deweys-readathonbuttonGood morning all!

Let me start by congratulating the team behind the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon for organizing a fabulous (and wildly successful) event. I’m sure all are tucked away warm in their beds decompressing and recuperating but lets make sure we all give them a giant round of applause for all their hard work. I’m sure it was no easy feat to put together and maintain.

Second, mad props to all the cheerleaders! The flurry of posting and Tweeting and in some cases vlogging was awesome with a capital A. I totally felt the love and support.

Lastly, super charged kudos to all the participants.  Whether you read one book or fifty; whether endured through all 24 hours or just 12 everyone had a great time and got loads of great reading, blogging, and socializing under their belts. That is no small feat!

As for me, I endured about 15 hours before I had to call it a night and sleep. I must admit I lasted a lot longer than I anticipated so I’m jazzed.  More than that I was convinced I’d only read one book so the fact that I got through 3 was a giant accomplishment for this old tortoise.  In case you weren’t following me in my recap post Read-A-Thon: The First here are my final stats:

  • Books Read: 3 books (and 32 pages)
  • Hours Spent Reading: 13
  • Hours Spent Cheerleading: 2
  • Pages Read: 711
  • Minutes Read: 570

For me that’s HUGE! Seeing as though I usually only read a book a week, two tops! LOL

I’d announced that I would be accruing funds based on these stats (and others) to donate to the Lupus Foundation of America and at the moment the tally is: $30 (3 books read), $14.50 (58 comments),  $10.60 (106 Tweets referencing @galleysmith) – this means I’m going to donate $55.10 to charity.

BUT WAIT!

I’ll keep the funds flowing for comments to this post as well.  It’s Read-A-Thon related right?  So, as outlined in my original structure for every comment I get to the post I’ll add $.25 more to the pot!

I didn’t get the chance to participate in many of the mini-challenges — this was a conscious decision on my part — but now that the flurry of activity has peetered out a bit I’m going to do the final challenge.

End of Event Meme

Q: Which hour was most daunting for you?
A: Clearly 16-24, haha! Actually I knew going in that I wasn’t going to do all 24 and that I’d go to bed eventually. I’d hoped to stay up a bit later than I did but in the end when I couldn’t concentrate on the pages any more it made sense no sense to fight it.

Q: Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
A: This is such a subjective question because everyone’s interests are so diverse. I’d say that choosing books that are short easy reads would be a good way to feel accomplished as the potential to finish them and finish more of them is higher.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
A: I’d have to think on it but one area where concentration for improvement could be focused is in how to manage blog updates and visiting participants blogs (mainly for readers).  I wonder if there is a way to have kind of a central location for updates as compared to just on our blogs.  I only subscribe to so many of the participants but I’d like to check in with some of the others and having a central location to do that might be good.

Also as it relates to the cheerleaders, maybe have a situation where you group blogs into teams and then cheer leaders root for team A from hour 1-4, then team B from hour 5-8, etc….etc.  That allows for variety for both parties.  I loved my cheerleaders they where super encouraging but I imagine it may have gotten a bit boring for them to keep seeing the same thing from me.  I think this scenario also allows for new people to meet and find blogs they may not already know.

But again, my cheerleaders rocked and I loved having them visit me through the process!

Q: What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
A: I don’t have anything to compare it to so it’s hard for me to say. I didn’t see anything that was a total and complete fail as it related to my participation.

Q: How many books did you read?
A: A shocking 3 books!

Q: What were the names of the books you read?
A: Shaun Tan – The Arrival (GN), Susan Beth Pfeffer – The Dead & The Gone (YA), Laura Ruby – Bad Apple (YA).  I also started but only got a couple chapters in on Alex McAulay’s Shelter Me (YA)

Q: Which book did you enjoy most/least?
A: Honestly, none of them really “wowed” me to the point that I couldn’t put it down.  Tan’s was beautifully illustrated but I tend to like a story with words, Pfeffer’s was darkly powerful but as the second in a series that focuses on the same event as the first some of the anticipation and unexpectedness was lost, and Ruby’s Bad Apple was an entertaining quick read with some moments of laugh out loud humor but I wouldn’t say it was one of the best books I’ve read this year.

All in all I’d say everything was pretty much even.

Q: If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
A: Wasn’t a cheerleader but I’d encourage you to visit more than the specific blogs you were assigned if you can.

Q: How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
A: I’ll totally do it as a reader again.