Social Distancing Readathon #59 - April 30 - May 2

Welcome to another readathon!

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. Carrie (cbl_tn) -- Seymour, Tennessee, USA
3. Lori (thornton37814) -- Tennessee, USA
4. Benita (benitastrnad) -- Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
5. Lynda (Carmenere) -- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
6. Luci (elkiedee) -- London, UK
7. Susanna (susanna.fraser) -- Seattle, Washington, USA
8.Mary (bell7) -- Massachusetts, USA
9. Cyrel (torontoc) -- Toronto, Canada
10. Dee (Deedledee) -- Nova Scotia, Canada
11. Nancy (nrmay) -- North Carolina, USA
12. Suzanne (Chatterbox) -- Rhode Island, USA

I will have a busy Saturday but I do plan to read Friday night and Sunday.

I will hopefully be able to read some. I'm trying to finish up a couple non-fiction books as well as a fiction one. I've got a couple other things to do but I should still find time to read.

I too have a busy weekend but I will do some reading.

I'm in. Since my son isn't returning from college till next week, I might as well fill my time with The God Hypothesis which I wanted to finish in April but will probably finish in May.

I'm still trying to make myself go out for the first real life campaigning session since lockdown, as we have an election next week. But I plan to join as well, and it's a long weekend here as Monday is a Bank Holiday (public holiday).

I'm in again, trying to get a good start on May reading.

I'm planning on jumping in as well, and hope I read a little more than my attempt last time!

I'm in- reading an interesting book about Toronto history. I also am watching ( online) the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival.

We're in a lockdown this week and it's supposed to rain this weekend. My plans are to read and drink wine.

I'm in.
I'll be finishing Recursion by Blake Crouch.

OK, I'm back. I'm finishing Notre-Dame: The Soul of France by Agnes Poirier, and The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry.

I do have retail shifts on Saturday AND Sunday, so may not get all that much accomplished...

I'm reading The Toronto Book of Love by Adam Bunch.
I also saw two films at the Hot Docs Festival- ( on my computer)The first, "Cezanne" was paired with "Shanghai Screens"- both were underwhelming- Shanghai Screens was a short film about young painters in Shanghai who copied famous painter's work. So one artist was painting about 25 canvasses of Van Gogh sunflowers. They all painted at night and used their phones to check for the original painting's details. Cezanne was a look at tourists visiting Cezanne's studio. It was as if the film maker positioned her camera in the centre of the small room and filmed the various people who came by in one day.
The second film was the best-"Set!" was about table setting competitions and one specific one at the Orange County Fair. The film maker followed about 6 competitive people who were preparing for this event. It was a delight!

Thanks for having me back.

Friday evening check in:

Books read from: The Exorcist by William Blatty and Broken: in the best possible way by Jenny Lawson
Books finished: 0

Time posting: 9:35pm
Snacks: Enjoying some yummy No Boats on Sunday cider

Non-book activities: Talked to my mom on the phone. She's in the hospital from a fall but I can't visit her because I'm not allowed in her province. She seems to be doing much better.

Total books finished:0
Total read from:2

Friday night check-in, at 11:25 p.m. in Rhode Island. It's starting to feel chilly (I've got the windows open pretty much 24/7 now) but it will be back above 60 F again tomorrow.

Books read from: The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry and Notre-Dame: The Soul of France by Agnes Poirier
Books finished: 1, the e-galley of the new Thomas Perry suspense novel
Time reading this period: 4 hours

Snacks: Some diet soda. Am about to have a very late dinner (chicken and rice)

Random musings: Nothing of note. Am amused by watching my very fat and furry cat take up at least half the sofa.
Non-book activities: Got some errands done (including picking up dry-cleaning) and prepared mentally for my first retail sales shift in, gulp, 13.5 months.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from:2

I'm going to try to finish the audiobook of The Last Bookshop in London. It's finally picking up a bit, but wow, the writing is unappealing. I'm sticking with it because (a) it's a free audiobook via Hoopla, and the loan expires tomorrow, and (b) I keep thinking I should like it more because, well, it's set in a bookstore! That said, when I'm done with this, I'll avoid anything else by this author.

