Readathon Master Post Part 2.

My previous master post was getting a little on the long side, so I have decided to break off into a second master post for the last chunk of the readathon!

Readathon Update 7 (10:30 PM):

My last update was just over two hours ago, and I have still been productive! Yay!

After finishing the last chunk of Winter in the Blood, I spent a little time hemming and hawing about whether to read Inferno or Richard III. I settled on the Dante, considering my Group Read starts tomorrow. I guess you could say that I procrastinated! :)

But, I am making steady progress, as shown by my stats below!

The only downer is that I am starting to get pretty tired, and Matt forgot to pick me up some caffeine on the way home. Tea just isn't cutting it anymore, but now I am trying to decide what to do...stay up late? Or go to bed and get up early to finish out tomorrow? I'm not sure. Since the Michigan State game is on, I will probably stay up to watch the end.

Anyway, on to the running stats!

Pages read: 955 (I think I might have to keep going until I cross the 1000 page mark!
Books finished: 3 (The Lost Stories by John Flanagan, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, and Winter in the Blood by James Welch)
Time spent reading: about 9 hours (this is a guesstimate)
Time spent commenting/tweeting: about 120 minutes
Mini-challenges: 3 (Intro Meme, the "States" challenge hosted by Melissa, and Mid-Event Meme)
Cups of tea: 5
# of distractions by my husband: 11 (He came home from work and didn't bring me a Diet Coke! Insert grumpy wife!)
# of kitten snuggles: 10 (Sparty continued to be my cuddle buddy. He has slept ALL day).

Readathon Update 8 (12:00 AM):

We had have some CRAZINESS in this apartment the last half hour. My team, you know, the MSU Spartans? They won the game in the LAST SECOND! It was insane. And my husband is still watching replays on Sportscenter.

Amidst all the excitement, I got further into Dante's Inferno. I am really enjoying it so far! Why was I procrastinating?

But, it is time for bed. If it wasn't for the fact that I have a lot to grade tomorrow, I would stay up later. I am planning on being up for the last two hours of the readathon tomorrow, so I will be back then!

Running Stats:

Pages read: 1008!! I crossed over 1000!
Books finished: 3 (The Lost Stories by John Flanagan, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, and Winter in the Blood by James Welch).
Time spent reading: about 10.5 hours (this is a guesstimate)
Time spent commenting/tweeting: about 140 minutes
Mini-challenges: 3 (Intro Meme, the "States" challenge hosted by Melissa, and Mid-Event Meme)
Cups of tea: 5
# of distractions by my husband: 1 million (we were watching the game. I gave up).
# of kitten snuggles: 11 (Yes, Sparty has continued to be my cuddle buddy. He has slept ALL day).

Readathon Update 9 (7:40 AM):

I ended up sleeping through my alarm.

To be honest, I'm okay with that. I read a lot yesterday and as I am typing this, I can feel how tired and grainy my eyes are. I am definitely headed back to bed after this goes up! :) Bravo to all of you who managed to stay up the entire time!

I spent some time looking through some of the last mini-challenges and only entered one (hosted by Adam), so we'll see how I do! Can I be honest and say I'm bummed that through 4 readathons I haven't one a prize yet? *crosses fingers*

Anyway, here is the end of event meme. I'm not updating my running stats, since nothing has changed.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I would definitely say the last hour I was awake last night. I was pushing through because I wanted to cross the 1000 page mark, but I was pretty pooped!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I think I had a good selection this year. I started with a "fun" read that I knew I could finish relatively easily, then transitioned into some Shakespeare. I was worried that reading Shakespeare would be too difficult, but since most of his plays were performed in a few hours, the play went quickly! I think I will make reading the Bard for the readathon a tradition! Then I moved into a short classic, which allowed me to finish 3 books for the day.

Try and pick titles to keep your attention at the beginning. I think we all feel a sense of accomplishment for finishing a book!

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I think some of the mini-challenges were too narrow in scope. Nothing against the hosts, but the ones I entered were ones that any blogger could answer. This also has to do with prizes. I think prizes that are more open-ended draw a greater part of the blogging community.

(Again, I don't mean to offend anyone. Just my thoughts..)

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The cheerleaders were organized VERY WELL! I like that they continually updated who was participating, so it made it easier to post on blogs!

5. How many books did you read?
I finished three and started a fourth!

6. What were the names of the books you read?
I read "Ranger's Apprentice: The Lost Stories" by John Flanagan, "Julius Caesar"by Shakespeare, "Winter in the Blood" by James Welch, and Dante's "Inferno." The only one I didn't finish was Dante.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I really enjoyed by first choice. It was a fun YA book to get me back into a reading groove since I have been in a bit of a slump!

8. Which did you enjoy least?
While I liked it, I would have to say "Winter in the Blood." It took me a little while to get into, and it reminded me a lot of "Ceremony," which I read earlier this year...and "Ceremony" was better written.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I was not, but I did try and cheer as much as I could. You cheerleaders ROCK!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will most definitely participate again! I really enjoyed focusing on my reading this time around, so that will remain a goal. I hosted a mini-challenge back in April, and I think I will do that for the upcoming 'thon. I really enjoyed that! I also hosted last April and didn't this time...and I missed that role. I'll have to think about signing up to host again!



I hope you all got a lot read! I know that this readathon was a very good thing for me-I have been in a huge slump and this has definitely pulled me out of it! Thank you to everyone who posted a comment!