LOGBOOK for July/August 2012 ReadaThing

As I post this it is under 20 hours until the start of the ReadaThing!
I've posted a count down timer here, in case you want to check.

Good news! Despite Olympic festivities, religious holidays, and massive heat waves in much of the world, most of our slots are filled by at least one reader (there can be more than one reader at a time, so keep adding on as you feel moved to read throughout the week)!

We've already been chatting on the thread for what you plan to do, but this thread is for what you ACTUALLY do/did: where, how, with whom or what...

(I've worded the questions as if you are posting just after you read, but feel free to post before, during, or after!)

**What book or books did you read?
**Where did you read? (specific or vague is fine) Posting a picture of where you read. is encouraged
**When did you read? How long did you read?
**Doing anything else? food, music, listening to someone snore, watching the sun rise or set...

More Important Stuff:
**Is it a GOOD BOOK? Tell us what you thought of it...

**Did it meet or exceed your expectations? **Do you recommend it? **Was it a fast read or a thoughtful read? **Did it make you laugh or cry or "be afraid, be very afraid"? **Was it boring? **Would you read it again? **Are you going to throw it off a cliff into the sea?

We aren't expecting a full review of the book, although, that's fine... just give us a flavor of the book.. tempt us into reading it or warn us to keep clear!

and have some fun with your reading! There's going to be a good group of us reading along with you... sorta... and we'll be really quiet, except for the tapping of the keyboards as people check in.

The signup page is here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/ReadathingSummer2012

You don't have to sign up for a time... the No Timeline Readers is further down that page.

I'm looking forward to following everyone's reading projects . . . when I'm not reading myself!

I'll try to fill in some of the gaps, but life is to chaotic at the moment to attach myself to a time slot. In anticipation I temporarily changed my profile pic to the ReadaThing logo.

No pressure. We're good through Saturday. And with so many "No Timeline" readers, I'm confident we will have someone reading at most of the available moments throughout the week. It's amazing how things manage to pull together!

It's in SOTT too, which is streaming out now at very high speeds, so I'm sure that'll bring in some more.

I'll probably get some of the 2 and 3 AM EDT slots filled - as long as I do not need to travel, this will be 11 pm/12 am my time so let's see how this all starts and

Had to Google SOTT ;-)

I like the idea of the ReadaThing very much. And I also like to share pictures of the places where I'll be reading the books I choose, but I have no clue as to how to get the pictures here. Do I need to copie them somewhere on a website like photobucket or can I upload them from my own laptop?

You can upload them to LT as well, but then you would have to learn some HTML coding to make them show in your messages.

Personally: having a "spot of bother" with camera to computer, so probably no pictures from me.

>7 connie53: If you upload pics to the Gallery on your profile page someone should be able to help you post them.

There's also a Group Gallery on the main ReadaThing Group page (http://www.librarything.com/groups/readathing ) where all members can post pics.

Instructions on how to work with Galleries are at:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/HelpThing:Gallery

Instructions on how to insert images are at:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/HelpThing:Html_tips#Inserting_Images

I'm now off to find something to add to the group gallery so I can test it out.

Okay, I'm off to bed now. I will try to figure out all the pic stuff tomorrow. Its already july 26 overhere but there will be no more reading done for me.

Oooh, will be fun to see pictures of where everyone is reading! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's start time!

Okay, here we go . . . I'm cutting the official ReadaThing Ribbon :)
Let the July/August 2012 ReadaThing BEGIN!!!!

Happy Reading Everyone!

I've got two books going at the moment The Winter King a very different sort of book about Arthur Pendragon, and a more fun and light read The Mysterious Lady Law.

I'm about to have breakfast, vanilla tea and a bagel, and I'll be reading as I eat since the old man is out fishing.

Enjoy everyone!

Wow. I had this long post ready and then I clicked on the wrong button.

So here I go again

Book stuff:
I am currently reading Verboden magie by Juliet Marillier. Thats the Dutch version of Shadowfell part 1. I just bought this book a few days ago and smuggled it into the house. I always like the books of Juliet a lot and I had to complete my collection ;-) ( I tried to put an image here of the bookcover, but that did not go well.) The book has no map, but I like maps and found one on the website of Juliet. I printed it and am using it as a bookmark.
I am on page 44.



Where and when
I am reading in the garden (I put pics of my readingplaces in the groupgallery). It is thursday afternoon and it is almost half past two. Its really hot outside; 25 degrees Celcius (77 degrees F). I work at a school so I am on summerbreak and we are not going anywhere. My husband is upstairs doing stuff on the PC and I am downstairs at the diningtable typing this on my laptop. The book is on my lefthandside calling out to be taken back into the garden. I think I will do just that.

I originally signed up for the no timeline readers with the intention of putting my name into the timeline after I complete each full hour of reading. I can now say that I've completed my first hour of reading. I read from The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert. I was on the sofa in the living room, one of the cats was with me and wasn't too happy about me giving more attention to the book than to her:)

I've been reading on and of (I had to check here sometimes) untill now and I am now on page 127.

Finally checking in after a long read (7:15-9:45 am CDT in Minneapolis with breaks for snacks) . . . started with a few pages of Paws for a moment with God read with my cat. Then she got bored and I switched to The Cloud of Unknowing which I actually FINISHED!! (It's been on my "Currently Reading" list since November 2010.)

My goal for the ReadaThing is to actually finish some of the many books on my TBR list, so this is great progress already. Yippee for me!!!

Here's the description of The Cloud of Unknowing from the back cover ('cuz I'm still processing my own reaction):
"Written by an anonymous English monk during the late fourteenth century, The Cloud of Unknowing is a sublime expression of what separates God from humanity and is widely regarded as a hallmark of Western literature and spirituality. A work of simplicity, courage, and lucidity, it is a contemplative classic on the deep mysteries of faith."

So, that's enough Spiritual Reading for one day . . . and I really need a nap.

Oh, I posted a pic of my morning reading spot in the Group Gallery:



Will add other places as I occupy them :)

I love your reading places Connie! And 77°F sounds positively cool and balmy. Here we've been nearing 90F (32°C) most days with high humidity.

More later!

Thanks Lucinda. Yours looks comfy too.

My current readingplace is the deckchair (is that a correct word for that chair?). Its in the same place that shows in the pic but its now in the shade of the trees. I have to take care that I don't get mesmerized and sleepy by the leaves and the sun filtering through.



Yes!! I figured out how to put my pics here

This is my first Read a Thing or Thon with LT so tell me if I'm doing this wrong. I'm reading Fury's Fire by Lisa Papademetriou the sequel to Siren's Storm. The first one wasn't great which I just finished so I'm hoping the second is better. Then I'll be reading The Goddess Legacy, Innocent Darkness, and try to finish All These Lives and Lexapros and Cons. The last two have been hard for me so I may substitute something for them.

Have gotten about one hour of reading done over the last four hours. Lots of distractions, doggies needing care, attention and plenty of water. Etc.

I'm reading Goena-Goena by P.A. Daum. It's a late 19th century Dutch novel set in the Dutch East Indies of that time. The theme in short: a woman of mixed Dutch / Indonesian descent is trying to dispose a fully Dutch woman and win her equally fully Dutch husband by means of Goena-Goena (which, roughly, means the Indonesian equivalent of Voodoo). Jealousy, intrigue, poisoning, all that. About half way through.

I dislike the somewhat racist undertone of the novel. The real Dutch people are decent dupes, the real locals are superstitious morons, and the people of mixed ethnicity are up to no good. Hm. But I guess you have to see that in the light of the time. Racial and social prejudices were much more "acceptable" in the late Victorian era, it seems. And, compared to some others, Daum was pretty liberal for his days.

I've read an hour, making it through Plato's Euthyphro and the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Kenilworth. I enjoyed Euthyphro, although parts of it reminded me of a Marx brothers movie. For example:

"... then for a start, if the pious were loved because it is pious, the god-loved would also be loved because it is god-loved; and then, if the god-loved were god-loved because it was loved by the gods, the pious would also be pious because it was loved; but as it is you see that the two things are the opposite way round to each other, which shows that they're completely different from one another..."

I had to draw a diagram, but I think I figured it all out.

I'm still looking for a translation of Plato that I really like--I've read some that I think tried to translate the Greek perfectly literally, not even accounting for the differences between Greek and English sentence structure in a functional manner, while this translation (by Christopher Rowe in 2009) takes, I think, too much liberty with the text, inserting contractions and other colloquialisms. I'd like a translation that maintains accuracy, uses formal English, but is still reasonably readable.

I read a chapter of Au bord de l'eau; great fun. Then a number of poems in Kijken naar jou uit duizend ogen, Greek love poetry in Dutch translations. It's a pity the Greek originals are missing. When reading translated poetry I always like having the originals next to the translations, even in languages I do not understand, like Chinese or Russian.

Ah, the Outlaws of the marsh. Yes, great tales.

After seeing an interview recently with the author, and finding some things in common with him, I'm going to be reading A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home by Steve Pemberton (2012). It's a heatwave here and we had bad storms last night that knocked down many trees, damaged homes and vehicles, and stirred up 78-90 mph wind gusts, so I'll be fitting in my reading between work, yard cleanup, and cool showers. :)

Careful with cool showers when you're overheated. Tempting as they are, you run a risk of cooling your muscles too fast - and, I can assure you from personal experience: not nice at all.

(Sorry, yes, I know - off topic).

Just spent an hour on Collected Short Stories of Arthur C Clarke Vol 4 - enjoying a lot.

