This past weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends I’ve had in quite a while. To spend so many hours reading, guilt free and undisturbed, was truly a gift, a much needed R&R break from the usual business and chores, and I got a LOT of reading done. Things are still a little sluggish around here, so my usual Weekly Reads will be a bit late this week (plus it has almost double the books!).

I didn’t make it to the end of the 24 hours, but I surprisingly did make it to 2 AM – just 5 hours shy! I just had to finish Above the Waterfall – not exactly a page-turner, but what an amazing cast of characters.

Btw, I did end up making the Strawberry Salty Dog – delicious!!

Also, a tip for all readathoners: snacks are definitely the key to a happy and long readathon. While the puppy chow and popcorn were a little messy, it was the best thing to ever happen when I hit 2 PM and lost my steam. And the Strawberry Salty Dog – it’s a no brainer! Delicious and refreshing. 🙂

Current Stats:

New Books Started: 3

Books in Progress: 5

Books Completed: 4

Page Updates:

The Sage of Waterloo: 221 pages – Complete

Station Eleven: 333 pages – Complete

The Danish Girl: 336 pages – Complete

Above the Waterfall: 252 pages – Complete

Jane Steele: 142/432 pages – In Progress

Total Pages: 873!

End of Event Survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Probably the last hour and a half – it went by sooo slowly and I thought I’d never finish, but I had to know the end of the story!

1. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

Station Eleven and Above the Waterfall were the most attention grabbing books I could have chosen. They are perfect picks for a readathon! I’d recommend Jane Steele, but I think it’s a little too long compared to the others.

1. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?

For a first timer, it was a little daunting to join in on all the social media happenings and read at the same time. I like the various options of joining in, but I think I should have picked one platform and stuck to it only – switching from Goodreads to Facebook to Twitter to a few blogs was a bit much.

1. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

I really enjoyed the readathon’s momentum. Everyone was pumped well before the start date and I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s TBR lists and snack prepping beforehand. It made it super exciting – and the fact that it kept going throughout the readathon was awesome!

1. How many books did you read?

I read 5 books and finished 4 of them.

1. What were the names of the books you read?

Listed above.

1. Which book did you enjoy most?

I really enjoyed The Sage of Waterloo. It’s definitely not a great choice for a readathon though – it’s extremely quote worthy I have to stop and write one down every other page, and I couldn’t help but find myself swept up by the characters and surged into a well of deep reflection….but man, it’s an amazing and thought provoking piece of art. I loved every minute of it!

1. Which did you enjoy least?

The Danish Girl. While I did enjoy this novel, it just wasn’t on the same level as the others I read that day. The characters didn’t grow as much as I expected them too and the ending was completely lack-luster. It just ends. And while I can probably guess at what happens next for each of the characters, I wanted more of a conclusion at the end. Also, I found it extremely unlikely that Lili didn’t experience any backlash for being transgender. She was always expecting the worst reaction, but never actually received one in the novel’s entirety. So to me, it felt like an entire piece of the story was missing.

1. 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 another readathon. I don’t know if I could really take on more than I did this time, so it might be a few goings until I sign up to cheerlead or anything else. But I would hope to participate more in the mini challenges next go around.

How was your readathon? What did you learn? What was your favorite read of the day?