End-of-Year Readathon!

Well, despite Mayan prophecies to the contrary, the world didn't end this month -- but it's a certainty that 2012 will be drawing to a close within the next few days. So, for those of us with 12 in 12 challenges, 75 book goals, TIOLI shared reads or other reading objectives that remain unfulfilled, here's an end-of-the-year readathon to give us an alternative to big party scene and help us focus on closing the books (pun fully intentional) on 2012.

Who: Anyone at all!

What: A readathon -- read whatever you want, whenever you want, however much you want, etc.

When: Starting on Friday at 6 PM Eastern -- in other words, 3 pm on the Pacific Coast of North America, 11 p.m. in London and heaven-knows-what time in Australia & Kiwiland on the other side of the Int'l Date Line. (Fun note: I once celebrated New Year's twice, flying from Hong Kong to NYC on New Year's Eve -- had two free glasses of champagne... ) Finishing at midnight in your local time zone on December 31.

Let us know you'll be participating, or just drop by. I'll be around to moderate, and maybe to ask some silly questions about New Years past.

Participants:

Chatterbox -- Suzanne -- reading in Brooklyn, NY
Cariola -- Deborah -- reading in Chambersburg, PA
gennyt -- Genny -- reading from her Lincolnshire hideout, UK
PersephonesLibrary -- Kathy -- reading from Austria
crazy4reading -- Monica -- reading in Boothwyn, PA
katelisim -- Katie -- reading in Minnesota
cushlareads -- Cushla, reading from downunder, aka Wellington, NZ
avatiakh -- Kerry, also reading in the Antipodes, but from Auckland, NZ
maggie1944 -- Karen, reading from Washington (the state, not the city)
tloeffler -- Terri, reading from Missouri
LauraBrook -- Laura -- reading in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
ronincats -- Roni, reading in San Diego (after she has found a way to coerce her husband to let her devote her weekend to this!)
Citizenjoyce -- Joyce, reading from a secure location in the western USA...
calm -- reading calmly in Wales
Majkia -- Jean -- reading in Florida
elliepotten -- Ellie, reading from a comfy book nook in England
AnneDC -- Anne, reading not from DC, but from New England
dk_phoenix -- Faith, reading from Ontario, Canada
bostonian71 -- reading a chunkster in Boston (natch)
swynn -- Steve, reading from Missouri
Donna828 -- Donna, reading as part of the Missouri biblio-mafia
elkiedee -- Luci, hopefully reading in a water and cat pee-free home in London...
cbl_tn -- Carrie, reading in Knoxville, Tennessee
souloftherose -- Heather, reading from Tring, UK

Count me in, Suzanne. Deborah (cariola) - Chambersburg, PA.

I'm in too, possibly for an hour on Friday to start off, but mainly on New Year's Eve.

Genny from Newcastle, UK (but on NY I'll be in Lincolnshire at my sister's).

Thanks for putting up the thread!
I'll be there, too.

Kathy from Austria

I'll join in. I have dinner with my family on Friday for Christmas
so I won't start until later. Monica in Boothwyn, PA

Thanks for hosting!
I'm hoping to get some reading done that weekend and stopping in here. . . but we shall see how much time I can wiggle out of work and festivities, lol.

I'm in on and off too.

Oops, forgot: Cushla in Wellington, New Zealand.

Thanks for setting up Suzanne.

Kerry from Auckland, New Zealand.
As we are 18 hours ahead of New York, my local start time will be 12noon Saturday.

OK, I'll give it a try. I have been so easily distracted this season, I really could benefit from some concentrated reading. I will probably start a little after 3 pm (USA pacific coast time zone) on Friday, and I'll carry on, until, I drop, or the New Year is announced.

I may be scarce this weekend due to some family obligations, but I'll be all over it as soon as I get home from work on Monday! Wait. I'm working from home on Monday. Okay, as soon as I shut down one computer and turn on another!

ETA: My goal is going to be to complete all of the books I'm in the middle of right now so I can start the new year fresh!

ETAA: Terri from St. Charles MO!

I'm SO in! My list of book to properly finish up my 12-12 is only 6, but contains a few whoppers (including Gone With the Wind), so I need a lot of uninterrupted reading time. Thankfully I have off for most of Friday, and then have off all the way until the afternoon of the 2nd! I can help host too, if you'd like.

Laura in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

By my count, six states, four countries and three continents... so far! Not too shabby...

I'll drop in and out, depending on what demands the husband makes!

Roni in San Diego

I should be in from the beginning and last for much of it - Joyce reading from the western US.

I'm in - calm in Wales.

I'm sure I'll join: Jean In Florida

I might try and drop in on this one - it's been so long since I've done an LT read-a-thon and I'm getting well nostalgic! Ellie from England... I'm working all weekend, but we're closing the bookshop at lunchtime on Monday so I've at least got mornings, evenings, and New Year's Eve afternoon to squirrel myself away with a book!

Oops, forgot to add:
Katie in Minnesota

I'm in--Anne in Washington DC (though come to think of it I'll be reading in Connecticut and Vermont)

I'll be in and out too! Should mostly be around on Saturday, as El Husbando is off playing board games with friends, so I should have the day to myself. I'd like to finish a few more titles and hit 100 books before the year's end!

(Faith, reading in Ontario, Canada.)

I'll be in and out too, trying to finish up a Laurie King mystery and then starting on a 1000-page behemoth by Patrick Rothfuss.

bostonian71, reading in Boston, Mass.

swynn -- Steve -- reading in Missouri.

Another Missouri reader joining in...Donna from Springfield, MO. I plan to wrap up the year-long Steinbeckathon with Sweet Thursday, and then start a big book for the new year.

With a few hours to go before kickoff, here is a suggested template for your reading over the weekend. Please note the use of the word "suggested"! Don't feel bound by this format; you can discard it altogether adapt it according to your needs. For instance, I have discarded the minutes spent reading/posting because it makes me feel like a clock-watcher, and added in a more extensive comments section.

TIME FRAME (You can post hourly, or every few hours, or catch up twice a day, whatever you wish)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD:
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD:
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON:
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR:
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:

THE MENU?

DISTRACTIONS?

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR?

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

... and some memes. I may still be working at 6, but will be around shortly after to begin hostess duties!

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?

4. Any book-related resolutions??

See you all later!!

I hope to join you at some point, though I'm a bit wound up just now. Just got home from my mum's to find that a review book I was looking forward to has been soaked in cats pee and is too smelly to read, and we have a water leak - I've phoned our Homeserve service begging for help (it's an insurance based service) and said I would prefer a plumber after midnight to waiting until morning. I'm as stressed by Mike's reaction as by the leak - he always thinks I don't take things seriously enough but honestly, how is shouting at me and telling the kids that the house might be falling down (at their bathtime, pre-bed, going to help?

Count me in. Carrie, reading in Knoxville, TN.

I'd love to join in as well! (LibraryLover23 reading in Lancaster, PA)

Hello everybody! Because it's already midnight where I live, I just want to wish you all a great readathon! I will start a little reading now, but I'll probably fall asleep, soon. See you tomorrow, refreshed and ready to rumble!

26> Sorry, I had to chuckle. One of the gifts I sent my daughter for Christmas was a book of poems, supposedly written by a cat, titled I Could Pee on This. Hope you get a plumber out tonight.

I'll be back in awhile--need to get some dinner,m and I want to finish the book I'm currently reading.

I'm going to order up some dinner and then launch in. Fell fast asleep on the sofa -- narcolepsy. Was only woken up by an irritated cat biting my nose for some reason. Based on Luci's post, it could have been significantly worse...

Okay. I'm starting now. My Goal is to finish all of the books in my house that I have already started (except the ones like presidents wives, which I read after I've finished each president). There are 8 books in various stages of completion. I will be a poor participant during the day time, but hope to catch an hour here or there, with the bulk tonight and New Years Eve-ning. I've a large glass of ice water and easy access to the kitchen. Jammies are on, and, if I remember, I'll try to check in hourly (or whatever works).

Off I go!

I'm just about to get started as well. After my client left this afternoon, I jumped up and down a few times, put on my pj's, poured a glass of wine and sat down on the couch to watch some TV. Glamorous!!! I just put Contagion on for some background noise/to get it off of my DVR, and as soon as my tea is ready I'll be hunkering down my with stack of books. Yay!

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
I haven't done my Best Of list yet, but the latest two Allen Bradley mysteries are on there, and I really enjoyed Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris (much more than I expected), and Through No Fault of My Own by Coco Irvine was a favorite. I don't think anything links them, but they were good reads!

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
The newest Flavia book is on my Must Buy list, but aside from that I'm just hoping to read the Pink Carnation series.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
Hmmm, I'd say NYE 1999 was pretty great. I was a senior in college, and my friends (who lived in a house just off-campus) had a big costume party. We all drank too much, laughed too much, danced too much - it was such a great time!!! And of course, Prince was played just before midnight. :)

4. Any book-related resolutions??
Read more of my own books!

30: That made me laugh too, but I'm not sure I want to read that book. One of Mike's books got affected in a separate incident (but if he will leave it on the floor...)

Just got back from dinner, making a peppermint tea, and jumping in! I'm starting with Escape from Camp 14, which I started this afternoon. I may follow the example of others here and put my jammies on as I wait for the tea to steep... :)

I'll be starting soon. First I need to decide between hot cocoa or wine. . .

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
Well, my 5-star books this year are: Half Prince (manga), Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and The Child Thief. And just shy of 5 stars, that's also memorable, is Angelfall by Susan Ee. The first two deal with online persona in mmorpg's. TCT is dark and gritty Peter Pan. And Angelfall is as the title implies, fallen angels--but there is a bit more to it ;P

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
I have so many already, that I'm trying to ignore it.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
People remember NYE? Lol, j/k. Every year I party hop. It's always fun, but nothing in particular is popping out in my mind as 'best.' However, there are some unpleasant memories coming to mind. . . like the fact we always get a snow or ice storm. Or the year I got a black eye from someone tripping over me when I was sleeping on the floor--in the designated sleep zone.

4. Any book-related resolutions?
Buy fewer books! I am both out of space and trying to save money for a vacation.

TIME FRAME
Into the third hour
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Fault In Our Stars and Musicophilia
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 1.75CDs
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2 The Fault In Our Stars and Musicophilia

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1.75 CDs
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? eggnog latte and a mango

DISTRACTIONS? funny dogs (and people) at the dog park

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? The Fault In Our Stars is about children, adolescents, with cancer. These adolescents are far more intelligent and witty than any I've ever known, so I can't say the book is completely accurate, though from what I know about death the situations seem very realistic. Right at the beginning of the book the 17 year old girl, Hazel, says that she is sluggish and depressed and her mother talks about maybe adjusting her meds because depression is a side effect of cancer. No, she says, depression is a side effect of dying. She acknowledges that we're all dying, we're all headed for oblivion, but the book is about how she and her friends live until that time. It's funny and perceptive and possibly too intense to read while walking around the dog park.

Memes
1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc? I don't want to go back over all my reads for the year, but I'll say some of the ones I've read recently have been excellent. The Round House, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Fault In Our Stars are all about adolescents confronting very large problems and reacting to them in realistic ways. Team of Rivals was about Lincoln's very savy political maneuverings.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? I think Charlaine Harris said her last Sookie Stackhouse book will be out in the spring or summer. I do want to know how she works everything out - or if she does. I hope there'll be lots of fairies, my favorite creatures in the series.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? Can't think of any, but my worst was the one my new (then) husband and I spent at his parent's house. We all sat quietly in the living room with little conversation then went to bed at about 10. They were not real expressive people.

4. Any book-related resolutions?? Just for the readathon - I want to finish Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) by Cheryl Strayed and maybe Dodger.

It's not yet six here, and I'm sipping a glass of red zinfandel while considering making salad for supper, but I'll be working tonight on finishing the last 185 pages of The Exiled Queen, the second in the Seven Realms quartet. This is a very enjoyable YA fantasy series that reminds me a lot of Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series, without being at all derivative.

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

The Night Circus
Ready Player One
Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

and for nonfiction, The Closing of the Western Mind

No real links, although the fiction is all speculative fiction--the last is a children's book.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?

Elizabeth Moon should have the next in her follow-up series to the Paksennarion trilogy out in February--I love these books, but newbies should read the original trilogy first, as this quintet to be follows characters from those books.

Also, I think Gail Carriger's new book should be out next year as well.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?

I don't remember.

4. Any book-related resolutions?

I did pretty well on cutting back on buying books this year, but did lousy at reading from my books on the shelf prior to 2012, so I would like to read more books I already own.

I am off to a shaky start. I'm reading The Dovekeepers and I sat in my best reading chair, and started reading at 5;45 pm my time and I was on p. 133. 13 pages later, I'm yawning like crazy, the new dog is sleeping on my lap, and I wanna go upstairs. So, I'll take the book, and the dogs, and go upstairs. Read one of my "for the bath tub books" and have a nice warm bath....you can see the ending of this, can't you. I'll take my little notebook and good pen with me, too, and I'll read a bit in bed. But I can see it will be an early night for me, and then I'll start reading again early tomorrow morning. I am sure. Because I have GOALs! I must finish The Dovekeepers and get started on some other pressing books.

TIME FRAME: 6:45-8:15 (1.5 hours)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 56
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 56
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Cookies!

DISTRACTIONS? One potty break

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W. C. Fields by Simon Louvish (ONLY book so far).

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Joseph Patrick McEvoy: "NO sweeter baby in the block / Than you, my darling little gem / But why arise at four o'clock / A. M.? / No grouch am I, not yet a crank / But you have put me on the blink / You cut it out or Paw will spank / You pink."

Hours 1-3 (12noon-3pm Sat)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 57
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: Days of Blood and Starlight
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 57
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:0

THE MENU: Ciorba or Romanian meatball soup, one of my favourites that I make often

DISTRACTIONS: I've been guilty of playing spider solitaire on the iPad, I can feel an addiction growing, i only loaded the game onto the iPad a few days ago.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: not yet

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS: This is escapist reading so not particularly memorable

Memes
1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
I listened to a lot of great audiobooks this year - Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space, Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, Don Quixote, Kafka on the Shore. I enjoyed two more by Murakami, 1Q84 & Wild Sheep Chase.
2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
I'm really hoping that the last Obernewtyn book (#7) comes out on time. I've saved book #6 so I can read them together. I started reading them about 10 years ago so this has been a slow reading experience. Book #1 came out in 1987, and #5 was in 2008.
3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? Mostly forgettable. I spent 1999/2000 on Tel Aviv beach, but the New Year isn't celebrated there.
4. Any book-related resolutions?? Buy less, borrow less, read more from Mt tbr. I'd like to stay focused on what I want to read.

TIME FRAME: First 4 hours (12 pm - 4 pm nearly)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1: Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: a whole 26...
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 26

THE MENU? Toast with {bought} pumpkin, kumara and cashew nut spread. A bbq coming up in the next few hours, despite a howling gale coming in.

DISTRACTIONS? The kids and a trip to the playground and supermarket. I'm reading but with tons of interruptions.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Iron Curtain - this book is so good that I'm highlighting things on every second page. It's all about Hungary, Poland and East Germany from 1944-1956. If I finish it by the 31st it will probably make my top 5 books for the year so I need to hurry up.

1. I haven't finished my top books of 2012 yet - I'm waiting till tomorrow.

2. I just did an internet hunt and see that David Downing's latest, Masaryk Station, is due out in June. I'll be buying it on my Kindle as soon as it's available.

3. I am trying to think of New Year's memories but they're mostly boring. We spent New Year's in 2000 at the very top of New Zealand, and I caught a big snapper when we went out fishing that day.

4. YES. Buy less, read what I have at home already, and exercise some Kindle restraint. (No conflict with my comment in #2, of course!)

