Category Archives: Read-a -thon
Fables: Book One by Bill Willingham
Graphic Novels! Comics! I love them! I’ve seriously adopted this narrative format into my regular reading and hope to never stop. GNs and comics definitely take some getting used to, but it’s so worth the effort. I can’t imagine a life where I would purposefully avoid Fables. That would just be a damn shame.
Welcome to a world where fairy tale and other fictional characters are real. They’ve fled their homelands (think the Emerald City, Narnia, the various and assorted kingdoms of Prince Charming) due to a deadly enemy known simply as the Adversary. The characters who can pass as human live in modern day NYC and the animals/fairies/other blatant non-humans hide away on a farm in upstate New York. Snow White is deputy major of Fabletown and B. Wolf is the sheriff. Wackiness ensues, obviously.
Book One follows two major story arcs. First, Ruby Red (Snow’s sister) has apparently been violently murdered. B. Wolf is on the case. Then the farm up North has a rising rebellion on their hands. The residents there want their old lands back and hate feeling like prisoners even among their own kind. In order to fight against the Adversary, they must first break all the Fable laws and rise up against their own. Goldie and her bears lead the way.
The illustrations were hit and miss for me. They have a superhero comic book feel which isn’t my favorite, but are at least gorgeously colored. What shines is the story telling and all the literary references. I loved how Willingham is able to take the fantastic and bring it very realistically into normal human society. I’m very much looking forward to the next installments. Fables is geekery at its finest and highly recommended to fans of things such as Once Upon a Time!
I read this during the read-a-thon and you should do so next ‘thon as well! So easy to fly through even when your eyelids are drooping.
RATING: 
Dewey’s Read-a-Thon: October 12, 2013
The Final Survey:
- Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 16 where I decided to pass out.
- Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Fables! The only book I finished.
- Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? So beyond me…I think the readathon is awesome.
- What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Twitter and booktube! All kept me very encouraged.
- How many books did you read? 1 in full, and parts of two others.
- What were the names of the books you read? Fables: Book One, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and Dracula
- Which book did you enjoy most? Fables!!
- Which did you enjoy least? Now that’s silly – I really loved them all.
- If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
- How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Will definitely participate. Might be a cheerleader next time. I think I’d be better working the thon than reading during the thon.
****************************************************
So, I totally failed to wake up at 3:30 and woke up at 7:30 instead. Will continue to read this morning until my dim sum date with Jimmy at 2! Super huge thanks to all hosts, mini-challenge creatures, cheerleaders, booktubers! Also, Andi and Heather – y’all are the BESTEST!
*****************************************************
I’m giving in and taking a nap. It’s 11:35 pm right now so I’ll set my alarm for 3:30. Hope to be reading again by 4 and finish the final four hours!
Pages Read:
Fables: 248 (Completed!)
Miss Peregrine’s: 126
Dracula: 46
Total: 420
Goal when I wake up: Finish Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
***************************************
Dear Everyone:
I finally figured out what was wrong with my attention span. I was obsessed with finishing The Walking Dead Season 3. I marathoned the first 10/11 episodes yesterday and just couldn’t stop there. So, I decided to just stop, watch the remaining episodes, and come back when they are over. That means sometime in the 8 o’clock hour I’ll start reading again. After a good, long, cold shower to wake me up. I’m in this thing for the long haul, y’all.
Mid-Way Survey:
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? FAILING. But on the bright side, my eyes are fine.
2) What have you finished reading? Nothing (see the failing bit above). I’ve only read 250 pages thus far.
3) What is your favorite read so far? I’ve loved everything so far. Fables is definitely the easiest read, though.
4) What about your favorite snacks? Chocolate cookies I just baked and ate. I ate all of them. SHAME.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I’ve definitely visited some new blogs. But asking me to remember them is beyond me at this point. In my roundup they will get love!
********************************************
Hour 9:
********************************************
Hour 4 Completed:
Having so much fun thus far. My first bowl of beef stew has been gobbled up, and it was delicious! Been drinking water. I’m saving the coffee until tonight’s moments of desperation. Have chatted briefly with Jimmy’s who’s off camping in Helen, GA. My dogs don’t really know what’s going on.
I’ve spend probably 2/3 of my time reading. The other third has been eating/household activities/tweeting. Not a bad balance. I have yet to participate in a mini-challenge. Too busy reading.
Huge thanks to Heather, Andi, challenge hosts, and cheerleaders!
Progress:
Miss Peregrine’s: 100 pages
Fables: 60 pages
Dracula: 16 pages
Total: 176 pages
Books completed: 0
Current view:
*******************************************************
YES!! It’s finally here. Let’s get this thing rollin’, shall we?
I’ll be updating this single post all day long so that no one’s feeder gets taken over by myself. That would be odd and unfortunate.
