THE LOG BOOK: The August 2011 ReadaThing Record of.....

OK, there's a thread for what you PLAN to do, but this thread is for what you will do, where, how, with whom or what....

**What book or books are you reading?
**Where are you reading? (specific or vague is fine)
**How long did you read or could you read?
**Doing anything else? food, music, listening to someone snore, watching the sun rise or set...

More Important Stuff:
**Is it a GOOD BOOK? Tell us what you thought of it...

**Did it meet or exceed your expectations? **Do you recommend it? **Was it a fast read or a thoughtful read? **Did it make you laugh or cry or "be afraid, be very afraid"? **Was it boring? **Would you read it again? **Are you going to throw it off a cliff into the sea?

We aren't expecting a full review of the book, although, that's fine... just give us a flavor of the book.. tempt us into reading it or warn us to keep clear!

and have some fun with your reading! There's going to be a good group of us reading along with you... sorta... and we'll be really quiet, except for the tapping of the keyboards as people check in.

I will be reading The Help for some of the weekend. I will also be listening to the audiobook of The Gift of Fear during other times. This way I can get some needlework finished... or closer to finished.

Where: Home, near my front window or on the deck in back.... with laptop nearby to report &/or monitor &/or help out as needed.

Food: COFFEE!!!! and some light munchies. Decaf tea later....

Other stuff: feeding the cat. petting the cat. cleaning up after the cat. listening to the cat snore.

You can post closer to the weekend. I posted to start the discussion & prevent "first posting panic"!

This is awesome to do it early. I will be reading Book Lust and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I hope to finish Harry Potter. I have read the book before but never posted a review and I want to enjoy the book now that the series is over and I have seen the last movie.

I will most likely be reading from my house. Either in my bedroom, living room, back yard/porch or front porch, depending on the weather. I may have the laptop near by for some breaks and things.

Food: Water and maybe some fruit and some other munchies.

I will be taking care of my puppy and my cat. Will most likely hear them playing and snoring if they decide to sleep. And will possibly be talking to my son if he is home. I will also be listening to the television.

I will post again if anything changes.

Happy Reading All!!

Monica

Yeah...Saturday is not happening (events all day), and Sunday is worse (in the car, and probably driving, followed by a play). So fortunately I can read on Friday night in my time zone. What I'll be reading - not a clue. I have (literally) a stack of 15 library books, which need to be returned by Saturday; I'll be working on them for the next couple days and whatever I've gotten to by Friday night will be my official ReadaThing book.

Saturday 9:30 - 10:30 Vienna time (3;30 - 4:30 LT time)

I read a chapter of Medieval Christianity and began Stranger in a Strange Land

No It's only Friday today.

i started The Magician King by Lev Grossman last night, so that's what i'll be reading for my midnight slot tonight.

Less than 2 hours (1:45) until this starts..... my "challenge" (not problem) is that I got a new release from my local library & it is tempting me..... and a bit of a juxtaposition of titles:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
vs
Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The Help will win because it has been on top of my TBR mountain for too long. I know it is good, but I'm having trouble reading it. But I will read it because I know that I will really like it. I've not read any spoilers, but many, many, friends have told me how good it is & that I won't be disappointed by the book.

If I finish The Help then I can read Retribution but not until I finish the whole book. No peeking aloud!

I have finished all my house chores for the morning, have just made a huge pot of tea and, as I have these scheduled reading times (whenever I want to - heee) I am about to continue my current read Chasing the Devil's Tail first in the Valentin St Cyr series by David Fulmer. It is wonderful, especially as it is a first book...very atmospheric 1907 New Orleans - I have learnt so much about the strata of coloured skin! And I still haven't figured out why all these killings may be happening, though I am getting a small glean. Wonderful!

I will just be reading in my lounge room, curled up on my lounge with some music in the background and I will only stir (for a bit) to make me a late breakfast. Bliss.

It is a beautiful day here - hard to believe it is still winter, so may need to go out later and could read in the sun. :)

Happy reading everyone!

skittles:
If you haven't gotten into The Help (I was hooked from the first page) maybe this isn't the right time, or you are not in the best frame of mind for it right now... ???

