Read-A-Thon | Wrap-Up

I did not exactly finish the read-a-thon. Or rather, I finished the read-a-thon at 6:30 am instead of 8, when it was supposed to end. I should be disappointed, but since I had to wake up at 10:30 and I was already feeling a bit ill, I think it actually worked out fairly well. Anyway, I still managed to finish a decent number of books, so it was a good read-a-thon.

Books read: 6

Pages read: 1729

Hours listened: 2:04
Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle
Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Legion by Brandon Sanderson (audio-novella)

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Clearly hour 23, since that is when I fell asleep. :)

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

I've read Juliet Marillier books in the late teens hours for the past two read-a-thons, and those have worked really well.

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

It would be nice if we could get some discussion going a few days before the read-a-thon.

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

The cheerleaders did an amazing job! Thanks Team Smarties cheerers! :)

5. How many books did you read?

6

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

Scroll up a bit :)

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Actually probably Legion. Short but really interesting.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

Kitty's Big Trouble. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did – I think it was my fastest read – but it was kind of same old, same old.

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

Hopefully I'll be able to do next year's read-a-thon as well!

Read-A-Thon, Part II

Halfway there! If it were summer, it still would be light out now. Lamentably, the light in fall lasts a little less long. (I'm rather proud of that sentence.)

How's the read-a-thon going for you? I just finished my second book and am ready to start the next one. I think I got off to a bit of a slow start, but hey, there's still twelve hours to go. What are you reading?

Hour 13
Finished: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Looking for Alaska by John Green

Currently reading: Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn

Mid-event survey:
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?

Not bad so far.

2) What have you finished reading?

See above.

3) What is your favorite read so far?

I liked both of the books. They were very different, though, so I don't know if I could really say I liked one better than the other.

4) What about your favorite snacks?

I put vanilla buttercream frosting on chocolate chip cookies. It was awesome.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!

Errrrrrmmmmmm...I haven't been looking much...sorry...
I promise to visit every single one of the people who commented on my posts, and a few more, after the read-a-thon!

Hour 15
Finished: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn

Currently reading: The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle

Hour 18

Finished: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle

Currently reading: Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Hour 23
Finished: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle
Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
Legion by Brandon Sanderson (audio-novella)

Currently reading: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Read-A-Thon | Updates

Good morning (or whatever greeting is appropriate in your time zone). I am in the process of making coffee, so I'm not really awake yet.

Here's the stack of books I'm planning to read. Obviously I won't get to all of them, but I like to have choices. I also have Pushing the Limits on my Kindle.

Introductory Questionnaire
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I am reading from Washington, DC. It is sunny but cold. It's also 8 am.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Probably Looking for Alaska by John Green. I've heard lots of good things. I'm saving it for a bit later though.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Cookie dough. Some of the dough may even grow up to become cookies...if it survives. Mwahahaha.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Coffee.

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'd like to try to comment on more blogs this time.

Hour 1
Currently reading: Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Hour 3
General updates: So far, so good. I haven't gotten very far in Terrier, but that's because I was prepping my cinnamon pull-apart bread for the oven and hitting the gym, where I listened to Legion. It's really good so far and free on Audible.

Currently reading: Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Challenge: Show us your snacks

Here's the cinnamon bread I was just talking about! It smells amazing. I'll let you know how it tastes soon!

Fresh out of the oven.

Hope everyone's doing well so far!

Hour 6
Currently reading: Terrier by Tamora Pierce. I knew I shouldn't have started with a 560 page book! The cinnamon bread is delicious, though. I'm going to make some frosting for it in a bit.

Hour 9
Finished: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Currently reading: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Hour 11
Currently reading: Looking for Alaska by John Green

General updates:

Fresh out of the oven is really the only way to eat baked goods.

Indeed, it came to pass that a fortunate lump of the Sacred Cookie Dough was chosen to brave the fiery mysteries of The Oven, and there survived for many torturous minutes. But alas, freedom was not to be had for these souls, for after emerging from The Oven into the brightness of artificial overhead lighting, they were lost to the cavernous pit of My Belly. And so we mourn. Let us bow our heads in sorrow for these, our Sacred Cookie Dough.