Just came home from Manchester. I had a good reading pace during the flight and came close to the end of Generation X by Douglas Coupland. I'll finish it in the morning. I hope everybody is enjoying the ReadaThing, so happy reading to you all.

Read about 50 pages of the third novel in The brothers of Gwynedd from about 1 to 3 this afternoon, sitting on my sofa with the dog. It is very slow going. Temperature was a mere 99 today - not nice - and we just had a severe thunderstorm. Will read some more this evening with the dog.

Sorry I can't post pictures as we do not have a digital camera or a camera phone. By the time I take a roll of 24 pictures and have it developed, it will be next spring!

I had grandkids all day and they are young enough that I do more chasing and playing than anything else. I did manage to read “Death at Willow Creek Mine” by J.D. Savid.
I had to read it in bits and pieces. I read most of it in the living room putting it down to deal with grandkids. When I added up the time I read, it took me approximately two and a half hours to read the book.

I would like to say I really enjoyed the book but I didn’t. I won’t say it was a bad book because it wasn’t. It was just slow. The summary on the back of the book talks about the three brothers who have inherited the mine. Aaron the oldest preaches hell, fire and brimstone to his brothers. Nathan the middle brother is mentally challenged and Hector the youngest works in the mine extracting the ore. The summary talks about a tragedy and an ultimate cover-up. You don’t find out what happens until the last couple of pages. By then it was kind of a let down. As I read I kept thinking about a slow lazy summer day that sapped all of your strength. That is how slow the reading went for me. I am sure that there are people out there who would love this book but it just wasn’t a right fit for me.
I have a couple of middle grade books I will be starting. Yes, I have a tendency when doing reviews to have two books going at a time. I will also have this evening and tomorrow morning to read before I get grandkids again.
I’m looking forward to seeing what others are reading and how it is going for them.

Read Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues for about an hour after getting home from work (an unexpected surprise, as I was supposed to cover the night shift tonight). Was joined by two silly plushies :)



I love Alexie's Part-Time Indian novel (ya), but I'm not enjoying this one as much as I thought I would. Oh well...

Glad to see some great reading going on. I haven't had too much time to read so far. I received a phone call at 6am from my father. He called to let me know that his fiance who has been ill with pulmonary fibrosis passed away this morning. I don't know how much time I will have to read since hearing finding this out. I will check in here just to see what everyone is doing if I have the time.

If I am able to read I will be reading The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey. If I finish either one I don't know what I will pick up next.

Happy Reading all!

I just finished The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson. Lily Moore, a travel writer, is asked by the NYPD to return from Spain to formally identify her sister, Claudia's body. But it is a stranger not Claudia. Drugs, fancy rehab centres, old boy friends all come into play as Lily searches for her sister's killer.

I read in my recliner in front of the fan!

I just read for three hours after work, 6 pm-9 pm Central Time. The first part that was nice was that I fiddled with my work schedule all week to make sure I could leave early today (4 pm, to be sure to get home in time with light rail construction all down my bus route to work), so leaving work at 4 instead of 6:30 or 7:30, yay! The next part that was nice was that today is my last day of work this week since I work 4-day weeks, so reading was a nice relaxing way to celebrate the start of the weekend.

I read in my butterfly chair in the living room which I've taken to calling the sleeping chair because I usually snooze quite a bit when I'm in it. I had a few dangerous moments mid-way through tonight's reading session but I managed to not actually fall asleep. (The other interesting thing about the chair is that the fabric cover is worn through at all four jabby jointed corners, so any time I sit in it could be the time the cover completely breaks away from the frame and I end up on the floor.)

I alternated between The Praxis and The Year the Music Changed. The Praxis is only my 2nd Walter Jon Williams book I've read. The first was at the end of college or maybe in grad school, eons ago. On the basis of two books, I'm going to say the experience of reading his books is interesting. I find I read through them steadily with a great deal of interest, even though they don't sound like anything I'd want to read, and I'm not necessarily engaged with the individual plot threads. There's something about the narrative drive--it's not propulsive, it's more like a leisurely drift down a river in an inner tube where I'm just happy to go where he leads me and take in the scenery as I go.

I never would have figured I'd be reading The Year the Music Changed. It's a fictional exchange of letters between a teenage girl who later becomes a playwright and Elvis early in his career. I'm not really an Elvis fan. But I read a review on the website Eve's Alexandria that made this book sound good and it is so far. I'm about a quarter of the way into it.

I'm scheduled tomorrow afternoon for another 3-hour reading session. Tomorrow morning we shall see if, after running some errands, I get some more reading in or allow my Olympic fever reign and watch some more qualifying events. Maybe some of both. I like that about the start to a weekend, how it stretches before you limitless and there's time enough for everything.

Fun to read all your reports . . . my only suggestion would be to try to use touchstones so that your books appear in the right hand column above . . . (Yes, I know sometimes they don't work too well) . . . That way, we have a handy list of everything folks have been reading. When they work, you indicate a touchstone by putting the title between single braces and the author between double braces (see the examples in the edit box below).

Anyway, my afternoon reading got cancelled due to the temps & dewpoints here in Minneapolis finally dipping low enough that I could mow the lawn without dying of heat stroke. After I recovered from that chore, I did read for most of three hours this evening (7-10pm CDT with a short break for dinner). I worked on an ER book: The Lesbian Fantastic : A Critical Study of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal and Gothic Writings by Phyllis M. Betz. My review will be a mixed one, but I am compiling a list of even more books I'm now interested in reading . . . egads! it never stops :)

Because it was so wonderfully cool this evening, I sat on my front porch with most of the windows open.


I'm really appreciating how this ReadaThing is keeping me focused on my reading goal—"Finish what you've already started!"

More tomorrow!
Happy Reading!

One other comment/suggestion . . . I'm one of the "No Timeline" readers . . . but I'm entering my info in the Timeline after I read to show when I was reading . . . not sure if others are doing this or not, I just want an easy way to remember.

Thoughts?

I had the midnight slot (Eastern time, 9pm here in California) and just finished the hour, but will continue to read longer. I finished A Comedy of Terrors by a LT author Graeme Smith. As it's dark outside and I get up at 5am, I was/am reading in bed, so no photos.

As for A Comedy of Terrors, it was a very interesting, amusing, and well-written book. I was initially attracted to the book because the author wrote several quirky posts in Hobnob. I read the sample on Amazon and I was hooked. Often times, quirky writing ends up to be not-so-amusing by the end of a book, but not with this book. It's a comedy, but with several deep moments. I'm not sure I would read this book again, but I'm glad I did read it and I'll be on the look out for his next book.

Now, since I'm still awake, I'll work on Inukshuk for a while. It's an ER book that is rather dark in places, so I find reading it a few pages here and there to be my best strategy.

I read from 7 to 8 pm PDT, and yes, I'll be putting it on the timeline (I think that's an excellent idea, for us No Timeline readers). I tried to read Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, but...Miles is being an utter idiot (I'm right at the beginning) and I'm just not in the mood to put up with him. So I went searching for another book - I'm at my sister's house (and she's working me hard! We've cleaned up the garage and are in the process of reorganizing the guest room to also be a useful sewing room) so I don't have my TBR and in process stack handy. Memory was an ebook; I looked through the library on my phone and found Roberta Gellis's Bond of Blood, which was apparently her first novel. I really like her historical romance - it tends to be reasonably accurate as well as well-written with good characters. This one is definitely fulfilling that, besides being in a period I'm interested in anyway (King Stephen, 1147 or so. Got hooked on that with the Brother Caedfal stories by Ellis Peters). I read sitting at my sister's dining room table and carefully ignoring the TV behind me - I got sufficiently caught up I really did not-listen (rather than refusing to pay attention). It's hot, though it's cooled off a bit since the sun went down. Probably 80s now rather than 90s.

>31 crazy4reading:: So sorry crazy4reading. All the best.

>34 LucindaLibri:: If touchstones are playing hide and seek, you can force them to show by putting the worknumber, followed by :: (yes, two of them), followed by the book title - all of it in the square brackets. For example, my Dutch novel mentioned earlier: "3112992::Goena-Goena".

Well, off to make some coffee (it's early morning here). And then some well deserved reading time. Yay.

I did some another hour yesterday evening - reading from The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert and History and Romance by Richard Barber.

I then read for another hour in bed before going to sleep. That time from Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man.

This morning I took a pot of coffee and the cats back to the bedroom and read for another hour - more of Life Before Man and The Cathars.

Nowhere near finishing any of the books but I have some things to do this morning and hope to get some more reading in later today.

I'll be back to report later.

Goodmorning everybody. It's almost 11 o'clock and I had a bit of a sleep-in this morning. I am a real slow starter in the morning. Coffee and a sudoku will wake me up. Today is going to be an even hotter day than yesterday was. I think we will hit the 30 °C today. My husband and I where planning a visit to Maastricht (a town nearby for some shopping and lunch) but we postponed that to a cooler day. So I will be doing lots of reading.

I really would like to enter my reading time into the timeline, but I can't figure out how to do so.

My reading time yesterday was 14.00 till 17.00 and 18.30 till 21.00. I live in Europe, the Netherlands.

I plan to finish Verboden magie today. I have read 200 pages and the book has 320 so that is doable.

I've made pretty good progress on The Winter King and will continue to do so today, I hope.

I read a bit in the morning, at my computer desk, then last evening in bed. Alas I was too busy during the day. Hoping for better luck today as our last pollworker class was yesterday so I've a few days of peace and quiet (I hope) before early voting begins.