I haven't started reading yet. I stayed home with a fever today and read and slept earlier in the day. I switched to Netflix and MeTV this evening. I'll probably read for a while before I go to bed, though. I'll be starting White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell.

Here's my opening meme:
1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
Nonfiction:
The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi Who Saved Jews
The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle: Marriage, Murder, and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards
Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island
Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Extraordinary, Ordinary People
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President

Fiction:
The Beautiful Mystery
The Cold Dish
A Tale of Two Cities
The Black Mountain
The Invisible Ones
Lady Vernon and Her Daughter

Several of the non-fiction are about or related to WWII.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
The next Louise Penny mystery

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
I can't think of any that stand out from all the others.

4. Any book-related resolutions??
I don't do resolutions.

oh yum, another David Downing book!!

TIME FRAME: 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2, Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz and Traitor by Rory Clements
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 66 in the former; 134 in the latter: total 200 (eerie that it turned out to be even....)
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 200
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: Zero!

THE MENU? Some Thai food delivered. Yum, satay and some good rice.

DISTRACTIONS? The cats seem to be treating me as a human hot water bottle. Can't blame them, as it's chilly. Also, narcolepsy is kicking in!!

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Both are quite different; both good; neither is blowing me away, however.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Not really.

TIME FRAME: 8:20 - 9:20 1 hour

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 44
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 100
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1

THE MENU? Nothing at all.

DISTRACTIONS? Occasional shouts from video game players downstairs

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
Favorite Character: Porky Pine
Favorite Quote (ever): "Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash an' Kalamazoo. Nora's freezin' on the trolley. Swallow Dollar Cauliflower, Allegayroo!"

So far I've read for one hour, forty minutes in my one and only book, Sweet Thursday. This is a Steinbeck book that I didn't even know existed; it's a sequel to Cannery Row with many of the same down-and-out characters. I'm on page 104 and will probably quit for the evening. It's been a long day! I love Steinbeck's writing. Here is one example that struck my fancy:

"Doc walked on the beach beyond the lighthouse. The waves splashed white beside him and sometimes basted his ankles. The sandpipers ran ahead of him as though on little wheels. The golden afternoon moved on toward China, and on the horizon's edge a lumber schooner balanced." (Pg. 63)

MENU? Homemade chicken noodle soup; two pieces of fudge for dessert - one chocolate and one peanut butter.
DISTRACTIONS? January TIOLI here on LT.
MEMORABLE BOOKS THIS YEAR?
- Bring Up the Bodies
- Go Tell It On the Mountain
- Dandelion Wine
- The Garden of Evening Mists
- The Round House

Nonfiction:
- Truman
- The End of Your Life Book Club

Rereads:
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- A Tale of Two Cities

Favorite New Author:
- Peter Geye

"Night, All. Happy Reading!

First update

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 56
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 56
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? I'm hungry for stuff that I don't have at home, so it's been a bit of this and that, all crappy food: handful of corn nuts, cheetos, Christmas cookies, gingerbread, Greek yogurt, lots of water.

DISTRACTIONS? TV. I finished watching Contagion, and went through a few hour-long science-y programs I had taped. Now Family Guy is on and I'm getting tired, so I think it's time to head to bead and try to read a bit more before falling asleep.

TIME FRAME Into the 6th hour
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) and Musicophilia
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: .25CD, 50 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 2 CDs, 50 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? green salad with pumpkin seeds and the sweetest little tomatoes, broccoli-mushroom-cactus kugel, a glass of red wine, decaf Sumatra coffee with milk
DISTRACTIONS? cleaning up the kitchen
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? In Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) Cheryl Strayed (which is a name she gave herself) has been mostly alone on the Pacific Coast Trail for 3 weeks. She looks in the mirror as she's taking a bath in a motel:
I did not so much look like a woman who had spent the past three weeks backpacking in the wilderness as I did like a woman who had been the victim of a violent and bizarre crime. Bruises that ranged in color from yellow to black lined my arms and legs, my back and rump, as if I'd been beaten with sticks. My hips and shoulders were covered with blisters and rashes, inflamed welts and dark scabs where my skin had broken open from being chafed by my pack. Beneath the bruises and wounds and dirt I could see new ridges of muscle, my flesh taut in places that had recently been soft.
She's not making this sound like a real enjoyable trip.

TIME FRAME: 8:30-11:30pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 62
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 62
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 0

THE MENU? Peppermint tea (I would have had some sweets, but... I fell asleep)

DISTRACTIONS? I... should know better than to read on the couch at night with tea and a blanket. I lasted all of 62 pages before *zzzzz...* and I've just woken up, 2.5 hours later. Arrrgh! Well, it's off to bed for real (as it's now 11:40pm) and I'll read myself to sleep a second time with hopes for better results tomorrow. I'm thinking... maybe now wear the jammies as they just might be TOO comfy... :P

TIME FRAME: 10 PM to Midnight Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2, Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz and Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 64 in the former; 41 in the latter: total 105
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 105
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: Zero!

THE MENU? Diet Pepsi

DISTRACTIONS? Cats, taking out garbage, LT.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Plutocrats is one of the smartest books I have read this year, dealing with some of the most important issues we should be considering in North America. No easy answers, but thoughtful/reflective.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? From Freeland's book, in which she connects most of the seismic changes in our economy to the twin forces of technology and globalization: "they've generally had a punishing impact on those without the intellect, education, luck or chutzpah to profit from them: median wages have stagnated, as machines and developing world workers have pushed down the value of middle-class labor in the West."

This is from early on in the book, as she explores the nature of the problem, before delving into its causes and an analysis of this two forces.

I think I may revert to something more mindless, however, as I don't want my brain to go to sleep on me just yet!

TIME FRAME: 9:40 - 11:20 (1 hour, 40 minutes)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians by Robert W. Merry
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 100
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 200
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1

THE MENU? Home-made cinnamon bread

DISTRACTIONS? None

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Still Pogo

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
"New York's William Seward suggested wryly that Buchanan's position boiled down to a conviction that no state could secede unless it wanted to and the government must save the Union unless somebody objected."

I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow & Sunday will be a bit iffy but I'll be out in full force Monday evening!

Happy Reading to All, and to All a Good Night!

TIME FRAME: 8:30-9:50 PST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 185
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 185
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1 The Exiled Queen by Cinda Willams Chima (586 pages total--I was already 2/3 of the way through it when the readathon started.

THE MENU? Steak salad to go with my zinfandel earlier

DISTRACTIONS? Occasional forays into Farmville II and Chefville on the computer.

It's time to get into bed, and I'll probably read a chapter or two from The Social Conquest of Earth during the news before I turn off the light.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Well, there's only been the one, so that's it.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
This is the second in a fantasy quartet. No quotes to speak of, but I am enjoying both of the main characters, Raisa and Han. They are very fully developed.

#of pages: 47
#of books read from: 1, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
#of books completed: 0

Menu: pretzels, hot cocoa, and water

Distractions: Just as I was about to start reading, Mulan came on TV. I cannot resist Mulan. So I watched that and worked on a blog post. And now I'm about to catch some Z's as I must work in the morning, making 4pm (MN time) the soonest possible time I'll get back. In any case, I will be finishing these last 40pgs before the year ends.

I'm late to join in but I have finally been able to read a little and post before heading to bed, later than I meant to but Im taking advantage of the quiet house to squeeze in a little reading.

TIME FRAME: 9:30-2 am EST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 60
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2 (The Man Without a Face and Under Sea Under Stone
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 60
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 0
THE MENU: Nothing since dinner ( which was beet salad, lemon sole, steamed potatoes and white wine)

DISTRACTIONS? Shopping at Best Buy for a power cord for my computer, which I managed to leave at home. Dinner out with my parents. Silly television and family chitchat lasting almost until midnight.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Although I'm enjoying the Putin biography a lot, I'd have to say my favorite reading tonight was the chapter of Over Sea, Under Stone that I read aloud at my daughter's bedtime. It's a favorite series.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
Really enjoyed seeing a key character from The Dark is Rising, which we just finished, appear in this book in a different guise. It is also fun to watch my daughter putting two and two together.

Memes
1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

Some of my most memorable reads of 2012 have been:

Fall On Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad mysteries
Lord of Misrule - Jaimy Gordon
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel
The Garden of Evening Mists -Tan Twan Eng
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
The Souls of Black Folk - W. E. B. Dubois
Postwar - Tony Judt
The Hare With Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal
Black Hearts in Battersea - Joan Aiken
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
The Giver - Lois Lowry

I think it's safe to say nothing links them!

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? Not really. I'm still pretty focused on 2012.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? Recent NYEs have been pretty forgettable. I remember fondly New Years Eves when I was a kid, when my siblings and I were allowed to stay up late and listen to Casey Kasem count down the top 100 hit songs. We would try to predict the number one song, and we were allowed to eat those salted pistachios with the red shells and drink soda. Life was very simple then and small things were thrilling.

4. Any book-related resolutions?? I'm still thinking this through, but I guess to read more from my own shelves/devices, especially from my non-fiction stacks. I'd like to write more reviews.

TIME FRAME: 12:15 a.m. to 2:10 a.m. Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2, Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz and Traitor by Rory Clements
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 86 in the former; 131 in the latter: total 217
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 522
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: Zero!

THE MENU? Diet Pepsi

DISTRACTIONS? None!

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland is the one that I'm finding most rewarding on all levels.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? None to add right now.

I'll read a bit more and then head off to bed...

TIME FRAME Hour 8-9
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 71 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 2 CDs, 121 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Cocao Roast Almonds, diet Squirt
DISTRACTIONS? getting sleepy
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? From Wild:
My two big toes had never recovered from the beating they took on the merciless descent... Their nails looked near dead. My pinky toes had been rubbed so raw I wondered if they'd eventually just wear clean away from my feet. What seemed like permanent blisters covered the backs of my heels all the way to my ankles...
Foot speed was a profoundly different way of moving through the world than my normal modes of travel. Miles weren't things that blazed dully past. They were long, intimate straggles of weeds and clumps of dirt, blades of grass and flowers that bent in the wind, trees that lumbered and screeched. They were the sound of my breath and my feet hitting the trail one step at a time and the click of my ski pole. The PCT had taught me what a mile was.

Night all. I'm going to take my far healthier feet to bed. (and never subject them to the Pacific Crest Trail)

TIME FRAME: Friday evening, sixish to later

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 119
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 119
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Orange and a handful of nuts. (I had a big lunch)

DISTRACTIONS? LT, Phone calls with family

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Elizabeth Eckford. Oh, for the bravery and character she has in her left pinkie finger.

MEMES:

1. I read some terrific books this year: Destiny of the Republic stands out, as does Sea of Grass, Solaris and The Green Phoenix.

Oddly, the titles that seem to jump at me from my list are ones that provoked a complicated response: books that weren't necessarily good, but that were unusually enlightening or thought-provoking. BONG HiTS 4 JESUS and Century of the Manikin turn out to be more memorable than many better books. Curious.

2. Not really. I'm usually at least a year behind the popular kids.

3. New Year's Eve 1984 or 1985. I skipped a New Year's Eve party in order to finish Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara by midnight. Good choice: finishing that chunkster at 11:30 is a more satisfying memory than any stupid party could have been. This sort of thing may be why I'm behind the popular kids.

4. I plan to read some classic math texts next year, starting in January with Euclid's Elements. Come to think of it, this sort of thing may be why I'm behind the popular kids.

Hours 3-9 (3pm - 9pm Sat)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 30 + 15mins audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: A tale of two cities & Stamboul Train (audio)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 87 + 15mins audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:0

THE MENU: Green Chicken curry / coffee

DISTRACTIONS: Lots of distractions including my son telling me he has broken up with longterm girlfriend. Dinner, TV - best of QI episode on the Greeks

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: A tale of two cities

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS: The Dickens is warming up, I've just read through the trial so memorable character had to be Jerry Cruncher, the oddjob man.

I'll take a break from Dickens and try to finish Days of Blood and Starlight this evening.

Good morning, everyone.

It looks very much like I'll have to put some new books on my wishlist during this readathon. :)
After a little breakfast I'm ready to read. And this is what I plan to read/finish until the ending of this year:
1. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln by Martin Puntigam/Heinz Oberhummer/...
3. Wir beide, irgendwann by Jay Ash/...

---

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
I really loved East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I'm sure it will be one of the books that will stay with my during my whole life. In One Person by John Irving was also a fantastic read, as well as Der Luzifer-Effekt by Philip Zimbardo and Shanghai fern von wo.
Funny that you ask about a link between these books - haven't noticed any link before: They are somehow all about the question of identity; about how you should live and act; about how the world and people that surround you influence your being and doing in a better or worse way; about how you are still responsilbe for the outcome of your doings.
Oh , well and not to forget the first two volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, which I liked a lot, too.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
Are you talking about new books being published, or any books from my 2013 reading list? There's no particular publication I'm waiting for. But there are a lot of books I can't wait to read, e.g. my complete edition of Sherlock Holmes, A Storm of Swords, Deutschstunde by Siegfried Lenz, Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann, works by Thomas Bernhard, etc. etc.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
I don't really celebrate New Year's Eve. But as a child it was funny to sit together, play games, wait for the fireworks, burn down the "table bomb" which contained small toys, or pour molten lead on cold water to predict the happenings of the new year.

4. Any book-related resolutions??
As we all know that resolutions exist to be abandonned, I can say it: Not buy any new book, not take any free reading copies at home, read everything I've got on my shelves. ;)

TIME FRAME: Hours 4-10 (4-10 pm nearly)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1: Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 20
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 46

THE MENU? BBQ - lamb burgers, salad, and some nice Aussie red wine.

DISTRACTIONS? Getting the kids to bed. Falling asleep in the sun this afternoon.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Iron Curtain

I realise 46 pages looks like glacial progress, but it's pretty good for me when both kids are around and I am juggling reading with doing stuff with them! This Readathon has kept me off the ipad all day, and I haven't even read the paper today. I'm halfway through the book now and hope to crank through a bit more of it before I fall asleep. See you all tomorrow.

I'm in too - Heather, reading from Tring, UK whilst we have more wind and rain.

TIME FRAME: 11pm to 9am UK time (with a good sleep in between)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 40
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 40
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Nothing last night and some tea this morning

DISTRACTIONS? Sleeping

My main goal for the readathon is to finish the enormous tome that is Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady. I'm really enjoying it but I've found I read it at a much slower rate than a contemporary book. It's 1,500 pages and I started reading it in January this year. Just 100 pages to go!

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Among Others by Jo Walton, The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, My Cleaner by Maggie Gee, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (and everything else of hers I've read this year)

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? Not sure about any new releases but Virago are republishing Rumer Godden's books and I've had In this House of Brede on my wishlist for years.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? I don't normally do much for New Year but I quite like spending the evening quietly.

4. Any book-related resolutions?? Read all the books on my TBR pile (not going to happen!)

TIME FRAME: Hours 10-12

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: Wir beide, irgendwann by Jay Ash/Carolyn Mackler
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 166
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: zero

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 166

THE MENU? Going to have lunch right now - some soup and home-made pizza.

DISTRACTIONS? No, two hours reading passed without distractions.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? As I've been reading only one book, it's Wir beide, irgendwann. - A cute little novel for young adults following the principle idea of the movie "The Butterfly Effect". The protagonists Emma and Josh live in 1996. Emma gets a computer and internet access. While she enters the world wide web for the first time, she's puzzled by a mysterious site called "Facebook". Her whole life in 15 years is presented there. But Emma doesn't like what she sees, so she starts changing her future and influences more than intended.

TIME FRAME Last night 10.30 - 12.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Hammer and the Cross and Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 88
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 88
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
THE MENU? mug of hot chocolate

DISTRACTIONS? none as I was alone in bed with the books

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Loving the artist Cecelia and her relationship with Casanova.

