Halloween Readathon Wrapup

So I did really well with this readathon. I guess having a theme helped or perhaps it was a good change to NOT read a review book.

I completed:

The Myrtles Plantation by Frances Kermeen (True story of haunted house!)
Ruined by Paula Morris

and I started:

Ghostly Encounters: True Stories of America's Haunted Inns and Hotels by Frances Kermeen (more true stories)

So my theme was ghosts.

I had fun with some mini challenges and had fun at the twitter party. I can't wait till next year!

Halloween Readathon Update (Books and Mini-Challenges)

I'm actually just getting started with the readathon. I was busy all day and have somewhere to go tomorrow too actually. I'll do as much as I can.

The Halloween Read-a-thon is being hosted by Young Adult Books Reviewed.

Here are the books I will pick from: (from old to new)

Witchery Hill by Welwyn Wilton Katz (Children's Fiction 1984)
Tales of the Wicked Witch by Hanna Kraan (Children's Fiction 1995)
Ghostly Encounters: True Stories of America's Haunted Inns and Hotels by Frances Kermeen (Adult NF 2002)
The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time ed by Leslie Puckell (Adult F 2002)
The Myrtles Plantation by Frances Kermeen (Adult NF 2005)
When the Sun Goes Down: Planning the Funeral of Your Life by Betty Breuhaus (Adult NF 2008)
Ruined: A Novel by Paula Morris (Teen F 2009)

For the mini-challenge at YA Addict, I have to share my spookiest read. As my frequent blog readers know, I don't read much fiction but Black Creek Crossing by John Saul was pretty spooky. However I don't read many spooky books so it may not be spooky to all.  I rated it number four on my top 10 books read that year.

For the mini-challenge at Oh My Books!, we are asked about our Halloween costume. I am dressing up as I and a Girl Guide leader and we have a party. I'm torn between a few possibilities: (from Homemade Halloween Costumes)

Soda pop can: Use a round barrel, cut a hole in the bottom.  You cut holes for  arms and your head.  Paint it the colors of a pop can.  Presto!  You have a pop can!!!  - from Ann

Static Cling
Wear anything a solid color is good all white or all black.  With safety 
pins pin anything to yourself i:e: socks, underwear, bounce sheets, etc. You can also spray your hair straight up in the air. From: Maria

Mother Nature (assemble as you want)

• Silk flowers and silk plant leaves in a variety of shapes and colours an old skirt and vest 
• a face mask
• € twigs (collected from your nearby park or in your own backyard) to make a nest
• € a foam bird that you can find at any craft store
• € glue gun and wire 

 Okay so I will start with The Myrtles Plantation by Frances Kermeen

Halloween Readathon

I got some reading done at the 24 Hour Readathon but I'd like to get some more in so I'm signing up for the Halloween Readathon hosted by Young Adult Book Reviews next weekend. I do have one thing to do that weekend but other than that I'll get as much reading done as I can.
I'd put up the logo but I still can't upload photos for some reason. Blogger doesn't like me.

Readathon End of Event Meme

Well the readathon is over. I'm not going to do the whole end of event meme since I didn't do much of the readathon. The answer to my book puzzle is below too.

Total Time Spent Reading: 2 hours 30 minutes (pretty good considering how much I had to do yesterday.)
Books I Read From: Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter and Our Days Are Numbered by Jason I. Brown.
Books Finished: NONE
Pages Read: 156

Here are the three questions I'll answer:


3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? 
Not really. It was great this year from what I can see.


4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The mini challenges were shorter which is what I said we needed last year. I also liked that there were different ones and that many of them would work with nonfiction books which is what I usually read.

 10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Definitely participating. Still want to ship kids away, premake food and get myself set to do as much reading as possible. I'd still love to do a mini challenge too if I can ever think of a good one.

Here's the book puzzle I made:



The Answer?
How The Girl Guides Won the War (by Janie Hampton)

Readathon Update Hour 16

So I've only read 20 minutes since my last update because after that I made dinner, ate it and then went out role-playing. I just got home and I'm tired. I don't know if I'll get any more reading done. If I do it won't be much and my final total will be at the end meme.

If you're still reading, good for you! Have fun and do the best you can. Here are some tips for staying up late as I have stayed up 21-24 hours all the other times I did the readathon:

• Drink or Eat Caffeine
• Read While Walking
• Get fresh air, cool air wakes you up
• Change what you are reading. Easy reading now. Children's fiction is the best. Now is NOT the time for nonfiction
• Take more breaks. After hour 22, I take a break every 5 minutes. Just for a minute or two. Just to wake myself up a bit.
• Do NOT lay down!!!!!
• Keep the lights on. Darkness makes you more sleepy.

Readathon: Cheerleading Challenge

For this mini challenge, hosted by Fizzy Thoughts, we create a cheer for our fellow readathoners.

Here's mine:

Reading's Fun
But Takes Some Time
So That's Why
I Made This Rhyme

Don't Give Up
Says a Book Sage
Keep On Reading
And Turn the Page

Okay so it's silly but it's completely mine!

Readathon Book Puzzle

This is for an Hour 7 Mini Challenge hosted by One Librarian's Book Reviews.

It's the title of a book I have for review. Fill in the blanks.

Readathon Hour 6 Update

I've been participating in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon.

Total Time Reading: 2 hours
Book: Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron
Total Pages: 86

I haven't done any mini challenges and may not do any. I mostly just want to read.

The Readathon Starts! Hour 1

So I plan to read as much as possible but will be lucky to get 5 hours of reading done. I have a household of people and places to go and sleep to get.


Where are you reading from today? Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. It contains short stories of other cats and their special human bonds. I thought it a fitting book since Dewey the Cat and Dewey, the creator of the Readathon both share the same name, even if not for the same reason. I also have been reading SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I might add in another book, it all depends on my mood.

3 facts about me … I'm pregnant (15 weeks, or 3 months & 3 weeks), I'm going role-playing tonight (not the bedroom kind LOL, but the in a group of people with made up characters kind,) and I've been in a reading/blogging slump lately I'm hoping this readathon will help with.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? As I said before, I have two books especially in mind but for once I didn't create a readathon pile like I usually do. It will probably be some of my newly received review books though.

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? Every time after the readathon I say that next time I'm going to ship out the kids, premake or buy food, clear my schedule and do nothing but read and a few challenges. But then the next readathon comes up and my plans don't work out that way. So I'm just going to have fun and not worry about numbers too much. I am hoping though that I will be able to show people that I'm back to blogging again as I lost visitors this past month.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
I've done every readathon except one since it started so I'm definitely a veteran. It's a little too late for most advice but here's one: stay off the computer if you really want to get a high amount of time reading. I spend so much time posting updates , doing mini challenges, reading tweets and visiting other bloggers that I usually get about 6 hours of actual reading done in 24 hours. If you aren't concerned with how much reading you get done but about making new friends and socializing, then go for it. Just decide what's more important to you.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

Wow has it been over a month? Sorry to my regular readers but thanks to those who stuck by me and still have me in Google Reader.

A good way to get back in the swing of things is to participate in the 24 Hour Readathon. I have a commitment Saturday Evening and a Thanksgiving Dinner I have to be awake for on Sunday but I will get as much reading done as I can with 2 kids, 3 adults, 2 dogs and a cat around.

Seems a lot has changed in Blogger in one month too. I see we have stats now and I can't get the image feature to even work, which is why there is no logo for the readathon.

However you can find out all about it and sign up here: http://24hourreadathon.com/

So I'll be participating 8am EST Saturday October 9 - 8am Sunday October 10.