> Connie
Maastricht! Have you ever been to Andre Rieu's concerts in the square there?

I went to the movie theater just this Wednesday to see the broadcast of his Summer 2012 concert. What fun!!

I have seen him here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada three times. Love him and his orchestra!

Morning all,

Crazy4reading, I'm sorry about your father's fiancee.

I was able to squeeze in about 30 minutes reading The Watch curled up in bed last night. I'm about a quarter into it, and it's quite intense and gritty, but very well written. It's the story of an Afghan woman who goes to a U.S. military base to get her brother's body for a proper burial, after he is killed in a firefight. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective so it really gives a kaleidoscopic view of the impact of the war. I like that it's not black and white, not focused on which side is "right" or "wrong" but rather the collective effect of the conflict.

After some house cleaning and laundry this morning, I'll be curling up in the recliner in the book nook for the remainder of the day, underneath the AC vent. It's just me and the cats in the house until hubby gets home from work this evening, so I should be able to get a lot of reading done. And since it's been a crazy-awful week at work nothing sounds better right now than getting lost in a book.

My book Verboden magie by Juliet Marillier is a bit disappointing. It's like a romantic story with a whiff of magic. Girl meets boy, they quarrel, they make up (several times) Nothing wrong with that, but I was expecting an other kind of story. With more magic and more action. I will, of course, finish this book, only 50 or so pages to go.

Weather is changing. Tonight we wil have thunderstorms and lots of rain.

And I figured out what to do with the timetable, so I added my name in some slots

31: Monica, I'm so sorry to hear about your father's fiancee. Take care of yourself and your family first, you know we'll always be here reading, ready for you to join us whenever you're up to it!

I read for about an hour last night (Wicked Business) both on the couch and in bed. It's overdue at the library, so that's first on my list to finish up (I'm halfway through), and after that I'm not sure what will grab my attention. I signed up to read from 10am til 2pm today (Central US time) so I'm going to check and see if the humidity has gone down enough for me to take a walk or if I need to work out inside, make some coffee and get ready for some serious reading time!

Yesterday during my lunch hour (normally 12:30-1:30 PM ET, but which turned into an hour and a half) I read some of The Getaway Car, a Kindle single by Ann Patchett. This was not my intended goal for the day but I had my Kindle app on hand while Death Comes to Pemberley, a physical book, was lying on the couch at home. Finishing "Pemberley" is my readaThing goal but I didn't get around to reading any of it yesterday.

I did my reading in the library of a church in Orlando, Florida, where I am employed as an administrative assistant.

Yesterday I read Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats. Oh, my god.! Both a memoir about a family who basically had a plutonium factory in their backyard and an environmental investigation by the author about the aftermath. Alternately fascinating and horrifying. NPR explains it better: http://tinyurl.com/c4omwnp

Where I was - in a chair on my deck, as my dogs snoozed around me.

Here's my update for my time slot which ran from 6am to 9am ET. I finished Sea Glass by Anita Shreve as I had hoped. Then dashed off to coffee with friends so I couldn't update sooner.
I'll be back tomorrow morning for my 6am to 9am slot. I hope to finish The Boy in the Striped pajamas.
Read in my rocking chair in the living room. Already too hot and muggy to read outdoors.

I got in a couple hours last night and about an hour this morning before starting work: I finished The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd, and read again The Journal of Madam Knight, supposedly a 1704/5 American woman's account of a trip between Boston and New Haven (I say supposedly since there's some doubt of its authenticity).

I read my living room chair, and some in bed before settling down for the night. I'm planning on starting Bernd Heinrich's Life Everlasting this afternoon, and probably will also begin The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón this weekend. Looking forward to the rest of the ReadaThing!

40> Connie, I put you in, I think - if I'm right, you're one hour later than London and two hours later than GMT, right now. Take a look and see if I got it right. You're in the timeslot for your 1800, because the wiki can't do half-hours.

I spent a couple of hours last night polishing off Redshirts by John Scalzi. Great book - enjoyed it very much. It was a pleasant evening so I sat out on my front deck with a background chorus of birds and able to look up and admire my garden periodically.

> 42 . ccookie, I'v never been there ( I am not really a fan) but my daughter and her boyfriend and his family go there every year to see them live. That seems to be a very exciting happening. In fact my daughter almost had a job in the organisation of Andre, but then he took a break for half a year or so (kind of a burn out thing) and they stopped hiring new people. So she had to find another job (and she did)

> 50. I think I put myself in. Or didn't I. Ohh I see, you put me in the very first and the second slot.

I don't know if that's correct.

This post says its 12:11 but my clock says its 18.11 so theres is a 6 hour difference.

Hello everybody! It looks like there is a fabulous reading on the way. I finished Generation X by Douglas Coupland. This was my X-title for my ABC challenge. A little review can be seen on my ABC thread.
Now I'm starting with the Z-title Zola Jackson by Gilles Leroy. I hope to get some good reading time.

Read for another hour this morning (8-9am CDT) in the Field of Dreams Reading Lounge (which is really just a corner of my study).

Today it was The Ordering of Love by Madeleine L'Engle . . . I love that her poetry moves from spiritual to personal to humorous . . . sometimes all three in one poem. Unfortunately, I had to start this collection over from the beginning. I know I read the poems from "The Irrational Season" for an adult ed meeting at church back in November 2010, but I couldn't remember which of the other poems I had read . . . the dangers of leaving things in "currently reading" for so long. Anyway, today I read the poems from "Lines Scribbled on an Envelope (1969)". May include an entire poem over on the quotations thread . . . but first I have to go check the brownies in the oven!

(Two days of cool temps before the heat wave returns, so I have to squeeze in all those activities, like baking, that I can't do when it is hot!)

I read for an hour in bed last night before turning out the lights; almost finished with Blood Spirits by Sherwood Smith. Will probably finish it tonight.

I just finished Verboden magie by Juliet Marillier and as I told earlier it was a bit of a disappointment. It didn't get any better towards the end. ***

So I walked over to my Soon To Read pile and tries to listen to the books calling out to be read.

The Pile:



And the winner is: De boodschapper by Markus Zusak Dutch edition of I am the messenger



I took the book out before I made the picture.

Halfway through my official reading time, and I've finished Wicked Business. Lots of fun, looking forward to the next installment. Just taking a quick break to get another cup of coffee and check in here. I think I'll read from The English Landscape next, and when that gets too heavy I'll switch to A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny. Not sure what's on for lunch yet, but I'm hoping that the humidity goes away (ha!) so I can eat and read outside. Temps are around 75, so it's lovely, but it's like breathing through a wet sponge when you're out there. Yuck.

Back to it!

Oh, maaaaan. UPS just delivered an ARC of the new Jasper Fforde book. How the heck am I supposed to get anything done this afternoon now?! :-)

Ehr, read the Jasper Fforde book I guess. But I get your predicament.

You're not - you're supposed to read that Fforde book, stat! *jealous* Enjoy it!

shhhh . . . his boss may be reading this thread :)

>58 jbd1: Easy. You give the book to me. :)

I was greatly saddened when I realized that the UK release date was not the same month as the US release date. I'd been anticipating getting it from the library in July for eight months now.

Ehr, okay, I admit maybe I don't get it. What is a "Jasper Fforde"? Can you smoke it?

Kidding.

Didn't come back right after my official reading time was over. I read the first third of The English Landscape and half of Big Cherry Holler. I suspect I'll finish BCH tonight while watching Olympic stuff, and am not sure what will pop into my hands next.

Finished The Watch and was thoroughly impressed with it. Heading back to the book nook now with my ER book, The Light Between Oceans, and a cup of coffee. I'll likely be joined by a cat or three.

Finished Reservation Blues and got back to Robin McKinley's Pegasus. Wish I had more time to read, but I was interrupted right at the last minute.

> 65 is that "The Watch" which is a retelling of Antigone set in Afghanistan? or a different one? I've read mixed reviews of the one by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya , so would love to hear more from anyone who has read it.

Today life intervened . . . not as much reading as I had hoped. I did read another chapter in The Lesbian Fantastic this evening (from 8:15 - 9:45pm CDT). Had hoped to finish it tonight, but am too tired, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

"After all, tomorrow is another day."

>67 LucindaLibri: yes, that's the one. I really liked it; it didn't pull any punches describing the realities of war. Each chapter was told from a different perspective, and it was fascinating and haunting to see the differences in each character's perception of the situation based on their own background and experiences. I thought it really challenged the notion that there are good guys and bad guys in war and showed so much of the grey area. And the writing was beautiful.

I got about 70 pages into The Light Between Oceans tonight and am quite liking it as well. We're riding out some pretty bad thunderstorms here and each of the three cats took turns curling up with me as I read.

Off to bed for my 'shift' of reading (midnight EST). I'll be reading mainly Inukshuk which is an ER book. The story centers on a teenage boy and his obsession with the Franklin Expedition. He tries to experience what the stranded men went through. It's well written, but not a cheerful book.

I'll probably stop after ~50 pages and read in Stable Cat until I fall asleep. It's a cozy cat mystery with only a slight amount of literary merit, but it's entertaining, easy to read, and has cats -- the perfect fall-asleep-while-reading book.

I managed a little more reading, but not a full hour, about 1230 until 1250 PDT. Again, Bond of Blood on my phone at my sister's dining room table. I'm too tired to read any more tonight, and tomorrow I'll be driving home most of the day (Reno to SF Bay Area - 4 hours on the road, plus wandering off in various directions). So maybe tomorrow evening/night, almost certainly Sunday.

