Social Distancing Readathon #44 - January 15 - 18

Welcome to another readathon!

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day so if you want feel free to read through Monday.

We generally run from Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday at midnight in whatever time zone you choose, but feel free to start earlier on Friday and wrap up overnight Sunday/Monday, if that's what you want to do.

Here are some things to track throughout the weekend, if you choose:

Books read from:
Books finished:
Time reading:
Time posting:
Snacks:
Thoughts:
Non-book activities:

Total books finished:
Total read from:
Total time reading:

Who is participating -

1. SilverWolf (SilverWolf28) - Tennessee, USA
2. Kerry (avatiakh) -- Auckland, New Zealand
3. Anna (annushka) -- Delaware, USA
4. Carrie (cbl_tn) -- Seymour, Tennessee, USA
5. Benita (benitastrnad) -- Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
6. Cyrel (torontoc) -- Toronto, Canada
7. Jean (majkia) -- Niceville, Florida, USA
8. Susanna (susanna.fraser) -- Seattle, Washington, USA
9. Lori (thornton37814) -- Tennessee, USA
10. Dee (Deedledee) -- Nova Scotia, Canada
11. Mary (bell7) -- Massachusetts, USA
12. Nancy (nrmay) -- North Carolina, USA
13. Lynda (Carmenere) -- Cleveland, Ohio, USA

I'll have another go. Kerry from Auckland, New Zealand.

Count me in, please. Anna from Delaware, USA.

I'm in again from Seymour, TN. There is a possibility of snow in our forecast again. Sounds like a good weekend to stay in and read.

I will be in for the weekend. I need to get some reading done as I have two books that I need to get read in time for book discussions in February.

I'm in- hopefully to continue reading Ridgerunner

I'm in. Jean in Niceville, FL

I'm in from Seattle. I've been falling a bit behind on my reading the past ten days or so because of, well, everything, and this could be a good chance to catch up.

Planning to settle in for the long weekend to get some reading and other things done. Will join in, but I may not post an update until later. Many of us have Monday off so our posts may run a little longer on Monday!

Count me in again.
Dee from Nova Scotia

Books read from: Children of Blood and Bone, A Homemade Life
Snacks: leftover pizza
Non-book activities: watching American news - are you guys okay down there?

Books read from: What Though The Field Be Lost: Poems by Christopher Kempf & Bathed in Prayer by Jan Karon
Books finished: 1
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting:
Snacks:
Thoughts: Very tired this evening
Non-book activities: Cat petting

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 2 hours

I'll probably read a little of The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain before bed. I'll report on that in the morning along with devotional reading.

Before the magic start time of 5 p.m. I read from the Bible (ESV), Old Testament Words for Today by Warren W. Wiersbe, Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan, and The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler. Those probably totaled about an hour altogether.

I'm planning on jumping in this weekend - Mary is Massachusetts

No reading to report tonight, but the long weekend should be a quiet one and I have a book club book to read.

I'm in - Nancy in NC.
I'm reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. Sci fi/pamdemic.

>11 Deedledee:
Not so good really. I too am glued to the news, watching events unfold with trepidation. Anxious for the inauguration to come off safely.

Books read from:Intervention Julian May
Books finished:0
Time reading: 1.5 hours
Time posting: 2 min
Snacks: None, alas
Thoughts: I'd forgotten so much in this book. Of course it's probably been 20 or more years since I read it last.
Non-book activities: Watched Roadkill (starring Hugh Laurie) tv program with Mr Majkia.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 1.5 hours

Saturday morning check-in:

Books read from: The Western Wind
Books finished:
Time reading: Not much
Time posting: ?
Snacks:
Thoughts: Just looked out the window. I'm glad I don't need to go out today. Looks like a good day to stay indoors and read, if I don't get distracted by Acorn and BritBox again.
Non-book activities: I ended up watching TV last night instead of reading. Caught up on Death in Paradise, then watched Persuasion and a couple of episodes of Vexed. I'm not sure what I think of Vexed yet. Some things I liked, other things I didn't like.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: ?

Saturday 10 am

Books read from: The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Bible (ESV), Old Testament Words for Today by Warren W. Wiersbe, Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan, and The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler.
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: made a big breakfast -- bacon, eggs, biscuits & jelly, grits, banana, coffee
Thoughts: Enjoying the flurries
Non-book activities: Cat petting, watching the snow fall

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: 4 hours

Saturday morning check-in for Friday evening:

Books read from:My Promised Land by Ari Shavit (audio)
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2 h
Snacks: None
Thoughts: I really need to stop getting distracted with the current events and get more reading done
Non-book activities: Watched a few shows with the family

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 2

>11 Deedledee: We are OK but current events are creating a lot of distraction. Still can't get used to seeing on the national TV when journalists are saying they are live from Wilmington, DE. We are not accustomed to getting so much air time.

