SPRING BREAK KICKOFF WEEKEND READATHON--March 14-16--Everyone Welcome!

Woman Reading by Candlelight by Peder Vilhelm Ilsted

It seems like a long, long time since I’ve hosted or participated in a readathon or even seen one posted in the 75 Books Challenge. So I’ll be kicking off the start of my spring break by hosting a casual drop-in readathon over the weekend. Everyone is welcome to “drop in” and read with us for any amount of time.

If you're joining in for the first time, here's how it works: We'll be reading from 5:00 pm EST on Friday, March 14, to 5:00 pm EST on Sunday, May 16. (You can Google to find an online time converter if you’re in a different zone.) Sign up whenever by leaving your name and location on this thread. If you've come to the thread a bit late, no worries! Just leave a message and join in, and I will add you to the list of participants the next time I check in. Feel free to include a link to your Challenge thread if you plan to leave more detailed comments on your reading there.

This thread will be your check-in point and read-a-thon HQ. There will be a template for updates posted below. Some readers like to check in hourly, but feel free to set your own schedule and to decide how you prefer to track your reading (pages read, hours spent reading, listening hours for audiobook lovers, etc.). Periodically I'll also post memes or questions which, again, you can respond to when and as you wish.

There really are no hard and fast rules here. Please don't think that you've committed to a sleepless 48-hour period or that you can't participate if you have to work. The point is simply to commit to focus on your reading for whatever amount of time you choose. We'll each track the number of hours spent reading and posting and the number of pages we've read. Stop by to cheer on everyone else, comment on others' reading choices, or just chat a bit. It's all up to you.

So get the comfy chair warmed and the hot tea (or margarita) ready, and let’s make a dent in those towering TBR stacks!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

WHOSE READING ALONG?
1) Cariola (Deborah)--Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
2) Ameise1 (Barbara)--Zurich, Switzerland
3) calm--Aberystwyth, Wales
4) cbl_tn (Carrie)--Knoxville, Tennessee
5) majkia (Jean)--Niceville, Florida
6) PawsforThought--Sweden
7) streamsong (Janet)--Montana
8) crazy4reading (Monica)--Boothwyn, Pennsylvania
9) dk_phoenix--Ontario, Canada
10) Chatterbox (Suzanne)--Providence, Rhode Island
11) Athabasca--Edinburgh, Scotland
12) Deedledee (Dee)--Nova Scotia, Canada
13) paulstalder--Riehen BS
14) Library Lover23--Lancaster, Pennsylvania
15) clue (Luanne)--Fort Smith, Arkansas
16) rainpebble (Belva)--Washington State
17) Smiler69 (Ilana)--Montreal, Canada

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is the template that is usually used for tracking your reading--but feel free to adjust it as you wish:

I've been reading: (Name of book or books you've read in the last hour/since last check-in)
Books finished: (since the last check-in)
Pages read: (number of pages)
Reading time: (in minutes)
Posting time: (time spent writing updates and visiting threads, in minutes)

Total books read:
Total pages read:
Total time read: (in hours and minutes)
Total time posting: (in hours and minutes)

I will probably skip recording posting time, and I know that I won't be here every hour. I'll also be including time spent with audiobooks, but there's no clear-cut way to figure a page count for that.

add me. Jean in Niceville, FL

I'm in. I'll be working Saturday but it'll be slow (always is on weekends) and I can read to pass time.
I'm in Sweden.

BTW, I posted a link to this thread on the Message Board.

>4 drneutron: Thanks!

I'm Janet in Montana (Mountain Time Zone).

I'll pop in Friday night and off and on Saturday. Sunday my kids may be down helping me pack up my Mom for her move to a retirement center.

I don't seem to be getting much reading done in March, so this is the boost I need!

I should perhaps add that I'm in GMT +1, time wise.

Wow, sounds like a good idea, since I have some Big Thick Books staring at me reproachfully. Dunno how much I'll get read, but sign me up.

>1 Cariola: Deborah, thank you very much for stetting this up.

My user name is Ameise1 from Zürich, Switzerland but my real name is Barbara. This is just for 'WHOSE READING ALONG? ' to correct it.

I had a look about the time: 5pm East means 10pm here in Switzerland.

I try to post my my reading time schedule in USA East time and also what I'll be reading.

I wish everybody a gorgeous readathon

>9 Ameise1: Corrections made!

I need to run a few errands after I leave work in about 15 minutes, but I will be home in plenty of time for kick-off. In the meantime, what are you all planning to start your reading with? I want to finish Bark by Lorrie Moore and then hope to get a head start on Ian McEwan's Atonement, which I will be rereading for a course I am teaching, a sminar in historical fiction.

(Oh, and while I spend a bit of my time in NYC each month, I'm now based in Providence, RI, and will be reading from here...)

I have no idea what I'll start with, but nothing as serious as you will be reading!

I do have to read Natchez Burning, which has to be reviewed before the next Amazon Vine deadline (Thursday...)

I'll join in too - probably late Friday and Saturday evening. Anna near Edinburgh.
(Can't decide what to read yet - maybe Cinder? I've got loads of books to choose from!)