Didn't report back yesterday but I have been reading (full hours entered onto the wiki). I have read from History and Romance; The Cathars and finished Life Before Man this morning. I'll need to choose the next novel but will carry on with the NF and collection.

I hope to be able to get at least one full hour of reading sometime during the day:) If I do I'll try to remember to come back if not I'll be reading for an hour before going to sleep tonight and another hour tomorrow morning.

I'm just about to begin my 6 to 9am shift, just waiting for a pot of coffee to finish brewing. Back to my rocking chair today as although it's a nice 71 degrees it looks dark outside. Maybe if things brighten up I'll be on the deck. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Got some reading done all over the day yesterday. Getting a "new" * collection of short stories in helped with such fragmented reading time.

Klassieke griezelverhalen - it translates to "Classic Horror Stories" - is a fun read. Well, I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Obviously lots of well known stories which I'm skipping at first. But also some authors new to me, or who I wouldn't have expected. Sir Winston Churchill????

That story turned out to be about a guy falling overboard at sea - hopes to get rescued, frustration and anger about not getting rescued, resignment to death, all that in 3 well written pages. Not really what I would call a horror story, but never mind.

* it was published in 1981

Sigh. My poor poor TBR mountain and checkbook. The trouble with these threads.

Still reading The Winter King. I'm under a hundred pages now so should finish it today unless someone shows up at the house and expects attention.

I'v been reading for the last hour. Tonight was a very strange night. There was a national warning for bad weather. Heavy rain and thunderstorms. We shut all the windows against the predicted rain and thunder. But nothing much happened. Sleeping was a problem in an overheated house (the heat of the day) with no fresh air. This morning its was kind of drizzeling outside and the temperature dropped considerably, so I did some ironing.
The weather was getting better and I took one hour of reading outside.



Stil reading De boodschapper by Markus Zusak. I'm now half way this book and really enjoy the story of Ed Kennedy.

I read a number of poems in Over-Ysselsche sangen en dichten by Jacobus Revius, a great religious poet in an age that was rich in great religious poets: Donne, De Sponde, San Juan de la Cruz. Recently, Enny de Bruijn wrote a brilliant biography of Revius: Eerst de waarheid, dan de vrede. After reading the poems I originally intended to continue with this biography, but Postnl delivered Dangerous Knowledge yesterday and I couldn't resist the temptation. I read the introduction, the first chapter "The Clash of Ancient Civilizations" and part of the second chapter "An Ancient Heresy or a New Paganism". The first chapter disappointed me a bit, I thought it rather superficial; but what can you expect in 10 pages? I like the second chapter better, I think Irwin is more at home in this subject.

Good morning! I managed another hour and a half last night (11:30 - 1 am EST)--- didn't quite mean to stay up that late but got really into The Light Between Oceans. Running some errands with hubby this morning and then the afternoon/ evening will be for reading in the book nook-- still far too hot to be outside!

Connie I love your outdoor area-- what a lovely place to read!

Just finished another hour of reading (8-9am CDT). More in The Ordering of Love. May need to come back to these poems at a slower pace some other time.

My goal today is to finish something :) Might sit outside for a bit today.

And I love how with folks reading all over the place, I can go to sleep while others read and vice versa . . .

Thanks Litfan! More pics in my profile.

Another hour for me. I added it in the appropriate slot in the timetable. ;-)

Got in a couple hours this morning with the Olympic cycling race on in the background. Ended up reading clear through Black Fridays by Michael Sears, which was well worth the read. This afternoon, however, I'm headed into Jasper Fforde's universe again!

I read an hour before lunch (11 am-12 pm) and got through the first five chapters of Kenilworth. Based on the introduction, I thought I wouldn't like it, but so far so good.

Yesterday afternoon (Friday, 4 pm-6 pm Central Time), I mostly read The Praxis, which I should hopefully finish today or tomorrow. I also read little bits of Gardens in the Dunes and The Year the Music Changed. I slowed down with The Year the Music Changed because I became frustrated with its faux (and unnecessary, I think) drama when I'm really interested in the more subtle drama coming through in the fact of the letters (their different personalities and the seemingly different things they're getting or hoping to get out of this exchange of letters (writing: influence, secret(s), connection; and receiving: emotional bond, validation).

This morning I read from 8 am-10 am Central Time. I focused on The Praxis and Gardens in the Dunes. Gardens in the Dunes is the first book I've read by Leslie Marmon Silko, and I'm very impressed. It's written in a style I usually don't enjoy: moves around in time a lot, spending a lot of time in characters memories or in actual flashback. I tend to refer to these as floaty books. Sometimes I get lost in what is the present time of the story and also I feel like it can stall the present timeline story because we only inch forward and we keep circling back to the past. But it somehow works for me in this book, I think because there is so much detail to engage me in all the time frames and the characters are so fully developed. We'll see what I think by the very end, when I can see the full scope of the book, but I can't imagine I'll begrudge the journey even if I'm not so enamored of the destination.

I think I'm scheduled on the grid for an hour tomorrow morning. I'll be sure to add in any other time I'm able to fit in a chunk of reading.

Woo Hoo!! Finished another one!
Read from 11am-Noon CDT sitting in my backyard:



My cat lounged nearby in the catnip patch, but you can't see her in the picture.

I finished The Lesbian Fantastic . . . now I have to write the ER review, but might put that off a bit so I can do more reading instead.

Unfortunately for my pocketbook, I got in 3 extra hours (8:30-11:30am) of reading this morning as I was getting new shocks, fluids, tire rotation, etc.

Finished reading Inukshuk, which is an ER book, so I have to review it, but I'm not sure what to think about it. It's well-written from a technical point of view, but I'm not sure the book 'says' anything in the end.

Niceville FL on Sarah Ann Bayou.

Reading in the comfy chair in the great room. Finishing up The Winter King a great Arthurian tale.

Got a bit of a late start on my 4-5 p.m. slot, but read some of Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey during my hour. I'm approaching the 200-page mark in this 600-page book, and the plot is picking up nicely, as Moirin, the heroine, is about to embark on another long and dangerous journey. Probably the first of Carey's three Terre d'Ange trilogies will remain my favorite, but if she writes a fourth, I'll be along for the ride.

Read in my living room in my leather rocker/recliner, with the Olympics on in the background (swimming, basketball, and volleyball, I think!). Had a little leftover mei fun to begin with and tea after that. Very quiet day here in upstate New York.

Life interfered so haven't read as much as I would like but spent about 40 mins on Wrong why experts keep failing us at 3pm UK time today. Tonight I have spent 90 minutes on A darkness more than night which has me gripped so far but now I need to sleep.

Finished the 3rd novel in The brothers of Gwynedd omnibus, The hounds of sunset, this evening while listening to the Phillies baseball game. On to Afterglow and nightfall.

Managed another two hours late this afternoon, then had to go out for a bit. But I am determined to finish Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides . . . tonight if I don't fall asleep, or tomorrow morning if I do.

Thanks to all for keeping me inspired and on track!

Off to bed and my midnight shift. Tonight's first book is The Mother Tongue as I've been reading about linguistics off and on this year. It's also a nice break from fiction. I've heard a lot of good things about Bill Bryson but have never read any of his books, so now is my chance. The second book will be Stable Cat, my cat cozy mystery and fall-asleep book.

Ah! Well, I started reading at 6:30 pm Pacific time, fully expecting to be able to fill my slot and read until 8 pm, (that would be the 11 pm time slot). But I discovered a recent plumbing job to replace my food grinder, under kitchen sink, had resulted in a small flood under said sink. So, called my niece (who is my plumber) and hauled out old towels to start the clean up. Talked .with niece as she redid the connections and sighed a lot. We are both tired from marathon garage sale we've been doing on Friday, and Saturday.

So, now I'm back to reading: Black Diamond: a Mystery of the French Countryside which I am liking quite a lot. I read about 35 pages of it before the flood, and now, after the flood I think I'll take it to my bed, and maybe finish it!

My next slot for reading is tomorrow morning, so I'll either finish this book, or I'll be ready to dive into Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. I have heard many good things about this book, and I am looking forward to reading it.

Spent 8 - 11:15 pm EST in the reading nook and finished up The Light Between Oceans which was every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be. I've now started my ARC of Shine Shine Shine and off to bed now to curl up with said ARC and a glass of port.

In one weekend, I've "travelled" to Afghanistan, Australia, and now outer space, without leaving my home. The joys of being a bookworm :-)

>91 maggie1944: Always good to have a plumber in the family!!

Good morning! Yesterday I've got a couple of hours reading time during the day. One eye was reading whereas the other one was watching the highlights of the Olympic Games. During my time slot 10 pm (GTM) I was able to finish my Z-title: Zola Jackson by Gilles Leroy. It was very interesting and it's written in a very sensitive way.
Today I'll start reading Yoram by Ulrike Kolb, it's for the Y-title in my ABC challenge.

Yesterday I finished Kijken naar jou uit duizend ogen; then I read the remainder of the second chapter and the whole of the third chapter of Dangerous Knowledge.

Good morning everybody,

I would like to tell you all that I'm so very glad that I joined this RaT. The first thing I do every morning (okee, not the first thing, that's making coffee) is go here and see if there are new entries.
I did not finish my book yesterdag evening. We went to visit friends and enjoyed an evening of nice weather, snacks, a glass of wine and excellent company. But I will definitely finish De boodschapper by Markus Zusak and start reading a book by Robin Hobb - Drakenbloed. That's Part 4 in the Rain Wild Chronicles and the dutch version of Blood of Dragons

Question: The English/American version of this book does not show up when I put it between braces. Is there no English version? I mean the touchstone thing

Well I didn't manage a solid hour during the day yesterday - though I was reading on and off mainly from History and Romance which I should be able to finish today.

