MInithon post the second

And the Minithon has come to a close. At least for me because I am bad at timezones and we made reservations for dinner before this thing was going to end. Whoops. So I'm doing a slightly mini-er version of the minithon, which is right in the spirt.

There was a mini amount of reading done. I have 80-ish pages left in The Passage and I gave up on Fool because there is WAY too much going on in To Be OR Not To Be. In one ending Ophelia decided to fight terrorists using a glider suit laced with knives that she designed. Straight out Shakespeare's subtext.

I ate my mini-bagels and mini-quiches and then more mini-bagels in the form of mini pizza bagels so really, minithon a success! I also watched some Portlandia which is really Tom's fault. But it's a bunch of sketches, which are like mini episodes, so it was nice of him to keep with the theme.

Hope everyone's minithon was a success! Thanks again, Tika. A great time as always

Are you ready to MINITHON???

It is once again time for a minithon, the perfect readalong for those of us with commitment/attention span problems who can't handle a full on readathon. (Also for those who CAN full on readathon and just want to play along because we're the best.) Thank Tika for once again hosting this internet shindig AND for getting up early for it.

Time for the eatings and readings

For once I actually managed to plan ahead for this minithon, meaning I remembered it was happening a full day before and thus was able to go to the store and get a couple mini food items. LIKE MINI-BAGELS!!

I also made myself a cappuccino because I have an addiction. But also cappuccino = espresso (mini amount of coffee. Compared to drip anyway) and milk (in my case, skim milk, which is really/probably just water with a mini amount of actual milk in it).

I also picked up some mini-quiches because they seem like the PERFECT minithon food and also delicious. I'm also going to consume a not-so-mini amount of these sweet potato and cinnamon crackers. These are smaller than some other crackers I have in the house so, yeah, that counts.

I considered picking up a mini ham & cheese sandwich (that's what it was labeled) but it was like $4 and no, I will come up with ridiculous excuses for the food I eat instead of paying that for a tiny pre-made sandwich.

Oh right, books.

I'm currently finishing up The Passage by Justin Cronin and while that is very much NOT a mini book, it does take place in a post-apocalypse land where the human population is teeny tiny so MINI.

I also have on hand To Be OR Not To Be by Ryan North which is a choose-your-own-adventure Hamlet story, which makes it really a BUNCH of little stories. BAM!

Last up, I have an audiobook of Fool by Christopher Moore. Last minithon I realized how great audiobooks are for thoning (I can read AND tweet all at once) so I wanted to make sure I grabbed one of those. Plus all books are boxed up, so I'm working with a limited supply. The main character of Fool is called Pocket cos he's so tiny so THERE YOU GO. Though I did notice that I screwed up when I was loading the audiobook into iTunes and it appears some of the tracks didn't copy over properly. Which would be an easy fix if I knew which box the discs were packed in. Whoops.

Here we go!

Time To Minithon!

Once again it is time to take part in a mini readathon hosted by the lovely Tika at Reading the Bricks!

For those of us with too much to do/far too lazy to read for 24 hours, we have the minithon which is yes, about reading but MOSTLY about snacks and excuses for why our choices count as mini (the more ridiculous the better).

I was planning on getting things figured out/making up excuses this morning because of course I did no planning ahead of time. But then that didn't quite work out.

See, this week commuting has been super annoying, and it came to a head yesterday morning. I was heading towards the subway when I saw the people in front of me start to run. So I start to run because shit, the train is here. But there were too many people moving WAY too slowly and by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, the doors closed. As I was cursing that, the strap to my laptop bag broke. WEeeeeee.

You, sir, are an asshole

Tom and I spent this morning looking for a laptop bag and FUN FACT, apparently no one uses these anymore? Or at least those that do either like A) really ugly bags or B) super expensive (and still ugly and not super practical) bags. So this morning was a bust both in bag acquiring and 'thon planning. So let's see what I can manage now.

For snacks, I haven't really made it that far. I still have leftover Halloween candy* and those are tinier than full size candy bars, so probably that. I'm thinking of making some sweet potato chips which are much smaller than whole sweet potatoes so, mini. I also made myself an espresso which is in a teeny cup. MOAR MINI. Other food...I'll come up with something.

Mmm caffeine

I have my reading nook made up with the most COZY BLANKET EVER. I also have the new coffee table which I still love (cos fancy TV tray) despite the fact that it tried to hobble me. I realize none of that is mini BUT I have a couple mini-dinosaur mascots so, mini.

As for reading (oh yeah. THAT) I'm thinking I'm going to finish listening to the audiobook Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs which is about a bunch of things you can do to be the HEALTHIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD and some of that is to lose weight and thus become smaller, so.

