Social Distancing Readathon #151 - February 3 - 5

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

Ok. Gonna try again this weekend. Reading in Minnesota, USA

Count me in! I'm reading Horse. Spare, Epitaph and Your Table is Ready. All good books

I am in as it looks like Kerry will be returning to work tomorrow.

I'm in, it's another 3 day weekend here and it is still raining.

I'm in! I'm still recovering from surgery but am scheduled to be back at work on Monday.

I will be participating again.

I'm in!

I'm in. Reading in Fernandina Beach, Florida. this month.

Hoping to finish Uncanny Times by tomorrow. Interesting fantasy, 1st in a series, maybe?

Clear, 69 F. (20 C.)

It's frigid and snowing fine slippery looking flakes so I'm starting readathon now.
First off, reading Horse.

I'm here! As it's going to be too cold to do outside chores, I may have a better opportunity to read this weekend.

Saturday 10am update

Books read from: Sea Change by Richard Armstrong, While you were reading by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus, Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis, City of Spies by Mara Timon.
Books finished: 2 Sea Change, While you were reading
Time reading: 4 hrs

Snacks: Spanish chorizo soup, Creamy penne
Thoughts: must read
Non-book activities: food prep

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 4hrs

Trying to get through a multitude of library books.

I'm in -on page 605 of my most recent read and the book is over 1100 pages.

friday evening update

Books read from: Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i by Lisa Prato. I am listening to The Winners by Fredrik Backman.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: Beginning or the End: How Hollywood - and America - Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell

Book Thoughts: I finished Beginning or the End and enjoyed that book. It was a real lesson on how myth becomes history and once myth is perceived as history it is practically impossible to relegate it back to myth. I am now started on a delightful book about tourism in Hawai'i.

Non Book Activities: knitting and supper tonight with friends.
Time reading: 5 hours
Time posting:
Food: chicken and salad for lunch
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 295
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 811 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

I finished What If? 2, which was a fun light read. I'm now waiting on sandwiches to be delivered for dinner. After dinner I'll either pick my next book or maybe watch another episode of She-Hulk.

Friday update

Books read from: Horse
Books finished:
Time reading: 4 hrs

Snacks: potato, broccoli, cheese soup
Thoughts: Such a good read
Non-book activities: 2 episodes of The White Lotus
Time Posting: Friday 10:05pm

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

I'm in. All in this weekend and in an hour I will be away from the office for the rest of the weekend. Monday is another public holiday and so I have 2.5 days to go at my incomplete books.
I expect to finish 5 books:

Torch by Lin Anderson
Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy
The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Angualusa
Dearly by Margaret Atwood
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Friday night update:

Books read from: The Wind in the Willows, For Her Own Good
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: supper was beef vegetable soup and rice
Thoughts: I'm having a hard time getting into The Wind in the Willows. I don't know if it's the audio narrator or if it's just me.
Non-book activities: cooking, Zoom chat

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

Friday night

Books:
Finished Uncanny Times
Starting Slow Horses
Finished 7 books in Jan.

Dinner: pizza, crudites

Other activity:
walked around Old Town Fernandina.
Checked out the bookstore, the library, and an antique shop.

Friday Night Update:

Books read from: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers,
Horse by Geraldine Brooks, In the Still of the Night by Ann Rule, Selection Day by Aravind Adiga, Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Books finished: 1, In the Still of the Night
Time reading: ~4.5 hours

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 6
Total time reading: ~4.5 hours

It has been an awful, terrible, very bad day and I expect to have a few more in the near future. Much time was spent today on the phone with relatives including my nephew, my sister, my aunt, and my daughters. I am not sure now how much time I will actually have to read over the weekend with recent developments.

It's -40 Celsius (with the wind chill) here in Ottawa, Ontario, so I'm unlikely to go outside much!

Books read from: French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
Books finished:La fille de papier by Guillaume Musso
Time reading: 4 hours starting Friday evening
Non-book activities: crocheting; Librarything! also laundry

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 4 hours

I got two done!

Fallon by Louis L'Amour
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

I never read Blueberries for Sal as a child or to my children, loved it.

ETA: I just finished One Morning in Maine, the sequel, and loved it even more.

>20 alcottacre: sorry to hear about your recent family drama.

Saturday morning update:

Books read from: For Her Own Good, Strangers No More
Books finished:
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: breakfast was a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich, tangerine, and tea
Thoughts: What's that yellow thing in the sky? It seems like I haven't seen it for a very long time!
Non-book activities: sleep, cooking breakfast, trying to persuade the dog to eat

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: ?

