Stats and Stories

My finish line post.

Time spent reading or listening to audio book: 23 hours, 1 minute

Time spent blogging: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Time spent networking: 51 minutes

Total time: 25 hours and 35 minutes

Number of complete books read: 7
Number of books I decided not to finish: 3 (plus several I only read a very short amount of)
Books not completed during the challenge: 3, including the audio book

Number of books that made me laugh: 4
Number of books that made me cry: 2

Favorite book: oh, so hard to decide. But I think I'll go with Cosmic.

Total time reading was about the same as last year, but I spent much less time blogging than usual. Generally I write full reviews, this year I just wasn't that into it, despite how awesome the books were. I read fewer books than last year, but I think most of them were longer and/or denser.

I decided to keep things very simple this year, minimal recordkeeping and plenty of breaks. The reward was a very easy feeling challenge -- low stress, low eyestrain, and the only time I really felt tired was when I read til 2 a.m last night. On the plus side, I loved the books I was reading! Aside from my "If I read one more first person narrative my head will explode" breakdown, I don't think I've ever enjoyed the reading in a challenge more. On the minus side... well, it felt less like a real challenge somehow. What's a book challenge if it doesn't exhaust you out of your mind?

Anyway, it's been great fun, as always. I love being part of this wacky community every year.

Audiobook: I Am a Genuis of Unspeakable Evil

I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb

I was attracted by the outrageous title and cover of this book, but at first it seemed like a terrible choice for audio: listening to someone who is sarcastic and angry nonstop, no matter how well the voice is done, is really tiresome and unpleasant. With more characters introduced, it's started to grow on me and is sometimes very funny. I still think I'd prefer to read the rest in print, however. Apparently there are comic illustrations, too.

It's about an evil genius who hides behind a pose of idiocy -- think baby Stewie from the show "Family Guy," which is pretty much how the audiobook narrator portrays him, sans the accent. The book is entirely from his point of view so it's impossible to know yet whether this reality is going to turn out to be true or a complete fantasy. But considering he has the power to make water fountains dispense both chocolate milk and root beer and plans to ban the song "Jingle Bell Rock," it might not be so bad if it were true.

listening: 2 hour, 12 m
blogging: 14 m

Book 8: The Panic Virus by Seth Minookin

I'll add my stats later, because I probably won't finish this book tonight and -- I hope -- will sleep too late to do any more reading for the challenge tomorrow.

It's traditional for me to read an autism book during the challenge and a nonfiction break seemed like a good idea. This is very interesting, though I'm not sure I'm taking everything in. I was very struck by how vulnerable children who can't yet be immunized are when immunization rates fall. It's not just an individual risk we're taking for our own children.

183 out of 311

Reading: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Blogging: 8 minutes
Networking: 3 minutes

Book 7: Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

And now this is why you don't finish books that are boring you. Because you could be reading Cosmic instead.

This was a recommendation from animouse to my husband, who tried it and didn't get into it. Which is a freakin' tragedy and I'm going to lean on him until he reads it. If the ending doesn't make him cry, nothing will. And if he doesn't laugh about a million times while reading it... well, I don't even know.

This is a love letter to dads, in the form of a story narrated by Liam, a 12 year old kid who's so big and scruffy, he's constantly mistaken for an adult. When he gets the chance to have an awesome adventure, for which he has to pretend to be a dad, it's too good to pass up. Liam is probably too young to have read Kurt Vonnegut, who warned us, "we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be," but he learns the truth of those words. And he learns what it means to be a dad, which sometimes involves doing the hard thing.

It sounds like a book adults will love more than kids, but it's so incredibly funny, I can't imagine anyone not loving it. Except apparently my possibly certifiable husband. * (12 & up)

314 pages

Reading: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Blogging: 10 minutes
Networking: 3 minutes

Book 6.5 Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

I don't think I've ever had so many DNFs in a book challenge before, but I don't have the patience I once did. Too many books in this world I want to read to waste time on ones I'm not enjoying. This seemed derivative and the narrator's voice too bland.


pages: 60 out of 310

Reading: 35 minutes
Blogging: 5 minutes
Networking: 12 minutes

Book 6: Old Photographs by Sherie Posesorski

Old Photographs by Sherie Posesorski. Second Story, 2010 (978-1-897187-78-4)

A book about a girl who loves Agatha Christie mysteries, how could I resist that? Sadly, the Christie theme turned out to be pretty light (though that's considerably better than getting it all wrong!) But it was an interesting story.

