's me finished with Inside the Skull of David Priest and I'm afraid I'm going to have to love ya and leave ya as I've a rugby game to go and watch (and judging by the weather get drenched at too). Enjoy the remaining few hours and I'll check back in later :-)

[Kat]

Sam wrote: "Right people that's me finished with Inside the Skull of David Priest and I'm afraid I'm going to have to love ya and leave ya as I've a rugby game to go and watch (and judging by the weather get d..."

Enjoy, Sam!

[Mikki]

Kat wrote: "Of Mice and Men was great - I'll definitely be hopping over to the buddy reads thread with my thoughts later.

Okay, good. I'm glad that you liked it and maybe you'll want to read another of his books with us.

2 1/2 more hours to go...what can I squeeze in?

[Anne]

I'm reading the NY Times. Does that count? How about the crossword puzzle? It helps to wake up the brain cells before getting into reading a book.

[Mikki]

Anne wrote: "I'm reading the NY Times. Does that count? How about the crossword puzzle? It helps to wake up the brain cells before getting into reading a book."

YES! :D

[Pragya]

Wow, everyone is doing so good.

Kat - Woohoo, you are squeezing in too many books. Bravo!

Kimberly - My Gosh! You didn't sleep throughout the night!

Mikki - No sleep for you?

Update regarding my reading - This is embarrassing. Halfway through Life of Pi, I realized I read the book years back, before Goodreads and conveniently forgot having read it. I read 150 pages for nothing. AArgh!!

So I abandoned it and started and finished Artemis Fowl. 3.5 stars for it. Review to come later. Now with less than 2.5 hours to go, I hope to read one more book.

[Pragya]

Judy wrote: "LOL! Pragya. That is too bad about Life of Pi.

Kat, ditto what Mikki said, would love to have you join Mikki and me in a Steinbeck buddy read."

I would love to join you for another Steinbeck read too. I have only read Of Mice and Men yet (with you guys).

[Pragya]

Now I am trying to decide whether to read The Stuttering Tattoo or One for the Money.

[jaxnsmom]

Debra wrote: "I'm reading The Girl in the Steel Corset. I might check out your recommendation. I've got Case Histories on my TBR shelf and want to get to it soon."

How are you liking it?

[jaxnsmom]

I finished Beauty, so that makes 3 books and a total of 909 pages. I think I'm going to eat a little something and pass out :)

This has been tons of fun!!

[jaxnsmom]

Let's see if I can do this right. Books read:

The Mistress of Spices 352 pages
Case Histories 310 pages
Beauty 247 pages

I'm taking number of pages from the edition that comes up when doing a GR search.

Participation Award
Cleaner-Upper Award - 909 pages
Wild Goose Award - Case Histories was an e-book, which I've never read before
Ye Olde Book Award - Beauty published in 1978

Can't wait to do this again! And even better, this qualifies for two tasks in a 100 Task challenge that I'm in :D

[Almeta]

I had intended to read more than just two books, but I unintentionally over-booked (no pun intended!) myself for this date. Skipped a birthday party, finagled the Free4All, and read two. Using just these two, I think I still made all of the categories.

(1) The finis completium award will be awarded to those who read the book the has been on their TBR the longest. The Hot Rock (304 pages) on list since Jan 6, 2011, about when I joined Goodreads.

(2) The Cleaner-Upper Award goes to those who complete more than one book on their TBR.
The Hot Rock (304 pages) plus Don't Lie To Me (181 pages) by Tucker Coe, a Donald E. Westlake pseudonym.

(3) The Ye Olde Book Award belongs to those who complete at least one book listed on their TBR published before 1992.
The Hot Rock published 1970 (304 pages)

(4) wild goose chase Read an author with a unique style of writing.
I've always heard that Donald E. Westlake wrote caper novels with a big dose of hi-jinks, so I started picking his books up from remainder racks. I've collected, perhaps twenty of his novels, but not read a single one! When I've been in the mood for humor, and then scanned the synopsis of the books I own, I found that I rarely bought the humorous ones, but rather his other darker stories; so I always rejected him as a possibility.

I also read some of my book while holding a FreeCycle event...which of course I hadn't originally planned!

(5) A Participation Award is given to anyone who participates in this TBR Toppler regardless if they complete their book or not.

[Cheryl]

Kat, I read two stories by Richard Matheson and one by his son, in the two anthologies I read.

I fell asleep during the very last story I read, so I reread it this morning. Congratulations everybody - what fun! I have a note on the grocery list to look for interesting teas.

Judy, I qualify for all the badges with The Bradbury Chronicles: stories in Honor of Ray Bradbury, as mentioned before, and Beyond Belief, a 188 page collection of short classic SF.

[Kat]

With about seven minutes to spare, I've finished my fourth book!

