Social Distancing Readathon #212 - April 5 - 7

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'll have another try. It's already Friday evening and I'm reading Doing Time by Jodi Taylor.

I am in again! I need to start making some headway on my April reading.

I'm in! I have some errands and chores on tomorrow's schedule, so I may be doing more audiobook listening than book reading.

I’m in.

I have some gardening, cooking & baking to do before book club at my house next week, but I’ll be reading. Have to finish the book club book, The Personal Librarian.

I'm in - currently reading Ravenspur by Conn Iggulden.

I'm in for the weekend. Tomorrow will be busy but I will be reading on Sunday.

Friday start-up

Books read from: Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos. Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman. Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. I am listening to Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

Books finished: Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

Book Thoughts: I finished reading Sing Them Home this morning and ended up liking this book. It turns out that the more of it I read the more I started thinking of it as a work of magical realism. Once I did that the book became much easier to understand. It is a book about disabilities and how that effects a family. Parts of it were rather emotional. I was also surprised when I discovered that it is set in a small southeastern town in Nebraska - not far from where I am moving. This is not an area that gets many books written about it, but it does work. I found the chapter about the University of Nebraska football tickets really funny. I always knew that UA didn't have a lock on crazy football season ticket holder fans, and this passage proved it. I am glad I read this book.

Non-Book activities: I will be going to pick up a friend who had her knee replaced and bring her home. She has been gone for 30 days doing rehabilitation at her sons. I think it turned out to be a circus and she is glad to be released.

Time reading today: 1 hour reading
Time reading this weekend - 1 hour
Time posting:
Food: cottage cheese, blackberries and bread with honey for breakfast

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 408
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 1134 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon in April of 2020.

I've been away and caught up on reading :) Back to my usual routine and will join you for the weekend!

Friday Night Update:

Books read from: The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson (audiobook), In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus, Plunder by Menachem Kaiser, At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, and Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Books finished: 0
Time reading: ~3.75 hours + listening to audiobook

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 6
Total time reading: ~3.75 hours + listening to audiobook

Saturday morning report

Books read from: Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman. Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. I am listening to Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

Books finished: Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

Book Thoughts: I was so tired last night that when I got home I only read 5 pages in Book of Form and Emptiness. I will be busy today and won't have much time to read. In general I find myself getting angry at Thomas Friedman because he is such a cheerleader for globalization and almost 25 years after the fact we can see the flaws in globalization. Book of Form and Emptiness is another 550 page behemoth and even though it is starting out well, I find I am reluctant to pick it up.

Non-Book activities: cooking

Time reading today: .5 hour reading
Time reading this weekend - 1.5 hour
Time posting:
Food: I was treated to a very nice meal last night and that might have been part of the reason I was so tired and sleepy when I got home. breakfast this morning was cottage cheese, blackberries. No bread and honey for breakfast this time.

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 408
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 1134.5 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon in April of 2020.

Saturday early evening

Books:
Too Much Happiness, stories by Alice Munro.
I’m still trying to read one short story a day. I’m behind and trying to catch up. I borrowed this book from my sister who’s a big fan of A Munro.

Finished: The Personal Librarian. Liked it.
Just checked out ebook of
Fairy Tale by Stephen King.

Dinner: husband cooking. 🙂
We’re having swordfish & vegetables.

Other activity:
Started cooking in preparation for book club at my house. Getting ready to watch NC State/Purdue basketball game.

Sunny 🌞
62 F./17 C.

>12 nrmay: How are you enjoying Munro? I read it a couple of years ago and I found it didn't really age well. My best friend loved it! so I'm curious to know your reaction.

Books read from: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; How to Read a Novel like a Professor by Thomas Foster; Dossier 64 by Jussi Alder-Olsen; La sorcière moderne du foyer by Arin Murphy-Hiscock; Naming Canada by Alan Rayburn
Books finished:
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting: 7:00 Saturday
Snacks: popcorn
Thoughts: The Jussi Alder-Olsen thriller has a lot of characters to keep track of!
Non-book activities: 2 nature walks; meditation group; cooking; shopping

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 5
Total time reading: 2 hours

Sunday 11.30am

Books read from: Doing Time by Jodi Taylor, Tamburlaine's Elephant by Geraldine McCaughrean
Books finished: 1 Doing Time
Time reading: 4hrs