TIME FRAME This morning 8.30 - 10.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Hammer and the Cross and Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 86
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 174
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
THE MENU? coffee

DISTRACTIONS? the cats:)

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc? Haven't done my 2012 stats yet but taking a quick look at the books I read for the first time this year and have rated 4.5 - 5 stars include

(5 star reads) Initiate's Trial, Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure, Wolf Hall, In a Dark Wood Wandering, Kil'n People, The Wayward Bus and Blow on a Dead Man's Embers
(4.5 Reads) The Garden of Evening Mists, Justinian's Flea, 1Q84

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? I haven't really kept a look out for new publication yet. I think the last book of The Wheel of Time series is supposed to be published this year and I am still waiting for Among Others to be available at the library (according to the website that should be a March publication0

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? I don't really "do" New Year's Eve - I'm not a party person:)

4. Any book-related resolutions?? Try and keep up with writing thoughts on the books I read and update my 2013 challenge thread more regularly (when I get around to setting it up!). Also try to read a book in each of Madeline's TIOLI challenges. I'll have to wait and see how tricky she makes them:)

Off to see what has been going on in the threads. Then time for some more reading - back later:)

Guess who forgot we were starting already? Haha, we didn't start until 11pm last night and I was SLEEPING by then, so I'm only *cough* twelve hours behind... :)

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?
Ummmm... V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt... Barring Perks, I think the main thing they have in common is that they're all books from a little outside of my comfort zone: my first graphic novel, my first 'bizarro' novel, a book I thought would be a bit dry, a humorous western noir. Loving them so much has made me more determined than ever to read outside the box this year and keep trying new things!

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?
There's a few books coming out in paperback that I'm looking forward to - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, Moranthology by Caitlin Moran, Arcadia by Lauren Groff, and a few others. I don't really keep on top of new releases though, so I'm sure there'll be some must-buys coming up in 2013 that I don't even know about yet!

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
Dancing along to Jools Holland's musicfest as midnight passed, outside on the patio, with a drink, watching the fireworks and a swathe of those floating lanterns drifting across the valley. Yes, I was alone. No, I didn't care. It was still lovely! :D

4. Any book-related resolutions??
Plenty of 'em. Save money (and make space!) by reading some of my own frickin' books (especially after my little pre-Christmas binge, oops). Read some more Shakespeare and Dickens at last. Stop wasting hours online when I could be reading. Try reaching for some 'proper' books I've been dying to read instead of whatever I think I'll finish fastest. Plus loads more I've probably forgotten already, hehe!

Right, I'm at work, but it's CHUCKING it down so I don't think we're going to be overwhelmed with post-festive custom today. I'm reading Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Abby Clements and drinking a big mug of chai tea because my stomach feels a bit dodgy and I thought the spices might help. Onwards! :)

Hours 9-12 (9-12midnight Sat)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 57
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 144 + 15mins audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:1 Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

THE MENU: gingerbread cookie

DISTRACTIONS: just been on the computer a bit, now feeling ready for bed & will read a little before lights out.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: A tale of two cities

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS: -

Really enjoyed the second installment of Laini Taylor's trilogy. OK so now I'm waiting for book 3 to come out, was hoping it would be out next year but looks like it will be in 2014. Back to the Dickens.

TIME FRAME: 9am - 11am UK time

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (Clarissa)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 40
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 80
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? More tea

DISTRACTIONS? Thought some more about the January TIOLI challenges...

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: Clarissa - I'm really making good progress and wonder if I might even finish it today.

#65 2014 for the third Laini Taylor book? :-(

Heather, I saw the words 'pushed back to 2014' somewhere online. I'm pretty sure it's written and in the editing process, maybe something to do with the film rights being sold.

#67 Kerry, after writing that I went to check Laini Taylor's homepage and it says there April 2014.

TIME FRAME: (last night) 12:10am-1am

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 39
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 101
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 0

TIME FRAME: (last night) 5:45 pm - 7:15 pm = 90" and (morning) 4:30 am - 5:00 am = 30" TOTAL this time frame is 120" or 2 hrs.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 35 pages - Comment: Wow, that is slow
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 35
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 0

I'm reading The Dovekeepers which I am beginning to enjoy a bit although I probably would not read it if it were not my book group's January selection. I've also during this time period had a nice warm bath, and re-read a few pages out of Wild Bill Donovan, one of the paperback books I am willing to read while in the bathtub. I also read a few threads here, but really if I'm going to get any significant progress on my books I need to skip and skim, with apologies.

OK, dogs are fed, I've got my 2nd cuppa, and the pellet stove is singing merrily. Back to reading.

TIME FRAME An hour and 40 minutes last night and about an hour this morning

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 166
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2—The Other Boleyn Girl and Prancer

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 166
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

I finished The Other Boleyn Girl last night, a book I’ve been reading off and on all week, and I zipped through a children’s Christmas book (Prancer) this morning. I’ve also started my next read, The Cat Who Came For Christmas, which already has me laughing out loud. It's snowing here and I have no immediate plans to do anything so I'm hoping to get lots more reading done!

TIME FRAME: 8:30-10:15am EST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 (Escape from Camp 14 and The Alloy of Law)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 109
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 210
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? Two eggs sunny-side up, fresh-made juice (apple, beet, celery, cucumber)

DISTRACTIONS? Making breakfast, eating breakfast, cleaning the juicer, petting the bunny who really REALLY wanted some nose scratches...

Now I'm off to get the parrot up for the day (though he's already awake, I can hear him shuffling around the cage) and make some tea. It's snowing out and I feel this calls for, once again, tea and a warm blanket on the couch. Hopefully I'll be able to stay awake this time, though... haha.

I slept in this morning until 7:30. It was wonderful. The dog is walked and the steel cut oatmeal consumed so I'm ready to get back on the clock. I'll catch ya later! I really enjoy all the comments here, especially the book quotes.

All this talk of snow! It's just rain, rain, gales and more rain here today, boooo-ring. I got quite a bit read this morning, but since lunchtime it's been quite busy so things have slowed off on the reading front.

I have absolutely no idea how far through the RAT we are (17 hours?) but since I arrived at work and REMEMBERED about it I've read 42 pages, all from Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Abby Clements. My dreadful busy-Saturday-on-the-counter menu has pretty much comprised of a bag of Seabrooks crinkly crisps and a couple of mini millionaire shortbread bites. And coffee. ROCK AND ROLL, DUDES.

Anyway, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is a lovely Christmassy novel about two very different friends - single London fashion designer Laurie and married-with-kids Yorkshire homebird Rachel - who wind up house-swapping before Christmas when Rachel's mother-in-law has to go to hospital in London. It's obviously all going to be very 'getting your life in order and discovering another side to yourself whilst also facing some difficult moments', and so far it's light, easy to read and exactly what the doctor ordered in this busy little patch between Christmas and the New Year!

It's snowing hard here, too. Very pretty, and fortunately I'm well stocked up on food and have someone who will come to plow when it stops.

TIME FRAME: Off and on since the readathon started
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 (The Secret Life of William Shakespeare and Learning to Talk: Short Stories)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 64
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 64
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? Last night it was Chicken and Spinach Soup. This morning I made a lovely omelet with fingerling potato, scallions, red and green pepper, cherry tomatoes, and spinach, topped with pepper jack cheese, and a few slices of bacon on the side. Coffee, of course, with peppermint mocha creamer.

DISTRACTIONS? Phone calls, cooking, laundry, errands, naughty cats. Today will be a good day to hunker down with a book.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? As a Shakespearean, I’ve read a ton of fiction in which WS plays a major role. Most of them are drivel; in fact, I was so disgusted with those by Robert Nye that I trashed them rather than passing them on to anyone else. But Jude Morgan is one of my favorite historical fiction writers, and this one—despite the title , which suggests something raunchy—definitely held up well. It focused equally on Will and his wife Anne, and the main storyline was on how they each dealt with the separation caused by his leaving the family in Stratford to pursue a stage career in London. I loved the depictions of Shakespeare’s cohorts as well, especially the characters of Marlowe and Jonson (on whom I wrote my dissertation).

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Imagined Lives by John Banville, Tracy Chevalier, Julian Fellowes, Alexander McCall Smith, Terry Pratchett, Sarah Singleton, Joanna Trollope, and Minette Walters

Obviously the first two are by the same author, the first two installments of her glorious series about Thomas Cromwell. The last is a series of short stories and sketches based on portraits from the late 16th and 17th centuries, so there’s a vague connection to the Mantel in terms of time period. but I don’t see any other links, really.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?

The one I’m dying to read is Rose Tremain’s Merivel, a sequel to Restoration. I have a copy on order from Abe’s books, because it won’t be released here until April. I also want to read Desdemona by Toni Morrison, but it’s only available for Kindle.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?
I don’t really have one; not a big New Year’s person.

4. Any book-related resolutions??
Like just about everyone else on LT, I will be trying to pare down the TBR stacks and resist buying more books until I do. Seriously, they are starting to squeeze me out of the house!

TIME FRAME: Hours 12-13 and 15-17

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: Wir beide, irgendwann by Jay Ash/Carolyn Mackler
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 234
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 1 (yay!)

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 1 (finished)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 400

THE MENU? Orange juice, sweet chai, and two slices of cold pizza (Why does it taste so good?)

DISTRACTIONS? Not too many distractions. Family members came home, but all in all it was a calm afternoon. Unfortunately the calmest time is over, because now, the living room is occupied and the TV running. I need to find another place to read in peace... :(

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Again - Wir beide, irgendwann by Jay Ash/Carolyn Mackler

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Nothing outstanding.

---

Now, I am having a short break - refill my tea pot and get a quick snack.
Then I'll be back for more reading. Next on my list: Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Hello everyone!! I didn't start reading at 6 last night because we went out to dinner with my father and sister's family and our step sister's family for our annual Christmas Dinner Celebration. It was a wonderful night of family talk and opening our presents. I love seeing looks on the children's faces with their gifts.

I started reading this morning while still in bed. I am reading Breaking News by Fern Michaels. It is a very funny read so far. I am going to reply to the meme and do an update on my reading:

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc? I never do a list of the best reads of a year because I can never remember the books that I have read during the year by the end of the year. This year I do know that I loved the Hunger Games series. I read all three of them this year and they were all fantastic! I also read some Neil Gaiman books and I loved them too.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? Not this year. I don't know of any books at this time that I am eager to read but that could always change.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? Nothing really. I have never gone out on New Year's Eve so all my memories are just me sitting at home watching the ball drop. i always wanted to go out but ex husband didn't seem interested in doing anything.

4. Any book-related resolutions?? My biggest resolution for books is to read more of the books I own and get rid of them if I don't plan to re-read them or I didn't enjoy them. By getting rid of them I mean donating them to a library or some one in need of books

My reading log:

Books you have been reading: Breaking News by Fern Michaels
Pages read: 17
Books completed: none

Menu Ham, potatoes, orange juice
Distractions: Just coming down stairs and finding out my son is sick. I haven't been able to read since then. Now watching Mirror, Mirror.

Favorite books so far: I have only really read the one book and cannot say it is a favorite just yet.

Memorable Characters/Events/Quotes: Just starting the book and really not sure about the characters just yet.

Now I am going to try and read some more.

Second update (11pm until 1:45pm)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 390
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 446
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

THE MENU? Last night I had a piece of string cheese and a chocolate Santa in bed. So far today I've had 3 big cups of Jingle Bell Java coffee with hazelnut creamer, and once I finished the book I had an entire bag of salad (*sigh*, I know) with some bacon and Olive Garden dressing. Lots of water too.

DISTRACTIONS? TV. Family Guy last night, and while I was eating my giant salad I watched a couple of mindless episodes of Man Vs. Food. Slept for just over 8 hours last night. Watching it snow (and my neighbors shovel - it's less than 2 inches of fluffy stuff and I had a book to finish) from my recliner, cat on my lap and book in front of my face. Now I should probably put on something other than pajamas and do a quick shovel of the sidewalks and maybe the driveway, bring the garbage can up from the alley, wash some dishes.... I think only one or two of those things will get done.

Since I finished JC this morning, I'm in more of a reading mood than I have been in quite some time. There are still 5 books on my read-before-the-end-of-the-year-for-12-12 list, and if I can get another whole book and part of one other out of the way by the time I go to bed tonight, I'll be very happy. But ugh, man, I don't think there are words to describe how much I do not want to shovel.

TIME FRAME Today 10.00 - 9.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Hammer and the Cross and Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 126
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 300
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Drinks - coffee; nettle and mint tea; water; cider
Breakfast - welsh cakes; Lunch - bread and cheese; Dinner - baked potato and tuna mayo with salad; Snacks - chocolate and biscuits

DISTRACTIONS? the cats:) LT threads; housework; TV; computer games.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

Not much reading done during the day:( but then that is normal for me. I am making good progress in the NF with only two chapters left to read so should finish that tomorrow. I am still enjoying Carnevale. I like Lovric's books as they are a good mix of dark and quirky with a solid historical background.

Probably won't be reading any more until I take the books to bed about 10.30 my time. Back tomorrow:)

Second update (10 to 11 last night, and 11 to 1 midday today Pacific time--2 hours and 26 minutes total actual reading time for the readathon)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 81 plus Chapters 16 and 17 on the Kindle from The Social Conquest of Earth
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 266 plus two chapters on the Kindle
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2
The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima: YA fantasy, book 2 of series, interesting story with good characters
How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen: This short (81 pp.) book is about Quindlen's love of reading, and is so full of quotes and quotables that I'll probably be using them for the rest of the readathon. How I identified with so many of them!

The menu? Vietnamese seafood soup for lunch, along with a potsticker.

Distractions? Last night I was reading in bed during the news, so occasional pauses to listen to stories or the weather on the TV or to respond to conversation with my husband. Most of today's reading (the Quindlen) was soaking in bubble bath, but then there was lunch before I finished it up.

Favorite book? These are all so different--completely different genres--that I can't compare them yet.

Memorable characters/events/quotes?

"When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me" Montaigne, quoted in How Reading Changed My Life

TIME FRAME: 10:45am-4:00pm EST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 261
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 471
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

THE MENU? A few "all-natural" (haha) hotdogs, carrot ginger soup, several coconut chocolate cookies, chocolate walnut torte, vegan raw hazelnut chocolate "cheesecake", camomile lemon tea followed by a pot of Earl Grey... er, yes, the plan is to clean out the rest of the Christmas treats this weekend (by which I mean "eat them all") so we can get back to our regular clean eating habits on January 1st. No complaints here! Hah.

DISTRACTIONS? Lunch, took a 20-minute nap after inadvertently falling asleep on the couch (what did I tell you?), watched an episode of Stargate SG-1 while eating the cake slices, and I've taken a few minutes to load/run the dishwasher as well as play with the parrot (who seems thrilled to have me next to him on the couch all day).

And, I suppose I'll do the meme now while I'm on break...

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

I haven't really had a chance to go back through the year's books yet... but a few memorable reads were Ender's Game, The Lost City of Z, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, Chime, Thieftaker, and the one I just finished, The Alloy of Law. Can't see anything that links them -- I suppose I read across the spectrum these days! I blame LT. :)

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?

The first one that comes to mind is the next book after Thieftaker. I'll definitely be grabbing that one on release day! And of course, the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?

When I was young, we would always get to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV... so while I can't pin a specific memory, the tradition of doing that has seared New Year's Eve in my mind and memories as a warm, enjoyable, family occasion.

4. Any book-related resolutions?

I'd love to finally organize my shelves downstairs, I'd love to finally remove some of the books I don't like/won't re-read and donate them, and just like everyone else... I'd love to buy less and read more off my shelves. But, considering how terribly I failed the "Read More Than You Buy" challenge this year, the best I think I can hope for is to perhaps at least read the books I buy right away, rather than letting them sit around and becoming just another volume on the shelf...

