One of my various reasons though was a bookish one. I went to a charity book fair this afternoon with hubby and we brought back tons of books! I got 5 novels, but I’ll round that up for next week Mailbox Monday, along with 2 other books that came into my house earlier.

Whatever you did this weekend, hope it involved a great book ;)

Happy reading y’all!

ps: And of course, huge thanks to the wonderful hosts and cheerleaders. It was a huge undertaking! Great job you guys!

As I knew I couldn’t read for the full 24 hours today, I started reading a bit more yesterday (Saturday my time, and today is Sunday).

I’m still reading Dracula, page 287 out of 444 (I don’t think I can finish it today).

I’ve finished American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.

And for the past hour I’ve been reading Bayou by Jeremy Love (read online here). I can’t believe it’s all available online! I’ve been coveting this graphic novel since Nymeth’s review (or maybe even before that? I can’t remember). Anyway, so far it’s been excellent! Jeremy Love is sooo talented!
Tips: Read in full screen to get the most out of the pretty art!

This brings me to the mini-challenges. I got to find Bayou from Nymeth’s Time for Comics mini-challenge. She asked us to spend 10 minutes reading webcomic and I have spent almost an hour because it is so good. I guess I’m just a sucker for comics! From the list on her site, I’m familiar with Penny Arcade and xkcd as video game lovers and geeks should be. I am sure going to check out more later!

Oh another interesting mini-challenge (though I was late) is Where in the World is the Read-a-thon? ~! It’s so fun to see where everybody is around the world! I pinpointed myself and couldn’t believe there’s no participant from Australia! (There are even a couple from NZ) Where are you Aussies?

ps: I slept for the first 8 hours of read-a-thon. Well, I talked to hubby in the first hour, tried to read before sleep, and slept a sentence later.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

None. But that’s probably because I didn’t push myself that much. I slept for 6 hours and I actually didn’t do things much differently than my regular weekend (I could read the whole day too on some weekends).

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

Thin books and graphic novels are always the top choices for reading marathon.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Nope. I think the organizers have been amazing.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

It’s very organized. I think the shift between Trish, Nymeth, and Wordlily worked really well. I remember that Dewey was so tired to stay awake for the whole 24 hours the last read-a-thon that I joined, and she didn’t get to read much at all!

5. How many books did you read?

0.3 book I think. More or less :P

6. What were the names of the books you read?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

All of them.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

None.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

I wasn’t a cheerleader, but I imagine it’s getting harder for the cheerleaders to cheer with the number of participants increasing!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I will. A reader again. Yay!

Things that I will do differently for the next read-a-thon:

Be more prepared. I could probably sleep for a few hours just before the read-a-thon starts, so I don’t have to sleep as much during.
Prepare more snack. I only had Maltesers and I didn’t want to munch it too much.
Plan very quick lunch and dinner. Either cook them beforehand or just buy them.

Overall I found this read-a-thon experience to be less daunting than the previous one. The last time I was actually struggling to read for a long time at a time. This time it was enjoyable and I wish I could have more reading time. I guess I had learnt to read for longer time in one sitting since the last read-a-thon. So I’m sure the next one will be even better.

Ooh I read so much I’m so sick! I’m never gonna read it again for the next.. 30 minutes! :)

Thanks to the organizers, cheerleaders, and everyone that visited here! It’s been a great successful read-a-thon!

Total

Reading time: ~6 hours
Blogging time: lost track.. a lot.
Mini-challenges participated: 8
Books started: 2

I didn’t read in the last 3 hours :(. Needed to go to buy some grocery, whip up a quick cooking, eat, then watch my favorite TV shows: The Biggest Loser and You Think You Can Dance.

So far I think I’ve spent around 6 hours reading. I’m third way into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I did start Ethel & Ernest a little bit.

Participating in another mini-challenge:

A Striped Armchair’s Honoring Dewey Mini-challenge

As most of you know, Dewey of The Hidden Side of the Leaf began the read-a-thons. She passed away quite suddenly (at least suddenly to the book blogging community) last November, which is why the read-a-thon has been renamed in her honour.

So sometime in the next three hours, either share a favourite story/memory of Dewey if you knew her OR go to her blog and find a post that appeals to you (trust me, it won’t take long!). Then on your own blog (or in the comments here if you don’t have a blog), talk about why you chose it.

Eva shared a few interactions that she had with Dewey. Thought I’d go back and dig up my old comments as well.

Last week I joked how you have bigger chance of winning the mini-challenges that occur in the last hours, because everybody has started to sleep. Then Tanabata said,

I hadn’t thought about having a better chance to win the later mini-challenges. LOL!