I say: go for the one you really want to read!
:)

Book: check
Lemonade: check

I was delayed by a very demanding hungry kitty. Must. Have. Food. NEOWWWW!!!!

Lman: I started it & it's good... the content is what I get "mad" at... even though it doesn't hold true now... for the most part.

Skittles I hope you enjoy The Help I read it this past year for our library book club and enjoyed it.

I read for about 40 minutes. My son had company stopping over so we ate a late dinner. I will be continuing my reading until I am tired. I am currently reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I love this book and try to read it every year or so.

crazy4reading & Lman:

I'm getting into it & enjoying it more. I'm having a little trouble with the change in viewpoints/voices without anything obvious... all of a sudden, the "talking" character is saying different stuff & I have to figure out who I am reading & where they are!

I'll let you both know how I'm going... but now I need to sleep... perchance to dream!

skittles
Yeah - the headings on the chapters aren't all that obvious...
As to mad...that's how I started my review... so I concur indeed.
LOL!

crazy4reading - interesting book!

I am taking a break too.

Anyone else reading yet?

What book or books are you reading? Outlander right now. It's a reread. I have other books on the backburner.
Where are you reading? (specific or vague is fine) On my orange comfy chair right now.
How long did you read or could you read? I could go the whole 48 hours. I've done it before. So that's why I am going to aim for. I've been reading since 8pm.
Doing anything else? I'm drinking Birthday Tea. I have a bunch of new flavors I have to try. I will also be baking about 100 cupcakes tomorrow and reading at the same time.

my reading slot starts in 40 mins and i probably won't be on here again before then, so here's my report.

i will be reading Lev Grossman's The Magician King, which is the sequel to The Magicians. I LOVED the first half of The Magicians and almost couldn't finish the second half because I hated it so much, so I was a bit worried when I started The Magician King last night. So far, it's pretty good- a million times better than the second half of the previous but not quite as good as the first half.

i'll be reading in bed with my geriatric, one-eyed dog Daisy. she's good reading company because, unlike the other dogs, she would rather lay there and sleep than climb all over me.

i will most likely have a glass of homemade chocolate milk (as in shaved and melted chocolate mixed with raw milk from my friend's cows) since it's my hot weather alternative to my preferred hot chocolate. it's funny that i dislike chocolate in almost all forms except the drinkable.

and it's a pretty good bet that i will read for a bit longer than my allotted time since, for once, i don't have to be up with the sun!

happy ReadaThing all!

Everyone else has gone camping, so I've got more free time than planned to read. I'll start at 12am (LT time, 9pm my time) and read for at least a couple of hours. But first, need to feed the dog and make some tea, a green/black jasmine blend from Murchies Tea. Then I'll be cuddled in a quilt on our comfy green couch to read the last 100 pages of Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula Le Guin. I'm hoping to finish it tonight but I always seem to read slower than I think I will.

Oh, and potato salad. I've got some leftover potato salad to munch on as well, since I seem to be out of potato chips...

Well, shoot, I already missed my allotted time because I was thinking I signed up for 7pm PDT on Saturday. OK, I'm going to start reading Doc in just a few minutes, when I'm done watching Bill Maher, and I'll have a lovely mango popsicle to go with it.

Worlds of Exile and Illusion is actually 3 books in one and I'm trying to finish the last one, City of Illusion, but I don't think I'll be able to tonight. It's a bit of a travelogue of earth 4000 years or so in the future (I think) after losing a war with off-worlders have left humans in disparate groups, able to remember technological advancements, but only allowed to use the little they need to survive. So they have laser guns for hunting and solar energy, but no airships and communications. The protagonist has lost his memory and is hoofing it across the continent to the people he thinks can tell him who he is. It plods along but is starting to come together now at the end.

sandragon - well, a possible excuse to carry on tomorrow? :)

After more Saturday 'stuff' I am about to return to New Orleans and see if I can find out the mystery of all these murders. It is nearly my allotted time so here I go... it became cloudy and cooler, so even more reason to stay-put!