Some host I turn out to be! Ended up sleeping for 10 hours, then waking up with the beginnings of a cold, which made me reluctant to crawl out from under the duvet. And it's impossible to update while lying prone in bed. Nasty day outside; sleet rather than snow, and quite cold. I had errands to do but will postpone them until tomorrow.

Deborah, delighted to learn that you're enjoying the Jude Morgan book about Shakespeare. That's going to be one of my first books for 2013, as I love his biography-based novels. (Am less enamored of the Jane Austen imitations, which don't work as well for me as, say, Georgette Heyer...)

TIME FRAME: 12 hours ending 4 PM Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3; Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland, S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic and Two Brothers by Ben Elton
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 41 in the first, 54 in the second, 20 in the final one: 116 pages total
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 638
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: Zero

THE MENU? Vitamin Water zero

DISTRACTIONS? Feeling sleepy/tired/sore throat, and cats clambering over me as if I'm a jungle gym.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland; the Drakulic novel is chilling and bleak but well written and translated.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? None to add right now.

OK, time for an update from the Pac NW corner of USA:

Still reading from The Dovekeepers and enjoying it a bit more.
I have read 70 more pages
I have not completed any books

Total pages read in this Read-A-Thon is 105.

I also decided to join FictFact and start to keep track of books in series that I've read so I know better what I want to read next; so I have used some time entering books on that site.

If you use that site and want to follow me and let me follow you - send me a PM and I'll give you the low down and how to connect to me. Fun site!

Oh, I forgot to mention my distractions: dogs, letting dogs in and out the back door, eating breakfast, eating snacks, napping, opening the door to a Boy Scout who wanted to collect my Christmas Tree. Not a very productive reading day so far, but I'll continue.

TIME FRAME Hour 23
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Musicophilia
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 28 pages, 1/3CD
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 2 1/3 CDs, 149 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Pumpkin, walnut oatmeal with a banana, a sliced orange, eggnog latte
DISTRACTIONS? morning routine
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Cheryl Strayed is half way through her journey, and my feet are really hurting. This is such an interesting book.

I'm still here but reading very little this morning after falling asleep almost immediately last night. Either I get lots of books read or I catch up on my sleep - I do enjoy these readathons either way!
I have to go out for an hour or so but hopefully will put in a couple of hours reading in the afternoon.

TIME FRAME: 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. -- 4 hrs., 10 min. so far today.
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 268 pages.
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 -- Sweet Thursday

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 371
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1

THE MENU? Fresh pear, cheese, Christmas cookies
DISTRACTIONS? Phone calls, cleaning kitchen, chat with husband
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Sweet Thursday

Any book related resolutions? I will be reading A Dance to the Music of Time over the course of 2013. It works out nicely with four volumes consisting of 3 books each = one book per month. I started the first book and read 52 pages. So far it reminds me a little bit of Any Human Heart which I loved.

My second book is an ER, The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. I'm only 59 pages into it so don't have much of an opinion yet. I'll post some quotes later on. We have a few errands to do, then will be going over to our son's house for dinner and to see what 2-year-old Haley got from her other relatives in Dodge City for Christmas. It is so much fun finally having a grandchild in town!

I've been reading but not really keeping track of hours or pages. Working on Warhost of Vastmark which I'm greatly enjoying.

My one book resolution (which I'll probably break) is to buy fewer books in 2013 than in 2012. Sheesh. I've got to learn restraint!

TIME FRAME: Hours 19-22

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 132

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 532
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 1

THE MENU? Some Christmas sweets, a glass of prosecco, mainly tea

DISTRACTIONS? TV is running which makes it difficult to focus on Steinbeck. So the last two hours I gave in... shame on me.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? It's difficult to compare the young adult novel with the nobelprize-winning masterpiece....

---

Now, the first 24 hours of the readthon are over. I notice that I'm getting slower as far as my reading is concerned. The Steinbeck novel is fantastic, but I really need to "stay with it" (to read longer parts in one go) to fully enjoy the story.

I think I will read a little bit more now, but will go to bed soon. I hope that I will wake up all the earlier tomorrow.

---

Passing comment: I really like to not take exact note of my reading/posting time. It's more relaxing and I don't feel too pressured, but still make some progress. Thanks, Suzanne!

Kathy, you're welcome! I can be driven to distraction by the requests to monitor all kinds of different things and present them in certain formats; definitely, keeping tracking of minutes reading/posting interferes with my ability to immerse myself in a narrative. Which sometimes is tricky enough anyway -- The Magic Mountain and I are glaring at each other currently...

TIME FRAME: 4 pm to 7 pm Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2; Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland, S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 60 in the former; 38 in the latter: 98 total
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland)

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 736
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 3

THE MENU? Turkey sandwiches & a clementine orange

DISTRACTIONS? Making the sandwiches & trying to prevent Tigger the terror cat from abducting the turkey. Dealing with some e-mail, etc.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland; definitely one of the best & smartest books I've read this year.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? None to add right now; I'll circle back later with some "bons mots" from the Freeland book. What I found particularly relevant and chilling is that the plutocracy realizes that it no longer needs to worry about the wellbeing of its own middle class -- unlike Henry Ford, it doesn't need to rely on any single nation's middle class to be buyers of its goods or services. The globalization of business means that any sense of a stable national society being in the corporate self interest of any plutocrat is a thing of the past. Freeland does a fabulous job of articulating the issues and implications, and she does so knowing whereof she speaks, unlike a lot of critics of capitalism run amok. She's no anti-business crusader, but a pragmatic/empiricist with an interest in what makes societies and systems stable and sustainable.

TIME FRAME: 10 am- 7 pm EST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 145
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2 (The Man Without a Face and Under Sea Under Stone)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 205
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1
THE MENU: just came from dinner, which was sushi, miso soup, and edamame

DISTRACTIONS? I spent most of today driving with my family from Connecticut to Vermont in the snow. Since I was not actually driving, and I don't get sick from reading in the car, I was able to get some reading done, in between navigating and mediating backseat disputes.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The only book so far, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, which, aside from being about Putin, provides a chilling look at contemporary Russia. I really liked it (and thanks to Suzanne for the not-very-recent recommendation)

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
"The simple and evident truth is that Putin's Russia is a country where political rivals and vocal critics are often killed, and at least sometimes the order comes directly from the president's office."

I keep trying, and failing, to stay focused on reading. I've spent my afternoon making phone calls, making rice for dinner, trying to fix the TV that suddenly decided to stop working when I just wanted to listen to the classical station that's there, and picking up and putting down lots of different books. Oh, and staring at my various bookshelves, thinking up ways to reorganize things.

Here's hoping I can get stuck in something again soon, and be a little more reading-productive.

TIMEFRAME: About an hour and a half last night, on and off today

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2; Locked Rooms and How to Be an Explorer of the World
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 170 and 80

THE MENU? Pancakes with almonds, apricots and chocolate; popcorn; chicken and pasta with veggies

DISTRACTIONS? Catching up on TV; trying to organize the house.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Laurie King mystery, definitely. It's been fun comparing her version of Holmes with that from Elementary (American TV version with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu) and the Robert Downey Jr. movie that ran on TV today.

TIMEFRAME: Since the beginning of the Readathon

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 - White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell, which I just completed

NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 200

THE MENU? baked potato, brownies, Sprite

DISTRACTIONS? I haven't been feeling well since yesterday and it's been hard to concentrate on reading

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? White Eagles Over Serbia since it's the only book I've read so far!

TIME FRAME: roughly 6:30-8:00 pom EST
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (Learning to Talk)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 52 pages.
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 116
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 1

THE MENU? Last day for Christmas leftovers: prime rib au jus, roasted fingerling potatoes, green beans, creamed onions.
DISTRACTIONS? Phone calls, arrival of the snow removal crew, writing checks/paying bills, various naughty cat episodes, computer.
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Secret Life of William Shakespeare

I'm going to try to finish Learning to Talk tonight; it's a short one, less than 150 pages. But I've been falling asleep while reading, which should tell you that it isn't really grabbing me.

Grrrr. I composed most of a long post at about 1 am, but I think Mike moved to another website from my post - he didn't think he'd closed anything, but one of my LT windows disappeared.

TIME FRAME 28 hours - but I didn't really start until this morning for various reasons

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 5
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 100
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

Books read from:

Ann Patchett, Bel Canto - completed (last 75 pages)
Jane Feaver, According to Ruth
Kate Morton, The Secret Keeper
Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes
Various, Choc Lit Love Match

THE MENU? Yogurt, croissants, cheese and biscuits
crisps and sweets - terrible I know, but we went to a late afternoon/early evening party and I forgot to eat when we got home

DISTRACTIONS?

too many this weekend -
Unpacking and post
Water leak
TV
a party
internet
Amazon Kindle sale

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR?

Bel Canto but that's probably because I read most from that and the other 25 pages was divided unevenly between 4 books - I like the two I've read significant amounts of - the Jane Feaver and the silly choc lit anthology, and I will probably like the others when I get to reading substantial amounts from them.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

Yes, but as it was the ending, I won't say more.

Time: Last night to mid afternoon 4pm Sun

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
A tale of two cities - 34pgs
Writing in the dark by David Grossman - 10pgs
The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende - 50pgs
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 94
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 238 + 15mins audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:1
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

THE MENU: just had a couple of tiny sausage rolls

DISTRACTIONS: Lots, haven't read as much as I thought I would today. Been to the shops, spent time online and in the kitchen.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: A tale of two cities

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS: Enjoying the characters in the children's book - Jacob Scribble, a raven and Mauricio, a plump spoilt tabby.

Really hoping to finish all 3 books by end of the Readathon.

Ah! Progress has been made. In between playing with FictFact. In the last 5 hours I've read another 98 pages. And I am within spitting distance of finishing The Dovekeepers. I've enjoyed learning about Masada.

Onwards!

Congrats on Dovekeepers, Karen!!! I confess I got about 10% of the way into it and gave up. Will try again.

Anne, glad you are enjoying Man Without a Face. After our discussion about it earlier this year, I got hold of another Putin bio, Strongman, but have yet to get fully into it -- it's not as gripping a narrative as Geesen's although it may be more impartial.

TIME FRAME: 7 pm to 10 pm Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 131
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 867
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? Orange/chocolate Club biscuits -- a childhood treat.

DISTRACTIONS? Catching up on my LT posts in various places.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland; definitely one of the best & smartest books I've read this year. The Drakulic novel is excellent, but chilling/depressing.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? From the Drakulic novel, this comment says it all: "Only now does S. understand that a woman's body never really belongs to the woman. It belongs to others -- to the man, the children, the family. And in wartime to soldiers." This is something she thinks to herself after being told in a refugee camp that she is five months' pregnant. My mini review of this and the other books I have finished are now on my thread in the 2012 group.

Okay, I could use some LT advice.

I have 5 books that I have to finish in order to officially complete my 12-12 challenge. (Sorry if I keep yammering on about it, but it's bugging me as I've read nearly 150 books total, surpassing my number goal, but there are still these 5, and shouldn't I be able to pound them out?) Anyways, I don't know what to do.

They're not bad books, but I don't feel like reading them now. It's feeling more and more like dreaded homework, and since I own them all, going back to them when the timing feels right is still very much an option. Am I being a completist nerd about this? Shouldn't I enjoy what I'm reading? Or should I soldier on so I don't have to think about it any more?Thanks in advance!

Laura - you should do some rearranging of your categories so you make those 150 books fit rather than trying to read any more books. Can you rename one of your categories?

Time Frame:2:00 pm to 8:30 pm: Whoo hoo. Finished The Dovekeepers. I think I will put off writing a book review for it until my RL book group has a chance to meet and discuss it. I don't want to be a wet blankie.

Next: Well, I think I need to do a few chores and then will hit the hay. I'm tired. But I am very glad to have finished this book, and to have a chance to start Anna Karenina. I am a slow reader so I will need a head start. Also, I think I will read a few of the threads I've been neglecting.

See your comments here tomorrow!

Laura--Or, alternatively, if you have other books that fit your categories that feel right for now.

I'm a mostly a mood reader. It's very hard for me to soldier through books (unless it actually is required reading for class). In my free time, I read for fun. I do not want it to become a constant chore. If it happens every once in a while, no biggie. But I could not force myself through 5 books in a row that didn't fit my mood.

#of pages: 87
#of books read from: 1, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
#of books completed: 1

Menu: Apple mead

Distractions: work, emails, blogging duties, vacation research, and a couple games of Words With Friends

I'm calling it for today, and possibly the rest of the year. I reached my goal of finishing The Alchemist and will be BusyBusyBusy the next few days. So if I don't see you all til then, Happy New Year! And thanks again, Suzanne, for putting this all together :)

To answer, not really. Gone With the Wind and Recipes for a Perfect Marriage were chosen by 2 RL friends of mine to read as they're one of their favorites. And An Area of Darkness, Middlesex, and The Palace Under the Alps were all chosen by LT friends in my Blindfold category for me to read this year. The only one I really feel like reading now is the Bryson. The others I just plain don't feel like and/or I want to wait to read so I can savor the writing.

Laura, if I were in your boots and feeling self-inflicted pressure to finish some number of books in the next couple of days, just to complete a challenge I gave myself - I would not make myself miserable for 1 day, or 2 days, or any number of days. You have done a great deal of reading, and have gotten near the completion of the 12 by 12 challenge. Good enough!

Now, if you were doing this to meet a deadline for submission of your PhD thesis on time. Well, then, we all know soldiering on is a well honored tradition in academia; but not in real life!

OK, you asked for advice. And I gave a little.

BTW, Gone with the Wind is not good enough to make yourself read it. Only read it if you really want to read it.

Laura-- I guess my only other suggestion would be to ask your LT friends for other recs for the Blindfold category, with this situation in mind--light, quick reads. Same of your two RL friends. If you're open to changing the titles chosen, that is.

No new reading since my last report--I've helped my husband play with his new laptop, watched KU win big in basketball, and played on Facebook games while reading LT threads--but my evening reading time is coming up. I just need to decide what to read next since I've finished all my current library books.

Because I read so intermittently, it's easier for me to keep track of minutes actually read. It's easy because one of my pre-retirement tools of trade is with me, a combo timer, stopwatch. I just push the button when I start reading, push it again when I stop, and there's my cumulative reading time. I agree, it would be onerous to keep track of it manually.

TIME FRAME: Saturday

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 4
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 234
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2
Strange Doings by R.A. Lafferty
The Jester at Scar by E.Cl Tubb

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 353
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? vegetable chili with mushrooms over brown rice

DISTRACTIONS? The usual Saturday stuff.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
Galli was an hereditary storyteller of the Indies. "There is
only one story in the world," he said, "and it pulls two ways.
There is the reason part that says, 'Hell, it can't be' and there
is the wonder part that says, 'Hell, maybe it is.'"
-- R.A. Lafferty, "Cliffs that Laughed" in: Strange Doings

TIME FRAME: 9:20 - 11:40 pm 1 hour, 20 minutes

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
High Rising by Angela Thirkell

NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 106

NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 306
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 2

THE MENU? Just Water tonight

DISTRACTIONS? Grocery shopping, paying bills, a depressed son, baking cinnamon bread, family dinner party--thus only 1 hour & 20 minutes for the whole day.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Still Pogo.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? I truly loved the character of Laura Morland in High Rising. What a delightful book! Hope I can find the rest in the series!

Ladies, your advice was very helpful - I am going to read the Bryson book because I want to, and will forget about the others for now. Phew! I feel a ridiculous amount of relief having made that decision! I may be able to plow through "Recipes..." simply because that's a book that my friend bought for me because she adores it - I don't think it's really my cuppa, so after giving it a fair shot I will see where it lands, and either way is fine with me.

Thanks so much! I think I'm going to grab a yogurt and my Bryson and head to bed to read for the rest of the night. See you all shortly!

