2014 Readathon finish line!

I made it! 24 hours minus six for sleeping (plus a few more for unscheduled naps during the day). Considering I had my kids the entire time, I'm very pleased with how much I got done. 

My goal was to read as many books as I could from my TBR pile from the library. Most of these were picture books; some were easy readers or graphic novels or short chapter books. I tweeted lots of them; I also posted every book on Goodreads, with a very brief review. I posted one long review here (Some Bugs). 

In 2011, I pretty much stopped reading. As in maybe five books total per year, down from 150 in previous years. Part of the reason for this is because I moved from the library to the classroom, but another big reason is that I started using all my free time to write. Since 2011, I've written almost three million published words. But a writer needs to be a reader, too, and I decided this was going to be the year I started reading again. This readathon was the opportunity I needed.

Sitting and reading a novel felt... really hard. I struggled to stay engaged. I skimmed, which is not the way I traditionally read.

End of Event Meme (from the Readathon web site):

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The middle hours when I got sleepy, and the dinner hours when I was most distracted.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Mine were short! I listed my favorites along the way during each check-in.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope! It was great!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The cheerleaders were super. I loved all the participation on Twitter.
5. How many books did you read? Still tallying, but I'm pretty sure it was over fifty.
6. What were the names of the books you read? All of them are on Goodreads.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? My favorite was Paul Meets Bernadette, but I had a lot of favorites.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I read a couple early chapter books I didn't care much for.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? (I wasn't)
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'll definitely do it again!