Readathon April 2016

Happy Readathon, everyone! It’s a quiet morning here at Reading and Ruminations, but I am looking forward to lots of reading today. I’m ready to dive in, so here’s my opening meme answers. 
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? 

I’m reading from somewhere new today! After the October readathon I moved, so I’m now reading from Rocklin, CA. With that said, it’s not all that different. I’m still in suburban Sacramento, and Roseville, where I used to live, is about a half mile away. 

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I raided my roomie’s bookshelves to try to find some variety, and I’m going to be trying some romantic suspense books today. I’m looking forward to trying some new stuff. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

My coffee. 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I’m a paralegal in my early 30s, and I work for an estate planning and probate law firm in Sacramento. This is my 15th readathon! My first was Dewey’s last, and the readathon probably means more to me than I can express. During my multi year reading slump, the Readathon was the one thing I could count on to get me reading. I’m also the human of a very adorable little kitty, Luna. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen me post pictures of her. She’s a busy little thing. 

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?

Nothing too different. I did forget to sign up to be a cheerleader, so I’ll be doing some rogue cheering today. 

I don’t know how frequent my updates will be, but I’ll try to check in at least a few times here. I think most of my updates will be on Twitter (@shootingstarr7). 

Happy Readathon! 

A Day in the Life of Me

Today, Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity is hosting her annual A Day in the Life event. Since I’m slowly easing my way back in to blogging, I thought this would be a good way to share a bit about myself. I tracked last Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Head over to Trish’s blog to see how other participants spent their days. 

  
4:55 am: The first of my four alarms goes off. I hit snooze, but I’m sort of awake. I get in some quality snuggles with Luna, my seven month old kitten. 

6:38 am: After ignoring my remaining alarms, I finally roll out of bed and hit the shower. 

7:06 am: I’ve showered and dressed, and just need to feed myself and Luna. She gets kibble, and I’m having leftover Belgian waffles from the large batch I made Sunday. 

7:16 am: I’m out the door and off to work. My commute is about 45 minutes to an hour, so I have lots of listening time. Since it’s Tuesday, there’s a new All the Books! podcast waiting for me. 

8:15 am: Traffic was a bit uncooperative, so it took me longer than I’d have liked to get to work. My to-do list today is a bit exhaustive, so I settle in to get started. It’s a day where I have a lot to do on probate-related matters, including preparing documents, calling the court, and arranging publication of the probate notice for a recently filed case. 

  
11:00 am: I join my boss in a meeting with some estate planning clients so that I can notarize their new trust. 

12:20 pm: Lunchtime. Today’s lunch is pork tamales while I mess around with my iPad. 

1:20 pm: Back to work. My afternoon tasks include client phone calls and working on an accounting for a probate matter. 

  
6:00 pm: Leave work. My dad calls to discuss plans for our forthcoming trip to Arizona, and I make stops at Hobby Lobby, the pharmacy, and Kazoku Teriyaki (my very favorite takeout place), and finally head home. My evening soundtrack is the most recent album from Silversun Pickups, one of my favorite bands. 

8:10 pm: I’m finally home. I scarf down my dinner, make some bill payments, catch up with my roommate, and spend some time on Instagram and Pinterest looking for travel journal inspiration. There’s also a good chunk of time spent playing with Luna, who requires lots of entertainment after being home alone most of the day. 

10:30 pm: I lay down in bed with Queen of the Night and read a few pages, but it’s not long before I’m asleep, recharging for a new day. 

So, that’s a look at my day. It was a pretty low-key day, but it was a pretty typical day for me. 

Coming Soon…

I am so pleased to announce Reading and Ruminations will be relaunching soon! I’ll be sharing more details in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Readathon: Hour 17 Update

Hello again! It’s been a few hours, but I’ve been a busy reader (and eater). I finished my third book, Man of Honour by Jane Ashford, and had dinner. I’m taking a break now to watch tonight’s episode of Outlander, and the opening shots of the episodes are definitely part of the reason I watch this show- for the stunning images of the Scottish countryside.

After the episode is over, I’ll probably spend some time on Instagram, catching up on my much neglected cheerleading duties.