And to Laura: Why read if it isn't fun? I'd rather miss a goal than read something that I'm not enjoying. If it's too much effort, it's not worth it. Plenty of other things to read!

TIME FRAME 9:30 PST or 30.5 hours into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 4
Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) 24 pages
Musicophilia 1.6CD
The Fault In Our Stars 2CD
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell 34 pages
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: see above
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 The Fault In Our Stars

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 6 CDs, 207 pages
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 The Fault In Our Stars

THE MENU? lunch: tropical fruit salad with Greek yogurt, a pumpkin-hemp breakfast ball, creme brulee latte. Dinner: rice and bean soup with Greek yogurt, broccoli-mushroom-cactus kugel, a glass of red wine
DISTRACTIONS? so many - long conversations with my sister who recommended a cookie recipe, trip to the store to get ingredients for the cookie, actually making the pumpkin-hemp balls (they'd be better with added fruit and nuts), going to the gym, haircut
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars I like the way the kids need to examine the meaning of their life and death, something many of us never do. In an interview with the author at the end of the book he says that very sick people are forced to live existentially. Alas, I know that's not always true because I have been close to people dying of cancer who insist to the end that they're getting better. Part of their "treatment" is to encourage them never to think about death but to repeat a variation of "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better." What a waste of an opportunity for thoughtfulness I think.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? see above

Now, even though it's late I'm going to try to finish Wild.

Laura's dilemma is kinda my dilemma, too... I'm particularly wrestling with two categories, one being "chunksters" and the other dedicated to "emerging markets" fiction -- books written by/about emerging market nations -- China, India, Turkey, South Africa, etc. They have been left to the end because a little goes a long way... and because The Magic Mountain is turning into a very, very slow read indeed. After reading the comments above, I've decided I'm not going to push forward with the Thomas Mann book, even if it means I don't make to 144 books for this category. Gulp.

I'm kind of in the same situation as Laura as only a handful of these books are really calling to me, and I don't want to feel chained to them simply because of their characteristics. Oh well....

TIME FRAME: 10 pm to 1 am Eastern

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3: Two Brothers by Ben Elton, 11/22/63 by Stephen King and Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 48 in the first book; 98 in the second and 58 in the third: 204
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 7
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,071
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? Fish, corn, frozen French fries (cooked in the oven, obviously!)

DISTRACTIONS? Catching up on my LT posts, dinner.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? I'm finding the Stephen King novel fascinating, and the Ben Elton book also augurs well. Vargas Llosa is good, but requires too much of my attention right now.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? No more to report at present...

I'm eight books short of my 12 in 12 target...

Suzanne - I struggled this year with my chunkster category and the only thing that saved me were the long audiobooks that I had listened to.

Goooooood Morning LibraryThiiiiiing!
It's 7am here and I've already been up for an hour like a FOOL. Yes, I'm at work today, but it's still Sunday, y'know?! *remembers lie-ins of old and smiles fondly*

So, yesterday I'd managed to cram 42 pages of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Abby Clements into my working day (my last update was about 4pm I think), then after work I ate minced beef and mushroom stroganoff - my favourite! - and sipped strawberry and banana smoothie and read another 27 pages. Then went to bed reaaaaally early. So... 69 pages yesterday. No too bad for a working Saturday.

This morning I made a huge mug of tea and read a chapter of my book (11 pages) taking my total so far to 80 pages. I'm still very much enjoying it - an unexpectedly poignant moment made me cry already today - but I couldn't get over the mention of 'Steve Carrell in an elf costume' in a movie where 'they have to sing to make Santa's sleigh take off' at the end. One, it's Steve Carell (one R!) and two, it's WILL FERRELL in Elf. Bad editing there, and a bit of a 'look what pop culture I know' gaffe as well. *shakes head sadly* So, I guess I'll go do something useful now, like brush my teeth, then I might have to go in search of breakfast and keep reading!

Kerry, yes, I read/listened to other chunksters -- but then logged them in my 75 category instead of the 12 in 12!!

Ellie, omigod, I HATE when authors/editors don't catch stuff like that...

Took a break from reading to watch the 1935 version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on late night TV. Very faithful to the book, but the sound is so scratchy it's driving me demented, so I'm off to bed.

Happy reading, y'all!

TIME FRAME 12:20 PST or about 33.5 hours into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 76
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 6 CDs, 283 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
THE MENU? a decaf mocha latte
DISTRACTIONS? none
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars but I very much liked Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Cheryl Strayed finished her 1100 mile journey on which almost everyone she met was kind to her, her feet seemed forever broken (but she doesn't mention that they stayed that way), and she worked through some major life difficulties mostly by not thinking about them or about thinking about them only briefly or tangentially. Being a rather tangential liver, I could relate.

Off to bed, I'll start Dodger tomorrow.

Suzanne - I know, right! It was kind of glaring off the page even before I got to that line and I just thought... 'No.' Someone should have caught it, somewhere through the editing process!

I've just finished a humungous choc chip muffin and an equally humungous mug of coffee, read another fifteen pages (running total: 95 pages), and welled up AGAIN. Honestly, I hope this doesn't keep happening at work today or I might have to spend my day doing something besides reading! Nothing worse than being caught unawares by a sad moment on the shop counter, trying to stop yourself welling up, and not being QUITE sure how far down your face your mascara has migrated. ;)

#89: That's exactly it, Suzanne! :)

---

Well, hello and good morning everybody!

Nice voting about Laura's reading decision. I think you decided right! Reading shouldn't feel forced at all - it would only worsen the experience.

My plan of getting up earlier totally DIDN'T WORK OUT.
I woke up at 10 a.m. and had a quick breakfast. Now, I think I will spend some time in the bathtub with my book. I hope that I can make some progress there, because in the afternoon I'll have to make a short family visit.

See you later!

TIME FRAME Last night 10.30 - 12.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Hammer and the Cross and Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 79
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 379
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? Hot chocolate

DISTRACTIONS? none

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

TIME FRAME This morning 8.45 - 10.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 The Hammer and the Cross and Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 66
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 The Hammer and the Cross

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 445
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? coffee and welsh cakes

DISTRACTIONS? feeding and cuddling the cats:)

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? Casanova's Cat in Carnevale:)

I also finished The Hammer and the Cross (AKA The Vikings: A History) which was my 144th 12 in 12 book:) Guess my distraction today will be updating my 12 in 12 thread which has been neglected for too long, also finalising my categories for next year and setting up a 2013 Category Challenge thread:)

Back later, I still would like to finish Carnevale before the New Year and read the last Steinbeck for the Steinbeckathon but I haven't even started Sweet Thursday yet!

I'm falling behind in my reading and will have to pull out a big effort tomorrow to finish A Tale of Two Cities. I've read another 50 pgs this evening and another 10 pg essay in Writing in the Dark. Hopefully I'll read some more before falling asleep but calling it a night here on the laptop.

TIME FRAME Yesterday 11am-1am

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1: Death comes as the End
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 180
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2 Death comes as the End and The World's Wife
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 190
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? a slice of christmas cake for a late breakfast, and spicy parsnip soup for both lunch and dinner

DISTRACTIONS? flu, drowsiness caused by flu, reading a few long threads, half watching pointless things on TV

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The World's Wife has some funny and some powerful poems.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? - I' ve left the poetry book upstairs, or I'd quote one of the shorter ones from there...

I hadn't intended to join the readathon until NYEve, as I was meant to be working until Sunday afternoon then travelling down to my sister's house. She will be going out to a party at New Year and I was going to stay in and read happily by myself.

All this has been scuppered by my coming down with flu the day after Boxing Day. I've not been working at all, other than making some phone calls to arrange cover for my Sunday duties. But I've been feeling too woozy to do much reading either. I did manage to read one short Agatha Christie yesterday: read 10 pages, fall asleep for 2 hours, read another 10 pages etc.

Now I've had a late breakfast again, am feeling marginally better than the past 2 days (throat is less sore) and am planning to read a bit more of a collection of essays: Inside the whale and other essays by George Orwell which I've had on the go since November.

TIME FRAME: Hours 35-36

I didn't want to take my centennial edition of Grapes of Wrath with me to the bathtub. That's why I borrowed my mother's Reader's Digest. But I won't count it for my general statistics, only for the readathon. :)

The family meetup is postponed until tomorrow. That's why I will try another round of Steinbeck!

---

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: Reader's Digest January 2013
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 160

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 692
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2

THE MENU? A delicious Wienerschnitzel with potato salad, orange juice, Christmas cookies as dessert

DISTRACTIONS? Not too many.

Good morning/afternoon/evening! (Depending on where you are, I suppose...!)

I only managed another 45m of reading after my previous report (started Double Double), as El Husbando came home and wanted to have dinner & watch some TV together. But that's okay, I'll be back at it after church & lunch, no doubt. There's been talk of going to see Jack Reacher, but so far I've heard mixed reviews about the film so I'm not sure I'm up for it today (instead of reading, that is!). Haha.

TIME FRAME: 10 p.m.-8 a.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: 1 - Gingerbread Cookie Murder
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 46

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 246
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 1 - White Eagles Over Serbia

THE MENU? Brownies & tea

DISTRACTIONS? Sleep.

My temperature is finally back to normal. I'll read for a bit this morning then go to church. I will read more later today, although I know I'll be distracted by college basketball and NFL football this afternoon.

>125 cbl_tn:: Brownies & tea while reading a book titled Gingerbread Cookie Murder sounds marvelous! Hah. Glad you're feeling better this morning. :)

Good morning from the Pac NW of the USA. Been up for a bit, fed the dogs, drank my first cuppa, and played on the computer. Ordered some new books and stuff from Amazon! Shame. Nevertheless, I have been putting off reading because I could not decide what to read next.

I could read my ER book, The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau, or one of the books I received for Christmas, or make some progress on the many books I've started but not finished. You know, that was the goal, right? To finish some already started books before the year turns.

Well, I started The Liberator, and it is not too ong, 350 pages with largish print. So I guess I'll give it a go.

I'm going to use my iPhone to track my time. What a good idea.

Hope everyone else is having a great time!

TIME FRAME: About 40 minutes of reading yesterday and another hour and a half this morning

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 102
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 268
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 2

DISTRACTIONS? Shoveling snow yesterday, and today I have some errands to run.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
I’m currently reading The Cat Who Came For Christmas by Cleveland Amory, which is non-fiction about a curmudgeonly animal-rights activist who adopts a stray cat one Christmas Eve. The book is about his life with the cat, but it’s also filled with facts about cats, their origins, and other random tidbits. Anyway, here’s a quote that I liked:

“Of all authors and cat-lovers I found, Mark Twain certainly has the distinction of having given his cats the oddest names. Among these were Apollinaris, Zoroaster, Blatherskite, and Sour Mash. The idea was, Twain maintained, not to be mean to the cats but, since they were so difficult about names anyway, to go all out and give them names which would be good practice for children learning the pronunciation of long and difficult words.”

Good morning from Wellington - it's 6.15 on Monday morning and looks like a lovely sunny day. I was reading yesterday, just not posting.

Total reading time. : no idea
Total pages read since start of readathon : 160 pages of Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum?

If I blitz it today I might get it finished by midnight - 150 pages to go.

On the menu: a latte from my trusty Nespresso machine and two pieces of raspberry jam toast.

Good afternoon all! I have been reading since I woke up this morning. I got my shower took the dog for a short walk in the snow. I then made my breakfast of ham, and potatoes, and a glass of orange juice and a banana.

I don't keep track of my reading time or pages read. I did finish my book Breaking News by Fern Michaels which is a total of 264 pages. I will be posting my review in my 12 in 12 and 75 book challenge threads.

I am going to be picking up my book club book The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent and possibly by next ER book Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell or Postcards from Cedar Key by Terri Dulong.

I do have some errands I would like to run so I may take a break for a little bit then return to continue reading.

Happy Reading all!

Ah, time for a wee check-in: Since about 8:00 am until now (10:30 am) I've read for about 60 minutes (and did 41 pages), had a lovely phone call from a good friend, washed a few dishes and read a few threads here in LT. (I spend a good deal of my time doing that, to the loss of actual reading of books!)

I'm reading, as noted above, an ER book about WWII. It is reminding me of all the war movies we watched when I was a kid, in the 1950s. Any one else here have war movie memories?

The book is moving along quite quickly which suggests I might finish it today if I am diligent!

Still plugging my way through The Warhost of Vastmark. Not to say that it is boring or slow reading, but it is dense and has to be savored not sucked down in a gulp.

I'm staying warm as it is only in the 30s here, even though it is Florida - well, I think it's Florida, unless someone moved the house and didn't tell me.

The menu for dinner is steak and a pasta dish. Nothing fancy as we are watching the last day of the regular season of American Football. Geaux Saints, even if you won't be in the playoffs!

Third official update (from midnight last night til 1pm Sunday)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 4
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 144 (CoE:GN), 120 (CT), 105 (TPUTA), 67 (RoaPM) = 436
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 882
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 3 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau

THE MENU? frozen sausage egg & cheese sandwich with hot sauce, water. think it's about time for lunch before I start making chili.

DISTRACTIONS? I half-watched some TV last night when I was reading, don't even remember what it was. So far today I've watched a couple of episodes of Antiques Roadshow (British), Muppets Take Manhattan, and am halfway through Cedar Rapids now. I've washed some dishes, picked up a bit, just putzed around. Still haven't shoveled and am feeling like the neighborhood slacker right now. Need to do some laundry today, but will try to at least finish up my long-in-progress audiobook while doing so.

Thanks again for all of the decision help last night. I feel LOTS better having let those books go. Suzanne, be a slacker like me, and give up the remaining 8!

Oh, I'm such a slacker already.... on so many other fronts!!

TIME FRAME: noon to 2 p.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2: Two Brothers by Ben Elton, 11/22/63 by Stephen King
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 113 in the first book; 21 in the second: 134 total
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 7
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,405
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? Diet Pepsi

DISTRACTIONS? Narcolepsy!

I'ts almost 9am Monday here. I'm still making my way through A tale of two cities rather slowly. I've finished another 80pgs.
I'm having my morning coffee then must go out for a gym session. Hope to spend time this afternoon reading.
Breakfast: Greek yogurt w honey / coffee

I've been distracted by laundry and cleaning out a closet in hopes of making one last year-end donation to Good Will tomorrow. But last night I read another 87 pages in Learning to Talk, and I will finish it tonight. I'll be looking for something short to pick up next so I can make it to 85 books read for the year.

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 303
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 1

THE MENU? Breakfast: Cranberry muesli. Lunch: Chicken & Spinach soup.

DISTRACTIONS? See above. Not to mention naughty cats. Last night Suki got on the kitchen counter after I went to bed. I awoke to a big crash. She had knocked down and completely shattered the cute kitten spoon rest that matched my china. It won't be replaced; although I didn't pay that much for it, it's now a collector's item, going for $60 on eBay. Darn cat!

Laura, in my opinion, reading should never be a chore (uinless it's assigned for work or school, perhaps).

TIME FRAME: 7 pm (Sat)- 3 pm (Sun)EST

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 159
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2 (The Man Without a Face, Under Sea Under Stone, Night, Wild Swans)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 364
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 2 (The Man Without a Face, Night)
THE MENU: chili, sourdough bread, Long Trail IPA

DISTRACTIONS? Evening: board game; squabbling and weeping teenagers. Today: Not many distractions, everyone else is skiing except me.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Night is so brief and so powerful. Too harrowing to be a favorite, but one I've been meaning to read for a long while.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

Back to Laura and your category dilemma (since I have one of my own). I completely agree with your decision to read what you feel like reading. If you really care about finishing the challenge, just give yourself an extension! I'm struggling with mine, too, but not because I'm not motivated to read the books that would complete my challenge--the books I have left are ones I really want to read, and would be happy to pick up next--but there are too many to finish by tomorrow night! So I'll either decide it's over, or let it roll into 2013.