Yes, good chance I'll be back tomorrow :o)

Happy reading Lman, Citizenjoyce and anyone else joining in.

I read during my scheduled time, but other things intervened - so I read into the next hour. Then I fell asleep... Reading The Family Trade by Charles Stross. Not liking it much - it's a good book - interesting setting and well-written - but too many manipulators and liars. I hate when I don't know what's really going on, and I'm pretty sure she's being lied to by - just about everyone.

I read the first 36 pages of Doc in which we've seen the surgical repair of 2 month old Doc Holiday's cleft lip and palate by his uncle, the first such repair in the US (did that really happen?), the civil war, Doc's attending dental school then developing tuberculosis (from which his mother had died) and move to Texas with the promise of a job and its subsequent loss due to the depression of the 1870's, his becoming a professional gambler, meeting a prostitute who quotes the classics in Latin and the move to Dodge, Kansas. Pretty jam packed pages so far, so I've treated myself to some Magystic Winter Potion tea with dried lemon and a dish of chocolate pudding. Back to the book.

I've read 30 more pages of Doc in which I've met Bat Masterson, Eddie Foy, and the Earp brothers, discussed the care of abused horses and the treatment of an equine club foot, and learned a little about the Black Seminoles.

I'll probably read a little more in bed. Night, night.

I have now finished Chasing the Devil's Tail and my allotted time (plus a little more). A wonderful book for a great idea.

Good to see everyone else's books.
I need to decide what to read next - a hard act to follow; may just go with the next book.

I signed up for no time-line.

So far I have read one chapter from The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and one from A Distant Mirror. More reading to come soon - a bit of housework and some catching up on LT and then I'll be ready to get back to the books.

I'm down for Do Nothing But Read Day, but I needed to wake up a little (didn't sleep well) before I started so as not to give myself a headache.

I finished Villette by Charlotte Brontë last night, which I enjoyed thoroughly, so my fiction book today will be Animal Farm, which I really should have read by now, and perhaps something else if I finish that - haven't decided on what yet as I have an enormous pile of books to pick from. Also, if I need to be doing something, like food prep, that involves not carrying a book, I might start the Kindle edition of Pride and Prejudice on my phone. I was going to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but was angry to find that the Kindle one doesn't actually start from the beginning. Why? I don't know. My main book for the day though, is an academic tome. I will be continuing Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste by Pierre Bourdieu - it is absolutely enormous, and pretty dense.

I will be drinking green tea with lemon, and instant coffee. My snacks will include peanut butter and jam sandwiches, a banana, an apple, and I have a pizza in the freezer. Nothing too taxing (nothing that will keep my from my book for too long).

I have been looking forward to this - the time is 10.52am here, I'll be grabbing some breakfast and another hot drink, bringing it to my room, then starting reading. I'll drop a message on here at the end of the day, or tomorrow. Enjoy your reading, folks!

For Read-a-Thing, I have a slot this afternoon but I'm also doing a Do-Nothing-But-Read Day with the Green Dragoneers.

I'm starting with Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews. It's the next book in my new favorite urban fantasy series. Kate is such a kickass heroine without being a MarySue. It's the fourth book in the series and there has been no sex! And she and the hero didn't fall madly in love on the first page! The stories and world are interesting and the secondary characters aren't one-dimensional.

Then I'm reading Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase - a Regency romance that comes highly recommended by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

I'm awake... sorta... off to make coffee & toast & then return to The Help!

REMINDER: if you didn't sign up for RaT or DNBRD, you can still participate! Just join in!

Drinking my coffee, and reading the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. For my read today, ready for a mystery! :)

Lman, I didn't see those names on the chapter heads!! Thanks! That helps a lot.

I've been mostly reading. Interruptions included two phone calls, one hungry kitty, a call for more coffee & quickly checking some online stuff... very quickly!!

