The Next Morning

Jessica:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 20. I had to stay up until hour 21 for our mini-challenge, but I was super fading. I got a second wind after picking our two winners and lasted until sometime during hour 22!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nothing in particular is coming to mind. I’d love it, as always, if we could switch up the start time to literally anything else, for the sake of all the world’s people not in the Eastern half of the US. Maybe you could have a list of mini-challenge ideas that would help to make sure the mini-challenges are short, fun, and easy?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Wow! So many people!
5. How many books did you read? I finished 4 (all shorties), read 3/5 of a manga, and read 20-50 pages of four others.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher, Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, Rapunzel’s Revenge by the Three Hales, and Kimi wa Petto by Yayoi Ogawa.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Hmm, that’s tough! Newt’s Emerald was charming, Housekeeping was lovely, Nimona was good all through but had a truly excellent ending, Through the Woods was creepy in the best way, and Kimi wa Petto was a return to characters I love but hadn’t read about it in a while! I think I might go with Through the Woods, though. I love Emily Carroll so much!
8. Which did you enjoy least? That’s also tough. I found the Unfolding of Language kind of annoying (more details later possibly), I didn’t connect much with The Mostrumologist (though I’ll read some more of it before giving it up for good), and Rapunzel’s Revenge didn’t have the magic I expect from Shannon Hale – not to be a demanding reader, it’s just that she is one of my favorite YA authors whose work I usually find magical. I found the tone and pacing of RR to be off, though I really appreciated the diversity of characters!
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I’m sure we’ll be back, barring trips or other big commitments like in April! We’ll read and probably host mad libs again, and I’ve been thinking about signing up to cheer for a short amount of time

Mia:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The end of however long I stayed up, definitely. At that point counting is too hard so I’m never sure how many hours are left. This time, I just read a giant anthology of horror comics and then went to sleep.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I didn’t read it for this ‘thon, but Alice+Freda Forever by Alexis Coe is very readable, interesting nonfiction. Also, Jessica and I were discussing doing an all-Princess  Diaries Read-a-thon sometime. Those books are so easy to whiz through and I love Mia Thermopolis forever.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Starting time change up! I know that’s probably not gonna happen, but I’m saying it anyway.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The prize page was really well-organized, I thought, and made it easy for me to check out what I might like when I won a door prize (!).
5. How many books did you read? Five–finished four and read select stories from one.
6. What were the names of the books you read? I finished: Scandals of Classic Hollywood, by Anne Helen Peterson; Prairie Ostrich, by Tamai Kobayashi; Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll; and The Sleep of Reason, ed. C. Spike Trotman. I also read a handful of stories from The Home Girls, by Olga Masters.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I liked them all for different reasons! Scandals of Classic Hollywood is a great nonfiction book and I’ve already loved AHP’s column at The Hairpin for a long time, Prairie Ostrich is lovely and full of empathy and a little sad, Through the Woods and The Sleep of Reason are both full of creepy-good short horror comics, and the bits I read of The Home Girls made me want to read more Australian fiction.
8. Which did you enjoy least? None, this time! I had a pretty good stack. I did read some temporary tattoo instructions that were a little dry, though.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? n/a 
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I’d love to keep doing our Mad Libs mini-challenge as long as they let us! And like Jessica said, I think joining in the cheerleading might be a good new thing to do.

It’s been real, guys! Can I go back to sleep now?

Mad libs! Read-a-Thon Mini-Challenge Hour 18

Hey, everybody! Welcome to the Hour 18 Mini-Challenge! We–Mia and Jessica–are happy to host you guys as we continue on our collective reading journey! We know it’s getting rough out there for a lot of you (us too!), so how about some Read-a-Thon style mad libs to keep our brains awake?

Here’s what you’re gonna do:
1) pick a paragraph (not too long) from the book you’re reading
2) remove some of the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and either
3a) get a friend (in person, over the phone, over the internet–whatever!) to fill in the words for you mad-libs style or
3b) fill them in yourself from the spoiler-texted word list below
4) post your hilarious paragraph on your blog and link us to it or leave it in a comment here!