I'm in the midst of Whispers Under Ground and Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie so I'll be reading those two to start with. After those, not sure.

I'm currently reading Blindmans Buff by Faye Kellerman and the next one will be The Infinities by John Banville

>1 Cariola: Deborah, for the timeline in the introduction: We'll be reading from 5:00 pm EST on Friday, March 14, to 5:00 am EST on Sunday, May 16.. Shouldn't the end be 5pm EST, March 16? Otherwise it wouldn't be 48 hours.

I'll be starting with Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl. I have about 50 pages to go and I'd like to finish it this evening. Then I'll move on to The Technologists and see how much I can get through during the rest of the weekend. I may dip into The First World War for a while. I started it a couple of weeks ago but then put it aside when I came down with a sinus infection and bronchitis.

I'd also like to finish my current audiobook this weekend. I'm getting close to the end of The Hen of the Baskervilles.

>11 Chatterbox: Will make that change, Suz!

>15 Ameise1: And that one as well!

>16 cbl_tn: I'll also be working on my current audiobook, The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan.

And paging through a few Irish cookbooks for a good Irish Stew recipe . . .

The template for posting your reading progress has been posted on the first thread. Post any time after 6:00

I almost forgot. I'm doing the group read of The Last Chronicle of Barset this month, reading 3 chapters per day. I'll be reading my daily chapters in addition to the books I listed above.

READY?

SET . . .

GO!!!!!

Is it too late to join?
Deedledee reading in Nova Scotia

Can I join now? Paul from Switzerland.

I am currently reading Crisis unawares by Peter R. M. Pattisson and Eva by Marianne Fredriksson. I've never done that. I will report later how many pages I've read, right? But I don't record time, is that okay?

>20 Deedledee:, >21 paulstalder: Absolutely NOT too late to join in! We're very casual here--drop in whenever you like!

May have to kick off the readathon with ... a nap.

*sheepish*

Sorry.... It's been a long, sometimes tricky week!

HOUR 1 (6:00 P.M.)

I've been reading: Bark by Lorrie Moore
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 25
Reading time: 40 minutes
Posting time: 10 minutes

Total books read from: 1
Total pages read: 25
Total time read: 40 minutes
Total time posting: 10 minutes

So . . . How is your book so far? I started Bark a few days ago and have now read five stories; liked three, one was OK, one I didn't like. I am a big fan of Moore's early short story collections; this one isn't as good, in my opinion, though at least the characters and situations are all quite diverse.

What's on the menu? I have a little pizza to doctor up with more veggies and toss in the oven, and I'll be having it with some spring greens tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, a little garlic salt and pepper.

I probably won't be checking back until 9:00. I volunteer for a pet rescue organization, and I have a phone interview with a potential cat adopter in about an hour. But please do carry on without me!

>23 Chatterbox: I've been resisting the same plan . . . I was up until about 3:30 a.m., trying to get freshman essays graded so that I could hand them back today before Spring Break. Silly me--I should have known that half of the class would skip today.

I've been reading: Crisis unawares by Peter R. M. Pattisson
Pages read: 18

Now, I'm off to sleep

I think I'm going to take a nap, too. I just called my pet rescue applicant, and she was in line at Chipotle with her boyfriend. So much for keeping scheduled appointments . . . They asked me to call back at 9:00, so I need to catch an hour of shut-eye. I had been been pushing to stay awake until this interview was over!

I'm in! Not sure how much reading time I'll have, but I've got a stack of library books, a pile of magazines, and over 200 TBRs. (I should probably go on a permanent readathon...)

~LibraryLover23 reading in Lancaster, PA

I'll be reading Maria Gripe's Tordyveln flyger i skymningen and possibly one or two more books. Depends on how fast I am and how much time I end up having.

Add me in please. Clue (Luanne) in Fort Smith, Arkansas

I've been reading: Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
Books finished: 1
Pages read: 110
Reading time: 1 hour 3 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 110
Total time read: 1 hour 3 minutes

This week was March Break for us. It was absolute craziness! As a way of relaxing I poured myself a big (BIG) glass of wine & then sat down to read.

>29 PawsforThought: Can you translate for us, please?

>28 LibraryLover23:, >30 clue: Happy to have you with us!

Whoo! I've been reading for about 3 hours, then realized I hadn't posted on here yet... I finished Divergent and then picked up a book that arrived today from the LT Early Reviewers program, Always Emily (hmm, no touchstone for that one yet it seems). I'd planned to give it 30 pages or so and see if it was worth the time... and now it's 8:30pm and I just finished reading the entire thing.

A nice surprise! But dinner will be ready in about a half hour (in the slow cooker, Sweet Potato Basil soup!) and I might watch a movie while eating, so I'm not sure how much more reading I'll get done before turning in for the night.

I'm sure I'll be back in the game tomorrow afternoon, however. :D

I've been reading: Divergent -- Veronica Roth, Always Emily -- Michaela MacColl
Books finished: both above
Reading time: about 3 hours

Total books read: 2
Total time read: about 3

32. Gladly, though it loses all of its poetry in translation. The original Swedish title is (at least in my humble opinion) very pretty and very poetic.
The English title would be something like "The Earth-Boring Dung Beetle Flies at Dusk". Yeah. Not so very poetic anymore...

