Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon: The End!

End of Event meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

About 3am, when it was pitch black outside and deathly quiet and felt like I was the only person awake for miles.

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

At this moment, when my brain is ready to shut down? A list is too much for me. All that comes to mind is Tina Fey's Bossypants - A little humour to get you through the last hours.

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

Not really. It may not seem so from my crabbiness now, but I actually had loads of fun :-)

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

I think the twitter hastag was great for connecting people.

5. How many books did you read?

4 and a half which is great for me. More than double what I usually get to read in a week!
 
6. What were the names of the books you read?   

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Sweet Tooth Vol 3: Animal Armies by Jeff Lemire
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness *audiobook
Touch by Francine Prose
 
I started The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan, but at that point my eyes couldn't focus anymore, so I switched to the audiobook of Bitter Melon by Cara Chow and managed to get about halfway through that.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
A Monster Calls was actually perfect; it's now onto the list of my favourites of all time. It broke my heart, but in a beautiful way.
 
8. Which did you enjoy least?

I was really lucky, in that I liked all the books I read. If I had to pick a least favourite, I'd say Touch, but it was a good read-a-thon book - it had a mystery, an unreliable narrator, a court case, so it kept me reading in order to find out what the final truth was.

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

I wasn't a Cheerleader, but I thought they did an excellent job!
 
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I definitely want to do this again. I'm fine with just staying a reader, although I'd quite like to host a mini-challenge next time.

FIFTH UPDATE - 6.45 am UK time. I finished Touch about an hour ago. It was a great read-a-thon book as it's based on discovering the truth about one incident: What happened between the main character and the three boys on the back of the bus? Did they hold her down and molest her or did something else happen? It kept me reading as I wanted to know the answer and as that was the whole plot, there wasn't too much I had to keep straight in my tired mind. I also managed to tweet and write a blog post somewhere between now and my last update, but I can't even think how that was possible. I was so knackered that I napped for around 30 minutes, although maybe it was longer. Anyway, I feel reasonably refreshed now, so I'm going to begin The Brides of RollRock Island by Margo Lanagan. Can't believe there's still 6 hours of this thing to go!

SIXTH UPDATE - 8.30 am UK time. I made the decision to switch to an audiobook when my exhausted eyes could barely take in anything. Wise choice. I'm now listening to Bitter Melon by Cara Chow and it's really great. I've had some breakfast and a cup of tea (more cultural stereotypes here!) and I'm actually feeling close to perky. This is the last leg and I know I'm going to make it now! 

SEVENTH UPDATE - 1pm UK time. - Wow, it's over! Really! I can't believe I actually did it, but I'm very glad I did! A big thank you to Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon for hosting the event, all the Cheerleaders and everybody who joined in and made this event so fun!