Eden

Good afternoon, all! It's nearly time for the readathon to start, so here is the post where I'll do all my updates, and here is the traditional opening picture of me... this time, with my hair just trimmed so it looks less like a bird's nest!



12:50: Might as well gear up by doing the usual questions...

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Rainy Yorkshire, in the UK. Most specifically, from my blanket fort safe inside.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? It's not in my original pile, but probably Thank You, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse. I haven't read any Wodehouse before: this will be my pick-me-up book when I'm starting to flag.
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? Keep reading all the way through, I hope -- I say, beginning to yawn already... I'll probably also make sure to take some short breaks and maybe do a couple of quests on LOTRO (at least it's related to books) when I'm flagging.

Anyway, I shall be starting with Michael White's biography of C.S. Lewis, which is probably the most srs bsns thing I will read today.

13:59: I'm about a third of the way through the biography, and enjoying it. Michael White writes engagingly, and Lewis' more unconventional aspects are interesting. Going to grab my peanut butter bagel now, and then I might do the mini-challenge for this hour before settling back down.

15:09: Now about two thirds of the way through the biography! Something lighter next, I do think... Right now, I need a nice cold drink.

16:07: Nearing the end of this biography, now. I'm not much interested in the mini challenges so far, having pummelled my brain for book spine poetry too many times before, haha.

16:51: Aaand finished. Review here. Now going to reply to comments -- so many cheerleaders this year! thank you all -- and then pick my next book. I definitely need something lighter...

17:43: Now reading Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which is... not lighter, but at least very different!

18:33: Dinner time! Still reading The Dark Knight Returns, but I haven't got that much left.

19:30: Slight hiccup. Dinner disagreeing with my lack of gallbladder. Am likely to feel increasingly sick all evening. Gah. Still, just finished The Dark Knight Returns. Not a big fan of Batman. Review here.

20:45: Now reading Jane Alison's The Love Artist. Mixed feelings about it -- there's a lot of gorgeous, lush imagery. But somehow it doesn't fit with what I know about the historical period, which is kind of odd considering I'm reading it for a historical fiction course.

22:03: And finished that too, review here. Not sure what next... Looks like the next mini-challenge isn't up yet. None of them have really been tempting me so far.

23:06: I am now reading Terry Pratchett's Dodger, and pondering the joys of a hot bath.

23:25: Definitely bathtime. Bath product: Lush's Floating Island Bath Melt (sandalwood and lemon). Books: Terry Pratchett's Dodger, Katharine Beutner's Alcestis, Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds, and Laini Taylor's Dreamdark: Blackbringer. I shall report on which ones actually get read when I get out in a few hours...

02:22: Well, I haven't even finished Dodger yet -- and there's nothing that quite disrupts a leisurely bath and readathon like an email from one's professor telling one that there's an exam this week and an essay next week -- but I think once I have finished Dodger, I will actually go to bed. I think I'm getting old or something, but sitting up all night reading doesn't appeal. (Maybe because I'm rather expecting to do that once or twice in November, as while I'm away from Wales I nearly always have fits of insomnia.) Will glance at the latest mini-challenges, and then apply myself to Dodger!

02:39: Well, let's have the mid-event survey...

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I'm not exactly sleepy, but my body is letting me know that sleep is the better part of valour and once I've finished this book, I'm inclined to.
2) What have you finished reading? Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Jane Alison's The Love Artist, and Michael White's C.S. Lewis.
3) What is your favorite read so far? My current read, Terry Pratchett's Dodger.
4) What about your favorite snacks? My peanut butter bagel.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! 'fraid not -- as far as that goes, I'm fairly insular during the 'thon itself, though I chat to people who come round here.

I like the hour thirteen challenge too, so here we go -- as many of these as I can think up easy answers to.

