Social Distancing Readathon #158 - March 24 - 26

Welcome to another readathon!

We generally run from Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday at midnight in whatever time zone you choose, but feel free to start earlier on Friday and wrap up overnight Sunday/Monday, if that's what you want to do.

Here are some things to track throughout the weekend, if you choose:

Books read from:
Books finished:
Time reading:
Time posting:
Snacks:
Thoughts:
Non-book activities:

Total books finished:
Total read from:
Total time reading:

Who is participating -

1. SilverWolf (SilverWolf28) -- Tennessee, USA

I'm in again.

Halfway through Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian that I'm reading for book club.

Starring this and will try to join in

I’m in for Friday and Sunday! I’m still working on a February read as well as one for March. Fingers crossed I can make some headway.

I'm gonna try again this week.

I'm jumping in again. Just started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Also still working on All the Trouble in the World by PJ O'Rourke.

I'm in! I'm going to try to finish The Measure of a Mountain and then move onto Arch-Conspirator or The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi.

Friday afternoon update

Books read from: My main reading book for today was, once again, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. I am also reading Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley and Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey. I am listening to Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished reading Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Book Thoughts: I caught a cold this week and so I have not been reading or cooking. I just haven't felt like it. I am hoping that today I will get some reading done as I am feeling better. Memphis turned out to be a good book, even if it tried to cover too many issues. I think this is the author's first novel and it needed to be tightened up with some good editing, but it was still worth reading.
Non-Book activities: Starting on my taxes. I had planned on driving up to Lincoln to go to the Sheldon Art Gallery and get groceries, but I don't feel well enough to make the trip. I already know that I am going to be purchasing Kleenex's in bulk. My nose is running like a steam engine.
Time reading: 1 hour
Time posting:
Food: my last croissant from the bakery in Lincoln, NE. :-(
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 310
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 856 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

I'm in- I have time to read on Sunday1

I'm in: I spent an hour on the porch reading Why Woo Woo Works and want to finish this weekend. From there, I have two library books: Remarkable Creatures and Clock Dance. I went to the library twice this week--once for book group and once for the craft group--and checked out a book each time as though I don't have stacks of both analog and virtual books already waiting!

As for non-reading, I plan to plant some veggie seeds: beets, lettuce and kale. I am also crocheting gifts for Easter and making Easter cards.

>8 benitastrnad: Sorry you are not feeling well. Rest and hydrate!

>10 witchyrichy: I always find it hard to walk in and out of a library without borrowing anything even if I only meant to return/renew books. At least gratification is relatively cheap (though borrowing books is free, I use a library within walking distance and others that are a bus journey away - Greater London is broken up into 33 separate library services, though my local libraries have just joined the better of the two networks sharing books across different services - I've realised that two of the books I've reserved are probably going to come from different areas!)

I'm in: I'm hoping to progress on The Golden Notebook which I've set aside for a few weeks now.

Friday Update:

Books read from: Galatea, Alaska, Heart to Heart A Conversation on Love and Hope for Our Precious Planet
Books finished: 2
Time reading: 3 hours
Time posting: 10:10pm
Snacks: bowl of soup for dinner
Thoughts: Nothing really
Non-book activities: Watched a couple of episodes of Abbott Elementary

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 3 hours
Total time reading: 3 hours

I'm in! I'm too tired to read tonight so I'm watching BritBox and Acorn this evening, but hopefully I'll get more reading done tomorrow and Sunday.

Saturday late afternoon:

Books read from: The Measure of a Mountain
Books finished: The Measure of a Mountain
Time reading: 4 hours
Time posting: 5 PM
Snacks: saltines--I've got a stomachache :-(
Thoughts: It's weird reading a 25-year-old book about the region I moved to 23 years ago--so contemporary in some regards but wildly dated in others.
Non-book activities: library, grocery store

Total books finished: 1
Total read from: 1
Total time reading: 4 hours

Saturday night:

Books read from: Arch-Conspirator
Books finished: Arch-Conspirator
Time reading: 1 hours
Time posting: 9:25 PM
Snacks: Tacos, but simple bland ones, given stomachache issues
Thoughts: I wouldn't have thought of a post-apocalyptic Antigone retelling, but that book worked.
Non-book activities: writing, discussed garden plans with my husband

Total books finished: 2
Total read from: 2
Total time reading: 5 hours

Sunday morning update: I haven't read as much as I thought. There was a snowstorm yesterday and another today. My morale is pretty low :(

Books read from: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, This is not a book by Michael Picard and Subdivided edited by Jay Pitter
Books finished: 0
Time reading: 2.5 hours
Time posting: 8:30 am
Snacks: sushi
Thoughts: Lessing's book is still as relevant today as it was back in the day of its publication. I'm loving the series of essays in Subdivided about urban planning, cityscapes and identity.
Non-book activities: Brunch, garden shopping (ha!), lots of crocheting, laundry

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 2.5 hours
Total time reading: 2.5 hours

Sunday morning update:

Books read from: Uniform Justice by Donna Leon, my latest audio book, and Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Books finished: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Thoughts: I love listening to David Colacci read Donna Leon's books! Remarkable Creatures was wonderfully written, weaving the voices of two very different yet not so different women together in a story of early fossil hunters and archaeological discoveries.