I did read for a full hour both last night and this morning. Finished Ash by Malinda Lo and read some more of The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert.

Good morning readers everywhere! I'm a little late for my 6-9am time slot but now I'm ready to go.
Yesterday I finished The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Eeesh, what an unexpected ending.
and now I'm trying to choose my next read. I started Fifty Shades of Grey last night but I want something shorter so LMHTWB reminded me that I too need to read Inukshuk. She doesn't give it stellar remarks so I'm now tempted to see what it's all about.
Looks like I'll be taking my coffee outside today. I'm too lazy to snap a picture so take my word for it, it's nice.

>93 LucindaLibri:: Yes, it is! She replaced a toilet for me while she was 8 months pg with her last baby. She is a wonder woman!

Just read for a full hour. I finished History and Romance; read some more of The Cathars and started Spiderweb by Penelope Lively.

Yesterday I finished a re-read of Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym. Read for about 2 hours.

>98 Carmenere: Carmenere -- I'll be very interested in what you think of Inukshuk since I'm still not sure what I think of it.

Right, just when I thought I would have some real reading time : unexpected visitors.

No matter, I love my real-life friends and they will always be welcome. But why mess up my already limited reading time? (Yes, I know: because they didn't know).

>96 connie53: I'm guessing the touchstones may be language specific/dependent in some way, which would be unfortunate. (Maybe one of the official LT folks will see this and can enlighten us.) When I test Blood of Dragons on the English-language LT site, it pops up . . . So I'll leave it here so it shows up on the list above :)

>103 Nicole_VanK: So tricky balancing virtual life and real life :) but always a good reminder!

Again: you can force touchstones. In this case: "11500787::Drakenboed", when put into the square brackets used for touchstones should produce the correct link.

Lets try: Drakenboed Yes. It works.

Pardon me, Dragonblood - not dragonbood of course.

> 106 - I'v tried that. I just can't find the worknumber for the English version. LT keeps directing me back to the Dutch version.

------

This morning the temperature had dropped to 20° C = 60° F and I did some cleaning stuff. Laundry and changing the covers of the beds, vacuuming and dusting the bedrooms, stairs and hall.
After a quick shower I started reading at 15.00 .

De boodschapper by Markus Zusak is finished. A very nice read. Lots of humor, nicely written and an unexpected, although a bit of pedantic, end. And I don't like that kind of endings. I can make up my own mind and don't need the writer to tell me what to think. That's why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 4,5.

Then I picked up my copy of Drakenbloed by Robin Hobb



It is the dutch version of Blood of Dragons.The Rain Wild Chronicles part 4.
It is owned by my brother and he came by on his way to another appointment just to bring me the book. I have a very nice brother ;-)

Hi everyone! Thanks for the well wishes. I didn't get any reading done on Thursday or Friday except for like 5 minutes. I was with my dad all day Friday. My sister and her family was there too so we had a day of just being together. We even played Miniature Golf. It was a nice day. I even had a chance to talk to my God Daughter (who loves to read) about the Hunger Games book I am reading. I love talking to her because I learn about more books to try reading that are geared towards the younger crowd.

Now yesterday I got in a few hours of reading in between going to the store and watching the Olympics. I read the Hunger Games. I am finally up to the game. I have already seen the movie. This is the first time I have ever read a book after seeing the movie. So far I am enjoying the book as much as the movie.

Once I get done reading through more of these posts I plan to pick up my book again and to start reading.

I have never read any Jasper Fforde books and I see him mentioned on here a lot. As I am trying to avoid adding to my TBR piles I avoid reading reviews afraid I will fall in love with a book or series. I do see some that I am interested in or already have on my list of wants.

Off to read some more in between doing chores. I love seeing the pictures of where everyone is reading from. I haven't taken a picture since I can't find my camera and my iPhone doesn't take the greatest pictures. I read in a variety of spots though. Bed (not posting pic), sofa, outside, even in a car if someone else is driving.

Happy Reading all!!

Last night I finished The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty.



Set in 1922, it's about a woman who accompanies 15-year old Louise Brooks--later a silent screen vamp--from Wichita to New York City. It's more Cora's story than Louise's: we learn about her history, and later she makes some unexpected life changes. I liked it well enough, but not as well as most LT reviewers. My full review is available on the book's page.

I also read more in Last Year's Jesus, which I hope to finish today or tomorrow, and finished a short VMC, Brother Jacob by George Eliot.

I'm reading from home, mostly in my comfy blue chair. So far, not too many interruptions from two attention-mongering kitties.

Didn't get a chance to check in last night, but I started reading The Hobbit for the second time. It's part of my library's Fall term read-along, so I'm reading it for work as much as for fun. I was pleased to find that I am enjoying it even more than when I read it as a kid.

Tonight, I'll be catching up with Pegasus.

Last night I babysat my nieces and nephew at their house while their parents went out for a late movie. So, I ended up spending the night. This morning, I read a little of Gardens in the Dunes and of The Praxis (only 50 pages to go), 8 am-9:30 am Central Time, in my sister's rocking easy chair while the kids competed for my attention in ever more outrageous ways.

I just finished Hilary Davidson's second novel in the Lily Moore series The Next One to Fall. It takes place at Machu Picchu, Peru. That is probably the most interesting thing about it. There is a feeling of being in cloud coo-coo land about the end of it.

The Olympics have slowed down my reading somewhat.

Drakenbloed
Blood of Dragons

Huh, interesting - I get both of them (without forcing). But the touchstones on the right of the textbox are both the same - Blood of Dragons. I thought perhaps it was refusing to do a second touchstone for a book that was already touchstoned in the same message, but that doesn't seem to be it. Whatever. Hey! I did get both of them - then I edited to add the rest of this and Drakenbloed went away, though it still shows while editing. Hmmph. Touchstones.

I read for a total of 3.5 hours yesterday, after driving home from my sister's - I didn't have sufficient brain to do any of the other things I should have done, and besides it was a very good book. I finished it - Bond of Blood by Roberta Gellis. Now I _should_ be reading one of my library books or a book off my TBR pile or...but what I _want_ to read is the next one in the Gellis ebook bundle. So I'll make that my out-and-about book and read something else at home. So next is Knight's Honor by Roberta Gellis, plus something.

> 113.Thanks, but that link still takes me to my own Drakenbloed book, the Dutch version.

I could use the numbers of the worknumber of the English version and do the :: thing BarkingMatt suggested.

work: 11500787

Thanks, I put it in my post. I see the english title as a link, when i click it takes me to the dutch version.

Question, where does it take the English speaking people!

both links in 113 take me to the English version.

ETA: as does the link in your post.

Yeah!!! Then the problem is solved! Thanks Majkia!

My first 'finish' was Un Lun Dun, a YA book by China Mièville. I continued with The Merry Misogynist and Slash and Burn, #6 and #8 in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series by Collin Cotterill. I finally got Deadlocked, the latest in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

Not much reading has gotten done this weekend, been too busy watching Olympics stuff and flipping through magazines. I did, however, start listening to Ready Player One on my walk today (about an hour), and as soon as I'm done watching this episode of "The Big Bang Theory" I'll be putting it on again to do some household chores. Whenever I sit down again I think I might read Japan Ai since it's been on my TBR library list for a couple of years and I finally picked it up yesterday. After that - who knows?

I did not have a chance to post earlier but I did read for my assigned slot of time, and I did finish Black Diamond a Mystery of the French Countryside and enjoyed it. It is a modern mystery, set in the south of France, and involves truffles, older folks who had been involved in France's wars in Algeria, and Vietnam, cooking, modern immigration of Chinese and Vietnamese into France, and the everyday life of a small community. I thought the book was delightful. It did not pull punches in dealing with real life horrors of war and crime (nothing graphic) but it also described the sweetness of life in a small community. A little love, a little humor, and some nice mysteries. Recommend it!

I also have been able to begin reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and am hooked. I like the author's style which reflects the emotional temperature of her story.

Been out today so not much reading done but just spent another 90 minutes on A darkness more than night- near the end but have to go to sleep as sadly back in work tomorrow and need to be semi-awake for that. (9.30pm to 11pm UK time).

Spent much of the day in a haze of allergy/sinus medication, but I DID manage to finish Middlesex and read some more in The Ordering of Love. I read for parts of three different hours: 8-9am, 11am-Noon, and 4-5pm (CDT). Had hoped to stay up late and fill in the empty slot, but we'll see how I feel in a few hours.

I have very mixed feelings about Middlesex. I suppose if a book can raise awareness about the issues and lives of intersex persons, that's a good thing. But the notion that incest is necessary for recessive traits (including those contributing to an intersex identity) to get passed along is problematic for me. And I wasn't wowed by the writing.
For a more sensitive portrayal of these issues (and some rather lovely writing) I suggest Annabel by Canadian author Kathleen Winter. It was nominated for several different awards.

Though I haven't read Middlesex yet, I do need to read it this year for one of my LT challenges, and though I only know the basics of the novel, I feel like your summation is/will be spot-on. One of my friends loves it though, so hopefully I'll be "wowed" by something about it. As it is - not itching to read it.

Haven't read anything yet - got distracted by Spotify and laundry, and soon it will be time for a new Inspector Lewis, so I might not get anything in hand until after 10pm tonight. *sigh* Oh well, there's always tomorrow. And hey! Just realized that I signed up to read tomorrow morning, so I'll for sure be reading then.