Please add me to your group of readers Deborah.
I am belva from Washington State.
I will begin with my current book, Jane Eyre, and I hope to dedicate 6 hours per day to my reading during these the next two days. I will most likely only get 3 hours in today as it is already past 6:00 P.M. our time. And I hope to finish this book and read two others.
Thank you for setting this up and for putting a post over on the Virago site or I would not have known.
hugs,

All I've managed this evening is today's chapters from The Last Chronicle of Barset. I had to clean up after a sick dog. Not mine this time. I'm keeping a friend's dog this weekend. Then I had to take a Benadryl for allergies and it made me too sleepy to read.

>35 rainpebble: Hi, Belva! Glad to have you joining us. Is this a first-time read of Jane Eyre or you?

This will be my last post of the night, and I will probably try to sleep in a bit tomorrow after the long night of grading. I have only read about 15 more pages since my last post as I had to get some dinner and then had an hour-long phone interview with a potential cat adopter. I'm happy to say that she got the thumbs up from me!

I know that a lot of you are in different time zones, so please feel free to post updates and chat. See you in the morning . . .

I have read for 2 hours tonight and completed The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley. I won't be reading more tonight but tomorrow will begin Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr..

>38 Cariola: Glad the cat-adopter got the paws-up!! So is Cassie, who just sent a "prrrup" in the direction of the computer...

OK, for the first seven hours...

I've been reading: Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner, Still Life with Breadcrumbs by Anna Quindlen and listening to The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

Books finished: 1 (Fear Nothing)
Pages read: 131 in the former, 30 in the Quindlen novel
(and listened to about 24 pages' worth in the historical mystery)
total: 185
Reading time: About 3 hours?

I'm going in quest of something to eat now. I brought some chrirashi sushi home with me last night, and parts of it will be fine to eat tonight -- the crab stick, the salmon, the shrimp, the egg, etc.

I've got too many books competing for my attention, and am not far enough into any of them to really feel engaged. And when I listen to the audiobook, I keep drifting off to sleep, which means I have to keep rewinding and listening to the same chapter repeatedly!

>37 Cariola::
Thanks Deborah and no, but it is the first time I've read Jane on Kindle. I started out with the book and when I went to bed I switched to the Kindle & just have continued reading her on that. I love Jane Eyre. Easily one of my forever top ten reads.

HOUR: 11:00 P.M.

I've been reading: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 94
Reading time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Posting time: (reading the posts & posting): 10 minutes
_______________________________________________

Total books read from: 1
Total pages read: 94
Total time read: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Total time posting: 10 minutes

I will be reading more when I go to bed which will be as soon as I check my
granddaughter's facebook page for wedding photos. They got married today.
Congratulations to my Haley & Aaron. ♥

Just finished Chaos in death by J.D. Robb, a short novella that turns out to be a re-read (darn). However, a nice comfort read in a Dr Hyde kinda way. Now I need to get on with the day, back to read more this evening.

Another reading patch before more house work:
I've been reading: Crisis unawares by Peter R. M. Pattisson and John 12 (from my daily Bible reading)
Pages read: 20
Total: 38

I've read 45 minutes last night in Blindmans Buff. I start my next reading turn in about half an hour.

O.k. I've finished reading all the threads. Now lets go back to the reading.

Start 7 am (USA EST) here 12 am.

I listened to my audio book for about an hour last night, and read for an hour and a half or so. This morning, I'm listening to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie as I sip a cuppa.

I've been reading: Whisper by Chris Struyk-Bonn
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 35
Reading time: 30 mins

Total books read from: 2
Total pages read: 145
Total time read: 1 hour 33 mins

Whisper is an Early Reviewers copy that I've set aside for several days while I finished some other books.

Stopping in today. Last night I went to see our High School Play Hairspray but I brought my books along to read before the show started. I had also planned to read during intermission but I was talking to people I haven't seen in about 5 years.

I only read for about 15 minutes last night. I read The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.

This morning I read for about another 15 minutes before going for a walk with my dog.

I will be reading the following books:

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
My Water Path by Timothy Joseph
Real Vampires Live Large by Gerry Bartlett.

My menu was having a grilled BBQ Chicken wrap with waffle fries. That was last night.

My food for breakfast is going to be some bacon and eggs with a banana.

I hope to get some more reading done in between housework, massage, grocery shopping, exercise and just life in general.

I need to finish Yellow Birds by Wed. and Real Vampires by Thursday. So this read a thon is going to be very helpful.

Happy Reading all!!

About to jump in the car and drive to my dance classes... and hopefully finish the audiobook of The Goldfinch along the way! I've got a 45m drive each way and I'm on section 180 of 185, so it's about bloody time I finished the book. The audiobook is 32 hours long. I started listening in January. AAAHHH!!! LOL.