Friday night check-in
Books read from: Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan My recorded book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Books finished: Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Time reading: .5 hours
Time posting:
Food: supper was take home Chinese. I had green beans with tofu.

Thoughts: I didn't get much book reading done today at all. However, since last weekend I finished reading Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I enjoyed this book but do wonder why it was so popular.
Non-book activities: supper at a friends house. We are all vaccinated and so decided to get together (sans masks) and have supper together. We ordered Chinese food delivered.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 121
Total read from: 128
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 359.5 hours since April 2020.

Friday night in Seattle:

Books read from: The Anarchy
Books finished: none
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: Made white bean soup with spinach for dinner
Thoughts: I can't believe it'll be May in a few hours.
Non-book activities: Work, laundry, cooking. Added a new lifer to my personal birding list upon identifying a white-crowned sparrow. (I'm still very new to birding.)

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

Saturday morning 9:00 a.m. check-in:

Books read from: Bible (ESV), Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan, Jesus in Me by Anne Graham Lotz, The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn
Books finished: The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Time reading: 3.5 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Breakfast was toast & jelly with bacon
Thoughts: Really enjoying the book by Anne Graham Lotz that I'm using in my devotional times
Non-book activities: Lots of genealogy and cat petting, crossword puzzles & logic puzzles

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 6
Total time reading: 3.5 hours

Saturday morning update:

Books read from: The Glass Universe
Books finished: The Glass Universe
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: breakfast is a blueberry muffin & tea
Thoughts: It's a beautiful day outside!
Non-book activities: laundry, grocery pickup

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

I won't have a whole lot of time for reading during the day. I finally have a Saturday that's warm and not rainy so I can clean my deck and get it ready for warm weather use. My local public library is having a fundraiser this afternoon for the children's room in their new expansion. It's an outdoor dog show, at a church within walking distance from my home. I have registered Adrian. Afterwards, my friend who works at the library and I are going to get ice cream, also outdoors. We have both been vaccinated so we can ride together. Then I have a Zoom event tonight.

Saturday morning check in for Friday update

Books read from: The God Hypothesis
Books finished: none
Time reading: 1.5 hours
Food: cheese ravioli and a salad
Thoughts: sigh
Non-book activities: waiting to hear from plumber about leak, NFL Draft

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

Saturday morning check-in
Books read from: Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan My recorded book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I am going to start reading Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes and Brilliance and Fire by Rachelle Bergstein at some point in the coming week.

Books finished: Book of Boy by Catherne Gilbert Murdock and Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Time reading: 1 hours
Time posting:
Food: breakfast was toast with homemade pear preserves.

Thoughts: I finished reading the Newbery Honor book Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and I wonder why this was so highly regarded in 2018? I don't think this story is going to age well. It is basically a retelling of a medieval tale and the motivations of the characters is not clear. Modern children are going to have a hard time relating to the belief system of that time and will regard this book as a fantasy rather than medieval morality play. Teachers will have to do too much work to set the stage for the story and in the end it probably won't be worth it. I think this is a Newbery clunker.

I decided to read Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes because I have the book and because it is another story about the Horse Pack Librarians of Eastern Kentucky just to have a contrast to the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I can the decide which book I like better. It is an ambitious reading plan for the coming week, so I had better get off this computer and get to reading.

Non-book activities: Today will be a gardening day. It is a beautiful morning outside and I need to get things done in preparation for my trip back to Kansas to take care of Mom when she gets out of the nursing home.
Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 122
Total read from: 130
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 360.5 hours since April 2020.

Saturday 4.30 pm

From Friday 4.30 pm

Books read from: 9
Philip Kerr, A German Requiem
Sigrid Nunez, The Friend
Adelle Stripe, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile
Clare Chambers, Small Pleasures
Sally Phillips, Molly Keane: A Life
Hisham Matar, The Return
Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond - started 30.04.21
Patrick Gale, Three Decades of Stories - started 30.04.21
Rosemary Dinnage, Alone! Alone! Lives of Some Outsider Women - started - 01.05.21
Pages read: 162
Books finished: 0
Time reading: Not measured
Thoughts:

I think remembering people who have died and family relationships seem to be accidentally shared themes here.