>124 LauraBrook: Great minds think alike! . . . I also took a break from reading to watch Inspector Lewis :)

And I also avoided Middlesex when it first came out and was such a big "hit" with book groups. I only read it now because when I suggested Annabel to my current book group, their response was "we already read Middlesex" (as if one book was enough on this topic!), so I wanted to be able to describe the differences . . . I guess I'm glad I read it, but I doubt I would have finished it without a little inspiration from this ReadaThing to get if off my "currently reading" list!

I read this once I turned off the Olympics - do you think Tim and the others are doing a test on who are readers and who are sports hounds!? InConvenience Boy and Other Stories of Japan by Sujata Massey Rei Shimura solves 3 very different short mysteries. The title story, "The Convenience Boy," tests Japanese romantic rituals in an unexpectedly humorous way. "Junior High Samurai" focuses on a bullying incident in a school. "The Deepest Blue" is an exploration of the conflict between family love and ambition.

I decided I wanted brain candy so yesterday and today I polished off three of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books - Dead as a Doornail, From Dead to Worse, and Dead and Gone. Actually not quite finished the last of the three, but should be done tonight. It was a hot day and I spent a good deal of it sitting on the front deck, reading. It was lovely.

I was out of town yesterday at a conference, left home at 6:15 AM to get there by 9:30. Then got home at 6:30. I was so tired I only read 1 hour of the 2 hours I had scheduled last night. Decided not to go for any brain food and picked up a mystery I started a few weeks ago, Dartmoor Burial. Today I had 2 hours scheduled and have read 3 so my total hours read equal my total hours scheduled through today. I'm now back to Charlotte Gray and hope to finish it Wednesday. Haven't decided what to read next. Would love to be reading on the porch but since the temperature was 106 today I obviously stayed indoors, reading in the family room and loving the AC!

Almost my turn and I'm not sure what I'll read. I suppose I'll continue with The Mother Tongue, but I'm not really impressed by it (at chapter 5). There are a lot of wonderful tidbits of information -- many useless. And the tidbits of information that I am interested in are unsupported by references. But it's a quick read. I may start on Yankee Mandarin, just because I want something a bit different for fiction.

Well, off to bed with a cat or two and a couple of books!

Today I read the second half of Home for a Spell, the next-to-most-recent Madelyn Alt mystery, with Olympic team sports in the background.

I've done some more reading and have finished Spiderweb by Penelope Lively. Also read a little bit more of The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert.

I had a good reading pace for my first time slot today 7 am (GTM) another two are reserved for 11 am (GTM) and 1 pm (GTM). I'm still reading Yoram by Ulrike Kolb.

Just completed another hour of reading. A little bit of The Cathars and started Coraline which I will finish soon but I doubt if I'll do another full hour of reading until later today:)

Off to add the last hour to the wiki:)

Just completed 2 hours of reading in Drakenbloed by Robin Hobb. I started in outside but had to flee inside because of a rain shower. I am now on page 191.

Now the weather is clearing again and I will go outside and dry the chairs and table for one more hour of reading (or two). I added my two hours in the wiki timetable.

Read for an hour last night before bed. Have started my Louise Erdrich immersion program with Love Medicine: New and Expanded Edition in preparation for a symposium next month.

Then this morning I finished The Ordering of Love by Madeleine L'Engle so one more for my BOMBS (Books off my book shelf) Challenge . . . though of course most of my "finally read" books stay right on the shelf, at least they are off my TBR list!!

> 133 and thanks to calm for filling that empty slot . . . I had hoped to but was too tired.

The ReadaThing Team is doing great! And in case you're feeling a lull, we're over half way through our week of reading. Just under 3 days remaining. Go Team RaT!!

Is no rat, is hamster!

(Sorry, couldn't resist).

My last "official" time slot starts now, but last night I read for a couple of hours and finished both The English Landscape and Japan Ai. I might use this time an a good excuse to finally get stuck in Shadow of Night.

wow, we've really filled up the time slots since last I looked. Great going Team Hamster!

I just read one more hour in my book. Now clouds are gathering in the distance and I fear there may be a thunderstorm in the making.

I just run to the wiki and add it to the timeline.

I might as well show up and report what I had been reading since Thursday - started in Alabama, through a few nightmare flights and now back in Arizona.

1. Dressed for Death - one of the early Brunetti stories. I had forgotten that Signorina Elettra was not there from the very beginning - she showed up in that one. A pretty good story (even when your plane get delayed)

Kindle Singles:

2. Snatched by Karin Slaughter - Will Trent had been stuck at the airport after pissing of his boss one too many times... and manages to witness something weird. Pretty good.

3. Deep, Dark by Jonathan Maberry - What you would expect from a Joe Ledger story.

4. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle - surprisingly good. Do monsters exist or is it just someone's imagination? For most of the story I would have called it horror. And good one at that. A novel is coming up that uses the novella as a pre-story but I am pretty sure that it will play on the part of the story that was just ok. We will see.

5. Everyone's Reading Bastard by Nick Hornby - what happens when your ex has her own newspaper column? Pretty hilarious :)

6. The Book Case by Nelson DeMille - a murder in a bookstore. I usually like DeMille but that one was weird... the story was not too bad, the style could have been much better. Overall, a decent story... which considering the theme and the author makes it almost a failure.

And back to books:

7. Intrusion by Ken MacLeod - near future SF at its best. The world is so imaginable that you cannot stop wondering if we are going that way.

8.Why I left the Amish by Saloma Miller Furlong - a blend of the current life of the author with memories from her past. Something simply did not work - for more than one reason. The current life sounded as a parody in places (not the actions but the way everyone was talking); the past just did not get fleshed out in places. For example she mentioned more than once that she run away from home twice. Guess how many times she described in the book...

9. You Will Meet a Stranger Far from Home by Alex Jeffers - short story collection, exploring sexuality and what it is to be gay in different contexts and times. And worlds. Some of the stories were almost brutal in their language, some were pretty timid. If you know what to expect from the author, pretty good.

And had started a few different short story collections but will report when I either finsih them or the ReadaThing is over :)

I've been very lax about logging here, so here's a quick summary.

Thursday: The Darkening Field - a good solid mystery, not as gripping as the first one in the series, read from about 9-11 MDT curled up in my bed with a big glass of water

Friday: The Darkening Field - read from about 2-4 cowering under an awning while waiting out a thunderstorm at my son's swim meet, then from 9-930, then fell asleep - but I finished the book first. Reading in bed again.

Saturday: The Peach Keeper - read from about 1-2 on the couch with the Olympics in the background, then from 3-4 at the salon while getting a pedi - finished. A fun, fast, light read. Then from about 6-9, back on the couch with How To Knit a Heart Back Home - an OK read. Fast. Beach book. I enjoyed spinach and artichoke dip and occasional interruptions by Olympic events (husband).

Sunday: 3-5 pm MDT at the table. Various things were eaten from spinach artichoke dip to peanut butter brownies and cantaloupe. I read The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression for awhile - great book, not a word wasted - then moved on to The Vows of Silence. I also took a nap and watched some Olympics. Finally I took it up to bed and read from about 9-11.

Monday: 12-2 while sitting in the dentist office (kid's appointments) finished The Vows of Silence. A great read. I am totally hooked on this series. I am afraid I'm going to run out of books before I'm ready. Will be reading the last one tonight.

Managed a few stolen moments with Robin McKinley's Pegasus in my office during my dinner hour, but now it's back to work. I'll return to Pegasus before bed.



How embarrassing, you can all see the mess on the shelves behind me *blush*.

Tongue In Chic by Christina Dodd. It was an interesting read. I read it all over, in my apartment, down in the rec room, at my parent's house.

Little House By Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley. This is the first book about Laura Ingells' Grandmother. Very fast read.

I finished reading The Magician's Assistant tonight from 8:00-9:30 pm EST. Great book!

Okay, this is not just my first ReadaThing but I think also my first LT post altogether, so hopefully I do this right!

I didn't post earlier, but on Sunday I read for a full hour from 8-9am PST. I've read several other times, but not for more than maybe 20-30 minutes at a time. I finished Free Will, which was a very interesting and tiny read (I've talked to it more than I've talked to any book since college, I think). Otherwise, I've been working on The Warmth of Other Suns, which is so far a really interesting book about an event/timeframe that I really don't know a huge amount about. I have several other books that I'm in the middle of that I should probably work on, but I'm at least hoping to keep myself from starting anything else during the rest of the week!

I mostly either read curled up in a recliner in my husband's office or in bed; neither are very photogenic!

>146 staciec: Excellent report staciec! Glad to have you joining us and posting. Photos not required (there are a few places I read that I definitely don't want others to see :)

I read another couple of hours this evening. Am about half way through Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. The biggest challenge is keeping track of the many different characters! At first I tried to write them down, then I gave up and just try to figure it out as I go. There are also different time periods, so that complicates things even more. But I'm starting to see how this story will require quite a few books to tell!

I agree with Lucinda...great first post #146 :)

I read in my allotted hour 10-11am, Tuesday (NZ time), on the woefully inadequate 2 seater couch. Little one year old Lenny was perfect in his timing and went to bed at exactly the right time so I was able to finish Border Crossing by Pat Barker.