Hi Deborah et al. Thanks for putting this together. I'll be joining in spirit more than anything. I'm Ilana from Montreal. Don't know if I'll be updating much and can only participate today, but I'm hoping to finish The Jewel in the Crown and Jane Austen: A Life. And maybe Olive Kitteridge too, which I was having trouble with and set aside. And I have a bunch of children's illustrated books from the library to break things up.

I've made some progress this morning. I read today's chapters from The Last Chronicle of Barset, and I finished Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl. I'm taking a break from reading to get a few things done, and then I'll start The Technologists.

I was just too tired last night and crashed early. (not a good idea since I woke up at 4:30, unable to go back to sleep.

I'm have three books that I am working on. I'd like to get two finished this weekend:

Dakota by Gwen Florio - it's an LTER book that I need to get finished and reviewed. She's a local author, although I've never met her. This is the second mystery in a series. It's much more tightly written and far grittier than her first. It's a fascinating setting - the man camps in North Dakota's oil boom.

Einstein: His Life and Universe - by Walter Isaacson - I've been working on this once since November but keep putting it aside. I'm not really sure why because he was a fascinating guy and I like Isaacson's biographies. I have about a hundred pages to go (start p 444).

A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle just for the fun of it; trying to read the whole canon this year.

I've been reading: Dakota
Books finished: 0
Pages read: about 120; pages left: also about 120

I've read three hours (130 pages) and finished Faye Kellerman's Blindman's Bluff. My thoughts can be read here.

The next book is The Infinities by John Banville

Ok, I guess I'll update once in a while. Here are my goals, more clearly stated, more or less as seen on my thread:

I can probably only participate today since I have a concert to go to tomorrow afternoon, followed by a meal at my favourite vegan restaurant with my friend Kristyna (we're seeing Angela Hewitt on piano at the Ladies Morning Musical Club - just love the name of that organization!). Anyway, will try to spend as much time as possible reading today, with breaks for working on my long-term drawing project and feeding the kids (i.e. cats and dog) and myself, walking Coco, etc.

My goals:

• Finish The Jewel in the Crown - 40 pages to go
• Finish Jane Austen: A Life - 3 chapters + appendix & notes to go (37+ pp.)
• Try to finish Olive Kitteridge - 3 stories to go (70 pp.)
• Takes notes on chapters 3-4 or more of Sense & Sensibility for tutorial with Liz/lyzard (tutorial thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/171523)
• Looks at some illustrated children's books for fun
• Continue to listen to Behind the Beautiful Forevers while drawing, walking Coco, cooking, etc.

>40 Chatterbox: I've been on a roll with the cat adoptions. This one makes eight adoptions in the last three weeks for me, and I'm interviewing another person tonight who wants to adopt two cats. Plus I'm working on another application.

>41 rainpebble: Best wishes to your granddaughter! Have you a favorite among the many movie and TV versions of Jane Eyre?

>49 dk_phoenix: I read The Goldfinch on my Kindle. It made it to my top five books of the year (#5). 32 hours? That beats some of those Margaret George whoppers!

>50 Smiler69: Hi, Ilana! Drop in as you can. I have to say that I wasn't crazy about Olive Kitteridge; I read an ARC when it first came out.

Question for everyone: What's today's weather like where you are?

Bookish Question for everyone: How many books are on your nightstand right now?

I didn't get much more reading done last night and haven't cracked a book since getting up this morning. Before I do anything else, I need to write and post an essay exam question on Regeneration for my seminar students. So my update isn't much of one!

19-Hour Update

I've been reading: Bark by Lorrie Moore
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 16
Reading time: 12 minutes
Posting time: 20 minutes

Total books read: 0 finished
Total pages read: 41
Total time read: 52 minutes
Total time posting: 30 minutes)

Question: It's lovely and sunny outside today, 54 degrees. I hope to get out for a brisk walk this afternoon.

Bookish Question: Not counting my Kindle, four: Bark, Ten White Geese, A Fine Balance, and The Size of the World.

Question for everyone: What's today's weather like where you are?
It's a lovely day here. Sunny and warmish. The temperature is just right for a long-sleeved T-shirt and no sweater or jacket.

Bookish Question for everyone: How many books are on your nightstand right now?

I think just two: Successful Dog Adoption and The First World War.

I would like to join this read a thon- I am reading Granta 124 on the theme of Travel. I finished the first story "The Captain' by Rattawut Lapcharoensap and am now on to the next.

bookish question- too many books on my nightstand.

I've been reading: Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner (wordless, doesn't count toward my 75), Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin (finished)
Books finished: 2
Pages read: 40+
Reading time: 100 minutes
Posting time: 10 minutes

Total books read: 2
Total pages read: 40+
Total time read: 100 minutes
Total time posting: 10 minutes

Bookish Question: There were four until I moved some to the living room earlier today: Jane Austen: A Life, Olive Kitteridge, The Jewel in the Crown, and The Blue Fairy Book.

I just finished Jane Austen: A Life, and also enjoyed Mr. Wuffles! by David Weisner. I must say the Austen biography left me feeling a little bit blue, since of course it ends with her death and then that of her beloved sister's Cassandra, and the final appendix includes a short story about slavery that was published in women's almanacs in the early 19th century as proof that women were generally believed to be in favour of abolition. The story is of course terribly melodramatic, but also filled with harrowing details which certainly don't leave the reader indifferent.