Easy, right? Here’s an example. I (Jessica) started with this paragraph from Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones:

While my mother was dancing with Raleigh, she kept her eyes firmly on James. When Raleigh held her waist, she let her torso fall backward, her hair leading the way, laughing until she righted herself quickly. She and I had the same hair, but I hadn’t learned yet to make it move for me. When the music stopped, Raleigh let my mother go, his arms falling to his sides. I kept my eyes peeled for that moment, so I could be there, ready with an icy glass for his empty hand.

I asked Mia for two people, three body parts, a verb, and an adjective. After plugging everything in, I got:

While my mother was dancing with Mr. Rogers, she kept her elbows firmly on LeVar Burton. When Mr. Rogers held her waist, she let her torso fall backward, her belly button leading the way, wiggling until she righted herself quickly. She and I had the same belly button, but I hadn’t learned yet to make it move for me. When the music stopped, Mr. Rogers let my mother go, his arms falling to his sides. I kept my eyes peeled for that moment, so I could be there, ready with an itchy glass for his empty booty.

It made us both giggle a whole heck of a lot, and we hope it’ll do the same for you!

Here’s a list of some words if you don’t want to or can’t bother someone (feel free to adapt as necessary, e.g. making nouns plural or changing verb tense):

Adjectives

1. luxuriant
2. smelly
3. underwhelmed
4. autumnal
5. immortal
6. cartoonish
7. convincing
8. literary
Adverbs
1. hungrily
2. especially
3. grumpily
4. romantically
5. smugly
6. carefully
7. frighteningly
8. triumphantly

Nouns
1. reader
2. toenail
3. accent
4. basketball
5. pumpkin spice latte
6. midnight
7. parody
8. mass market paperback

Verbs
1. dangle
2. wreak
3. sleeve
4. haunt
5. crunch
6. trick-or-treat
7. blacken
8. scream

We’ll run the challenge until hour 21 and winners will receive a book of their choice (worth up to $12) from the Book Depository. Go ahead and get libbing!

Book spine poetry!!

Brian: I’m so excited – this always seemed fun and awesome! Here’s what I could put together (so fuzzy):

In the nature of cities;

rebel cities,

invisible cities,

the dispossessed

walk through darkness:

the very hungry city.

Jessica: Next up, a list poem!

How to Hide an Octopus:
A small place,
Red glove,
Tooth and claw,
Heart of stone,
One hundred years of solitude.
Mia: And the best (a dubious claim) for last!

Cross your fingers, spit in your hat

Beyond the great wall, here comes the cat!

Hour 14 Mini-Challenge: Color Cover

Hey, readers and reader groupies! (Are there Read-a-thon groupies? Probably not.) Mia here. Are we really over halfway through already? Jessica and Brian and I missed the first few hours, but even so–woof! How are y’all doing? I won a door prize too! Excuse my victory dance.

I decided to take a quick break from reading to do Wishful Endings‘ color-cover mini-challenge; I was inspired by a very good and very HOT PINK book that I finished right before the Read-a-thon, Alice + Freda Forever by Alexis Coe. (I highly recommend it!) However, since my own library isn’t at my disposal, I decided to make it an internet search instead of IRL. Here’s what I ended up with:

Okay, so they’re not all the same shade of pink, but close enough for horseshoes. Truthfully, I’ve only read the first two, but I’ve heard good things about Hot Pink, and Polina looks like a lovely, expressive comic of the type that the French are so good at.

So! There you go. Four pink covers. Go read Alice + Freda Forever. End transmission.

Mid-Event Survey Time!

From Jessica:

1. What are you reading right now? I just finished Nimona, which was a lot of fun. Not sure what I’m going to pick up next.
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished two (Nimona by Noelle Stevenson and Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix) and made progress in two more (25ish pages in Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and the introduction to the Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher).
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I want to get to page 50 in Housekeeping, since it’s for a book club. I’m really looking forward to Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, which I will be stealing from Mia.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Not any external or unexpected interruptions. There have been little food breaks and checking the computer breaks, but nothing major.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Hmmm. Like I said before, we’re getting to be old hats at this ‘thon thing, so I’m struggling to come up with anything surprising.

