Social Distancing Readathon #88 - November 19 - 21

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. Stacia (alcottacre) -- Sherman, Texas, USA
3. Cyrel (torontoc) -- Toronto, Canada
4. Lori (thornton37814) -- Tennessee, USA
5. Lynda (Carmenere) -- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
6. Benita (benitastrnad) -- Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
7. Susanna (susanna.fraser) -- Seattle, Washington, USA
8. Anne (AnneDC) -- Washington DC, USA
9. PawsforThought -- Sweden
10. Chris (ChrisG1) -- Portland, Oregon, USA
11. Dee (Deedledee) -- Nova Scotia, Canada
12. Kristel (Kristelh) -- Willmar, Minnesota, USA
13. Nancy (nrmay) -- North Carolina, USA
14. The_Hibernator (Rachel) - Richfield, Minnesota, USA
15. Luci (elkiedee) -- London, UK

I am in again! Last weekend did not go as well as I had hoped, so I am going to give it another shot.

Thanks, Silver!

>2 alcottacre: You're welcome!

Yes- I am in- I find that I am reading at a slower pace but I do like the books that I have chosen to read.

Most of my reading will likely be audiobooks, as I'll be traveling to and from a funeral this weekend. I might get a little Kindle reading in on Friday night in the hotel and Saturday after I return home. I might have a little time Sunday afternoon or later Sunday evening to read print or ebooks.

Please count me in too. I've got some Thanksgiving cleaning to do but a girl needs a break once in a while.

I will be participating again this weekend.

Count me in. I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend of reading after a crazily hectic week.

I'm in again. I hope to get some reading in before I leave town on Monday.

I'm in.

This has been a tough work week (I was up from 04:00 to 01:00 yesterday) and I'm leaving work before lunch today to make up for it. Will spend the weekend baking Christmas goodies and reading.
I still haven't finished Howl's Moving Castle (because of previously mentioned work week) so that is priority one, and I just started Wyrd Sisters which I'm hoping to make a good size dent into. Other than that I just borrowed a big pile of books from the library and am trying to decide what I'm in the mood for starting with. Agatha Christie? Muriel Spark? John Fowles? Evelyn Waugh? Or Shirley Jackson? We'll see.

Count me in again. Currently reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - I acquired the Heritage Press edition from 1940 with illustrations by Thomas Hart Benton. In addition, starting on Socrates: A Man For Our Times by Paul Johnson.

The weekend snuck up on me. I'm in for more reading.

I am going to try again!

Friday night check in

Books read from: The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge, Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Books finished: The Jane Austen Society
Time posting: 10:40pm
Snacks: Is wine a snack?
Thoughts: Is wine a snack?
Non-book activities: Knitting a shawl

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 4

Friday night update

Books reading from: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez. I started reading Last Night At the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage. I am listening to The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.

Books finished in the last week: Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Time reading: .5 hours in the whole day
Time posting:
Food: I plan on having a baking day tomorrow. I need to get 2 batches of rolls made and 1 Gingerbread cake.
Thoughts: At last I have made good progress on Color of the Sea and the book is getting to be really interesting. I am half done with Chaos Monkeys and find it interesting and repulsive at the same time. I am over a 100 pages (4 discs) into the recorded version of The Maidens and am finally getting a feel for what kind of murder mystery this book is going to be and I have read about 30 pages in Last Night At the Ritz and think this is going to be one of those very elegant literary novels that came from the late 60's/early 70's when women were caught between the WWII era and the incoming Women's Lib era. I am going to have to do a bit of research on Elizabeth Savage and find out more about her as this is a new author to me.

Non-book activities: work
Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 179
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 469.5 hours since April 2020.

>14 Deedledee: Wine is NOT a snack...but it's a great reading accompanyment...

Update for Friday night:

Books read from: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Forty Years of Murder by Keith Simpson, The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman, The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell, and The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
Books finished: 0
Time reading: ~5 hours
Time posting: 20 minutes
Snacks: Pear
Non-book activities: Watching football

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 7
Total time reading: ~5 hours

Be back tomorrow!

9:30 PM in Seattle

Books read from: Let the Record Show, Clarkesworld Issue 172
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2 hours
Snacks: orange
Thoughts: What an exhausting week it's been.
Non-book activities: Work

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

Saturday morning check-in for Friday:

Books read from:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Bible (ESV)
Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan

Books finished:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon

Time reading: Not tracked since I was driving/listening

Snacks: Ate at a Mexican restaurant last night and was so stuffed I didn't snack! (And I left about half of the meal on the plate)

Thoughts: I think I'll be sad when I get to the end of (or caught up with) the Brunetti books. Looking forward to seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time at the funeral but sad for the circumstances bringing us together. We, however, know Mark is now with the Lord.

