Labor Day - Social Distancing Readathon #77 - September 3 - 6

Welcome to another readathon!

It's Labor Day in the United States so we'll be reading through Monday.

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

This will be the third busy weekend in a row for me (hopefully the last for a while) and likely the busiest of them all, but I'll try to get some reading time in whenever I can. We'll see.

Since I managed to finish the excellent Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell last weekend, I'll be reading primarily from The Secret History, Five Go to Smuggler's Top and maybe Busman's Honeymoon this time.

I am, as always, in Sweden.

I'm in again.

Me too! I am reading a very interesting book on the history of the Jews in Northern Africa/Iraq/Iran.

I'm in too! This month I'm concentrating on five ARC's I'm reading for NetGalley. Hopefully, the long weekend will provide lots of reading time.

>4 torontoc: That sounds interesting! What book is that?

Count me in, as well

I'm in Silver

Me too.

I'll join this weekend. I've had several weekends in a row taken up with travel and not with reading, so I'm hoping to settle in to some reading.

>6 PawsforThought: Uprooted How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight by Lyn Julius. I heard the author give a number of webinars- she is very good. It is a heavy read so I am also going to dip into The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri

Friday evening update:

Books read from: The Woman They Could Not Silence
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: ice cream, tea
Thoughts: It's getting dark early now.
Non-book activities: Walking the dog, visiting with neighbors

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

I'll join in, but I'm not going to try to figure out time.

Friday 9 pm update:
Books read from: Bible (ESV); Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan; God Has Not Forgotten You by David Jeremiah; Brabbling Women: Disorderly Speech and the Law in Early Virginia by Terri L. Snyder; A Season in the Wind by Suzanne Woods Fisher; The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes; The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore; Earthly Remains by Donna Leon

Books Finished: Brabbling Women: Disorderly Speech and the Law in Early Virginia by Terri L. Snyder; A Season in the Wind by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Supper: Roasted butternut squash, purple hull peas, cornbread

Non-book activities: lots of cat-petting, email, quick check of Facebook

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 8

Friday evening update:

Books read from: Cloud Cuckoo Land
Books finished:1
Time reading: about 2
Time posting: ?
Snacks: I had a cranberry muffin and decaf coffee after dinner of basmati rice, broccoli and veggie eggrolls
Thoughts: Sad health news from a very good friend. *sigh*
Non-book activities: Took a walk, exercise bike, talked to friend, you tube.

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

I'm in again. I haven't done any reading today, but with a bonus reading day on Monday I hope to finish a book or two.

I'm in. It's already Saturday night but I'll go through Monday. We're in heavy lockdown so I can only leave home for grocery shopping.
Auckland, NZ: 11.50pm Sat

Books read from: King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett (audio), Force of Nature by Jane Harper, Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson, & The wind on the moon by Erik Linklater.
Books finished:0
Time reading: 4hrs approx

Snacks: Greek cabbage rolls, glass of Shiraz

Non-book activities: trip to supermarket, gardening

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

Update on Friday Reading

Books read from:
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf
The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain

Books finished: 0
Time reading: 90 minutes reading plus 1 hour listening
Pages Read: 67 plus 1 chapter of audiobook
Time posting: none
Dinner: shishito peppers, shrimp lettuce wrap, pasta
Thoughts: The last weekend of summer.
Non-book activities: dinner out, Ted Lasso,

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 4 To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis, No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood, The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf, The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
Total time reading: 90 minutes reading plus 1 hour listening
Pages Read: 67 plus 1 chapter of audiobook

Update for Friday.

