Hour 24 Reading Sprint and Survey

1. How many books did you read during this readathon? Did you have any favorites?
2. How many books did you finish? 
3. Did you accomplish your goals for this readathon?
4. How did your snacks and meals work out? Are there things you would change about the food and beverages side of your readathon for next time?
5. Did you enjoy this readathon? What was the most successful part of your readathon? What would you change for next time?
6. What Dewey’s social media sites did you visit during this readathon? What activities did you participate in? Do you plan to complete those activities over the remainder of the weekend?

You’ve made it to the last hour-long sprint of our readathon for April 2023. Congratulations. Choose the book you wish to enjoy for your last hour of…

Hour 24 Reading Sprint and Survey

1. I am in the middle of my novel, finished one graphic novel volume (review to come), started another one and made some headway in two non-fiction audiobooks. One of them I will probably DNF, I‘ll make up my mind later. The other one I will only finish with heavy skimming, but I want to at least catch the end.

2. see above

3. I had a good time. I wish that real life hadn‘t intruded, because I think I would have had a lot of fun with the readathon this time around. But I decided at one point in my life that meeting friends and socializing is always more important than sitting on my sofa to read. Still, I will probably skip on that spa day tomorrow (national holiday), I don‘t think I am in the mood. However, I think what the last few days with the reading relays and the actual readathon have shown me: less TV and more reading is more satisfying.

4. I am not a snack-eater during readathons. I normally still take time to cook, switching to an audiobook. Ok, this time we actually went out for dinner. Other than that I really need to loose some weight, so besides some yoghurt for breakfast, I only sipped some fruit juices at various intervals, had some coffee and plenty of water.

5. For me the readathon starts at 2 p.m., so sleeping in the middle is quite natural. However, I did stay up and read till 3 a.m. last night and then really struggled this morning and got distracted. Maybe next time I will try to stick to my normal sleeping rhythm and get up earlier the following morning, so I can make more progress during the second half of the readathon.

6. I took part in some activities in the Dewey‘s goodreads group and I updated here, that was it. If I had taken part in anything else on Instagram or Discord (I don‘t use Twitter or FB anymore), I would have read even less. I will probably look at some updates in the goodreads group. Tomorrow is a holiday in Germany and I will either chill with some friends in their garden or go to a spa with another friend, as mentioned, depending on the weather. I will also definitely read…

As for the final tally, I read 326 pages of ebooks/comics and listened to 8 hours and 44 minutes of audio. I did start a little earlier yesterday, to make up for my outing yesterday afternoon.

Whatever reviews and blog posts piled up in the past two days will follow in the coming days. Plus there will be my monthly wrap-up for April tomorrow.

Hour 12 Reading Sprint & Survey

1. How many books have you been reading? Have you finished any? Are you on track with respect to your readathon goals so far?
2. Have you eaten real food today? (Not just junk food, ACTUAL HEALTHY FOOD) What was your favorite food or beverage so far?
3. Have you been participating in any of the activities on our social media (sprints, photo challenges, discussion questions, BINGO, etc.)
4. Are you growing sleepy? Do you plan to nap, or stop early, or are you extending the readathon hours to include sleep?
5. Have you been outside yet today? Have you had much exercise (besides the heavy lifting required to hold your book)?
6. How is your readathon going, overall?

This hour marks the halfway point in our readathon. We have our 4th scheduled hour-long reading sprint during this hour. Are you joining in this one?…

Hour 12 Reading Sprint & Survey

1. I am reading one SF novel, one graphic novel and two non-fiction audiobooks.I haven‘t finished any of them, but I am pretty sure that I will at least finish the comic. I don‘t have any goals for this readthon, besides having a good time…

2. I had a small yoghurt with various seeds in the morning, various fruit juices during the day and a vegan dish with rice, black beans, mango, avocado, red cabbage and marinated hibiscus in the evening.

3. I took part in two sprints and some of the discussion posts. Alas, I was out with a friend for 6 hours, so I am behind with my reading.

4. Yes, my eyes are burning. It‘s 1 a.m. in my corner of the world. I will probably sleep for a few hours soon.

5. See question #3. I walked 12.118 steps and 9,15 km on Saturday.

6. Not too shabby. Joining that sprint now and returning to my SF novel, after making a nice dent into my comic in the past hour.

Hour 8 Reading Sprint

I spent this Hour 8 reading sprint with the drive home, a quick dash to the supermarket and listening to a non-fiction audiobook about the history of food.

I also just spent 40 minutes (!) catching up with the Goodreads group for this readathon, some other posts, updating my StoryGraph… Now I can finally get back to reading my SF book.

Goodness me, there is a lot of young people with alcohol purchases at the supermarket check-out shortly before 10 pm. I am getting old!

