Day: June 28, 2008

Books read 1:
Current Progress: p.106 of Persepolis

Back to reading again as I basically did not do anything for two hours but talk to all the people who came online and watched a tv programme. I became really lethargic. I am making some tea now, chai. I should be drinking more caffeine, but I rather not. I want to see how many more hours I can stay up before sleeping.

Dewey has a mid-event survey. Good, my minor updates are really silly.

1. What are you reading right now? The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

2. How many books have you read so far? Including this one, 2.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? My Sister Life and other poems by Boris Pasternak. Also Promothea.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? No, I’m introverted enough to be at home most Saturdays. I did refuse invites to go out today.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Two phone calls. I take it in stride. I give them time. It’s cool.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? It’s going by fast. When you mark the hour and read for hours, it happens.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, I like it the way it is. I just hope it’s not too stressful for any of the organisers.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? More light reading. That’s pretty much it.

9. Are you getting tired yet? Yes a bit though I usually don’t sleep for another hour, and I’m kind of sore.

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? Know when you need to take a break! Take it in stride.

Books Read: 1
Current Progress: p. 103 of Persepolis

Took a 15 minute walk, and now I am going to take a break this hour to watch some television programme. I’ll be back to reading next hour. I’m having a good time. I love the book I am reading.

Books Read: 1
Current Progress: 54p. of The Complete Persepolis

I am enjoying Persepolis immensely and going to take a walk soon as prompted by Dewey. It will be be dark in the next hour so this is my last chance to catch some natural yet clouded light. I made some tea, my second cup in the readathon. I am going to get sleepier; it’s been humid due to the rain. Rain does tend to make one drowsy.

Books Read: 1

Progress: p. 1 of The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Still need to catch up on my reviews so one more before diving into the next book.

Book Awards Challenge Wrap Up 

With Beloved, I completed the 2007-8 Book Awards Challenge. Here are the books with links to their reviews in order that I read them.

  1. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard (Newbery)
  2. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Newbery)
  3. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation translated by Seamus Heaney (Costa/Whitbread, Nobel)
  4. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Newbery)
  5. Street of Riches by Gabrielle Roy (Govenor General’s) 
  6. Neuromancer by William Gibson (Hugo, Nebula)
  7. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Printz)
  8. Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee (Booker, Nobel)
  9. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich  by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel)
  10. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer, NBCC)
  11. Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (Giller, Govenor General’s)
  12. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel)
  13. My Sister Life and Other Poems by Boris Pasternak (Nobel)

Ten of the books were on the original and alternates list. I did pretty well on this challenge. 
 

Books Read: 1

I finished Beloved, ate dinner, and am now going to write a couple of reviews before starting Persepolis. The review for Beloved will be up Monday. 

Not much else. I feel sort of silly updating with little information. I may decide to take a walk soon, but it is still fairly wet and cloudy outside. 

Books Read: 0
Progress: p. 200 of Beloved (nearly done)

Another friend called during Hour and we talked into Hour 5. I became hungry as I usually am around this time of day. I had grapes and a
rice cake. I am still a bit hungry, but it’ll have to do.

I will need to make more tea soon and it will have to be caffeined. The rain is going to make me even more sleepy.

Lori has a challenge of covers of the books we have read. I have only read one book so far so I decided to make a tiny collage of different Beloved book covers. None of these covers are used in the edition I own and am reading.

beloved

EDIT: Dewey has announced that this challenge will be up all day. I’ll make another collage at the end of the challenge of all the books I’ve read. Check back to this post.

ETA 8:10PM:
cover challenge

Books Read: 0
Currently on: p. 100 of Beloved

Vasily has a mini challenge of selecting a favourite book and posting a favourite quote from it.

howards end

“If we lived for ever, what you say would be true. But we have to die, we have to leave life presently. Injustice and greed would be the real thing if we lived for ever. As it is, we must hold to other things, because Death is coming. I love Death–not morbidly, but because He explains. He shows me the emptiness of money. Death and Money are the eternal foes. Not Death and Life. Never mind what lies behind Death, Mr. Bast, but be sure that the poet and the musician and the tramp will be happier than the man who has never learnt to say ‘I am.'”
–E. M. Forester, Howards End

Reading Progress: p. 28 of Beloved, Chapter 3.

Not much has gone on, just reading and drinking tea. Will make more tea as I will need the caffeine. I have ten varieties of tea and at least three varieties of hot chocolate. I would like to take a walk, but the weather is a bit wet today. It has already rained and it may rain again. Maybe in the evening I’ll take a short walk around the neighborhood.

I own Beloved having bought it four years ago in China of all places. Apparently China doesn’t censor literary and dark novels about slavery, race and memory. This is also my last book for the Book Awards Challenge, and one book off my official TBR 2008 pile since it is one of those many books that I own but have not read. It has some interesting prose so far even if the story and characters are sad.

Book and Page Progress: 0

In hour one, I did not read because a friend called. She does not call often and needed consolation. That took up most of the hour, and then I washed the dishes from lunch, made tea, and now I am starting Toni Morrison’s Beloved. I will be reading this for awhile.

Nymeth has a mini challenge about reading a web comic. I decided to read some Slow Wave which is a webcomic with dreams that are submitted from users. I remember reading this comic years ago, and found it fascinating as a person who remembers and lucid dreams. I am constantly entertained by my own dreams and by those of others so having it in webcomic is fun.

Now, I really must do some reading. Will be back at the top of the hour for Hour 3.

 

A little more than an hour until the Readathon kicks off. There is a charity for this readathon and please donate to Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) if you can. It is a an organisation that provides children with books. Darcie has posted a meme.
  
Where are you reading from today? Home in Ontario, Canada.

3 facts about me …

  1. I have participated in the previous Readthon and years ago, did the 24 hour Blogathon raising money for MSF/Doctors Without Borders.
  2. I always have too many books unread, too many movies unwatched and too much yarn in the stash that has to be knit. I aquire all these things much faster than I can consume them.
  3. I am a multitasker except when I am not. Here is a list of other activities I will be performing in the 24 hours other than or while reading:
    Writing reviews
    Knitting
    Taking a walk/exercising
    Sleeping (It is likely I will sleep at least 3 hours in the night)
    Listening to music
    Watching an episode of a TV show
    Eating and Drinking caffeine
  4.  
    How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

    I have picked 11 books for the readthon pile, but there are obviously four times as many books I could be reading. Here they are, the further you go down the list, the less likely I’ll actually be touching the book throughout the day.

    Beloved by Toni Morrison
    The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
    My Sister Life and Other Poems by Boris Pasternak
    The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
    Summer by Edith Wharton
    Promothea Book 1 by Alan Moore, et al.
    Paroles par Jacques Prevert
    The Minority Report and other classic stories by Philip K. Dicl
    The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
    The Partisan’s Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
    Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

    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)?

    I just want to finish at least a few books and catch up on my challenges. I’m fairly simple with this readathon.

    Any advice for people doing this for the first time? 
     
    Take breaks. Read short books. Exercise. Do other things. Have fun.
     

    On a final note, also please contact me, using comments or the contact form because I am online all during the readathon on AIM, Google and Yahoo messengers.

    Have a good time everyone!