Here are my stats for now:

Currently reading: Nothing- taking a break
Books completed: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn; Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphonse; Man of Honour by Jane Ashford
Pages read last four hours: 322
Total pages read: 689
Minutes read last four hours: 157
Total minutes read: 406
Pages per minute: 1.69

Readathon: Hour 13 Update

It’s hard to believe the Readathon is already halfway over- it seems like it went by SO fast thus far. I’ve spent a fair amount of time doing non-reading things, but I’ve also managed to finish two books. I’m planning to spend most of the next hour reading, and then get caught up on some cheerleading duties as well.

Here my answers to the mid-event survey:

1. What are you reading right now?

I just finished Ms. Marvel: No Normal, and I’m probably going to move on to Man of Honour by Jane Ashford next.
2. How many books have you read so far?

Two: Ms. Marvel and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

Hm, that’s tough. I have a lot of books with challenging plots and themes in my stack today, so I don’t know how much I am “looking forward” to any of them. Maybe Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead. That might be next after the Ashford.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Not too many. Most of my interruptions were planned, and at least they didn’t involve Stella getting a crazy expensive diagnosis today. I’m not planning on having any more interruptions since my roommate is gone for the rest of the weekend.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

Nothing much surprises me about the Readathon these days. I expect 24 hours of awesome bookishness with an ever-expanding community, and so far, I’ve had that. 🙂

And my stats:

Currently reading: About to start Man of Honor by Jane Ashford
Books completed: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn; Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphonse
Pages read last four hours: 115
Total pages read: 367
Minutes read last four hours: 43
Total minutes read: 249
Pages per minute: 1.47

Readathon: Hour 9 Update

Well, Stella and I are home from the vet, and I’m extremely happy, because we got the good news I was looking for. She still has a couple of skin tumor lesions, but the main one on her foot is so much smaller that the vet has given her six months before she has to come back in. After going every other week (or once a month) for essentially the last year, it’s great to have some positive progress (and a chance to stop racking up vet bills every month).

In actual Readathon news, I have finished my first book. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn was great- that woman knows her way around a psychological thriller. Though some of the ending was not a surprise to me, I didn’t see all of it coming. However, since it was pretty psychologically twisty, I’m probably going to take a break, and possibly a nap for a little while to clear out my brain space. And then when I come back, I’ll probably start on Ms. Marvel: No Normal.

Currently reading: Nothing. It’s naptime
Books completed: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Pages read last seven hours: 150
Total pages read: 252
Minutes read last seven hours: 110
Total minutes read: 205
Pages per minute: 1.22

Readathon: Hour 3 Update

Hello, Hour 3! You sure came along quickly. Seems like I just sat down with my first cup of coffee, and now I’m working my way through the second. Breakfast is in the oven (thirteen more minutes until I find out whether the premade casserole was a brilliant move or if I’m having a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch!), and now the kitties are awake and starting to bother me for kibble and their morning dose of squishy food.

It was a productive first two hours. I’m 2/5 of the way through Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which I am loving. Flynn is excellent at painting pictures without using purple prose, and I feel like I’m in this tiny little Missouri town, in spite of never having been to Missouri. However, with that said, I will probably be following this up with a romance, if only to cleanse the brain space a little bit.

The next 3-4 hours will probably be light on reading. I’ll try to make some more progress on Sharp Objects, but I’m also going to eat, do some cheerleading, and then take Stella to the vet to get her foot looked at (she has a skin cancer tumor that we’ve been treating for about a month, and it seems a lot smaller to me so I am expecting good news).

Here are my stats for the first two hours:

Currently reading: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Books completed: None
Pages read last two hours: 102
Total pages read: 102
Minutes read last four hours: 95
Total minutes read: 95
Pages per minute: 1.07

Readathon: Hour 0 – The Opening Meme

Good morning everyone! I ended up staying up super late last night going grocery shopping and making myself a breakfast casserole that I’m not at all sure will work, so I’m operating on about four hours of sleep here. I hadn’t planned on an Hour 2 nap, but I’m thinking it will happen regardless.

In any event, I’m awake now, and my coffee just got done brewing, and the opening meme is live, so let’s get this party started!

