Social Distancing Readathon #163 - April 28 - 30

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

I'm in. I want to finish Death by Dumpling and make a start on some of my May reads.

Count me in.

I'll be reading in between other activites - Dinner and theater on Friday, and family brunch and a short shift in the neighborhood library on Sunday. Free all day Saturday! I also started watching 'Night Agent', an action thriller on Netflix.

I'm a third of the way through The Librarian of Burned Books.

I'm here. Forecast is rain on Friday, and heavy rain on Saturday. I anticipate there WILL be time to read since my outdoor chores will be curtailed.

I will be participating this weekend. I will have more time to read this weekend than last.

I'm reading this weekend!

I am in! There will be gardening but that includes an audio book and then curling up to rest with The Overstory.

>3 nrmay: The Librarian of Burned Books looks good.

>7 witchyrichy:
I also recently finished The Paris Library by J. Charles, and The Librarian Spy by M. Martin.
Both good; WWII era historical fiction based on real events.

Sunny, 70 F. (21 C.) in Charlotte NC. I got wind chimes for my birthday and they are ringing in an intermittent light breeze. My chipmunk keeps darting across the patio. I saw the rabbit this morning too and he better keep away from my hostas. :|

I'm in. Currently working on Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Brought an 11 month old golden doodle into our home on Wednesday - he's a good boy, but definitely reduces reading time, lol...

I started the next Foreigner book, Intruder.

Definitely in but not expecting a high result in hours as there are several competing tasks to focus on. It would be lovely to actually finish one this weekend!

Friday night:

Books read from: Death By Dumpling, Up a Road Slowly
Books finished: Death By Dumpling
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting: 8:50 PM
Snacks: pizza for dinner
Thoughts: That was an OK mystery, but I don't think I'll keep reading the series.
Non-book activities: Work, laundry

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

Saturday morning

Book: The Librarian of Burned Books. Would like to finish this today.

Dinner last night was crawfish etouffee at a cajun restaurant.
food thoughts:
I love all manner of ethnic, spicy, and indulgent dishes but lately wonder if my digestive system isn't protesting a bit.
Hosting my scrabble club on Tue and for the menu I'm thinking of fruit, stuffed eggs, a couple of tapas, and maybe baking lemon nut bread and blueberry muffins. I'm into tapas lately and wondering if manchego, chorizo and marinated olives are too much to serve at 10a? Nah...

Other activity: saw a remarkably good theater production of 'Pippin'; watched an episode of 'The Diplomat' with Keri Russel on Netflix.

Cloudy, 64 F. (18 C.)

I am reading Margaret Atwood's new book of short stories- Old Babes in the Wood.

I'm in this weekend.

Friday reading:

Books read from: Killers of a Certain Age, Chester Alan Arthur, Dark Star Safari, Pod, The Joys of Motherhood
Books finished: Killers of a Certain Age, Chester Alan Arthur
Pages read: 170
Dinner: shrimp scampi
Thoughts: TGIF
Non-book activities: finish work, made dinner, watched Ted Lasso, talked to my daughter in Japan

Total books finished: 2 Killers of a Certain Age, Chester Alan Arthur
Total read from: 5 Killers of a Certain Age, Chester Alan Arthur, Dark Star Safari, Pod, The Joys of Motherhood
Total pages read: 170

Saturday evening:

Books read from: Up a Road Slowly, Coming Full Circle
Books finished: none
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting: 7:50 PM
Snacks: curry for dinner
Thoughts: Our quince tree is finally blossoming.
Non-book activities: Altar guild, groceries

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 3
Total time reading: 4 hours

>9 ChrisG1:
I loved the Imperial Radch series. They were so innovative in style and exciting to read.

Sunday morning update

Books read from: I am about to finish Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester and Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman. I continue to slowly read Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. I am listening to This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished listening to Quiet American by Graham Greene.

Book Thoughts: I finished listening to Quiet American on the way to knitting shop yesterday. At first I was disappointed with this novel. However, I ended up liking it. It is one of those literary novels that British authors were cranking out after WWII. It does a really slow burn until it ends with a bang. It features a protagonist that the reader doesn't really like, but in the end embraces him and all his foibles. It is a very thought provoking novel and I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. On-the-other-hand, I am getting bored with Simon Winchester's pomposity. It is time for this overblown 500 pager to end.

Non-Book activities: I purchased some plants for my flower bed. In the end I decided on plain old Cosmos as they can tolerate heat and drought. That means that I won't have to bug the neighbors to water the plants so much this summer. I spent the day in Gadsden knitting. It was Support Your Local Yarn Shop Day. I had a great time drinking tea and knitting with the ladies. I purchased a boat load of yarn that was on special, which I don't need, but, it's yarn and is so pretty. I met a new knitter yesterday and so we had some great conversations. I will miss this place when I move back to Kansas.

Time reading: 3 hours listening and 1 hour reading
Time posting:
Food: my regular Sunday morning Starbucks Hazelnut Cappuccino.

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 322
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 911 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

>8 nrmay: Added both to my TBR list.