I have decided to convert to the religion of the Sacred Cookie Dough. I think the Sacred Cookie Dough might object to my method of worship, though.

Free fiction and a read-a-thon

Hi everyone! Long time no see. Sorry (again) for my intermittent appearances. I have been reading a lot, but not writing reviews. I have almost certainly not died. Hooray for continued survival!

Anyway, just wanted to share a few cool things from around the interwebs:

1. I freaking love Ilona Andrews. They're well known for the Kate Daniels series, which is one of my top three urban fantasy series, and they're currently posting installments of a fun UF story called Clean Sweep. It's free here. Check it out! It's a great way to try their work if you haven't before, and if you're already a fan, you probably share my excitement.

2. Baen Books, which publishes bestselling scifi and fantasy authors such as Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, Elizabeth Moon, and Eric Flint, has a free library where you can download a large selection of books for a variety of e-readers, no strings attached. Who can say no to free books?

3. The 24-hour read-a-thon is tomorrow! This is the first read-a-thon I ever did, in October 2011, and this will be my third round. It's always fun and a little crazy. It also totally skewed my interpretation of read-a-thons – most of them are not quite so...intensive, and whenever I see others I'm always a little surprised that you can still do things other than reading. Heehee. Anyway, if you're curious, I did a guide to the 'thon for the one in April, and if you can, definitely give it a try, even if you can't do the whole thing. Let me know if you're participating!

Bout of Books | Wrap-Up

The end is upon us! I had fun doing the read-a-thon, though I didn't get quite as much reading done as I wanted to due to a rather busy schedule. Still, I got a few books in, participated in the Twitter chat on Wednesday, and commented on a few blogs.

My reading has been a little unfocused lately, which is why you'll see me reading (and not finishing) several books on the same day. I've been reading Before They Are Hanged all week and still have about 150 pages to go, but it's one of those books that takes a little more time. So I ended up finishing only four books, but if you added up all the parts of different books I didn't finish yet, that's probably another book or two. So...that counts, right? Ha, just kidding. Hope you all enjoyed the read-a-thon too!

UPDATES

Monday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Total number of books I've read: 1

Books: Angels' Blood

Tuesday

Number of books I've read today: <1

Total number of books I've read: >1

Books: Archangel's Kiss, Before They Are Hanged

Wednesday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Total number of books I've read: 2

Books: Archangel's Kiss (finished), Before They Are Hanged

Thursday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Total number of books I've read: 3

Books: The Giver, Before They Are Hanged

Friday

Number of books I've read today: <1

Total number of books I've read: 3

Books: Before They Are Hanged

Saturday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Total number of books I've read: 4

Books: Beautiful Disaster, Before They Are Hanged

Sunday

Number of books I've read today: <1

Total number of books I've read: 4

Books: Secrets of the Demon, Dearly, Departed, Before They Are Hanged

Bout of Books | End Day 2

So remember how I said I was going to spend my evenings this week reading and not watching all of Doctor Who? Well, that was before I got distracted by the second half of Season 3. They keep doing the "to be continued" thing, and obviously I can't just stop. Brilliant show. Although it does make me talk to my computer screen in this weird amalgamation of British accents. Good thing there's no one to hear me.

Anyway. You are not here for Doctor Who. (Though you should be!) You are here for reading. To the point!

UPDATES

Monday

Number of books I've read today: 1

Total number of books I've read: 1

Books: Angels' Blood

Tuesday

Number of books I've read today: <1

Total number of books I've read: >1

Books: Archangel's Kiss, Before They Are Hanged

Wednesday

Number of books I've read today:

Total number of books I've read:

Books:

Thursday

Number of books I've read today:

Total number of books I've read:

Books:

Friday

Number of books I've read today:

Total number of books I've read:

Books:

Saturday

Number of books I've read today:

Total number of books I've read:

Books:

Sunday

Number of books I've read today:

Total number of books I've read:

Books:

Bout of Books 5.0 | Goals

Hi everyone! Long time, no see. In an effort to get back to my blog (oops) I've decided to participate in Bout of Books 5.0 this week. Let's be honest, it's pretty much going to be like every other week, except with more socializing with other bloggers! But that's the fun. Anyway, here's what I've got planned. (Ha, planned? That's funny.)