A wonderful book about a child psychologist who is reacquainted with a former patient. They discuss the crime that led to the psychologist having to testify in court on the patient/accused and his cognitive ability. Through these discussions they both learn and come to terms some surprising things. A good'un. (I gave it 4 stars)

Another two hours, about, on Knight's Honor. I've read quite a bit in little bits - 15 and 20 minutes-es - that I haven't noted, but this was a good chunk. I'm about 2/3rds through. The funny part is how similar - and how different - it is from later books of hers. The pattern of a woman, in medieval times, fighting to keep her independence within or despite marriage worked much better in this one than in Rhiannon.

On Friday, I spent my 6 hours reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, which was really awesome and I look forward to the next book, whenever it emerges.

I then didn't really read much over the weekend, but spent 5 1/2 hours reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, which has me slightly enraged at the world, though I'm not yet done with the book (my eyes are getting tired, as is my brain).

It does, however, have me looking forward to an ER book I have yet to read an review, which is always positive (I've tried reading it a few times already, only to get distracted).

Well I did't manage another full hour yesterday:( Did read with half an eye on the Olympics and other TV programmes. When I did get to bed I couldn't keep my eyes open for long enough to hit the hour mark. So that was part of my no timeline reading. I did finish Coraline and read a little bit more of The Cathars. I then started Morality Play by Barry Unsworth which is very good

Fortunately I read for slightly more that an hour this morning - more from Morality Play which I will finish sometime today (another 40 or so pages to go). Then back to the TBR stacks to pick the next one:)

I woke up really far to early this morning at 05.45 am! And had trouble falling asleep again, so at 6.00 I gave up and started reading and thought I might as well read for the full hour. (added to the time table as 4-5).

I'm now on page 324 of Drakenbloed And hope to finish it today. Its now 10.45 am in Holland and the weather is not too nice yet, but I hope to get some reading done in the afternoon when the sun should be back. First I will do some ironing while watching hockey on the tv. The olympics are on all the time. My husband is watching it and I listen (the tv is out of my field of view) and when things get exciting I go and watch. But I will put the ironingboard in front of the tv in a few minutes and watch the end of the game.

I read my hour last night and some during earlier in the day. I'm trying to finish New Amsterdam before midnight, but not sure I'll manage it. We'll see!

Thanks everyone for making this a great RaT! We're awesome!

For my first time participating in a ReadaThing (or any LT activity for that matter), I started a re-read of Jane Eyre and finished the first five chapters. I last read J.E. in high school *mumble*mumble* years (decades) ago.

In spite of how long ago I read it, I was still surprised to have no recollection of these early chapters. I dosed off several times, but it was because of the late hour and not the material.

I am thoroughly enjoying this re-read. First time around all I cared about were the superficial aspects of the romance between Jane & Mr. Rochester. Sadly, this classic was wasted on the teen-aged me.

I chose Jane Eyre because I plan to join the 1001 Books August Group Read of Agnes Grey (which I have never read) and decided to re-read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights so I could compare the sisters' styles.

Welcome devone! Glad you are enjoying participating.

Well I read last night for about an hour or more and I finished The Hunger Games. I am thrilled to have finished the book in 8 days. I am glad to have found some time to read during this RaT.

Did another complete hour - finished Morality Play and read some more of The Cathars. I think I better take a short break from reading and try to get some comments written though:)

>154 devone: Welcome devone! I felt the same way when I finally re-read Pride & Prejudice as an adult . . . I remembered being forced to read it in junior high and hating it, but as an adult I could actually enjoy it! I didn't try to read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights until college . . .and by then it was all the gothic creepiness I loved :) (Later I visited Haworth and could appreciate how spooky living out on the moors might have been!)

As for my own reading report, this morning I only read for 30 minutes (7:45-8:15am, so not going to put it on the timeline), but I did start two more books from my TBR list:
Dark Fields of the Republic by Adrienne Rich (poetry seems to have replaced the Psalms in my morning spiritual reading time, which seems appropriate right now)
and,
in honor of my friends celebrating Ramadan, Nine Parts of Desire : the Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks. Both excellent reads so far!

We had an open slot starting in a few minutes, so I'm using that as an excuse to stop doing the mind-numbing activity I was working on (creating outlines from textbook manuscripts) and read some more of Love Medicine.

Yes, this RaT has me needing a button that says "I'd rather be reading!" :)

LOL. Go for it Lucinda!

I've been listening to Yes, Chef on audio, and I'm still reading Last Year's Jesus in print.

I'v been telling my husband to stop cooking because I needed to have another half hour to finish my two hours. He looked at me, rather worried that I just went officially crazy. But I'm happy to say that he did what I asked him.

Huzzah. Finally managed to get a full hour of reading time at one go. Off to see if I can get one more.

And another hour! And another book finished Drakenbloed by Robin Hobb. I really, really likes this book. It is part 4 and the last book in a series about the Rain Wild Chronicles (Fantasy) and I an really sad that its the end.

Got a new book from my STR pile: Voor altijd stil by Linda Castillo, a thriller. Something different to make the transition from the Robin Hobb easier.

well, I managed to sneak in another hour this morning (6-7am NZ time) as I saw the free spot on the wiki last night and thought I should do my bit and read!

So I started, and nearly finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. A novella, really, or a very short one. Great writing as usual, more dialogue than others of his Ive read.

>150 SmangosBubbles: Ive been waiting for The Shock Doctrine for a while now at the library, glad its doing its thing and making your blood boil, :) I expected as much.

Finished A darkness more than night in about 30 mins last night in bed. Enjoyed a lot - slightly different style to his other books and I knew the suspect couldn't have done it! And I learned a little about the historical Hieronymus Bosch. I had a vague memory of some of the paintings but hadn't realised that he was a contemporary of Da Vinci - the paintings feel medieval rather than Renaissance. Or that owls were considered evil at the time.
Now I'm still hoping to finish Wrong why experts keep failing us before the end of the RaT. I've had it on loan from work forever and I need to take it back!

Finally finished Afterglow and nightfall, the last novel in The brothers of Gwynedd by Edith Pargeter last night in a more than 2 hour session. These 4 novels have been difficult - not familiar with the history, the dense writing style which is similar to many scholarly non-fiction titles and the small print. I figured that it took me 15 minutes to read 20 pages. (And there were 820!) Of course one needs to consult a map of Wales for the battles and try to figure out who Pargeter is talking about since the names are similar. (King Henry's wife, sister, son's wife and niece are all named Eleanor!) The sections on Welsh law and the treaties and court battles were also slow going.

Pargeter is sympatheic to Llewelyn, the only and true Prince of Wales, and makes him a majestic figure even though he is listed as a rebel in many of the internet sources I checked. But the truth is that the victors write history and Edward Plantagenet won.

I won't be able to read further as I am having a medical procedure tomorrow and, worse yet, my musician husband broke his wrist badly and is also having surgery this week. But I really enjoyed the Readathing and accomplished a lot.

I'll be interested in reading the rest of the posts about everyone's reading when I can later in the week! I've added to my already staggering wishlist.

Edited for typos

I have been going through a Dick Francis re-read and they've been going quite quickly. I've read Break In and Bolt which are books 1 & 2 of the Kit Fielding series. I also read the Felix Francis book, Gamble which I hadn't read before!! I've just started Silks by both Dick & Felix Francis.

I've got a stack of Francis books from the library... which should help with the rest of ReadaThing.

yay! I managed to finish New Amsterdam with several hours of the month left. I'm excited! I'll be starting The Eight though probably not before tomorrow, and will read on with The Mysterious Lady Law tonight before bed.

Been listening to Ready Player One and my iPod jumped from chapter 2 to chapter 37 - grrrr! - so I was forced to go to a library 10 miles from my house to get a copy of the book and see what happens between. After a nap this afternoon I wanted something short and fun to read, so I picked up and finished Catch and Release: The Insider's Guide to Alaska Men. Getting ready to get tucked into a book for awhile, not sure what yet.

And I agree with fdholt in 167 - I'll be re-reading this thread after the Thing is over with and will happily add to my already overly large TBR!

Except for today, I've managed to do a solid 50 minutes reading on the exercise bike every day, plus snatches through the day too. I've finished Incognito by David Eagleman and moved on to another brain-related book, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer.

I've read 4 more hours since my last check in, 2 last night and another 2 tonight. Still reading Charlotte Gray.

I read another 90 minutes in Love Medicine . . . about 100 pages to go. I hope to finish it by the end of the ReadaThing.
Off to update the timeline and then to bed.

Got about fifty pages read in Shadow of Night while watching Olympics stuff, I'm hoping to get another book finished (doubt I'll read the next 500 pgs in S.O.N.) before this Thing is over with. Good night all, see you tomorrow morning!

I've been reading the charming tales in "Grandfather Stories," a collection put together by Samuel Hopkins Adams. This is a book I didn't know I had!

Have done some more reading - an hour before bed and an hour this morning. Part of last night's hour was spent reading bits and pieces from various books before deciding to read Jezebel by Eleanor de Jong.

Read another hour or so of Klassieke griezelverhalen - wonderful stuff. Mostly Victorian (and sometimes Edwardian) ghost stories - occasionally a Vampire story or such. Anyway: right up my alley if it comes to light reading.

Read another three hours or so but changed books. There is this other challenge (not on LT) and I needed to read a book about Heaven or Hell.
So I searched my books and am now reading Hellevanger by Jack Lance. Almost done with that one. A bit of a disappointment but it's for a greater purpose. So back to the deckchair in the garden.

WOW! We've made it to the final day of the July/August 2012 ReadaThing!!

And I see that we've managed to fill almost all of the timeslots . . . which means nearly continuous reading for 168 hours!