Sunday checkin:

Books finished: Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King: most recent audio book, moved onto Through A Glass, Darkly by Donna Leon
Books Read From: The Overstory by Richard Powers, Real Life: The Journey From Isolation to Openness and Freedom by Sharon Salzberg, Yes, And... by Richard Rohr, Freeing Jesus by Diana Butler Bass, A Conventional Murder by Pam Stucky

Other Activities: working in the flower gardens on Saturday, laundry and a bit of cleanup today which turned out to be a washout so no gardening, updating my LT thread and book list as I plan to start a new thread tomorrow. I have written at least a short review of every book I read this year!

Did not finish my CJ Cherryh book but am enjoying it!

Sunday night

Books:
Finished The Librarian of Burned Books.
Banning books is a timely topic. Recommended! "Ban the fascists. Save the Books!"
Starting The Queen of Dirt Island.

dinner:
chicken & vegetables, Talenti ice cream - double dark chocolate and coffee chocolate chip - spoonful of each.

Other book activity: afternoon shift in the neighborhood library.

And - family brunch (still celebrating my BD a week after..), laundry, made snack mix for my scrabble club.

Sunday night update

Books read from: I am about to finish Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester and Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman. I continue to slowly read Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. I am listening to This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished listening to Quiet American by Graham Greene.

Book Thoughts: I am really enjoying This is How it Always Is. There is so much in this novel that is pertinent to the world of today in so many places in the U.S. regarding education. The writing is full of humor and gentle questions about why society is thinking in such rigid ways. The mother, in the book sends all 5 of her children to school with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and she is admonished that she should not do this because peanut butter could be dangerous. Even if it is a food that her children like and request. The Kindergartener in the novel takes his lunch to school in a red patent leather tote and is told to not do so anymore because it is distracting to the other children in the classroom. He is asked to bring his lunch in a regular lunch box. Who does this kind of attitude help? is the major question in the book.

Non-Book activities: Talking on the phone and knitting. I also made up my grocery list for my cooking for the week.

Time reading: 1 hour reading
Time posting:
Food: lunch at the Indian restaurant buffet.

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 322
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 912 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

Books read from: Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg; Bartimaeus, Jonathan Stroud; Submarine Boats, Richard Compton-Hall; We Come Unseen, Jim Ring; Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Books finished: Zippo, nil, zilch, nada, none. Way too distracted, flitted between books. Learned about the Yom Kippur war, the 6th fleet, the lead up to the war in the Falklands, Frank T. Cable, and then was deep in religious Dostoevsky, the FDR political machine and Europe pre-WW II, or thinking about magicians in London. Iow, it was an interesting weekend but very much all over the place.
Total read from/listened to: 5
Time reading: (Total= 7h)
Fri: 1.0h
Sat: 1.5h
Sun: 4.5h
Snacks: Tea and cookies.
Thoughts: I can do laundry tomorrow.
Non-book activities: Talking to the dog, listening to frog love songs after dark.

P.S. I adored The Quiet American and what little else of Graham Greene I’ve read. For me that book was a marvel in its prescient message. But your review above makes me consider re-reading it to see if my initial impression was overly dominated by my shock at Greene’s ability to predict what would happen. It certainly was a book for which I wondered, “how much of this is fiction?”

Edited Tuesday… when I realized that, once again, I’d credited Brothers Karamazov to “Theodor” Dostoevsky… my brain gets in a rut: apologies!

Monday morning summary:

Books read from: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Books finished: Ancillary Justice & The Stars My Destination
Pages read: 550-ish

Non-reading activities - enjoying our new golden-doodle Chase. He has fit right in, playing with our other doodle Clark. He does well on leash. Our HOA had a neighborhood-wide garage sale event & we were able to sell most of our items.

>23 PocheFamily:
I also noticed Greene's predictions. I had always thought that this book was a standard, or even classic, of the spy novel tradition. I was surprised when I read it that it really is a love story, or rather, and unrequited love story, and one of revenge. It really isn't a spy novel. However, I understand why it could be interpreted as a spy novel, or a literary mystery. I thought that it was very well written, but probably not action-packed enough for the reading audiences of the present.

Weekend wrapup

Books read from: Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester and Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman. I continue to slowly read Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. I am listening to This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished listening to Quiet American by Graham Greene.

Book Thoughts: I only managed to finish one book this weekend. Like many others who participate in this little group of dedicated weekend readers, I got distracted by other things. I should finish the book by Simon Winchester either today or tomorrow.

Non-Book activities: Talking on the phone and knitting. I got started knitting a tea cozy and became intriqued by the pattern so spent more time knitting than I did reading. I also made up my grocery list for my cooking for the week. It is a beautiful morning - cool and windy. Perfect for doing my spring planting. I will have to purchase a few more plants, but I think I will be satisfied with the results. It is not going to be the yard display that it has been in the last couple of years, but it will be nice enough.

Time reading: 1 hour reading
Time posting:
Food: apple with peanut butter for breakfast.

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 322
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 913 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350624