Then there's What The Dinosaurs Did Last Night by Refe and Susan Tuma and it's children's book and children are little people.

Then lastly I'll probably keep making my way through The Collector by John Fowles, which is about a crazy person that kidnaps this girl and keeps her in a little room. Again little. I am so good that this.

TIME TO MINITHON!


UPDATE: Minithon is completed.
I managed to finish Drop Dead Healthy and I think audiobooks are the way to go for these 'thons cos then I can be on Twitter and whatnot WHILE STILL reading.

I also finished What The Dinosaurs Did Last Night but given that book is 90% pictures (more if you don't count the intro in the beginning, but you should probably read that intro) perhaps not that impressive. BUT STILL, 2 books down! I'll have a post about that book soon, along with the collection of pictures I took with the caffeine guards.

I read a bit more of The Collector and might do some more later but for now I'm done.

Snacks were had. Some snacks. Some candy, some cake, some sweet potato chips (the kitchen still smells like fried), some eggs (little pre-chickens), and plenty of caffeine. Tom has come home so now it's time to figure out dinner (MOAR FOOD) and I guess stop laying on the couch for awhile.

Thank you again Tika for hosting this minithon. As usual, lots of fun and there was even some reading done!

*BTW for those of you who won soap I AM SO SORRY I haven't sent it out yet. I have no excuse other than I'm stupidly lazy. BUT you'll be getting a bunch of Halloween candy as well. And if I take that much longer to make it to the post office, prob some more treats. I'm sorry.

Mini Readathon

It's Mini-Readathon Time!

Last year around this time Tika decided to host a readathon that wasn't quite as intimidating as that 24 hour readathon that some people (me) just don't have the attention span for. Thus was born the mini-readathon where we'll read/tweet for 8 hours and eat lots of snacks. And the theme is mini, but the more you can stretch that definition to fit what you are going to eat/read, the better.

Let's see what I have

Books
I have three titles right now that may or may not be changed as the day goes on/I think of other mini excuses.

In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson - mini because I'm juuuust about done with it.
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - mini because it's only 180 pages
Different Seasons by Stephen King - mini because they're short stories.

Food
I was going to start with eggs (little chicken fetuses) but then I decided to make something both Boyfriend+ and I could enjoy, so I'm going with silver dollar (TINY) pancakes. Except he's not down yet so I don't have completed pancakes to show you. But the batter is in that blue bowl behind the books so I'm on my way.

I'll share my other snacks throughout the day/as I figure out what they'll be. Because I am terrible at planning but I'm pretty good at bullshitting so I should be able to come up with some more mini foods.

MINITHON UPDATE 1:

Here we are, about half way through this mini-readathon. How's everyone's reading/eating going?

I finished 1 book, except that book is the Sunburned Country one and I only had about 50 pages left. STILL COUNTS. Plus I've been reading it since before the holidays which is silly that it's taken me so long. I love Bryson. I love the book. The holidays just made me reading lazy. Hence why this readalong has come at such a great time.

I have been eating though, because priorities. First up, here are those pancakes in their finished form.

We also had some blueberry jam with them that my mom made. It counts towards this cos it's in a tiny mason jar. I put another mason jar with OJ in the picture for comparison.

THEN I also found a couple snacks. I was scrounging through our pantry and realized we bought a Costco sized thing of Welch's fruit snacks. While Costco is definitely not mini-sized, the bags themselves are. PLUS these are really snacks for children, a.k.a. mini-people, so COUNTS

Then I wanted some chocolate and we have this espresso bean dark chocolate bar, which is delicious. The chocolate breaks off into small pieces so mini. PLUS the profits from this candy bar go towards saving endangered animals. Which are endangered cos there are only a tiny amount of them left. BOOM, MINI AGAIN

I was about to start King's Different Seasons but then my mom called and we were discussing wedding centerpieces. It was still sort of bookish since I'm trying to figure a way to insert books/literary couples into the table numbers.

I hope everyone is eating lots of delicious mini things. Oh, and also reading. See you on Twitter!

Thoning update the second and final:
I'm about at the end of my minithon time. A friend's birthday celebration is this evening so Boyfriend+ and I will be heading out to celebrate and play some drinking bingo. I'm going to do a bit more reading now so I will still be following along on Twitter till the end.

I managed roughly another 50 pages in Different Seasons (starting with Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption) and then got distracted by internet things. Like Alice live tweeting episodes of 19 Kids and Counting.

I did manage to eat more mini snacks! Or snack rather. I made a small plate of nachos. And since I'm at the bottom of the bag, pretty much all of the tortilla chips were tiny. AND shredded cheese is pretty much just really tiny slices of cheese SO THERE.

