Dewey Read-a-Thon!

Saturday, April 27, 2013


**UPDATED AT HOUR 24**  

Pages Read: 1,332
Currently Reading: Swallows and Amazons, Bridget Jones's Diary
Books Finished: 5 (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, Sandman Vol. III: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman, Coriolanus by William Shakespeare)
Breaks Taken: 1st break to help clean out my great aunt's house (she passed away last month). It ended up taking almost 5 hours, so most of my morning was not spent reading, but I'm back now! 2nd break to spend a few evening hours cheering! 
Snacks Eaten: Oatmeal, lunch at IHOP, 2 cups of coffee, Starbucks Doubleshot, KitKat, turkey quesadilla and cucumber slices
Music Listened To: Iron and Wine
Mini-Challenges Completed: 11 
Blogs Visited and Commented On: 78

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The 21st hour, I feel asleep and that was the end of me. 
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein, Persepolis, Bridget Jones's Diary; anything that's fun and a bit different, like poetry, play, graphic novel, etc. works for me!
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Tell readers to turn off the word verification on their blogs! You guys already do it a million times, but maybe make it a million and one. 
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The mini-challenges were fun and the hourly hosts did a wonderful job!
5. How many books did you read? 5 completed and more than halfway in 2 more
6. What were the names of the books you read? Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, Sandman Vol. III: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman, Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, and Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
8. Which did you enjoy least? Gregor the Overlander, didn't hate it I just had high hopes because of The Hunger Games.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? This was my first year cheering. I made a text document of all the blogs I needed to cheer at, then I did about 10 an hour so I could getting some reading done too. That way I could mark them off when I was complete and not miss anyone.  
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? I absolutely will! What role would you be likely to take next time? I've hosted a mini-challenge and I've been a cheerleader, my main goal is always reading, but I will do either or both of those again. 


Mid-Event Survey:

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? I feel like I've gotten a second wind, so I'm going strong! I uually hit a wall around 11 pm. 

2) What have you finished reading? Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, and Sandman Vol. III: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

3) What is your favorite read so far? I really loved Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. What a painful picture of loneliness! 

4) What about your favorite snacks?  Lays Potato Chips and Cottage Cheese, I know it sounds gross, but it's incredible. Lays chips are my favorite, but I only have them on special occasions, so read-a-thons and road trips! 

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? I discover Sheila at Book Journey because of her fun mini-challenge Book Appetit! 

It's Dewey Read-a-Thon Day!!! Twice a year, once in April and once in October, I participate in the Dewey 24 hour read-a-thon. I've been in a reading slump this month, so I've really been looking forward to this. Unfortunately I have something I have to be at for a couple hours this morning, but other than that interruption I’m planning to read all day.

That's my pup Ollie with a stack of potential books to read today. We'll see what I end up getting to, I'm always a bit too ambitious. I'll be checking in every hour or so and updating this post. Good luck everybody!

Mini-Challenge: Picture It hosted by The Book Monster.
Where I'm reading right now, my library...


Mini-Challenge Introduction:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Indianapolis, IN 
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Re-reading Bridget Jones's Diary. It's been about 10 years sine I read it and I think it will be a fun one. 
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? An Almond Joy and apple slices with almond butter. 
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I got to meet Ann Patchett last night! (author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder)
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? This is my 5th read-a-thon and my first as a cheerleader! I'm looking forward to encouraging others later today. 

Mini-Challenge hosted by The Estella Society: Self-Portrait 

(Ollie is not impressed)

Book Appetit Mini-Challenge hosted by Sheila: Make up a menu for a book you're reading.
1. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

2.  Fried Chicken and grits and a birthday cake for Big Daddy! It's a southern birthday party! We'll hang some paper lanterns and a lace table cloth for the "no-neck" kids to ruin. 

3.  A cocktail of course, Brick drinks throughout the book! A whiskey with a splash of tonic water and ice for those hot southern nights. We'll call it "Maggie's Loneliness." 