From Mia:

1. What are you reading right now? I’m more than halfway through Prairie Ostrich by Tamai Kobayashi and I’m really enjoying it.
2. How many books have you read so far? I finished Anne Helen Peterson’s Scandals of Classic Hollywood, and Prairie Ostrich will be my second. It feels like I’m reading more slowly than usual, although I think part of that is just that I take longer with nonfiction books, even when they’re engagingly written. I’m whipping through Prairie Ostrich much faster.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? The comics and maybe some of the stories in Olga Masters’ The Home Girls, which was given to me by an Australian friend!
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I occasionally let myself get a little distracted by Twitter or Vine (or bothering Jessica’s cats), but mostly it’s been smooth sailing.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I’ve been doing more straight reading and fewer mini-challenges/less social media participation. I don’t think there’s any particular reason, just the whims of my brain. Probably when I’m punchy and sleepy later I’ll want to take more breaks and use the challenges as an excuse, haha.

From Brian:

1. What are you reading right now? Still working on some guys with guns Three Musketeers. 100 pages left!
2. How many books have you read so far?  Just the one – and I haven’t finished it, but that’s ok, it’s long, and soon, soon.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I’m gonna read at least a story or two from Invisible Cities post Musketeers, but then I really want to sit down with Tombs of Atuan – short, sweet, and Ursula le Guin!
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I’ve been doing ok, I think – I’ve definitely got distracted/less focused for at least a couple of hours – so fair I’ve been changing up venue when I start flagging, but now that it’s late that’s gonna get harder.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I’ve been really conscious of hanging around various public spaces with a book – that’s not totally weird for me, but it’s entered my thoughts a lot as I’ve bounced around the coffee shop, the park, and most recently waiting for take-out at the amaaaaaazing Thai restaurant right by where I live. I think just reading allll day has made for a kinda interesting mindset! Also, some guy yelled at me to get a job when I was at the park! But then, I also kinda look like a hippy.

Hour 7 (ostensibly) and Book Tower Challenge!

Hello hello!

Brian here – I got started late so this is only the beginning of my personal hour 4, but that’s ok!

Status:

Yesterday I started the Three Musketeers, so today that’s what I’ve been reading – so far I’m halfway through and enjoying it! The style isn’t what I’m used to since I typically read modern novels, but I think I’m gonna finish it! It’s a pretty easy and fun read so I’m enjoying getting through lotsa pages. While the prose isn’t the heart of the novel, I loved this line: “A criminal does not laugh in the same way as an honest man, and a hypocrite does not shed the same tears as a man of good faith. Duplicity is a mask, and no matter how well made a mask may be, it can always be distinguished from the face with a little attention.”

Book Tower Challenge!

My first mini-challenge – as a (supposed (it’s complicated =P)) engineer I had to try this one!

I think it’s an exaggeration to call it particularly creative – but at least it’s elaborate! (Surprisingly, it didn’t take that long to throw together, but I admit there was a brief planning phase that didn’t go into my 10minute clock – hopefully that’s ok?)

That said, each leg of the tower has an approximate theme:

^The base of Science/Engineering/Technology

^ The base of Justice

^The Base of History

The capstone/ascendent tower where the three substructures connect is made entirely of “diverse” literature – mostly WoC authors but also a couple of black male and white women authors .

(I’m so bad at pictures!) Sorry if I didn’t follow directions quite right!

#10minbooktower

Read-a-Thon Intro Meme!

Here is my (Jessica!) TBR for this Read-a-thon. A couple of comics for when I’m burning out, a couple of things I need to read for other people, and a few things that have been on my list for a while! And, of course, my Kindle at the very tippy top.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? My house in the Yay Area of California!
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I’m pretty excited about all of them, but I’m starting with Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix (on my Kindle) and am super enjoying it so far.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Mia asked for these cookies she remembered from her childhood – creme sandwich cookies with a thumbprint of jam! I’ve never had them before, but they look scrumptious!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I am a math tutor, but no math for me today! :D
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? This is our sixth or seventh ‘thon and I feel like we’ve got it pretty down, to be honest! I did buy plenty of easy snacks and meals to prepare, more than usual!