If you have not had real food yet (not junk food, not snacks- actual meal-like food). you may wish to prepare your meal before you dive into this …

Hour 8 Reading Sprint

Oh, btw, dinner was at a tiny Argentinian place. I had a vegan dish with marinated hibiscus flowers instead of chicken. Very interesting…

Hour 1: Opening Survey and Sprint

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Germany

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I am 100 pages into The Last Astronaut, which is fun. I might read some short stories by Aliette de Bodard later, to mix things up.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I am trying to eat less, so no snacks prepared besides some juices to take me through the day.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! My hobby is reading… 😝 I also bake sourdough bread with my own starter, when I am not feeling too lazy.

5) What are your goals for this readathon? Have fun.

The readathon starts in 1 hour with a sprint! Are you ready!!??! Devices charged? Books handily near by? Cozy reading spot tidied and prepped? SNACKS…

Hour 1: Opening Survey and Sprint

I will get some juice now and start my reading sprint. I will stop a little early though, as I will need to get dressed in about an hour. Meeting a friend for a stroll through town, followed by dinner at a place with South American food. Haven‘t been to that place before, I am pretty curious.

April 2023 Dewey’s Readathon- Sprints

One of the traditions we have maintained in this readathon is our hour-long scheduled reading sprints. Our scheduled reading sprints occur at Hour 1 …

April 2023 Dewey’s Readathon- Sprints

I always found the idea of reading sprints a puzzling one. I am participating in a readathon, aka I commit to reading a lot. Why do I need sprints on top of that? Maybe it‘s helpful from a organisational (is that a word?) viewpoint, aka eating and social media during the non-sprint hours? That actually makes sense, so I will take a note of those sprint hours and at least stay away from social media during that time. Any other activities I can cover with audiobooks.

Anyway, because I will meet a friend in the afternoon and evening today, I will definitely miss out on several hours of this readathon. The readathon starts at 2pm for me, in about 3 hours. So to make up for that a little, I have been at it since I woke up this morning, shortly before 9am.

Dewey’s — Relay Sprint 2 – April 24-25

For the week leading into our readathon we’ll be doing a series of 2 day ’sprints‘ For each one, pick your TBR and see how many books/pages/hours you…April 2023 Reading Relay

Here is my update for the Relay Sprint 2 – April 24-25:

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, audio
— listened for 1 hour 36 minutes Monday
— listened for 1 hours 39 minutes Tuesday

I have a little over 3 hours left in this audiobook. I am currently at a spot that feels very much like a HEA. I wonder what will happen in the last 10 chapters? I am still new to T. Kingfisher, but I doubt that something horrible will happen…? 😬

Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers (Fables, e-comic, ongoing, I like it…
Ocean Grave, ebook, DNF after another 50 pages. I couldn‘t cope with the writing any longer.
Chicks Kick Butt, paper, started + read 27 pages. It‘s an anthology with UF authors. I read one story last night.
— 69 pages on Monday
— 62 pages on Tuesday

Total:
131 pages & 3 hours 15 minutes

Not a lot of pages. Busy at work and tired in the evening. In those cases I tend to watch TV rather than to read. It needs less brainpower… 😏

Dewey’s — Relay Sprint 1 – April 22-23

For the week leading into our readathon we’ll be doing a series of 2 day ’sprints‘ For each one, pick your TBR and see how many books/pages/hours you…April 2023 Reading Relay

Ok, here is my update for the Relay Sprint 1 – April 22-23

Dogs of War, ebook
— I read 79 pages on Saturday and 
— the last 18 pages early on Sunday.

Swordheart, audio
— listened for 1 hour 27 minutes on Saturday.
— listened for 2 hours 10 minutes on Sunday.

Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, e-comic 
— read 56 pages of this on Saturday.
— read 42 pages on Sunday.

Ocean Grave, ebook 
— started and read 90 pages on Sunday.

Total: 285 pages & 3 hours 37 minutes. Not bad, considering that I met a friend today for coffee and cake and a 6 km walk.

After reading the first few chapters of Ocean Grave by Matt Serafini this morning, I was pretty sure that I would DNF it at some point today, because, to be frank, the writing is not great. I decided to give it until 20% and then decide it I would toss it or not… here are my comments up to that point… 😝

page 23–7.9% “A long piece of driftwood rocked atop the ocean a few hundred kilometers away. Underneath the blazing sun, Mosi could only see a silhouette lift up onto its forearms and wave a hand around. “Please!” The voice was male. Possibly American. His hand reached out, stretching toward Mosi.“
A few hundred kilometers? Wow, that‘s some eye sight and a really loud voice… *eye roll*

page 30—10.31% ““The leader sat atop the corner desk with the gun in one hand and a drink in the other. His eyes were like fried eggs.“
White and yellow? Seriously, what does that mean?