>55 Cariola: Deborah, well done on the cat adoption work. I have two rescue animals and am always encouraging people to adopt. I can't say I've enjoyed Olive Kitteridge much so far. I've set is aside for several weeks now, but as someone picked it for me, I want to return the common courtesy of finishing it at least. I just find it's all so terribly depressing. Great writing, but somehow I doesn't help me rise above the general bleakness and I find Olive herself to have little to no appeal. Remains to be seen whether I will actually pick up the book today.

Bookish question: My nightstand is made up of books.

next question, please??

I've been reading: Still Life with Breadcrumbs by Anna Quindlen, Black Out by John Lawton and alternating between listening to and reading The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

Books finished: 1 (Still Life With Breadcrumbs)
Pages read: 119 in the Quindlen novel, about 20 in the Lawton mystery, and 132 in the historical mystery: 271 total
Reading time: About 4 hours?

Total reading time 7 hours
Total pages read: 456

Just finished Possession in death by J.D. Robb - again a comfort re-read. About to start Cinder.

Weather: a cold, windy grey sort of day.
Bookish question; as with >60 Chatterbox: who can see the nightstand? And that's with trying to keep the bedroom as free of books as poss - otherwise no sleeping would ever get done!

>58 torontoc: Lovely to have you with us, Cyrel.

>59 Smiler69: Exactly how I felt about the book, Ilana. A bleak world, and sometimes I find it hard to get into a book where the main character is not interestingly evil or amusingly nasty but just plain cranky. As I recall, she somewhat redeems herself in a later story in the book.

Question for everyone: What's today's weather like where you are? It is beautiful out now. This morning was overcast and a light shower. Now the sun is shining and comfortable out. There is a light breeze. I was outside with my dog for a little bit enjoying the sun.

Bookish Question for everyone: How many books are on your nightstand right now? Too many. I believe I have about 5 or 6 books on my nightstand.

I haven't gotten anymore reading done since this morning. I went and go my massage and went out and ate lunch. Came home and I have been doing dishes and playing games. Now I am ready to curl up with my books.

Update: Finished The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

That brings my totals for the readathon thus far, in the first 23 hours or so, to:
3 books read:
The Ides of April
Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner
Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

Total pages read: 526
Total reading time: about 8 hours 15 minutes

On deck:
Natchez Burning by Greg Iles
The Scribe by Antonio Garrido
Minister Without Portfolio by Michael Winter
The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer
Wake by Anna Hope
Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan
The Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim

ETA: The weather report:

It has warmed up a lot: high 40s/low 50s fahrenheit, or warm enough to be out with just a warm sweater and no coat. Mostly sunny, but with periods where the clouds blow over. The forecast is for it to get quite cold (relatively) again tonight, and we'll have temperatures below freezing most of the first part of the week, until at least Thursday. No snow forecast for now, at least....

Weather today: dry but coldish

Books around: I have no nightstand, but books I can reach sitting in bed are about 40 plus my Bible

After the first 24 hours:

All in all I've read about 5 hours.

In the morning it was sunny but in the afternoon it was cloudy.

On my nightstand isn't a book. The book I'm currently reading is always with me.

Weather today: mid 60s, heavy clouds with showers. Rain heavier tonight and tomorrow.

Books, alas, are everywhere, even though I mostly get ebooks. How is it he dead trees multiply???

Finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie this afternoon. What fun.

Dinner tonight will be: chicken fettuccine and a glass of wine.

This evening I'll continue reading Whispers Under Ground. Dang, I want so bad to know more about Nightingale.

Not as much time to read today as I'd like, but at least there's still the evening!

I've been reading: The End, which is the last book in the Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 115
Reading time: 40 minutes last night and 30 minutes today

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 115
Total time read: 1 hour and 10 minutes

evening reading:
I've been reading: Crisis unawares by Peter R. M. Pattisson
Pages read: 38

Total: 76

Checking in! Audiobook this morning, then physical book this afternoon... now for a break while I find a snack! Or make dinner. Haven't quite decided.

I've been reading: The Goldfinch (audio) -- Donna Tartt; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- J.K. Rowling
Books finished: 1 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Reading time: 4 hours

Total books read: 3
Total time read: 7 hours

Weather today?: Sunny and mild. It was above 0C this morning (which was marvelous) but has gone down to -2C. Still not bad! A bit of a blustery day, though.

How many books on your nightstand?: 10 or so? But I'm not reading any of them... they've sort of just become decorations, or as I like to think "guilt books" that I'd put there planning to read, but got distracted by other things. Now they've been there so long I hardly notice them anymore! Guess that means I should shelve them and replace them with different books.

Dinner tonight will likely be cauliflower "fried rice" as it's quick to prep. Takes awhile to cook, but it simply needs a stir now and again, so it's easy to read at the stove whilst managing the cooking!

Checking in before I go to bed (and do some more reading).

