Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday Salon: My unproductive readathon

So, are the die-hard readathoners still up and going?  I did not make it I am ashamed to say.  I've had better reading events, but hey, when you normally read one printed book a week, it is all good.  But I'll get into all that in a minute. 

As for the week up until Saturday, there isn't much exciting to report.  A dentist appointment, a sick child (the other one this time) for the three days they had school this week, a day of yard work that netted me about 40 mosquito bites, and an out-of-town hubby.  My daughter and I did go see the remake of Footloose (not bad at all, considering how nostalgic I am for the first one) and watched Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 on Netflix streaming, in preparation for the third installment that we hope to squeeze in soon.  Side note:  Maybe these movies are nearly homemade and hokey, but they scare me to death.  It doesn't stop me from watching, though.  On the other hand, nothing really bothers my daughter. 

Up until the readathon, I was able to finish "Model Home" by Eric Puchner on audio, and start "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, for one of my book clubs next month.  I was not altogether moved by "Model Home" but am loving "Unbroken".  This story is sure to be filed under my category entitled "the shit you can't make up".  Is it wrong for me to pray that everything written here is true?  So many of these stories end up being half-baked yarns (ahem, Three Cups of Tea anyone?).

In print, I wrapped up "The Night Strangers" by Chris Bohjalian (love), and also read "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs (also love).  I then started a book on my readathon list early, "Love At First Bark" by Julie Klam, which was sweet, and finished it in the first hour of the readathon on Saturday morning.  So, good week up to that point.

But then we got down to the nitty gritty.  The kids and I shopped for snacks and caffeine.  We got our piles in order.  But things got off to a slow start.  My son had football practice, so that and a shower took care of things for me until about noon.  Then I had to make lunch.  Then the kids fought over the Halloween Oreos.  My son read for about 30 minutes and decided his new video game was more palatable.  My daughter and I read all day, but we were both restless.  She started "The Help" but it was long, so she switched over to "The Watch That Ends the Night", a book about the Titanic written in verse. 

It took me 9 hours to read 160 pages of "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene.  This was an incredible book, but was the wrong choice for this event.  Too intense, too philosophical, too dense.  I decided to be careful about my next pick, and started reading the first 20 pages of several books and landed on "13 Rue Therese" which is very different and captured my attention quickly.  I didn't finish it though.  I read about half of it before I crashed at midnight.  I did Tweet (and get hammered by Kathy at Words With Friends), but stayed away from the computer as that is a huge time suck.  I must say the cheerleaders did a FABULOUS job as always.

At 8:00pm my husband rolled in from Switzerland, loaded with perfume and chocolate, and proceeded to pour the both of us a glass of red.  He had to show me his pictures and talk about his $20 beers.  That also slowed things down a bit on the reading front.

Either way, I now have about three weeks worth of reviews to write, so guess what I will be doing next week?

Today my son plays in the second round of his football playoffs.  Either our season ends today, or we go on to play next Wednesday night.  Cross your fingers and toes.  Our season started August 1st, so while I want him to win badly, I am actually looking forward to moving on to track soon.  It has been a long long road.

OK, I think I'm going to go take a quick nap before the day's festivities start.  Hope you all have a great Sunday!!! 
        

25 comments:

Care said...

Books are awesome
Books are great
Congratulations on reading so much
You’re first rate!
(borrowed from Softdrink) APPLAUSE for all you accomplished this readathon.

Harvee said...

At least you tried! I read 2 1/2 books!

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

I meant to participate in the readathon and other things got in the way, but you had much more going on and still joined into the fray! Well done! Miss Peregrine is up soon (just have to pry it from my husband's hands). So fantastic that your husband returned home laden with gifts! Welcome Back, Mr. You've Gotta Read This! :)

bermudaonion said...

It sounds like you had a productive readathon to me! Let me know what your daughter thinks of The Watch That Ends the Night.

I didn't beat you that badly and besides I was due a win.

Michelle (my books. my life.) said...

That doesn't sound unproductive to me. :)

Julie P. said...

I don't think I've gotten a page read this weekend. Life just seems to be getting in the way of blogging for me lately.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I didn't get a single page read either. Ugh. Too many things I had to get done and then today we have to go visit some people and even though I really like them, I feel like I just need to sit and READ!

Pam (@iwriteinbooks) said...

Hahaha I'm glad that you and I had sort of a similar reading weekend. Here's to the effort at least! :O)

Beth(bookaholicmom) said...

As long as you had fun, that is all that counts! I agree about the computer being a huge time sucker. I finally only did mini-challenges if they were easy enough to do in a short amount of time. I think you did a great job with all you had on your plate!

Unknown said...

Well you know my status, and I'll do better next time.
Congrats to your son's football team for doing so well. Good luck today!!

Heidenkind said...

The chocolate and wine sound like the most exciting part! :D

Trisha said...

I think I ended up with the most unproductive readathon. After getting all excited and geared up, I didn't spend a single minute readathoning! Stupid real life.

Ti said...

It took 10 chapters for me to get into Unbroken. The guy was just such a jerk.

Zibilee said...

I ended up having a different experience with readathon than I though I would have too. I read solidly for about 4 hours, and then started to get restless. I was reading a novel, and though it was engrossing, I just needed to stretch my legs, and I felt anxious that I didn't have any lighter books to read. SO, I hopped in the car and drove to the bookstore for a graphic novel and found out that they are A) very expensive and B) Barnes and Noble doesn't stack a great selection. I then drove out to get coffee. BUT I was listening to an audiobook the whole time, so I am thinking that it counts as reading time. I ended up finishing a graphic novel, my huge honking novel from the early morning, and one audiobook, so I was pretty happy, all things considered. I am hoping to start Unbroken this week, and am really buoyed by your reactions so far! Have a great week, and good luck with the football!

caite said...

WAIT! they make Halloween Oreos?? {{is it too late to go to the supermarket...}}

Melody said...

You go, Sandy! I think you did great and I look forward to all your reviews!

Alyce said...

You're right - philosophical, deep books are not good choices for the readathon. Good luck to your son's team!

Bybee said...

You did the best you could...the perfumes and chocolates would have stopped even the most diehard reader.

Bybee said...

You did the best you could...the perfumes and chocolates would have stopped even the most diehard reader.

JoAnn said...

Sounds like your readathon was pretty productive to me! I thought Unbroken was just riveting ... couldn't stop listening! The End of the Affair was a good book, but I can see how it wouldn't be a great choice for the event.

Kathleen said...

As busy as you are I am amazed that you participated at all. Good luck to your son's football team!!

Unknown said...

Graham Greene is a secret passion of mine. Have you tried Our Man in Havana? I think you'd enjoy it. It's about a vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana who accidentally becomes an international spy.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry you didn't get to read as much as you wanted! Sometimes life gets in the way! You still did a great job.

Unknown said...

I've been away visiting relatives so missed the whole read-along thing. In fact I think I've only read 100 pages in the last 4 days :-( It sounds as though you did well, despite not staying up. Graham Greene is one of those authors I really want to try at some point. Knowing he is one of those authors not suitable for a read-along is good to know. I'll ensure I try him at a point I can manage lots of smaller chunks. :-)

Alice said...

I still think you're awesome, Sandy!