Well there's 15minutes left of the read-a-thon and I've finished my reading. Once I've typed this looked at a few of the last posts I'm off for a bath and then a spot of lunch - will be nice to be all clean again. Then I have an afternoon of lessons to prepare as I'm back to teaching after the two week easter break. And I finally get to watch West Wing - the season 2 dvd turned up yesterday morning and I'm itching to know what happens. Oh, and I may even get some more reading done.
Now for the round up.
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I think between 12 and 1am - so the halfway point. I'm glad I took myself off to bed for 4 and a half hours of much needed sleep or I doubt I'd be able to sleep now.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Beauty Sleep, Dokey and What I Was - kept me fixed
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No none whatsoever, I din't have any complaints.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I thought the cheerleaders were great, also just reading other peoples posts - I came on to read these when I was lagging.
5. How many books did you read?
I read 4 novels and 2 picture books plus a short story
6. What were the names of the books you read?
I finished Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett which I was over halfway through
1.What I Was by Meg Rosoff
2. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3. An Elgy for Easterly by Pettina Gappah
4. Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
Mrs Biddlebox and The Viewer by Gary Crew (both picture books)
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I enjoyed all the novels, my most favourite was probably Bel Canto, but I think I picked some great reads which really helped.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The Viewer, see here for my rant
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I definately want to participate again, Maybe next time spend half the time reading then some cheerleading so I get to visit more people.
Thanks to Nymeth, Hannah and Trish for all the hardwork, all the people who posted interesting posts and people who visited. And lastly Dewey, who without her this wouldn't be happening.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: Short Story Sunday
Short Story Sunday is held each week over at Ready When You Are, C.B I try to post about a short sory most weeks but seem to have missed several weeks on a row now.
This week's short story is taken from a gorgeous collection called The Secrets of the Fire King by Kim Edwards, and this is the sixth story in the collection.
The Invitation
Joyce has lived in the area for 30 years, 30 years of socialising with the upper classes and finally last year she felt fullt accepted when she was invited to the Sultan's birthday party. His birthday looms again, just weeks away and she waits eagerly for the invitation to arrive. As the day draws nearer she starts to worry, if she leaves it too late she won't have time to travel abroad to find an outfit as dashing as the golden dress she wore last year.
When she invites one of the new wifes to afternoon tea, a sign of kindness, she is suddenly awaken to how much she still doesn't fit in. The new wife can speak the locals language, knows all the rules of etiquette - like not to wear the color gold as it is the Sultan's colour. She also teaches the Sultan's daughter, often has tea with his wife and most imporantantly recieved her invitation to the Sultan's birthday party days before.
An invitation to tea that Joyce wishes she hadn't made.
This week's short story is taken from a gorgeous collection called The Secrets of the Fire King by Kim Edwards, and this is the sixth story in the collection.
The Invitation
Joyce has lived in the area for 30 years, 30 years of socialising with the upper classes and finally last year she felt fullt accepted when she was invited to the Sultan's birthday party. His birthday looms again, just weeks away and she waits eagerly for the invitation to arrive. As the day draws nearer she starts to worry, if she leaves it too late she won't have time to travel abroad to find an outfit as dashing as the golden dress she wore last year.
When she invites one of the new wifes to afternoon tea, a sign of kindness, she is suddenly awaken to how much she still doesn't fit in. The new wife can speak the locals language, knows all the rules of etiquette - like not to wear the color gold as it is the Sultan's colour. She also teaches the Sultan's daughter, often has tea with his wife and most imporantantly recieved her invitation to the Sultan's birthday party days before.
An invitation to tea that Joyce wishes she hadn't made.
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
Pages read total: 938 (+ 66 pages of picture books)
Books read: Finished Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett, read What I Was by Meg Rosoff, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, An Elgy for Easterly, Mrs Biddlebox (pic book), The Viewer by Gary Crew and Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
Total reading time: approx 15 1/2 hours.
My final book of the read-a-thon (I'm going to read a short story in the last hour).
I saved this book especially for the read-a-thon and I'm really glad that I did.
Beauty Sleep is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Aurore as we know has two spells put on her as a baby, one that in her sixteenth year she will prick herself with a needle and live no more, the second a countering spell that says that the needle will send her to sleep for a hundred years till a prince awakens her with a kiss.
In this version Aurore is a tom boy, not a typical princess. Whe her parents allow her outside into the garden at 10 years old for the first time she immediately falls to gardening. As the years pass she happily (against her mothers wishes) gardens, builds fires, talks to the common people and gets a tan (something a princess isn't supposed to have).
On her sixteenth birthday the kingdom is suddenly plagued with disaster - the sky rains blood, death comes, wolfs hound the streets. Thinking this is all her fault: a result of her fate, Aurore runs away to an enchanted forest where her true fate is to be played out.
A great book to read for those who love fairytales retold.
Challenges:
2009 YA Challenge
999 (YA)
Once Upon a Time III
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah
Pages read total: 751 (+ 66 pages of picture books)
Books read: Finished Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett, read What I Was by Meg Rosoff, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, An Elgy for Easterly, Mrs Biddlebox (pic book) and The Viewer by Gary Crew
Total reading time: approx 12 hours
I woke up fairly tired this morning after 4 hours sleep but picking up this book soon had me awake and interested again.
An Elegy for Easterly is a collection of short stories all revolving around different people from Zimbabwe, people of all classes suffering from similar problems.
Presidents wifes left to suffer after the husband dies of AIDS, families cheated by neighbours who borrow money to eascpe to the Western World, women unable to have children who are judged by all, families seeing yet another young daughter marrying a man with AIDS who has already buried two wifes.
The themes are recurring: AIDS, deception, corruption, the black market and the ever increasing prices and political promises that can reck a nation.