Here’s the introduction questions:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Atlanta, GA – It’s supposed to be a beautiful day outside. Plus, my neighborhood is having a chili cook-off.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Fables really excites me, but if we’re being honest, I can barely wait to start The Goldfinch.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Don’t snack much, but I’ve made an awesometacular beef stew that smells delicious right now.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! By day, I’m a CPA and spend my hours counting down until I can become a reader again.
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 my book selection is really quite different today. I don’t plan to spend too long at a time with any single thing. VARIETY!!
Happy Dewey’s everyone!!!!!
Time to Chat
You guys! You must go and join A More Diverse Universe. MUST. Basically, you vow to read one book by an author of color in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Due date: November 15. Diversity is so important and often so overlooked by all of us. ALL OF US. Visit Aarti’s page for signups and more information.
As for me, I’m choosing Dawn by Octavia Butler. I just read a list where it was listed as one of the scariest books of all time. SOLD. I have a couple of flights scheduled for early November and this should be excellent for such an occasion.
I’m eagerly anticipating Saturday’s festivities. I love Dewey’s something fierce. My TBR is locked and loaded. I’ve got beef stew on the brain and hopefully in the crock pot by tomorrow morning. Now all I need is some munchies, a little bit of a sleeping backlog, and an absentee husband this weekend. Not that I love Jimmy abandoning me for friends and a mountainside cabin, but this weekend that just fits perfectly into my schedule.
My goal is to finish some books this weekend so I actually have something to bloggy blog about. Books have alluded me these past few weeks, but I’m hoping to get my mojo back soon.
Also, I’ve won THREE books on Twitter this week. THREE.
Dog Days of Summer Wrap-Up! (#ddsummer)
Best. Readathon. Ever.
Thanks so much to Heather and Andi for all their work in organizing this event. Check out the official event wrap-up post over at The Estella Society.
I decided to concentrate my reading around books and authors that got me super excited to read in the 4th and 5th grades. First up, I had to grab something by Christopher PIke. The book I most remembered was The Midnight Club which is about a bunch of kids with cancer who are in a hospice and meet at midnight to tell stories. What struck me most about my adult re-read was how poignant this story was, how well written, and how un-scandalous. I seemed to remember loving Pike because he felt naughty – sex, drugs, and other provocative things forbidden to pre-teens.
My second choice was Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. I read a lot of Sachar as a child, but these little stories in particular really stood out. Reading them now was still an absolute pleasure. They were so clever and completely enjoyable as an older person.
Next up, I grabbed the first Fear Street novel, The New Girl, by R.L. Stine. Yet again, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the writing and story held up after all these years. The book was genuinely creepy, much more so than most YA I read now. What did bug me was that the book had been edited and updated for the 21st century. Current musicians and iPods where mentioned throughout. I wanted my dated Walkman and music, dammit.
Today I focused on two final books. No nostalgic readathon would have felt right without some Judy Blume. I went with Blubber as my selection and adored it. Blume does not sugarcoat people or social issues. Bullying is handled rather well here and every single event just felt so realistic even in its ugliness.
Finally, I just wrapped up Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin, the first book in the baby-sitters club series. This book more than the rest really worried me. I for sure thought I would be annoyed by how juvenile the whole thing might be, but not at all!! Loved this book and felt a great urge to continue reading the series. The only thing it lacked was the original cover.
So glad I participated and can’t wait for another weekend of nostalgia reading. I actually almost entirely ignored all social media because I was so absorbed. What a great way to spend a couple of days.
Life and Read-A-Thons
As many of you know, I spent my weekend in LA begrudgingly. Jimmy’s sister was getting married and it may have been the strangest wedding I’ve ever been to. If you follow me on twitter, you understand. Having been to LA several times now, I can honestly say it’s just not a city that impresses me at all. I’m so glad to be back home on the east coast where I belong.
Because I was out-of-town, I missed out on the read-a-thon which had me super bummed. I spent most of Saturday staring at twitter longingly wishing I was reading alongside everyone else. I’ve vowed to take an active role in October’s event and I’m already counting down the months. To hold me over, I’m going to have my own little read-a-thon starting this morning and going through Wednesday. The Hubs will be in Louisiana so it’s the perfect time. Can’t wait to dive in!
On the job front, things have taken a slightly downhill turn. I didn’t receive my final paycheck because the company couldn’t afford to pay us. That puts an extreme financial strain on Jimmy and me. Hopefully, I’ll find another job very quickly so things won’t get out of control. The world is such an uncertain place. Glad to have an interview lined up for Thursday. I also spent a few hours this morning sending my resume out to more companies. (EDIT: Got my paycheck in the mail!!!)
In happier news, I have two packages arriving today. One is my very own copy of The Silver Linings Playbook film (YAY!) and Lauren Graham’s first novel – Someday, Someday, Maybe.
I hope everyone is having a fantastic week!
A Monday Hodge-Podge
Happy Monday interwebs!!