Now I'm deciding what to read next, since I won't finish Wild Swans this month and will probably continue reading it a chapter at a time: Envy, The Siege, The Swerve, or The Memory Chalet. I may start with a chapter from each and see which one grabs me.

TIME FRAME 1 pm PST or 46 hr into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Dodger
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 23
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Dodger
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 6 CDs, 306 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
THE MENU? tropical fruit salad (mango, papaya, kiwi, blackberries, raspberries) with cottage cheese, 2 pumpkin hemp breakfast cookies, (recipe here:
http://www.italktofood.com/2012/09/pumpkin-hemp-breakfast-cookies.html but they need the addition of fruit and nuts to be really yummy), eggnog latte
DISTRACTIONS? photographing the red-winged blackbirds in the back yard
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars but I very much liked Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) and I think I'm going to love Dodger
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? she "snored like a man sawing a pig in half" - Dodger is going to be a very colorful book

When I finished The Round House I knew I had to read Mystic River, and my request just came in at the library so I'm off to take it to the dog park for a good listen.

TIME FRAME: ? since last report

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (Gingerbread Cookie Murder)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 180
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 426
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 2

THE MENU? roast beef, crackers, Sprite

DISTRACTIONS? sports on TV

I'm going to have to break off shortly and do some work -- two stories to edit and two to write. Blech.

TIME FRAME: 2 p.m. to 4:30 pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 audiobook The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: Abt 2 hours
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,405, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? nada

DISTRACTIONS? Errands, but the audiobook distracted my attention just enough from the freezing wind!!

TIME FRAME: 7:00-7:45pm last night, 3:00-5:30pm today

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 (Double Double: How Tim Hortons Became a Canadian Way of Life, One Cup at a Time by Douglas Hunter, and Regina's Song by David & Leigh Eddings
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 259
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 730
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

THE MENU? Green grapes, piece of peppermint bark... off to find supper now

DISTRACTIONS? I managed to remain undistracted during the times I sat down to read, though it took forever to get to my books today because after lunch, El Husbando wanted to catch up on The Vampire Diaries (and as it seems every episode ends with a ridiculous cliffhanger, we ended up watching 3 episodes in exchange for me having "undisturbed reading time" afterward... hah!).

TIME FRAME: Hours 37-49 (1 p.m. to 1 a.m. CET)

I got soo lost in this Sunday afternoon!
Switching between reading, sleeping, eating, passing time on LibraryThing, reading and sleeping again, I made only a small progress in my readings: I read 98 pages of Grapes of Wrath and finished the audiobook Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln (about 30 pages).

---

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: 2 (Grapes of Wrath & Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 128 (98 + 30)

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4 (Wir beide, irgendwann, Grapes of Wrath, Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln, Readers Digest January 2013)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 820
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 3

THE MENU? More tea, the rests of the lunch (Wienerschnitzel with potato salad), sweets from the Christmas tree.

DISTRACTIONS? Sleep, sleep, and again sleep, TV, laptop. Oh well, and sleep of course.

---

I really have to increase my reading speed - otherwise I won't finish the book until tomorrow night.
I'm at chapter 19 (of 30) and still have 225 pages (half of the book) to go. Mission: Impossible?

oooh, wienerschnitzel... if it weren't so cold outside, that's what I'd go and pick up for dinner. There is a German restaurant a few blocks away that makes a wonderful schnitzel (pork, not veal) and very good potato salad.

as it is, I think I'll be ordering from somewhere that delivers!!

TIME FRAME: 4:30 pm to 7 pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 11/22/63 by Stephen King
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 78
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,483, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? plain bagel with lox spread, some OJ, some diet Pepsi

DISTRACTIONS? Edited two stories, still have to write a short article (700 words) sometime tonight) but am going to take a break to do some more reading. Prowled through NetGalley, and obtained two more books. Wrapped a present for the four-year-old who lives upstairs, Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons and a Pete the Cat beanbag toy.

I see we're having dueling ReadaThings/ReadaThons . . . feel free to add your reading times and comments over in the ReadaThing Threads, LOGBOOK, and WIKI!

http://www.librarything.com/groups/readathing

TIME FRAME: 9:30 am to 5:30 pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1: The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 305
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 746
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 2

THE MENU? pumpkin pie, whipped cream, cafe latte X 2, tortillila triangle chips, lemonade

DISTRACTIONS? letting dogs in and out the back door, feeding the same dogs, a warm bath, doing dishes, not much. I really wanted to finish both of these books: And I did it! Hip hip hooray!

TIME FRAME: 7 pm to 9 pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 11/22/63 by Stephen King
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 127
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,620, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4

THE MENU? Unadon (Japanese -- barbecued eel atop a bed of rice, quite yummy) and some miso soup.

DISTRACTIONS? Not too many.

I'm getting hooked on this novel. Eerily, the new Kindle Paperwhite estimates how much longer it will take me to finish each book and chapter I read, and for this one it's 4 hours and 39 minutes...

My goal for the evening is to finish either this or Two Brothers by Ben Elton for the 12 in 12 challenge, which I know I'll never be able to complete by the end of the day tomorrow. I am cheating by giving myself until midnight in LA to finish...

Ok, off to turn on the space heater and warm things up a bit. It's 58 F downstairs -- that's fine in my bedroom, but not when I'm awake and sitting motionless reading!

TIME FRAME: 7:30pm-9:45pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (Regina's Song by David & Leigh Eddings)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 267
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 997
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 3

THE MENU? Burger & roasted broccoli, coffee and raw hazelnut chocolate vegan "cheesecake"

DISTRACTIONS? It got a bit difficult to read for awhile there as the parrot was crawling all over me wanting to play and acting like I was his personal jungle gym, but we came to an acceptable compromise after a time... scratches with one hand while holding the book/awkwardly turning pages with the other...!

>146 Chatterbox:: The Kindle estimates how long it'll take to finish the book?!?! That's... both a little creepy and a little fascinating at the same time...!

Fourth update (from 1 to 9pm Sunday)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 122
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 7
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,004
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 3 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau

THE MENU? Chili with shredded cheese, a Bubble Up in a glass bottle (yum!), pint of raspberries (double yum!), water

DISTRACTIONS? Been mostly watching TV this afternoon like a lazy bum. I did, however, shovel my walkways and driveway and bring the garbage can up from the alley and some dishes. Small victories. I'm now watching my favorite episode of Top Gear, it's the last episode of the Top 40 that has my 3 favorite clips in it. The one where the guys try to build a new and improved caravan, and both episodes with their cars/boats trying to cross both a 2-mile reservoir and the Channel. Hilarious! It gets funnier every time I watch it, I swear. Now, I'm going to put my pj's back on, put some dishes away, maybe have some tea and finally get back to reading.

Sunday Update...

3:00 - 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 - 9:20 p.m.
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 225 pp.
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 596
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

I was getting a little too far along in The Burgess Boys so I set it aside to be finished aftermidnight tomorrow so it can count as a 2013 book. I started a book on the iPad - We Die Alone. It's about a thwarted espionage attempt in northern Norway during WWII that turns into an escape/survival story. What a gripping book!

Tomorrow will be spent taking the Christmas tree down and doing the chores I overlooked today. I like starting the new year with a clean slate and a cleanish house! I'll be back in the afternoon and part of the evening.

Fifth (from 9 to 10:30pm Sunday)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 88
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 7
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,092
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 4 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau, Read This! by Hans Weyandt

THE MENU? water, single size vanilla ice cream

DISTRACTIONS? Getting ready for bed, talked to my parents, smooched the cats. Going to keep reading and then toddle off to bed. Hopefully I'll sleep for more than 2 hours in a stretch, unlike last night.

TIME FRAME: 8:20 - 10:30 pm 2 hours, 10 minutes

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 134
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1
A Practical Guide to Yoga by James Hewitt

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 440
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 3

THE MENU? Pepsi Max, Water, Cookies

DISTRACTIONS? Laundry, a stellar performance of "Wicked" at the Fabulous Fox Theater with my Mom, my son Craig and my niece Casey, another family dinner party (with turkey et al. and far too much wine).

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Still Pogo

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
None tonight.

Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon!

TIME FRAME 9 pm PST or 54 hr into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3 Dodger 50 pages
Musicophilia 1/2 CD
Mystic River 1 1/2 CD
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: see above
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Dodger, Mystic River
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 8 CDs, 356 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
THE MENU? broccoli-mushroom-cactus kugel, sweet pea soup, green salad avocado, glass of red wine. Right now I'm drinking a decaf mocha latte
DISTRACTIONS? people at the dog park, fixing dinner, trying to find a good recipe for vegetarian black eyed peas (which I did, I'm going to make a gumbo using cactus instead of the okra) also the contagious narcolepsy
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars but I very much liked Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) and I think I'm going to love Dodger
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? The family saw Les Miserables the day after Christmas, and I keep humming Gavroche's song as I read Dodger

Yes, this Kindle paperwhite gizmo is a bit creepy -- I feel like speeding up and slowing down, just to throw it off balance and mess with its mind. Although it doesn't seem to make much sense to me, actually. It is now telling me 3 hours and 25 minutes, which seems wrong to me considering that it was north of 9 hours when I started writing and -- also according to the Kindle -- I have covered only around 55% of the book...

TIME FRAME: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2, 11/22/63 by Stephen King and Two Brothers by Ben Elton
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 136 in the former, 58 in the latter: 194
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,814, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4 (Midaq Alley, Traitor, S: A Novel About the Balkans and Plutocrats)

THE MENU? gingerbread.

DISTRACTIONS? Nap -- and extraordinarily annoying noise from outside. A car out there is making the same kind of noise your computer does when one of its fans breaks, or that a muted smoke alarm might make -- a kind of high-pitched, steady whoo-whoo-whoo noise. There is no way to avoid it as my home office looks out front, my living room is too cold to work in. ARGHHHHH. I have to write my 700-word article now as my editor will be looking for it at dawn.

TIME FRAME 11 pm PST or 56 hr into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Dodger
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 74
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Dodger, Mystic River
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 8 CDs, 435 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
THE MENU? nothing
DISTRACTIONS? Finally giving into sleepiness
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars but I very much liked Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) and I think I'm going to love Dodger
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? "if you wanted to be a successful urchin you needed to study how to urch." Too clever. I also loved his visit to the barber. I guess ol' Terry Pratchett still has his mojo.

Good luck on your writing, Chatterbox. You like to push the deadline, huh?

Yeah, I find I tend to function better in a stage of deadline-induced panic... It's done now, however, and there will be a limited amount of work tomorrow. One column to write and a few things to push through some straightforward editing, that's all. Then back to the fray full time on Wednesday... Still, it has been a nice respite!

No reading updates, but I thought I should answer my own meme, and throw out some more questions for the rest of you:

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc?

I'll post my list later on, but a handful really resonate. Some unreliable narrators, as in Gillespie and I and Gone Girl. Some books set in mid-century, such as The Garden of Evening Mists and Trapeze. Some historical novels that really rose above the genre, such as Bring Up the Bodies and Song of Achilles. Some that made me grumpy I hadn't read them before: Restless by William Boyd, The Line by Olga Grushin, Doc by Mary Doria Russell. The discovery of series that I didn't imagine I would like as much as I did, such as Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. (I've never been into fantasy or naval history...)

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013?

I simply can't wait to read Mohsin Hamid's new book, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Both of his earlier novels were soooo good. There will be new mysteries from Colin Cotterill (another Dr. Siri!) and David Downing. A novel by Ruth Ozeki looks very intriguing. On the non-fiction front, there is a new history about India from William Dalrymple, and Susan Jacoby's new book, Freethinkers. I'm also very excited about reading the bio of Paddy Leigh Fermor, which should arrive in the next week or so.

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory?

NYE in 1999/2000 was memorable. It started with me having to do a TV gig talking about the markets -- while all dressed up in a long red silk skirt. At midnight was in Central Park with a gaggle of friends. (We were told we were being too rowdy in the restaurant we went to...) I also enjoyed some of the NYEves I spent in Japan, where things are much quieter, in particular, two where I had friends visiting. We went to the local shrine at midnight to toss a 5 yen coin in the box and ring the bell for good luck in the new year, and collected arrows with little "ema", or painted wooden tablets. I've got a collection of those somewhere that I should look for...

4. Any book-related resolutions??

I've got a big/growing stack of hefty tomes, mostly non-fiction, that I want to read and keep avoiding as they seem to require too long a time commitment. Read more non-fiction in general, cut down on my obese list of books borrowed from the library, whose liberal borrowing policies have encouraged hoarding, but buy only one book a week for either my Kindle or shelves (excluding those deep discount Kindle sales...) Cut back on buying books from the UK that I know will be released here within the next several months. Sigh.

Next lot of Memes/questions/things to ponder:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?

Ok, with an hour to spare I've achieved my Readathon goals and have time to relax with a glass of wine and see the New Year in in an hour's time!

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 610approx + 40 mins audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD:3
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature and Politics by David Grossman
A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

THE MENU: I made moussaka earlier this evening and it really hit the spot.

DISTRACTIONS: Lots of housekeeping, a bit of spider solitaire, talking, shopping etc.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR: A tale of two cities

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS: Was very taken with a couple of the essays in the Grossman book.
Most of A Tale of Two Cities was memorable, I'd hate to meet Madame Defarge up a dark alley, shudder! My folio edition was beautifully illustrated by Charles Keeping.
I was telling my daughter about the impending doom I felt by the title of the chapter I was about to read near the end, "A knock at the door" when we had heard a really loud knock on our front door, both of us were quite startled!

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?! Almost over here, a quiet evening.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?
I try to make NY resolutions, they don't always work out but mostly concern something healthy or my family.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?
A few caught my attention, I added The Secret Life of William Shakespeare to my list on goodreads.
I already have The fault in our stars on my tbr but was reminded once again that I should be reading it.
Suzanne made Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland sound really interesting but I have too much nonfiction already clamouring for my attention.
I will be reading Anne Applebaum's Iron Curtain but probably not in 2013.
4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?
My first book will be Great House by Nicole Krauss, I've had it on Mt tbr since it came out and I'll be reading it for Orange Jan, TIOLI and a challenge in the 2013 category group.

Well I had a complete fail on any daytime reading yesterday - got sucked into watching lots of television:(

But I did read in bed last night and this morning so here are the updates

TIME FRAME Last night 10.30 - 12. 00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 92
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 537
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? hot chocolate

DISTRACTIONS? none

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

TIME FRAME This morning 8.30 - 10.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 101
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: none

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 638
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

THE MENU? coffee

DISTRACTIONS? feeding and cuddling cats!

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Carnevale

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

Next lot of Memes/questions/things to ponder:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?! - Just the reading:)

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones? Not really

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list? Only some that I was already looking forward to - Dodger, Among Others and The Invisible Ones.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013? Haven't really thought about it as I am still trying to sort out my 2013 Category Challenge but one of the first will be New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani as it is one I borrowed from the library.

Ugh, the annoying computer chirping noise outside is still driving me demented and preventing me from sleeping. Will try to squeeze in four hours now, before my new day has to start. Hard to believe that for Kerry, Cushla and others, that day is almost over! Makes me amused that I am reading a time-travel novel...

TIME FRAME: 3:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 11/22/63 by Stephen King
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 182
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,998, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 4 (Midaq Alley, Traitor, S: A Novel About the Balkans and Plutocrats)

THE MENU? Vitamin water zero

DISTRACTIONS? Finished the work, so the only problem is the chirping noise from the car parked just outdoors that has been going on for nearly 12 hours. I'm just hoping whoever belongs to it will drive it away in the morning...