Best Romance Book of Your Reading Year: It'd have to be something by Georgette Heyer. Probably The Grand Sophy or The Talisman Ring.
Best YA Book of Your Reading Year: Perhaps the one that sticks in my mind most is Kate de Goldi's The 10pm Question.
Best Mystery Book of Your Reading Year: Probably one of C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake books.
Best Non-Fiction Book of Your Reading Year: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.
Best Sci-Fi Book of Your Reading Year: Ascension, by Jacqueline Koyanagi, perhaps.
Best Fantasy Book of Your Reading Year: John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting probably deserves the title best. Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo was quite high on the list, too.
Best Main Character of Your Reading Year: By so many measures, Steve Rogers.
Best Author of Your Reading Year: Hard to say, but Cherie Priest has gained my appreciation the most.
Best Setting of Your Reading Year: Possibly a cheat, as this was a reread, but it has to be Middle-earth.

...And blow it, I'm applying my athlete's foot treatment and going to bed without even finishing Dodger. I'll enjoy the rest of the readathon more with some sleep. I don't know if I'll ever do the full twenty-four hours again, but it always inspires me to get more reading done than usual anyway.

10:54: Later than planned, I'm back! And I just did the book jenga challenge...



12:04: Still reading Dodger, but I think I'll finish it before the end of the 'thon. For the previous hour's challenge, the book soundtrack, Suzanne Vega's Gypsy to go with Joanne Harris' Chocolat, and here's the final questions too:


1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 9am, when I was originally going to get up from my nap.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I think that's really according to taste. I think Terry Pratchett's Dodger would do the trick, though.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I think there were fewer US only prizes, which I appreciated.
5. How many books did you read? It'll have been four.
6. What were the names of the books you read? C.S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia, Dodger, The Love Artist, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Probably Dodger.
8. Which did you enjoy least? The Dark Knight Returns.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/a.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very likely. I think I might read for the first chunk, do a bit of cheerleading, go to bed, and then read again from when I get up.

13:00: Dodger, finished and reviewed here, and just in time!

Hi, Readathoners! Welcome to hour 23, and the accompanying mini-challenge. To give your brains a break from all the words (should you need it), my challenge is pretty simple: guess which author each photo/picture portrays. Some are more well-known than others; I've tried to pick a range of genres to give people a chance.

I'm sorry that this challenge is only really for sighted readers -- next time I'll try and come up with something a bit more universal.

Rules:
1. Guess the author identities for as many of the photos as you can and post your answer as a reply to this post, or give me a link to your own blog post where you've completed the challenge. Remember to leave a way for me to get in contact with you!
2. Anyone who gets all five authors in a category, or eight authors overall, will be entered into the draw. You get your name put in multiple times if you guess all the authors in multiple categories correctly.
3. When time is up, I'll pick someone from that group, or whoever got the most if I've made the game too difficult, and they can have one book (below £15/$20 in price!) by any of the authors mentioned in the challenge. I will send it via The Book Depository anywhere they ship to, on the 1st May.
4. ETA: I've had to put this up early 'cause I feel sick. Early participants will still be entered into my draw.

( Fantasy/sci-fi authors )

( Historical fiction authors )

( Authors of the classics )

( Detective/mystery authors )

As suggested by someone, I'm screening replies so people's correct answers can't be copied! Which means I will let you know how well you're doing.

In honour of World Book Night, I'm putting up my pre-readathon post now. I've amassed a pile of dead tree books to read, and there are many more on my ereader, also in the picture. Excited! And very much hoping I can do the whole thing this time.

Here's the photo!



Dead tree books in my pile:
-Katharine Beutner, Alcestis.
-Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
-Gillian Bradshaw, The Sun's Bride.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Phaedra and Ariadne.
-Jaine Fenn, Principles of Angels.
-N.K. Jemisin, The Shadowed Sun.
-Alun Lewis, The Green Tree.
-Karen Miller, The Innocent Mage.
-Elizabeth Norton, She-Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England.
-Rachel Vincent, Stray.

Ebooks I might get round to:
-Saladin Ahmed, Throne of the Crescent Moon.
-Kelley Armstrong, The Awakening.
-L-J Baker, Lady Knight.
-Marie Brennan, The Natural History of Dragons.
-Sarah Diemer, Twixt.
-M.C.A. Hogarth, The Worth of a Shell.
-Phyllis Ann Karr, The Gallows in the Greenwood.
-Margo Lanagan, The Brides of Rollrock Island.
-Philip Palmer, Red Claw.
-Robert Rankin, The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.
-Rosemary Sutcliff, The Shining Company.