Tika, thank you for hosting this minithon which as been super fun, even if I have to cut out a bit early.

Confessions of a reader who has to sometimes force herself to read

The readathon this past weekend got me thinking about my own reading habits. And also about how sitting around and reading all day is not really how I'd choose to spend my time. Which I feel is a sort of blasphemy for a bookish person.

I get the feeling the point of the readathon is to give ourselves the excuse to spend the whole day reading. The idea is almost that this is what we'd like to do anyway, but real life gets in the way. So this day is more to tell other people to leave us readers be more than it is a challenge for us to spend the day just reading. You know, for most participants anyway.

I was talking to a friend last Friday and I told her my weekend plans included doing a readathon. She paused and said "Huh. I don't think I could do that. I'd get too restless." My first instinct was to defend it. But then I thought about it and honestly, I don't do that much reading just sitting around at home, not unless I have something to compel me to read: a story I'm especially sucked into (this doesn't happen all that often, even when I do enjoy a book), I have to read to meet a deadline (like for a readalong), a readathon. Otherwise if I'm just hanging out at home I'm messing around online or playing Plants vs Zombies 2, or watching TV. Or honestly, a mix of those 3 things. On the one hand, reading requires too much focus, so I can't do it while doing other things. On the other hand, reading is always immersive enough. I can start reading, but I can also get easily distracted by pretty much everything around me.

But it can't just be things around me are distracting. I do the majority of my reading on the LIRR and subway, which are not exactly bastions of peacefulness. But the distractions on public transportation are the sort I'm actively trying to ignore (the weird smell of the guy next to me, the fact that this lady and I are currently sharing 2sq feet of personal space, the crazy man screaming that he's not short even though no one told him he's short and he is really of average height) while the things at home are vying for my attention in a positive way (I need to kill more zombies so I can get more keys and get better plants to kill more zombies). OK, maybe not positive. But just "things I'd like to ignore" and "things I like to pay attention to, even if maybe I should do less of it".

In this case a readathon, be it the Dewey 24 hour one or Tika's mini-readathon, gives me the push to do something I enjoy doing but don't usually do if I'm just hanging around the house. Even then I have to remind myself, "No! Do not go online. Stop that. Sit down and read." I'm not hating my time reading. But I do have to work to stay focused on reading instead of doing anything else.

My readathon wrap up, in GIF form

Am I alone in this? OK, I don't actually believe I'm alone in this, but I guess how many other people have to make themselves read, even when it's something they want to be doing, and that they enjoy doing?

Readathon Update Another!

The reading is continuing!

Let's give an update shall we?

Books read
~100 pages of Corrections
~20% of Alif the Unseen
~3 and 1/2 discs from World War Z

So yeah, I have no idea how much I've actually read. But that much.

I've just about made it through this week's Corrections readalong section but the words stopped making sense so I needed to take a break. I went back to Alif the Unseen and I am 6% from the end but my Kindle starting getting all annoyed cos it was out of battery or something blah blah blah. So I'm taking a little break to watch some SNL.

In terms of snacks, on the way back home we stopped at Shake Shack and got milkshakes. So don't worry, I've yet to eat anything healthy today.

...I just got to Katy Perry's "Roar" performance on SNL and I recommend taking a look at some screencaps from it because I feel so bad for her band. What has she made them wear? I'd say watch the clip, but that means you'd have to listen to the song.

Readathon Update 2!

I know it's been awhile but I was out doing all that family stuff and getting locked out of a church and whatnot.*

BUT I have been reading. Or listening to someone read to me anyway. We listened to the World War Z audiobook and made it through about 3 and 1/2 discs because traffic between LI and NJ is terrible.

I don't have any food pictures but I did eat a lot! So I'm pretty much fulfilling the  duties of this readalong.

Now back to actual sit-on-the-couch-and-read-some-books stuff.

*We went to a confirmation for one of Boyfriend+'s cousins. Apparently if you get there late they aren't happy

Readathon Update!

Alright so it's been about an hour, so it's time for an update!

I read about 40 pages or so of The Corrections while riding the exercise bike cos I wanted to feel somewhat productive today.

I ate a bagel with lox. So my breath smells awesome right now. This could be a good way to keep people away and get some reading done. Except right now Boyfriend+ is the only one around and he also had the bagel so this isn't going to work.

I should now have a couple uninterrupted hours to read before I need to get ready and then head off. I'll try to keep reading while I'm out, although I will likely be unable to update here and visit blogs.

Reeeaaaaaadathooooonnn

Readathon daaaay! Alice is forcing me had suggested that I should do this year's Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. I agreed to it and since that time have done no preparations whatsoever. So this will be interesting.

