Social Distancing Readathon #67 - June 25 - 27

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. Benita (benitastrnad) -- Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
3. Luci (elkiedee) -- London, UK
4. Carrie (cbl_tn) -- Seymour, Tennessee, USA
5. Anne (AnneDC) -- Washington DC, USA
6. Paul (PaulCranswick) -- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7. Dee (Deedledee) -- Nova Scotia, Canada
8. Susanna (susanna.fraser) -- Seattle, Washington, USA
9. Nancy (nrmay) -- North Carolina, USA

I intend to participate again this weekend.

Signing in!

I will try again this weekend. I did read quite a bit last weekend. Just didn't use my computer much so I didn't post updates.

I'll join in this weekend. I have some other engagements so can't spend the whole weekend reading :( but want to finish up a few things.

I'm in again this weekend, Silver, with the last major opportunity to turn over large numbers of pages this month.

I'm in.

I'm in. We're expecting record-breaking heat over the weekend, so I'm planning to stay inside feeling thankful we got central air a few years back (less than half of all homes in Seattle have AC) and hoping the power grid can take the strain.

Count me in again.

I'll be finishing Apple Tree Lean Down by Mary Pearce.

63 F. (17 C.) and clear in Charlotte at midnight.

I'm in- I am reading A Russian Sister by Caroline Adderson

I'm in and will be reading King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo and when I finish that I will move on to Rule of Wolves and end this series. It is very exciting reading and perfect for Sunday afternoon at the swimming pool - which is where I plan to do the bulk of my reading this weekend.

Back. I have to read and return 8 books to the Athenaeum by this time next week -- new lending rules limiting the # of books I can have out at any one time! The # has ballooned over the pandemic, so... One read last week, so seven to go....

Friday evening update:

Books read from: All but Forgotten
Books finished: All but Forgotten
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: cheese & crackers
Thoughts: It's a beautiful evening!
Non-book activities: Long walk, laundry, watching Leverage

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

Friday after 11 p.m. in Rhode island

Books read from: War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East by Gershom Greenberg and Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino
Books finished: None yet
Time reading: 2.5 hours
Time posting: 2.5 hours
Snacks: mac & cheese
Thoughts: The Greenberg non-fiction book is one of the 7 books I need to finish over the next week to get back in compliance with the Athenaeum's new lending rules!
Non-book activities: napping. (sigh) sorted out blockage in bathroom sink drain. Fed cats. Clearly, a very exciting day. Though I did also finish watching the movie of "Belle", about a half-Black, half-English aristocratic woman in the 18th century, and also re-watched "Testament of Youth", which made me cry. Now I want to read something by Winifred Holtby.

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 2.5 hours

I'm still waging war against my glasses. They help me read a LOT better, but I can't turn my head without getting dizzy any more, and I still feel as if I'm straining my eyes. So next week I'm going to try to make an optician's appointment.

Friday night check-in

Books read from: i continue to read Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin for my real life book discussion group to be held in July. My main reading effort is King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. This is book 6 in the Grishaverse series by this author. I am about to finish listening to Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh.

Books finished This Weekend: 0
Books finished Since Last Weekend: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Time reading today: 1.5 hours while eating lunch and supper.
Time posting:
Food: Mexican food at the local Mexican food dive. The food came along with some extremely bad karaoke. Who ever thought that listening to people sing in a resturant/bar was a good idea?

Thoughts: I am still immersed in the Grishaverse as far as my reading is concerned. Everything else pales in comparison.

Non-book activities: spent an hour in the hot late afternoon sun repotting some plants that I had let get overgrown in a pot. I was hot sweaty and tired when I finished and went to supper. Only the caterwauling of the karaoke ruined the evening for me.
Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 136
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 393.5 hours since April 2020.

Bedtime check-in from Rhode Island, at nearly 1:30 a.m.

Books read from: War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East by Gershom Greenberg, Black Sun Rising by Matthew Carr and another smidgen of Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino
Books finished: 1, Black Sun Rising -- book 1/7 of those I need to return to the Athenaeum by next weekend!
Time reading: 2.5 hours
Time posting: 5 mins?

