ClosingMem

1.Which hour was most daunting for you? - probably the 22nd before I had my Amp.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? - For someone with my tastes Gauntlgrym by R.A. Salvatore did the trick.

3.Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? - Please try to limit the number of prizes that are only available to US readers. I certainly felt left out of a few interesting mini-challenges because I'm in Canada.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? - I can't think of anything that stands out.

5. How many books did you read? - Finished one that had about a third left, and got most of the way through another.

6. What were the names of the books you read? - The Leper's Return by Michael Jecks and Gauntlgrym by R.A Salvatore.

7. Which book did you enjoy most? - Gauntlgrym.

8. Which did you enjoy least? - The Leper's Return (of course that's really because there are only 2)

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? - Very.

11. What role would you be likely to take next time? - Reader.

Hour 24

Yes this post is a little late, but once I got to 6 (and took the dogs for a walk and food) I was ready for bed. The last two hours I read 35 pages. Not enough to finish my book, but I'm pretty close. That gave me a grand total of 592 pages over 24 hours of awake time, way too much junk food, all of a 2L (1/2 gallon for my Non-Canadian friends) bottle of coke (except 1 glass I'm saving for Nascar), and one Amp that pushed me over the top. Oddly here I am up at noon (my sweet wife made it up before me, but she did go to bed a little earlier) and my dogs who slept most of yesterday are passed out as if they've been up for days.

Hour 22

Okay, so I needed to go from coke to amp to stay awake. Luckily I've never really had a big problem falling asleep when I let myself, caffiene or not. On the other hand staying awake, much harder. Managed to knock off another 53 pages in two hours, if I keep up that pace I'll be about 2 hours short of finishing this book. Sigh, all the wasted time eating and taking dogs outside :) Well if I want to come close I best be getting back to it.

Hour 20

4 to go. In the last 2 hours I've managed 47 pages. My book is still pretty good, but I'm flagging a bit. I caffienated myself with a glass of coke, but I still think I'll been in for tough sledding before the getting to the end.

Pet Love Mini-Challenge

My two dogs both love to sit in my lap and cuddle while I try to read. Cooper, our Bichon-Shih tzu, curls up in a tight, but fairly unobtrusive way in my lap and with the exception of wanting to be pet so I have to read one handed. Not really a help or a hinderance. On the other hand, Sadie, our Pug, takes up as much room as she possible can. She lays accross one arm and expects pets from the other arm. And at 30-35 pounds she's not always the most comfortable. That said, my wife gets it much worse as they sit on her at the same time and quite often lick her, especially her hands as she tries to read.

Hour 18

Seems I'm getting to the blog less and less. Since hour 15 I've read 65 pages.  Got a little slowed down and frustrated when I wrote my last post as I don't seem to be able to comment on my own posts write now.  My apologies to anyway leaving comments, I'll respond once I get that figured out.

Hour 15

Well, I haven't posted for a while, but I've been reading, when things like getting supper aren't getting in the way. Since last I've posted I've read 84 pages and am loving my read. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tonight.

The Leper's Return

Short review of The Leper's Return by Michael Jecks

Genre: Medieval Mystery

5th book in the Templar Series

This book, like the others in the series, follows Sir Baldwin of Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace and his friend the Bailiff Simon Puttock. This time they investigate the murder of a gold merchant from London. This one was a little different from the others as there were several sub plots, one of which is seperate from main storyline and another that only loosely ties back to the main plot. The other thing that kind of tripped me up was that the murderer seemed to be revealed well in advance of the climax. I think I wouldn't have liked this one as much as the others in the series except for the antics of Uther (chopsie) the lovable and loving Bull Mastiff owned by Sir Baldwin, who reminded me so much of a larger (much larger) version of my pug Sadie. Loving to the point of smothering, loyal, but not the brightest dog (after two years, Sadie still does not know her name, but at least she's cute.)

Hour 9

Hour 9 and my speed is improving a bit 30 pages, but also had a late lunch in there. Cheese bun and cookie to refuel on :). Some how it feels both like it's been a long haul and no time at all has past.

Hour 8

Another Hour done and a book done as well. I finished The Leper's Return by Michael Jecks and have started Gauntlegrym by R.A. Salvatore. I will write a seperate post today on the Leper's Return. Jumping into Salvatore is like a warm, comfortable blanket. The characters are familiar, like catching up with old friends. But within six pages I'm tearing up because he's reminding me of the end of the last book. On the other hand, I'm not putting it down.

Hour 7

My book is now in the wrap-up phase. Interestingly for a mystery, the murderer was given away a few chapters before the climax. Don't know what I think about that. Read 18 pages in 30 mins and entered into the AKA mini-challenge, good times. Excited that I'm almost onto the book I'm dying to read :)

Hour 6

My book is getting so exciting that I missed my usual posting time. They're about to torch the leper's colony, I'll leave it at that. More munchies to hold us over until lunch. I'll write a quick book review when I get to the end.

Hour 5

I was reading tweets for a bit longer this hour so only 17 pages in 30 minutes. Sweet wife is back up and we've relocated to the den. Dogs are still sleeping, the pug has turned my wife into a bed. Well time to get back to it.

Hour 4

Now that's better, 32 pages in 45 minutes. My sweet wife needed a bit of a nap so it was a quiet hour. In fact it was enough to make a guy sleepy with her and our two dogs asleep. Of course I'm getting closer to the end of the book. Not positive who the killer is yet, but things are becoming clearer.

Hour 3

A quick snack and 20 more pages in 40 minutes of reading. Seems I'm stuck on a page every two minutes, oh well at least the pace of my book is picking up. My trusty pug Sadie is following me between the den and bed, though I'm sure she'd prefer I stay in one place so she can sleep. At the rate I'm going it will be 7 hours before I get onto my next book. I think I'd better focus.

Hour 2

Hour 2 complete and I picked up the pace a little bit. 22 pages in 40 minutes, still I'd like to improve on that. Technology is fighting me a bit as I tried to get a picture for a mini-challenge, but of course the phone battery is dead. Still I shall prevail, or at least continue to have fun.

Hour 1 in the books

One our down, after finally getting blog up and running I managed 15 pages in the 1/2 hour I read. I know I can do a bit better than that even if I am tired. I am currently about 1/2 way through The Leper's Return by Michael Jecks. A good read to be sure, but my real motivation is to get to my next book, the R.A. Salvatore that has been sitting on my shelf for way too long. Well ack to it. I'll aim for 45 minutes instead of 30 this hour.

October 2011 Readathon Begins

Hour 1, after some initial issues (like forgetting my blog password) I am up and running. I'm only 20 minutes late in starting to read so I'll keep this short.

1)Where are you reading from today? I'm reading from home (in particular the couch in my den to start)

2)Three random facts about me… I like to write, By day I'm a mild mannered accountant, I like comics, X-men specifically (I'll let you guess what genre I'm writing from those clues)

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 3 to start, I guess, though there's always more on the shelf if I need them.

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)? Aside from lasting all 24 hours not really

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? Other than change positions, nope, but that could be more of a me thing.