The Help is getting to be quite good!! I'm enjoying it & it is keeping me guessing about a lot of stuff. Yes, I'm getting annoyed with the intolerance, but there is a subversive quality to the rebellion that cheers me.

I don't like spoilers so I can't comment as to where I'm at in the story, but I'm getting pulled into it quite nicely.

I've got some errands to run, but I'll be back for more reading!!

BTW, jbd1 (Jeremy) has been tweeting about ReadaThing on the LT twitter account!!

http://twitter.com/#!/LibraryThing

publicity is a good thing!!
more readers
more fun!

Well I have been reading since I woke up this morning. I finished my book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I will be continuing with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and also Book Lust. Maybe I will be able to finish another book today. My next alotted reading time is now. So once I post this I will start reading again.

Finished Cloud Atlas this morning before having to go out and run some errands (something about needing food in the house, terrible business). Now back and looking forward to settling in with Edward Bancroft by Thomas J. Schaeper, a pretty impressive new biography of the Revolutionary War spy.

About 30 minutes until my "official" reading time! I'll be heading out to the front porch with a glass of iced coffee and The Reinvention of Love and Notre-Dame de Paris. I think these books will work well to read simultaneously - a few pages of one, then a few pages from the other - because one is about Victor Hugo and the other is by Victor Hugo.

I may have to run a quick errand when the mail arrives at 2 o'clock, but other than that I'm settling in with my books until 4 o'clock! And I may well read into the evening, depending on family plans.

Happy reading everyone!

completed my reading slot last night (plus about 2 extra hours). The Magician King is still good so far, which is relieving.

i also read a few entries in the Encyclopedia of Quilting since i'm about to start my first ever quilt and need to finally decide what pattern i'm going to do. the quilt is for a charity that donates them to kids who are in long term hospital care, which is wonderful, but it's a bit hard to pick a design for an unspecified kid you don't know...

Currently Reading: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Minutes Read: 94 minutes
Pages Read: 159

Total Minutes Read: 235 minutes
Total Pages Read: 349

Books Completed: Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews 8/10 stars

I "read" from 9-11 am CT which I believe was 2-4 pm GMT and 2-4 am in NZ.

Started reading from My Nine Lives: A Memoir of Many Lives in Music by Leon Fleisher, but was fighting off a migraine, so after taking some medicine, closed my eyes and tried to listen to an audiobook version of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Fell in and out of sleep and am now giving up "reading" for the day (so no "Do Nothing But Read Day" for me. Am hoping to recover enough for some "Day of Debauchery and Gluttony" http://dayofdebauchery.com/?page_id=36 later today, but doubtful.

Still, good to see what everyone else is reading.

I've been reading The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz from 2-5 GMT. This is the 4th book in the Blue Bloods series and things are getting very interesting. Schuyler van Alen is on the run with her best friend while trying to find out more about her history.

Currently Reading: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Minutes Read: 138 minutes
Pages Read: 255

Total Minutes Read: 373 minutes
Total Pages Read: 604

Books Completed: Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews 8/10 stars

I've been reading and listening to music for about 11 hours so everything is going well.

Woke up at 09:30 AM local time.
Morning routine (wash up, have breakfast and all that)
10:00 AM turned on the laptop and started reading Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Season of Mists in my bedroom really enjoyed it. I've been reading The Sandman for the past two days so it was natural to continue today. I was planning on reading The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy but I guess it will have to wait a day or two more.
If you aren't familiar with The Sandman, it's a cmoic book series (but for adults, so they call them graphic novels). I'm not really into comic books, I don't like pictures in my books. But I really liked Gaiman's American Gods so I thought I'd give his other stuff a shot. These comic books are dark and gritty, not really my cup of tea, but they have a good overall story interesting characters and most importantly, minor characters make great main characters in later issues. When one story arc is complete, a minor character gets the spotlight and gets his very own story told.
Now it's 9:35 PM local time with no lunch break (snacked while reading) and a dinner break about 20 minutes ago, DNBRD is going great, I've read The Sandman issues 21 through 37 and I'm still going strong. Back to reading, still in my bedroom, still The Sandman, still good.

