#Readathon October 2016 - Opening meme

It's that time again. The weather outside is grey and overcast (and I would bet, if I actually ventured outside, that it would be cold and a bit raw and quite miserable). The leaves on the trees are changing colour and raining down over paths and lawns. I have a ton of work to do, a review backlog of four books and woke up this morning to discover that my conjunctivitis (more commonly known as pink-eye) has returned, so my left eye looks inflamed and horrible, and my right eye is well on its way to joining it. Do I care? Well, yes, but I care more about the fact that October 22nd, from 2pm Oslo time is the start of Dewey's 24-hour Readathon. I've already commented on a bunch of essays this morning, and will have to work like a champ tomorrow to get them done, but today is going to be all about the reading.

As always, here is the opening meme. I could probably just copy and paste from last year (or the year before), but that feels like cheating.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I am reading from Oslo, Norway, where I plan to never even get out of my pyjamas, or set foot out the door all day. If we need anything from the shops, the husband can go.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I've heard really good things about The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You by Lily Anderson. A YA retelling of Much Ado About Nothing sounds pretty good.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
 In what has now become a Readathon tradition, I have made myself ham, cheese and scallion muffins, to eat whenever I feel peckish. I also baked sweet muffins last night, apple and custard, which came out a bit wonky, but taste delicious. So one of those, probably.

4) Tell us a little about yourself!
I'm a secondary school teacher, working with fairly challenging kids in the centre of Oslo. Because I've been ill for what seems like forever, I'm way behind on my various piles of correction work, and need to read through 20 short essays on communication in social media and write feedback to all the various kids, so they can proceed with their second drafts on Monday. Despite this (or possibly partly because of it), I am instead choosing to read for as much of the next 24-hour period as I can. The essays I haven't been able to do this morning will have to wait until tomorrow. I have a lovely husband who has promised to make me dinner (and who hopefully won't distract me too much from my reading) and two cats. My preferred genres are romance and fantasy of most kinds. I read a lot of YA literature (and pretend it's because I need to know what the kids I teach are into. Sadly about two thirds of them never read voluntarily).

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what's one thing you'll do differently today?
Well, for starters, I'm writing the answers to the opening meme BEFORE the Read-a-thon actually starts, so I don't waste precious reading time during the first hour by telling people about myself. I am also hoping to not have to leave the house, but to curl up in various locations around the house and really enjoy reading (while also feeling sorry for myself about the pink-eye). Other than that, I have my list of potential books, I have my awesome spreadsheet to help me tally pages and time spent reading, I have a fully charged e-reader and a variety of nice things to eat and drink to get me through the day. 

#Readathon October 2015: Opening meme

1) What fine part are you reading from today?
Oslo, Norway

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I haven't actually entirely decided what I'm going to try to read, as I'm still not sure how much reading I'll be able to do.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I've made the same ham, cheese and scallion muffins that I always make for Read-a-thon.

4) Tell us a little about yourself!
I'm a teacher. I love reading. I review books to collect money for a cancer charity. Check out our group blog on Cannonball Read.

5) If you've participated in the last Read-a-thon, what's one thing you'll do different today?
Since I got a concussion on Monday, I may not be able to do as much reading as I'd like. I'm feeling a lot better and am going to try to do reading, in large font, on my e-reader, and maybe some graphic novels, but this may be a mostly audio book Read-a-thon for me.

#Readathon Spring 2015: Hour the first

It's already ten minutes into the first hour and I haven't read a page. Because I was busy making myself scrambled eggs with spring onions and salsa. Can't do all that reading on an empty stomach.

Here, as always, is the opening meme:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Oslo, Norway. The weather is grey, bitter and quite foul, so it feels extra rewarding to spend much of the day inside, reading.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
That's actually going to be hard to choose from. I have the new Laura Florand to begin with, All for You. I'm also planning on reading The Royal We by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, better known as the Fug Girls. I think it may be time to finally read The Martian, by Andy Weir, but I'm terrified that I'll be the first person I know, in real life or on the internet, who doesn't love it. I also have a big pile of comic books lined up that I've been saving. I'm looking forward to ALL of my reading, basically.

3) What snack are you most looking forward to?
Probably dinner, which we're having from an awesome local pie place called Hello Good Pie. They make absolutely amazing dinner and dessert pies.

4) Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I'm a 35 year old secondary school teacher. I adore reading. I'm currently putting off the correcting and grading of about a 120 student essays, just so I can read for much of 24 hours. It feels great.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what's one thing you'll do different today?

It feels like for the last few read-a-thons, I've always managed to get myself saddled on babysitting duties for my nephews, which has heavily cut into my reading time. This year, I have no other responsibilites, except taking care of my husband, who's bedridden with a bad cold.

I'm also going to cheer on online friends who are also participating.