High Summer Read-a-Thon (Master Post)

Posted July 15, 2012 by in Read-a-thons / 28 Comments

High Summer Read-a-ThonClick for sign-up and details

Remember last month when I screwed up and thought this read-a-thon started on June 16th? Heh.

IT’S HERE (tomorrow)!

Michelle of The True Book Addict hosts this read-a-thon every year, and it runs for a week. If you’re interested in joining us, you can click Michelle’s nifty read-a-thon graphic up there for more information and to sign-up. You can also visit her dedicated read-a-thon blog, Seasons of Reading.

I wasn’t going to post a list of books this time around, because I never end up reading them all anyway and I end up feeling like a failure. BUT, I am reading a bunch of books for book clubs and such, and I know I will be reading portions of them this week (because it’s all scheduled ahead of time and I like to keep up). I will be reading parts of the following:

  • Graceling, by Kristin Cashore
  • The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
  • A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving
  • A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
  • The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Dare Me, by Megan Abbott

Then there are a couple of books that I have committed to reading for other reasons:

  • Lady Oracle, by Margaret Atwood
  • Shadow Show, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle

ALSO…we went to the library again this past weekend and I brought home At Swim, Two Boys, written by Jaime O’Neill and recommended by Geoff of The Oddness of Moving Things.

That’s my list. If I get through all of that I will choose other books at my whim. I haven’t read any of Ulysses in some time, so I should probably read more of that. We’ll see how it goes.

This will be my master post for the read-a-thon so I’m not posting every day and blowing up people’s feed readers and inboxes. I’ll make it a sticky post in case any of you would like to follow my progress.

Day 1 (June 16):

  • # pages read: 243
  • # books finished: 1
    • A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving

Day 2 (June 17):

  • # pages read: 316
  • # books finished: 0
  • WTD pages: 559
  • WTD books: 1

Day 3 (June 18):

  • # pages read: 331
  • # books finished: 1
    • Lady Oracle, by Margaret Atwood
  • WTD pages: 890
  • WTD books: 2

Day 4 (June 19):

  • # pages read: 336
  • # books finished: 1
    • Shadow Show, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle
  • WTD pages: 1,226
  • WTD books: 3

Day 5 (June 20):

  • # pages read: 190
  • # books finished: 0
  • WTD pages: 1,416
  • WTD books: 3

Day 6 (June 21):

  • # pages read: 354
  • # books finished: 1
    • Dare Me, by Megan Abbott
  • WTD pages: 1,770
  • WTD books: 4

Day 7 (June 22):

  • # pages read: 328
  • # books finished: 3
    • A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
    • Graceling, by Kristin Cashore
    • The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
  • WTD pages: 2,098
  • WTD books: 7

Wrap-up:

Success! I read more for this read-a-thon than I’ve read for any read-a-thon in the past. I think this was partly due to Eric being on vacation and keeping the kids occupied.

Four of the books I finished this week had been started at the beginning of July, and the other three I read from start to finish during the read-a-thon.

I have to admit that the read-a-thon ended at 1am this morning, and I actually read until 1:30am to finish up The Magicians. I wanted to finish most everything I was in the middle of, though, because I am way behind in my reviewing and I’m taking this next week off from reading to do nothing but write reviews. I’m following up the read-a-thon with my own personal write-a-thon.

Thank you again to Michelle for hosting this, and I hope everyone who participated had a good time!

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  • I know what you mean about lists! Sometimes it’s better to just read based on your mood. I hope you’re able to get everything read. Happy reading!

  • Yay! So glad you’re joining me. Great list too. I like your update format. I’m going to steal it, if you don’t care. 😉 I’ll have the starting line post up at midnight so be sure to come add your link to this post to the linky when you start reading. We’re having Twitter chats this week too. I’ll put the days and times in the starting line post. Happy reading, my friend!

    • Thanks, Michelle! I’ll be sure to link up at the starting line.

  • Good luck! That’s a brilliant list of books you’ve got there, several of which are either on my wishlist or on Mount TBR… clearly I shall have to become your new stalker this week. Happy reading – I’m off to get started with FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, woohoo!
    Ellie @ Musings of a Bookshop Girl
    http://musingsofabookshopgirl.blogspot.co.uk/

    • Thank you, Ellie! FEAR AND LOATHING is on my TBR pile, but I won’t be getting to it for a while. Happy reading!

  • Good luck! I loved Graceling both times I read it.

  • I gotta get my weight up on this book reading stuff… if I wasn’t already so late, I might have had to consider a book challenge. One of these days…. one of these days….. 🙂
    you’re still my book reading standard, you know.

  • Great List! I’ve read 2 of those and have a few of the others on my TBR. I always end up making an overly ambitious list for these things so I was tempted not to make one too. Good luck conquering your list 🙂

    • Thanks, Holly! I’m always overly ambitious, too, and then I feel bad when I don’t accomplish what I posted. Haha!

  • Good luck, Heather.

  • It’s true: long lists can leave you feel defeated in the end, but I like to have a bunch ready to choose from, so that I can still let my mood dictate without wandering too far from my intentions (i.e. raiding my shelves when I had something else in mind). I’ve never read Owen Meany, but I’ve wanted to, and it still niggles now and then. Did you enjoy it?

    • I definitely have a bunch to choose from–my to-be-read pile is out of control. Hahaha!

      I liked Owen Meany very much. It’s classic Irving–hilarious and heartbreaking.

  • Wow! You’re doing fantastic, Heather! Keep it up.

    • Thanks, Vasilly! It helps that Eric is home and can kind of keep the kids occupied. Haha!

  • Can I say that you’re doing awesomely?! Cool! I see Confederacy of Dunces there. I could not finish that book. I think I tried to read it over 10 years ago. Maybe I should try again. I’ll look forward to your thoughts on that one, that’s for sure!

    Hope you can join us for the last chat tomorrow. 12-1pm CST 🙂

    • Thanks, Michelle! Yes, I will be joining you for the chat today.

  • sj

    See? I tried to tell David and PME that I was a slacker compared to some! Really, I didn’t count how many LotR pages I read last week, but NON-LotR stuff was ~1000. I wish I had the kids occupied for a week so I could just catch up on everything. [sigh] Some day.

    • You’re still way ahead of me for the Booksluts’ challenge, though, and giving up the next week to reviews won’t help. Hahaha!

      My kids are old enough to occupy themselves for the most part, but it was nice to have Eric home for Ashley to talk to. Her mouth tends to run non-stop, so Eric took the brunt of that last week. Haha!

      • sj

        I’d be even further ahead if I wasn’t re-reading so many things. Well, if I hadn’t already. Other than LotR, no more re-reads until the year is over. My friend Kate (who joined at the check in) is kicking my tush, and I won’t stand for that!

        Next year, though – next year, I’m not doing ANY challenges.

        • I’m with you–I’ve done SO MUCH re-reading this year. I don’t think I’m doing any challenges next year, either.

  • Wow, you got a lot read this week! It looks like you got through some really good books; I’ve heard great things about A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Confederacy of Dunces 🙂

    • They were both excellent for different reasons–I’d recommend them both.

  • I like the idea of taking a week off from reading to write reviews! I might try that after I finish reading what I’m in the middle of. You did such a great job during the read-a-thon!

    • …and then I picked up a book while I was eating lunch today. Hahaha!
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