Phoebe is having a lonely summer. Her best friend Yuri is away, and her recently married mother expects--insists--that she live a fairy-tale life full of the "right kind" of friends. So Phoebe pretends to be off to pool parties, when really she's just biking around town and stalking the adorably nerdy Colin.

When Phoebe comes across an elderly woman having a garage sale, who seems bewildered and frightened, she feels a need to help her. Her unexpected friendship with Mrs. Tomblin will lead to a mystery to solve, a budding romance with Colin, and some important changes in her relationship with her mother, who has been trying to block all memories of her working-class past that might cast a blemish on her new wealthy life.

The mystery of who robbed Mrs. Tomblin is not particularly enthralling, but the family issues really made this book for me, as Phoebe struggles with how her mother tries to erase their past -- including Phoebe's much loved relatives. I liked the strong, athletic and warm-hearted Phoebe, who's a lot smarter than she thinks she is -- especially about what's really important to people. The mild romance and the friendship between Phoebe and Yuri are warmly drawn. Everything comes together a little too sweetly and perfectly at the end, but overall this was a pleasant book, and just a little unexpected. (12 & up)

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy.

215 pages

Reading: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Blogging: 16 minutes
Networking: 2 minutes

Book 5: White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat by Holly Black. Simon & Schuster, 2010.

Another totally awesome book! Or perhaps, just because I don't read YA that often anymore, everything seems fresh and wonderful to me? And everyone else is going, oh not that same old tired story again.

Not that it's completely original. The plot is reminiscent of Diana Wynne Jones: an alternate universe very much like ours except for the existance of magic (feared and known as curse work,) with a protagnoist who's the one person in his family who isn't a curse "worker." In this world, laws against workers create organized crime, with curses as a metaphor for drugs, prostitution and so on. (Runaway workers kicked out by their families are preyed on the underworld; liberals are fighting against laws forcing people to take a test to reveal whether they're workers.)

I thought the world building was delightfully clever, with so many aspects of society and history shaped by curse work. Australia, for example, has no laws against curse working "because it was founded by curse workers [...] who'd been sent to a penal colony."

The narrator is seventeen-year-old Cassel, the non-worker from a family of workers, criminals and grifters. Cassel has conned his way into a prep school, where he desperately tries to pass for normal. (Not so desperately that he doesn't make book for all the other students, however.) But the painful secrets of his past and his family are about to catch up with him, in a big way.

Lies, betrayal, and a narrator constantly fighting his own nature make for a gut-wrenching read. I can't wait for the sequel. * (14 & up)

310 pages

Reading: 3 hours, 25 minutes
Blogging: 2 minutes
Networking: 12 minutes

Oh, for crying out loud....

I tried an ebook freebie I had, a supposed sequel to Sense and Sensibilty called Eliza's Daughter... and guess what? Joan Aiken seems to have gotten Austen mixed up with Charlotte Bronte, because the beginning reads more like Jane Eyre or Vilette than anything Austen ever wrote.

Reading: 1 minute
Blogging: 2 minutes

ACK!

Except for one graphic novel, every book in my pile is first person! I never plan this thoroughly enough. Quick, someone tell me something I might be able to download from the library onto my ereader!

Book 4.5 Everlost by Neal Schusterman

It's hard to follow up a really great book. I picked up this one because it was the first on my pile that did not have a first person narrator. Counting Chime, the two in Will Grayson, Will Grayson and the five in The Last Days, I've read eleven first person narrations today!

Unfortunately, this third person narrative really didn't grab me. I've read so many brilliant writers today that this seemed pedestrian in comparison. Hope something else will turn up in the pile.

8 out of 313 pages

Reading: 9 minutes
Blogging: 3 minutes
Networking: 1 minute

Book 4: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan. Penguin, 2010

Okay, this is going to be one close race for my favorite book of the challenge. On a strictly critical level, Dramarama is probably the better book -- curiously enough, they have a number of similarities -- but WG, WG had me laughing an average of once a page, and we're talking 310 pages here. I could name a number of things that I disliked about it, but why bother when I loved it so much? So, so much fun and really touching, too. I don't think I've ever read a better collaboration. * (14 & up)

Book from the public library

310 pages
Reading time: 3hours, 12 minutes
Blogging time: 7 minutes
Networking: 3 minutes

Random Observation

My current book (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) and Chime both have what is presumably the same font, with very distinctive and distracting fat exclamation points. Punctuation should not make itself so obvious.

