Random Read-a-thon Oct. 19 - 23, 2012

Random Read-a-thon hosted by My Shelf Confessions

 
YES! A spur of the moment random read-a-thon! Of course I'm in, because one, it's a read-a-thon, and two, I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked for Dewey's last weekend because things came up, and three, well, it's a read-a-thon! If you'd like to join us in doing this random bout of reading goodness, head on over to My Shelf Confessions and sign up! It's super informal, so come along!

Goal:

400 pages

Books I'm working on:

Starting Page: 60 Pages Read: 333 Finished: 10/21/12

Starting Page: 226 Finished: no

Start: 29% Ended: 67%  Finished: no

Score: 

 

I made it to about 385 pages I think, because I was a loser tonight and got sucked into the Halloween events on my favorite computer game Guild Wars 2. :D But I basically did it, I could have! I was THIS close!

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon October 2012 Edition

Good morning, afternoon, evening or dead of night to you, wherever you are! It's time again for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon!

This will be my 6th Dewey's Read-a-thon, it's hard to believe, and while my excitement is tempered now by familiarity, I'm still looking forward to it and ready to go!  I've tried a bunch of different methods of tracking, this time I think I'll keep updating one post with my progress and add comments to the end throughout the day.

I'm sitting out on cheering this time around because I've had several things pop up during the day that I must do, so instead I've donated a prize for the first time, a trilogy of books that I think are perfect for a read-a-thon, and I can't wait to see who chooses them!

I do have a giveaway going on for The City's Son by Tom Pollock, teen urban fantasy, 1 US Kindle copy so please have a look!

I'm going to work on reading some short stories in series that I like, also some kids books that I want to move along through wild release at Bookcrossing.  I don't have a particular goal, I'm just going to read as much as I can amongst my errands and projects for the day!  Good luck to everyone taking part, and if you aren't, why not?!  Join us!  You know you want to!

Here is my TBR Pool for the day:

Pages:18 Finished: 12:15 AM	Pages: Finished:	Pages:28 Finished: 2:30 PM	Pages: Finished:
Pages: Finished:	Pages:105 Finished: 8:30 AM	Pages: Finished:	Pages:152 Finished: 11:19 PM
Pages: Finished:	Pages:155 Finished:  Nope!	Pages: Finished:	Pages: Finished:

8:30 AM: 1 book down and the Introductory Meme

I just finished my first book, Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman, a super fast little fantasy about two girls who discover a mermaid on their last summer together before one of them moves away.  It's a dreary day here, so perfect for reading!


1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Kansas
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Not sure yet, I haven't planned them out, but I'm hoping for some decadent dessert, we'll see!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I like waterlilies, so I've started keeping them in giant pottery pots on my patio in the summers, with shubunkin's (koi-looking goldfish) in their to keep the buggies at bay.  Makes for nice patio scenery while reading!  I know, kind of strange, but I was looking for something more interesting than "I like cats, and I like to read!" LOL!
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  I think this is my 6th actually, and I'm trying putting all updates in one post, we'll see how that goes.  There's no way I can actually stay up for 24 hours anymore and still be functional, so the last couple read-a-thons I've started going to bed when I get tired, and making sure I get up a few hours before the end, it's worked pretty well, I love being there as the finish line arrives!

And now I'm staring in on Midnight Alley, but since it's the longest of the books I've set aside today, I'll probably work on it throughout, and read other things as breaks in the middle!  See you later!

10:30 AM: Read-a-thon on the run

Time for the running around, not much read in Midnight Alley yet, but it's going with me of course!


3:30 PM: Still Read-a-thon-ing on the run

I finished up Curran POV #1 while walking through CostCo! I'm about 60 pages into Midnight Alley, and also started on Wild & Steamy on my phone since it will be too dark to read in the car soon (as we are still running around).  I hope to be able to catch up on reading and do some visits later tonight.  I'm not getting as much reading done as I'd like, but I'm trying!  Hope everyone is having a good day so far!

9:30 PM: Ready to get busy and the Mid-Event Survey!

I've a got a fresh Salted Caramel Mocha in front of me and I'm settled in and ready to read!  Think I'll pick up a quick looking one to get back in the groove, Haunted Waters by Mary Pope Osborne looks like a good choice. 

