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Fall Read-a-Thon: Regarding My Pile

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readathon3_lgSo I decided to give it a try this Fall. I’ll have the house to myself, so interruptions will be minimal. Ironically, it’s the one weekend that my parents are staying in the Northern Virginia area instead of gallivanting across the state overnight, traveling with a large stuffed bear they named Nancy. That means they’ll wander in around 2AM and want to tell me all about the craziness that ensued.

Moving on. . .

What to read? That’s what I asked myself. I had an idea, or I should say, one goal that I wanted to accomplish regardless of what else I read in that 24 hours. There are several series that I would like start (Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega; Meljean Brook’s Guardians; Christine Feehan’s Leopards). Each of them made their debut as a short story in an anthology. My goal is to read these short stories between other books, to add to my sense of accomplishment. I don’t plan to read, during the read-a-thon anyway, the other stories in the anthology or read the first full-length novel of that particular series. Additionally, there are short stories/novellas by some of my favorite authors that I would also like to read during the read-a-thon.

So far, so good. Except. . .

Hundreds of books, and no idea what to read.

I consulted the excellent suggestions the show-runners gave in regards to reading material for the later hours and I gathered up a collection of short, category books (Harlequin Blaze, Harlequin Romance, Harlequin Presents, etc.) and the slightly longer Silhouette Nocturnes (in honor of Halloween), Harlequin Historicals, and Harlequin SuperRomances.  Now I’m sufficiently prepared for between-books and the later hours.

After much dithering, I finally decided on some Young Adult, some Halloween-esque reads (witches, magic, etc), and some purely random selections. Which reminded me that I could even incorporate the Random Reading challenge into the selection process. I have the post all set up and ready to go…all I have to do is run the list through Random.org to determine which book to read. Below is the picture of the books already selected for my second Random Reads book:

Random Reading Stack 2

Random Reading Stack 2

Also below is a video I shot of the stacks of books I had pulled for the Read-a-thon. In case you can’t see the video, I’ve also posted static pictures of the stacks. The video is just over a minute long and I don’t say a word during the entire thing. You can hear, in the background, the sound of waves. The sounds is coming from clock radio behind the first stack (when I pan to the second stack you can see it).

Click on the thumbnails below for a bigger version of the picture:
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ADDED: I forgot to mention there are some short stories on my e-Reader, too.

christinasig

This is a re-post, due to data loss. Below is a reconstruction, based on email notifications/Google Reader, of the comments, .

10 Oct 09: Stephanie – “Looks like you’ll have a lot to choose from!”
10 Oct 09: Me – “Yeah, I was paranoid that I wouldn’t have enough of a selection, depending on my mood. I’ll admit I probably went a bit overboard. 🙂 ”

10 Oct 09: Beth F – “You have some great choices and I think it’s good to have too many than too few. I thought about the random challenge too, but I think mood and wakefulness are going to play the biggest roles in my reading selections.”
10 Oct 09: Me – “If I have to start a new book just before the event starts (say, the day before), I might rely on the Random Read challenge for the first book.”

11 Oct 09: Jo – “Oooo, waves in the background and the house to yourself… sounds like the perfect setting for a good read-a-thon. =) Nice selection of books too.”
11 Oct 09: Me – “Thanks. 🙂 The radio also plays a running brook, a waterfall, rain, and morning noise (birds, rustling leaves) and night sounds. The ocean is the nicest, I think. 😀 ”

13 Oct 09: Walker – “It’s good that you’ve got a method. I’m still thinking about strategy etc for my stack. Anyway Good Luck!”
13 Oct 09: Me – “Thanks! Now the question is, will it actually work? 🙂 ”

20 Oct 09: Dana – “Ooh, you’ve got some great looking books there. Good luck this weekend!”
21 Oct 09: Me – “Thank you. :-D”

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