Non-book activities: Zoom Genealogy Chat; rehearsing song for Sunday (in between books while driving)

Total books finished:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon

Total read from: 4

Total time reading: Not tracked

Books read from: Hard Truth
Books finished: 0
Time reading: off and on Friday evening after 5 pm, kept falling asleep
Time posting:
Snacks: Malbec
Thoughts: not really my kind of book, but plan to finish
Non-book activities: sleeping, playing games on ipad

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

Friday update:

Books read from: The 13th Gift
Books finished: 0
Time reading: sad effort of only about 1 hour
Time posting:
Snacks: Pesto and chardonnay
Thoughts: This book is hitting too close to home and I really don't want to go there.
Non-book activities: I actually don't remember what I did, probably worked on a puzzle

Saturday morning update

Books reading from: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez. I started reading Last Night At the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage. I am listening to The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.

Books finished in the last week: Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Time reading: 1 hour so far today
Time posting:
Food: I had my weekend morning cappuccino from Starbucks and a left over Pillsbury crescent roll from Thursday night. (Hey! It's almost a crossiant!)
Thoughts: Today is recycling day and baking day. I need to get two batches of rolls done today and 1 gingerbread bundt cake. It is time to start making my holiday gifts. Last year I ran across this fantastic oatmeal dinner roll recipe and made it for Christmas gifts. Everyone that got them thought they were wonderful. I also made gingerbread bundt cakes using a Christmas Tree shaped bundt pan. I want to make those same recipes but am thinking that perhaps I will try a Parker House roll recipe that I have recently seen that looks easy enough. But it is going to take a heck of a good recipe to beat those Oatmeal Dinner Rolls. That is one crazy good recipe because it tastes good and is so easy to make.

Non-book activities: talking on the telephone with my sister.
Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 179
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 470.5 hours since April 2020.

Late to the party again but I am reading!

Books:
Currently enjoying the fantasy Sweep: the story of a girl and her monster by Jonathan Auxier.
Reading lots of fairy tales and pictures books to my little granddaughters.

snacks: leftover Mediterean food.

other activity:
my son and DIL hosted a patio brunch for friends at our house this morning.
playing with grandkids, taking them to the park.
babysitting grandkids tonight while the parents go to dinner with friends.

Saturday reading (and Friday as I've not been here yet)

Books read from: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Enigma of Arrival, Song of Solomon, Grant, Nemesis
Books finished: 1 (Song of Solomon)
Time reading: 1 hour plus 3 hours listening
Pages read: 104
Breakfast: croissant and coffee. Lunch: falafel sandwich
Thoughts: I'm enjoying a calm weekend (I think) before taking the whole week off next week.
Non-book activities: closing open tabs and windows on my computer (seriously I forced myself to do this for 30 minutes), enjoyed a fire in the firepit, latest Great British Baking Show, volunteered assembling food boxes for Thanksgiving, farmers market

Total books finished: 1 (Song of Solomon)
Total read from: 5 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Enigma of Arrival, Song of Solomon, Grant, Nemesis
Total time reading: 1 hour plus 3 hours listening
Total pages read: 104

Saturday afternoon:

Books read from: Let the Record Show, Clarkesworld Issue 172
Books finished: Clarkesworld Issue 172
Time reading: 1 hour
Snacks: snickerdoodle
Thoughts: Happy we have a working washing machine again
Non-book activities: Errands, laundry

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

Saturday evening check-in:

Books read from Saturday:
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Bible (ESV)
Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan

Books Finished Saturday:
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer

All Books Read From this weekend:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Bible (ESV)
Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan

All Books finished this weekend:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer

Time reading: Not tracked since I was driving/listening

Snacks: A DQ Blizzard somewhere on the drive home

Thoughts: Thankful to be back home with my cats.

Non-book activities: Rehearsing song for Sunday; petting cats

I don't think I mentioned this, but there was a big herd of elk (maybe 80-100 of them) near Cataloochee just outside Cherokee, NC on my drive down to Georgia yesterday. Some were in the road, and we had to wait on them to decide to let us drive while watching them. On my return trip, most of them were sitting in the field beside the visitor center. They weren't on both sides of the road like they were on the trip down, and I think some of them were in the woods instead of in the field this time because I didn't see as many. You can imagine the gaper's block as people pulled off to take photos. I kept driving because I wanted to reach my destination before dark in both directions. I didn't quite succeed on the return trip, but at least I got to Pigeon Forge before it was dark, and I'm not as likely to encounter unexpected wildlife between Pigeon Forge and home on the roads as I am when traveling through the mountains. The elk were a sight to behold!