TIME DEVOTED TO READING
I'll be reading in the evenings and most of the weekend. Basically same as normal. I'll try to keep away from Netflix for the week, but the call of Doctor Who is hard to resist.

MY GOALS
Que sera sera. I'm just doing this for the prizes! (Are there prizes? I have no idea.)

BOOKS TO READ
Whatever strikes my fancy. I'm currently reading Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie and re-reading Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh.

UPDATES
Monday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Thursday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Friday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Saturday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Sunday
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read:
Books:

See you all around! Leave your links in the comments and I'll stop by!

Bout of Books

I have just now decided to sign up for the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon! I like read-a-thons. This one starts today and ends Sunday, and it has the straightforward goal of people reading more than they would in a normal week. My personal goal is going to be to read six or seven books, which may or may not actually happen, and to actually write the reviews when I'm finished. I don't know exactly what I'll be reading yet, except that it will include Tricked (Kevin Hearne) and Railsea (China Miéville). Other than that, I'm winging it. Click the button to sign up yourself!

Updates

Day 1

Tricked by Kevin Hearne (338 pp)

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (69 pp)

Total books read: 1

Total pages read: 407

Day 2
Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (255 pp)

Railsea by China Miéville (40 pp)

Total books read: 1

Total pages read: 702

Day 3

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (105 pp)

Total books read: 1

Total pages read: 807

Day 4

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (169 pp)

Railsea by China Miéville (40 pp)

Total books read: 2

Total pages read: 1016

Day 5

Railsea by China Miéville (282 pp)

Total books read: 2 

Total pages read: 1298

Day 6

Railsea by China Miéville (86 pp)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (525 pp)
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (228 pp)

Total books read: 5

Total pages read: 2137

Day 7
The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer (352 pp)
Dark Magic by James Swain (39 pp)
Total books read: 6
Total pages read: 2528 (Probably. I'm bad at adding.)

Review | The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules 
Julie Kagawa
Blood of Eden #1
Published April 24, 2012 by Harlequin Teen
YA paranormal/post-apocalyptic
Review copy from NetGalley
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
The Immortal Rules is filled with action and interesting characters, just the way I like it. A definite must-read for fans of Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series.


King-Sized Review
The Immortal Rules begins with an execution.

I think this is supposed to be shocking, but it's very difficult to shock my fiction-reading brain. It's seen a lot. So instead of going, "Oh my God, they're executing teenagers!" I was using my years of reading political fantasy to think, "that's really not the most effective way to achieve long-term control over a population." That wasn't a great start.

Fortunately, it got much better. The story was enjoyable despite the occasional "how could you possibly think this might end even sort of well?" choice. Allie, an Unregistered living in a city ruled by vampires and surrounded by zombies (Rabids), struggles each day to survive. She hates the vampires with a passion. But when she has to choose between dying and being changed into a vampire herself, she chooses survival and begins a whole new life - or the vampire equivalent, anyway.

Especially at the beginning of the book, Allie reminded me of Katniss: focused on her own survival, but willing to do whatever it takes to protect her "family." She claims to be selfish and willing to let her friends die so she can live, but that's obviously not the case.

After Allie is forced to leave her city, she joins a group of people seeking a human city, a place with no vampires. While the time in the wilderness was certainly interesting, I wanted to know more about vampire society. Hopefully this will happen in book two.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

In the same aisle
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

24-Hour Read-A-Thon | Wrap-Up

Finished
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane, 339 pages
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, 396 pages

The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer, 277 pages

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, 509 pages

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, 400 pages

Partially Finished
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning, 55 pages


Listened to
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (2-3 hours)

Total Pages Read
1976

End of Event Survey
1) Which hour was most daunting for you?
Definitely the last one. I think I may have fallen asleep for a few minutes. Before that I was actually okay; then suddenly I finished Daughter of the Forest and bam! wall of exhaustion.

2)Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I liked all my books!

3) Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It would be cool if all the mini challenge hosts lested how long their challenge would last prominently on their pages. Or if it was just listed on the main page. But really, not that big a deal.