I listened to My Antonia while making breakfast this morning: french toast with carrot gazpacho and french roast coffee with milk. Now I'm back to reading Doc which reads like a biography. Poor thin Doc Holliday, life was pretty difficult.

My DNBRD has not gone as well as I might have hoped, though I have got some hours reading in and still intend to do some more. I decided on impulse that today was the day that I would become a non-smoker, so I have just been doing whatever I felt like doing today to stop myself feeling restless as I usually go out for regular cig breaks on a reading day. That said, I have read more of my academic book, read a good chunk of Oliver Twist aloud, which was enjoyable (going to be doing a bit more later I think too), and am now going to read some of Animal Farm. So I am reading...just not quite as much as I had anticipated! On the other hand, I have quit smoking so I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Yea, BeeQuiet! Are you reading Oliver Twist aloud to yourself, or do you have an audience?

I'm actually reading it aloud to my mum, sounds a bit odd but I used to read to my boyfriend at the time when my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was really bad as it was a nice gentle activity that I could enjoy. My mum said that sounded nice, so I read to her for a while. Now I have been living here for a year before moving on again to do post-grad studies, we decided to pick it up while I was around. It's a nice thing for us to do together, though she does have a tendency to drop off to sleep after a while! Bless.

15 atlargeintheworld
I also read today with my one-eyed dog, but he is young. I also read with my two-eyed dog.

Today I've been reading Remarkable Creatures and am happy to report I love it. I've read a lot of mixed reviews about it on LT, but Tracy Chevalier is one of my favorite authors and I haven't felt disappointed. It contains some of my favorite book elements: strong women characters, and science flying in the face of religion.

During my hour I read 38 pages. Then I ate a Jimmy Dean Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit with 2 glasses of milk. Yum.

I read the poem "America" from Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg and took a nap.

Since my hour slot I've read another 32 pages from Remarkable Creatures.

And now I'm off to read some more. Happy reading to all ReadaThingers! Thank you skittles for all your work setting this up!

Currently Reading: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Minutes Read: 126 minutes
Pages Read: 296

Total Minutes Read: 499 minutes
Total Pages Read: 900

Books Completed:
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews 8/10 stars
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase 8/10 stars

Readathing readers: Sorry, I have changed name of book to be read. Hope this is ok. I was going to read A Turn In The Road by Debbie Macomber, but, I have been reading the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs and I just couldn't put them down.

Friday night read The Silver Needle Murder by Laura Childs 9/10 stars, 285 pages
Today I read Oolong Dead by Laura Childs 9/10 stars, 307 pages

Now @ 5:10 pm Easter Daylight time USA, I have am on page 155 of The TeaBerry Strangler by Laura Childs. Hope to finish tonight and complete the Series Tomorrow.

Thus far I have read a total of : 747 pages. Can't wait to read Scones & Bones and finish the series. What a great Mystery Series.... would recommend to everyone

Currently Reading: Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts
Minutes Read: 88 minutes
Pages Read: 181

Total Minutes Read: 587 minutes
Total Pages Read: 1081

Books Completed:
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews 8/10 stars
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase 8/10 stars
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale 8/10 stars

I've really lucked out on my reads today!

I'm a bit late with my next allotted time but I will be reading The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers.
I have been dipping in and out of this book when I am at home (as it is too big to carry around) - lying in bed on a Sunday morning, with a cup of tea, seems perfect!

It is getting better too - full of the possibilities of nonsense, with a good tweak at the noses of authority every so often.

JaneAustenNut, it is perfectly ok to change which book you are reading... I've had books call me from across the room!!

"I'm over here & I'm much more interesting & exciting that the book you are reading!!"

The worst "come on" that I had from a book came from a romance book. "Hey, that Algebra book isn't interesting at all!! and I can teach you all you need to know about multiplying!!"

- - - -
I'll be back, I've got my time to read NOW!!!

G'bye!

I'm back.... I ended up being sidelined by a book, too! It was a book that had a fair amount of "multiplying" too!