My Kindle paperwhite informs me that in another hour and 48 minutes, I will have finished this current novel.. :-)
I have about four partly-finished books left to read. I think I'll start with The Neruda Case and The Stockholm Octavo, both of which are half-finished, and wrap up Two Brothers, which is good, and fast reading.

Question: is reading until it's 2013 in California legitimate when it comes to meeting my 12 in 12 challenge goals???

Happy new year! It's 2013 here now.

1. We've had a lovely evening - the kids stayed awake till 10.45 watching SpongeBob while I read my book and Tim tried to figure out how to fix the wonky car window on the internet (his idea of fun!). Also went out to a nice Japanese restaurant.

2. I think my New Year's resolution is to exercise more, but I don't really do them...

3. I think there are a couple of book bullets here but I'm nearly asleep at the keyboard and will report tomorrow.

4. The first book I want to read in 2013 is the end of Iron Curtain - nearly made it but 50 pages short of the end! Never mind, have made good progress. Don't know what'll be next.

Suz, that is just weird about the Kindle telling you how long to go...

TIME FRAME: Don´t know what hour, but it`s Monday, 31th, 1:55 p.m.

So to everyone some time zones ahead: Happy New Year, and all the best for 2013!

This morning I took it really slow. Got up, made a cup of tea and read a little in Grapes of Wrath.
It`s an outstanding piece of world literature and as far as I can tell the Nobel Prize is justified. I`m suprised how well the protagonists are handeling the setbacks, I`m already seething with anger...

Now, I will sign of for 2 or 3 hours, because I`m going to my little 3-month-old nephew.
See you later!
---

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: 1 (Grapes of Wrath)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 93

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4 (Wir beide, irgendwann, Grapes of Wrath, Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln, Readers Digest January 2013)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 913
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 3

THE MENU? Tea, ... and as a special exception I got something from McDonald`s for lunch.

DISTRACTIONS? Sleep, newspaper, computer, etc.

---

Next lot of Memes/questions/things to ponder:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!
It will be a very calm evening. Our family is having dinner together (fondue, mjam!) and I hope that I`ll get some more hours to read and finish my book. And maybe I can prepare my threads for 2013.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?
I believe in New Year`s resolutions to be broken. :) As far as my reading habits are concerned: To buy not too many books, read more of the books I already own, read faster. In general, I would like to sign up in a course (e.g. cooking, sports, etc.) in an adult education center, do some more sports again, try to find a book club. As I was quite busy with finishing my studies and my new job in 2012, I really want to work on my social life again. :)

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?
There are some reminders of books I plan to read anyway, but also some book bullets I have to write down later for myself.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?
Oh my, oh my.... There are four books I definitely want to read in January, but I don´t know yet with which to start: A Dance to the music of time by Anthony Powell, Anna Karenina by Lew Tolstoi, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Ulysses by James Joyce. But as well as I know myself, I will choose a totally different book to start 2013. :)

TIME FRAME: Sunday

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 237
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1
Where Were You Last Pluterday? / R.A. Lafferty

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 590
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? leftovers

DISTRACTIONS? LT, grocery shopping, the Jack Reacher movie

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?
Opening of Where Were You Last Pluterday?
Sam was scratching desperately at the crumbling edge
of the abyss. With fear he felt the cramp slowly, but
surely, reaching his fingertips.

He fell.

And ...

To be quite honest, Sam was not hanging at all above
an abyss. And there was no cramp at all in his fingertips.
For miles around there wasn't even a trace of an abyss at
whose edge one could scratch in despair. But recently I
met with a publisher who confided to me that in judging a
manuscript he only glanced at the first sentence. He must
be on tenterhooks by now.

Memes:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!
What, that's not enough?

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?
I believe they exist. I can't remember any important ones.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?
I hope so: Plutocrats sounds irresistible.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?
I'll probably finish Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl first.

Well I did get some reading done last night and this morning. I am going food shopping, boot shopping and hoping to take down my Christmas decorations.

Here are my answers to the meme:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!

I hope to read and watch one of the many television shows that will be on. I also plan to take a nap since I was up till 1 am and only got about 6 hours of sleep.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions but I do like to make them for fun. I will be exercising and reading as my resolutions. Also to save money for a new place to live.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?

I haven't really looked at anyone's books during this read-a-thon because I am trying to prevent myself from reading new books instead of the ones on my shelves and for book club.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?

I will be reading one of the books I have started so far. I don't have one that I want to read first in 2013.

Now off to do my errands and chores.

TIME FRAME: 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 11/22/63 by Stephen King
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 151
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,998, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 5 (Midaq Alley, Traitor, S: A Novel About the Balkans, 11/22/63 and Plutocrats)

THE MENU? Diet pepsi.

DISTRACTIONS? Dealing with edits on the work I did last night and trying to craft a column to write today, as well as figure out how to get my rent check into my bank account today so my landlord doesn't go nuts because I don't do it tomorrow (when banks are closed...) Oh, and a few hours sleep. That annoying car finally stopped chirping at 6:11 a.m.... So I managed about 3.5 hours.

Yay, I managed to finish 2 books last night -- Locked Rooms, which I've been working on for ages, and How to be an Explorer of the World, which was a Xmas present. It was a nice thing to spend much of yesterday curled up with books, especially after shoveling several inches of snow out of the driveway.

Tonight I have some freelance deadlines (the joys of working for an online retail website), but should still get to watch some TV and start chipping away at the second Kvothe Kingkiller book. For 2013 I definitely want to exercise more and read more, but not necessarily in that order. ;)

Well, I'm not sure I'll get back to the books tonight... I have some articles to write this afternoon and a bit of cleaning up that I've been avoiding for faaaar too long... I'm hoping to get an hour or two in before watching Riff Trax with El Husbando for New Year's, but if not... it's been a very fun readathon, and Happy New Year to all!

Sixth Update (from 10:30pm Sunday to 12:30pm Monday)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 56
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8 (Gone With the Wind, The Palace Under the Alps, Recipes for a Perfect Marriage, Evan Blessed + the ones I've finished)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,148
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS THON: 4 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau, Read This! by Hans Weyandt

THE MENU? water, Veggie omelette w/bacon, hashbrowns, english muffin, coffee

DISTRACTIONS? Sleep, met a good friend for breakfast at our favorite greasy spoon diner, library, grocery store. Have been home for about an hour, and aside from a phone call and putting groceries away, have just been listening to music, checking email and other stuff online. Getting ready to turn off the CD, put on my audiobook, and do some house cleaning up stuff. Trying to save my sitting time for later on when it's dark out so I don't feel as guilty.

Next lot of Memes/questions/things to ponder:

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!
That's really about it. I like staying home and thinking about this past year and the one to come. I always have a fire, some champagne/prosecco, and my stack of books nearby.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?
Not for myself so much. I don't make resolutions because for some weird reason I can't get my head around that word and apply it to myself like I'm supposed to - I prefer to say that I make goals and intentions for the next year. Usually it's things like be kinder to myself, put more good out there than bad, laugh as much as possible without looking like I missed my latest happy pill, etc.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?
Like Monica, I've been kind of avoiding the little blue words just to save myself and my shelves. Of course, I just finished a book of book lists last night, so I've already taken a substantial hit. Once this RAT is over with, probably some time tomorrow when I'm slogging through the wave of new threads, I'll come back with pen and paper and check everyone else's books out.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?
Hmmm, nothing in particular right now. I'd like to finish a couple of the ones already in progress, so my first book may very well be one that I didn't get to today. But nothing that I'm saving for that purpose.

TIME FRAME Today on and off between 1.00 - 7.00 (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Sweet Thursday
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 206
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: one

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 844
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? nettle and mint tea; coffee
Lunch - egg salad sandwich; bar of chocolate
Dinner - sweet chilli prawns with rice and stir fried vegetables. Cider

DISTRACTIONS? Reading LT threads; computer games; making food, cats:)

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? I enjoyed reading Sweet Thursday but I am still hoping to finish Carnevale before midnight and, depending on how it ends, that will still probably be my favourite book of the Readathon.

Four and a half hours to go before midnight here, I am going to take a short break ,open a bottle of wine and try to catch up with some more LT threads before returning to the book:)

TIME FRAME: 2 hours spent reading yesterday and about 2 and a half hours so far today.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 202
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 470
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 3

Thanks to Chatterbox for setting up the readathon, this will probably be my last post for the day. It was very productive for me—I managed to finish 3 books, although technically one was almost finished and two were short. But it was still productive! I also got through a big chunk of Stephen King’s Hearts In Atlantis, which I am loving so far and will most likely be my first book for 2013. Happy New Year!

TIME FRAME: Sunday afternoon to 3 PM Monday

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 5
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 140
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 (The Man Without a Face, Under Sea Under Stone, Night, Wild Swans, Envy, The Swerve, The Memory Chalet, A Christmas Carol)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 404
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 2 (The Man Without a Face, Night)
THE MENU: today: latte, burger and potato chips

DISTRACTIONS? Evening: dinner, squabbling and weeping teenagers (again). Today: LT, including January TIOLI and thinking about next years threads. I've gotten much less reading done than I planned but I now have a complete list of all the books I acquired this year and didn't read yet. I didn't number the list, but it's a 6 page word document (it includes Kindle and audio downloads as well as actual books).

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Not sure

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? I haven't done enough reading today to come up with anything!

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?!
New Year's Eve is also my husband's birthday--every year, imagine!--so it always presents some awkwardness around how to celebrate it, especially as we're away from home on a ski holiday. We will go out for a nice dinner as a family (though a more expensive one than if it were just an ordinary birthday because everything is more expensive on New Year's Eve) and then come back and hang out in the lounge of the place we're staying. They usually have live music on New Year's Eve and we'll do a jigsaw puzzle by the fire--very exciting. We'll probably call it quits before midnight though.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?
I love to think about New Year's Resolutions though I don't always formalize them. I think of them more as goals and I tend to make them several times a year--on my birthday in February and at the time of a new school year are other occasions.
I haven't made any yet for next year--but will spend some time tomorrow thinking about priorities for the year.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?
Plutocrats is enticing me but in general I have been trying not to add more books to my list.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?
I am limited to the books I am carrying with me, but I'm pretty sure my first book will be The Round House by Louise Erdrich, which I started on the plane on Christmas Day but set aside as it doesn't complete any of my 12 in 12 categories.

TIME FRAME: Yesterday 7-8 and Midnigiht-1:30; Today 12:30-1:00 pm. Reading has been sketchy as I've had a number of distractions (see below).

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2--Learning to Talk and The Servants' Quarters
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 88
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1--Learning to Talk

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON:91
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 391
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 2

THE MENU? Chicken Enchilada soup.

DISTRACTIONS? Cats, cats, and more cats. Tending to scratch wounds from kitten. Also, I was determined to finish cleaning out my bedroom closet last night so that I could make a year-end donation to the Good Will today; I made it--two big bags of reusable stuff, a lot of it with the tags still on. This morning I had a physical therapy appointment. Then I had to pick up a few things at the grocery store and a bottle of Asti for tonight. Parking and lines were ridiculous at both stores. Now I'm back and settling in for the rest of the day. Once I drag myself away from the computer, I plan to read until fairly late this evening.

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?

Not much. I'll be here by myself with just the dang cats for company. (Oh, they really are adorable and worth the trouble!) I'll probably read until early evening. Then I plan to watch a Blu-Ray of 'The Last of the Mohicans' that I got for Christmas. Blu-Ray is new to me, and I am awed by how superior it is to regular DVD. Closer to midnight, I'll pop a bottle of Asti and watch a bit of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin rolling in the New Year and the big ball in Times Square. That's about it.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones?

I don't take them too seriously since it seems that I keep making and resetting goals all year long. I'll be working on a healthier lifestyle--all the usual things like healthier eating, more exercise, getting enough sleep, reducing stress levels. And since I'm working towards retiring in a few years, I'll be trying to pay off my house and reduce spending.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list?

The Garden of Evening Mists and How Reading Changed My Life.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013?

If it arrives in today's mail, the first book I will read will be Merivel by Rose Tremain, which I've really been looking forward to. If it doesn't arrive, I'll most likely start with Gold Boy, Emerald Girl.

Coming back to catchup on everyone else's reading. I'm already well into New Year's Day and am cleaning out my pantry while listening to Stamboul Train by Graham Greene. I'm not at all keen to pick up an actual book just yet, need to reflect on yesterday's reads a little (and startt on neglected housework).
Also have to face the colossal number of threads that I haven't caught up on while cocooned in the readathon.

Thanks so much for setting this up Suzanne, I really enjoyed following everyone's progress to complete 2012 goals.

Huzzah! I managed an extra hour!

TIME FRAME: 3:30-4:30pm

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 181
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1178
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 4

THE MENU? Vanilla almond butter "white chocolate" cups

DISTRACTIONS? No distractions... just an hour to myself. :)

I'll resume my reading as soon as I get some dinner/lunch into me ( is there such a meal as "dunch" -- if not, someone needs to invent it...) and will be back to update my own last minute spring across the finish line and keep other readers company as the clock ticks down.

I have no plans here, as I try to avoid big blowout parties. They tend to be simultaneously dull and stressful (at least, IMO!)

TIME FRAME: Monday, 31th, 11:30 p.m.

Aaand, I am done! I finished Grapes of Wrath at exactly 11:19 p.m.! :)
So I have concluded my 75-challenge and this readathon with a fabulous book!
Now, I'm going to take a little rest, because it's only another half hour to 2013.
Thank you all for sharing your reading experience - and of course, thank you, Suzanne, for hosting!

Wish you and your families a fantastic New Year 2013!

---

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ: 1 (Grapes of Wrath)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ: 132

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4 (Wir beide, irgendwann, Grapes of Wrath, Gedankenlesen durch Schneckenstreicheln, Readers Digest January 2013)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1045
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 4

THE MENU? Fondue, prosecco, Christmas cookies

DISTRACTIONS? Because of the fireworks I have to comfort my dog.

TIME FRAME:
9:45 - 10:45 am (while I sat in the shop waiting for my car to be fixed) 1 hour
11:25 am - 12:25 pm (after I got home, said "The heck with working" and read until I decided I deserved a nap after the morning I had) 1 hour


NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
Over The Top by Arthur Guy Empey
The Rescue of Miss Yaskell and Other Pipe Dreams by Russell Baker

NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 129

NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 569
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 3

THE MENU? Diet Pepsi and Lays Potato Chips for breakfast (I know, I know); Lions' Choice Roast Beef Sandwich with Fries & Diet Pepsi for lunch with a scoop of Watergate Salad for a treat.

DISTRACTIONS? Well. I worked at home for an hour this morning, until I noticed it was snowing, so I ran to the store to pick up something I needed to make the supper that Keith decided I would make tonight (evil child). When I got back out to the car, it wouldn't start. Called a tow truck, and after he jump-started it, he suggested that I not turn it off until I had the battery looked at. So I went to the shop & got the battery replaced. I braved the slick roads to pick up some lunch from my favorite fast food place, drove carefully home, sent an email to my boss saying that I changed my mind and I was taking off today, ate lunch, and read until the aforesaid nap decision. After this, my tail is sitting in my chair to read, and MAYBE I will fix dinner. Maybe not.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Still Pogo.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? From a 1977 column by Russell Baker: "What is the immediate outlook? For America's forgotten senior citizens, grim. For the permanently unemployed, bleak. For disadvantaged minorities, oppressive. For the young, higher taxes. For Social Security, bankruptcy. For the middle-aged, despair. The only hope is a dramatic breakthrough in solar energy or new sugar-substitute research--and, in the long run, lasers or development of synthetic pets with sharply reduced nutritional requirements."

