Readathon ~ second half

Mini-challenges and updates for the second half of the 24-hour Read-a-Thon will go here.  My original updates post got mighty long!   Maybe, since it's gotten dark now on my side of the planet, I won't be taking as many photos with my cell phone.  But I like adding pictures!  As before, I'll put the latest update or mini-challenge at the top.  After "its hour" has passed, I'll move it to the bottom in chronological order.

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Hour 13 mini-challenge (Romancing Your Friendship, 8:00 p.m.)
"So you know how there are those books out there where ... a boy and a girl are friends ... only to find out at the end they have loved each other the whole time and its just soooooo amazingly beautiful.  Well, that's the basis for this challenge.  I want you to pick out your favorite book or series where there is a boy/girl, boy/boy, girl/girl couple that fall in love."

Oh, this is soooooo not me!  I think I'll keep reading.

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Hour 14 (9:00 p.m.)

I'm a winner!  "We also have Winners to Announce for the Intro Meme!  Each of the following get their choice of a book prize pack, and the first winner ALSO gets the chocolate monkey:  Bonnie Jacobs (Bonnie’s Books), Michelle at Literaily Speaking, The 1st Daughter from There’s a Book, Fyrefly from Fyrefly’s Book Blog, and Shauna- Reading and Ruminations."

I went back to the first hour to see what I won and found this:  "We’ll draw 5 winners randomly. Each winner gets a book prize pack, and the first winner will also get the chocolate monkey you see on the right. Again, it’s tradition!"  I'm first?  I get the chocolate monkey?  I remember when Dewey raved about the first chocolate monkey she offered.

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Hour 15 (10:00 p.m.)

I'm looking over the book sets and trying to decide which one I'd like to have for my win (see Hour 14).  This is the one I picked from the page of prizes:

Erica Barmash at Harper Perennial (publicist):  Lovers of Fiction Young and Old Prize Pack (one copy each of Shelf Discovery and The Cougar Club)

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Hour 16 mini-challenge (Title Teasers, 11:00 p.m.)
"The goal of this challenge is to complete some book titles.  I am going to give you a list of 20 titles, leaving out some of the words.  Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to complete the title."

1. The Dark _____  (The Dark Divine by Bree Despain)
2. An _____  _____ Girl  (An Irish Country Girl by Patrick Taylor)
3. The Lost _____ of _____ May _____  (The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees)
4. Necessary _____  (Necessary Heartbreak by M. J. Sullivan)
5. She's So _____ to _____  (She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott,)
6. _____ Over Toccoa  (Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff)
7. _____ Dead  (Beautiful Dead by Eden Maguire)
8. Scones & _____  (Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland)
9. All _____ Things  (All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab)
10. Beautiful _____  (Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl)
11. _____ to Dream  (Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev)
12. The _____-_____ Waves  (The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan)
13. I Kissed a _____ and I _____ It  (I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer)
14. Prophecy of the _____  (Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink)
15. Very _____ (Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn)
16. The Girl Who _____ from the _____  (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow)
17. Marriage and Other _____ of _____  (Marriage and Other Acts of Charity by Kate Braestrup)
18. Making _____  (Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt)
19. _____ Cat  (White Cat by Holly Black)
20. Letters to My _____  (Letters to My Father by O. Raye Adkins)

If I should happen to win, I would choose The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow.

(While trying to post this hour's mini-challenge, my computer program -- Firefox -- has crashed FOUR TIMES, making me lose the whole list TWICE.  I hope I'm not too late to enter the contest by the time I get this posted!  And I hope I didn't mix up any titles that I had so carefully done before, having found them all on her blog.)

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Hour 17 (12:00 midnight) is known as Dewey’s Hour

"As you have probably noticed this read-a-thon is called Dewey’s Read-A-Thon, that is because it is in memory of Dewey - she was the instigator of this insanely cool event! Some of you ‘knew’ her and did a Read-A-Thon or two with her as your host. If you never got the chance, let me tell you - she was fab. For this hour we’d like you to leave a comment on this post telling us something you enjoyed about Dewey or remember her fondly for or just something sweet."

Dewey drew this picture for me.

Click this link to my post about this cat Dewey drew, and be sure to read the comments because Dewey and I had a conversation about cats where she said, "My cat says it's too hot out to cuddle, and she probably won't get into my lap again until at least November."  That would be November 2008, when Dewey died.

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Hour 24 ~ I'm a WINNER in the RIF mini-challenge (see Hour 10 in the earlier Updates post)

Joy Renee just notified me (see comments below) that I'm a winner in her mini-challenge.  Wow!  Thanks!

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Hour 24 (End of Event Meme, 7:00 a.m.)
This will have to wait until I am thinking.  After posting about Dewey (Hour 17), I went to bed to read and sleep.  I need to shower now and go teach a class, so I'll answer the rest of these questions when I get home.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 16 when my computer kept crashing, maybe because it had been on most of the day?  I wasted a lot of time doing and re-doing that hour's mini-challenge.

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

Every reader is different, and very few people read the books I prefer.

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

Nope, everything seemed to run smoothly.

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

The mini-challenges kept me busy, which was fun.  If I really want to read, however, I do best when nothing else distracts me and I can stay focused.

5. How many books did you read?

Parts of three adult books and all of three children's books.

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

  The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji (50 pages of 308),

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (36 pages of 221),

Patriarchal Attitudes by Eva Figes (34 pages of 191),

Robert's Snowflakes by Grace Lin (40 pages),

Kite Flying by Grace Lin (32 pages),

Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin (32 pages)

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

All of them.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

There wasn't one.

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

Not applicable this year.

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

Very likely, and in the role of reader.