Saturday night update - my first for the weekend since I was exhausted from a work trip and nearly fell asleep standing up yesterday.

Books read from: Howl’s Moving Castle
Books finished: -
Time reading: A couple of hours
Snacks: Yoghurt, tea, sandwich
Non-book activities: Grocery shopping, yoga, baking for Christmas

Saturday night update

Books reading from: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura was my main focus today. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez. I also read a bit in Last Night At the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage. I am listening to The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.

Books finished in the last week: Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Food: I had a leftover sandwich for lunch today and an apple and peanut butter for supper.
Thoughts: I devoted my lunch hour to Color of the Sea and I am now half finished with this book. It is developing into quite a story.

Non-book activities: It was a productive day, but nothing as exciting as a herd of elk! I baked one batch of the Oatmeal Dinner Rolls and they turned out great. I baked a gingerbread bundt cake and it flopped. I made this cake four or five times last year and had such good luck with it, but this time it wouldn't come out of the pan. I washed dishes, a load of clothes, and got some groceries. I mixed up a new batch of gingerbread spice mix so I can bake cakes this next week and I got the last of my Christmas presents ordered.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 179
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 471.5 hours since April 2020.

Update for Saturday night:

Books read from: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, Forty Years of Murder by Keith Simpson, and The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
Books finished: 1
Time reading: ~3 hours
Time posting: None
Snacks: Licorice
Non-book activities: Watching football

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

Be back tomorrow!

I couldn't do all weekend, but I'm going to aim for finishing some books today. 🙂

Update on the rest of my Saturday reading (no reading today, so far)

Books read from: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Enigma of Arrival, Grant, Nemesis
Books finished: 1 (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha)
Time reading: 3 hours plus 2 hours 20 minutes listening
Pages read: 212
Dinner: leftover chicken with couscous, kabocha squash, salad
Thoughts: I'm alternating between ignoring/worrying about a strange pain in my leg. Ignoring has won out since I didn't go to the doctor Friday or Saturday, but I'm worried about being out of town next week.
Non-book activities: walk dog, make dinner, clean out refrigerator, dishes, TV, travel arrangements for next week.

Total books finished: 2 (Song of Solomon, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha)
Total read from: 5 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Enigma of Arrival, Song of Solomon, Grant, Nemesis
Total time reading: 4 hour plus 5 hours 20 minutes listening
Total pages read: 316

Lots of stuff going on yesterday but I did manage to get some reading done.

Books read from: Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge, Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, The Children of Red Peak by Craig Dilouie

Non-book activities: Went to a lovely craft fair and stocked up on my favourite soap. Then had some friends over last night to watch movies.

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 5

Books read from: 6
S A Cosby, Razorblade Tears
Miriam Margolyes, This Much is True - FINISHED 21.11.21
Charlotte Gordon, Romantic Outlaws - FINISHED 21.11.21
Helen Simpson, Cockfosters
K M Peyton, Snowfall
Ruth Jones, Never Greener

Books finished: 2
Pages read: 402
Book related activities: LT updates and Lists, Goodreads updates
Non-book activities: Radio and TV, Bejeweled Blitz, WhatsApp, Social media

Thoughts: Miriam Margolyes' memoir and Romantic Outlaws, a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley, are both outstandingly good books, and I'm enjoying my other reading too. Young women escaping repressive domesticity seems to be the recurrent theme of a lot of my recent and current reads. Also parents, even less repressive ones, struggling with their children's views/decisions/lifestyle etc (in some very different contexts)

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 6
Total pages read: 402

I'm hoping to fit in a little more reading before midnight, and expect to finish the last pages of Cockfosters as well. Three books to return to the library tomorrow, two to collect, one of which I already had a space for on my card, so I have a couple of spaces coming up.

Saturday update:

Books read from: The 13th Gift
Books finished: 0
Time reading: another sad effort of only about 1 hour
Time posting:
Snacks: Jersey Mike's sub - The Big Kahuna, no less
Thoughts: Same holds truy, This book is hitting too close to home and I really don't want to go there.
Non-book activities: Ohio State football - puzzle - cleaning house

Saturday update:

Books read from: The 13th Gift
Books finished: 0
Time reading: another sad effort of only about 1 hour
Time posting:
Snacks: Jersey Mike's sub - The Big Kahuna, no less
Thoughts: Same holds true today, This book is hitting too close to home and I really don't want to go there.
Non-book activities: Ohio State football - puzzle - cleaning house

Sunday night update. Will read a little bit mor before bed, but wanted to update before then.

