Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon

UPDATE: I no longer have to work tomorrow evening! Yay! I have to go in tonight instead so I'll be able to join in for much longer now.

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon my pile

I'll say this now, I won't be reading for 24 hours, I have to go and work in a bar for 5-7hrs of Saturday - it depends on how busy it is to the time we close. I'm also going back to school on Monday after 2 weeks Easter break so don't want to be completely shattered, I plan on sleeping for 3 hours early Sunday morning.
I'm planning on completing 12-16 hours reading..

The Pile:


Despite not being able to commint for the full amount of time I still have a fairly big pile as I like to read as the mood grabs me.
From top to bottom:
Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey: I'm really looking forward to this book, I have saved it for the read-a-thon for the last 4 weeks as it looks fun, easy and short. For Carl's Once Upon a Time III challenge.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Heminway, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa: All of these are 1001 books I've been meaning to read for ages, if I get one read I'll be happy.
Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien: For Becky's End of the World challenge.
The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards: This is a short story collection by the author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I've read several of these already, I'm hoping to read one for Ready When You Are, C.B's Short Story Sunday.
An Elergy for Easterly by Petina Gappah: My first Early Reviewer copy from Librarything.
What I Was by Meg Rosoff: (Ssshhh! I stole this from the school library this week when the librarian wasn't in - will sneak it back later this week). This is for the 2009 YA reading challenge, loved this authors other books.
These three are for when my eyes get tired and also to give me a sense of accomplishment: Y: The Last Man - Cycles a graphic novel, The Viewer by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan and Mrs Biddlebox both kids books with gorgeous pictures.

I also have Tar Baby by Toni Morrison on my ipod if my eyes get too sore.

I'll be happy if I can read 4 of these novels, a short story and the last three books.
Last year I just read the posts and what I remember mainly were all the posts about peoples delicious looking snacks, now I'm Weight Watchering (my own made up word I'm sure), so I'll be drooling over people's snacks whilst eating apples and Ryvita.

My Thoughts: Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters by Brian Froud and Ari Beck

This is the third book in the Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Collection that I have read. I love this collection so much, these are books whose pages you just have to run your fingers over as you read.
The collection is based around the character Lady Cottington, as a child she was suddenly surrounded by fairies one morning whilst out drawing. When the fairy landed on her page she slammed the book shut - fairy sqashed inside. As she grows older the fairies give her more and more grief. These fairies don't fit into the Disney-esqe cutesy type, they are often naked, poking their tongues or bottoms out.
('Shakespeares' reply)
This new book, which I saw on Saturday and couldn't resist is a collection of 'replies' that the character got when she sent out letters asking about peoples' experiences with fairies. The replies are from famous characters such as Queen Elizabeth, Lewis Carrol and William Shakespeare. Many of the letters fold out from the page, some are even tucked away into little envelopes, (I carefully peeled open evenlopes not wanting to damage them).
(a letter and photograph from the 'Queen')
Surrounding the letters are the fairies who got squashed in the pages and some of Lady Cottington's notes.
I've posted photos of some of my favourite pages - sorry about the sideways one, I didn't think of that when I took it!

Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Non - Fiction Five Challenge

Trish's Reading Nook is hosting the Non-Fiction Five challenge this year. Now I wasn't supposed to be joining anymore challenges but I have a stack of non-fiction in my TBR pile that needs to be read so hopefully this will help that.
I'm not creating a list, but the one book that I'm going to make myself read is The Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is completely different from everything I read which is why it has been lurking on the tbr pile for a good two years. The others will probably be memoirs or travel writing.

My Thoughts: Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan

Before you even start reading this I'm going to let you know that I'm still thinking WHAT?!?! about this book, I finished it an hour ago and have read what a few of the papers had to say about it.
Gould's Book of Fish is set in Tasmania, Australia. An 'antique' dealer (faker) finds this book in a junk shop and becomes obsessed with proving that it is geuine. The little book is described as containing paintings of fish, with dense script surrounding the images and trapped on scraps of paper tucked into the book, the handwriting is crabbed and a mix of colours as the writer has had to make ink from whatever he can find around him.
Up untill then everything is clear, then you get to actually read 'The Book of Fish'. Gould is a convict, imprisoned on the island. He is sent each day to work for one of the wealthy men of the island, a scientist who claims he wants to categorise the fish in the area, with a limited ability to paint Gould sets to work. We then hear Gould talkig about his paintings and his growing obsession with fish, as well as his afairs with a local black woman, the murder of aboriginies, and the treatment of the convicts among many things far more confusing.

Challenges:
A-Z (Author)
999 (Award Winners)
Book Awards 2

My Thoughts: Mr Toppit by Charles Elton

Published this year, Charles Elton has taken the tale of Christopher Robin - the real one, not the fictional character, who felt trapped and suffered after his father created a character is his name who's fame would haunt him and cause him to become seperated from his family. Elton takes this idea and modernises it, gives it a spin.
Mr Toppit is about a dysfuntional family who come under the media spotlight years after their father's death. He dies in an accident with an American radio presenter at his side. After ambushing the family home in the days after his death, the radio presenter Laurie Clow is given copies of the Hayseed Chronicles.
The father's novels, The Hayseed Chronicles are a fairly unknown children's collection, in which the father creates a tale out of his family home, the woods behind them and names his central character after his son. Laurie Clow becomes obsessed with the family and the books and ends up reading them on her radio show once she return to the States. Eventually the books become well known, films are made, readers visit the real Darkwoods looking for Mr Toppit, a dictorial figure who's identity is never revealed in the children's books.
The popularity of the books creates problems for Luke - people assume the books are actually about him, and his elder sister who is missing from the books yet becomes obsessed with having a kind of ownership over them.
I enjoyed the book, but I think I would have enjoyed The Hayseed Chronicles more.

Challenges
2009 Pub Challenge 1/9
A-Z (Authors)
999 (New Fiction)

My Thoughts: Witch Child by Celia Rees

After saying my reading has slowed down I then realed of two books in two days. This is another YA read but of a very different kind to City of Embers.
Witch Child is a collection of diary entries by a girl girl called Mary, who states that she is a witch in the opening lines of the novel.
As the diary entries start Mary's grandmother has been hunted out as a witch, her powers were tested when she was thrown into a lake to see if she floated - the conformation that a woman was a witch, and then dreagged out for a public hanging.
As Mary's abilities are dubious with the locals Mary is sent across the Atlantic to the newly discovered Americas. Mary travels with Puritans and becomes one of the community, one who is always held on the outside of the community but allowed to join in and travel with them.
America was meant to be an escape, a chance to start again with a fresh slate yet it seems that the rumours are following Mary.

Challenges:
999 (YA)
2009 YA Challenge
What's in a Name? (Profession)