Books read from: 1 The Secret History
Books finished: 0
Time reading: An hour, ish
Snacks: Almonds, tea, a sandwich
Non-book activities: Babysitting, TV, online window shopping

Friday evening and Saturday morning/afternoon

Books read from: 10
Ruth Thomas, The Home Corner - FINISHED 03.09.21
Esther Freud, I Couldn't Love You More
Marika Cobbold, On Hampstead Heath
Hermione Lee, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Liliian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant
Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers
Katherine Heiny, 561
Michelle Magorian, Back Home
Andrea Levy, Six Stories and an Essay - STARTED 04.09.21
Rebecca Pawel, Law of Return - - STARTED 04.09.21

Books finished: 1
Pages read: 179

Non-book activities: TV & radio, Social media, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 179
Total read from: 10

Saturday noon update

Books reading from: I am listening to Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and I am still sort of listening to Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi. I am reading lots of books right now and so am reading in bits and pieces of several books. They are Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt, Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy, and When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin.
Books finished in the last week: WitchShadow by Susan Dennard
Time reading: 1 hour today
Time posting:
Food: Tomato and cheese sandwich this morning.
Thoughts: It is a holiday weekend here and so I anticipate a nice long weekend of reading. I already started it out with a visit to the local used bookstore where I purchased $28.00 worth of books. Most of them for the people in my Book Discussion group as they are upcoming titles we will be reading. I actually feel pretty good this weekend so plan on doing a bit of cooking and trying to do some cleaning. I will also have to get my laptop repaired so I can work from home and plan on doing that this weekend. I loved Witchshadow. This is another great book in this series that sucked me in right from the start.
Non-book activities: talking on the phone to my sister and a friend. I am going to make a short trip for a BBQ evening with friends up in Birmingham this afternoon, but the rest of the weekend is clear for me to do what I want. I am looking forward to a long evening with books and knitting.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 154
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 428 hours since April 2020.

Saturday evening update:

Books read from: The Woman They Could Not Silence
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: dinner was a burrito bowl, peach, and peanut butter cookies
Thoughts: It's been a busy day!
Non-book activities: farmer's market, shopping (including groceries), genealogy webinar, knitting lesson, laundry

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

Saturday night update.

Books read from: 1 The Secret History
Books finished: 0
Time reading: A couple of hours
Snacks: Almonds, chocolate, tea, a sandwich
Non-book activities: Babysitting, online window shopping, sleeping away a headache

Spent most of the day at an event with nephew, who was a trooper and didn’t complain about either cold or having to walk a lot. Fun day, but I got a headache when we got back.

Saturday Update

Books read from:
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf


Books finished: 1
Time reading: 2 hours reading plus 37 minutes listening
Pages Read: 118
Snacks: breakfast : maple biscuit and a latte, lunch: italian sausage, peppers, and onions on a baguette, dinner: margherita pizza and salad
Thoughts: I've been in Vermont for the week (working remotely), and today was a gorgeous day.
Non-book activities: hiking in the morning, watched sunset, movie (The Godfather--I'm embarassed to admit I've never seen it), packed for return home.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4 To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis, No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood, The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf, The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
Total time reading: 3 hours 30 minutes reading plus 1 hour 37 minutes listening
Pages Read: 185 plus 1 chapter of audiobook

Sunday 6:45 AM update for Saturday reading:

Books read from: Bible (ESV); Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan; God Has Not Forgotten You by David Jeremiah; The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes; The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore; Earthly Remains by Donna Leon

Books Finished: None on Saturday

Supper: Homemade taquitos with refried beans, Spanish rice, and cheese sauce

Non-book activities: lots of cat-petting, webinar, a nice long nap with the cats, errands, TV

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 8

Sunday 7:55 AM update for Saturday reading:

Books read from: The Gifted School

Books Finished:

Thoughts: The days are getting shorter so quickly. Why can't I have a second home in the southern hemisphere to migrate to this time of year?

Supper: Pizza, salted caramel ice cream for dessert

Non-book activities: paid a visit to my local library, took a hike thru a metro park with a friend, mowed the back lawn

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2

Saturday evening/night

Books read from: 7
Nathan Harris, The Sweetness of Water
Esther Freud, I Couldn't Love You More
Marika Cobbold, On Hampstead Heath
Hermione Lee, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Liliian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant
Katherine Heiny, 561
Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers

Books finished: 0
Pages read: 156

Non-book activities: TV & radio, Social media, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 335
Total read from: 11

Books read from: 3
Books finished: 2 Pew by Catherine Lacey and Northlight by Douglas Dunn
Time reading: 12 hours
Time posting: 4 hours
Snacks: Home made fried rice, pizza & pasta this evening
Thoughts: Tomorrow will be 2nd jab + 2 weeks and I am free to eat out.
Non-book activities: None!