Non-book activities: making 3D easter eggs out of paper, some crocheting, dog walking and tennis

>15 susanna.fraser:
It was almost 23 years ago that I left Seattle after living there 24 years!
Hope you're feeling better today.

Sunday morning

Books:
Finished The Hour of the Witch by Bohjalian. 9th book read in March.
Quite suspenseful, I never knew what was coming next. Very interesting details of life with the Puritans, Boston in the 1660s.
Pretty bleak and horrifying. I loved it!

Starting The Outsider by Stephen King, 4th in the Holly Gibney series. Another thriller.
Coming soon - March by G Brooks for book club in April.

Indian dinner last night - samosas, garden salad, green coconut curry rice and shrimp. I cooked!

Other activity:
Yesterday was sunny and warm. We went for a walk.
My grandies, age 6 and 9, played at my house Saturday morning.
They love my children's loft full of books, dolls, puppets, toys, games, puzzles and musical instruments.
From my days as a children's librarian, and some of my son's toys when he was a kid.

Coudy, 65 F. (19 C.) just before noon.

I haven't checked in, but planned on participating. Update from Saturday:

Books read from: The Thing Around Your Neck, Dark Star Safari, Poverty, By America, Sea Loves Me, Demon Copperhead, We Don't Know Ourselves, All Systems Red, Stories
Books finished: 3 Poverty, By America, Sea Loves Me, All Systems Red
Pages read: 407

Dinner: home version of bibimbab
Thoughts: We sent our youngest off for a semester study abroad in Japan. Although she's normally at school and not home, she's been here a week getting ready to go, and the house feels suddenly quiet without her.
Non-book activities: farmers market, laundry, errands with Helen: tacos for lunch, bought a second-hand dress to wear at our son's wedding in June, returned jeans in Georgetown, went to the mall and bought her a raincoat, sunglasses, and a cute skirt, airport dropoff. Walked dog, made dinner, watched All Creatures Great and Small

Total books finished: 3
Total read from: 8
Total pages read: 407

Sunday afternoon update

Books read from: My main reading book for the last two days has been Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley. I continue to read Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey. I am listening to Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished reading Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Book Thoughts: I read almost 200 pages in Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley. This one is for the LT Nonfiction Book Challenge run by Suzanne. This is a book about the world war in the 1500's between the Spanish Hapsburgs and the Ottoman Empire over control of the Mediterranean. It starts in 1500 with the first part of the book leading up to the Siege of Malta. I am now going to start reading about the Battle of Lepanto that ended Ottoman sea power. The writing is basically one of those blow by blow accounts of the people, places, and battles. It is very interesting and I am beginning to get a better handle on the place of Venice in the world of the 1500's. I can say that this book would have benefited from a couple of simple maps. Instead it is blessed with those overblown baroque picture maps and drawings that are not scaled correctly and are covered with multitudes of peoples who are not always in the right places. They add the flavor of the 1500's to the book, but nothing to understanding what is going on. Nevertheless, I continue to read and am learning ever so much.
Non-Book activities: I have been visited by a pestilence. I have laid in bed for three days and that is SO unlike me. I am rarely sick, but this has been something that has kept me down for three days. I finally got up and showered this morning. That is how bad I felt. I did not get to Lincoln to go grocery shopping or the Sheldon Art gallery. By-the-way, Suzanne notified our little group that her father died this morning. She was in Canada for most of the last month tending to him, but this will still be hard for her.
Time reading: 7 hours in the last two days
Time posting:
Food: homemade soup from a cousin
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 310
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 863 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

>20 AnneDC:
I have had Dark Star Safari on my reading list for some time. Let us know how that one goes.

Sunday evening, how I did this weekend:

Books read from: The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams ; TR’s Last War, David Pietrusza; Sub Tales: Stories that Seldom Surface, Charles Hood.

Books finished: 1
Total read from/listened to: 3
Time reading: 12h

Random Thoughts: King Lear is far more complicated than I ever realized.
I feel a savage pleasure in hacking at these hateful barberry shrubs.
I really know nothing about Harry S. Truman (or why we’re so insistent on including his middle initial when we refer to him).

Non-book activities: Ducking chilly raindrops one day and rejoicing in the beginnings of a sunny garden the others.

Sunday Update

Books read from: The Thing Around Your Neck, Demon Copperhead, Artificial Condition
Books finished: The Thing Around Your Neck
Pages read: 75

Lunch and dinner: leftovers
Thoughts: I spent most of my day catching up on work and not on reading. Sometimes Monday comes early.
Non-book activities: work, laundry, dog walks

Total books finished: 4
Total read from: 9
Total pages read: 482

>22 benitastrnad: I've had Dark Star Safari around for years and I picked it up in February for the NonFiction Hobbies and Pastimes challenge, and because I was traveling in Egypt. I read the beginning where he travels from Cairo down the Nile while I was there, and then I've been making my way very slowly down the continent. The slowness of my reading is not a comment on the book, I am really enjoying it! It also ties in loosely with the Africa novels I'm reading. He describes a kind of travel I don't think it would ever be possible for me to do, and I'm enjoying the vicarious journey.