Snacks: latte, toast with marmite
Thoughts: Doing Time was real fun.
Non-book activities: Trip to City yesterday, tv

Total books finished: 1 Doing Time
Total read from: 2 and dipped into a few more
Total time reading: 6hrs

Reading the introductions to An unsuitable attachment by Barbara Pym & intro to Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution by Victor Verney

Saturday Night Update:

Books read from: The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson (audiobook), In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus, Plunder by Menachem Kaiser, At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim, and Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Books finished: 1, Plunder
Time reading: ~2.95 hours + listening to audiobook

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 7
Total time reading: ~6.7 hours + listening to audiobook

Sunday afternoon update:

Books read from: The Late Mrs. Willoughby, The Fire Dance, Cat Among the Pigeons
Books finished: The Late Mrs. Willoughby
Time reading: ?
Time posting: ?
Snacks: lunch was beef stew and grape salad
Thoughts: I've been too sleepy to read much
Non-book activities: Yesterday was a busy day. I made pimiento cheese, grape salad, and put the beef stew in the Crockpot before I went to bed last night. I also did a load of laundry and took Adran to a grooming appointment. He won the groomer's Easter basket drawing so I brought it home with me when I picked him up. Lots of treats, a couple of stuffed toys, a ball, a nice leash and water bowl.

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

I hope to finish The Fire Dance this afternoon.

It's been another weekend full of yard work and gardening, but I'm still reading some every evening before bed.

Read from: The Lantern's Dance
Read and reviewed: Max's Castle

>14 avatiakh:
I will be interested to hear what you think of Warrior of God. We had an old portrait of Jan Zizka in our church hallway when I was growing up. (along with one of Jan Huss). I never knew why he was there until I got into my 30's and started to learn about the Thirty Years War, the Hussite Wars, and how important Jan Huss was to the Reformation.

Sunday Night Update:

Books read from: In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus, At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim, and An Eye for an Eye by Anthony Trollope
Books finished: 1, In Praise of Folly
Time reading: ~3.2 hours

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 8
Total time reading: ~9.9 hours + listening to audiobook

Sunday evening report

Books read from: Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman. Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. I am listening to Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

Books finished: Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

Book Thoughts: I did most of my reading in Children of Blood and Bone today because I received a notice that it is due back to ILL. I am trying to get it renewed but in case I can't I want to get as much of it read and listened to as possible.

Non-Book activities: Knitting and watched Dr. Martin, Call the Midwife, and the new show Mr. Bates and the Post Office. All on PBS. The one about the Post Office is shaping up to be very interesting. I had nothing on the schedule today so spent most of the time reading and being lazy. I did pay bills and tried to balance my checkbook. That seems funny as I couldn't get it to agree with then bank and that is what the new show on PBS is all about.

Time reading today: 2.5 hours
Time reading this weekend - 4 hour
Time posting:
Food: I had a great time at supper last night. The two sauces I made for the pork tenderloin were excellent and the Walnut cake that one person brought was fantastic. We also had a lentil moussaka that I am going to make again. It was great.

Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 408
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 1137 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon in April of 2020.

Weekend summary:

Books read from: Ravenspur by Conn Iggulden, Badger Boy by Elmer Kelton, The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
Books finished: Ravenspur & Badger Boy

Non-book activities: Mostly worked (Tax season - 1 week to go!!!!)

>21 ChrisG1: did you like Badger Boy?

Forgot my tally with the excitement of the Eclipse - what a sight!

Books read from: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; How to Read a Novel like a Professor by Thomas Foster; Dossier 64 by Jussi Alder-Olsen; La sorcière moderne du foyer by Arin Murphy-Hiscock; Naming Canada by Alan Rayburn
Books finished: -
Time reading: 2 hours
Time posting: 1:00pm Tuesday
Non-book activities: more walking

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

>22 fuzzi: It's a solid western - I liked it.

>13 Cecilturtle:

Regarding Too Much Happiness by A Munro -
The stories are very strange but engaging.
The endings are puzzeling to me but I'm still reading them and intend to finish the book!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359999

>24 ChrisG1: glad to hear it, my thoughts exactly.

I was outside doing yard and garden work all weekend, but still managed to finish The Lantern's Dance.