I never read short stories one after another as I find that they merge into one another, but with this collection each character was held seperately in my mind, each life story complete in itself.
A collection I would definately recommend to others.
Challenges:
2009 Pub Challenege
100 Shots of Short
A-Z Title
Orbis Terrarum
999 (African Reads and short story collection)
Olympic Challenge
Books read: Finished Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett, read What I Was by Meg Rosoff, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, An Elgy for Easterly, Mrs Biddlebox (pic book) and The Viewer by Gary Crew
Total reading time: approx 12 hours
I woke up fairly tired this morning after 4 hours sleep but picking up this book soon had me awake and interested again.
An Elegy for Easterly is a collection of short stories all revolving around different people from Zimbabwe, people of all classes suffering from similar problems.
Presidents wifes left to suffer after the husband dies of AIDS, families cheated by neighbours who borrow money to eascpe to the Western World, women unable to have children who are judged by all, families seeing yet another young daughter marrying a man with AIDS who has already buried two wifes.
The themes are recurring: AIDS, deception, corruption, the black market and the ever increasing prices and political promises that can reck a nation.
I never read short stories one after another as I find that they merge into one another, but with this collection each character was held seperately in my mind, each life story complete in itself.
A collection I would definately recommend to others.
Challenges:
2009 Pub Challenege
100 Shots of Short
A-Z Title
Orbis Terrarum
999 (African Reads and short story collection)
Olympic Challenge
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: Picture Books
Tired eyes led me to picture books, the first one woke me up, the second had a depressing ending that was very unexpected.
Mrs Biddlebox: Her Bad Day and What She Did About It by Linda Smith and Marla Frazee.
For younger kids this picture box does exactly what we'd all like to do when we wake up to a bad day - she cooks up the day and eats it, leaving herself with a peaceful nights sleep. Gorgeous pics, heres when she takes down the sun to put it in her cookig pot:
The Viewer by Shaun Tan and Gary Crew
I've recently had out a few books by Shaun Tan from the library with stunning illustrations, this is the first book with his pictures in that I have brought for myself and I'm not as take with this as the other two - the pictures are darker to fit the story.
Tristan is a child who likes to observe the world, to figure out how things work. His favourite place is the dump where he finds and fixes old things. Till one day he finds an old box with its lid firmly shut. When he gets it home he figures it is a viewer, you look inside and click the disc and it shows you a series of images.
All well and good so far, now this is where I started to become unsure. The first look shows Tristan the beginning of the world, evolution etc. Then we start moving on to colonialism, the destruction of the habitat of Native Indians, Slavery, civil wars, then the holocaust, WW1 and II and finally the present day - starving Africa children, drought, nuclear bombs.
Tristan, and thus the youg readers, are shown the history of the world. I have no issue with children knowing the bad things in this world, in fact I believe that they should know and be talked to about the destruction and pain that humans cause (something that gets discussed in my classroom a lot), BUT this book only showed the bad things. Never once did it show the good that people do. I didn't inspire, it simply depressed showing only the negative side of humans and the world we have created.
Thats my reading for tonight, I'm going to have a quick flick through my googlereader then I'm off to sleep for the next 4 and a half hours. Happy reading x
Mrs Biddlebox: Her Bad Day and What She Did About It by Linda Smith and Marla Frazee.
For younger kids this picture box does exactly what we'd all like to do when we wake up to a bad day - she cooks up the day and eats it, leaving herself with a peaceful nights sleep. Gorgeous pics, heres when she takes down the sun to put it in her cookig pot:
The Viewer by Shaun Tan and Gary Crew
I've recently had out a few books by Shaun Tan from the library with stunning illustrations, this is the first book with his pictures in that I have brought for myself and I'm not as take with this as the other two - the pictures are darker to fit the story.
Tristan is a child who likes to observe the world, to figure out how things work. His favourite place is the dump where he finds and fixes old things. Till one day he finds an old box with its lid firmly shut. When he gets it home he figures it is a viewer, you look inside and click the disc and it shows you a series of images.
All well and good so far, now this is where I started to become unsure. The first look shows Tristan the beginning of the world, evolution etc. Then we start moving on to colonialism, the destruction of the habitat of Native Indians, Slavery, civil wars, then the holocaust, WW1 and II and finally the present day - starving Africa children, drought, nuclear bombs.
Tristan, and thus the youg readers, are shown the history of the world. I have no issue with children knowing the bad things in this world, in fact I believe that they should know and be talked to about the destruction and pain that humans cause (something that gets discussed in my classroom a lot), BUT this book only showed the bad things. Never once did it show the good that people do. I didn't inspire, it simply depressed showing only the negative side of humans and the world we have created.
Thats my reading for tonight, I'm going to have a quick flick through my googlereader then I'm off to sleep for the next 4 and a half hours. Happy reading x
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: 1am
Ok its 1am here and my eyes are slowly starting to drop. I reckon another hour and then I'm off to bed for a few hours kip - I have to teach Monday so can't sleep Sunday afternoon after the read-a-thon has finished as I won't sleep all night Sunday. Tired teachers = Bratty kids (they sniff it out just like dogs!)
For the last 2 hours I've been reading a proof copy of a novel out this month called An Elergy for Easterly by Petina Gappah - at least I thought it was going to be a novel but it is actually a short story collection. Each story is about someone from Zimbabwe, many stories are linked to the government, the price rises in food and everyday living, and also several about AIDS. Writing that makes the book sound depressing but it hasn't been so far. Its very well written and each story is its own - I find some short story collections the story blurs into one. I've read 170 pages so far but I'm going to leave the rest (105 pages) till the morning.
I have two picture books that are hopefully going to be perfect for my tired eyes
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