Okay, Mia here and ready to rumble! Gaze upon my book stack, ye mortals, and despair:

That doesn’t count the legion of ebooks I also have at my disposal, of course. Oh, Kindle, you’re always there for me.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Jessica’s awesome home in the East Bay, which is full of hilarious cats and comfortable blankets.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Prairie Ostrich by Tamai Kobayashi comes to me highly recommended by a Canadian friend whose taste I deeply admire. Also, Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods and anthology The Sleep of Reason, because it’s almost Halloween and horror comics are gonna be a great way to keep myself awake into the wee hours of the morning.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I too am looking forward to the sandwich cookies–I haven’t had them in an age–but we’re also going to experiment with queso and chips, which sounds like the exact kind of junk food I could go for today.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I spent yesterday working registration at the biggest alumni event of the year at my local university and place of employment. I was a little nervous, but alums who are in town for fun and nostalgia are wonderfully patient and accommodating.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I told Jessica that she should say she was going to read while standing on her head today, but she demurred, so I’ll have to take up the torch on that one.

Update (A new challenge appears)
Hiya! This is Brian here tagging along w/ my sister and Mia for my first ever readathon!

Sadly I didn’t really prepare a variety of books for the readathon since I wasn’t expecting to do it, but luckly I just went to the library!
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? It’s a cool and bright Autumn day in Denver! My roommate is off camping so it’s just me and two big old hounds (who aren’t big readers).
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I’m hoping to get into a bit of Invisible Cities since the Sister has been harassing me about it for… 5 years (more like 8! – Jessica)? Someday I’ll read it I swear! I’m looking forward to trying out Griffith’s Ammonite though, as it’s been highly recommended to me and is a differenty sort of SF.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I did not plan well for my long term survival today =(. That said, I have a goodly amount of chocolate, as well as chips, cheese, and homemade salsa!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I’m a grad student in Denver, where I study cities and sustainability! If you look close, you can, ah, see that I’ve got a work book in that reading pile for the day ~cough~ >.>
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? This is my first readathon! I don’t know how well I’ll do, really – I’m a pretty good focused reader so my hope is that that’ll work in my favor!

2 in 1

I saw this tag on booktube and thought it would be fun to do to warm up this creaky old blog before the read-a-thon this weekend.

You pick two books each from six genres you enjoy. I think it’s a great idea cause it gives you such a huge variety of books to recommend! I’m not sure if you’re supposed to use the genres the originator used, but I think it’ll be more fun to pick six of my own rather specific genres (and that way, I can always do it again if I’m inspired!).

Note: these are not necessarily my favorite books from these genres, but they are books I’ve thoroughly enjoyed from these genres.

  

Historical Romance a: The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. I read this last month and it was perfect for me: a tall heroine who masks her good qualities is gaudy clothes and inappropriate behaviors for Good Reasons That I Shall Not Mention, and a hero who sees through her act to the real her (though not immediately, which I loved). They have real things in common, like a heightened awareness of society’s pressures and bullshit, and also real reasons to resist what is growing between them. This is the second book in Milan’s Brothers Sinister series and I also highly recommend the first book from the series. I hear the whole thing is great, though! (In fact, I have a novella from the series on my TBR for the ‘thon!)

Historical Romance b: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. There are no good covers of Northanger Abbey, I’m fairly convinced. Anyway, I’m not sure if this should really count as historical romance for a couple of reasons, but it’s my list and I’m including it! Northanger Abbey might be Austen’s least well-rated novel, at least it is on Goodreads, but let me tell you why it’s better than Mansfield Park (and Emma – oh, the blasphemy!). Mr. Tilney is the dreamiest Austen hero by way of being the only one with a sense of humor (is that harsh? yes. is it true? … not really). Catherine Morland has a great character arc through the book, so while she does and thinks some dumb things, she grows. It’s great. Fanny should try it sometime. ba dum tssh! Plus, this is Austen ruminating and commenting on some of the literary trends of the time – most notably crazy-as-poop Gothics – and it’s excellent.

You know what? I think I’m actually going to leave it there for now. I might do more of these during the week, or even after the Read-a-thon – don’t gasp – but I think this is long enough to post and I don’t want to throw out the blog’s back from doing too much at once.