Final thoughts on the RAT

Well, my first Read-a-Thon is officially over. It was great fun, and I stayed up for 20 out of the 24 hours, which I was happy with. I only read for 10 1/2 hours, however, so next time I think I'll blog and cheer a little less and hopefully will be able to take fewer breaks. I'll also choose shorter books for my RAT stack. I read half of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but the book is almost 600 pages, and I didn't want to spend the whole Read-a-Thon on one book. I also read all of The Phantom Tollbooth and part of The Widower's Tale and The Hunger Games. Oh, and a litle War and Peace. The cheerleaders were great, and it was all very well organized. Hope I can do it again next time!
Final page count: 561
Final hours count: 10 1/2
Books finished: 1 1/2, plus part of 3 others

Hour 18

Taking more breaks, and not exactly burning up the pages, but still at it!
20 pages - The Hunger Games
Running total, pages: 539
Running total, hours: 10 hrs

Hour 17

Finished my first book! (Have read part of 2 others.)
56 pages - The Phantom Tollbooth - It was fun to reread this and remember why I loved it as a child. It's very clever, and should remain a classic.
Running total, pages: 519
Running total, hours: 9 hr 30 min

Hours 15 and 16

Still hanging in there! I wonder how many of us will be left in a few hours. I seem to have a second wind at the moment, so I'll keep going with the easy reads.
90 pages - The Phantom Tollbooth
Running total, pages: 463
Running total, hours: 8 hr, 45 min

Hour 12

Can't believe the Read-a-Thon is half over! Hope I can last a good while longer. After another cup of tea, I think I'm getting a second wind.
10 pages - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
50 pages - The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - used to love this book. It's a fun reread to lighten things up.
Running total, pages: 313
Running total, hours: 6 hr, 30 min

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now? The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Widower's Tale, The Phantom Tollbooth
2. How many books have you read so far? 1/2 of one, part of 2 others
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? The Hunger Games
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Yes, cleaned and made food for family in advance
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? A few, but not too bad
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Not really surprised - it's fun!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? It's my first one, and I think it was great
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Try harder to get a good night's sleep the night before!
9. Are you getting tired yet? A little, but I'm going to hang in there for several more hours
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? No suggestions - others have given me great tips

Hour 2

Slow start - 20 pages in War and Peace, 10 pages in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Going to have some breakfast now.

Read-a-Thon: Hour 1 (6:00 a.m.)

And we're off and running! Good luck, everyone - here's wishing you hours and hours of pleasurable reading! I'm starting off with a bit of War and Peace, so I can meet my goal of plugging away a little at this every day... (am currently on page 530)

Read-a-Thon books!

O.K, here are my books for the Read-a-Thon this weekend (Oct. 9)! No, I am not a speed reader. I just want to have a wide variety available since this is my first Read-a-Thon, and I'm not sure what I'll feel like reading, and how tired I'll get. I read fairly slowly (have to get EVERY word), so I imagine I'll finish a part of several books. I don't think I've read more than about 200 pages in a day in the past, so I'm curious how many pages I'll get through if I give myself permission to read for a whole day (and part of the night, hopefully)! As you can see, I have everything from War and Peace (which I am currently reading - about 1/3 through) to Nancy Drew (beloved books from my younger days). I'm looking forward to cheering others on as well, and see how they're doing. Now I have to work hard for the next few days so I don't feel guilty about neglecting my family this weekend! Oh, I also have The Hunger Games in my stack, even though it's not pictured here...

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

I'm gearing up for my first 24-hour Read-a-Thon (Oct. 9). Oh, the thought of giving myself permission to read for hours and hours - heaven! I'm starting to think of what books to have in my stack. I'll probably start off with something fairly substantial and then move on to lighter stuff as I get sleepy. I do suppose I'll have to sleep a bit, and maybe walk the dog, but I should be able to hang in there for most of it. Can't wait!