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? With a fresh coffee I hope to be awake for awhile, haven't had a chance to read as much as I'd like today!
2) What have you finished reading? So far only Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman and the first Curran POV by Gordan Andrews
3) What is your favorite read so far? Curran POV #1, and Midnight Alley that I'm working on now.
4) What about your favorite snacks?  Apparently coffee, since this is my second one today!
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!  Sadly I haven't had much time to visit anyone this time around, I hope to do that soon!  But if you read this, my friend Noumena is willing to pay some money to charity for the books WE read as well if you sign up on her registration form!  Check it out!

11:30 PM: Finished my second book and the Challenge Your Brain While Reading Challenge

I just finished Haunted Waters which was an eerie little story based on a German fairy tale.  Perfect for an October read-a-thon!

My Seryniti has a challenge for us with two parts:

1. Choose a challenging book outside your normal tastes (I'm paraphrasing here): Biographies/memoirs are pretty far out of my normal taste range, but there is one that I'd like to get a hold of, it is In the Pleasure Groove by John Taylor, the bass player for Duran Duran, one of my favorite bands of all time from when I really started discovering popular music.

2. Share any words that are unfamiliar to you that you come across in the read-a-thon, and share any of your favorite words.  Well, I haven't really come across any unfamiliar words so far, but I'll share some that I like from today:

Piscine: Of, relating to, or characteristic of a fish or fishes. (Haunted Waters)
Prestidigitation: Performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands; sleight of hand. (I thought I saw this in Midnight Alley, but can't find it again!)

which led me to this one that I didn't know what it meant until now:
Legerdemain: Sleight of hand.

2:00 AM: Book Sentence Challenge

I've never done one of these before because nothing ever struck me, but I'm kind of proud of this one!

A Book Dragon Ain't Myth-Behaving Playing with Fire!

3:00 AM: I'm out!  See you next time!

I've decided that sleep is the better part of valor, and that there's no way I'm going to get my current book finished soon.  Good Luck to anyone who is still awake and reading!  I managed about 458 pages, not bad considering how much time I was out and about today.  Thank you to the hostesses and the cheerleaders and all the other read-a-thoners for make this such a fun and connected event!

Giveaway: The City's Son by Tom Pollock

From Amazon: Running from her traitorous best friend and her estranged father, graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for sanctuary. What she finds is Filius, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London’s mystical underworld. Filius opens Beth’s eyes to the city she’s never truly seen—where vast spiders crawl telephone wires seeking voices to steal, railwraiths escape their tethers, and statues conceal an ancient priesthood robed in bronze. But it all teeters on the brink of destruction. Amid rumors that Filius’s goddess mother will soon return from her 15-year exile, Reach, a malign god of urban decay, wants the young prince dead. Helping Filius raise an alleyway army to reclaim his skyscraper throne, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when her best friend is captured, Beth must choose between this wondrous existence and the life she left behind.

I received my copy of The City's Son from Ann Aguirre, another author whom I greatly admire who was so impressed with this book that she wanted to share it. Any time an author that I'm a fan of is excited about another book, I want to check it out. I figure if I enjoy their writing, I'm definitely interested in what they enjoy. I was not disappointed!

I've read quite a few books in the Urban Fantasy genre now, but this one actually puts the urban in the fantasy!  I loved how Pollock creates living creatures out of every day inanimate objects and machines, the streetlamps, spiders that run the telephone wires, the living statues, and the railwraiths, even Reach's minions, who are frightening in their mindless devotion to bring him to life.  The dialogue is fun and sarcastic, but underlying that is a dark and desperate story with a bittersweet ending.

Filius is an anomaly to this world, with his concrete grey skin but otherwise human features, he is unlike any of the creatures who belong to his goddess mother, Mater Viae.  Beth is artistic, brave and daring, though often rash, she takes to Filius and his fantastical London right away, jumping in to ally herself to his cause.  There are many other wonderfully done characters throughout, and I am totally on board for the next book, The Glass Republic which features Beth's best friend Pen, who is far from traitorous here, and who sacrifices so much for her friend.

This story is so imaginative and interesting, I don't think I'll ever look at a streetlight or a construction crane without thinking about it!  Check out Tom Pollock's Website.

Giveaway:

Since I received my copy as a giveaway from Ann Aguirre on Twitter, I'd like to pay it forward and offer it up for someone else to enjoy as well!  This is for 1 US Kindle Copy of The City's Son, so please make sure you are able to accept that format before entering, and make sure to leave me a way to contact you!  This giveaway will stay open through Midnight Oct. 31st Eastern time, and it's my first time using Rafflecopter so I'm keeping fingers crossed!

a Rafflecopter giveaway