These books include a memoir about returning to Libya and a father who disappeared and died in prison (Hisham Matar), a biography of a novelist (Molly Keane) written by her daughter, a biographical novel about a playwright (Andrea Dunbar) who died suddenly and very young, and a post Nazi Germany/Austria novel with Requiem in the title. Small Pleasures is also about family relationships. And I've written a cast list in my copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond (several decades ago) that details the family connections of the characters to each other. My other current read, The Lamplighters also links in to the theme.

Total books finished: 0
Total pages read: 162
Total books read from: 9

Saturday afternoon check in:

Books read from: The Exorcist by William Blatty, Broken: in the best possible way by Jenny Lawson, Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O'Farrell
Books finished: The Exorcist

Time posting: 3:02pm
Snacks: rice and beans

Non-book activities: Got in a 3km walk, and just in time because the skies opened.

Total books finished:1
Total read from:3

Saturday afternoon in Seattle:

Books read from: The Anarchy
Books finished: The Anarchy
Time reading: 3 hours
Food: Stopped by the McDonalds drive through on the way home from errands
Thoughts: I like spring except for the pollen part.
Non-book activities: Stopped by the birding supply store, the farmers market, and the library

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 5 hours

Saturday evening check-in:

Books read from: Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Books finished: 1 - Exit Strategy
Time reading: 3 hours
Snacks: carrots and hummus, crackers, Jello pudding cup
Thoughts: It's been a busy day and I'm looking forward to a quiet reading day tomorrow
Non-book activities: Spent the morning getting things done: changing sheets, doing the laundry, watering the plants, and taking care of the dogs. The afternoon was a trip out to a brewery where my brother's band was playing outdoors, but I spent the drive time (about an hour round trip) listening to Keep Sharp on audio

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 3 hours

Saturday evening:

Books read from: The Women in Black
Books finished: The Women in Black
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: pizza and salad for dinner
Thoughts: What a lovely short novel.
Non-book activities: Outlined a short story I'm working on.

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 7 hours

Sunday morning check-in:

Books read from: The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins
Books finished: 0
Time reading: about 10 minutes
Food: oatmeal with banana, coffee
Thoughts: This is my third poetry collection in about a month, which is unusual for me, but I really do like Billy Collins and it's fun reading a few poems with breakfast every morning. Now I'm looking forward to diving into Fugitive Telemetry with a second cup of coffee (I'll make it decaf)
Non-book activities: Walked and fed the dogs, fed the cats

Total books finished: 1 (Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 3 hours, 10 minutes

Sunday afternoon check in:

Books read from: The Exorcist by William Blatty, Broken: in the best possible way by Jenny Lawson, Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O'Farrell, 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
Books finished: The Exorcist, Broken

Time posting: 2:03pm
Snacks: KD

Non-book activities: laundry

Total books finished:2
Total read from:4

Sunday afternoon check-in:

Books read from: The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins and Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Books finished: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Time reading: 3 hours, 10 minutes give or take
Food: pita-bread pizza
Thoughts: It's been a very enjoyable morning so far, and a nice mix of getting stuff done but also being able to relax and read. I'm starting to plan what to do with my time next, and I hope I can keep up the perfect mix.
Non-book activities: Virtual church, making lunch, and baking a quiche

Total books finished: 2 - Exit Strategy and Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 6 hours, 20 minutes

Sunday noon check in

Books read from: Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. My recorded book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I started reading Brilliance and Fire by Rachelle Bergstein this morning.

Books finished: Book of Boy by Catherne Gilbert Murdock and Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Food:I had my Sunday morning cappuccino.

Thoughts: I have settled on reading Botany of Desire and Brilliance and Fire and will start Giver of Stars today.I decided to read Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes because I have the book and because it is another story about the Horse Pack Librarians of Eastern Kentucky just to have a contrast to the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I can the decide which book I like better. It is an ambitious reading plan for the coming week, so I had better get off this computer and get to reading.