Snacks: about to nosh on some farmer's market strawberries before bed.
Thoughts: Would like to try this sleep thing (chronic insomnia again) but the neighbors have been having a noisy-ish backyard party, complete with backyard firepit and a fair amount of cannabis. I don't mind the former, but don't like the smell of the latter.
Non-book activities: Listening to classical radio station in the background. Memo to self: must look up schedule of BBC Proms concerts and tune in.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 2.5 hours

Progress to goal of reading 7 Athenaeum library books: 1

Friday night check-in from an unusually scorching Seattle:

Books read from: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Books finished: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Time reading: 3 hours
Food: Fried chicken and a salad
Thoughts: What a depressing book. We've sure found a multiplicity of ways to wreck a great natural resource.
Non-book activities: Work, laundry

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

Saturday 11.30 am

Books read from: 6
Helen Cox, Murder By the Minster
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy
Carol Shields, Collected Stories
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta
Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet

Pages read: 60
Books finished 0

Book activities: LT updates
Non-book activities: A bit of TV and radio, Bejeweled Blitz, booking train tickets on a new website and trying to understand the details. I'm sending the boys off to go and visit their aunt and cousins without Mike or me at the start of their school holidays next month, and there is quite a lot to understand and work my way trough. Apparently no weekend train tickets are available, so have agreed with my sister that they will go and come back earlier than the original date.

Total pages read: 60
Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 6

Still reading A Russian Sisterand enjoying it. I also went to Indigo( Canadian bookstore chain) yesterday and bought a lot of books- some from my book club list for next year and some for me.
Book club- Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
For me The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Saturday morning check in:

Books read from: Shit, Actually by Lindy West, Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian, Middlemarch by George Eliot

Books finished: Shit, Actually
Time posting: 11:32 am
Snacks: just waiting for coffee to brew
Thoughts: I got my second dose Thursday morning (#HouseModerna) and have been battling a few side effects.
Non-book activities: Hoping to get a few plants into the ground today.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3

Saturday - noon

Books:
finished first 3 books of the Apple Tree Lean Down saga about life in the English countryside, late 1800s through WWI so far.
Now reading Dog Sense by Sneed Collard for the Montana challenge this month.

What to eat?
Dinner last night - hot Chinese chicken salad. My husband has made this dish for decades - since before we were married. Recipe won the National Chicken Cooking Contest in 1974!
Breakfast - oatmeal with nuts, cherries, cinnamon.

other activity-
sending postcrossing cards
FaceTime with granddaughters. I'll be with them in 2 weeks!

thoughts of chores and projects I should do, but . . . I'd rather be reading.

Sunny, 81 F. (27 C.)

Saturday check-in

Books read from: I read a bit in Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin for my real life book discussion group to be held in July. I read a whole lot in King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. This is book 6 in the Grishaverse series by this author. While doing my errands this morning I finished listening to Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh. This one is book 2 in the YA fantasy series Flame in the Mist.

Books finished This Weekend: 1 Smoke in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Time reading today: 1 hour while eating lunch.
Time posting:
Food: A peanut butter sandwich and cold water for lunch
Thoughts: The narrator for Smoke in the Sun was very good. I would listen to more books by her in a heartbeat. I am switching up recorded books and started listening to a psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes. I have not read any books by this author, but I noticed that there were several of her thrillers on the shelves at the library this morning when I went to get the recorded version of this title.

Non-book activities: I got up early this morning and split some plants that had outgrown their pots. I then transplanted them to the flower bed. It was hot sweaty work even at 8 AM. I weeded and managed to step into a stinging ant next while do so. Now I have welts on my feet. I do have a nicer looking flower bed and the transplants should do well there. I have a full schedule of activities this evening. I have a funeral to attend in an hour and then a divorce party tonight. I had to cook for the party and so made salmon dip and a white bean dip for crostini for this event.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 137
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 394.5 hours since April 2020.

Late afternoon check-in from Rhode Island:

Books read from: War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East by Gershom Gorenberg, Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino, Two Women in Rome by Elizabeth Buchan, The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Books finished: none today
Time reading: 5 hours
Time posting: 5 mins?

Snacks: hamburger; slice of cherry pie.
Thoughts: Tired, struggling to focus. Tomorrow I must work!
Non-book activities: Ordered delivery of cat food. Spoke to friend/business partner.