Saturday - late morning

Partly sunny and cold. 39 F. in the central piedmont region of NC.
Children flew home last night. Sister arriving tomorrow.
Today I plan to finish wanderers, bake, do a grocery order, take a walk.

Mr May got 1st covid shot today! Mine scheduled for Mar 15.
Figuring 2nd shot in Apr, fully protected by May, and a road trip soon after!

Little late to the party but please add me to the list.

Saturday morning update: Friday night & Saturday morning

Books read from: The Midnight Library & The Other Side of the Door
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 3 hours
Snacks: Friday night: Smokehouse almonds - Saturday morning: Bacon, cranberry english muffin, omelet with mushrooms, swiss cheese and onions
Thoughts: a blank slate
Non-book activities: watch the news

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 3 hours

I've read about 2.5 hours this morning and finally finished my re-read of Intervention by Julian May. Still very different from most first contact books. Philosophical, complex, and with fabulous characters, including, IMO, the most complex and intriguing villain ever created.

Saturday morning update of Friday night reading

Books read from: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
Books finished: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
Time reading: 3 hours
Snacks: banana
Thoughts: Dinosaurs are just as fascinating as I thought when I was kid, maybe even more so.
Non-book activities: Got my first dose of the shingles shot. Unfortunately covid shots aren't yet available to relatively ordinary moderate-risk middle-aged folks such as myself in our area.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 3 hours

Saturday afternoon check in:

Books read from: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Books finished: 0
Time reading: probably about an hour in the morning
Snacks: coffee/oatmeal/donuts for breakfast and shrimp etouffee for lunch
Thoughts: I'll definitely be able to finish this for book club over the long weekend, it's moving along fast
Non-book activities: Got out to the store that reopened today to get my new phone set up

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 1 hourish

Saturday noon check-in

Books read from: Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman. Recorded book is Night Country by Melissa Albert.

Books finished:

Time reading: 1.5 hours
Time posting:
Snacks:

Thoughts: Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker is a book for my real life book discussion group and so far it is an excellent read. I am happy with this selection. I will be teaching a zoom session in a few minutes. The class is for graduate students and it will be a long session.

Books Read From: 3

Total time reading: 1.5 hours

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 95
Total read from: 101
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 263.5 hours since April 2020.

Sunday morning check-in: 9am

Books read from: Three by D.A Mishani, Clarice Lispector :: The complete stories (audio), Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Guanzhong, Blood is dirt by Robert Wilson
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 4hrs

Snacks: bagel
Thoughts: need to bake
Non-book activities: Lots of food prep, trip to city centre, library and my favourite used bookstore. Watching another Korean tv series.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 4hrs

I forgot to do an update earlier in the weekend and feel like I've missed a book or two. Continuing Wilson's Bruce Medway series as this year I want to complete it and other series that I've had hanging around for too long.

Books read from: The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Bathed in Prayer by Jan Karon
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 3 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: cookies
Thoughts: Disappointed in so little accumulation
Non-book activities: Cat petting, watching the snow fall, short nap, dreaming of a time when I can take a vacation

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: 7 hours

Saturday evening check-in:

Books read from: The Western Wind
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: lunch was the last of the roast, potatoes & veggies, plus a McVities biscuit; tea
Thoughts: I'm looking forward to reading and watching a bit of television tonight.
Non-book activities: cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, watching a couple more episodes of Vexed.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: ?

Saturday afternoon:

Books read from: Snowspelled
Books finished: Snowspelled
Time reading: 2 hours
Snacks: sesame seed bagel
Thoughts: I have to keep reminding myself that feeling utterly exhausted, lethargic, and vaguely sick from vaccine side effects beats having shingles.
Non-book activities: A nap (see exhausted and lethargic comment above)

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 5 hours

>28 susanna.fraser: I agree about the shingles shot. I got both of mine about 3 years ago. I had hoped that the side effects from the second one wouldn't be as bad as the first, but it was a bit worse.

Saturday evening update:

Books read from: The Western Wind
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: dinner was cheese & crackers, pear, & orange juice
Thoughts: It's cold!
Non-book activities: laundry, telephone call, texts, watching a 2-part episode of Shetland

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: ?

I'm going to call it a night soon. I may read another chapter or two before I go to sleep. I have about 70 pages left in The Western Wind and I should easily finish it tomorrow. Then I'll start on Next to Last Stand.