Also, when I originally agreed to the readathon I had nothing going on today. I now have a family function I must attend to. Don't worry! I plan on making Boyfriend+ play an audiobook in the car and I figure I'll be anti-social and try to get some reading done when I probably should be socializing. Also there will be food so if nothing else, I'll have snacks covered during this time. Hopefully his family won't mind me snapping pictures.

So, the books:

I don't plan on reading everything here. I don't plan on reading most of what's here. This is just the TBR pile I have sitting near me and that seems like a good place to start. Top to bottom

World War Z by Max Brooks - This is the audiobook I mentioned before. I figured I needed something Halloween-y and also it's fantastic. I don't care if I've read the book twice before and listened to the audiobook earlier this year.
The Corrections by Franzey - You all know I'm doing that readalong right? You should joooin in.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - OK, so this is actually my Kindle, but it has Alif on it. It has a lot of stuff on it so there's a good chance I'll pick up Attachments where I last left off for this readathon too.
Quiet by Susan Cain - I bought this about a month ago and keep saying I should read it. So hopefully I'll actually start it now
The Hours by Michael Cunningham - I believe I bought this right around the time of Quiet. Hooray sales racks.
Shakespeare's Insults by W.F. Hill and C.J. Ottchen - Who doesn't like some good Shakespearian insults?
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks - Yes, let's laugh at people seeking psychological help

At this point we get to my TBR books that I want to read, but they've been on the pile for over a year. Actually, I think I won a couple of them during a readathon I did 2 years ago...

The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke - I loved Strange & Norrell so I thought I should try this. I haven't yet...
With My Body by Nikki Gemmell - Not really sure what this one is about. Won it in a set of 5 mystery books.
When We Argued All Night by Aliuce Mattison - Another won book
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane - This one I do want to read cos I heart me some Lehane, it's just so big. My shoulders weep if they see me putting it near my purse.

Oh and question time!

1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today? 
I'm in NY for now and will be hopping over to NJ later. Then back in NY.

2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? 
I actually really want to get through this week's Franzen section. And Quiet has been on my radar for awhile now. And there's a chance I may go to a bookstore later and try to find a copy of Coraline...

3. Which snacks are you most looking forward to? 
Hmm haven't really planned those. I have these coconut bar things that are pretty great. It's pretty much a mounds bar without the chocolate. And some carrots if I need to be healthy

4. Tell us a little something about yourself.
I am terrible at planning and assume things will just get figured out on their own. Hasn't happened yet.

5. If you participated in the last readathon, what will you do differently? Or if this is your first, what are you most looking forward to?
I participated a few years ago and I think that was a last minute decision too. But it was fun. I think I'll try to do things mostly the same, except this time around I'll have to be in a few locations, so we'll see how things go.

I haven't decided how I'll update (keep it all in one post? separate posts?) So we'll see. For now I'm going to start with some Franzen and maybe ride the bike while reading.

Mini-Readathon Time

How are you spending your Saturday? Is it joining in a mini-readathon? Cos it should be.

Because this is a mini-readathon it's only 8 hours AND there is a mini-theme. Which in my case is going to be try to figure out any possible reason (no matter how convoluted) that the book I'm reading or the snack I'm eating count as mini. Because I couldn't be bothered* to actually pick up mini-foods, even though we spent so much time coming up with good options.

There's a check-in around hour 4 and then a wrap-up post and I'll probably post updates whenever I need a break from reading/more snacks. FIRST UP

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Clementines, which are kinda like tiny oranges

I'm actually prepared with this post because I woke up around 9:50 thinking the readalong started at 10. I figured screw it, I'll start late and then realized no one else had posts up. At which point I actually double checked the time and realized I had an hour. See, sometimes my inability to pay attention to details (like the clock) works in my advantage.

UPDATE: Bryson is still guiding me around England, but I decided I needed more food. So snack number 2, mini-grilled cheeses

What's that? You say it's just a normal size grilled cheese but cut down to smaller pieces and served on toothpicks? Quiet you.

ANOTHER UPDATE: While I am enjoying Bryson's trip around England, I need something else. I considered switching to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (mini because written for children, aka mini-people) because all the cool kids are doing it, but I think I'm going to go with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged] by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. I've read/watched this enough that I sort of have it memorized (and I've destroyed my original paperback and VHS copy in the process) so this should be a quick one. I also need more food so this time it's apples and peanut butter, which is mini because it is a snack generally enjoyed by children, which we've already decided are mini-people.

MORE UPDATES: Just finished The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged] so that with the Bryson I've thus far read puts me at 287 pages read. Woo! I'm going back to Bryson but before that MORE SNACKS

I forgot that I just happened to have mini Toblerones sitting around. How convenient. And I decided it's time for a cocktail and I just happened to have a tiny bottle of Maker's hanging around.

WRAP UP: I'm in the same place I was after the last update. I had good intentions to get more reading done but I decided to just see what's going on on TV. And VH1 is doing a countdown of top songs of the 2000s which I JUST WATCHED but apparently I can't look away. So I got another 4 pages read. Oh well.

Total pages read: 291
Books read: 
1/2 of Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged] by the Reduced Shakespeare Company
Snacks consumed: 
Clementines
Tiny grilled cheeses
Apples & PB
Mini Toblerone
Whiskey & cola made with a teeny bottle of Maker's

Good times, everyone. Good times.

*This is only kind of true. Another part of the "couldn't be bothered" is due to the fact that we have 1 car between Boyfriend+ and I, and he usually has it. Cos it's his and all. So if I want to pick up food I need to a) do it when I'm in NYC and drag it back to LI with me b) get the car from Boyfriend+ when he's home from work c) go with Boyfriend+. C is pretty much the only one that happens, since he works often and I hate driving. We haven't had time to go grocery shopping but DON'T WORRY. I will come up with foods.

Readathon Time!

First I sign up for a reading challenge, next I agree to a readathon. I don't even know who I am anymore. But last readathon everyone seemed to be having such a good time and I wanted in on the fun. So here we go

Amanda from Dead White Guys is hosting this readerly shindig, so thank you! I have a very tentative list for the day. I pretty much went around and pulled books off of my bookshelves that were short and I hadn't read them before or at least not in awhile. I also won a copy of King's new book 11/22/63 from Audra at Unabridged Chick which is super awesome except for one tiny detail. It's an ecopy that works in pretty much every ereader except the Kindle. It's a hipster copy (Kindle's too mainstream) so I'll have to read it on my computer. But spending too much time staring at a computer makes my eyes angry so I'll just start 11/22/63 before moving onto the other books.

One other quick note. In case you haven't followed my whining on Twitter, I'm sick so much of this reading and posting is going to be under the influence of cold medicine. Keep that in mind when I start to ramble more than normal.

Update 1: I figure I'll keep all of the updates in a single post, for reasons that made a lot of sense to me when I made that decision, but which I've forgotten now.

I ended up spending almost 30 min looking for the file for the King book, because I'm super organized like that. I was just about to give up when the file turned up. So that's fun. I've got about 77 pages read and I'm going to stick with King, at least until I finished Part 1: Watershed Moment. But first I need some coffee.

Update 2: It's 11:20ish and I have been coffee'd. Also Cheerio'd. I'm low on interesting snacks because I failed to do any prep for this readathon whatsoever. The rest of you should have super delicious snacks, so I can live vicariously through you. Also so I can stock up for next time. Also I finished up Part 1 of 11/22/63 and I've moved onto Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because I've been toting this book around since at least high school and I should probably read it so I look less like a phony.

Update 3: It's 12:40 and now it's time for a reading break so I can have some lunch. I'm having another China bowl (leftover Chinese food all mixed together). Also I just finished up Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so I am le winner. Now I have to decide what to read next.

Update 4: 3:44. China bowl was delicious. I'm thinking I should probably put some real clothes on at some point and now seems as good a time as any. I ended up going back to 11/22/63 and reading Part 2: The Janitor's Father. Now I can't decide if I should read 1984 or The Color Purple.

Update 5: 6:30. Damn, time flies. I decided that now that I'm feeling marginally human again, I should wear real clothes. You know, since I didn't bother with them yesterday. I decided to go with The Color Purple because it is 16 pages shorter. That's how you make readathon selections, right? I made some hot cocoa but I'm out of milk, so I supplemented by added extra marshmallows.

Update 6: 9:35 and I finished another book! I am super winner! Granted, I've already read The Color Purple before, but that doesn't taint the win. I'm running out snacks and I'm now up to the 4th Indian Jones movie (by the way, I've had the Indian Jones movies on in the background cos they're on TV and I can't turn them down) so this means I might almost be done with the reading. Maybe one more quick read but then I'm done.

Update 7: 10:51 and I'm done. I ended with Transformations by Anne Sexton, which is a collection of poems about fairy tales. It's not super long and there are pictures. And an introduction by Vonnegut, so a good time all around.

Books Reads
Parts 1 & 2 from 11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Transformations by Anne Sexton
Total pages
648

Good luck to everyone else continuing on with the reading. And Amanda, good times! Great belated readathon.