So in total I've read:

Four Freedoms 400 pages (and the oldest on my TBR!)
Of Mice and Men 112 pages
I am Legend 160 pages
Fracture 262 pages

Total pages: 934

I think that qualifies me for the finis completium and Cleaner-Upper awards. I miss out on the Ye Olde Book award by a measly 28 pages :-( And I didn't even attempt the Wild Goose because, well, I couldn't think creatively!

Other random facts:
Cups of Green Tea consumed: 7
Number of other caffeinated beverages: 2 coffees
Food consumed: 1 microwave nachos (the shame!), popcorn, white oreo's, ham and cheese sandwiches and a fruit smoothie.
Number of reading hours: 17
Sleeping hours: 5 1/2
TV watching hours: 1 1/2
Number of hours reading whilst wearing pyjamas: 17

That was so much fun! But now I need to move my butt off the sofa - I think it's got a permanent impression of my rear-end!

[Sue]

Mintymedley wrote: "I absolutely love the Griffin & Sabine books! Are you going to pick up The Gryphon: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Rediscovered , Alexandria: In Which the Extraord..."

Thanks for listing them all! I didn't realize they all existed until I started looking for those page numbers. I definitely will be looking for them.

[Almeta]

Pragya wrote: "Ah, good old Bush tea. Now where did I read it? Baking Cakes in Kigali perhaps...."

How About in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. They always had the kettle on.

Dumela mma! Dumela rra!

[Mintymedley]

I made it through all 7 disks last night then passed out on the couch just at the end. The sun through the window this morning woke me around 8 and I finished the last tracks of A Room with a View.
I was fairly happy with it. I was not expecting it to follow the movie so well. I loved all the internal monologue.
It was a good choice for the charity walk yesterday. I walked with Lucy around Florence for an hour then I worked on cleaning my closet for a while in the afternoon. I retired to the futon where I had jellybeans and tea. Friends came over between 8-midnight to play cards (I don't know if any of you want to know what kind of cards we were playing. We are huge nerds over here). I made some more tea and had a Twix and settled in to finish the last disks.
I had a blast these last 24 hours connecting with you all!
Looks like I will just get participation for this one. I was going for the Wild Goose Award and Ye Olde Book Award but I just realized the only book I could track down for my MP3 player was less than 300 pages.
Maybe I can get some points for originality :D

[Sue]

I read Night also. Will have to do my summary later since I have to get ready to go out now. Wonderful reading. Only thing is....I think I want to keep all the books I read. This doesn't help for cleaning off my shelves.

[Debra]

I BARELY finished my 2nd book in time for the end of this challenge! Whew!

I get the finis completium badge for Lord of the Flies Centenary Edition, 304 pages. Added to my TBR list 1/15/11.

I did get The Cleaner-Upper by reading 2 books totaling over 450 pages.

I get the Ye Olde Book Award also for Lord of the Flies. Published in 1954.

I got the Wild Goose chase for reading my first steam-punk novel The Girl in the Steel Corset, 473 pages.

WHEW! Time for bed!

[Almeta]

Mintymedley wrote: ". I am having a blast picturing everyone like a great big global sleepover with snacks and book discussions..."

I promote that same picture when I explain to people what my sister and I will be doing for the 24 hour Toppler. They always pause to reflect that people all over the world are reading at the exact same time, picturing and International Community with a single purpose for the day.

[Janice, Moderator]

Well... tally ho! I get the participation award. I really tried hard for a few others but couldn't do it. I must be a slow reader when I see the amount of pages everyone else managed to read. I read 307 pages out of 555. But, in my defense, The Stonor Eagles is a dense read, not only in print size but also in content.

Other stats:

I drank 1 cup of tea, 1 cup of coffee, 1 can of coke, 1 glass of milk.

I ate yoghurt with crushed pineapple, popcorn, licorice, cookies, sausage & perogies.

I sent myself on a wild goose chase to the library and read 2 chapters there, thinking that was all I needed for the award. While there, I got myself a library card and borrowed a book. Oh, and I oggled the cute guard.

I stopped at the store for bacon and sour cream.

Today, I will finish my book...... NOT! I think I'll go shopping for a microwave. I sure missed not having one yesterday. Oh, and I'll get a kettle. This boiling water in a pot on the stove just isn't cutting it. I should do some more unpacking too.

[Mikki]

Almeta wrote: "They always pause to reflect that people all over the world are reading at the exact same time, picturing and International Community with a single purpose for the day...."

That's actually a really nice thought, Almeta.

[Mikki]

I did not do as well this time as far as earning badges, but, hey, I had a great time.

The Murderess (GR lists as 144 pages but my copy has 127).
The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (again GR has 144, but the actual is 118)
Four stories from The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake that totaled 68 pages

Total pages is 313

Congratulations everyone on another great night.