I replied,

Actually I read it at someone’s blog during last year’s read-a-thon, and I thought, hey she’s right! :)

Since then I tried to remember, whose blog it was that I saw. Guess what, it’s apparently Dewey commenting on one of my last year’s read-a-thon post:

Don’t worry! Later on, when people in the U.S are all dropping like flies, you’ll be all perkily awake and ready to enter mini-challenges without as much competition! :)

Ooh I just suddenly miss her more. When I knew Dewey, I wasn’t blogging as much as I am today. So we didn’t interact that much. The comment above was one of a few of hers, and at that time I was happy/surprised that she visited, because she was such a well-known blogger who was very active in blogging community. Dewey’s blog was definitely one of my favorite. She’s funny, she’s nice, she works a lot to build the community, and I read a lot of books that she reads. She will be remembered for a long time.

I gave up keeping up with my statistic because I kept losing track of how much time I spent for this and that.

The mini-challenges that I participated in since the last post:

Tammy’s Book Nook’s A Nod to Nonfiction
Filling my Patch of Sky’s Reading Madness! mini challenge
Life in the Thumb’s You know you’re participating in a read-a-thon mini-challenge

Thank you for everyone that’s been visiting! I’ll try to go around for a while to drop comments for you too!

I just woke up at 7am, which is hour 10 of the read-a-thon. I read for 2 hours last night before I went to sleep for 6 hours, so I think it’s not bad. Then I spent the rest of the hour catching up of what’s been happening, visiting all the sites that host the mini challenges, commenting on some participants’ sites. It bummed me out that I missed some of the challenges, but hey, we still have quite a lot more hours to go, so I can participate later :).

I’m going to read again pretty soon. I’m sorry if I haven’t visited or left comment on your sites. I will do more later, I promise!

Meanwhile, since there are 2 mini challenges still running, I’m gonna try to do them.

The Curious Reader’s Love Your Local Library Mini Challenge

What is the name of your local library? What city is it located in?

I have 2 local libraries that I frequently go to: Bankstown and Lakemba (Canterbury) Library. They’re at the suburbs of Sydney, NSW.

How often do you go to the library? If you’re a regular, do the staff know you?

Since my hubby and I are not working at the moment, we go to the library at least once a week. We know the faces of lots of the staff, but I think they don’t know us yet because it’s a big library. Well except for one staff.

Do you browse while you’re there or just pick up items you have placed on reserve?

Both. At Bankstown library we have to pay $1 a book to reserve, so I don’t reserve there. But I do reserve at the other library.

What is your favorite thing about your local library?

Oh I grew up with library. I frequent library every where I live. I even go to library when I visit a new city. So any library is just a familiar place for me. For my current local library, I just love the whole atmosphere. It’s very convenient to browse around and you can always find a place to sit for a while. When I was in Singapore, I had to fight for seats all the time, it was crazy! There were just so many people!

Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic’s Books to TV Cross-over

Now, what I want you to do for the mini-challenge is to search your memory for books and book series that might also work as a TV series. Which are they, and do you already have some actors in mind for them? (If so, you might even post links to a photo of the actor!)

I always think that Harry Potter series would be great as TV series, since the movies have omitted so much of the detail. With TV series they will have more time to show everything that is in the books. For the actors, well, the current Harry Potter actors would be great.  But I always imagine that Harry would be skinnier, so they could perhaps use another actor for Harry if Daniel Radcliffe is too busy :P.

Now think about the movies or TV series you’ve watched. Which of them would you read as a book as well? What are they about and what genre would they be?

I can’t really imagine reading books out of TV series. Most TV series I watch are the funny type. Nothing much to write about that isn’t already in the show. With movies too, I don’t think I’d be interested reading a book out of a movie (the movie comes out first). I don’t think there has been a good one yet.

And finally, think about the books that have already been made into a movie or a TV series. And what about those movies and TV series that were made into a book?

I don’t even know if there’s any movie or TV series that has been made into a book. I like to watch a movie based on book because I can be sure that the story line is solid and strong enough to be made into a movie. But I don’t ever do it the other way around. Let me know if you have recommendation!

Total

Reading hours: 2
Blogging hours: 2.5 hours
Mini Challenges: 3

Dewey’s 24 hour read-a-thon just started. For my part of the world, 10pm. I usually sleep at 11pm so I’m already feeling sleepy now. I’m going to sleep definitely, but not sure when. The fabulous organizers have set up a page with the participants’ feeds, which is totally awesome! Love it!

Now, answering the first hour meme:

Where are you reading from today?

I’m reading at my living room (or probably later in bed) in Sydney, Australia.