Total books finished:2
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 12 hours

Late for the party but I'm in for the rest of the holiday weekend.

Just back from the beach in South Carolina; wish I was still there. Wondering when I can go again.. I especially enjoyed Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park.

Books:
Finished The Orphan Collector by Wiseman.
Had issues with this one: repetitive, unanswered questions, disappointing resolutions. :(
Now reading Afterland by Lauren Beukes.

Breakfast: coffee, granola, dried fruit.

Other activity: Sunday papers.

Beautiful weather in Charlotte. Sunny, 82 F. (28 C.) in the early afternoon.

Auckland, NZ: 8.30am Mon

Books read from: King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett (audio), Force of Nature by Jane Harper, The wind on the moon by Erik Linklater.
Books finished: 1 Force of Nature by Jane Harper
Time reading: 7hrs approx
Breakfast: shakshuka, coffee
Non-book activities: food prep, gardening. I made lolly cake, date & tahini balls, gluten free date loaf.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 7hrs approx

Starting to feel the pain of lockdown. Another week at level 4 and then hopefully we'll be able to move down to a level where we can buy takeout and coffees as well as shop online for non-essentials. At least the spring weather has arrived and we can enjoy the garden.

Loving listening to King Hereafter, I did not expect a Viking tale when I took up this story of the real Macbeth/Thorfinn.
Plans for today are to finish The wind on the moon, it's turned from too juvenile to rather amusing.

Sunday afternoon update:

Books read from: Hornblower and the Atropos by CS Forester, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology by Thomas Oden, Fables of La Fontaine

Books completed: Hornblower and the Atropos, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Non-reading activities: Visit with my son & granchildren - eating pizza & salad & played cards.

Sunday evening update:

Books read from: The Woman They Could Not Silence
Books finished: The Woman They Could Not Silence
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: sausage & macaroni casserole, nectarine, chocolate pistachio cake with coffee icing
Thoughts: I'm really hoping that the snake repellent will do its job and the snake who has adopted the sidewalk by my front door will relocate.
Non-book activities: church, cooking, watched the first two episodes of season 2 of My Life Is Murder, long nap

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

Sunday night update.

Books read from: 2 The Secret History and Five Go to Smuggler’s Top
Books finished: 0
Time reading: A few hours
Snacks: Almonds, chocolate, tea,toast, yoghurt
Non-book activities: Watching TV, yoga, shower, social media

Brother’s family have gone home, and that was the last planned business during a weekend for a month. Hopefully there won’t be any surprises, I’d really like to have some quiet time now.

Saturday/Sunday reading:

Books read from: Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
Books finished: Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
Time reading: 6 hours
Snacks: apple
Thoughts: Quite a timely book for Labor Day weekend.
Non-book activities: Anniversary dinner (Saturday), flu shot (Sunday)

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 6 hours

Sunday evening update

Books reading from: I am listening to Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and I stopped listening to Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi. I am reading lots of books right now and so am reading in bits and pieces of several books. I read more in Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt. I am spending the bulk of my reading time with Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy, and When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin.
Books finished in the last week: WitchShadow by Susan Dennard
Time reading: 3 hours today
Time posting:
Food: Indian food
Thoughts: I spent a nice afternoon yesterday with a friend and we wiled away the afternoon talking about school, books, and COVID. I had planned to go to the swimming pool today as it was the last day it was open, but my membership had lapsed and they turned me away at the door. I spent the afternoon trying to fix my computer brick. I hit the wrong button at the wrong time and now my laptop is in a feedback loop. There is a fix for it, but I can't do it unless I take the machine in to work and use my office PC to create a recovery drive. It is a holiday and I don't want to go in to my office! I hope to finish Last of the Stanfields this weekend.

