Last book and end of event questions

During the final hour I read Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis.  I've been saving this for the read-a-thon since graphic novels are an easy read when you're tired.  It was well plotted and easy to follow even for someone who doesn't normally read graphic novels.  The plot line though was very like the Man of Steel movie.  Were they supposed to be similar or was this just another example of great minds think alike?

End of even questionnaire:

 1.   Which hour was most daunting for you?
Around hour 19 when I took a couple hour nap.

 2.   Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Murder Past Due is a good novel for those who like cozy mysteries.

3.    Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No.  Liked it as it was.

4.    What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Everything.  I had a great time.

5.    How many books did you read?
4 complete ones and parts of 2 others. 

6.    What were the names of the books you read?
Murder Past Due and Classified as Murder by Miranda James.  Cat Confessions by Zobel Nolan.  Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis.  Read part of The Hooked X by Scott F. Wolter which I gave up on a third of the way through and finished Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend which I'd started before the read-a-thon.

7.    Which book did you enjoy most?
Classified as Murder by Miranda James but only by a slim margin as all those I finished in the last 24 hours were very good.

8.    Which did you enjoy least?
 The Hooked X which I gave up on for being just too kookie.

9.    How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I hope to be reading again in April 2014.

Final Hour

Heading into the final hour and I just finished Classified as Murder by Miranda James.  This was just as good as the first book in the A Cat in the Stacks series, Murder Past Due.  The mystery is intriguing and you find yourself truly caring about many of the characters.  This has turned out to be the perfect series for me to read during this read-a-thon. 

Now I'm off to try and finish my one and only graphic novel, Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, before the end of the hour.

Hour 16 Confessions

Hour 16 and I've finished my 2nd book for the day.  It's Cat Confessions by Zobel Nolan.  Ok, It's not the biggest book in the world being only 64 pages and half of that was pictures and admittedly the book is only 4.5" by 4.5" with a font that even the most sight impaired person could read but it's a book and I read it and I'm counting it.  So there!!


(BTW it was beyond cute and made me laugh)

Middle Hour 14

Well it's the middle of hour 14 and I've finally finished my first complete book for the day: Murder Past Due by Miranda James.  This is a well written and easily read cozy mystery and the first book in the A Cat in the Stacks series.  If  all the rest in the series are like this one it won't take me long to catch up.  The story, about archivist, librarian, and widower Charlie Harris, his Maine coon cat Diesel and the murder they become involved in trying to solve, is well paced, decently thought out and left me guessing until the end though when I got there I remembered wondering about some of the clues and questions along the way.  A nicely entertaining book to read in this read-a-thon.

Half Way Through

Mid-Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
Kind of sleepy but more I feel like I should be sleepy.  It seems more like 9:00 p.m. then 7:00 p.m.

2) What have you finished reading?
So far I've only finished Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend and it was about a third of the way done before the start of the read-a-thon.  Kind of regret both the money and time I spent on The Hooked X.

3) What is your favorite read so far?
I'm really enjoying the book I'm reading now: Murder Past Due by Miranda James

4) What about your favorite snacks?
Ate some BBQ Wings earlier that were quite good though really messy and they had to be eaten one handed since I don't really want to remember this read-a-thon by the souvenir of sauce fingerprints on the pages of Murder Past Due.  Otherwise coffee!!! (and now you know why I should feel sleepy and don't)

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
Glanced at a couple but don't know what they were.

Hour 9

 

It's hour 9 and I just finished Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend.  This was a fun book and perfect antidote to my previous book.  To be fair it was just as kookie as the previous book (the main character was reading tea leaves) but you wouldn't expect anything else with "A Fortune Teller Mystery" on the cover.  

The characters in this book had just the right amount of oddities and small town charm and the main character was truly likeable.  The character interactions were delightful and frequently brought a smile to my face.

Having said that the ending seemed a bit sketchy and kind of rushed and the way the partnership in the book occurs is wholly an escape from anything that might happen in reality but if you can suspend your disbelief and like a cozy mystery this book is worth a look.  I'll be reading the next book in the series soon.

My Android device ran out of power and is currently charging so I think I'll try the paper copy of Murder Past Due by Miranda James next.

Hour 6

I'm giving up on Hooked X as much as I hate abandoning a book.   It started out as a fun read but is rapidly descending from weird interpretation to complete kookiness.  At the point I'm at he's abandoned normal reference books and is using "books on the occult, symbols, secret societies, codes, medieval and Egyptian history, the Holy Grail and Freemasonry" to try and understand how the minds of the people who he thinks inscribed the Kensington Rune Stone worked.  I read a bit further and as near as I can tell from here on out any kookie idea that supports his theory however unproven or undocumented will be accepted.

So I'm moving on to something labeled fiction instead of something that is fiction masquerading as fact.  I'd started Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend before the read-a-thon so I'll be finishing that first.

Book Spine Poetry

This was my favorite challenge from April so trying it again.
Here is my entry for the Book Spine Poetry mini-challenge from CapriciousReader

Casting Shadows
Stalking Darkness
Cold Days
An Artificial Night

Almost 3 hours into read-a-thon

I'm 3 hours into this fall's read-a-thon and 28% (I miss page numbers when reading e-books) of the way through the book The Hooked X: Key to the Secret History of North America by Scott F. Wolter.

I'm enjoying the book though I found references to the books by Henry Lincoln (e.g. Holy Blood, Holy Grail) as factual to be somewhat jarring.  All I can think is that the author is going with the notion that if his fantastic theory is unaccepted by scholars and, in his mind, correct then all theories which are unaccepted by scholars must be correct even if they are based on forgeries to start with and contradict the forgeries they are based on.  That he seems to be basing some of his own theories on these books puts much of what he is positing into question.