4) What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Overall I think it was really good! I actually didn't spend much time on the computer, so I can't say I know all that much about how everything went, but I had a great time.

5) How many books did you read?
About five and a half, altogether. One more than last time!

6) What were the names of the books you read?
They're listed at the top of the post.

7) Which book did you enjoy most?
Hmmm, tough choice. Probably The Arctic Incident.

8) Which did you enjoy least?
Again, it's a really difficult choice – I liked all of them. Honestly, probably Darkfever, because as much as I love the Fever series, I was really ready to sleep at that point.

10 ) How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I certainly will if I can!

A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented or chatted on Twitter! And many thanks to the awesome read-a-thon hosts for putting everything together and keeping us entertained! Congrats to everyone who participated!

24-Hour Read-A-Thon | Updates, Part II

We're halfway through! Time for a new post. How's everyone doing?

Read So Far
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane, 339 pages
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, 396 pages

The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer, 277 pages

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, 509 pages

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, 400 pages

Currently Reading
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning


Listening to
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Mid-Event Survey
1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?

I'm just eating dinner now, so I'm okay at the moment. Hopefully that'll last!

2) What have you finished reading?

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane and Artemis Fowl and The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer (see above for links!)

3) What is your favorite read so far?

So far I am happy to have found three great books!

4) What about your favorite snacks?

Definitely the brownies 

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!

I haven't been doing much blog-hopping (sorry!) but my friend from At Random is doing the RAT as well and I've stopped by there a few times!

Re-reading
Hosted by The Bluestocking Society

I love re-reading! Right now I'm listening to Shiver, which I've read before in the normal way. But here are some of my favorite re-reads, books I've read many, many times but haven't gotten bored with yet.


Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey
Medalon by Jennifer Fallon
Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie S. Tolan
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Theme Songs

Hosted by Letters Inside Out

The theme song I chose for my current read, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, is "Running Up That Hill" as covered by Placebo. In some ways it works really well and in other ways it doesn't really work at all, but I think the mood of the song sort of fits the mood of the book, which is what I was looking for.

I don't know why the video is upside down, but it's a good song!

24-Hour Read-A-Thon | Updates

It's read-a-thon time! I have my banana bread, coffee, and Oreo brownies with cream cheese frosting ready to go. And also real food, you know, just in case.

I thought about making a TBR pile post, but then I was lazy. So everything will be a surprise!

Hopefully not that kind of surprise.

Anyway. Here's where I'll be posting my updates and mini challenges, at least until this post gets too long to conveniently scroll down. Good luck everyone! May the odds be ever in your favor! (I realize that doesn't make sense here, but I feel the need to throw that phrase out any time anything begins. So thanks, Effie Trinket.)

Read So Far
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane, 339 pages
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, 396 pages

The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer, 277 pages

Currently Reading


Listening to
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

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

I am reading from the US.

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

See above. No real stack. So I'm looking forward to many (non-pool shark) surprises!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Brownies. The answer is always brownies.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I am the walrus.

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?

This is my second read-a-thon, and I plan to not make so many update posts. I'd like to keep it to two, but we'll see.

Reading in Translation
Hosted by Reading Through Life

1) If you could read any book that’s been translated into English in its ORIGINAL language, what would it be?

I would want to read The Shadow of the Wind (La Sombra del Viento) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The writing was beautiful even in translation; I imagine the Spanish would be even better.

2) Include the original book’s cover if possible; if you want, also post the English cover for comparison.

3) Optional imaginary bonus points: post a sentence from the book in its original language.
"Conserva tus sueños, nunca sabes cuando te harán falta." Google translate (and a little bit of logic) says this means something like, "Hold on to your dreams, you never know when you might need them." Any Spanish speakers want to give a better translation?

Book Puzzle
Hosted by One Librarian's Book Reviews

For my book puzzle, I picked a book that's coming out soon. I'm very excited for it!

Book Sentence
Hosted by On the Wings of Books

I found a verb! I mean, technically I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a noun, but it could be a verb, and that's what matters, right?

Across the face of the world, spell bound dragon bones nevermore fool the lightning thief.