>23 PocheFamily: How are you enjoying the Dictionary of Lost Words? it's on my TBR pile.

Monday morning update. I did a bit of reading in French to balance out a bit all my reading in English.

Books read from: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, This is not a book by Michael Picard, Subdivided edited by Jay Pitter, Un café avec Marie by Serge Bouchard and Manger Bambi by Caroline de Mulder

Books finished: 0
Time reading: 5 hours
Time posting: 8:30 am
Snacks: high tea
Thoughts: de Mulder's book is incredibly violent, about two adolescent girls going on a rampage. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, the book is harsh, cruel and seedy, on the other there's an undeniable vulnerability underneath all that bravado.

Non-book activities: more crocheting, high tea, library run and quality time with my 4-year-old niece

Total books finished: 0
Total read from: 5 books
Total time reading: 5 hours

Monday morning wrap-up:

Books read from: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, All the Trouble in the World by P.J. O'Rourke, Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Books finished: Station Eleven & All the Trouble in the World

Thoughts: Station Eleven supplanted Mandel's Sea of Tranquility as my favorite read of the year so far. I'm quite taken by Ms. Mandel's writing chops & expect I will tackle another of hers before too terribly long.

Non-book activities - work. What can I say, I'm a tax accountant & I'm working weekends right now...

Monday morning wrap-up:

Started Clock Dance by Anne Tyler last night and finished it this morning. It was lovely.
Listening to Uniform Justice
Read from Richard Rohr's Lenten devotional

Non-book activities: a bit of tennis watching, planted seeds in our high tunnel (beets, lettuce, kale, and carrots), and made these easter eggs out of paper:

>25 Cecilturtle: I don’t enjoy saying “meh” about any book, and The Dictionary of Lost Words particularly, because the author obviously took such great care in researching and constructing the story. As I think about why it didn’t connect with me I am rather focused on the characters: was there a lack of character development? I preferred several of the minor characters to that of the main character I think. I’d seen the book here on LT and we’d considered it in a bookclub, so that’s why I read it. Obviously others are enjoying it more than me. One of my errands now is to return it - late - to the library, criminal that I am, because it took me forever to get through. I regret I can’t be more enthusiastic… it’s not bad in any way, but that’s hardly a ringing endorsement!

>20 AnneDC:
>22 benitastrnad:
OK, you caught my attention with Dark Star Safari and I reserved it at the library.
Benita, hope you're feeling better today.

Monday, weekend wrap

Books:
halfway through The Outsider by Stephen King.

Sunday dinner: spaghetti and meatballs

Other activity:
Did my shift in our small neighborhood library on Sunday afternoon.

Partly sunny, 66 F. (19 C.). Thunderstorm expected later.

Monday afternoon update

Books read from: My main reading book for the last several days has been Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley and I finished it late last night. I continue to slowly read Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. I am determined to finish this book. Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey. I am listening to Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard.

Books finished in this weekend's Readathon: I finished reading Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley and Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Book Thoughts: I made it a true Read-A-Thon weekend by doing nothing but reading the entire weekend! (this was do to the pestilence - more on that later.) I read the entire book Empires of the Sea because I literally spent three days in bed. I didn't feel like watching TV, or really doing much knitting, but I got engaged in this blow by blow account of the fight to control the Mediterranean and its trades routes and couldn't put it down. I started reading it for the LT Nonfiction Challenge, the March category was empires, and finished reading it late last night. I had read another book by this author - 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West and enjoyed that one so had put this title on my TBR list. I knew little to nothing about this period of history and I can say I learned alot about Europe in the 16th century. Not to mention so much more about the Ottoman Empire and how it worked.
Non-Book activities: The war against the pestilence has reached the point where victory looks imminent. I am feeling so much better today. I got up and felt like doing something, so I got a box of paper out of my car and actually went through it this morning and eliminated three quarters of it to the recycling bin. I am going to the nursing home to get mom later this afternoon and bring her home for 24 hour visit. Then I need to pack up and leave to return to Alabama for the next week.
Time reading: 6 hours yesterday
Time posting:
Food: I had half of a Subway meatball sandwich. God only know what kind of meat is in that thing, but it sure tastes good. I am going to do a hot dog and baked bean casserole for mom and I for tonight with ice cream for desert.
Total books finished since the Read-A-Thon Began: 311
Total Time Reading since the Social Distancing read-a-thon began: 869 hours since I started doing the weekend Read-A-Thon back in April of 2020.

I've been busy in RL and have missed posting in these readathons for the last couple weeks. I'll try to do better next weekend.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/349763