...But there are many more, and I might finish any of the above books before Saturday, and I don't expect to read all or even most of those during the 'thon, but hey.

17:35: Yep, I did just spend the last twenty minutes putting together an answer for this hour's challenge.



"The Fall of the Kings: Here Lies Arthur Under Heaven, Last Defender of Camelot; Nevermore The King Awakes".

Yes, I racked my brains for ages to come up with an Arthurian one. Titles that nearly got in: Whose Body?, King Arthur's Bones, The Final Reckoning.

18:28: Just went off to have dinner, apply copious amounts of Bonjela to my ulcer (owww), and take some anti-spasmodics lest the dinner cause gallbladder trouble (fucking stones). Now I am back and about to start reading again, after spending dinner regaling my family with tales from Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Aaand the mini-challenge for this hour, to imagine how you would entertain the author of one of the books you've been reading...

1. Title and author of the book: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Dorothy L. Sayers.
2. The menu: the food, the beverage: It'd have to involve some very good wine. I could copy out the menu Lord Peter designs for Ann Dorland near the end of the book, but that would probably be cheating, though it's a known fact that Sayers gave Wimsey the things she wanted. Anyway, some very good wine -- aged for a decent period of time -- and, hmm, probably oysters and such things. The wine is the most important part.

19:15: Still reading about Tutankhamen. Here's my mini-challenge response for the hour, a 'found poem' based on the book I'm currently reading:

'three thousand year old
linen; tombs with paint so bright
it still seems fresh now

a thumbprint in clay
overlaid by the living
thumb of a woman

reaching back to the
past; opening the tomb of
knowledge long hidden

"Tutankhamen: the
Life and Death of a Boy King" --
Christine El Mahdy.'

20:40: Still on the same book! Here's my response to the mini-challenge of the hour, set dressing for my current read...



21:54: First mini-challenge I'm not participating in -- I could, but I'm not interested in the prize. I'd rather someone who is get it. So anyway, still on the same book -- non-fiction always takes me longer. And I just got taken aside to have my eczema dressed with iodine to deal with some skin infections: three dressings on my arms and three on my face. I look ridiculous!



22:43: Just finished the book on Tutankhamen. Review here.

23:18: Looks like I won back in hour five! I shall have to look at TBD and decide on a prize next time I'm feeling sleepy and unmotivated. In the meantime, just took co-codamol for my wisdom teeth pain, ugh. Whatever shall I read next?

00:09: Just took part in this hour's challenge. I'm now reading The Broken Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin -- I hope I'll get round to reading The Kingdom of Gods, the sequel, before the readathon ends: I'm meant to be going home on Monday morning, and I don't want to have to drag it back with me again.

01:13: Mid-event survey...

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I'm not sleepy, though I might be if I wasn't in intense pain! Yay, gallstones. Fun for all the family.
2) What have you finished reading? The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Dorothy L. Sayers), Brook Street Rogues (Ava March), Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (ed. JoSelle Vanderhooft), Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Boy King (Christine El Mahdy). I'm in the middle of The Broken Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin).
3) What is your favorite read so far? Hmmm, probably the Sayers: I always love Lord Peter.
4) What about your favorite snacks? I have nommed a Snickers bar or two, which has probably not helped with the aforementioned intense pain!
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I haven't really been looking at blogs; I tend to do that the day after. I've only wandered by the blogs belonging to the hosts of mini-challenges. They've all been very fun, though!

02:00: Bugger. I have to stop now, the pain is just ridiculous, and I had to take a painkiller that will knock me out. I'll rejoin if I wake up in time. Goodnight, all.

03:40: Can't sleep so I'm back to reading. Karen Maitland's Company of Liars.

05:23: Really enjoying this book, but taking advantage of an ebb in pain to try to sleep. Tempted to keep reading -- I don't think I'd have trouble staying up for the rest of the 'thon, but I do need sleep to get better...