Total books finished: 1 Black Sun Rising by Matthew Carr
Total read from: 5 (see the above)
Total time reading: 10 hours

Progress to goal of reading 7 Athenaeum library books: 1

Saturday 3 PM in Seattle. 99 F/37.2 C. Previous record for this date was 90 F. Previous record for the entire month of June was 96 F. Our average high for this date is 73, which we'd passed by 8 AM.

Books read from: The Wars of Napoleon
Books finished: The Wars of Napoleon
Time reading: 3 hours
Food: yogurt
Thoughts: I deeply dislike this weather.
Non-book activities: Farmers market, library. Both at 10 AM, when it was already mid-80s out.

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

Saturday evening check-in:

Books read from: The Passenger from Scotland Yard
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: cereal
Thoughts: It's been a productive day.
Non-book activities: Farmer's market, grocery shopping, hair appointment, watched an episode of Leverage, went shopping for new bedding, towels, etc., stopped for ice cream, laundry

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

Update on Sunday morning in Kuala Lumpur

Books Completed : Cat and Mouse & The Count of Monte Cristo
Books Progressing : The Age of Capital & No Turning Back

Time Spent Reading : 17 hours

Saturday night check in:

Books read from since last check in: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Time posting: 11:33pm

Non-book activities: Watching hours of Catfish with a friend.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4

9 PM Saturday in Seattle. In the end our high today was 102 F/38.9 C. And the next two days are forecast to be hotter still! At least I'm part of the lucky 40% or so with AC. I don't know how the people without it can manage.

Books read from: Maskerade
Books finished: none
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: strawberries
Thoughts: Prior to today, there had been a grand total of three days at are above 100 F in Seattle history. Now we're probably going to have three in a row.
Non-book activities: Nap, podcasts

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 8 hours

Late night Saturday

Books:
Finished Dog Sense by Sneed Collard
Starting Midnight Library, Matt Haig

Dinner: I made Russian salad

Other activity
Watched Notting Hill with Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts

Sunday 2 pm

Books read from: 7
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy
Carol Shields, Collected Stories
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta
Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet
Ellen Wilkinson, The Division Bell Mystery
Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars

Pages read: 131
Books finished 0

Book related activities: LT updates
Non-book activities: Bejeweled Blitz and WhtatsApp, TV and radio. Started watching the second series of Mad Men but was very distracted and seem to have missed a lot of the most interesting bits when I was reading the episode guides to try to work things out (maybe that was the problem, reading the episode guides during watching rather than before/after!)

Total pages read: 191
Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 8

Sunday morning check in

Books read from since last check in: Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian and Middlemarch by George Eliot
Time posting: 10:57am
Non-book activities: Tidying the house because a friend is coming over to knit this afternoon. It's so nice to see friends again.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4

10 AM in Seattle and already 90 degrees. Our low last night was 73, which broke an all-time record for highest low.

Books read from: Maskerade
Books finished: Maskerade
Time reading: 2 hours
Food: strawberries
Thoughts: I did a quick grocery store run just after 8 AM, so barring emergencies I shouldn't have to leave the house till the worst of the heat is supposed to break tomorrow night.
Non-book activities: YouTube church--next Sunday we're back to in-person.

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 10 hours

Sunday afternoon check-in

Books read from: Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin for my real life book discussion group to be held in July. I read a whole lot in King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. I started listening to the psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough.

Books finished This Weekend: 1 Smoke in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Time reading today: 1 hour before bedtime.
Time posting:
Food: Smoked salmon dip for lunch.
Thoughts: I am switching up recorded books and started listening to a psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes. I have not read any books by this author, but I noticed that there were several of her thrillers on the shelves at the library this morning when I went to get the recorded version of this title. I read a big chunk of King of Scars last night and hope to get more read today.

Non-book activities: I talked on the phone. I had one goal for today - to go to the swimming pool and I won't make it. It is a perfect day for the swimming pool and I will have spent it all on talking.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 137
Total time reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 395.5 hours since April 2020.

Sunday evening: Finally checking in here--I've had some reading time this weekend but no posting time. I spent Friday-Saturday visiting a friend who just moved out of DC to a farm in rural Virginia, so spent several hours in the car with an audiobook.