Book Appetit
Hosted by Book Journey

I've been listening to Shiver for most of the afternoon. Grace is a great cook, so I think we'd have a nice home-cooked meal, maybe with stromboli and sauteed vegetables, and something baked for dessert.

24-Hour Read-A-Thon!

The 24-hour read-a-thon is almost upon us! This was the first read-a-thon I did, last October, and all read-a-thons thereafter have seemed a little bit wimpy. (Kidding!) But honestly, I had a blast, despite the fact that I started dying of exhaustion around hour 19/20. So I'm very excited to be doing it again this Saturday!

As sort of a prelude to the RAT, I thought I'd do a post explaining all the things I was totally confused about last time before I started, in the hopes that this will help people who are new to the fun.

How it works

That's all. Go to it!

Basically, you start reading at noon GMT on Saturday and stop reading at noon GMT on Sunday. You are, of course, welcome to participate for as much or as little of that time as you want, but I think it's more fun and satisfying to complete the whole thing! You can sign up by clicking the link at the top of this post, and then you don't really have to do anything until the RAT starts.

Updates

You can update your blog as often or as rarely as you like during the RAT. There is a mini challenge every hour, but normally they stay open for several hours to give everyone time to enter. There are also many, many prizes for participating in the mini challenges, and they make a great break from reading, especially when you start hitting the wall of exhaustion.

Last time I created a new post for the RAT every time I finished a book, but for this one I think I'm going to just have one or two posts that I update periodically throughout the day to cut down on clutter.

Twitter

You can tweet @readathon with questions or thoughts, and I know there was quite a bit of discussion in tweetchats last time, though I didn't have a twitter then. I'm looking forward to participating in that this year!

General tips

-Pick books that are on the shorter and lighter side. Reading more books makes you feel more accomplished, which is important when you haven't slept in twenty-three hours and your veins are filled entirely with coffee.

-The RAT is not the time to struggle through a book. It doesn't go well. You can always get back to it later, when things are back to normal and disinterest doesn't just make you want to go to sleep.

-Move around occasionally! If the weather's nice, read outside for a few hours. Visit a coffeeshop. Sitting around in my apartment for a long time makes me slightly claustrophobic, which is not conducive to reading.
-Have delicious snacks prepared ahead of time. You will need energy.

Not that much energy.

-Have fun! While this is definitely not something you'd want to do every week, it's a great event and you get to meet a lot of fun people, not to mention experience the thrilling insanity of voluntary sleep deprivation. Enjoy!

Have any other questions or advice? Leave me a comment!

Goodreads Catch-Up Readathon Wrap-Up

I'm doing another read-a-thon! After having lots of fun with the 24-hour Read-a-thon in October and the Wicked Winter Read-a-thon earlier this month, I just had to sign up for Once Upon a Chapter's read-a-thon when I saw it. It's theoretically for people to catch up on their GR reading challenges, but I'm just doing it for fun, since I'm already at least ten books ahead. But after this I'll need a review-a-thon, because I'm already four reviews behind! Ahhh! I do have a whole lot of library books to read, though, so this will be a good way to get all those done before I have to return them.

You can still sign up, just click the button! The Thon starts tomorrow and runs through March 1. I'll just be updating this post with each day's reading and such.

Day 1 (Friday)
Books read: 2
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson
Pages read: 633

Day 2 (Saturday)
Books read: 2
Abandon by Meg Cabot
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Pages read: 514
Total pages read: 1047

Day 3 (Sunday)
Books read: 1.25
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Pages read: 245
Total pages read: 1292

Day 4 (Monday)
Books read: <1
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Pages read: 183
Total pages read: 1475

Day 5 (Tuesday)
Books read: 1.5
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison
Pages read: 786
Total pages read: 2261

Day 6 (Wednesday)
Books read: 0.33
Feed by Mira Grant
Pages read: 195
Total pages read: 2456

Day 7 (Thursday)
Books read:

Feed by Mira Grant

Pages read: 388

Total pages read: 2844

Wrap-Up

This was a nice little read-a-thon to join. I read seven books and 2844 pages. All of them were decent at worst, and most of them were really pretty great. Thanks to Stephanie for hosting, and see you all next time!