12:50: I drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night, but didn't get much more reading done. Here's the final meme.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Around 1am, BST. That's when the pain first hit.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? N.K. Jemisin's books, definitely, and also Karen Maitland's Company of Liars -- that kept me engaged through the pain.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Fewer US-only prizes. Instead of using Amazon.com for prizes, use The Book Depository, that ships almost worldwide.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I really enjoyed the selection of mini challenges.
5. How many books did you read? I finished four, and dipped into another three.
6. What were the names of the books you read? The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Dorothy L. Sayers), Brook Street Rogues (Ava March), Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (ed. JoSelle Vanderhooft), Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Boy King (Christine El Mahdy). I'm in the middle of The Broken Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin) and Company of Liars (Karen Maitland), and dipped in and out of the audiobook of Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett).
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Hard to say -- I think I was most surprised by how much Company of Liars sucked me in.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I didn't read anything I really disliked, but the Christine El Mahdy was the hardest going.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't an official cheerleader, but I did drop some comments by. The best comments are ones that engage with what people are doing and reading: I had some lovely cheerleaders who tried to cheer me up when I was in pain, and some nice conversations about what I was reading. That works better than some kind of copy/paste "cheer".
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will, and I'll be a reader. I may host a mini-challenge someday: it's a nice way to get involved and I like getting books out there to people who want them...

Now I'm going to settle down to a day of, well, reading.

It's nearly the readathon again! Tomorrow, to be precise. I only realised last night, and only just signed up.

I am pretty much planning to read whatever catches my eye, but here's a list of possibilities:

-N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms.
-N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods.
-Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Ariadne.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Phaedra.
-Karen Maitland, Company Of Liars.
-David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower.
-Stuff from Netgalley.
-Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books.
-Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens audiobook. (If I need a break.)

I shall be reading dead tree books as well as reading on my Kindle and my tablet.

And now I'm going to poke at the library ebook lending service again to see if there's anything interestin' there.

I've been in a rut with reading for a while. That's partly due to mental health issues, partly due to the fact that I've just started my master's degree and I'm getting into the swing of reading and research for that. (Just completed the best mini-project ever, research-wise: dragons!)

Anyway, the point is, the 24-hour readathon is coming up -- this Saturday, in fact. And I'm free weekends. In fact, I'm free most of the week, so I even get plenty of time to recover. So despite my general lack of get-up-and-go when it comes to reading, I'm hoping this event is going to help me catch up a bit and find my feet. I have a long, long list of books I may read, to provide me with something to direct my reading, without limiting my options too much. I've got a load of books I'm stranded halfway through, so I'm hoping to read those, and others I've got that I've been meaning to read for weeks or months. Others that just appealed.

Because I love lists, I've actually made lists of books for each group separately!

( Take a look-see )

Of course, even that I'm not taking as a limitation -- just a sense of direction. If something else appeals, hey, I'll go for it.

What should I start with? Something I'm already partway through, for an easy (or quicker, anyway) way to finish off a first book, or start with something fresh to get me turning pages?

It's the 24 hour read-a-thon tomorrow! I'm going to have a bit of a spanner in the works, in that I'm going to be going to a concert -- Karine Polwart -- tomorrow evening. But I'll take along my Kindle/my iPod with a Kindle app, and we'll see what I can do.

I have quite a pile I'll be drawing from tomorrow, and I don't expect to finish even half these. But this is what I might be reading:


Not many dead tree books this time.

-Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon.
-Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigan series.
-Lois McMaster Bujold, the Chalion trilogy.
-Octavia Butler, Bloodchild and Other Stories.
-Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
-Eoin Colfer, the Artemis Fowl series.
-Michael Ende, The Neverending Story.
-Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse.
-Joanne Harris, Coastliners.
-Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players.
-Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
-Josh Lanyon, Don't Look Back.
-Josh Lanyon, The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks.
-Annie Proulx, Fine Just The Way It Is.
-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series.
-William Shakespeare, King Lear.
-Thomas E. Sniegoski, the Remy Chandler books.
-Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Like last time, I'll start a new post after few hours, but in between those, I'll be editing a post until it gets -- to my mind, anyway -- too crowded. I'll start in here, so if you're interested in my progress, check back tomorrow! I'll be updating on what I think of the books, plus linking to my reviews on goodreads.