Saturday evening update:

Books read from: The Midnight Library
Books finished:
Time reading: 40 minutes
Snacks: Dinner - Homemade beef veggie soup
Thoughts: Not thinking much
Non-book activities: Watched The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart and a couple quarters of the Baltimore/Buffalo game

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 1
Total time reading

Saturday evening check-in for today:

Books read from: My Promised Land by Ari Shavit (audio) and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (ebook)
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 4 h
Snacks: None
Thoughts: Today's weather was pleasant for a family walk in the neighborhood.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 6

Still reading Ridgerunner and enjoying it.

Sun 9:30 am

Books read from: The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Bible (ESV), Old Testament Words for Today by Warren W. Wiersbe, Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan
Books finished: 1
Time reading: 3 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Breakfast was bacon and pancakes
Thoughts: Loved the clarinet solo that began our worship service this morning
Non-book activities: Cat petting, church (TV)

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: 10 hours

Sunday morning check-in

Books read from: Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman. Recorded book is Night Country by Melissa Albert.

Books finished:

Time reading: 1 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: getting ready to go get coffee at Starbucks. I don't relish getting in the drive-through line. It is always so long. The only good thing about it is that I get to listen to more of my current recorded book.

Thoughts: I am really getting into Scorpions and finding this book fascinating. It is easy to read, but takes time to explain the various theories about constitutional law and how the Supreme Court has interpreted the law over time. I just finished reading about the Court Packing scheme and its aftermath. At this point in the book FDR has appointed 5 of the justices and he has his "team" in place. I suspect this is now the place where they begin to break apart and begin to have their own ideas about law that deviate from FDR's. I would have read more last night but I got sleepy.

Books Read From: 3

Total time reading: 1 hours

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 95
Total read from: 101
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 264.5 hours since April 2020.

>29 cbl_tn: Thanks for the warning! I'd been assuming the second shot wouldn't be as bad since my immune system would already recognize what's going on.

Sunday morning:

Books read from: Spellswept, Moon of the Crusted Snow
Books finished: Spellswept, Moon of the Crusted Snow
Time reading: 3 hours
Snacks: cereal
Thoughts: At least the post-vaccine lethargy isn't bad enough to disrupt my reading
Non-book activities: sleep

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 8 hours

Monday morning check-in: 9am

Books read from: Three by D.A Mishani, The Wool Pack by Cynthia Harnett
Books finished: 1
Time reading: 3.5 hrs

Snacks: pasta bake for dinner
Thoughts: need to cull some books
Non-book activities: housework

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 7.5 hrs

Three was another great crime read from Mishani.

I finishedA Question of Upbringing this morning. Currently listening to Shakespeare for Squirrels and With the Lightnings

Read for about 2 hours today so far.

Non-reading: A trip to the grocery store and breakfast. Now gearing up to watch NFL football playoffs.

Sun 4:00 pm

Books read from: The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain, The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler, Bathed in Prayer by Jan Karon
Books finished: 2
Time reading: 2.5 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Just made some oatmeal/cranberry break and bake cookies
Thoughts: There's not much better than a purring cat on your lap than three!
Non-book activities: short nap, cat petting, cookie baking

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: 12.5 hours

Books read from: The Western Wind
Books finished: The Western Wind
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: lunch was chickpea and cumin roasted sweet potatoes, a small cookie and an after dinner mint
Thoughts: The author experimented with a nonlinear structure for this novel and I thought it worked well.
Non-book activities: Zoom church, cooking lunch, long walk

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: ?

Getting ready to start Next to Last Stand

Sunday evening check-in:

Books read from: Children of Blood and Bone, A Homemade Life, Radicalized
Of these I'm enjoying Radicalized the most, it contains 4 short stories that are just amazing.

Books finished:0

Non-book activities: Got together with a few of my knitting group this weekend. Obviously the whole group can't meet up but it's nice to see a few.

Sunday early evening:

Books read from: Ms. Marvel Team-Up
Books finished: Ms. Marvel Team-Up
Time reading: 1 hour
Snacks: cookie
Thoughts: The sun came out this afternoon, which made me happy
Non-book activities: Zoom birthday party for my husband's favorite cousin

Total books finished: 5
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 9 hours

Second Sunday evening check-in:
I finished A Homemade Life - I will be talking about this on a Facebook Live with a coworker about this on Jan. 30th.
https://www.facebook.com/events/399357841327943/
I am mostly going to say bad things. This book drove me nuts. It was like reading the most frustrating parts of food blogs.