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." -- Alphonse Karr

Seventh Update (from 12:30 to 5:00pm Monday)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 3 hours on audio
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 9 (Gone With the Wind, The Palace Under the Alps, Recipes for a Perfect Marriage, Evan Blessed + the ones I've finished)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,148 + 3 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS THON: 5 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau, Read This! by Hans Weyandt, The English American by Alison Larkin

THE MENU? water, leftover rice with soy sauce, Snapple (diet, which was a mistake for me as I don't like diet stuff)

DISTRACTIONS? Laundry, dishes, a few iPhone games. I keep thinking that NYE is tomorrow, not tonight, so when I catch and correct myself, it gets me off of the couch and moving around, trying to clean up this place a little more. But really, I've got things taken care of well enough for tonight and should be ready to settle in on the couch for the remainder of the evening.

Suz, to answer your much earlier question, I think it still totally counts if you read until the West Coast midnight - hell, take it out to Alaska and Hawaii if you need to!

ETA: Agree with Laura, Suzanne!

Might as well get my memes done before I settle in:

1. With 2012 drawing to a close, what were the most memorable books for you this year? Anything that links them -- an author, theme, etc? That is a real toughie. I've read a lot of good books this year. I've loved Christopher Fowlers Bryant & May series. Catherine the Great and The Song of Achilles, The Winter Ghosts and Truman, The Moon is Down, The Bear, and Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President were some of my favorites.

2. Are there books that you are eagerly keeping an eye out for in 2013? Are you kidding? I get enough ideas for books just from glomming onto you guys!

3. What's your best New Year's Eve memory? I have two. In 1995, I went to a singles dance and met a guy and "fell in love." It's not usually mutual, but this time it was, and we danced all night, then necked for an hour, and I was in absolute heaven. However, there is a law of nature called the Three-Date Rule, which states that after 3 dates with me, a man will go running down the altar with someone else. But it was a really great night!
In 2001, when I had given up on the singles dance thing, I took two sons, two nephews, and one sons girlfriend & her sister to the bowling alley, where we bowled for a couple of hours, had greasy hamburgers and fries to die for, then went home & just laughed. It was great.

4. Any book-related resolutions?? Well, once again, I'd like to read more books off my shelf than I buy during the year. Pauses to wait for the laughter to die down. We'll see how that goes...

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?! If I had my druthers, there wouldn't be any other plans. But somehow, my son has bamboozled me into thinking it would be fun to have dinner together at home, and guess who has to work until 6:30 so is unable to do the cooking?

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones? I don't believe I will ever keep a New Year's Resolution (I'm not sure I ever have), but it is helpful for me to crystallize my goals, so I do. The book one above, of course. I used to make a weight goal, but now I just vow to attempt more exercise. After 20 years of making resolutions about it, I've almost got my finances in some semblance of order, so I'll keep that one. Maybe I'll add "cleaning up my dining room/office" to the list? Hahahahahahaha!

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list? I'm sure, but I've only been skimming most of the posts in order to get back to reading, so I'm going to go through it more slowly tomorrow. Although, if I don't, maybe I won't have as many books on my TBR...naw, you guys will snag me on some other threads.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013? The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. Christmas gift from my oldest son.

TIME FRAME 3 pm PST or 3 days into the readathon
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 Dodger, Musicophilia
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 36 and 1/2 CD
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Dodger, Mystic River
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 8.5 CDs, 471 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
THE MENU? Breakfast: 2 pieces of walnut bread toast with almond butter, tropical fruit salad, eggnog latte. Lunch: a pumpkin-hemp seed cookie, a banana, an orange, mocha latte. Now: the sacred chex mix, caramel chai tea (I'm descaling my coffee maker so unable to use it. Oh, the pain)
DISTRACTIONS? shopping, cooking, dogs, back yard birds, solitaire
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Fault In Our Stars but I very much liked Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) and I'm loving Dodger and finding out amazing things from Musicophilia about the way the brain processes music.
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? "He was the kind of person who would make a body want to wash their hands after meeting him; the man was a worm. Yes, all he did was wiggle. He was one of the lost souls, one of the people who were behind the door when God went past; they just grazed on the world, hardly disturbing it a bit, and were always scared of something." Also, Dodger recognizes Mr. Disraeli as a dodger himself and is told that he is an up-coming politician of whom we have great hopes.

Memes:
1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading? Cooking
2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones? I don't, but I believe this year I'll resolve to buy a new computer. Mine were manufactured by dinosaurs.
3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list? Once again I have to follow your lead, Suzanne, with Plutocrats. I'm pretty sure I got the suggestion for Dodger from you during the last readathon.
4. What book do you want to read first in 2013? The Oatman Massacre, this is the 3rd time I've listed it for TIOLI and it's time has come.

I just found that Barnes and Nobel has the Nook edition of Dodger on sale for $2.99. What a deal.

Oooh, that is a deal. And yes, I think I was reading this during a recent readathon!

TIME FRAME: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Two Brothers by Ben Elton
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 246
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 2,244, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 6 (Midaq Alley, Traitor, S: A Novel About the Balkans, Two Brothers, 11/22/63 and Plutocrats)

THE MENU? Roast chicken, stuffing, corn -- yum. Had to fight Tigger-the-terror-cat for much of the chicken, however.

DISTRACTIONS: Lack of sleep due to the noise last night is starting to tell on me; also had to spend several hours working. So I'm going to take a short nap and then read until it's New Year's in LA, or maybe even anchorage!

It's over an hour into 2013 here in the UK and I realised I have not posted here since yesterday.

Time Frame: New Year's Eve all day/evening
Number of Books Read From In This Period: 2 - The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy and At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor
Number of Pages Read During This Period: 230
Number of Books Completed: 2

Total Books Read From During Readathon: 3
Number of Books Completed Total: 3 (Death Comes as the End, The World's Wife, At Mrs Lippincote's)

Menu: my fridge is increasingly bare as I should have gone to my sister's by now, and I've finished off the bread too. So I've been digging things out of the freezer. This evening I made potato pancakes, and ate them with blackcurrant jam.

Distractions: Drowsiness caused by my flu virus. Several times I was woken by the sound of the book having slipped from my hands onto the floor. Or I would close my eyes at the end of a chapter and open them again to find two hours had passed...

Memorable Characters/Quotations: Lots of literary references in my last read of the year, At Mrs Lippincote's. Many of them with reference to the following precocious child, who is a delightfully bookish character:

"Oliver Davenant did not merely read books. He snuffed them up, took breaths of them into his lungs, filled his eyes with the sight of the print and his head with the sound of words. Some emanation from the book itself poured into his bones, as if he were absorbing steady sunshine. The pages had personality."

yay! Finished my book before the end of the year! Warhost of Vastmark by Janny Wurts was awesome!

Distractions: football, husband, fireworks, upset doggies.

I hope everyone has a terrific New Year.

TIME FRAME: Since yesterday afternoon?
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2 - The Secret of the Nightingale Palace; A Christmas Beginning (audiobook)
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 224
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 (The Secret of the Nightingale Palace)
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 4
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 650, plus about 45 minutes of the audiobook
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 3
THE MENU? chicken & rice soup
DISTRACTIONS? I had to work today.
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? A Christmas Beginning

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?! Now that I've finished the all the books I wanted to before midnight, I think I'll watch a movie on Netflix.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? and if you do -- what are your most important ones? No. When I'm convinced I need to change something - start a new habit or break a bad one - I'll do it then rather than wait for January 1.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list? I've been so focused on finishing the books I wanted to finish before midnight that I haven't let myself stop to think about it.

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013? Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for a book club meeting sometime in January.

I have been terrible! I read 2 more chapters of The Social Conquest of Earth on the Kindle on Saturday night, and dithered around trying to settle on something to read yesterday. I've read 87 pages in Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, which is what I finally settled on, in a few odd moments. My husband wanted to get out of the house today, and so it was mostly gone by the time we got home and I have spent the time visiting threads and working on my end of the year summary. Obviously, a quiet evening here.

So I read in 4 books, finishing two, for a total of 353 paper pages plus the 4 Kindle chapters, in about 4 hours of reading time.

Happy New Year to everyone!

TIME FRAME: 3 PM - 10:30 PM Monday

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 50
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 (The Man Without a Face, Under Sea Under Stone, Night, Wild Swans, Envy, The Swerve, The Memory Chalet, A Christmas Carol)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 454
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 3 (The Man Without a Face, Night, Envy)
THE MENU: caesar salad, osso buco, chocolate bread pudding, champagne

DISTRACTIONS? LT posting; dinner and board games

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Not sure

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? I am still trying to figure out exactly what happened in Envy, so I'm not sure what to say.

I finished my last book at about 10:30 and now think I will stay up another half hour to see in the new year. Thanks for hosting a great and timely Readathon Suzanne!

Stopping by to wish everyone a

The Readathon has been a great way to end the year. Thanks so much, Suzanne, for putting this together. Happy New Year to you and all the other participants.

I read a total of 12 hours (used a stopwatch like Roni) and read approximately 750 pages. I had to estimate the pages read on the iPad.

I completed Sweet Thursday, read one chapter from the first book in A Dance of Time, part of We Die Alone on the iPad, and most of The Burgess Boys. The Steinbeck and TBB were my favorites.

I'm going to spend the last hour of 2012 (Central Time Zone here) with my husband, then plan to stay up and finish the last 25 pages of The Burgess Boys so it will count as my first read of 2013. Happy Reading to those still with us!

TIME FRAME: 8 p.m. to midnight

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Confess that I kinda wish I was in Times Square, even if it is bloody cold....

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1, The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 216
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 0

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 9
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 2,244, plus 2 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED TOTAL: 6 (Midaq Alley, Traitor, S: A Novel About the Balkans, Two Brothers, 11/22/63 and Plutocrats)

THE MENU? Some petit fours and a glass of water!!

DISTRACTIONS: Fireworks all over the place outside, and Sinatra singing "New York, New York"! (classic)

I'll keep reading for a few hours. Definitely will finish The Stockholm Octavo -- only about 50 pages left to read -- and then The Neruda Case. I'll count the former toward my TIOLI, but not the latter as it will take another two hours or so to finish.

thanks, all of you for joining me in the readathon, and welcome to 2013!

TIME FRAME: 7:00 pm - Very nearly midnight 5 hours

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 293
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2
The Rescue of Miss Yaskell and Other Pipe Dreams by Russell Baker
Three by Heinlein by Robert Heinlein

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 9
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 862
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED SO FAR: 5

THE MENU? A meat/cheese casserole that we made up, stuffing, crescent rolls, Watergate salad, Diet Pepsi, eggnog, water, Mint Moose Tracks ice cream.

DISTRACTIONS? None.

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Still Pogo.

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? I found this paragraph to be very interesting, especially written in the 1940s. From Robert Heinleins Magic, Inc.:
"We white men in this country are inclined to underestimate the black man--I know I do--because we see him out of his cultural matrix. Those we know have had their own culture wrenched from them sme generations back and a servile pseudo culture imposed on them by force. We forget that the black man has a culture of his own, older than ours and more solidly grounded, based on character and the power of the mind, rather than the cheap, ephemeral tricks of mechanical gadgets. But is it s stern, fierce culture with no sentimental concern for the weak and the unfit, and it never quite dies out."

Heady stuff.

Anyway, Thank You Suzanne! This has been great fun! I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year!

Eighth Update (5:00pm til 11;50 pm)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 2
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 379
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 9 (Gone With the Wind, Evan Blessed + the ones I've finished)
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 1,527 + 3 hours of audiobook
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS THON: 7 Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon, The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau, Read This! by Hans Weyandt, The English American by Alison Larkin, Recipes for a Perfect Marriage by Morag Prunty/Kate Kerrigan, and The Palace Under the Alps by Bill Bryson

THE MENU? chili with cheese and tortilla chips, a piece of chocolate, water, working on my 2nd glass of champers and about to have a slice of cherry stuff

DISTRACTIONS? Put clean everything onto my bed without much help from the cats, listened to a bunch of music at quite a loud volume and sang along, finally finished the dishes. I finished my last book with 10 minutes to spare, leaving me plenty of time to get my music and champagne ready for midnight. In the last minute of the year I said out loud what my intentions and goals were for the year (who cares if only the cats heard me, they were listening!), counted down and pushed play!

Happy 2013 to all of you! Thanks so much for reading along with me, and many thanks to Suzanne for hosting!!!

Now I'm off to read in bed for a bit before falling asleep. See you all later today!

TIME FRAME: Monday

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 3
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 305
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2
The Race Beat / Gene Roberts & Hank Klibanoff
Lallia / E.C. Tubb

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 7
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 895
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 2

THE MENU? chicken linguine

DISTRACTIONS? LT, cooking, New Years

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS?

Harry Ashmore, Ralph McGill, Claude Sitton, Jack Nelson, and the other journalists who covered the civil rights movement.

Happy 2013, all!

TIME FRAME 10:30 pm PST and the end for me
(NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: Dodger
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 186
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Dodger
TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 6 The Fault In Our Stars, Musicophilia, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Dodger, Mystic River
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 8.5 CDs, 657 pages
TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED: 2 The Fault In Our Stars, Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Dodger
THE MENU? enough chex mix and caramel chai tea to choke a horse
DISTRACTIONS? the dogs. Fire works have started and one of my dogs is explosion-phobic
FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? I loved them all, what a great way to end the year
MEMORABLE CHARACTERS/EVENTS/QUOTATIONS? I loved meeting the characters in Dodger and didn't realize until the end that Henry Mayhew and Angela Burdett-Coutts were real people who made a big difference in Victorian England. I can't see any evidence of Alzheimer's in this work. Maybe his is the very slow progressing kind.

Thank you so much, Suzanne for starting this readathon. Happy New Year all, and here's hoping for a great year to come.

TIME FRAME Yesterday 8-00 - 12.00 - (UK time)

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM IN THIS PERIOD: 1 Carnevale
NUMBER OF PAGES READ DURING THIS PERIOD: 142
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: one

TOTAL BOOKS READ FROM DURING READATHON: 3 - The Hammer and the Cross; Carnevale and Sweet Thursday
TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES READ SO FAR: 986
NUMBER OF BOOKS COMPLETED IN THIS PERIOD: 1

THE MENU? wine; amaretti biscuits, hot chocolate

DISTRACTIONS? Watching TV; LT threads:)

FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR? Really enjoyed Carneval and Sweet Thursday.

Thanks to Suzanne for hosting and hope everyone has a happy book filled 2013!

Happy New Year everyone! After a good start, I completely flunked the read-a-thon yesterday and Sunday. We've been drawn into a kind of town-divided war between people who want a huge Costa Coffee to open in our beautiful little indie honeytrap, and people who think it would kill all the little places in town. So I spent Sunday doing my bit there (guess which side I'm on, haha). Then yesterday... I got caught up watching movies. I'M SORRY BUT IT'S TRUE.

Anyway, hope everyone else had a great time reading and chatting in the run-up to the New Year, and that there aren't too many sore heads around this morning... (no fear of that here, haha, I was all Julie and Julia and cake last night!). Thanks Suzanne, for at least giving me a LITTLE boost there! ;)

1. What are your plans for this New Year's eve, other than reading?! I went to bed after giving my older dog a sedative and listening intermittently to stupid neighbors setting off illegal fireworks. My neighbor called me to remind me that I could call the police. I did that. It would get quiet, I'd fall to sleep, and then the fireworks would begin again. Blah! Poor dogs. New one crawled under the covers and hid way down by my feet, old one paced the floor, hid under the bed, went back to her bed, and then repeated. And she was the one with the sedative. I hate that the fireworks make the dogs so nervous.

2. Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions? nope. I put them in the same catagory as Santa Claus. When I was a child I believed, and yet my dreams did not all that often come true.

3. Are there any "book bullets" here that will show up on your 2013 reading list? I will wait until new BBs hit me

4. What book do you want to read first in 2013? I am going to read Anna Karénina with a group here if I can ever finish reading threads.

Happy New Year everyone. I am leaving this thread now, as I really want to get to reading.