12:35: Just gearing up to go. Got plenty of sleep last night, just had a shower. Now I need to dry my hair, eat a bacon sandwich, and find my first cosy reading nook of the day. I'll be starting with Octavia Butler's Fledgling, which I'm partway through and haven't finished. I'll probably update every hour or so!

13:43: Finished Fledgling; my review is here. Onto a collection of short stories, Bloodchild and Other Stories, also by Octavia Butler.

14:12: Introduction meme time!

1)Where are you reading from today? My parents' house in Yorkshire.
2)Three random facts about me… I'm an English Lit student, my Kindle is called Desmond, I used to be a ballerina. There, a nice random assortment!
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? A lot. I haven't counted.
4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? Not really. I'd like to beat last time, which was seven books.
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? Don't drink too much caffeine, or you'll end up needing to pee wayyyy too much.

15:35: Still working on Bloodchild. I've found that reading short stories is actually a bad thing -- for me, anyway -- because instead of getting to settle into something that sweeps me away, I keep having to get into it all over again. And sometimes not, and then I struggle.

I've also started drinking some coke. It's cold and fizzy and caffeinated, so I decided I'll have one or two cans during the 'thon. The next one will be during the night, I think. In the meantime I'll have juice. I'm technically not meant to drink coke, during Lent, but I'm exempting myself for this!

16:21: The hour four post asked about reading companions. Here's mine -- Helen Hippo, my teddy since I was two days old, now nearly twenty-two years old!

I finished Bloodchild: my review is here. Now onto The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Muriel Spark).

18:37: Finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, review here. Not sure what I'll read next -- possibly King Lear, according to my plan, but perhaps I'll move right on to one of the Josh Lanyon or Joanne Harris books.

I won't be updating for a few hours, now. It's more or less time to go to the concert. I'll be back around midnight, at the latest! Hopefully I'll have read at least one more book by then.

00:01: Back from the concert! It was fantastic, though I did read through most of it. I put the book down firmly when she sang "We're All Leaving", though, largely because it always makes me cry... In the meantime, I've managed to read King Lear (William Shakespeare), review here. I'm also almost halfway through Gentlemen and Players (Joanne Harris). Settling down to that with a glass of smoothie (cranberries, blueberries and cherries -- all fruits I dislike on their own, but apparently don't mind in combination).

Mid-event survey...

1. What are you reading right now? Joanne Harris' Gentlemen and Players.
2. How many books have you read so far? Four and a half.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I've always heard a lot of good things -- worship even -- about The Neverending Story (Michael Ende).
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I didn't free up my whole day. I just attended a concert.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? The concert, errands, dinner, a bout of motion sickness in the car. I read through them where possible and put up with it where not!
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? That I, as a lit student who reads in Old and Middle English and Old Norse, can be so bloody thrown by Shakespeare.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Try not to be attending a concert on the day.
9. Are you getting tired yet? A little, yes.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Apparently Innocent smoothies help greatly. I'm perking up, anyway...

I think with the next hour, I might make a new post. I like to start them with a photo -- any requests?

I feel like doing a readathon again! This time, I'm posting a couple of days in advance, so that if anyone feels like keeping me company and/or doing it too, we can coordinate that a bit. I'm planning on reading from 10am GMT 'til 10pm GMT, non-stop, on Saturday 27th, and I'd welcome company and encouragement on MSN, AIM, gtalk or twitter. Just ask about those if you want to add me.