Non-book activities: Today was a continuation of gardening day. I got up early (7:00 a.m.) and was outside planting the $125.00 worth of plants I got yesterday. I had to get new varieties of some things because they simply didn't have the ones I wanted. Since I am going to be gone for almost a month, I wanted to get the plants into the ground so that all somebody had to do was water them. That meant that I didn't want to have to baby some new variety along and see how it reacts to different climate situations. however, there was no getting around the fact that millions of people have decided to be gardeners since the beginnings of the pandemic so there are shortages of plants. I like to see people growing things, but it might cause me to not have my pretty patio area. I guess it will force me out of my box and I will have to adapt.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 122
Total read from: 130
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 361.5 hours since April 2020.

Sunday afternoon check in for Saturday's reading:

Books read from: The God Hypothesis and The Royal Governess
Books finished: none
Time reading: 2.5 hours
Food: Finished leftover cheese raviolis and salad
Thoughts: Read faster, read faster, read faster.
Non-book activities: Plumber came for leak in kitchen ceiling and fixed it then I had them look at sump pump and replaced it with a new one, It was making a horrible noise. YouTube, Indians Game
Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 4 hours

Still reading The Toronto Book of Love- great stories about Toronto history.
I have seen three more films from the Hot Docs Festival
"Come Back Anytime" is a wonderful look at a Japanese ramen noodle place and the owner.
"The Colonel's Stray Dogs" is a son's look at his father who lived in London for forty years and was part of the opposition to Libya's Gaddafi.
"The Rossellinis" was a grandson's film on the famous Italian director's children and grandchildren.
Food- leftover roast chicken for dinner and omelette for lunch.

Sunday late afternoon check in:

Books read from: The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins and The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson
Books finished: 0
Time reading: half an hour
Food: avocado
Thoughts: This is gonna be a good book, but take a fair amount of concentration
Non-book activities: grocery shopping, feeding/walking the dogs

Total books finished: 2 - Exit Strategy and Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 6 hours, 50 minutes

Sunday 10 pm

From Saturday 4.30 pm

Books read from: 8
Emma Stonex, The Lamplighters
Philip Kerr, A German Requiem
Sigrid Nunez, The Friend
Adelle Stripe, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile
Clare Chambers, Small Pleasures
Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Patrick Gale, Three Decades of Stories
Rosemary Dinnage, Alone! Alone! Lives of Some Outsider Women

Pages read: 220
Books finished: 0
Time reading: Not measured

Distractions:
My first bus journeys in a few months to collect some leaflets. Couldn't even read on the bus as wearing a mask and glasses doesn't work well. Noticed that most people on the bus were wearing masks but no more than half were had their masks on over their noses. Looked at some local charity shop windows (I was a bit late to actually browse but that's possibly just as well) and at what else has changed in Crouch End where I was briefly visiting. I'm finding coming out of lockdown quite difficult - I've never officially shielded but I do feel a bit anxious and vulnerable.

Total books finished: 0
Total pages read: 382

I do have to try and do some other stuff tomorrow but as it's a public holiday here I will continue recording my reading until around midnight on Monday. I'm hoping to finish a book or two by then.

I've exceeded 2020's very low reading total by 2, 48 compared to 46, so with the next book I will match my total for 2009. I've been picking up pace a little:

January - 5 books finished
February - 11
March - 15
April - 17

I don't know whether I'll match April again this month (or year!) but am hoping to maintain some improvement.