Books read from: 2 (How the South Won the Civil War and The Story of the Lost Child)
Books finished: 1
Time reading: 6.5 hours listening, plus whatever time I spent reading
Pages read: 116 plus listening
Time posting: 0
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with farm eggs, cherry tomatoes, bagel Snacks: apricots
Thoughts:I was supposed to meet someone for a drink at 5:30, largely at her request, but unsurprisingly at 5:00 she had just arrived at the pool and asked to postpone until 6:30. I said no (although I had no real conflict other than annoyance). Will use the time to finish my book.
Non-book activities: Sunday: peloton, breakfast, making potato salad, walking the dog, New York Times, texting

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 6.5 hours listening, plus whatever time I spent reading

Sunday 9 pm
updating several hours later as I slept for a bit and am reading a bit more etc before trying to get some more sleep

Books read from: 4
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy
Francesca Wade Square Haunting
Lyndsay Faye, Seven for a Secret

Pages read: 53
Books finished 0

Book related activities: LT updates
Non-book activities: Bejeweled Blitz and WhtatsApp, radio. Desert Island Discs this morning featured the publisher/editor/book person Margaret Busby, a co founder of the publisher Allison & Busby and creator of the anthologies Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa - I bought the newer one a few months ago on a Kindle offer but wish that the first one, apparently very influential, would be republished.

Total pages read: 244
Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 10

Sunday 9:30 PM. Today's high was 104 F/40 C, which broke the all-time record for Seattle. Tomorrow's forecast is for 109, with the rest of the week in the 80's, which until this weekend I would've considered hot by Northwestern early summer standards.

Books read from: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, The Mythical Creatures Bible
Books finished: none
Time reading: 3 hours
Food: chicken caesar salad
Thoughts: Reading the Nix book is making me realize how thoroughly the Rivers of London series has established its version of magical law enforcement in London in my mind.
Non-book activities: Writing, a little online shopping

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 13 hours

Still reading A Russian SisterI went to an outdoor art show- a group of artists were exhibiting ( two at each address) in driveways and backyards. Two of my friends were showing their art. It is really hot here. 30 degrees Celsius.
Dinner- really good falafel sandwich from a local place.

Sunday night early hours, final post for this readathon and for this month - though I still might finish reading Out of the Easy and Murder by the Minster this month.

As explained earlier, some late night reading after sleeping a bit earlier in the evening.

Books read from: 7
Helen Cox, Murder By the Minster
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust - FINISHED 28.06.21
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy
Carol Shields, Collected Stories
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta
Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet

Pages read: 129
Books finished 1

Book related activities: LT updates
Non-book activities: Bejeweled Blitz and WhtatsApp, TV and radio.

Total pages read: 373
Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 10

Final update:

Books read from: The Passenger from Scotland Yard
Books finished: The Passenger from Scotland Yard
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks:
Thoughts: Another successful readathon!
Non-book activities: church, cooking, walking the dog, episode of Leverage, Zoom book club

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

Wrap-up: I finally got some reading time Sunday evening and finished a book.

Books read from: 6 (The Story of the Lost Child, The Invention of Nature, Thirteen Ways of Looking, Four Fish, Etiquette and Espionage, Why Won't You Apologize?)
Books finished: 1
Time reading: 4 hours
Pages read: 85 and 118 minutes
Time posting: 5
Dinner: cold chicken, potato salad, roasted turnips, chardonnay
Non-book activities: dishes, talking with daughter, playing with dog

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 7
Total time reading: 8.5 hours listening, plus whatever time I spent reading

>36 susanna.fraser:
Susanna, I've been following the weather there and in Portland with increasing dismay. I still have family in both places. In the 24 years I lived in Seattle, we never had, or needed AC. Glad some relief is coming.

Monday - weekend wrap-up

Books:
Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Starting audio ed. of Mrs Pollifax, Innocent Tourist, Dorothy Gilman.

Good eats:
Sun evening dinner - 1st course was Gjetost, grapes, almonds, and crackers, followed by leftover Russian salad.
breakfast this morning - coffee, raisin bran, prunes.

Goal for June was to read my own books. I finished 11 from the TBR shelves. They are on their way out of the house!

Sunny, 88 F. (31 C.) and getting hotter.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/333389