Morphidae, I read Lord of Scoundrels and while I don't love it the way SBTB loves it, I did like it. Hope you liked it, too.

PaperBackPirate, You are welcome, but it wasn't just me!! Lots of people helped & lots of people are reading!! The reading is the important part!!

(as if this group needs a reason to read... only a reason to escape other "duties" to read)

Well, my "quick errand" ended up being a six hour diversion. Oops. Back to the books now...

Finished Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and The Private World of Georgette Heyer. Loved all of them continuing on with the Outlander series and alternating with some Heyers.

I read some of my current read, The Angel by Carla Neggers, and then on to something else...not sure what yet. Will check in tomorrow with an update! Happy Reading everyone!

I haven't read as much as I would have liked to today. I was working on my back porch since the weather was just perfect. Not too hot and no rain. I started it earlier this week and I was hoping to finish it before today. Since I have been in I haven't picked up my book. I will be heading up stairs to my bedroom soon and will probably read until I fall asleep.

I will continue reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Book Lust

I'm over half way through Doc and finished the first book of My Antonia while I was making dinner: quinoa casserole, beans, Greek yogurt, green salad with a glass of Sangria and some cherries for dessert. I'll read a bit more in bed tonight, but right now I have to watch Pitt Boss.

I finished Skein of the Crime by Maggie Sefton yesterday, and am now reading Atlantic by Simon Winchester now. I've got too many library books checked out so I'm trying to finsih several today to turn back in.

I've read some of Emma, but gave up and returned to The van Alen Legacy which is way more interesting. I think I can now safely say that Emma is the only Austen book that I really dont like, none of the characters appeal to me.

We had a wonderful R/L day yesterday what with our town's All School Reunion and then a birthday celebration for my son (45) with kids, grands & great grand here for dinner and a lovely long visit. Hubby & I worked out in the yard taking out a couple of stumps, cutting back my iris in preparation of moving them and just general yard work. Coming in to clean up he turned on P.B.S. to find a concert of music from the 60's era, turned the lights down low and we danced. Doesn't happen very often but I sure enjoy it when it does.
So..........anyhoo, long story longer I didn't find reading time until midnight with my time slots at 1:00 & 2:00 A.M. it worked out perfectly. So I read in bed and the book I read is The Fountain Overflows, a very enjoyable Virago by Rebecca West, I read 3 hours and 258 pages. I have the same time slot tonight but the hubby took the grands to a motorcross race this A.M. (we are just now at 9:30) so I will have some nice quiet time today to read as well as my slotted hours later.
Good Reads All,
belva

I read from when I got home last night (after feeding and watering their royal fur-highnesses) until I finished The Angel by Carla Neggers. Started the next in the series after some indecision, but since it was handy...The Mist but didn't get far before falling asleep. Today is a short work day, so I'm looking forward to putting my feet up again when I get home and digging in again! I don't have a scheduled time so anytime is a good time for reading!

Rainpebble, you have described a perfect day.

I've read about 40 more pages of Doc and listened to another 1/4 of a CD of My Antonia and will probably read for another 3 hours or so. I thought I was having a lovely day, but it pales in comparison.

Well I ended up taking part in the 75ers Readathon so I have some stats for the last 24 hours (didn't read constantly!)

I read from four books - A Distant Mirror; The Wind-up Bird Chronicle; The Sky Mystery, Magic and Myth and King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. I managed to read a total of 468 pages in those 24 hours.

I've been reading The Help, but I also had a book call from the "light reading shelf"... I needed something light to read, too.. so I did.

Now, back to The Help...

In addition to my other books; see JaneAustenNut posting above, I have finished the Teaberry Strangler. A total of 880 pages.

At this time ( 7:26 pm daylight savings time USA ) I have read 196 pages of Scones & Bones by Laura Childs. This gives me at total of 1,076 pages.
----------------------------------------
Couldn't finish on time, because of in-law health issues and a leaky pipe in basement. Will try to finish Scones & Bones later tonight. If I do finish this will give me a total of 1,159 pages read this weekend. I will have read 4 complete Tea Shop Mysteries this weekend and completed all 12 Tea Shop Mysteries read in the past 2 weeks.