Sunday 5:40 p.m. check-in:

Books read from: Bible (ESV), Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan, Jesus in Me by Anne Graham Lotz, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn; The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day & Griffith Day
Books finished: The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn
Time reading: 3.5 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Homemade taquitos with Spanish rice for supper last night; Lunch was a corn dog
Thoughts: It was my first time to make my own taquitos. It's easy and so good. I will do it again. I'm really tired today
Non-book activities: genealogy, cat petting, Zoom genealogy chat, church (televised), Zoom Sunday School, watching Food Network, logic puzzles and crossword puzzles

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 7
Total time reading: 7 hours

Sunday afternoon:

Books read from: Seven of Infinities
Books finished: Seven of Infinities
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: bagel
Thoughts: Seriously, how is it May already?
Non-book activities: Cleaned out the top shelf of my office closet

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 9 hours

Sunday evening in Charlotte - where it's a balmy 75 F. (24 C.) just before sunset.

Books: Finished Recursion, a rather complicated time travel/SciFi
Starting Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. I have liked all her historical fiction.

good eats!
pancakes for breakfast, made by my husband. We had 9 here for family brunch!
lunch - hotdogs, leftover cherry pie.
dinner will be leftover kebabs. We grilled them last night for family dinner party.

Other activiity: My sister and her husband moving back to NC this week so they were here for the weekend, along with my niece and nephew and their families.
Enjoying my new garden area that my sis and I planted last week.

Thoughts: I have 6 library books to finish in the next 3 weeks. Then I plan to spend June reading my own books. I got 5 new ones for my birthday in April.

Sunday evening update:

Books read from: The Road to Urbino
Books finished: The Glass Universe
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: yogurt, cereal, orange juice
Thoughts: It's been a busy weekend.
Non-book activities: genealogy rabbit hole, cooking & cleaning up kitchen, laundry, nap, long walk with the dog, Zoom book club

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

I'm going to read just a bit more and then call it a day.

Sunday night check in

Books read from: Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. My recorded book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I started reading Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds by Rachelle Bergstein this morning.

Books finished: Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Time reading: 1.5 hour
Time posting:
Food: I had a long leisurely lunch of chinese food.

Thoughts: I spent over an hour reading Botany of Desire while eating my lunch today. I find the connections he made in the development of the apple fascinating. I also had lots of connections with other books I have read in the last couple of years. The section on apples kept me thinking of At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier and the entire first section of the book with Johnny Appleseed and the making of hard cider in the Ohio Territory. In the last book I read Route 66 A.D there was a big section in it on the cult of Dionysus and one of the pod casts I listened to a few weeks ago was about the play The Bracchi which is all about the dual nature of Dionysus. It is amazing all of the connections that can be made between the various books a person reads.

Non-book activities: After my leisurely literary lunch I took a short nap and then put in some laundry and baked my granola for the coming week. I also baked the pita bread for croutons for my salad for the week. Then I watched Atlantic Crossing on PBS and the United Shades of America on CNN. This weeks episode was about defunding the police. It was a very impressive segment in this show. Now it is bedtime and time to get ready for the back-to-work week.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 122
Total read from: 130
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 363 hours since April 2020.

Sunday night wrap up:

Books read from: The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: burger and potato salad
Thoughts: I read way more than I thought I would, in addition to getting the errands I needed to done
Non-book activities: animal care, went over my parents for dinner

Total books finished: 2 - Exit Strategy and Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Total read from: 6
Total time reading: 8 hours, 50 minutes

Bank Holiday Monday 5.50 pm

Sunday and early Monday morning:

Books read from: 8
Philip Kerr, A German Requiem - FINISHED 03.05.2021
Sigrid Nunez, The Friend - FINISHED 03.05.21
Adelle Stripe, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile
Sally Phillips, Molly Keane: A Life
Clare Chambers, Small Pleasures
Hisham Matar, The Return
Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Patrick Gale, Three Decades of Stories

Pages read: 122
Books finished: 2

Reading related: LT updates
Non reading activities: Counting out leaflets, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books read from: 10
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 504

Bank Holiday Monday evening update

Books read from: 7
Emma Stonex, The Lamplighters
Adelle Stripe, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile
Sally Phillips, Molly Keane: A Life
Clare Chambers, Small Pleasures
Hisham Matar, The Return
Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Patrick Gale, Three Decades of Stories

Pages read: 64
Books finished: 0

Non reading activities: emails

Total books read from: 10
Total books finished: 2
Total pages read: 568

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/331993