[Almeta]

Kat wrote: "That was so much fun! But now I need to move my butt off the sofa - I think it's got a permanent impression of my rear-end! "

lol

These are fun! Look forward to the next one, during which I will book nothing else!!!☺

[Mikki]

Janice wrote: "I must be a slow reader when I see the amount of pages everyone else managed to read..."

Don't worry, Janice, I'm a slow reader too. I have a problem of rereading passages that I really like which slows me up a lot. On average I'm around 30 or so an hour.

Judy, how many pages an hour did the woman from Purple Chair read? Like 70 something?

[Kat]

The next one I will DEFINITELY be taking the Monday off work - I want to do the full 24 hours!

[Almeta]

I've just reviewed all of the books people read for this challenge...a dangerous past-time. Instead of ridding myself of many books from my home library shelf, I have now added several to the To-Be-Read shelf!

[Kat]

LOL I just placed an order on Amazon for four books! I'm back to square one!

[Kimberly]

Good Morning!

Here's my tally
A Dixie Christmas 140 pages
Reluctant Protector 97 pages
When the Sea is Rising Red 296 pages
TOTAL: 533 pages

I think I qualify for the Cleaner Upper award :)

[Sam]

Right I managed not to drown during the epic downpours at the rugby and have recovered from the very unexpected win, so my tally is as follows:

For Whom The Bell Tolls 490 pages
Not Quite Normal 31 pages
Tales of the Absurdid 50 pages
Mayhem: A Collection of Stories 137 pages
Inside the Skull of David Priest 56 pages

Awards won (I think):

Finis completium - For Whom The Bell Tolls been on the book list basically forever!
Cleaner-upper award - all of them totalling 764 pages
Ye olde book award - For Whom The Bell Tolls published 1940
Participation award - lots of tea drank, lots of snacks eaten and many a toothpick used in an effort to prop open eye-lids!

Now to prepare and plan for the next one ;-D

[Janice, Moderator]

Judy wrote: "LOL!!!! I feel so sorry about your wild goose chase, so...here is a special cuppa brewed just for you."


LOL! Thanks Judy! Looks like a great teacup for a spicy tea. :)

[Tajma]

Kat wrote: "LOL I just placed an order on Amazon for four books! I'm back to square one!"

Ha! It's a losing battle, Kat. I've stopped fighting it. Our addictions could be worse, no?

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

glitter-graphics.com

WOW!!! I took a nap this morning AFTER I finished my reading and I just got up a couple of hours ago. I am still tired lol I didn't come back and post in the wee hours this morning as I just couldn't drag myself in here to the computer.

I finsihed:

Northanger Abbey 251 pages
Anne of Green Gables 320 pages
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 112 pages

Total Pages: 683

My Awards:

1. Participation

2. Finis Completium- with Anne of Green Gables 320 pages

3. Cleaner Upper - All 3 books with a total of 683 pages

4. Ye Olde Book- Anne of Green Gables Published in 1908

5. Wild Goose Award Anne of Green Gables I read this book down in the basement which I have never read down there before. Our basement is finshed and has a family room, 2 bedrooms, a full bath and a laundry room. I rarely go down there for anything except to do laundry or clean lol My son's room is down there and that is where he stays.

OK I did it!!! I read all Classics LOLOL I read Anne of Green Gables when I was in grade school but glad I re-read it. I didn't realize the setting was in Canada. Boy, no wonder it appealed to me at such a young age lol Anne is such the chatterbox and what an imagination she has lol

I didn't realize Northanger Abbey was in two sections. I loved it though as each section had it's own setting and kind of had different tones. I also didn't realize that this book had a gothic theme to it until I started reading : ) Can you believe this classic got 5 stars from me LOL

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland I have never read this book. I have read some of the Disney versions and The Little Goldenbooks but never the "true" book. I liked this book with my favorite part being Alice's encounter with the caterpillar. I had to LOL Just imagining a blue caterpillar on a mushroom smoking a hookah : ) How come when I eat mushrooms I don't grow shorter or taller? Am I not eating the sides right or what : D. Good Book!!

Other Stats:

I ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream bar, bowl of frosted flakes, drank 2 Pepsi's, half of a Subway Sandwich, a few chips and some Spaghetti O's.

In between reading:

I played cards (Phase 10), kept up with my Ice Age Village game, got my kindle daily freebies, ran to Wal-Mart for tire repairs, and did other random household/family stuff.

24 hour toppler resolution: Next time I will make sure SO and son have other plans so I can get more reading time in LOL or make it clear to them I will not be doing anything but reading : )

[Cheryl]

Wow. You folks are truly amazing.