Yeah us!!

(Unfortunately, my contribution today will be primarily cheerleading. . . I'm coping with a migraine, so probably won't be doing much reading.)

I did my first hour of reading this morning, though not in the time slot I originally signed up for. I'm reading Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce on my commute in and out of Boston. 7:30-8:30 this morning than again this afternoon, 3:00-4:00. I'm a fan of some of Pierce's other works, but am not impressed with the Circle of Magic series. If this book is like the rest of the books in the series the characters won't be very interesting, there won't be much of a plot, and everything will happen exactly as you imagine, with a finale in which the powerful mage kids save the day. I've started on the second set in the series, The Circle Opens, which I find more interesting, but I hate reading series out of order, so I had to go back and read the first book about Daja before I read the second one about her. Even though they're not great reads, they're a comfortable way to relax on the train.

Not in the time slot you planed? - that doesn't really matter all that much. Happy to see you here.

I've had meetings and paperwork and stuff so haven't had extended time to read in the last couple of days. However, I'm enjoying Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch very much during my commute to work (all of 20 minutes each way). Terrific addition to a great series.

Over the last few days, I've finished The Praxis, started re-reading Rose by Li-Young Lee, and started 2 new books, Wolf Hall and Gut Symmetries.

I'm not unhappy that I read The Praxis, but I'm not going to be reading the rest of the series, and I'm putting the book up on bookmooch.

Several months ago, I read a later book of poems by Li-Young Lee, and I really didn't like it. I was so bitter about that reading experience that I thought/hoped going back to a book of his I liked would help me to think fondly of him again. I'm about 2/3 through. Mostly, I am noticing the things I didn't like about the other book, things I didn't notice before in this one, but Rose has enough great stuff to make me look past the irksome stuff.

I don't know why I started those 2 new books. It must be that I have a problem having my list of books I'm currently reading drop below 7. I'm about 50 pages into Wolf Hall and just barely begun Gut Symmetries, but I'm enjoying them greatly.

>155 majkia: majkia
>158 LucindaLibri: LucindaLibri
Thank you both for your welcome.

LucindaLibri - very cool that you got to visit Haworth!

I read 10 more chapters of Jane Eyre yesterday. Today must catch up on what I was supposed to be doing instead of reading.

I also reacquainted myself with the Bronte sisters' lives via internet material. Knowing some of the experiences that informed Charlotte in the development of some of her characters & settings has added a nice dimension to my enjoyment of the novel. The Life of Charlotte Brontë was written by Charlotte's contemporary and is in the public domain. If time allows, I may pick that up cheap for my Kindle and read it.

If it looks like I'll still be up at 2am (Eastern), I will plop my name in that open slot.

Hi folks! I'm pretty lazing to fill into the LOGBOOK but I'm really busy with my reading. I've done all my time slot and some reading hours more so far. I've finished Yoram by Ulrike Kolb and I'm reading New York by Edward Rutherfurd. I hope everybody is still enjoying their reading.

The last few days I read from Over-Ysselsche sangen en dichten Revius' translations of the Song of Songs (in which the bridegroom is identified with Christ, and the bride with the Church) and Lamentations of Jeremiah. Then I continued my reading of Revius' biography Eerst de waarheid, dan de vrede.
After this heavy stuff I think it is time again for another chapter of Au bord de l'eau, tome 1.

I have FINALLY finished Wrong how experts keep failing us.
It was an interesting read and readable once picked up but I did struggle to want to pick it up.
Mainly I think because its theme was so negative. I agree that a healthy dose of scepticism is needed in the modern world but this book would make you think that you cannot believe anybody or anything. And I don't think that's true.

Still managing to read in my time slot and at other times.

Finished The Shadows in the Street - loving Susan Hill - and read a bit more of The Forgotten Man: a New History of the Great Depression. Tonight I am going to read something by Maeve Binchy as a memorium.

I finished reading All the Lovely Bad Ones today from 5:30 to 6:30 pm EST. I started it yesterday but didn't log my time because it wasn't a full hour.

Starting an hour late, but better late than never. I'm going back to The Hobbit while I wait out the rest of the night shift at the library.

My headache subsided enough for me to finish Love Medicine. Read from 8-10pm CDT. Those will be my last two hours on the timeline for this readathing. In less than 7 days I finished FIVE books! (Trust me, that is VERY unusual for me.)

Thanks to all for keeping me focused. We should do this more often :)

This will be my final post. I didn't get as much read as I wanted. between babysitting and having meetings at school to prepare for when I go back in two weeks I only managed to get a total of six books read. These are the book I read Saturday and on.
"America At the Tipping Point" by Gary Frazier on Saturday, "Brainrush II" by Richard Bard and "Rust" by Glen Joshpe on Sunday and "Open Minds" by Susan Kaye Quinn on Monday, the "Color of Snow" by Brenda Stanley.
Maybe next year will be better. Either way I am please I got more reading done.

A Gift Of Love by Various Authors.

Maybe I get another hour today. I go out for the day and have to take the train. But I will not add it to the time table before I leave. So I'm hoping I will be able to do that after I return home tonight.

So far I'v read 4 books and reading number 5.

When is the next readathing, can't wait.

For change of atmosphere I'm now reading "Het koningsgraf", a Dutch translation of The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith. Only just started so I can't comment yet.

Well, glad I managed to squeeze some solid hours of reading in at the very end. Het koningsgraf is turning out to be a pretty good adventure yarn. No great literature, but good fun.

Well I did intend to read for the last hour of the timeline but when I went there earlier today to put my name in I noticed that there was no one signed up for the penultimate hour so I took that one instead:)

I read some more of The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert.

Since I was last here I have also been doing some non time line reading mainly from Jezebel by Eleanor de Jong.

This has been a great Readathing. Thanks to all the organisers and readers for making it so much fun.

We made it!! The July/August 2012 ReadaThing is now finished.

Thanks to all who read and posted.

And for those who preferred just to read during the event . . . feel free to continue this thread now that it's over.

Have a great day (and/or night) :) !

To all the organizers!

Thank you so much, it was a fabulous time and I really hope that we can do it again.

Yes, enjoyed it a lot. Thanks all.

I completed my assignment this morning. Finished my ER inukskuk. I've enjoyed participating in this readathing and look forward to the next.

Very Nice ReadaThing!!

Thanks for hosting a great event!!

I put another hour of reading in the timetable. I really enjoyed participating in this ReadaThing. Thanks to all and hope to join another RaT soon.

Tho I'd meant to "Reread Favorites" I spent all my time with a book-long-hidden-behind-others. I'm happy to have found it.

I haven't reported in recently, but I've faithfully done my midnight shift.

Finished a short novel Five Million Dollar Cat which was interesting, terrifying, and made me cry out of happiness, so it was very good. I'm about half way through The Mother Tongue, and am less than thrilled. There's a lot of interesting facts, little reference to authorities, and not deep enough.

I'm going to miss ReadaThing -- it was my legitimate reason to go to bed at 9pm/midnight and read.

Managed to finish Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein just now ... some parts were interesting, but I kept getting frustrated by the mental athletes' emphasis on memorizing random numbers and the order of card decks, rather than working on things useful in everyday life. The book is a good reminder to pay attention to the world around us, though.

I am caught between M. Ruth Myers's No Game for a Dame of the Maggie Sullivan mysteries and the Olympics. The book hasn't quite attracted my attention so it is easy to be distracted.

I got distracted by pinterest, ebay and etsy over the last few days and forgot to post my final reading. Oops!

The last night I read about 50 pages in A Fatal Grace and then read 1900 House from cover to cover. I think I read from 7 books and finished 3 of them for sure, maybe a fourth. (Is that bad that I don't remember?)

Thank you to everyone who organized, and to all of my fellow readers - what a great ReadaThing!

I didn't do a good job at logging in but I finished my book, Death Comes to Pemberley, on July 31 and started Stiltsville but didn't finish it until ReadaThing was over!

>209 jhbaker: What did you think of Death Comes to Pemberley? I'm a big fan of both James and Austen, so I've put it on my wishlist . . . just wondering if it's worth reading.

I'm really late posting but I was on vacation and didn't have internet access...

I did spend most of the Readathing reading. Here's how I did:

**What book or books did you read?
Finished By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter and read The Protector by Madeline Hunter, Black Coffee by Agatha Christie and Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas.
**Where did you read?
Mostly at the beach but also at the beach house. Didn't take any pictures, sorry.
**When did you read? How long did you read?
I read in the morning, the afternoon and at night. Anytime I could really. Can't say how long I read, I don't really take track.
**Doing anything else? food, music, listening to someone snore, watching the sun rise or set...
I listened to the normal beach sounds. Some not so pleasant as listening to the waves but what can you do?

More Important Stuff:
**Is it a GOOD BOOK? Did it meet or exceed your expectations? **Do you recommend it? **Was it a fast read or a thoughtful read? **Did it make you laugh or cry or "be afraid, be very afraid"? **Was it boring? **Would you read it again? **Are you going to throw it off a cliff into the sea?
They were all good books in my opinion. My favorite was Secrets of a Summer Night. It was the first of Lisa Kleypas's books I read but it wont be the last.
My least favorite one was Black Coffee. That's not to say I didn't like it, I did. But it shows that it's a novelization of a play.
They've all met my expectations and Secrets of a Summer Night even exceeded them. I'd recomend them all, they were all fast reads, some did make me laugh, and I would definetely read them again.

And that's how my RT went. I'm hoping to be more participative next time.