The Read-a-Thon has come and gone! It was a complete blast even though I failed to participate for the full 24 hours. My weekend just got much busier than I had previously expected. I managed to read 200 pages and thoroughly enjoyed connecting with everyone, participating in mini-challenges, and flying through I Capture the Castle! Thanks so much to everyone who made the event so successful – organizers, hosts, cheerleaders, etc!
Friday night we hosted our annual poker party which meant I didn’t get to bed until 4am! Trying to read on no sleep was very difficult and definitely affected my total page count. Saturday night we went with friends to dinner at Verde in Brookhaven and then on to the Netherworld Haunted House – one of the best in the country. We actually went several years ago, so this was our second time. They switch it up every year though so it was still a lot of fun. I love being scared. However, I was injured during the walk through – my poor toenail has seen much better days! The below picture is of Josh Hutcherson (Peeta from The Hunger Games) who’s in town filming the second movie. He visited Netherworld last week!
Afterwards, we didn’t go straight home so, yet again, I couldn’t keep reading. Jimmy took a group of us out for Taiwanese snacks from his favorite little bakery place. There was bubble tea, salt and pepper chicken, Asian sweet potato fries (best things EVER), and other sweet treats. As a result, we didn’t get home until 1am. I tried to be active in the Read-a-Thon again but fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until after lunch today! So. Tired.
My big news is my new Samsung Galaxy SIII phone I purchased this afternoon! I’m so excited to finally be in the 21st century. I’ve always owned really basic phones with no interesting features whatsoever. Now I can take pictures, listen to music, video chat, and download apps until my heart’s content. Plus, Best Buy had an awesome deal on this phone – we ended up paying well under $100. Take that iPhone 5!
Lots of reviews to be posted this week since I’ve actually finished a couple of books. Just gotta get around to writing them!
Read-a-Thon: Beginning Post!
Yay! Happy Read-a-Thon everyone. So excited to be participating for the first time and plan to update the blog every 3-4 hours with my progress. I also plan to visit the social networks and visit blogs for about 10 minutes each hour! I couldn’t narrow down my book choices to a small stack. I really, really tried, but failed. Instead, all unread (and even some read) books in my house have an equal opportunity to be selected at some point today! I’m starting out with I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith!
Pretty much have the whole day to myself. The Hubs doesn’t understand what a read-a-thon is so he’s so confused right now. He thinks it’s some huge competition where I have to beat everyone else and read the most pages. I would lose. Have had about 4 hours of sleep.
Good Luck everyone!!!!
*********************************
Update #1: Hour 3
Just past 10 am here on the east coast and I’ve managed to read for a good portion of the first two hours. I did get a late start (8:20), have spent some time taking care of my dogs, and now have had an extended computer break so I’m almost ready to dive back in. Really enjoying I Capture the Castle!
Pages read: 65
Update #2: Beginning Hour 5!
We’re closing in on the final few seconds of the fourth hour!! The time has really flown by. Wheat Thins and water have been my best friends so far. Jimmy has finally woken up (so jealous of his sleeping in) to go have lunch with his parents while I stay here and continue reading. About to go have some hearty potato soup to keep my strength up! Still trying to decide whether or not I’m going to take some time off tonight and go to the haunted house with friends. I Capture the Castle hasn’t become boring yet – a sign of a really good book when you can barely hold your sleepy eyes open!
Pages read since last update: 45
Total Pages read: 110
Update #3: Hour 8 – I’ve won a prize!
So, I took a 2 hour nap after lunch which was much necessary if I’m to continue reading. And while I slept I won a prize! Not sure what I’ve won, but will journey over to the main blog shortly to find out. Also, a book came in the mail just now! Have decided to have dinner with Hubs and friends at 7 and then go to the Haunted House. Will probably get home around 11 or midnight which still leaves me plenty of hours to read!
Pages read since last update: 41
Total pages read: 151 (I’ve been asleep!!!)
Update #4: Hour 12 is quickly approaching!
Headed out for the haunted house! Will continue reading when I get home. The Hubs has disrupted my reading the past hour by having friends over so I’m behind where I wanted to be, but have still had a blast!
Pages read since last update: 46
Total pages read: 197
Update #5: It’s 1 am!!
So I’m back from my festivities and hope to get some more reading in tonight before passing out! I probably won’t update this post again until tomorrow morning with my final tallies. I hope everyone continues to have an awesome readathon! I’ve enjoyed my first time out exceedingly and hope to have less distractions next go around.
*********************************
Challenges:
Introductory Questions:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Atlanta, Georgia!!
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Um…see post above where I couldn’t narrow it down. I love ALL THE BOOKS!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? My homemade potato soup.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! Hi! I’m Brooke and head of this lovely blog dedicated to books and whatever wackiness is currently taking place in my life – right now I’m on a food blogging kick.
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’m looking forward most to connecting with everyone throughout the day and coming together over the awesomeness that is books.
The Blog of Litwits 