The Catching Up Readathon

Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century is hosting a Catching Up Readathon over Easter weekend. Since I won't be traveling or working Friday - Monday, it seems like a great opportunity to catch up on some reading. I will start after school on Thursday and see how much I can get read.


I am keeping track of my reading at GoodReads this year too. Fortunately, unlike Kristin, I am not massively behind. I am actually 2 books ahead as of Sunday, April 17. But that doesn't mean that I'm not being buried by all the books on my TBR stacks. 

Young Adult Books

The Front 2 stacks of adult books with an equal number hidden behind.

This is my opportunity for some concentrated reading time. Why don't you join me (and Kristen and the folks already signed up on her linky)?

Out With a Bang Readathon Day 2

I had a pretty good day 2 of the Out with a Bang readathon.

I finished Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan and also wrote and scheduled the review for Jan. 20. Total = 296 pages


I also read The Heart of Winter which is an anthology by Maggie Shayne, Linda Winstead Jones and Day Leclaire. I got it from NetGalley for my Kindle yesterday. It has a January 4 release day. So it moved to the top of my TBR stack. The review is written and will be posted on January 8. Total = 320 pages


I read a total of 616 pages on Day 2.


I also want to thank the person who gave me the idea of printing out a calendar to schedule my blog posts. It lets me feel much more organized to see a calendar with posts filling in lots of the squares. I'm sure there would be a way to do this using Google Calendars but this is one time when I want the print pages sitting on a clipboard near my computer. 

Today my plan is to clear my Google Reader which is overflowing with Friday Blog hops and then read two ARCs I have for review - The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor and The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa.

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

It is 10:50 PM and I am calling the Once Upon a Read-a-thon a wrap. I didn't do badly but I feel like I wasted a lot of time that I could have spent reading.

Here are my results:

1. I finished The Search by Nora Roberts
2. I finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
3. I read Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill
4. I read Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
5. I read The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

I read for a total of 17 hours over the three days. I also competed in two of the mini-challenges. In the first I found images to go with The Search by Nora Roberts. The second one had me post a review of the best book I read. Again that was The Search by Nora Roberts. Tomorrow I will need to catch up and write the reviews for the other books I finished.

This was fun. I look forward to taking part in read-a-thons again. Thanks to Pure Imagination, Candace's Book Blog and Reading Angel for setting up this read-a-thon.

BTW, I got an email from Angela of Reading Angel telling me that I had won a set of four autographed books. They are the first four books in the Dark Days series and they are signed by Jocelynn Drake. I am so excited to have won and so eager to read the books.

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Day 2

This is my report on Day 2 of the Once Upon a Read-a-thon. I did not have a very good reading day yesterday. I was away from home for most of the day and then spent most of the evening watching the All-Star Game. Finally my beloved National Leaguers managed to pull one out. We had been on a terrific losing streak. To make matters even better one of my favorite players from my favorite team was named the Most Valuable Player. Yay, Brian McCann!

I did manage to read for 3 hours.

I read the next two chapters (27 & 28) in A Short History of Nearly Everything.
I also read on in Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.

I will finish both books today. But, before I start reading, I need to check out my Google Reader.

On with the show!

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Day 1

Day one of the Once a Upon a Read-a-thon went pretty well. I used my new timer bookmark to keep track of the amount of time I spent reading. I start and stop reading a lot. This bookmark lets me pause and resume and gives me a pretty accurate count of the time I am actually reading.

I began the morning finishing The Search by Nora Roberts. It took 59 minutes to complete that book.

Next I reset my timer and read the next two chapters in Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. I have been trying to read a chapter a day. But, with only 4 chapters left, I am hoping to finish this book by the end of the read-a-thon. There are so many names and so many ideas that I can't read very much at a time.

I took a break in the afternoon to out to lunch with my brother. Then I read Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill. It took 4 hours and 53 minutes.

I ended the day reading Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. I read for two hours and got to page 110. Of course I was also a little distracted by Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives because I really love that Food Network show.

So, I read for about 9 hours today. I finished two books. I'm going to wait to review the books until the read-a-thon is over. Look for a bunch of posts starting on Thursdat.

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge #1

I am participating in the Once Upon a Read-a-thon and am starting my first day doing a mini challenge. Here is what I am supposed to do:

So, here's the deal...

We all have a favorite book, right?

What I want you to do, since I am a lover of all things music and photo related is to pick one - or both - and put them together!!

Does that make sense? HMM, lets see if I can explain better, basically pick your favorite book and/or character and pair it with a song and/or photo that reminds you of the person or setting in the book!

My first problem is that I do not have a favorite book. I have hundreda of favorite books. I am really enjoying the book I am reading right now - The Search by Nora Roberts - and so I am going to choose a couple of images that are linked to the books for me.

The female main character does search and rescue with her labs near her home in the Orcas Islands in the Pacific Northwest. Here is the setting:

The male main character has a new puppy who is out of control and comes to the female main character for dog training. Here is a similar puppy:

Doesn't he look mischievous? Jaws is the dog's name in the story (for his ability to eat anything he sees).

Now, back to finishing the book!

The pictures come from Flickr and were chosen because they were available under a Creative Commons license.

Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon July 12-14

It is time for another read-a-thon. This time I am participating in the Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon hosted by Pure Imagination, Candace's Book Blog and Reading Angel.


The requirements are pretty simple. You must participate in the read-a-thon. (You need to do at least one update, participate in at least one mini challenge, and post a read-a-thon wrap up post telling us what you read)


There is a form to fill out at Reading Angel to be eligible for the giveaways. You can also sign up there.


I think it sounds like fun. I hope to read at least a book a day. Come join me!