It's the end of another read-a-thon here on Musings of a Bookshop Girl, and as always, I've had a lovely time, met some new bloggers - and woefully overestimated my own reading speed... :)
What I read
I read a total of 291 pages, which is a bit lower than I expected to be honest! But I had a steady two days at the books while I was off, plus another yesterday when I was back at work. I didn't meet my goal of finishing all three of my current reads plus another book - but I DID finish The World of Karl Pilkington (a book of scripts from The Ricky Gervais Show) and There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff (a YA novel). I went back to Truman Capote's masterpiece In Cold Blood yesterday afternoon, which slowed my reading right down again (but it's great so I don't care!), and I'm now hoping to finish that before the weekend.
Updates and challenges
In Monday's post you can find my starting goals, updates, a Julian Smith video, pictures and my Cover Reveal mini-challenge. In Tuesday's post I included updates, pictures, and my answers to both the Character Fight and Foreign Author mini-challenges. Wednesday's post was a little more sparse, but still had pictures, updates, and my Anticipated Books mini-challenge. Three days, multiple updates, four challenges - not bad!
When I wasn't reading
Of course, the world doesn't come to a complete halt for a read-a-thon (much as I sometimes wish it would!). On Monday we had a grocery delivery in the evening, and my grandmother was staying with us. On Tuesday I had less distractions earlier on, but we had a big discussion about maybe going on an Ackshual Holiday this year, perhaps a poolside week in Fuerteventura (*sighs happily*), and later I had a headache and watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (*sighs happily again*). Then on Wednesday I was back at work AND lost my whole evening to a very wonderful trip to the cinema to see The Amazing Spider-Man with my stepdad and sister. Oh, and I ate loads. Muffins, pizza, strawberries and ice cream, popcorn, chocolate buttons, bananas, cookies, risotto, a McDonalds meal - and truckloads of coffee. :)
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this read-a-thon, even though I didn't read anywhere near as much as I thought I would. I think I need to accept the fact that I just don't read as quickly as I used to, and I can't always plough through a book a day any more! I had a lot of fun though, reading, checking out the #OUreadathon Twitter feed, and doing challenges and updates. Even my day back at work was a little bit nicer because I had reading to go back to! Once again I'm going to try to hang onto the read-a-thon vibe for a few more days (it's like trying to hang onto a holiday feeling - it's a slippery bugger, but you can usually manage it for a while!) and see how much more I can get read before the summer holidays kick in and this town gets crazy!
Another read-a-thon gone - so how did you do? Did you enjoy it? Did you read any particularly great books that you'd recommend for next time?
I'm going to be participating in the High Summer Read-a-Thon over at Seasons of Reading next week too. It runs Monday to Sunday, there are no official challenges (though individual participants may launch their own challenges and giveaways) and once again there will be a Twitter hashtag to read along. I'm busy all next week - six days at work and my sister's graduation - but I'm hoping that another read-a-thon will help me prolong my focus on my books and make the most of my downtime to enjoy my reading!
I think reading slowly is a good thing! You take everything in and are probably more likely to remember what you're reading. I say this as a former reallyreallyquick reader, who can't remember anything she read from the ages of about 12-18... So yeah. Nice readathon work!
ReplyDeleteI think I've come to the conclusion that I need to have a job if I'm to readathon for more than one day, because otherwise I just pressure myself to READ all the time, and it's not good for my sore brain! I feel like it's a better thing to do to encourage yourself to read after work rather than just watching tv or something, you know?
I definitely think slower reading works better for me. If I tried to read any faster I think I'd be losing my train of thought every five minutes and having to reread bits anyway! This way I can really immerse myself in a book and appreciate what I'm reading properly.
DeleteI definitely think it's good to have a bit of working time mixed in with days off during a read-a-thon. The change of scenery and pace does me good, I think - and after work it's refreshing to think 'right, read-a-thon - book' rather than switching on the TV, like you say! I feel more virtuous at the end of the day than if I'd spent that time watching Scrubs or something! ;)
Oooh that holiday sounds lovely! Jealous you went to see Spider-Man I really want to see it! Sounds like you a had a great time I've loved following your updates here's to the next one! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm renewing my passport as we speak! If we do end up going to Fuerteventura, my sis and I have been before with my dad and it's lovely! Beautifully landscaped quiet hotel, nice food, little shops (for chocolatey snacks), huge pools - last time we even 'adopted' a tiny black kitten that came and sat with us on our sunloungers! :)
DeleteIt'd just be so nice to get away from our crap weather, and know that after a crazy tourist summer here we can head off for some sun and be looked after for a week!
Love your picture of the pool. There's where I spent most of my time when not at work with preschoolers or reading in the air conditioning with my cat.
ReplyDeleteYou can see what I read at my final update post here:
www.rachelrmrblog.blogspot.com
We have no need for air conditioning (or outdoor pools) here in England right now - it's cold and the puddles are more than big enough for me! The photo is of the Fuerteventura Princess resort... *sighs happily*
DeleteYou did great this read-a-thon, and such a brilliant selection of books too! Here's hoping I can keep up the reading this week and topple a few more of my own now the read-a-thon's over...