Upcoming Reverse Readathon

Our 2022 Reverse Readathon will start at 8pm July 22 and run through 8pm July 23.Our 2022 Fall Readathon will begin at 8am October 22, and end 8am …

Dates for our Upcoming Readathons

I might join this, I‘ll see… I quite enjoyed the recent Dewey‘s Readathon. The starting time is not much better for me though. The regular Dewey‘s starts at 2 PM for me and the Reverse Readathon will start at 2 AM in my timezone…

What have I been up to since the end of Dewey‘s April Readathon last weekend? This:

1 May: 281 pages for Dewey‘s + 39 additional pages, Under Fortunate Stars, Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, Witchblade #80
2 May: Under Fortunate Stars, 44 pages
3 May: Under Fortunate Stars, Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, 37 pages
4 May: as above, 35 pages. Long day at work and dinner with friends. Too tired to read.
5 May: as above, 45 pages.
6 May: as above, 22 pages. Busy in real life…
7 May: still reading Under Fortunate Stars, finished Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, started Eyes of the Void, 165 pages.

Books finished: Witchblade #80 / Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold

Dewey‘s Readthon Hour 24

And we are done. I slept for a little over 5 hours, from 3:30 last night to 8:45 this morning. I read a little in bed this morning and then did some house cleaning with my audiobook.

All in all I was active for 18 hours and read and listened for close to 12 of the 24 hours. It tallies up to about 530 pages in total. That makes it about 50 pages per hour, give or take.

(Covers are linked)

How did your Readathon go? What would you do differently? What worked well?

I bought way too much food. And maybe spent too much time with updates on various sites instead of reading. And next time I will probably pick shorter reads to be able to finish more of them. But all in all I am quite pleased with this Readathon.

Dewey’s Readathon Hour 20

I just listened to Stephen Fry narrate the story of Eros and Psyche. This is such a great book, I am having so many Aha!-moments. The Greek gods are pretty much the basis for everything that happened in the Western world afterwards. Well, I sort of knew that, but Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold is giving me so many examples…

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

This is our second to last reading sprint. How has your readathon gone so far? When did you start reading? Have you really been reading for the past 19 hours? Fantastic! If you have adjusted your readathon plans to fit around other stuff, but are joining us for this one, that’s great too. I love reading sprints, and am looking forward to this one for a chance to refocus my rather tired brain. I am picking up a fresh book for this one, switching genres too, and yes, I have a snack and beverage (and a couple kittens) at hand so I can read without needing to get up for much during this next hour. I picked an hour-long piece of music on youtube so I can hear when the hour is over, and I’ll stop reading when the music stops. It’s tricks like that that keep me engaged during…

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Dewey‘s Readathon Hour 12

We’re at the Half-Way Hour, Hour 12, which is our next hour-long reading sprint. How have you done so far? Still awake? Still reading? If your eyes are getting tired, maybe try a graphic novel, or poetry, or read a play out loud to your pets, or listen to an audiobook(but actually listen- using audiobooks as background noise doesn’t count for a sprint). If you have tricks you’ve discovered for maximizing your sprint performance, leave them in the comments so your fellow readers can improve their own reading sprint experience.

https://deweysreadathon.wordpress.com/2022/04/30/hour-12-8/

Mid-Event Survey!

• What are you reading right now? — I am still reading Under Fortunate Stars. I am about 35% into the ebook, which has 477 pages
• How many books have you read so far? — I finished Saga #58, which is a single issue comic of 32 pages. RTC! I am also still listening to Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, which is almost 16 hours in total. I am a third into it. I won‘t finish either of them by the end of the readathon. That‘s ok though, it‘s not a speed-reading contest or about who finishes the most books, is it? Well, for me it isn‘t.
• What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon? — Under Fortunate Stars is getting to an interesting point in the narrative now. I am really looking forward to Eyes of the Void, but will only start it once I have finished Under Fortunate Stars. The themes of those two are too similar, it would get confusing. If I need a change of scenery, I will probably pick up another comic.
• Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? — I had a parcel delivery and just took a 5-minute break. My mum called and we chatted for a bit, but kept it brief. Dinner was a longer interruption. I just went with the flow.
• What surprises you most about the readathon, so far? — um… drawing a blank, sorry…

It‘s past 1 a.m. here now and I am starting to get tired. Let‘s see how long I‘ll last! I will definitely catch some sleep at some point.