I've been reading: Tordyveln flyger i skymningen by Maria Gripe
Books finished: 0
Reading time: Uhm, 2 hours today and about half an hour yesterday before I fell asleep with my book. Work was busier than expected so didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked. Also, I have a very bad cold and so zero concentration.

What's the weather like today?: It was okay. Thin clouds and a bit colder than the past week. At least it wasn't storming (yesterday I thought the roof would blow off, it was insane).

How many books are there on your bedside table?: ON the bedside table: only one - a reading journal (there isn't room for anything else, too much other stuff). On the floor BESIDE the bedside table: 9, whereof I'm reading 4.

Checking in from the Pacific Northwest........

24 Hour Update:

I've been reading: Jane Eyre, Charms for the Easy Life and The Trail of Conflict
Books finished: 2
Pages read since last post:24 to complete Jane Eyre, 254 to complete Charms for the Easy Life and 117 in The Trail of Conflict = 395
Reading time: 4 1/2 hours
Posting time: 15 minutes
______________________________________________________________

Total books read: 3
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 490
Total time read: 5 hours, 50 minutes
Total time posting: 25 minutes

What's the weather like today?: It was lovely this A.M. but we are covered with dark clouds now and it feels like more rain.

How many books are there on your bedside table?: 11 plus the one I'm reading

Breakfast: nada (slept through it)

Lunch: nada (slept through it)

Dinner: Cook's choice (hubby) :-)

I read until after 4:00 A.M. and have been sleeping off & on since until about 3:00 P.M. My newly wed granddaughter has called 3 times today to talk to her nanny. We are so close & her Papa & I were unable to attend. She is still excited & is so happy. She said they both cried when saying their vows. So my focus has been on that in my waking moments.
Will get back to reading soon.

Deborah: The only Jane Eyre movie I have seen was the one with George C. Scott and Susannah York. I am sure there are better ones.

Chatterbox: I hope you enjoy Wake when you get to it. I read it for our Great War Theme Read and quite liked it.

The happy couple at the reception:

I have not been a very good participant, I'm afraid. Haven't read a single page yet today. But I did get two more cat adoptions approved!

Question for everyone: Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day?

Bookish Question: If you could meet a character from a book that you have read, which one would it be, and why?

>72 rainpebble: Happy faces! Congrats to them; what a pity you weren't able to be there, but thank heavens for cyber-space...

I've added about 75 pages of Natchez Burning by Greg Iles, one of the chunkster ARCs that has to get read by Thursday, sez Amazon Vine. And about 35 pages in Dead Man's Land, a World War One mystery featuring Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame. No idea where it's going yet. Then I fell asleep on the sofa, and discovered that the temp had dropped considerably, so I didn't want to crawl out from under the mohair throw!

Time for dinner (corn chowder, cheddar brioche rolls) and more reading. My energy levels are unimpressively low. I think I can blame it on my new migraine medications and "cotton wool brain". Which, mind you, is better than "migraine brain", as I was forcefully reminded this week.

Saturday reading hours: 2.5 in the book about Huguette Clark I mentioned in an earlier post.

Weather: An overcast but warm day. Rain began in the early evening.

Books on nightstand: None, I only read from the Kindle in bed and it's in the family room right now.

Plans for St. Patrick's Day: I'm not sure, depends on the weather. We have a pub crawl in our downtown along with some fun goings on at the restaurants and retail stores, but I don't want to go badly enough to brave a cold rain.

If I Could Meet A Character From a Book: Hmmm, there are probably hundreds. Just off the top of my head I'll say Armand Gamache from the Louise Penny series. He's intelligent, a good conversationalist and a reader.

>67 majkia: I have an audiobook of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on my tbr (or to be listened to) pile. I'm not sure I'll get to it this month, though.

>75 clue: did you see the stories of Huguette's art being auctioned? That sort of wealth is hard to imagine. I'd love to see the collection - or even the catalog for the auction! http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/30/22513322-art-cache-of-recluse....

St Patrick's Day Our church does an amazing corned beef and cabbage meal tomorrow night. I believe they cook the corned beef in a pressure cooker. It turns out fork tender and melts in your mouth. The only time I've tried to make corned beef it turned into unchewable shoe leather.

I've finished Dakota and also read a small bit in Einstein: His Life and Universe and N.T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God.

Edited: Typos, typos, typos!

>76 streamsong: Thanks so much for this link, I was unaware that the sale was taking place. I'm reading the book because it was chosen for my f2f book club and I had not read about the Clark's before. Huguette's father had extreme wealth and possessions but according to the book it was the art that he truly loved.

>77 clue: I live in Montana, and the war of the copper kings between Clark and Marcus Daly is well known here. I don't know anything about Clark's life after Montana, so that book is on my radar, but, well, you know how it goes with so many books, so little time.

I've been reading: Fingal O'Reilly, Irish doctor by Patrick Taylor (read by John Keating) & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Books finished: 0
Pages read: ??
Reading time: 2.5 hours

_______________________
Total books read from: 4
Total pages read: 145
Total time read: 4 hours

Yesterday I drove to my dad's place to return a tool he had lent me. The drive is 45 mins each way and I spent that whole time listening to Fingal O'Reilly.