3 facts about me …

I can’t read for a long time at a time because I get sleepy. (but I’m gonna keep trying!)
I’m not a fast reader. The last time I tried to measure, I read about 20 pages per hour.
I’m always worried that I blog or read blogs more than I read books.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

I don’t have a set list of books, but I just started Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so I’m gonna get into it definitely. I’m also halfway for The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a tiny book so it’s perfect. I also just picked up Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs from my library today. It’s a graphic novel that looks absolutely delightful. Apart from that, perhaps Silk by Alessandro Baricco, or An Appointment with My Brother by Yi Mun Yol, which I won from Bybee at the last read-a-thon in June 2008 (and I haven’t got to it!). Both books are small too. I got The Invention of Hugo Cabret from my library last week and it looks so cool. I’d love to start that, but it’s pretty thick, so probably not during this read-a-thon.

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

Nope. Just going along to have fun.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

Have fun and don’t stress if you’re not a fast reader and everybody reads a lot more than you do :P

Happy reading everyone!

Yay the end! I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. In this read-a-thon, I finished only 1 book. But for me, it’s a big accomplishment, because I can’t remember when was the last time I finished a whole book in 1 day. Probably some time in middle school or primary school. So yay for me! :D

Total
Pages: 272
Reading time: probably around 8 hours
Book: 1
Mini-challenges: 4 or more (Bybee’s Korean culture, Care’s word, Jessi’s authors, Dewey’s Post-even survey, and some challenges for commenting and visiting people’s blogs, but I can’t remember which ones)
Sleeping time: 7 hours (at hour 2 to 9)
Blogging time: I’m guessing around 3 hours
Reading and visiting time: I’m guessing around 2-3 hours

That sounds about right. So I probably have spent the rest of 3-4 hours doing everything else like cooking and taking lunch and dinner, taking shower, watching some Friends in between.

Dewey’s Post Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
The first 8 hours or so, because I knew I had to sleep and people were just starting. (The read-a-thon started for me at 12am Sunday my time, while it’s 9am Saturday for everyone else in North America.)

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Definitely go with shorter books. I would recommend the 1 book that I finished because I think it’s perfect for this event. I also prepared Silk by Alessandro Baricco and Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi because they’re both very short. (didn’t get the chance to read them though)

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Can’t think of any right now.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The hourly challenges and updates worked really well. Great efforts to have them on!

5. How many books did you read?
One.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
The one book I finished :P

8. Which did you enjoy least?
Didn’t read other book.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
It would be great if you could have a shift system, so the cheerleaders wouldn’t be so tired and there might be more people joining if they know they don’t have to stay awake for all 24 hours?

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will definitely participate again if the time allows. Reader again for sure :)

Huge thanks for the herculean efforts of Dewey and her cheerleaders in managing this event. It’s been great fun!

I’m off to sleep.

I can only recognize 6 of them. I guess I haven’t read that many books :P

I’m continuing my interesting facts about Korean:

7) Koreans start their age from 1. So they are 1 when they’re born. (The same like Chinese)

8) When Koreans commit suicide, they usually jump into the water, and they put their shoes neatly at the jumping spot, with suicide notes in it. There’s an old story to explain the reason, but my friend couldn’t remember the story. My conversation with her went like this:

Her: Remember the time when Asian economy crashed about 10 years ago? A lot of people committed suicide that time. Sometimes you passed a bridge and you could see people’s shoes lining up at the edge of the bridge.
Me: AND IT DIDN’T FREAK YOU OUT??!! (You know, knowing that there were people dying near you??!!)
Her: *laugh* Anyway, after a while, they put some people to guard the bridge, so there wouldn’t be more people jumping off the bridge.

Apparently the culture to put your shoes neatly before committing suicide also applies for Japanese. Only Japanese usually jump in front of a running train, because it’s kinda easy for them. In Japan the trains often run at the back of residential areas. So you can just go to your backyard to achieve your goal. (Okay this whole talk about suicide freaks me out a bit)

9) Koreans eat with metal chopsticks and metal long spoons with metal bowl for rice. I love the long spoon, but hate the metal chopsticks because they’re heavier than plastic/wood chopsticks and are harder to use. But then again, I’m never good at using chopsticks.

10) I can go on and on about Korean food and drinks, because I’m a fan :). I cook tokbokki and jap chae sometimes. Tokbokki is Korean rice cake with Korean chilli and some meat and vegie. Jap chae is stir fried glass noodle with meat and vegie. Yuuum.

I’m hungry.

To participate in Care’s hour 19 mini-challenge:
the new interesting word I found during this read-a-thon is spazzer.

spaz /spæz/
–noun Slang.
1. a grotesquely awkward person.
2. an eccentric person.

So I’m guessing spazzer is a person who’s a spaz? (I can’t find spazzer in dictionary.com)

Total
Page: 159
Reading time: around 5 hours