Evening Readathon Update

I did not get nearly as much reading done as I planned to today.  Somehow, I thought I'd get at least two books finished PLUS have time to start another and possibly read parts of a non-fiction book.  Instead, I just finished those two books.

Yes, I did finish With a Vengeance by Annette Dashofy.  As expected, it was great, and really pulled me in.  Then, I reread the middle grade my Sunrise at the Mayan Temple by Sigmund Brouwer, which was fun.

Of course, it didn't help that I did my weekly grocery run to Trader Joes, chatted with some friends online, and watched a Hallmark Mystery movie (watch for that review on Monday).  Skipping those things would have gotten a little more reading done.

Still, I had fun, and I'm glad I got those books in.  Now, for some sleep.

Dewey's Readaton - April 2020 Starting Line

Things may look a bit different around here today.  For the first time in years, I am participating in Dewey's Readathon.  It seems like there is always something going on the day of the readathon.  During the spring, there's beach ultimate Frisbee.  And I often have something else going on.  But this year?  Everything is cancelled.  So I have no excuse not to spend the day reading.  Well, most of the day.  I'll still go out and do my weekly shopping.  And Hallmark decided to premier a new mystery movie tonight, so I'll stop reading to watch that.

Anyway....

The readaton is kicking off right about now.  But I am not even going to try to read at 5 in the morning.  I'd just fall back asleep.  So I am sleeping right now, but I will be off and running once I wake up.

I'm not sure how much I will be posting here today.  I'll probably stop in with a post or two, but most of my talking about it will be over on my Twitter and Instagram accounts, so if you'd like to see how I'm doing, stop by there.

I can tell you I will be starting with With a Vengeance by Annette Dashofy.  I started it on Friday, so that will be my first read.

Feel free to join in today.  And you'll definitely learn about what I read one way or another.  I'll be reviewing those books here on the blog starting in May.  (Next week's reviews are already written.)

And Book Two Finished

I didn't really intended to be gone so long from updating, but I must admit I kept getting distracted.  If I stopped reading, it was hard to get back to picking up the book.  But I did indeed finish The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha!!

It's just a really good thing I didn't pick up the book I thought I was going to read today, which is twice as long.  I wouldn't have had time to finish it off today considering how little I did or didn't get read.

Of course, I had hoped to sneak in a couple of quick rereads, but that didn't happen either.  Oh well.  I still had lots of fun today.

And I know the fun is continuing for some, but I'm calling it a night and heading to bed.  Hopefully, with a little extra sleep I can kick this sickness I am fighting.

Book One Down

I finished my first book of the day!  Okay, so I actually finished it about an hour ago, but I took a break to draft a review, eat some lunch, and general let that book digest.  But I'm ready to get on to my next book of the day.

I decided to skip the thriller I was considering, at least for today, and instead read at least one cozy mystery since that is what I normally read.  So up next is The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha, the latest Chocoholic Mystery by JoAnna Carl.  These are always fast, fun reads, and I'm looking forward to diving it.

Of course, I'm also feeling like a nap might be in order soon.  Generally, I will doze off when reading in the afternoon, so we shall see how it goes.  I bet I sleep more than read for the next hour, but when I wake up, I'll be fresh and ready to get more pages under my belt.

Readathon: Reading Memories

For a mini-challenge, Midnight Book Girl has asked us about our reading memories.  I've got many of them.  I can think of many times and places connected with books.

The first time I read The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, I hit the final third, and I couldn't put the book down.  I stayed up that night until I finished reading it.

Then there was reading Owls Well that Ends Well and trying not to laugh out loud so I didn't wake my roommate, who had already gone to sleep.

It's been 20 years since I listened to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, but book will forever be linked to my car breaking down and me dying to know what was going on but not being able to continue listening because of that.

Then there's The Mystery on the Mississippi, my first Trixie Belden book.  I read it out at the beach while my family was camping out there for a month or so.  I really enjoyed it and knew I wanted to read more, but I had no idea who hooked on that series I would become as I got to know the characters more.

That's it for a trip down memory lane at least for now.  Back to my current read, Spy Ski School.  75 pages to go!

Finally Ready to Start!

I slept later than I thought I would this morning.  Obviously, I needed it.  But I am finally ready to start reading.  I'm off to go save the world with Spy Ski School, so I will see you in 130 pages.

Welcome to the Readathon

If I've done my calculations right, Dewey's 24 hour readathon is kicking off right about now.  And for the first time in a long time, I'm signed up to participate.  It seems it rare works out for me, but I had a free Saturday today, so I figured if I was ever going to do it again, this was the time.

Of course, at the moment, I'm still in bed asleep.  I live in California, and it is 5 AM.  Sorry, but I'm not getting up that early to start reading.  All that would happen if I did is I would fall back asleep.  I know I'll take a nap or two along the way, but let's not start out asking for it.

There's another reason.  I'm actually feeling a little under the weather right now, and I know I need the sleep.  Of course, I a day of lying around and reading will also be good for me, right?  So this came at an absolutely perfect time for me.

I will update things when I get up and start reading.  And I can tell you my first book is going to be Spy Ski School, a middle grade comedic spy mystery by Stuart Gibbs.  I'm actually about 130 pages away from the end, so I will be able to start another book not too long after I get up.  I'm thinking that will be a longer thriller (for adults this time) I'd love to be able to read in a day.  Perfectly opportunity right?  My only hesitation is it would probably take me most of Saturday, and there are other, shorter books I've also been thinking about reading.  Decision, decision.  If you have any advice to give on that front, I'm all ears.

Until I join the land of the awake, happy reading all!

Save our Cozies Readathon

If you haven’t yet heard, Berkley, which is an imprint for Penguin/Random House, is cutting their cozy mystery line way back.  Not only are cozies my favorite genre to read, but I read a lot of Berkley Prime Crime titles.  Right now, they are usually about half of the books I read every month.  In fact, the books that I review and host giveaways for every month are all Berkley titles.  So, as I’m sure you can imagine, this is bad news.  Not just for me, but for the writers I love.  After all, the reason I started reviewing years and years ago was to help readers find authors I love so that they’d buy the books and the authors would get contracts for more books.  (See, it was selfish all along – I just wanted more books by my favorite authors.)

Cozies readers are doing everything we can to raise awareness and hopefully get Berkley to see that there is a huge market for the cozy mystery.  Obviously, sales are the most important thing, but there are other things we can do to raise awareness.

One such brainstorm is the Save Our Cozies Readathon.  It’s just like other readathons out there – set aside a day, or a portion of a day, to read.  However, there is a specific focus to your reading list – cozy mysteries, but specifically cozies from the list of series that are either in jeopardy or have been canceled.  Authors of canceled or endangered series are even getting involved offering prizes to the participants.

Interested in learning more?  Here’s the official web site.  Sign up and spread the word.

Personally, I will have to miss it.  I will be reading that day; I’ll even be reading for several uninterrupted hours.  I just won’t be able to participate in blog updates and social media posts since I will be traveling that day.  Honestly, I’m jealous because I think this sounds like a fun way to raise awareness for the issue.  So I hope you sign up and have a ton of fun.