I would absolutey recommend this series of books to any Cozy Mystery fan!

I'm just finished a rather successful day at the bookstore...:) and am now heading home for an equally successful evening of reading and relaxing! I will continue with The Mist by Carla Neggers and if I should happen to finish it, then I'll move on to one I have in progress...Devil in the White City by Erik larson. Since I'm officially off now until Tuesday, and don't have any pressing plans for a change, I plan to continue my ReadaThing through tomorrow, too. :)

Having overslept considerably, I missed my scheduled hour, but since then have read for about two hours, so no harm. I felt that I really should read one of my BOTS challenge books, but ended up continuing my current e-book title, The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells.

and I went a little over.... typical of me & my reading...

The Help: It is a good book & it is hard! I'm not done yet, but I'm enjoying it. I'm cognizant of the time period, the attitudes, & the issues, but I'm very uncomfortable with them. I know it gets better & I'll be happy that I read it.

and I know I need to finish it, if only to get some answers!!

I hope everyone had a good Weekend ReadaThing!!

Others may still be reporting & I'll be checking, but thanks to everyone who read & everyone who helped!!

I read some more today and finished another book. I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. I may read a little bit more before going to bed but I won't be posting any more tonight. I had a great time and hope to be able to participate in the next one.

skittles thanks for organizing everything for this weekend long read-a-thing

My 5 pm CT (6 pm ET) hour was interrupted by a friend at the door, but later this evening I did finish My Nine Lives: A Memoir of Many Careers in Music by Leon Fleisher. So THANKS! to the LT RT for helping me check this off my "to do" list. Now I just have to write my long-overdue-ER-review!

skittles: Thank you so much for all your organizational work on the RT . . .

And I agree that The Help is troubling in many ways. I read it for a book group. I was glad I read it, but disturbed by some aspects that seemed rather unrealistic (e.g., the way the main character didn't seem to realize the amount of danger she was exposing the other characters to). There is also some controversy involving a woman who worked for the author's family and claims that Stockett didn't get permission to appropriate her life for the book. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/books/18help.html Finish the book before you look into it, but just wanted to know you are not alone in having concerns.

I can't wait for the next Read-a-Thing . . . but in the meantime, I think I need a "Review-a-Thing" to get my reviews written!

I finished Rogue Angel: Destiny and a large glass of lemonade right at the end of my scheduled hour at 10:00 PM California time. I planned to start The Truth of Valor in that hour but did not get to it for another day.

I just finished my first Read-a-Thing book, The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West and found it to be a lovely book. It is the first in a series of 3, which I didn't realize until I had started the book. I have the 3rd on hand and the 2nd on order; hope it arrives soon.

"Rebecca West's novel touches the very essence of life ..... Reviewing Rebecca West is like trying to review Michaelangelo. Perhaps we have become afraid of acknowledging contemporary greatness."
--Sybille Bedford

I didn't keep track of the time I read this evening (currently 10:00 P.M. here). I am slotted to read from 1:00 to 3:00 A.M. I will be reading my 2nd Virago which will also fulfill kidzdoc's challenge of reading an Orange listed book per month. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor Also my first Taylor so I am excited because I have heard for so long how wonderful she is.
Well, back later tonight or in the morning.
Good Reads All,
belva

Thanks for organizing the long readathon, Skittles. I listened to almost half of My Antonia and just finished reading Doc - both great books. I'd call this a very successful reading week end.

>72 rainpebble: rainpepple is that the same Rebecca West who said : "I myself have never been able to find out what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." ?

I've always meant to find out more about her and her writing. Sounds like these novels would be a good place to start.

Yeah! I did finish Scones & Bones by Laura Childs. Thus a total of 4 books and 1159 pages for the weekend.

I am now starting " A Turn In The Road " by Debbie Macomber. Whew, what a wild weekend of reading. It was fun.