Some stats for April…

Dewey’s April Readathon

…starts in about 2.5 hours. So far I have no plans for this weekend. I did my grocery shopping yesterday. I am as organized as I can be. It‘s always a possibility that friends pop up spontaneously and we end up going for a walk or something similar, but otherwise, let‘s see how this goes…

Reading lined up for this readathon:

Novels in paper/kindle, aka eye-reading:

Under Fortunate Stars, ebook, Netgalley and buddy read planned for May.

The Queen of the Damned: The Third Book in The Vampire Chronicles, paper, re-read and buddy read planned for May/June.

Hinter den drei Kiefern: Ein Fall für Gamache, paper, Gamache #13. This one is a backup and one of my StoryGraph picks for May. It‘s unlikely that I will pick it up during the readathon.

Audiobooks:

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, audible, finally picked this up! The incomparable Stephen Fry. Started already.

Eyes of the Void, Shards of Earth #2 (Final Architecture), audible, buddy read planned for May. Jumping the gun a little! Tchaikovsky has become one of my favourite authors, although I have also read some of his works that I did not like.

Short Stories:

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six — ongoing buddy read, started already.

Comics / Graphic Novels:

Saga #58, eComic

Yoko Tsuno: TWO-IN-ONE: Unterirdische Begegnung / Die Orgel des Teufels, paper, my other StoryGraph pick for May.

Star Trek: TNG: Mirror Broken #0, eComic, STNG mirrorverse, buddy read planned for May.

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So far I am bumming around the apartment in my loungewear. I‘ll see if I go for a walk later with an audiobook. The weather is not great…

Foodwise I have paranuts and cashews as snacks, two bananas and an orange. Then there is some stuffed peppers, babaganough and some garlicy cheese stuff from my favourite Turkish grocery shop around the corner. I baked some weird glutenfree bread baking mix last night. Looks weird, as mentioned. No idea yet, if it tastes good.

Then there are some ramen and soba instant noodles. And for the contact grill I got a salmon steak and there is some halloumi. Plus some mixed leaf salad, some asparagus, a small radicchio, bell peppers, cucumber, some bulgur salad…

No risk of starving this weekend!

Sign-Up for Dewey‘s 24-hour readathon

Welcome, welcome one and all! The April 30, 2022 Readathon is coming up fast, and we would LOOOOVE for you to join us! Can’t read the whole day? No …

READER Sign-Ups for April 30, 2022 Readathon!

Yep, here it is again, on the 30th of April. Another Dewey‘s. I participate in these very sporadically. I don‘t usually get a lot of reading done. Once I am really tired, that‘s just it. I do like the mini challenges though. I signed up anyway…

Dewey‘s

So, I went to bed around the halfway point of the event. At which point I had finally finished Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora. Review to come! Here I am, catching up with the various posts from Dewey‘s that I slept through…

Mid Event Survey 

1. What are you reading right now? — the same two books I started with.

2. How many books have you read so far? — see above. At some point I distanced myself from the notion that reading is about how many pages I read and how fast I am. It doesn‘t make me a cooler or worthier reader, when I read 200 books a year or whatever the figure is.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? — I finally finished Dominion and I am looking forward to listening to more of Rovers by Richard Lange. Not sure yet, what print edition or ebook I will pick up next.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? — I made dinner, received some texts, etc. I will go to bed now and when I wake up, I will be busy with life first. Can‘t be helped. It is unlikely that I will get much reading done in the second half of the readathon.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? — no big surprises.

What’s your relationship to the spooky and scary? Not your for (which is perfectly fine)? Your lifeblood (which is perfectly fine)? Somewhere in between (also perfectly fine)?

I often find horror boring. I need a good plot with some suspense and good characters. Or, if I read something really bad, for example Meg by Steve Alten, it needs to at least be funny (even unintentionally) to hold my interest. And if the books sounds really creepy and disturbing, I will simply not read it! Why torture myself?