Sunday evening check-in:

Books read from: My Promised Land by Ari Shavit (audio), Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, and Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor (audio)
Books finished: 1
Time reading: almost 2 hours of the audiobooks and 73 pages of the ebook

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: almost 8 hours of the audiobooks and 73 pages of the ebook

Final check-in:

Books read from: The Western Wind, Next to Last Stand
Books finished: The Western Wind
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: peanut butter & dark chocolate granola bar; almond milk with honey & cinnamon
Thoughts: This has been another successful readathon! I've finished more books already this month than I averaged most months in the year between 2019 and 2021.
Non-book activities: Did a bit of work for a volunteer organization, washed dishes, ordered and picked up odds and ends from Walgreens, Zoom book club meeting.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: ?

Sun 10:30 pm

Books read from: Murder on the Lake by Bruce Beckham
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Snacks: Water
Thoughts: Ready for more kitty time!
Non-book activities: online book club, updating COVID stats spreadsheet

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 9
Total time reading: 13.5 hours

I'll read some more before going to bed tonight, and since I'm off tomorrow, I'll read some then. (I guess I'm extending my readathon to cover the day off.)

Sunday night check-in - just under the wire

Books read from: Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman. Recorded book is Night Country by Melissa Albert.

Books finished:

Time reading: 1 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: left-over vegetable fried rice

Thoughts: I am about to finish Night Country. I read quite a bit in Scorpions today and am finding it very informative and pertinent to the events of this upcoming week. A bonus is that this is easy reading for such a difficult subject. I have the day off tomorrow and plan on spending most of the day reading in this book.

Books Read From: 3

Total time reading: 1 hour

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 95
Total read from: 101
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 265.5 hours since April 2020.

Mon 9:15 am

Books read from: Murder on the Lake by Bruce Beckham, Bible (ESV), Old Testament Words for Today by Warren W. Wiersbe, Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan, The Gospel at Work: How the Gospel Gives New Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs by Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert, The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler,
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 1.5 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Water
Thoughts:
Non-book activities:

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 10
Total time reading: 16 hours

MLK Day morning report

Books read from: Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman. Starting a new recorded book Island of Sea Women by Linda See

Books finished: Recorded book Night Country by Melissa Albert.

Time reading: 1 hour last night. 1 hour this morning.
Time posting:
Snacks: cheese toast - no coffee this morning. Bah----

Thoughts: I finished reading the last few pages of Night Country last night and went on to read a chunk of Scorpions. I get started on that book and I just can't put it down. It is a long book at 450 pages so even though I am reading 20 pages of it at a time it is going to take some time for me to get it all read. I am trying to read a lot today because I will be teaching again this week and will also want to watch some of the events on Wednesday, so my reading time in the coming week is going to be less than I will want it to be.

Books Read From: 4

Total time reading: 2 hours

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 96
Total read from: 102
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 267.5 hours since April 2020.

Sunday wrap-up:

I finished Before We Were Yours, so in total read about 340 pages over the weekend. Thought I'd get to more, but I ended up knitting and watching a lot of Schitt's Creek instead. Today's holiday will entail a mixture of work and rest, and so far it's looking like I won't read a ton.

Monday late afternoon

Books read from: Thornbound
Books finished: Thornbound
Time reading: 2 hours
Snacks: trail mix
Thoughts: Finally getting some energy back after that shingles vaccine
Non-book activities: Writing, working on postcards to voters

Total books finished: 6
Total read from: 6
Total time reading: 11 hours

Mon 9:30 pm

Books read from: Murder on the Lake by Bruce Beckham, Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting:
Snacks:
Thoughts: I didn't read as much as I'd planned.
Non-book activities: Lots of cat petting, miscellaneous chores around the house

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 11
Total time reading: 18 hours

This concludes my reporting. I'll probably read a little more of the Beckham book, but I don't think I'll finish it tonight. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I'd rather stay home with the cats!

Wrapping up my Readathon for this weekend.

Books read from: My Promised Land by Ari Shavit (audio), Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, and Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor (audio)
Books finished: 1
Time reading: almost 5 hours of the audiobooks and 122 pages of the ebook

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: almost 13 hours of the audiobooks and 195 pages of the ebook

weekend wrap-up

Books:
Finished wanderers by Chuck Wendig. This one had eerie similalrities to our present situation carried to the extreme. Very creepy. I need to stop with the pandemic books. Think I've read at least 4 since March.
Searching for something quick and light, I started one of the Bridgerton novels - offer from a gentleman. I did like the TV mini series!

food today:
blueberry pancakes for breakfast; sandwich and Shrewsbury biscuits for lunch.

Other activity:
Walk on the greenway along the creek.

thoughts of a nap. I stay up too late at night!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328947