This morning I read Harry Potter for about an hour in bed. it was lovely!

Question for everyone: Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day?
Nothing special, alas.

Bookish Question: If you could meet a character from a book that you have read, which one would it be, and why?
Wow, this is a hard question!
Most of my favourite characters are terrible people whom I wouldn't want to be in a room with.

I'm still battling a stubborn sinus infection and didn't feel much like reading last night. I ended up watching several episodes of White Collar on Netflix. I did finish my audiobook last night (The Hen of the Baskervilles). I managed Sunday school this morning but left before church started. I'm hoping another day of resting at home will help the sinus infection.

I'll read for a while this afternoon, then switch to TV for a while when I get sleepy. That might not take long since it's raining outside and my guest dog started whining shortly before 4 a.m. this morning and got me up earlier than I wanted to today.

No special plans for St. Patrick's Day.

If I could meet one character from a book, I think I'd like to meet Precious Ramotswe from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I like her wisdom, her good nature, and her optimism.

I finished Granta 124 on travel. I have another book Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler- a memoir about an Austrain woman who escapes to England after 1938.

Today I've read 5 hours in The Infinities by John Banville

since the start:
Books finished: 1
currently reading: 1
Pages read: 320
Reading time: 8.75 hours

>82 Ameise1: I remember loving The Infinities and I just downloaded another John Banville novel to my Kindle, The Untouchable, based on the life of Kim Philby.

I finally made a bit of progress with Natchez Burning, but it's very dense and the author keeps shifting the POV around. It's a genre novel, and he's not quite good enough to do that as well as it needs to be done...

Readathon total:

3 books read:
The Ides of April
Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner
Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

3 others read from:

Black Out by John Lawton
Natchez Burning by Greg Iles
Oathbreaker by Marten Jensen

Total pages read: 875, more or less
Total reading time: about 14 hours?

I haven't really been keeping track all that well of pages/hours...

I'm not a big St. Patrick's Day fan. I suppose it's because of the fact that while I'm Irish, I'm the "wrong" kind of Irish (my ancestors weren't Catholics fleeing the potato famine, but had left by the 1820s, one of 'em having his farm burned down in the wake of the 1798 rebellion's failure.) And to the Irish in North America -- or a healthy sub-section of them -- that still matters. (It still matters to some rabid Irish nationalists in Ireland, but surprisingly few -- mostly the kind who'd prefer to speak only in Irish, like the guy who literally hissed at me when I innocently mentioned the surnames of the families of my ancestors who had lived in his area 250 years ago... Most of whom, I should point out, had been illiterate farmers or blacksmiths.) So, St. Patrick's Day... Sigh. Then there's the fact that I grew up in London in the 1970s, with a bomb going off half a block from my home and another IRA bomb set to go off exactly when and where my brother and his fellow seven year olds were supposed to be doing their weekly run. It was raining, or there would have been a bunch of dead children. I hold no tolerance for the UDF, either, but given that St. Paddy's here has tended to be a great fund-raising event for the loonies (I still see the collecting cans in Irish pubs every March) AND the number of drunken and vomiting people on the streets increases every year, it's a holiday I prefer to ignore... St. Patrick would be rolling in his grave, I suspect! OK, climbing down off my podium.

Well, I haven't been doing much reading either, although I can count several magazines, three issues of The London Review of Books, two of the TLS literary Supplement, and one New York Review of Books, plus going through three Irish cookbooks to find a recipe for Guinness Stew. I would be at a loss to calculate how many pages all that might be, but I'm happy to have gotten a few piles sorted out.

I don't go out for St. Patrick's Day--no parades around here, and, like Suz, I avoid the bars and pubs that day (as well as New Year's Eve) to keep away from the crazies who use it as an excuse to get drunk on green beer. But I will be staying home to cook some Irish fare. I'm going to make the Guinness Stew tonight and the traditional corned beef and cabbage tomorrow, along with soda bread.

My daughter just informed me that the #2 ranked Irish Pub in America is about half an hour down the road--I had no idea. Their menu looks awesome, so I may run out there later this week.

Character from a book: That's a tough one--there are so many. Thinking about books I've recently read, I might like to meet Robert Merivel from Restoration and Merivel: A Man of His Time. He changes a lot over the course of those two books, but he manages to retain his sense of humor. I'd love to hear him talk about his life.

We're getting close to the end, so I'm going to post two more questions for you to answer when you've finished. And don't forget to post your total stats, if you've been keeping track.

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon?

2. What have been your main distractions?

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most?

4. Any suggestions for future readathons?

I may not be back until it's over as I need to run a few errands. Hope everyone had fun!

So sorry I didn't post yesterday. I haven't really managed to get that much reading done over the course of the Readathon. I started off quite well on Friday night and Saturday morning but I ended up in too much pain to type about what I read
In that time I finished American Gods 120 pages on Friday Night and 114 pages on Saturday.

I then didn't start another book until I went to bed on Saturday night when I read 84 pages of Harvest by Jim Crace. During the whole of today I have managed to read another 68 pages!