Non-book activities: talking on the phone most of the morning. I am looking forward to a long evening with books and knitting.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 154
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 428 hours since April 2020.

Sunday reading update:

Books read from: The Gifted School, Harlem Shuffle

Books Finished:

Thoughts: Drat! I was anticipating NFL games to begin today.

Supper: Veggie burger, onion rings and chai latte

Non-book activities: All I did was books, review, books

Total books finished: 1
Total read from:3

Sunday 8:45 PM update:

Books read from: Bible (ESV); Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan; God Has Not Forgotten You by David Jeremiah; The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore; Earthly Remains by Donna Leon

Books Finished: The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore

Snacks: Chex snack mix

Non-book activities: lots of cat-petting, short nap, cross-stitch; getting ready to watch a live stream of the Western-Southern/WEBN fireworks on WKRC (Cincinnati)

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 8

Sunday night update:

Books read from: The Executor, The Rector
Books finished: The Executor
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: tea
Thoughts: I wish I had a vacation day tomorrow.
Non-book activities: long walk

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: ?

I have one more chapter left of The Rector that I'll read before going to bed.

Sunday's reading

(No public holiday here this Monday but I'm going to continue counting today's reading in my total anyway. My 14 year old has to go in to school for a lateral flow test this afternoon and then unless there's a positive result he starts back at 8.30 am tomorrow. My 12 year old then tests later tomorrow morning and hopefully returns on Wednesday.)

Books read from: 7
Nathan Harris, The Sweetness of Water
Esther Freud, I Couldn't Love You More
Marika Cobbold, On Hampstead Heath
Hermione Lee, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Liliian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant
Katherine Heiny, 561
Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers

Books finished: 0
Pages read: 186

Non-book activities: TV & radio, Social media, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 521
Total read from: 11

Sunday Reading

Books read from:
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf
The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi


Books finished: none Sunday
Time reading: 2 hours reading plus 4 hours listening
Pages Read: 101 plus 6 chapters of audiobook
Dinner: Chinese delivery
Thoughts: I've always been grateful for my ability to read in the car without getting carsick. And for my husband who prefers to drive than to ride.
Non-book activities: early morning drive from Vermont to DC, unpack, dog walk, nap, park walk, episode of Schitt's Creek

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 5 To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis, No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood, The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf, The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain, Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi
Total time reading: 5 hours 30 minutes reading plus 6 hours listening
Pages Read: 286 plus 7 chapters of audiobook

My internet has been down for three days. I finished The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri and am now reading from my ER book Four Streets and a SquareA History of Manhattan and the New York Idea by Mark Aronson and Uprooted How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight by Lyn Julius

Monday noon update

Books reading from: I am listening to Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. I am reading lots of books right now and so am reading in bits and pieces of several books. I read more in Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt. I am spending the bulk of my reading time with Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy, and When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin.
Books finished in the last week: WitchShadow by Susan Dennard
Time reading:
Time posting:
Food: baked some cookies last night
Thoughts:

Non-book activities: trying to fix my computer and that has taken most of the morning.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 154
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 428 hours since April 2020.

Monday evening 6:45 pm update:

Books read from: Bible (ESV); Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan; God Has Not Forgotten You by David Jeremiah; The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes

Books Finished: None today

Lunch: country fried steak, creamed potatoes, gravy, biscuits

Non-book activities: lots of cat-petting, cross-stitch; a little genealogical research

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 8

I don't anticipate reading more this evening. I'm in the mood to work on a genealogy problem and to cross-stitch. I know what my next history read will be although I'll continue reading a chapter a day in the Hughes book on Australia. I just don't want to begin it tonight. I'll leave the next fiction (in print or ebook) decision until tomorrow.