Checking in at the end of Saturday afternoon:

Books read from: Three Cups of Tea by Patrick DeWitt; A Rebel's Apothecary by Jenny Sansouci; Mind your Manners by Claire Wallace
Books finished:La fille de papier by Guillaume Musso; French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
Time reading: 2 hours
Non-book activities: crocheting; Librarything! also laundry

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 6 hours

Saturday late afternoon update

Books read from: Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i by Lisa Prato. I am listening to The Winners by Fredrik Backman.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: Beginning or the End: How Hollywood - and America - Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell

Book Thoughts: I am enjoying The Winners so much that every time I get into or out of the car I am finding myself with lots of driveway moments. The Beartown trilogy is so good. I wonder what the TV series is like?

Non Book Activities: I had a very nice supper with friends last night. I talked on the phone today with sister and cousin, then I started in on paying bills. I will start working my way through my health insurance packet and getting signed up for Medicare and Social Security as soon as I finish cruising through LT. This retiring thing is a hassle with all the paperwork. I haven't had time to get it done at work, so I am taking my weekend to do it. I wanted to be at the yarn shop knitting with some really cool people, but instead I am doing paperwork.
Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Food: chicken noddle soup with potatoes and butternut squash for lunch
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 295
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 812 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

I just finished Nghi Vo's Siren Queen, a really excellent urban fantasy novel set in an alternate version of early Hollywood.

Saturday night update:

Books read from: Strangers No More
Books finished: Strangers No More
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: graham crackers with chocolate peanut butter & tea
Thoughts: Where has the day gone?!
Non-book activities: funeral visitation, laundry, walk with the dog

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

I had a really strange thing happen in the middle of reading Strangers No More. The author described an email he had received from someone in Europe who was helping his half brother search for his American birth father. He sent the email to about 50 of his brother's closest DNA matches. Griffeth was one of the recipients. The email sounded very familiar, so I searched my email archive and sure enough, I was another one! Griffeth says in the book that he thinks he is probably related through the man's European mother, and I think I am probably distantly related to the man's American father, so Griffeth and I are not related. I didn't have any information that would be helpful in his search.

Saturday night

Book: Slow Horses. Making slow progress. I watched the first season of the TV series and liked it.

Dinner: I made a broccoli/bacon quiche; served with fresh fruit.

Other activity:
a nature walk along the greenway nearby.

cloudy, 56 F. (13 C.)

Saturday night update

Books read from: 4 pages from Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i by Lisa Prato. I am listening to The Winners by Fredrik Backman.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: Beginning or the End: How Hollywood - and America - Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell

Book Thoughts: I continue to read the Beatrix Potter biography very slowly. I have been trying to read 4 pages a day. Today I met that goal and that puts me at a little over the halfway mark on this 600 page behemoth. It isn't hard to read, but it is very detailed. Beatrix has just turned 50, married for the first time, and has had her father die. She has also purchased another contiguous piece of land to add to her farm, and is beginning to fight with her publishers because of their late payments of her royalties.

Non Book Activities: I got caught up on my household bills today, but didn't get the medicare documents figured out. That will have to wait for tomorrow afternoon. I did turn in one of my ILL books today.

Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Food: I had a very disappointing meal at Whataburger tonight. I am not at all happy with that place and will likely take it off of my places to grab-a-bite. The manager couldn't get the order right. The person who took the order was talking on her cell phone while taking orders. No trays, no ketchup, no service. My next stop after LT will be the Whataburger web site with a complaint. This is the second time this has happened to me when I have gone there. Even though it is 4 blocks from my house I don't have to put up with that and can go somewhere else.
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 295
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 813 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

Sunday evening update

Books read from: Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis, City of Spies by Mara Timon.
Garlic and the vampire by Bree Paulsen (children's graphic novel)
Books finished: 1 Emily Noble's Disgrace
Time reading: 5 hrs

Snacks: Greek meatballs w feta
Thoughts: keep reading
Non-book activities: food prep, cafe visit

Total books finished: 4 Sea Change, While you were reading, Emily Noble's Disgrace, Garlic and the vampire
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 9 hrs

Sunday Lunchtime and I have four books done.

Torch by Lin Anderson
Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy
The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
Dearly by Margaret Atwood

Total Time reading 14 hours

Food : Sambal Udang Petai
Coffee : A gallon or two.

Saturday update

Books read from: Horse
Books finished:
Time reading: 4 hrs

Snacks: Dinner: Noodles and cabbage
Thoughts: a new character was introduced mid story, I didn't want it but totally necessary

Non-book activities: Finished season one of white Lotus and ep 1 of season 2

Time Posting: Sunday: 7:55am

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

Checking in on Sunday morning:

Books read from: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson; A Rebel's Apothecary by Jenny Sansouci; Mind your Manners by Claire Wallace;Crocodile by Philippe Dijan
Books finished:La fille de papier by Guillaume Musso; French Exit by Patrick DeWitt; Homicide par Philippe Squarzoni
Time reading: 3 hours
Non-book activities: planning a hike and a coffee date! I finished my little amigurumi (little crochet animal)

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 9 hours

>23 fuzzi: Thank you, fuzzi.