[Sue]

I'm back from my trip to the Peabody-Essex Museum this afternoon. The books I finished are an eclectic lot:

Love: Ten Poems 41pp
Griffin & Sabine Trilogy - Box Set which are a total of 142pp
The Year of Magical Thinking 227pp
Night 120pp

total 530 pages

I believe I qualify for the Cleaner Upper Award and as a participant.

This has really been fun and I'm looking forward to the next event too. Although I didn't meet the page count, a few of these items have been on my TBR about since I joined Goodreads and have been on my shelves for much longer.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Wow. You folks are truly amazing."

We are an amazing bunch Cheryl : ) This one was a little bit of a challenge for me as far as squeezing in time for reading with everything else going on but I managed lol

LOL Judy...Amazing that I stuck with all classics again but the ones I chose were "oldies but goodies" I enjoyed them all. I still have more classics to read but I think I will wait until another challenge and get back into my norm for for a while. I do have to have a break from them. You all have been a good influence on me getting me to read them otherwise I probably wouldn't lol

[Maria]

Alright, I'm here! Sorry for not coming in earlier-- my dad turned the internet off at... 9, and I read till 12am (they don't know this though... thank God for iPods).

I read:

Wuthering Heights: I'm counting this as 400 pages, since I'm sure this edition has commentary.
The Old Man and the Sea: 125 pages in my edition.
Zombicorns: 72 pages (interesting concept, and I love the idea of 'sentient' corn, but it didn't strike a chord or anything)
Someone to Watch Over Me: 362 pages. (Yes, I caved. Romance FTW!)

Total pages: 959

Awards:

Finis Completium: Both Wuthering Heights and The Old Man and the Sea have been on my to-read list from the very first tday I signed up.

Cleaner-Upper: 959 pages... yay!

Ye Olde Book: Wuthering Heights was published in 1847.

Wild Goose: I read all of The Old Man and the Sea while standing only on my right foot.

Participation: I gave it 110%.

Stats:

- I drank all my quota of water, which hasn't happened since North China. (November).

- I read a few pages of Ulysses (like... eight), and Maitreyi (about 20), as well as getting through another 15% of To The Nines by Janet Evanovitch.

- Slept for only 7 hours, went to bed at 12am, and woke up at 4 so we could take the plane to Alice Springs.

- We're in Alice Springs! XD

Congratulations, everyone! It was an absolute pleasure.

Now to review all these books. XD

[Pragya]

Almeta wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Ah, good old Bush tea. Now where did I read it? Baking Cakes in Kigali perhaps...."

How About in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. They always had the kettle on.

Dum..."

Yes, exactly!

[Pragya]

Wow! Everyone did so well.

And yay, Robin for Classics again.

Sorry I am late, my sister won't budge from the hot seat last night and I finally dragged myself to bed, went to work and am back now.

I finished The Artemis Fowl Files- 396 pages

The Stuttering Tattoo- 226 pages

I read and abandoned midway (since already read) Life of Pi- 150 pages

Total pages read - 770 pages

Consumed around 4 cups of green tea, lots of water, a sandwich, rice and other random stuff.

Slept - 6 hours.

I think I qualify for -

(2) The Cleaner-Upper Award goes to those who complete more than one book on their TBR. (Minimum of 450 pages total.)

(4) Wild Goose Award

If reading in a murderous rage counts.

OR

If uttering only about a total of 10 words during the time span of 24 hours counts. ;)

Ok, I am just kidding. But I did both of the above. ;)

(5) A Participation Award

[Snoozie Suzie]

I didn't even finish one book. How rubbish am i? Big took me out yesterday for lunch and we then went to friends' house as its my birthday this week and he will be working. So that took away my reading time. Oh well. But it has been great reading all the comments, it seems you all has a great time and lots of banter (and food).

[Sue]

Ah...2 months to anticipate the next toppler! I really do like these crazy things.

[Mikki]

Sue wrote: "Ah...2 months to anticipate the next toppler! I really do like these crazy things."

You and me both though it does take me a good full day to begin thinking straight again.

[Sue]

That's why I've jumped into a couple of mysteries Mikki. They are my tried and true lifesavers.

[Janice, Moderator]

Snoozie Suzie wrote: "I didn't even finish one book. How rubbish am i? Big took me out yesterday for lunch and we then went to friends' house as its my birthday this week and he will be working. So that took away my rea..."

I didn't finish one book either Suzie. Happy birthday!

[Snoozie Suzie]

Janice wrote: "Snoozie Suzie wrote: "I didn't even finish one book. How rubbish am i? Big took me out yesterday for lunch and we then went to friends' house as its my birthday this week and he will be working. So..."

But your book was a biggie wasn't it?

Thanks 8-D

[Janice, Moderator]

Snoozie Suzie wrote: "But your book was a biggie wasn't it?"

Yes, it is a clunker. But there are lots of people who read way more pages than I did.