In My Mailbox (12)

Hidey ho there all! I don't have very much to report for this IMM, since I'm trying desperately to NOT buy any new books so I can save up for my move. But here are the books I've taken out from the library since my last IMM post. (Sorry no actual pictures this time.)

Cold Sassy Tree - by Olive Ann Burns / Read for Historical Fictionistas Group Read

American Vampire Vol. I by Stephen King and Scott Snyder / Read just because it's freaking awesome.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner / Read because The Maze Runner was awesome and I had to know what happened. Is it October yet???



And finally, I'm currently reading (and loving) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

Read-A-Thon: Hour 19/Final Update

Yikes... So... Once again I missed my goal for Read-a-thon. Booooo! I'll wait until the snickers die down.

Ok. That's better. So, right, I didn't hit my goal, but I had a ton of fun reading and hanging with other Read-a-thoners on Twitter. Good times. :D

Here's a full recap of my reading yesterday:
Book 1: Remainder of The Ruins of Gorlan - 113 pages (4 stars)
Book 2: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - 181 pages (4 stars)
Book 3: Perry Mason: The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito - 219 pages (3 stars)
Book 4: Part of The Maze Runner - 176 pages (Lookin' like a 5 star so far)

Total Books Attempted: 4
Total Pages Read:  689

I guess that's pretty good for one day of reading. So I'm proud of myself even though I didn't hit my goal.Unfortunately, when I crashed, I crashed HARD. I slept like a log, and now my neck is stiff and sore and very uncooperative. >_>

Oh well... Here's the Final Survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 19 - That's when I crashed
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Maze Runner definitely kept me engaged - but I started it too late for that to do me any good! :(
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Still no. LOL
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I loved keeping up with the people on Twitter.
5. How many books did you read? 2 and 2 halves. :P
6. What were the names of the books you read? See above.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Maze Runner, even though I haven't finished it yet. It's creepy and awesome.
8. Which did you enjoy least? Perry Mason - and it's not that I didn't enjoy it, it was just somewhat twisty and I had trouble following 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 time around...
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very likely - I love the Read-a-thon! :) I think next time I will read and cheer though.

So that's it... See y'all in October!

Read-A-Thon: Hour 15 Update

Holy cripes... I feel like I just got out of serving jury duty. Perry Mason... You took forever to figure that one out. On TV you used to do it in less than an hour!!

Next up is The Maze Runner! Woo!

--Stats--
Books: 3
Pages: 513

Oy. I need to step up my game here! Oh well... Meme time!

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? About to start The Maze Runner by James Dashner
2. How many books have you read so far? 2 1/2
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? The Maze Runner
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Well I TRIED! I had a whole awesome maniacal plan to ship my boyfriend off to help my mom reside her house... but NOOOO. Thanks a lot PA mud.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Pt.1: Ugh. Yes. Constantly. Pt. 2: Evil glares.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Not much... it's pretty much what I expected. Lots of reading, lots of awesome participants and lots of fun. I miss lots of cheerleading this time around though. I guess that's my karma for not signing up to cheer myself. *hangs head*
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I'll sign up as a cheerleader, since I've yet to do that and this is my 2nd Read-a-thon.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Surprisingly, no.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Maybe lock significant other/children/needy pets in the attic? ;)

Read-A-Thon: Hour 6 Update

Whew... OK. Slow and steady wins the race! Eh? OK, not so much.

I keep being distracted by a certain boy who was supposed to be at my mom's house helping to re-do her siding... but NOOOOO... It has to be too wet and muddy for that. Even though it's sunny and nice today. Stupid yesterday rain.

So now he's bored... and hungry... and just wants to show me this ONE COOL THING... and just needs me to look at the other ONE THING-- REALLY QUICK!... and just keeps turning up his music or the TV or whatever...

Grrrr...

I'm going outside.


--Stats--
Books: 2
Pages: 294

This is abysmal. :*(

Read-A-Thon... Hours One & Two Update

OK, so... Kind of uneventful morning. I never got to finish my book last night like I had wanted to, so this morning was spent finishing up The Ruins of Gorlan, and making a Dunkin Donuts run. Pretty good book - 4 stars. :)

Next up is The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I'm looking forward to that one. :)

--Stats--
Books: 1
Pages: 113

Now, for a Q&A session:

1)Where are you reading from today? My bedroom, maybe the porch if it gets nice later!
2)Three random facts about me… I have 9 tattoos / I'm blind as a bat without glasses or contacts / I really dislike gold jewelry (on myself).
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? Potentially 20.
4)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 hope to read at least 5 complete books - but the more the better!
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? I've only done this one time before, so I'll leave the tips up to the pros!

Read-A-Thon... Starting Line.

My mom used to always sing this horrific off-key "Good Morning" song in the mornings when us kids wouldn't get out of bed on time. No amount of whining or crying or holding our breath or covering our heads would stop her. Nothing worked... except actually getting out of bed. 

Needless to say, it was irritating enough that we'd get up just to make her stop singing. Luckily, there is no sound on my blog, so you're all spared that experience. But I am not now, nor have I ever been, a morning person. I try... I have grandiose ideas about getting up early and having the whole day ahead of me... and then I stay up too late and sleep too long. Blissfully. :D

I think Saturdays should start around 11am. Any earlier is just indecent.

Anyhoozle... I'm starting off my Read-a-thon with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
It's short, and finishing it early will be a stroke to my ego and willpower. Plus, it just sounds awesome!

Then I was thinking I would move on to The Maze Runner. *sniff* I love the smell of dystopia in the morning!

Hmm... I seem to be channeling Apocalypse Now. Maybe getting out of bed wasn't such a hot idea after all. ;)

It's Read-A-Thon Time!! ...Well, almost...

Yep. It's almost here. Tomorrow, I and a whole lotta other people will be gettin' our read-a-thon on.

I can hardly wait! It's like Christmas, only without the tree, and the cold (at least I hope that it's without the cold! *shoots threatening glare at PA weather*) and without the presents and the music and the bell-ringers and the National Guard keeping the peace at Wal-Mart and the early Valentine's Day decorations starting to creep onto shelves... and, well ok, it's not like Christmas at all.

But it IS like an awesome day that allows me to read the hell out of some books! Ka-Ching!

Right... so, I know you're all dying to know what I might be reading. I won't keep you in suspense. Here it is... The Stack™.

Now what we have here, is a stack of 20 potential Read-a-thon books. All of these are from the books I'm selling to fund my move. I'm hoping to beat my October 2010 Read-a-thon best (*cough* ONLY) high score of 4 complete books. Five would be cool. Six or seven would be awesome.

Here is the list of candidates:
Obernewtyn
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Sphere
The Rising
Visibility
Terminal Man
The American
The Spell of Seven
The Pilgrim's Progress
An Abundance of Katherines
Push
Blue is for Nightmares
White Is for Magic
Ender's Game
The Maze Runner
The Doomsday Conspiracy
Alcatraz: the True End of the Line
Across the Universe