Ok, off to write that last review for Domninion and then to deal with life.

Starting with that readathon….

Ok then, here is the Opening Event Survey for October‘s Deweys.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? — still the South of Germany, small town between Stuttgart and Tübingen.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? — I want to finish Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora today and whilst making my way though my house work and laundry, I want to get into the audio of Rovers (Audible Audio) by Richard Lange, a horror book with a different take on vampires.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? — I am not much of a snack person. I don‘t actually have any sweet stuff in the house. I have some self-grown cocktail tomatoes left, I guess they will be my snack.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! — Speculative fiction is my drug.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? — not my first readathon, I don‘t participate in many. I realized at some point that they stress me too much. I like to connect to other readers though, so here I am. No promises that I will read more than usual or post regularly. And I definitely will not read through the night, as I will be travelling tomorrow afternoon and need to be rested. More audiobook time!

Currently Reading…

I am still working my way through Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora. The current story, Clanfall: Death of Kings by Odida Nyabundi, is good, pretty puzzling, set in a very far away in time Kenya with bionically enhanced, conscious and intelligent animals (I think), where humanity has ceased to exists…

I have about an hour left in the kindle and would like to finish the book today. However, Life! Going on a business trip next week, starting off tomorrows afternoon. Busy doing stuff in preparation, trying to keep myself from procrastinating too much. Failing so far.

Anyhow, I started the morning by looking for an audiobook—something I can listen to whilst folding laundry etc. Ended up (or rather started) with Rovers (Audible Audio) by Richard Lange, a horror book with a different take on vampires. Of Mice and Men with vampires and biker gangs? The audio sounds good so far.

He hasn’t been outside during the day in more than seventy-five years. Seventy-five years since he’s felt the sun on his face, seventy-five years since he’s lain under a tree and run his fingers over leaf shadows flitting across a patch of warm grass, seventy-five years since he’s squinted through his lashes to pin a cawing raven against the noon glare. For the past three-quarters of a century he’s lived by night, in the ebon hours when monsters hunt and good folk keep to their houses. Since he turned, every dawn’s been a death sentence, every sunbeam a white-hot razor. That’s why he’s overjoyed whenever he dreams his only dream, when he finds himself walking that road under the blazing sun, under a few wisps of cloud unraveling across the sky. A bounding jackrabbit kicks up dust. A breeze brings a whiff of sage. He comes upon an empty pop can and gives it a kick. Light and warmth worm their way into the coldest, darkest thickets inside him, and if he never woke again, he’d be fine. This would be enough—the road, the sky, the sun—forever.

From the first page

And just for the heck of it, I just signed up for Dewey‘s October readathon, starting in about 90 minutes. Not that I have the time or intention to read for 24 hours straight, because real life…. Anyway….

Summing up that readathon.

As expected, I didn‘t get a lot of reading done today. I slept for about seven hours. And spent about eight more hours at a birthday party. One and a half hours at a friend‘s place before the party, some time spent looking after my tomatoes and baking bread…

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In the end I only managed to read for 3 hours and 30 minutes.

• Paper: Tietjen auf Tour: Warum Camping mich glücklich macht by Bettina Tietjen — This is a pretty amusing book written by a German TV show host, doing a pretty successful night time talk show. It‘s about her life as a camper.
• Audio: Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie — this is a re-read. And so far I am not taking in much of the audio. I think I actually have to look up a good plot summary somewhere. I might have to get a print version of this. Maybe a nice box set of the trilogy? The first time around listening to this I was definitely more focussed.
• eBook #2: Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin #1) by Jordan L. Hawk — I only read about 40 pages so far and and the story hasn‘t quite sparked yet. Pretty slow burn for such a short book (224 pages).
• Graphic novel: Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn (Kindle Edition) by Jeff Lemire — this is developing very nicely. Vaguely creepy, in a very Stephen King sort of way…

And now… good night! I am going to sleep in tomorrow morning and hopefully I will make some more serious progress with my current reads.