@ 74;
Yes and I think these would be a wonderful place to begin her. I really liked the book and I think I rated it 4 stars. There are a lot of interesting characters in this one and the story itself is very good as is the writing.
~belva

Too busy reading to post last weekend (seriously though - just not feeling like starting the laptop).

Managed to read a few books :)

Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful which was... European. Technically a short story collection but it had more internal structure and sequence than a lot of the contemporary novels I had read lately. Quite disturbing in places but the author has her way with words

The Long-Legged Fly - Interesting. It starts a series but it also stands alone pretty well (and in a pretty interesting way). New Orleans in a few decades in a row.

City - always a good thing to revisit a favorite book.

No Rest for the Dead - get a few of the masters of the genre and get them to write a novel together. Pretty well done despite some issues.

And halfway through Split Second (Baldacci, David) :)

Reviews of all these later this week.

Because I was Folk Festing, I read in bits and pieces while waiting for bands to set up and during musical sessions that didn't require full attention. Finished off The Peshawar Lancers and Kitty's Big Trouble, and got further in Before & After.

My reading:

Finished the last half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Read Grave Secret - the last book in the Charlaine Harris Harper Connelly series
First half of The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

I read for most of Saturday and a few hours on Sunday. Finally came back to the real world to find that there had been rioting and looting in Tottenham (North London) only a couple of miles from where I live.

#79: YIKES! I'm glad that it wasn't any closer! The pictures of the results are terrible... well, the pics are fine, but the destruction isn't!

I fell asleep reading last night and so did not finish my slotted time. Sorry skittles. But the book, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is wonderful.
~belva

#81 - rainpebble...I hear ya! LOL I fell asleep several times yesterday reading. Sunday night too! Monday is my day off and I had planned to read all day...well except for putting laundry in and taking it out! Gotta do those chores.:( Otherwise, I had made up a big batch of chili and so I read, slept, ate when I was hungry, but spent most of my time off from Sunday about 6pm until sometime late last night when I finished The Mist by Carla Neggers and made a start on The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I had to refresh my memory on this one a bit as I'd started it awhile ago, but other books kept pushing it aside. I must say that the Carla Neggers books have been getting better with each successive book in the series, so I'm looking forward to when the next one finds it's way to me. Meanwhile....plenty more to read! I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed having put aside this time to just read. It was fun!

NWOAB; I have never heard of Carla Neggers. I went over to the author page and I see that she writes mysteries. My question to you is: would you call these cosy/cozy mysteries? Are they free of blood and guts and are they light hearted comfy reads?

#83 - rainpebble, they are mostly free of blood...no guts. Just the odd scrape from a fight or gunshot wound, but not at all gory. As for light-hearted? Not sure if that would be the right description. They do tend to involve talk of fairy-folk, angels and demons, and Ireland and it's folklore features prominately, but none of the characters are any of the above. There is romance, but it doesn't take over the story, more it supports it. There is a connectiveness from one story to the next tho, so they should be read in order. I have found them more enjoyable with each successive book and am only sorry I don't have the fourth one available at the moment. I'm wanting to see where this expanding group of people and their storyline go to next.

Thank you. The series sounds fun and interesting. I have added it to my TBR listing and will be checking my library for them.
:-)

You're welcome rainpebble! I hope you enjoy them!

I'm really, really late, but I was on vacation and didn't have an internet connection.

I started White Hot by Sandra Brown on Friday and that's what I read for the weekend readathing. I didn't get much reading done on Saturday (I spent the whole afternoon watching Bones) but I compensated on Sunday. I did most of my reading at the beach and read for about 2 hours Sunday morning and 4 hours Sunday afternoon. The day was perfect, sunny but not extremely hot.

I'm a huge fan of Sandra Brown and this one hasn't disappointed me so far. I'm loving it!

Also, after reading so many good things about The Help, now I really want to read it.

I'm looking forward to our next readathing!

I'm glad you were able to join in... internet connection or not!!

and we are looking at a November ReadaThing... check the feedback thread.

Thanks skittles!

You can count me in for November ReadaThing.