Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday Salon: Read a Thon Wrap Up Edition
Yesterday I participated in Dewey's 24 Hour Read a Thon - well, I really only ended up participating for about 8 hours. Last week was crazy at work and I was out of town for business meetings and didn't get home until late on Friday night. On Saturday, I had some tax stuff that I could not put off any longer . . . so I ended up not settling down to read until about 3 pm - a full 7 hours into the Read a Thon! For the next Read a Thon, I will definitely prepare better - get a good night's sleep the night before and clear my schedule of all errands and obligations.
Despite my late start, I had a blast! It was such a social experience - from the other readers to the cheerleaders and the hourly updates on the Read a Thon blog, it really felt like a party! I found that once I settled into reading that I hit a rhythm - I would read for about an hour and then check the read a thon blog to see what was going on that hour and if there was a mini-challenge that I wanted to do. I would spend about 15 mins on the blogs including checking in on others and then get back to my book for another hour. I even one a prize later in the evening - a copy of Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter which has been on my wishlist for awhile - yahoo! Prizes aside, I will definitely do the next Read a Thon (and prep better!) and I think I will add a stint as a cheerleader - they made such a difference in my experience - I would definitely like to pay that forward!
What Did I Read?
During the Read A Thon, I only read one book but it was a great one - The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott. I am so glad I had the chance to really immerse myself in this book - I felt as if I was transported to Walpole, MA in the 1800's. In cruising the blogs today, I discovered I was not alone in reading this book for the Read a Thon - Florinda from The 3 Rs Blog and Lisa from Lit and Life also worked it into their plans for the read a thon. I am looking forward to reading their reviews to see if they liked it as much as I did - my review will be up later this week.
After I finished Lost Summer of LMA, I dipped in and out of How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth which is a collection of essays on key elements of life - it is divided into sections on Health, Prosperity, Democracies, Racial Harmony, the Environment and more. The author list is impressive - Barack Obama, Thomas Friedman, Tony Blair, and George Bush to name a few. It was perfect as I grew tired at the end of the night - its not the type of book that I would read in one sitting anyway. I liked what I read from the collection last night (one essay on health and one on prosperity) and I will be reading more soon - I will also feature a longer review of the book.
What is up this week?
I am getting away to sunny Florida at the end of this week for a few days of R&R - yay! I am looking forward to getting some good reading done on the flights and while relaxing by the beach. On the blog I will post reviews of the following books:
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott (I will also be joining the discussion with the author on Wednesday on Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?)
The Season of Second Chances: A Novel (there will also be a giveaway of my ARC)
Alexandra, Gone(my blog tour stop is on Tuesday)
The Smart One and the Pretty One
I hope my fellow read a thon-ers have recovered from the lack of sleep and wish you all a great week ahead!
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Congratulations on finishing the Read-a-Thon! Wasn't it fun? I was just a cheerleader last time and have been wanting to participate as a reader for over a year now. I am so glad I did it, but cheerleading is definitely addicting. Glad to see that you enjoyed them!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed TLSOLMA! It was great, wasn't it? I found Louisa so enjoyable a character. I think many a modern woman can relate to not wanting to be forced into marriage or be subservient to a man. I can't wait to read your review!
You did great! I only was able to participate in part of it too. I'm reading the Louisa May Alcott book right now for the chat on wednesday. Where in Florida are you going?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation!
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Florida!
ReplyDeleteYou might not have had a lot of time to participate, but you did great! Congrats!
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott took most of my readathon time as well. But it was worth it! Glad you had such a good time. I've got to learn to shut out distractions--I've been so frustrated by not being able to get as much reading and participating done as I wanted to.
ReplyDeleteOh yay, Whistlin' Dixie! That book should be my life story. Enjoy!
ReplyDelete