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

I’m reading from Roseville, CA. I described it last time as a town that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be Beverly Hills or Stars Hollow, so it tries to be both, and it’s really the most apt description I’ve managed to come up with for my “small town” of 120,000 people.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Tough one. Some of the books in my stack literally just sit on my shelves waiting for the next readathon to come along. Maybe Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. It’s been on the stack the longest of today’s choices, I think.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I assembled a breakfast casserole last night, so I’m anxious to see how that turns out. Otherwise, most looking forward to dinner. It’s a spaghetti pot roast night.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

This is my Lucky Number 13 Readathon! I’ve been doing this since October 2008 when Dewey was still hosting, and I’ve participated every time since (except April 2012, when I was on my very first trip to Texas). I’m a paralegal by day, cat wrangler by night, and sarcasm expert always.
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?

I was an official cheerleader for the first time last time and had a blast. This time I’m cheering on Instagram, and I’m SO excited to do that. I spent an hour last night following all the Instagram participants, and I went from following 19 people to following 104! If you’re on Instagram, look for the #readathon and #teamdarcy hashtags to help cheer the readers on. Also, since I stayed up late last night, I am looking forward to my first nap.

April 2015 Readathon

‘Twas the night before the Readathon, and all through the house, kitties were sleeping and I was making poor use of my time.

Yes, I should be in bed by now, or close to it, but I wanted to get my Readathon Participation Announcement Post up tonight, so that I could share my bookstack with you. Those of you who viewed last year’s announcement post will recognize that many of the books in my October stack are also in this stack. I was a terrible readathoner last time and only finished two and a half books (and I nearly didn’t read one of them).

I’ve also added some lighter fare to the stack this year- a few historical romances and the first trade of Ms. Marvel.

In the stack:

• Jane Ashford: Man of Honor
• Maya Rodale: What a Wallflower Wants
• Mary Balogh: Only Enchanting
• John Banville: The Infinities
• Mahbod Seraji: Rooftops of Tehran
• Simon Van Booy: Love Begins in Winter
• Teju Cole: Open City
• Geraldine Brooks: Year of Wonders
• Gillian Flynn: Sharp Objects
• Maggie Shipstead: Seating Arrangements
• Roxane Gay: An Untamed State
• Toni Morrison: God Help the Child
• G. Willow Wilson: Ms. Marvel: No Normal

I’ve also got some other possibilities hiding in my Nook and in my Comixology account. I’m still a comics newbie, and I’ve got issues of Lumberjanes, Saga, Fables, and Sex Criminals waiting to be read. I can see myself reading those when I need to get through something quickly. And I know I’ll be forced to leave the house at least once to take Stella to the vet (I am apparently incapable of making sure that readathons and her appointments do not coincide, but at least this time I am expecting only good news, and not a crazy expensive diabetes diagnosis), so I’ll probably squeeze in a few minutes of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please! on audio.

I’m signed up to be officially cheered for here on the blog, but I’ll also be on Twitter and Instagram throughout the day. I love Twitter on readathon days- the community spirit is amazing and infectious. And this time, I’m an official cheerleader on Team Darcy, and we’re cheering on the readathoners of Instagram. I went from following 19 people on Instagram to following 104- it’s crazy! You can find me on Twitter at @shootingstarr7. I am also shootingstarr7 on Instagram.

And now, since I have the worst planning skills ever, I am off to the grocery store in the rain because I didn’t think about what I was doing and so I didn’t stop on the way home. I can pretty much guarantee I won’t be able to brain at 5:00 tomorrow morning for the start of the readathon, let alone read, if I don’t go get some coffee and creamer, among other things. So I’ll hit publish and go do that, and I will see you all tomorrow morning, caffeine in hand!

Hour 21: Calling it a Night

Well, I lasted longer this readathon than I have the last several, but the time has come for me to go to bed (especially since I have to get up in 5 hours to give Stella an insulin shot. This will be an adjustment). Overall, I’d say it was a successful readathon for me. I finished a couple books, did some cheering on Twitter and had a great time.

Here are my final Readathon stats:

Currently reading: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Books completed: The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Pages read last five hours: 323
Total pages read: 564
Minutes read last five hours: 156
Total minutes read: 379 (6 hours and 19 minutes)
Pages per minute: 1.48

See you all again in April, and good luck to those of you reading the last three hours!