Update #4: End of Hour 24

I’m finished! Since my last update I’ve read three chapters of Bleak House and one story (The Dream Woman) from The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories by Wilkie Collins. I may not have read as much as some of you, but I wasn’t expecting to so I’m quite happy with what I’ve achieved!

Total time spent reading: 8 hours 55 minutes
Total pages read: 526

End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 11, which due to my time zone was the hour when I decided I needed to go to sleep!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I found that The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski kept me engaged even though I read it when I was starting to get tired.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, I thought everything was well organised (although the End of Event Meme was missing from the Hour 24 post, so I copied the one from last year – I hope these are the right questions that I’m answering!)
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The mini-challenges seemed to be going well, though I had decided not to take part in any myself this time so that I could concentrate on reading.
5. How many books did you read?
I finished 2 books and read a few chapters of 3 others!
6. What were the names of the books you read?
The Night Watch, The Victorian Chaise-Longue (finished both of these), Dracula, Bleak House and The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories (did not finish any of these).
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
The Night Watch
8. Which did you enjoy least?
I actually enjoyed all of them.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn’t a cheerleader this year, but I thought they all did a great job!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will definitely participate again as a reader and would consider cheering next time too.

Update #3: Hour 21

It’s 9:30am on Sunday morning here. I finished The Victorian Chaise-Longue last night, then I went to bed. So far this morning I’ve read 54 pages of Dracula. There are still more than 3 hours of the read-a-thon remaining and I’m hoping to get lots more reading done in those 3 hours!

Total time spent reading: 6 hours 45 minutes
Total pages read: 413

Update #2: Hour 8
I’ve just finished reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and am about to start The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski.

Total time spent reading: 3 hours 45 minutes
Total pages read: 260

Update #1: Hour 1
The October 2010 Read-a-Thon has now officially begun! I’m going to be updating this post several times throughout the day and the most recent updates will be at the top.

I’m not sure how much time I’ll be spending online today – although all the mini-challenges look very tempting, I’m hoping to actually do a lot more reading during this read-a-thon than I did during the last one! For now though, here are my answers to the Hour 1 Meme:

Where are you reading from today?

I’m at home in Newcastle, England.

3 facts about me…

I’m a vegetarian, my favourite colour is purple and this is my second readathon!

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

I’ve chosen 5 specifically for the read-a-thon but if I get bored with those I do have plenty of other books on my general TBR pile.

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

I don’t want to set any goals because I know I probably wouldn’t achieve them. I had a relaxed approach to the April read-a-thon, which worked perfectly for me, and I want to take the same approach this time too.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

Try not to put yourself under too much pressure. If you don’t manage to read as much as you were hoping, don’t worry! Having fun is the important thing.

I’ll be back in a few hours with my next progress report. Good luck to all the other read-a-thon participants and enjoy your reading!

It’s almost Read-a-Thon time again! I really enjoyed participating in my first Read-a-Thon in April – I didn’t actually get much reading done, but I had fun taking part in mini-challenges, I found some great new blogs to add to my Reader and I even won a book!

I’m looking forward to this weekend’s Read-a-thon as I’ve been so busy recently I feel as though I’ve had very little time for reading (or blogging), so this will give me a chance to catch up. I will probably have to go out for an hour or two near the beginning, but after that I shouldn’t have any more interruptions for the rest of Saturday. The way the start and finish times have worked out for my time zone, I will still have time to read when I wake up on Sunday morning too. I’m not going to attempt to read for 24 hours – I need my sleep!

So what am I going to read? Well, I don’t want to feel under any pressure so I’m not setting any targets for numbers of books or pages read. I’m currently reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, so unless I finish it before Saturday, that will be my first book to read. I also want to read some more books for the RIP challenge. I’m definitely going to read The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski as it’s short and I’ve been keeping it specially for the Read-a-Thon. I also have some classics on my pile, including Dracula (which I’m halfway through and enjoying) and The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories by Wilkie Collins (I’d like to dip into this one and read at least a few of the stories). I could also try to finish Bleak House as I only have a few chapters left to read. If the classics get too heavy, I do have some lighter books on my shelves too.

I bought a new chair earlier in the week, not specifically for the Read-a-Thon, but it’s very comfortable and in a quiet corner where I should be able to concentrate. In April I was able to do some of my reading outside in the garden in the beautiful spring sunshine, but I don’t think the weather’s going to be warm enough to make that an option this time!

Will you be participating? What are your plans?