page 48–16.49% ““She had to give it to Blake. He was right. She would’ve shot this down with the quickness, because who believed in buried treasure anymore?“
With the quickness? Is that weird English or is it me?”

page 51–17.53% ““Zane balanced himself on the rail and dropped toward the water. The moonlight reached down a few kilometers so dark blue became a gradient of deeper blacks. Soon he was paddling through impenetrable onyx.“
Someone needs to explain to the author what a kilometer is and tell him to drop the „kilo“.

page 52–17.87% ““Flippered feet wobbled against the edge and Zane took a deep pull on his valve, swallowing a burst of bottled air before dropping through the gloom like a brick.“
Nope, that is not how it works. More air in the body, more buoyancy. No chance of „dropping like a brick“ that way. I am rolling my eyes so hard every few pages. I don‘t know how much longer I can put up with this.

page 54–18.56% “Ok, that kill by the monster fish was fun and a good scene.”

Dewey’s — Relay Sprint 1 — April 22

For the week leading into our readathon we’ll be doing a series of 2 day ’sprints‘ For each one, pick your TBR and see how many books/pages/hours you…April 2023 Reading Relay

Relay Sprint 1 – April 22-23

Currently reading:
Dogs of War, ebook — I finished this one last night, read 79 pages yesterday (Saturday).
Swordheart, audio — listened for 1 hour 27 minutes yesterday.
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, e-comic — read 56 pages of this yesterday.

I started Ocean Grave by Matt Serafini this morning. It‘s a creature feature and from Kindle Unlimited. With the purchase of my new Kindle I got a free three month subscription. And this time I really want to make a dent in my KU want-to-read list.

That looks like a giant turtle on that cover, right?

On their honeymoon in Madagascar, a young couple are drawn into the hunt for lost treasure. Their search grabs the attention of a bloodthirsty pirate who intends to seize the riches for himself. The seedy government agents on his trail have their own reasons for wanting it too. And they’re all in the path of a creature long thought extinct. A creature that has turned the world’s third largest ocean into a hunting ground. A creature that is about to turn their dreams of fortune and glory into a nightmare from which there’s no escaping.

Book blurb

I‘ve only read 22 pages so far. I met the bride and the pirate and in the prologue there was a Hollywood actress on a motorboat/yacht, finding her travel companions drifting in bits and pieces in the red water surrounding the boat.

Carly Grayson woke and at once remembered she was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Her heart drummed so hard the bed sheets did little jumping jacks over her chest.

First paragraph of the prologue

That‘s the Hollywood actress, waking up with an anxiety attack… 🤷‍♀️ And the pirate:

Maxamed Abir Kaahin stepped off the twin-engine plane in Algeria and had not a moment to reflect on the beauty of the Mediterranean Sea as it lapped against the golden dunes beyond the slim strip of runway.

First line of the first chapter

Starting on chapter 3 now, I hope it starts getting more interesting soon. So far it‘s still set-up.

(PS: I added this to the First Line Friday Link-up)

Dewey’s — April 2023 Reading Relay plans

For the week leading into our readathon we’ll be doing a series of 2 day ’sprints‘ For each one, pick your TBR and see how many books/pages/hours you…

April 2023 Reading Relay

Relay Sprint 1 – April 22-23

Currently reading:
Dogs of War, ebook — I want to finish this one this weekend.
Swordheart, audio — I want to finish this latest on the weekend of the readathon.
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers (Fables, e-comic — fairly long, but good so far. Maybe I will try to finish this one this weekend as well. I want to read the whole series, before my current free KU runs out.

I have some books lingering on my shelf: a long epic fantasy and two non-fiction audios. I‘ll see if I try to make some headway with them this week.

Relay Sprint 1 – April 22-23
Relay Sprint 2 – April 24-25
Relay Sprint 3 – April 26-27
Relay Sprint 4 – April 28 

April 29 is the Readathon, starting at 8am Eastern Time US / 2pm CEST. I doubt that I will read a lot on that weekend, real life is interfering. Saturday I will be out with a friend just when the readathon starts.

2023 Spring Pre-Readathon

And here is another one about the upcoming Dewey’s Spring 2023 24hr Readathon. I will probably mostly participate in the goodreads group, I‘ll see. It will be a spur of the moment thing.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

April 29th is our first readathon for 2023. If you have done this before, you pretty much know the drill. Pick your TBR, gather your snacks and beverages, work out how your family will keep themselves busy during the readathon, make sure you have the day off, and get your reading area tidied up and ready for the big day. Then we grab our first book, as 8am Eastern Time rolls around on the 29th, and we read. Easy, right? This readathon we are simplifying things just slightly. Our admin team is a bit smaller this time, and we added Discord to our list of social media sites we manage during our readathon seasons, so while we don’t want to cut out any of our other sites, we need to pare things back a little on the back end of things. So, for this readathon we won’t be doing the…

View original post 444 more words