24 hour Read-a-thon: progress reports

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This is my Read-a-thon progress report, which means that rather than bombarding the cyber-wires with lots of new posts, I updated this one regularly over 24 hours. I posted new stuff above old, so if you’re checking in for the first time on Monday morning, you might want to start from the bottom and work backwards. Click here to read details of my mini-challenge.

1304 GMT / 2304 AEST:

The October 2008 Read-a-thon is well and truly over. I started late so tacked a bit of time on the end to browse the other Readers’ blogs. Fantastic stuff! If you enjoy reading in any way, shape or form, I’d highly recommend having a look at this page on Gargantuan Books, which contains a list of every participating blog - who knows, you may discover a new favourite for your feedreader.

If you think you might be interested in taking part yourself next time, keep an eye on The Other Side of a Leaf for details - they’re run twice a year, in October and April-ish. There’s lots of scope for getting involved as much or as little as you like. I reckon it’s probably the most fun you can have on the internet

I’m also about to draw the winner of the prize for the mini-challenge I ran, with the help of my lovely assistant Mr D… see my mini-challenge post for the name of the winner.

My not-so-grand total now stands at:

What I read: Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, by Simon Winchester
Total time spent reading: 10.5 hours
Total pages read: 140, plus a couple of pages of the Sydney Morning Herald!
Total number of books read: 0
Total participants visited: I lost count towards the end, but about 50. Not everyone, unfortunately, but I’ve bookmarked a couple to go back to!

In terms of reading, this represents a massive increase on last year’s effort (2007 total pages read: 0!), and the trade-off is a decrease in cheerleading efforts unfortunately. I have a few ideas for how I’ll plan it next time around - probably October again, but who knows? Maybe I’ll go for the mid-year one too! All in all, I’m had a great time reading, talking about reading, thinking about reading, blogging about reading and commenting about reading. A big thank you to everyone who organised it!! ‘Til next time.

1041 GMT / 2041 AEST:

What I’m reading: Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, by Simon Winchester
How much time spent reading since last update: 2.5 hours
How many pages read since last update: 33
Total time spent reading: 9 hours
Total pages read: 135, plus a couple… etc!
Total number of books read: 0
Other participants visited since last update: 0

Been to China and back this last stretch - wonderful! I’m now about to spend some time checking out other people’s blogs to see who’s left. We’re now officially about to enter the final hour of the Read-a-thon, so I imagine there’ll be more than a few scratchy eyes and unfocussed frowns out there I started a bit late so will hang around for a bit after the official ending to see if there are any stragglers left! I’ll also do the draw for the mini-challenge and post the winner here, before contacting them directly.

0806 GMT / 1806 AEST:

What I’m reading: Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, by Simon Winchester
How much time spent reading since last update: 2.5 hours
How many pages read since last update: 31
Total time spent reading: 6.5 hours
Total pages read: 102, plus a couple… etc!
Total number of books read: 0
Other participants visited since last update: 0

After a lovely dinner I really relished settling in to a couple of hours of reading. I’m thoroughly enjoying this book and am so fascinated, I’m even taking notes as I go along. I heard Simon Winchester give a talk about China at the recent Brisbane Writers Festival and was inspired to buy his book on the basis of that. Joseph Needham is a really fascinating character and I can’t think of a better way to learn about China’s scientific history than through his eyes.

The plan is to keep reading for now, then do another round of cheerleading in a couple of hours again. Hope everyone’s having fun!

0506 GMT / 1506 AEST:

What I’m reading: Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, by Simon Winchester
How much time spent reading since last update: 0
How many pages read since last update: 0
Total time spent reading: 4 hours
Total pages read: 71, plus a couple… etc!
Total number of books read: 0
Other participants visited since last update: 25 (with plenty of comments left along the way!)

My how time flies when you’re on a Read-a-thon! After a couple of laps around the exercise trail in my local park (my body is a temple, and all!) I got stuck into the not-at-all unpleasant task of visiting the Readers who had signed up for my mini-challenge so far. I’m delighted so many people are willing to give it a go, regardless of how rusty they feel their language skills are. And there’s still lots more time left to participate too as the mini-challenge doesn’t end until 1200 GMT / 2200 AEST - another 7 hours!

A big call out to the cheerleaders too by the way, they’re doing such a sterling job. There are 119 Readers registered and only 19 cheerleaders, so that’s a lot of cheering no matter what way you look at it

All in all, it’s LOTS of fun, and like last year, I’ve discovered some great blogs that I can’t wait to get back to later…

But for now, discipline is the name of the game. I’m putting the laptop down and getting back to my book!

0120 GMT / 1120 AEST:

What I’m reading: Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, by Simon Winchester
How much time spent reading since last update: 4 hours
How many pages read since last update: 71, plus a couple of pages of the Sydney Morning Herald
Total time spent reading: 4 hours
Total pages read: 71, plus a couple… etc!
Total number of books read: 0!

Just logged in after breakfast on the verandah and a couple of sections of the Sydney Morning Herald. Would love to linger here reading for the day but I know I have some cheerleading duties to attend to too! Delighted at the fantastic response to the challenge so far.

I read for quite a while last night after going to bed, making it a pretty late night all around (in fact, I could hear the birds starting up as I finally dropped off to sleep). I was sorely tempted to get up and check in online a couple of times, but I knew once I did that, I’d be embroiled in the blogosphere for the night so I’m glad I resisted.

The plan now is spend an hour or so checking in on a few blogs, then return to reading again. (I also have a few chores and an attention-starved husband to contend with ) Not sure how often I’ll update - last year I spent my whole time surfing/ cheering and updating, this year I’d really like to get some reading in too… oh I do love a challenge!!

1400 GMT / 0000 AEST:

Good news is the Read-a-thon has just started Bad news is I’m about to go to bed It’s midnight after a long and busy Saturday here in Brisbane, but I have my reading chair primed and my book list ready so I’m looking forward to starting fresh in the morning!

[1421 GMT / 0021 AEST: correction... I've just checked the rather fantastic Gargantuan Books and realised I'm starting ONE HOUR LATE!!! How on earth did I manage that?! I mean, I deal with international time zones for a living!!! Too tired to work it all out now, I'll look at it again in the morning ]

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Tagged as: read-a-thon