>20 alcottacre: I'd be remiss if I also didn't wish you better days ahead, Stasia. Hope all is rectified soon!

I was remiss in not posting my Saturday Night Update last night:

Books read from: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, Purity in Death by J.D. Robb, and Battleborn: Stories by Claire Vaye Watkins
Books finished: 1, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Time reading: ~1.25 hours

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: ~5.75 hours

>36 Carmenere: Not yet, Lynda, but hopefully soon.

>37 alcottacre: haha actually, I wasn't expecting one from you. Glad you found a bit of time to read and hopefully get your mind off things.

>39 Carmenere: I need to get my mind off things as much as I can these days, Lynda, or I would be going crazy, lol.

I finished Run Towards The Danger!
Lunch- red lentil soup, chick pea and tuna salad and banana

Sunday afternoon update

Books read from: Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i by Lisa Prato. I started Down From the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear by Bryce Andrews. I am listening to The Winners by Fredrik Backman.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i by Lisa Prato. Beginning or the End: How Hollywood - and America - Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell

Book Thoughts: It has been a good reading day. I read 10 pages in the Beatrix Potter biography. I finished reading the travel book about Hawai'i and enjoyed it very much. The author takes a dim view of all of the development in Hawai'i and believes that it has done very little to help out the people who actually live in Hawai'i. She delves into the past colonialistic history of the take-over of Hawai'i and how that attitude of white privilege manifests itself today in low wages for the people who actually work in paradise. She is an advocate for higher wages and curbing tourism for many of the same reasons why Yosemite has had to curb visits to that park. Tourists are doing severe damage to the environment, wildlife, and to the native peoples who live there and restrictions should be put in place.

Non Book Activities: I am going to be working on my Medicare and Social Security papers as soon as I leave LT. Then I have to get started on my potato salad for Tuesday night for the Wine Club meeting.

Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting:
Food: Indian food at noon, and tonight I am going to indulge in a cappuccino from Starbucks while I watch my PBS shows.
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 296
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 815 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

Sunday update

Books read from: Horse
Books finished:
Time reading: 4 hrs

Snacks: Dinner: Pancakes
Thoughts: If only my Kindle didn't run out of power, I'd have finished Horse

Non-book activities:

Time Posting: Sunday: 9:05pm

Total books finished: almost
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 12 hours

Sunday Night Update:

Books read from: Battleborn: Stories by Claire Vaye Watkins, Selection Day by Aravind Adiga, Purity in Death by J.D. Robb, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard, Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Books finished: 2, Selection Day and Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
Time reading: ~5.5 hours

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 9
Total time reading: ~11.25 hours

Total books read from: 4
Total books finished: 3

Spent most of Friday at home, listening to the handyman hammer and saw away. I now have a shower instead of an old bathtub!
Saturday and Sunday were cold, wet, and miserable outside, so that's when I did most of my reading.

Last tabulation:

Books read from: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson; A Rebel's Apothecary by Jenny Sansouci; Mind your Manners by Claire Wallace; The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Books finished:La fille de papier by Guillaume Musso; French Exit by Patrick DeWitt; Homicide par Philippe Squarzoni; Crocodiles by Philippe Dijan
Time reading: 3 hours
Non-book activities: planning a hike and a coffee date! I finished my little amigurumi (little crochet animal)

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 4
Total time reading: 12 hours

I'm very pleased with this weekend's effort. I even managed a 4km snowshoe hike, a bit of birding and meeting a good friend. Now to retire so that I can do this full time!

>45 fuzzi: I now have a shower instead of an old bathtub!

Congratulations!

>47 alcottacre: thank you! The hardest part was finding someone to do the work who was both competent and available...oh, and affordable!

Tuesday morning update

Books read from: City of Spies by Mara Timon, Half my Life by Diana Noonan

Books finished: 1 Half my life
Time reading: 4 hrs

Snacks: Lebanese potatoes
Thoughts: keep reading
Non-book activities: food prep, cafe visit

Total books finished: 5 Sea Change, While you were reading, Emily Noble's Disgrace, Garlic and the vampire, & Half my life
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 13 hrs

My long weekend is over and I did fairly well reading wise. I should finish City of Spies sometime today.

>48 fuzzi: Yeah, that last one counts for much, right? Not that the other two qualities are unimportant.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/348418