This is what will be on my pile for the day, though I might spread out and read other things, too:

-The Boy Who Was Buried Yesterday, by Joseph Hansen. The eleventh in the series of Brandstetter books, featuring an openly gay detective.
-A Country of Old Men, by Joseph Hansen. The twelfth book in the Brandstetter series, and the final one.
-The Roman de Brut, by Wace. A medieval Arthurian text, based on Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia. Trivia: it was the first text to mention the Round Table.
-The Brut, by Layamon. A medieval Arthurian text based on Wace's Brut!
-King Arthur's Bones, by the Medieval Murderers, a group of mystery writers who collaborate. I think you can guess what this is about.
-The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge. A children's fantasy novel one of my friends reaaaally wants me to read.
-The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides. A story in an interesting POV about a family of girls who all apparently committed suicide.

I think that'll give me plenty to choose from, on its own -- I don't expect to be able to finish all those -- but you never know: I might end up being restless and picking something else.

I managed to stay up all twenty-four hours of the read-a-thon, and spent most of it reading, apart from when I was providing food or answering mini-challenges. I'm now really tired, but it was a lot of fun. Here's what I managed to read. The links go to the goodreads review pages.

1) Shakespeare's Richard III. I needed to read this for a class on Monday. It took me something like three hours and felt like it'd never be over, but I managed it.

2) Nennius' The History of the Britons. A short text, but not precisely easy reading. Contains one of the earliest references to King Arthur.

3) The alliterative Morte Arthure. An Arthurian text I've barely heard of: might be useful for my course.

4) The stanzaic Le Morte Arthur. Need I say more?

5) Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. One of the earliest dystopias, and massively influential.

6) Alison Goodman's Singing the Dogstar Blues. I needed a change of pace at the time, and this provided it wonderfully.

7) The Mabinogion. It's obvious why I read this, right? Arthurian references, and it's Welsh!

8) Mari Strachan's The Earth Hums in B Flat. Only managed two thirds of this, but finished up the last third this afternoon. Mari Strachan's also Welsh.

I think in future I'll do this again, and maybe monthly twelve hour readathons, to try and attack the to read as comprehensively as I did today.

Oh, god, guys, but I'm exhausted.

23:22: No picture to go with this post! I'm oddly tired, so I've gone and put some cans of coke in the fridge to chill. Mmm, caffeine. In the meantime, I have apple juice and I'm not afraid to use it!

Currently reading We, by Yevgany Zamyatin. Probably my last literature book of the day, given that I'm tired now. Just did some meditation and yoga to improve my focus, and had a quick chat with my housemates.

Also, elleth just pointed out to me that I won something! Heeee. I love this whole event.

(Now come on, body, don't be sleepy. I've barely been up twelve hours!)

00:05: Definitely slowing up now. Never mind: I'll probably hit my stride again when I move from the literature to the lighter books.

The mid-event survey:

1. What are you reading right now? Yevgany Zamyatin's We.
2. How many books have you read so far? Three or four, depending on whether you count separate texts as separate books.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I'm not sure: probably Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? No, thankfully. I've already done all my work for university, and my housemates were already planning to do dinner and stuff.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Well, I'm chatting to my girlfriend and elleth via IM, along with a couple of others now and then, and I've still been having quick chats with my housemates. With IM, I've been setting myself a certain number of pages to read before I reply; where my housemates are concerned, they know I'm rushing off back to my books.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How hard it is to stay awake! I deliberately had a lie in this morning, to make it easier, but it really doesn't feel like it.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Can't think of anything.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Hmmm... Maybe I'd get outside for a while to read out there, for a while.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Oh, yes. The fact that it's dark outside is probably not helping, and the fact that I'm used to going to bed about an hour from now to get up for lectures.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Yoga poses to stretch out if you're getting tense or tight from staying in the same position. Downward dog is nice for stretching, and I really like bridge pose for stretching the chest, neck, and spine.

01:47: Whether it's caffeine or the fact that I rolled out my yoga mat so I can regularly do a bit of yoga to wake me up, I'm pretty awake now.

About three-quarters of the way through We.

02:30: Just washed my face, which woke me up a bit... Still working on We, and wondering what to read what I'm done. Maybe if I knuckle down now, I can finish We before the end of this hour.

03:22: Finished We. Review here.

Extremely sleepy, so I'm going to do some sun salutations and wash my face in cold water. Not sure what to read next -- probably Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman.