I’m ready for Dewey’s Readathon!

I’m so excited to announce that I’m participating for the first time in Dewey’s Readathon.

I’ve carefully read all the recommendations other bloggers have been posting this week about choosing your books, how often you should update your blog, etc, and now I’m more than ready.

I’m also baking some things this afternoon in order to have something to eat and don’t die of starvation tomorrow with all the reading 😉

And what do I plan to read? Here you go:

I’m focusing on reading and finishing these four books:

• The princess bride (William Goldman): this is the book I’m currently reading(rereading, actually), and I don’t know if I’ll finish it, but I’ll try.
• The postman (Antonio Skármeta): for the book club I attend to. I have the Spanish edition, of course; 140 pages.
• Xingu (Edith Warthon): this is short and it’s on my classics club list, so I think it’s perfect for the readathon. 26 pages.
• The now habit (Neil Fiore): an audiobook I’m currently listening to (I’m half way through it). I plan to listen to it if I go for a walk during the day, or while I cook dinner.

Besides, I have alternates in case I don’t feel like reading those books above:

• Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi): a graphic novel, 360 pages.
• Children on their birthdays (Truman Capote): a short story, 75 pages.
• To murder a saint (Nicole Loughan): a short story, 77 pages.
• The vanishing act of Esme Lennox (Maggie O’Farrell): I have it in Spanish, 220 pages.

I have to start at 2 pm, according to the Readathon’s web, so fortunately I’ll have some time for studying in the morning; otherwise I would feel very guilty 🙂

Apart from reading, I will also take a look at the minichallenges, to see if I can do at least one or two of them. And, of course, I also want to enter the giveaways!

I will update this post during the weekend with the progress. I can’t wait to start!

Friday evening: the eating stuff

As I told you above, I have baked a couple of snacks in advance for tomorrow: a banana cake and some salty puff pastries with ham and cheese, whose name in English I don’t know.

I also have some hot drinks prepared for tomorrow: teas -with my awesome tea mug- and coffee, basically.

Saturday Morning (before 2 pm)

The readathon starts at 2 pm in Spain, so I’m getting the books prepared and I’m studying a little (which is also reading, you know!).

Hour 0: Kick off meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

From León, a little town in the north of Spain.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

The princess bride, which is my favourite book and I’m rereading it for a joint reading I organized on twitter last week 🙂

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

The banana cake you can see above. I baked it yesterday and I’m looking forward to have a tea with a piece of cake in the evening 😉

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

This is my first readathon and I’m super-excited. I’ve scheduled my day around it, and tomorrow, when the readathon finishes, I’ll be having lunch at my mother’s – the readathon finishes here at 2 pm and that’s lunch time here in Spain, so it’s great I don’t have to cook because I will be readathoning!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I didn’t participate, this is my first time!

Hour 2 (4 pm in spain): first book finsihed

By this time I’ve finished Xingu, by Edith Warthon

I also cooked and had lunch while listening to The now habit: from track 35/73 to 40/73.

Let’s read some more!

Hour 6 (7pm in Spain): second book finished

My second book finished! It’s The postman, by Antonio Skármeta.

After a sweet piece of cake, I’m going for a walk while listening to The now habit. Exercise is what I need now!

Hour 6 mini-challenge: The best of your reading year

Yay! Let’s do this challenge, which looks fun, useful (because of the other participants’ choices) and easy.

Best Book: The horse whisperer, by Nicholas Evans (review), because of the more than realistic characters and how vivid the story is.

Best Romance: Tea and primroses, by Tess Thompson (review), because it is one of those love stories that doesn’t have a happy end, and you know it from the beginning, but you still cry for them.

Best Non-fiction Book: Getting things done, by David Allen (review), because I think the author has created a really useful method to help you with all the stuff you have to do, not only work.

 Hour 10 (11pm in Spain):

I went for a walk in the park you see in the picture before dinner. I listened 6 more tracks of The now habit.

Then, I continued reading The princess bride, from page 62 to 87, and now, after dinner, I’m going to read in bed until I finally fall asleep.

I’ve also completed a couple of mini-challenges in the last 2 hours and I’m having a lot of fun! For example, here is my “shelfie” (a picture of my shelves!):

See you tomorrow, I guess 😀

Hour 11 (0am in Spain): I won a prize!!

I was in bed when I saw Shanno’s twit telling me now it was time for me to win a prize. Since I’m an “international”, my first choices were gift cards, and my third was The Storyteller, by Jodi Picoult, an author I like a lot. Fingers crossed!

I’m so happy!

Sunday morning, before 2 pm

Here is the end of the event meme:

Which hour was most daunting for you?

About the fourth hour I was a little bit tired, but then I went for a walk and that was nice.

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

The princes bride: it’s so fun that you can’t stop reading.

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

None; I think it’s super well organized as it has been this year, seriously.

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

¡Everything! The cheerleader teams, the mini-challenges, the people always twitting, etc.

How many books did you read?

Three short books and I made progress with an audiobook and a novel.

What were the names of the books you read?

Xingu (Edith Wharton), Children on their birthdays (Truman Capote), The postman (Antonio Skármeta) and in progress: The princess bride (William GOldman) and The now habit (Neil Fiore).

Which book did you enjoy most?

The princess bride and Children on their birthdays

Which did you enjoy least?

The postman because I never got the point with Latin American authors.

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

None; I think they did a great job!

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

Of course! I think I was born to be a Cheerleader, so I would like to play that role in the future. I would also like to host a mini-challenge sometime 🙂

I’ve had so much fun, thanks for this!!

And here is the last book I’ve finished, yay:

And that’s all for now! The readahon has finished 🙂

The end of the readathon:

This are the books I’ve read and the progress I’ve made:

• Xingu, by Edith Wharton (40 pages): read. In English
• The postman, by Antonio Skármeta (140 pages): read. In Spanish
• Children on their birthdays, by Truman Capote (74 pages): read. In English.
• The princess bride, by William Goldman: from page 62 to 107. In English
• The now habit, by Neil Fiore (audiobook): from track 40 to 54. In English

Best Fiction Book of Your Reading Year

Best Fiction Book of Your Reading Year