Book 3: The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld. Razorbill, 2006

The sequel to Peeps, though could probably be read on its own; I didn't remember a whole lot about Peeps but everything got explained.

I had some trouble getting into this: the first half is primarily about five people forming a band and seemed to be written for an audience far, far crazier about music than I am. Once the intersection of the band plot and the science fiction elements became clearer, I enjoyed the book much more. Despite its depressing title and some very disturbing elements, it's got a positive side and was very funny in spots. Negatives are the constant catchphrases used by almost every character, and that quite a few of the characters are really unpleasant. (First person narratives by unpleasant characters are haunting me right now... I'm having very bad luck with my chosen audiobook. More later.)


Reading: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Blogging: 8 minutes
Networking: 7 minutes

Book 2.7: A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris

I decided I needed a break from YA, so picked up the book I'd been in the middle of before the challenge started. This is the second in the "Aurora Teagarden" mysteries and I found it pretty disappointing. Blah mystery, blah personal stuff. Hope the next is better, or I might wash my hands of the series.

pages: 147-168 (21 pages)

Reading: 12 minutes
Blogging: 3 minutes
Networking: 2 minutes

Book 2.5: Chime by Franny Billingsley

Chime by Franny Billingsley. Penguin, 2011

Well rats. Looks like a lot of interesting potential here, quite possibly themes I would really appreciate (does her sister has Autism?) and intriguingly reminscent of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but somehow I just can't get into it. Briony's continued insistence on her guilt and horribleness makes me feel like I'm being hit on the head with a hammer and all the fantasy elements are too weird for me. Probably a great book, perhaps I'll try it again another time.

~40 out of 361 pages
Reading: 20 minutes
Blogging: 6 minutes

Book 2: Dramarama by E. Lockhart

Dramarama by E. Lockhart. Hyperion, 2007

Every time I read one of Lockhart's books -- which is about once a year, around this same time -- I wonder why on earth I haven't read everything she's written. The desperately tired young-adult-fiction-book-with-snappy-first-person-narrator genre comes to life in her hands. (Though she's not so shabby with third person, either.) I'm so achingly grateful to read an original narrative voice that I'd probably have enjoyed this even if it wasn't filled with brilliant themes about friendship and reinventing identities and discovering ones place in the world, all in an exciting theatrical package. * (12 & up)

I'm two for two! How long can this wonderful streak last? I'm going to play it fairly safe with Franny Billingsley's Chime next.

311 pages

Reading: 2 hours, 18 minutes
Blogging: 8 minutes
Networking: 4 minutes

Book 1: Held by Edeet Ravel

Held by Edeet Ravel. Annick Press, 2011

Wow, what a perfect book to start with. It was utterly riveting and got me right back into the non-stop reading swing of the book challenge. I feel too tired and stupid to write a real review at the moment, because of the challenge of avoiding spoilers, but will try to come back to it later and do it justice. My only complaint was an overly abrupt ending which left me with too many questions.


Thanks to the publishers for providing me with this book.

pages: 245
Reading time: 2 hours
Networking time: 5 minutes
Blogging time: 5 minutes

Ready... Set....

Go!

Beginning the 6th annual 48 Hour Book Challenge!

Starting time, Friday 8 a.m.

I'm going high tech this year and using my son's timer. A word of caution -- I tested an online stopwatch and it did NOT keep the correct time.

I'm starting today with Held by Eddeet Ravel. It looks very heavy, and I know from experience that as time passes, I'll want lighter reads.

Good luck to everyone!

Blogging time: 3 minutes

Hmmm.

Just went through my list of books saved for the 48 Hour Book Challenge -- Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Shiver, White Cat, Jekyl Loves Hide, Chime, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Everlost, Tantalize -- and realized that I have exactly ONE book that is not paranormal YA in that mix. Which is guaranteed to send me through the roof after about a book and a half. Will have to look for a few things to balance that out.

What's on your Book Challenge Reading List?

on your marks...

The starting line is set for MotherReader's 6th Annual 48 hour book challenge! Hope that copy of Chime will get here in time. I plan to be prepared this year, with lots of juicy YA novels.