So books read

234 pages of American Gods and 152 pages of Harvest for a total of 386 pages

Thanks for organising Deborah and sorry I didn't really participate.

Now for the memes

Weather: An overcast but not too cold. Haven't really looked outside today

Books on nightstand: The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco which I pulled off the shelves as a potential read but haven't got around to starting yet. Most of my planned reads for the month live on or by the coffee table in the living room.

Plans for St. Patrick's Day: None

If I Could Meet A Character From a Book: Too difficult, so many possibilities and no one jumped into my mind when I read the question.

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon? Not really I hoped to post at least something about my reads and manage to settle in for some day time reading (a problem for me at the moment as I only read in bed)

2. What have been your main distractions? Myself, pain and not being able to concentrate on reading

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most? American Gods

4. Any suggestions for future readathons? For me to actually get my act together and be able to read. I have really liked participating in the past and I was really looking forward to joining in and seeing what others were reading.

End of readathon meme:

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon?
I finished Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl and the audio of The Hen of the Baskervilles as I hoped. I kept up with my daily chapters in The Last Chronicle of Barset. I only made it through the first 75 pages of The Technologists, less than half of what I hoped to read over the weekend.

2. What have been your main distractions?
A sinus infection that doesn't seem to want to respond to the antibiotic I'm taking.

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most?
The Last Chronicle of Barset

4. Any suggestions for future readathons?
This one was just right!

My last check in:

I've been reading: The Trail of Conflict and One of Ours
Books finished: 1
Pages read since last post: 267
Reading time: 3 hours & 45 minutes
Posting time: 20 minutes
______________________________________________________________

Total books read: 4: Jane Eyre, (which I was reading when the readathon began & was a reread), Charms for the Easy Life, The Trail of Conflict and One of Ours
Total books finished: 3
Total pages read: 757
Total time read: 9 hours, 35 minutes
Total time posting: 45 minutes
______________________________________________________________

Question for everyone: Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day?
No I don't unless we just cook up a St. Paddy's dinner of corned beef & cabbage.

Bookish Question: If you could meet a character from a book that you have read, which one would it be, and why?
Jesus, for all of the obvious reasons.
______________________________________________________________

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon?
Partially. I read the number of books I wished to but I didn't read number of hours I wished.

2. What have been your main distractions?
Sleep, phones ringing, family in & out & hubby watching T.V.

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most?
Jane Eyre, definitely, as I think it the perfect book. But I am enjoying the Cather very, very much.

4. Any suggestions for future readathons?
Only for myself. I think you did a terrific job hosting this one Cariola. But I wish that I had planned ahead for it. And I would like to participate in more of them so I need to check the 75 gig thread if you folk have them very often.

Thank you so much and now, sadly, it's over................ :-(
hugs,
belva

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon?
No . . . but then I rarely do.

2. What have been your main distractions?
It was the first two days of Spring Break, so I probably slept more than I should have. And I had two phone interviews for prospective cat adopters, then had to write up my reports. But the good news is that three more kitties are going to be adopted!

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most?
Well, I only read from Bark, so that has to be the one. Although I was really enjoying the text in {Irish Pub Cooking, which accompanied lovely photos and lots of information..

4. Any suggestions for future readathons?
For myself: Sleep a day before starting a readathon, spend less time on the computer.

Okay, I'm about to go to bed now so I'll make a final post. Will probably read a bit more before I fall asleep but anyhow...

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon? Uhm, no, not really but it's okay. I was hoping to finish one book but only got about halfway.

2. What have been your main distractions? Work, a bad cold, the internet, family.

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most? I've only been reading one book, Tordyveln flyger i skymningen.

4. Any suggestions for future readathons? More of them? I love readathons.

Just checking in to say although I haven't yet finished The End, I'm almost done with it, and readathons always push me to be a bit more conscious of my reading time. So thank you, Cariola, for setting it up!

Total pages read: 257
Total time read: 2 hours and 45 minutes

Question for everyone: Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day? No. I work tomorrow so no plans.

Bookish Question: If you could meet a character from a book that you have read, which one would it be, and why? I would love to meet Katniss from the Hunger Games because she is just a very interesting character. I would love to learn to shoot an arrow.

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon? No but I did get some reading done and hope to do more before bed.

2. What have been your main distractions? Internet, grocery shopping, dishes and laundry.

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most? I've only been reading one book, Tordyveln flyger i skymningen.
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
4. Any suggestions for future readathons? More of them, I love participating.

I had a great time even though I didn't post very often in here.

A total of 7 hours read for the weekend.

1. Did you accomplish what you had hoped to during this readathon? Yes, finished one book and got a good start on the next one.

2. What have been your main distractions?
Helping my sister who is at my house as she recovers from knee surgery.

3. Which book that you read did you enjoy the most?
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag although I didn't have a lot to read before finishing it,

4. Any suggestions for future readathons?
No, thanks for organizing it.

I finished Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler and started a book of short stories A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li
so- 2 books read and one more started.

It was not the best weekend for reading for me, so I didn't finish my book Crisis unawares, I only read 150 pages