RAT: Wrap-Up

That was so fun! I didn't read as much as I would have liked to, but this time around was a last minute decision and a bit of an experiment. Now I know just what to expect for next time! I'd love to be one of the folks who makes the whole 24 hours in the future.

I ended up turning out the reading light at midnight. I honestly have no idea how many hours I actually read or blogged. I was surprised at how much time the blogging took. I'd sit down to check how everyone was doing and leave some cheerleading comments, and the next thing I knew, it was time for my own hourly update! That's something I'll have to work on for the next one if I actually want to make some headway in my reading.

I finished up David Sedaris' Naked.
I read one short story, during which I fell asleep. Oops.
I read Paul Auster's Man In The Dark in its entirety.
I read about 1/3 of Andy Taylor's Wild Boy.
Page count total: 352

Not too bad. I can't wait for the next one now that I have a number to beat. Nothing like setting the bar nice and low! :-)

Congratulations and great job to everyone who arranged and participated in the Read-A-Thon! It was an honor and just a blast to share an entire day with all of you who share this love of books!

RAT: Hour 14+

OK. Real life is no longer cooperating at all, so here is the plan: I'm going to go to bed soon and just read until I fall asleep. Then in the morning I'll let you all know how far I got.

I've had a great time today even though I didn't get near as much reading in as I wanted to. Next time I'll know just what to expect! Because I am doing this again some day!

Good luck and good reading to all who are aiming for the full 24 hours! I can't wait to see everyone's final results!

RAT: Hour 10

Confession: I fell asleep reading William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning". I guess I thought it was just OK. :-) Man In The Dark was really good. Auster is rising on my list of favorite authors with every book of his that I read. Man In The Dark was my third. Timbuktu has been my favorite so far.

I need something completely frivolous now, and Wild Boy it is. I've just finished the Prologue where he talks about Duran Duran's Live Aide performance, which was their last for many, many years. I'm hooked!

So far I've read one short story, one complete book, finished another, started a third for an embarrassing grand total of 239 pages. I'm in awe of so many of you who have already read way more than I'll manage for the whole day. You guys are amazing!

See you in a couple hours!

RAT: Hour 7

I have reached the inescapable conclusion that I do not read fast enough to merit hourly updates. :-) I'll only update every couple hours from now on so you're not all inundated with snappy posts that read some version of, "Still working on the same book as last hour."

I only have about 20 pages left of Man In The Dark. Then I'll be grabbing a short story (no idea which one), and then maybe the Andy Taylor autobiography for awhile. It might be kind of like getting a VH1 "Behind The Scenes" break. :-)

Happy Reading, Everyone!

RAT: Hour 5

Nothing too earthshattering. Still loving Man In The Dark, and drinking Diet Mountain Dew by the gallon.

Canvassing Update For Those Who Are Curious: Obama supporters will be happy to hear that 90% of the people Peter has spoken with so far this morning are voting for our guy!!

RAT: Hour 4

Let's see. . . I'm 60 pages into Auster's Man In The Dark. I'll be hard pressed to come up with a sentence to sum it up for my review as there are so many elements involved. But here's what you really want to know: Excellent book! And highly recommended as a quick read for anyone else in the Read-A-Thon who was wondering. :-)

I haven't brewed up any of my new tea yet, but that Diet Mountain Dew is going down quite well, as usual.

RAT: Hour 3

I confess I haven't read a thing since my Hour 1 update. However, hubby is fed and off to do this thing, the kitchen is cleaned up, the dogs are set, I've showered, and now I'm off to start Man In The Dark by Paul Auster.

See you in an hour!

RAT: Hour 1

Where are you reading from today?

Livingroom and bedroom, where Peter just put up the coolest reading light. What a good guy!

3 facts about me …

I'm 43, I've had the same job for 20 years this Christmas, I'm afraid of heights.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

Literally hundreds. My TBR "pile" is, like many, totally out of control.

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)?

Since this is my first Read-A-Thon, I'm not setting he bar very high. I want to see how it goes. I'd like to read at least three Short Stories somewhere along the line, finish two books, and maybe dabble in a few that I've been curious about but don't necessarily want to finish today.


I finished up Sedaris' Naked. He's such a fun writer! Peter is going out canvassing for Obama today, so I'm taking a break to cook him some breakfast before he goes. Gotta keep his strength up to fight the good fight!

Hope all has started well for everyone!

RAT: Hour 0

About five minutes to take off! I don't expect my final totals to be overly impressive, but if I can just get a bunch of reading in today that I may not have gotten otherwise, that's perfect! Really, I'm just looking forward to hanging out with all of you for the day. :-) First up, finish David Sedaris' Naked. I'm on the last essay about the nudist trailer park. It's a good way to wake up!

See you in an hour!

24 Hour Read-AThon - I'm In!!

I'm in! I decided at the last minute, so now I need to go to bed so I can get up early and get started!! I certainly won't read all this tomorrow, but in addition to catching up on a few short stories for the Short Story Challenge, here are a few of the books I have lined up as potentials fodder:

Man In The Dark -- Paul Auster
Dumb Witness -- Agatha Christie
Mortal Stakes -- Robert B. Parker
The Queen's Man -- Sharon Kay Penman
The Book of Samson -- David Maine
Change We Can Believe In -- Barack Obama
The Shock Doctrine -- Naomi Klein
Amusing Ourselves To Death -- Neil Postman
Wild Boy: My Life In Duran Duran -- Andy Taylor

There are a bunch more that I may dabble in, but these were the first ones to catch my eye when I decided to go for it.

See everyone bright and early!