Hour 4 Mini-Challange: Re-Title Your Current Read hosted by Geeky Blogger's Book Blog:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
New Title: Everyone is Lonely 

Mini-Challenge Book Sentence hosted by Midnight Book Girl: 

A Long Time Ago / Ordinary People / Sing Them Home.

Mini-Challenge: Yoga Break hosted by Elizabeth Michelle.

This might be my favorite mini-challenge so far. I did the yoga poses she listed in her post and it was such a perfect break. Cat pose and Bridge pose were the two best stretches for me. I did yoga for about 10 minutes and it was perfect. 

Photos by moi. 

24 comments:

Ciska said...

Good luck with your books. Ollie is the cutest! Let him help with eating some books ;)

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Looks like Ollie is suggesting the Arthur Ransome title! LOL Enjoy!

Love to have you stop by, if you get a chance! <a href="http://www.readerbuzz.blogspot.com>Deb Nance at Readerbuzz</a>

The Relentless Reader said...

Orange Crush, lemon ice!
Read them once, read them twice!
Read them high, read them low!
Dewey’s Readers on the go!

Happy Reading!
Jennifer~Team Panda
The Relentless Reader

Kristi said...

So sorry to hear about your great aunt's passing.

I really should read Bridget Jones's Diary again. I don't think I quite appreciated it the first time around. Good luck, Melissa, and happy reading!

Andi said...

I adore your selfie!!!! Your dog is adorbs!

Jenn and The Cats of Castle Coull said...

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, huh? I've seen the movie...love to hear how you like the book.

Keep up the great reading!

Jenn and The Cats *Team Panda*

Tichwi said...

Your library looks amazing! Hope your reading is going well. Keep going!

JennRenee said...

great photos. Cute doggie. I love those bookshelves too. So jealous!

Kristen said...

So jealous of your library! What a great place to read with such wonderful company. :)

Lizzie said...

Looks like you are having a wonderful time!

The Relentless Reader said...

I've never read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...it's another of those stories that I've always meant to get to. I hope you're having a great day!

Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
So we tell them
We are the readers!
The mighty, mighty readers!

I hope you’re having a fantastic Read-a-Thon!
Jennifer ~ Team Panda
The Relentless Reader

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Yoga was a perfect break. Loved this challenge!

Ali said...

Your menu is perfect and I love the self-portrait with Ollie. What a sweet face! (His, that is. Well, him and you, both.)

Anonymous said...

I am SO JEALOUS of your library, I can't even tell you!

Chris said...

Hi Melissa

Just seen your comment on the main page. Keep on reading! You can make it!

Chris (Team Lion - looking for readers with at least one eye open)

Arenel said...

Oh my God how many pages! You are doing so great! :) I love the picture with the library and the dog :) Wish I had place for both in my smallish room in the dorms...

Anonymous said...

1300+ pages and 78 blogs visited? ROCK STAR! I'm impressed and kinda jealous! Do share your secret, won't you?

Congrats on a glorious (!) readathon.

Nolatari
Team Panda

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Thank you guys for your amazing encouragement throughout the day! It kept me going!

Sarah said...

OHMYGOODNESS!

1,332 page read, 5+ books, AND you cheered, AND you helped clean out your aunt's house????

You are a ROCK STAR!!! That is so amazing.

Sarah Reads Too Much said...

You had a great readathon - considering your other obligations as well! So glad you enjoyed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - I thought you would!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a great read-a-thon! Thanks for stopping by my Cover Me challenge. The results are in if you want to check them out.
http://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/read-a-thon-cover-me-mini-challenge/

Heather said...

Wow. You read 5 books, one of which was Shakespeare??? :O I am SO impressed. I'm so glad you had a great readathon! And thank you for helping out as a cheerleader! You rock!

Andi said...

Thank you SOOOO much for being such an awesome, enthusiastic part of the readathon! I think we'll start campaigning to TURN OFF word verification a week early next time. Maybe 2 weeks. lol

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

It really was an awesome and successful read-a-thon. A huge thanks to Andi and Heather for making it happen again this year. You guys are seriously the best.