I found the following quote from the book to be somewhat ironic: "We just don't know and must be very careful drawing conclusions based on assumptions that might not be correct"

October 2013 Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon intro questions

This is my 2nd read-a-thon and I'm so excited.  I haven't been reading many books since my hours at worked changed and I'm hoping this will help jump start reading again.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

The Hooked X: Key to the Secret History of North America by Scott F. Wolter.   I don't expect it will change my mind about the archeology but it looks like fun.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Lima Beans.  Really strange I know but I made them for myself last time as a vegetable to have that day and they turned out to be an all day treat.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I used to work 3rd shift and read a lot of books.  Now I work 1st shift and don't.  Forced change of schedules are depressing!!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today?

I've bought less sweet snacks and I'll be reading from an e-reader for most of the day as most of the books I'm reading are e-books.  This is kind of odd because I usually read paper books at home and e-books on the go.

24 hour read-a-thon end of event meme

Which hour was most daunting for you?
     Hour 21.  I ended up sleeping off and on for the next couple of hours.
 
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
     If they're into mysteries any of the In Death series by  J. D. Robb are quick and easy to read with enough excitement to keep someone's attention.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
     No.  I enjoyed it as it was.
 
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
     Everything.
 
How many books did you read?
     Three.

What were the names of the books you read?
      Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb, Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs, and Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Book One Force Storm by various (this is a graphic novel and I'm finding who to list as the author a bit confusing)

 Which book did you enjoy most?
     They were all great but I kind of liked Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Book One Force Storm the best by a narrow margin.

Which did you enjoy least? 
     As I said above they were all great so I wouldn't know how to answer this.

 How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
     I will definitely participate again probably as only a reader at least one more time.  

Mid-event survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?

Since my catnaps earlier I've been doing better.  Maybe getting a little tired but will drink some more coffee soon.

2) What have you finished reading?

Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb and the first half of Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Book One Force Storm

 3) What is your favorite read so far?

Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Book One Force Storm though I really liked Calculated in Death too.

4) What about your favorite snacks?

Lima Beans (I know.  Really strange but I made them for lunch and instead of putting away the leftovers I kept eating them.  Sadly, they're gone now)

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!

Not really.  May look around later.

Readathon Ninth Hour Update

This is a lot of fun and 290 pages of Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb have been read.  So far it's been fun visiting with favorite characters and watching the mystery unfold.

I took a break for about 45 minutes and listened to Self-Defense by Jonathan Kellerman while walking the cats and doing a bit of other stuff.  It's over 11 hours long but I started it last week and have less than 3 hours to go and am somewhat curious how it will end so I'll probably go back to it soon.

I've also taken a couple of unexpected catnaps.  Guess the work week left me a bit more tired than I thought.  If I get through the rest of the 24 hours with just catnaps I'll be happy but, since there is having fun while reading for a day with nothing else planned, no matter what happens it will be a success.

Mini-challenge Hour 2: Book Spine Poetry

When Gods Die by C.S. Harris

And Justice There is None  by Deborah Crombie

Now May You Weep by Deborah Crombie

Kind of feel like I cheated using 2 books by the same author but I just couldn't resist the poem they made.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Introductory Questionaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I'm trying Coconut Cream Sugar Wafers.  This may be a mistake if I hate them.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I am so happy that it's read-a-thon day.  I've had 7 books sitting out for over month waiting for this day and 4 of them were in favorite series I normally read as soon as they come out.  It's been really tempting but I managed to wait.


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?

This is my first read-a-thon and I'm most looking forward to a day of reading.  Normally there are so many things to do but I've been telling everyone what this day was for weeks so hopefully everyone will just let reading happen.

Help with a quote...

If anyone stumbles across this blog and happens to know who wrote the following quote or what it is from could you please tell me.  I thought I memorized it from a book years ago but I've never been able to find it again and multiple internet searches have been no help.  At the time it is likely to have been from a romance novel though science fiction is also a possibility.  It could also have been from fan fiction but that should have turned up in an internet search.

War is a dead man's game.  It turns children into adults before their time.  It makes heroes of them when they die.  Peace will come when dead men learn to voice an opinion.  Until then the secrets of war are buried with our fallen heroes.

They're Watching by Gregg Hurtwitz -- Rating: Good

Summary:  Patrick Davis is a man with both legal and marital troubles whose bad life takes a turn for the horrible when he receives a DVD showing that he is being stalked.  When the stalker's threatening manner and ability to cover his tracks causes Davis to concede to his odd demands things become strange and then Davis discovers just how much worse his life can be

The good:  The story is original and the books is a quick, exciting read.  I really enjoyed the way Davis' marital problems were depicted and how this portion of the story was resolved.

The bad:  The plot is wholly unbelievable with a storyline halfway between a mystery and a soap opera.

Conclusion:  Despite knowing as I was reading the book that it was very contrived for the most part it was  also good fun.  The lack of anything like realism is made up for by the originality and excitement of the plot.

I love to read books and think it would be fun and a good mental exercise to write about them.  The name of the blog reflects the fact that I will be covering older books, current books and, since sometimes I get advanced reader copies of books from work,  future books.

The rating system I plan to use is

Excellent = Books whose author or series is one that I will be looking for more of right away.

Good = Books whose author or series I will be look for more of when I'm already at a bookstore or library.

Fair = Books whose author or series I will pick up more of if I can get them cheap or free.

Not for me = Books whose author or series I won't be reading again.

Poor = A book I really think shouldn't have been published.

Unfinished = For books I started but never finished.