But I have to say that this general malaise I'm feeling today is well worth the day I had yesterday!!! Dewey's Readathon was absolutely wonderful this year! I really had such a great time yesterday and got four books read that I otherwise wouldn't have! Or probably would have, but definitely not as soon as yesterday :p And I won two prizes! Hooray! I haven't participated in the readathon in a while but this year felt right for a number of reasons and I'm so glad to see that my feelings were correct :) You bet I'll be back in April for the next one! I suppose I should do the end of the event survey, ey?
Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 22...it's when I finally caved :p I was literally about to cry because I just did not think I could read One. More. Word. But my book was almost over and I just knew I had to finish it!! And I did. And I went to bed after that.
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
From this year's list, I'd recommend three of my four books as high interest reads!! Death: The Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman, Gandhi: A Manga Biography by Kazuki Ebine and The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan :)
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope! I really thought it went really well this year. For me personally, I thought some of the mini-challenges were a little too time consuming, but that TOTALLY works for other people who want a break from reading!! For me though it's all about reading reading reading :p
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
It really all worked so well. You know what I think worked best? The community aspect of it! There was just a sense of community everywhere you looked and that's what I remember the original readathon being all about :) A shared day of reading and celebrating our central love of books. There were comments like crazy on the official blog, I got lots of comments on my blog that I'm so sorry I didn't get to respond to! Whenever I went to twitter there were tons of conversations going on there, there were even tons of posts on instagram! And the hosting and cheerleaders and mini-challenge hosts were all fantastic!!
How many books did you read?
4!
What were the names of the books you read?
Death: The Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman, Gandhi: A Manga Biography by Kazuki Ebine, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan :)
Which book did you enjoy most?
Hmmm...this really is a tough one. It's between Gaiman's Death collection and Brides by Lanagan. Both so different but so good!!
Which did you enjoy least?
Um...definitely do NOT read Shakespeare for a readathon. Ever. ever. Never. Again.
If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
N/A
How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will most definitely be reading again in April and I'll definitely be a reader again :) As much as I'd like to be a cheerleader, I know it's not in me :/ I just love spending the day reading way too much. I cheer my friends on when I stop by their blogs, but I'll always be a reader :p
Thought I'd also mention a few books that came in this week!! And sadly they're no one's fault but my own :/ The good news is, thanks to the readathon, I got 2 of these 4 books read already :D
2. Gandhi: A Manga Biography by Kazuki Ebine - So I stumbled upon yet ANOTHER amazing series of books that Penguin puts out. I swear they really are the coolest publishers. Manga biographies!!!! And I found two of them on Paperback Swap!!! I read this one during the readathon and it was so good and I learned so much about Gandhi from it and can't wait to tell you more about it. (Paperback Swap)
3. Being Santa Claus: What I Learned About the True Meaning of Christmas by Sal Lizard - I got sent this one by an imprint of Penguin Group and it sounds like a perfect holiday read :) I love reading Christmas themed books every holiday season and this will definitely be one. It's sort of a memoir of a man who just naturally has the Santa Claus look and has adopted the persona as well and these are his stories from over the years. (Review Copy)
4. The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography by Tetsu Saiwai - Another manga biography!! Aren't the covers to these just really cool as well?? I'm so excited about this series of books!!! And they tend to pick people that I'm really interested in learning more about too :) Can't wait to read this one as well!! (Paperback Swap)
So I'm going to have to get to reviewing some books soon!! I'm not feeling it tonight...Like I said earlier..just too blah today. But in addition to the four books I read yesterday, I have The Little Stranger to review still too!! Really have to get on those. So look forward to some reviews pumping out from me soon! Off to catch up on some other blogs and I might actually do some MORE reading tonight believe it or not :p
6 comments:
I've been participating in Readathons since April '09, and over the last few, I haven't felt that sense of community. Maybe that was where my own head was, and maybe not, I don't know. I didn't even participate this last April. But this Readathon, I could FEEL that community again, and it felt wonderful! I loved that people took time to come comment on Morrigan's first official readathon too. He was so excited. :)
So jealous of your 4 finished books! :P But yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to everything you said about this read-a-thon. It just felt good. :)
I think I missed a lot on the community aspect thing because I don't have Twitter and don't have Instagram, but then that's okay for as long as I know everyone else had a grand time together. I so agree with you about the mini-challenges. I'm amazed by all the bloggers that can even find the time to do a lot of them. I was only able to do one thing, and that was the simplest of all mini-challenges, to take a break! Lol. I do appreciate the minichallenges because it brings people together even more, but I find them distracting from my reading, which was what I really wanted to do, too. Next time, though, I might try a hand at cheerleading. Maybe. :)
I missed the read-a-thon because we went to Oxford to take Kiddo the futon and went up to Memphis to eat lunch with Eldest. Still managed to sneak in a couple quick reads, though, so I'm happy. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself -- maybe a bit bummed that I missed out on a time when you were posting frequently!!!!
I'm so glad you had fun this time , Chris. And you got some books read! I've only ever been a cheerleader (once) for the read-a-thons, though I love the idea of them. Until my kids are a bit older, I'd have to leave the house if I were to read for 24 hours, which I'd love to do! lol
It's lovely especially to hear that the sense of community came through this one also.
Well done, and enjoy your well-earned rest!!
Amanda, So glad that you really enjoyed this one too AND that Morrigan got to read too :D And I'm also glad that I finally got you too in my reader!
Debs, I'm actually quite surprised that I got four books read!! Enjoyed them all too :)
Claire, Yeah...I know the mini challenges work for some people, but when I'm doing a readathon I really just want to spend most of my time reading, lol.
Nancy, Hey my dear!! Aw, sorry you missed it!! It would've been nice to have you along during the day :) Maybe during the April one?? I'm glad that you got to spend some time with the kiddos this weekend though :)
Susan, I had a blast!!! I so wish that you could join in in the fun!! You'd love it so much Susan!! We must find a way for you to participate soon :p
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