Well I decided to go to sleep at 6:15 this morning. I could have stayed up ( I normally do) but I just really wanted to go to sleep and I’d done a fair amount of reading.
My final stats are 10hr 4 min of reading. I read 688 pages + 30 minutes of Audio (Audio’s not for me)
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Usually the daytime hours fly by and hours 21-23 are the slowest.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristin Clark Venuti (MG fiction) was a great read as was Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain by Diane Swanson (Children’s Nonfiction)
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I’ve thought long and hard about this. I didn’t enjoy myself as much this year. I’d like for all or most all of the mini-challenges to be open for the entire period. It’s neat to look for winners each hour but I’d get so much more reading done if I knew I could check in and do mini-challenges whenever I wanted. I tried to check in less this year but I basically have to check in every hour still to make sure there aren’t any challenges that are only on hour long. Or even if they were all 4 hours long. I could check in every 3 hours and still have time to do the challenges before the fourth hour is up. Except the one in the middle of the night that asks if you’re still up, that should be one hour only like it is.
Also I’d like to see more shorter mini-challenges. Ones where we comment on the post are much better than writing up our own post. Of course if you are posting book covers or videos you need to make your own post but otherwise, I’d rather just comment. I’m already filling my feed and blog with readathon posts. The less the better. Most of the challenges I did took me over 30 minutes to do which is 30 minutes I could have been reading. A few should be longer, most should be shorter and easier.
The Reader of the Hours should be up more than one hour too so I have a chance to visit them. I guess they wouldn’t be Readers of the Hour then.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I know my above answer may make you think I didn’t like any of the read-a-thon and that wouldn’t be true. I love the read-a-thon and I am SO grateful for those who help run it. As I mentioned before, the tweeting aspect is fun. I made myself not do it so much this year but it’s a fun option. I love the mini-challenges in general, they are so needed to break up the reading. I LOVED the you tube videos that were shared in the later update posts. I love the prizes for the most part, even though I didn’t win any (yet.). I also LOVED the cheerleaders poems and cheers. So cute!
5. How many books did you read?
I finished 4 books but two were already started before this readathon. Also I’m 1/4 into another one.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristin Clark Venuti, Without Sin by J. Tomas, In Ecstasy by Kate McCaffrey, Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain by Diane Swanson and I started Nasty, Brutish and Short by Pat Senson.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain by Diane Swanson. It’s children’s fiction but REALLY interesting. It’s all about telling good science from bad science and how to tell if research and reported research is as accurate as it may sound. Very important information for everyone!
8. Which did you enjoy least?
They were all good. Nasty, Brutish and Short by Pat Senson however should have been read earlier on. It’s a bit too scientific for the wee hours of the morning. But there’s nothing wrong with the book, just when I read it.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will definitely be participating in October. I’ve only missed one read-a-thon since it started. I think however I’d like to run a mini-challenge in October. I’ll have to start thinking.
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