Monday reading update 7:04 pm:

Books read from: The Gifted School, Harlem Shuffle

Books Finished:

Thoughts: What a gorgeous Labor Day!
Supper: Noodles with cabbage

Non-book activities: Ordered an electric fireplace for our living room, I am planning to crochet for the remainder of the evening

Total books finished: 1
Total read from:3

Monday evening -

Books:
Had to set my pandemic scifi novel Afterland aside to read The Henna Artist for book club. It's due at the library in 2 days and people are waiting for it so I can't renew.

Dinner: big garden salad with smoked salmon.

Other activity:
watched Guilt on Masterpiece
caught up on Nine Perfect Strangers tv series. (only fair to middlin') Nicole Kidman, usually great, is disappointing in this one.

thoughts: the news is so depressing.. my husband is watching tv news all the time. :|

weather in Charlotte NC - clear, 72 F. (22 C.) at 9pm

Monday Update

Books read from: 11
Nathan Harris, The Sweetness of Water
Esther Freud, I Couldn't Love You More
Marika Cobbold, On Hampstead Heath
Hermione Lee, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Katherine Heiny, 561 - FINISHED 06.09.21
Liliian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant
Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers
Michelle Magorian, Back Home
Andrea Levy, Six Stories and an Essay
Rebecca Pawel, Law of Return
Maggie Shipstead, Great Circle - STARTED 06.09.21

Books finished: 1 short story
Pages read: 169

Non-book activities: TV 690& radio, Social media, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books finished: 2 (i novel and 1 standalone ebook short story)
Total pages read: 690
Total read from: 12

I worked today, but I did get in a little bit of reading this evening. Here's my final update:

Books read from: The Rector, Stage-Coach and Tavern Days, The Doctor's Family
Books finished: The Rector
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: peanuts, tea
Thoughts: No sign of the snake this evening. :-)
Non-book activities: work, long walk, laundry

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: ?

Monday Update

Books read from:
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi
Outrage - Arnaldur Indridason


Books finished: 1
Time reading: 1 hour reading plus 5 hours listening
Pages Read: 58 plus 10 chapters of 2 audiobooks
Dinner: leftovers
Thoughts: I'm hating the feeling that my three day weekend and the summer are both over.
Non-book activities: walk, lunch out, organize papers, tv

Total books finished: 2 (No One is Talking About This, ToSay Nothing of the Dog)
Total read from: 6 To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis, No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood, The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf, The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain, Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi, Outrage - Arnaldur Indridason
Total time reading: 5 hours 30 minutes reading plus 6 hours listening
Pages Read: 286 plus 7 chapters of audiobook

Monday night:

Books read from: The Wolf and the Woodsman
Books finished: The Wolf and the Woodsman
Time reading: 6 hours
Snacks: chili for dinner
Thoughts: I would like a longer long weekend.
Non-book activities: Housework, cooking

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 12 hours

Final update: Auckland, NZ: 8.00pm Tues

Books read from: King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett (audio), We dream of space by Erin Entrada Kelly, The wind on the moon by Erik Linklater.
Books finished: 2 We dream of space & The wind on the moon
Time reading: 3hrs approx
Snacks: bourekas, moussaka
Non-book activities: food prep, drive to pharmacy, watching a tv series

Total books finished: 3 Force of Nature, We dream of space & The wind on the moon
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: more than 10hrs

>44 nrmay:
I really liked the Henna Artist and I started listening to Secret Keeper of Jaipur which is the sequel. I only stopped listening to it because I had to squeeze in a book for a real life discussion group, but I will get back to Secret Keeper of Jaipur as soon as I can do so.

>48 susanna.fraser:
I have Wolf and the Woodsman on my TBR list. Did you like it?

>50 benitastrnad:
thanks for the tip! Didn't know about the sequel.
Also checked out Truthwitch which you had mentioned.

Final weekend summary:

Books read from: Hornblower and the Atropos, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, Fables of La Fontaine, Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology

Books completed - all of the above, except Classic Christianity

Obviously, I've caught the bug with the Hornblower series - great fun!

Pages read: 750 or so

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/335110