So, it’s Saturday and I’m hoping to get some reading and a lot of cheering done. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day and.

9am: 4 hours before the official start time

Up a bit later than planned; had one of those dreams that make you feel you’ve had little sleep. Breakfast done, clothes changed, coffee ready.

1pm – 1st hour

Read about 50 pages and had an early lunch, now getting everything ready to go.

4pm – 4th hour

Finished one book. Back to Tolstoy for a bit.

7pm – 7th hour

Put the Tolstoy down to start James Rhodes’ Instrumental as recommended by Alice. At 31 pages I’m far enough through to tell it’s going to be very well worth reading.

10pm – 10th hour

Paused for the rugby. Now going to carry on reading until bedtime.

10am – 22nd hour

Have been reading for 30 minutes or so; currently on page 85 of Rhodes’ book.

Post-readathon

I didn’t cheer for as long as I planned but I managed to finish the second half of the book I was currently reading and am 2/3 of the way through Rhodes’ memoir.

I realised two things yesterday. Firstly – in the afternoon – that the Readthon is this weekend, not next weekend. Secondly – at midnight – that the form I’d sent to the hosts a few weeks ago wasn’t the same as the cheerleading form. I like the Readathon too much – I got out of bed, booted up the computer, and registered.

Whether I signed up on time I don’t know but I’ll be looking to cheer regardless. As far as reading goes I’ll be starting early as usual, getting some reading time in beforehand and then I’ll catch up on Sunday; I still find the pressure to read when there’s so much going on online means I don’t pay attention to the books. I’ll be updating the same one post throughout the day.

I’ll be reading Tolstoy and a book I’ve been sent to read for an award (I’ll tell you about that when I can). I’m finding the poor treatment of little Seyozha difficult to read so it’ll be good to have somewhere to escape to.

Whether you’re joining in or not, what will you be reading this weekend?

This is my ninth Readathon. Looking through my archives I’d guessed it to be my fifth. To tell you the truth, I’m rather surprised.

Having learned from previous years that the want to be social and not miss out leads to little reading, I’ll be spending most of my time cheerleading. At the point of writing this, I’m looking through the grand cheerleading database and getting pretty excited. I had a great time last year. There are quite a few more readers to cheer for, per group, and I’m happy to see some of those I cheered unofficially last time on my list officially this year. If you’re reading this and haven’t signed up yet, let me know and I’ll try and get to your blog/Twitter at some point.

As for reading I’ll be looking to complete Eloisa James’s Duchess By Night. If I do complete it I’ll just go with the flow.

8:00am British Time: 5 hours before official start time

Breakfast, familiarising myself with my cheer list, and getting some early reading done. I’ll be reading Erica Vetsch’s The Cactus Creek Challenge which I found on Netgalley yesterday.

1pm British Time: official start time

Did about 45 minutes reading. Going to start planning my cheering.

4 hours in

I’m up to page 80 now and have done a fair bit of cheering. Enjoying the mix.

8 hours in

Had dinner, cheered some more. Back to reading again before bed.

9:00am, 21 hours in

Back to the readathon. I’ve spent half an hour catching up on Twitter and now I’m going to read for a short while before breakfast. Thank you to my own cheerleaders, your support is amazing!

12pm, 24th hour

Taking a break now, after having breakfast, cheering and reading. I haven’t read as much as before but I couldn’t count the number of cheers and people I’ve spoken to; it’s been amazing.

So, it’s Saturday and I’m hoping to get a lot of reading and cheering done. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day and, as you know, I intend to begin earlier than the official starting time. I’ve scheduled this post a short time before waking so that those of you who subscribe via email receive the link to it.

10am: 3 hours before the official start time

Ready to read. I think I’m just going to pick up Maile Meloy’s Half In Love, one of the books I included in yesterday’s photo, because it’s short (short stories, actually), and I’ve dipped into it many times without reading it completely, so I think I should use today to try and read it from start to finish. I’m hoping to have it finished before the official start time as I would like to cheer for longer than I’m signed up for.

Saying this in advance, I’ve turned off comment moderation today (I usually have it set to send any new-to-my-blog emails to moderation) so there may be some spam on various posts. Good luck to everyone who is reading today!

1pm: the first hour

I’m about 40 pages from the end of my first book and getting ready to cheer. Haven’t had lunch but will eat in a bit. Reading: Half In Love

4pm: 4th hour

Had lunch, spent a while cheering, finished the book. Thinking of starting Shields Of Pride next.

9:30pm: 9th hour

I’ve cheered, I’ve had dinner, and I’m on page 68 of Davina Blake’s Past Encounters. As much as I love Elizabeth Chadwick, her book wasn’t appealing to me at that moment. Starting Blake’s book, which I was thinking of leaving because my review’s not due until December, I was hooked from the first chapter. Enjoying it very much at the moment. Now I’m off to make a coffee, cheer a little more, and then carry on reading for a couple of hours. Reading: Past Encounters

12:30am: 13th hour

Mid-event survey

1. What are you reading right now?: Past Encounters by Davina Blake
2. How many books have you read so far? 1
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? More of the one I’m currently reading
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Parents wanting to chat – it was very early on so it was okay
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? The number of people, it’s awesome! As for personally, I’m surprised I’ve managed to read a fair amount given I’m enjoying cheering so much

If I’m going to take part in the last few hours tomorrow, I had best get some sleep. I’m over a quarter of the way through my current book and loving it. Reading: Past Encounters

9:30am: 17th hour

Back, reading, cheerleading. Went to sleep at 2am in the end so have read a fair amount. Reading: Past Encounters, 152/428 pages

12:30pm: 24th hour

Spent the last couple of hours reading, now back for a last bit of cheerleading before the end. Reading: Past Encounters, 225/428 pages

Last meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 13th. 2am here and I had to finally stop for the night. Daunting because I worried I’d sleep in too late the next morning!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I think any high-rated book would be good, The Hunger Games for instance.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Everything’s been so organised and well done, so no.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The organisation has been excellent.
5. How many books did you read? One and a half, around 400 pages.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Half In Love and Past Encounters
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Past Encounters, really loving it.
8. Which did you enjoy least? No choice here, really, with only two books, though I didn’t enjoy Half In Love all that much.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Know that there’s a lot to do but that it’s a lot of fun; make ample time to cheer because often you’ll have people on your team starting to read later so you have to check back.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very, and both roles – reading and cheerleading.

I almost missed the Readathon. Having not been on Twitter much recently and having been away from the blog, I forgot all about it. But I’ve now signed up and am hoping I’ll be more successful than last time when I fell ill at just the wrong moment.

I’ve signed up to be a cheerleader, too, and for the first time. I’ve often wanted to cheer but never knew if I’d be able to uphold the bargain. This time I reckon I will and as I spent so long commenting last time it made sense to make it ‘official’. I’m excited to see how it all works and to be given a formal list.

I don’t have any definite choices for what to read, only a short list of possibilities, including the books in the photo. I actually really like the idea of choosing one long book as suggested here, however as a slow reader it would double the amount of the I’ve-not-read-much feeling.

So yes, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, I’m going to start early as I have previously, and I’ll hopefully get a book read.

Are you joining in?