Books read from: 2 - Howl’s Moving Castle and The Green Mill Murder
Books finished: 1 - Howl’s Moving Castle
Time reading: A couple of hours
Snacks: Tea, yoghurt
Non-book activities: Yoga, baking, knitting

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: Maybe four-five hours

Update for Sunday afternoon:

Books read from: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, Forty Years of Murder by Keith Simpson, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Books finished: 3
Time reading: ~3 hours
Time posting: None
Snacks: Tortilla Chips
Non-book activities: Watching football

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 7
Total time reading: ~11 hours

Be back for final update later tonight.

Sunday evening check-in:

Books read from Saturday:
Deadly Summer Nights by Vicki Delany
Bible (ESV)
Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan

All Books Read From this weekend:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Deadly Summer Nights by Vicki Delany
Bible (ESV)
Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan

All Books finished this weekend:
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer

Time reading: Not tracked

Snacks: peanut brittle (this afternoon), getting ready to eat some Chex snack mix

Thoughts: I probably won't break out a new book until tomorrow; I'll continue reading the Delany books this rainy evening, work some crossword or logic puzzles, and pet cats.

Non-book activities: Church this morning (I sang special music) then Sunday school; Bonus Christmas choir rehearsal this evening

Sunday night update:

Books read from: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Socrates: A Man For Our Times by Paul Johnson.
Books completed: The Grapes of Wrath

Pages read: 475
Snack: leftover Halloween candy

Thoughts: I've read most of Steinbeck's shorter works, but Grapes of Wrath is in another category. Not hard to understand what a blockbuster it was at the time.

Non-reading activities: Watch college football, church

Sunday night Update:
Books Read From: I read two chapters from Color of the Sea by John Hamamura and my main focus for the day was Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez. I also read a bit in Last Night At the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage. I listened to enough of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides today that I am now a little more than half done with this book.

Books finished in the last week: Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
Time reading: 1.5 hours
Time posting:
Food: I had my sunday morning cappuccino from Starbucks with a good sized chunk of Gingerbread Bundt cake for breakfast. I had Indian food for lunch and an apple with peanut butter for supper.
Thoughts: I had hoped to finish one of my books this weekend but didn't. I have have done with three of them and have read 60 pages in the third, but it is not likely that I will finish them this coming week either.

Non-book activities: It was a productive day, I baked another batch of the Oatmeal Dinner Rolls and this batch turned out better than the previous batch. I didn't get to another Gingerbread cake but I did do lots of laundry and started packing my bag for my trip.

Total books finished since the read-a-thon began: 179
Total time reading for the Read-A-Thon since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 473 hours since April 2020.

Sunday Night

Books read from: Let the Record Show, Reading Evangelicals
Books finished: none
Time reading: 3 hours
Snacks: pizza
Thoughts: I think I'm coming down with a cold.
Non-book activities: laundry, nap

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 6 hours

Final Update for Sunday:

Books read from: The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros, Earthman’s Burden by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson, The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker, and Glory in Death by J.D. Robb
Books finished: 1
Time reading: ~3 hours
Time posting: None
Snacks: None
Non-book activities: Watching football

Total books finished: 5
Total read from: 10
Total time reading: ~14 hours

Sunday evening/night end of Readathon update

Books read from: 2
Helen Simpson, Cockfosters
K M Peyton, Snowfall

Books finished: 1
Pages read: 40
Book related activities: LT updates and Lists, Goodreads updates
Non-book activities: Radio and TV, Bejeweled Blitz

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 6
Total pages read: 442

Sunday update:

Books read from: The 13th Gift
Books finished: 0
Time reading: approx 1 1/2 hours
Time posting:
Snacks: Pizza, salad and mint chocolate chip ice cream
Thoughts: Thank goodness for this readathon. Without it, I probably would not have gotten any reading done.
Non-book activities: Browns football vs Detroit, puzzle

wrap-up for the weekend

Books:
Finished Sweep: the story of a girl and her monster. Unusual, sad yet hopeful, very good.
Historical fiction and fantasy about the child chimney sweeps in Victorian London.
About 1/3 way through The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman, about 2 runaway sisters in India.

Pancakes for breakfast, at the request of small granddaughters.

Thinking of my contirbution to Thanksgiving family dinner -
baked brie, Aunt Fannie's baked squash, Nantucket Cranberry Tart, and Cherry pie/crisp? or apple cake?

Cloudy and 54 F. (12 C.) at mid-day

Here's the Thanksgiving readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/336954