Time To Start My Eyeballs!

I'm at the starting line, and already running a bit late. Also, I have no idea what I'm going to feed the family tonight. But too late for worries  -- here begins the 48 Hour Book Challenge! I've got my books, I've got library books, and I've got e-books. I've got romance, science fiction, contemporary fiction, YA, middle grade, and nonfiction ready to go. I can finish books I started last summer, attack my Reading-My-Library quest picks, polish off some Cybils books or anything else languishing on my TBR lists. Or I can just read some of the latest books from authors I'm falling behind on, such as Scalzi, Robb, Cherryh, or Aguirre. Or I can attack some of the books I've been moving with me for years. Whatever, it will involve words and pages and books!


Update (Friday, 6:30)

• Finished The Eye of the Warlock, pp 165 -- 241, 30 minutes
• Finished Redshirts, 317 pp, 2 hours 40 minutes

Update (Friday, 9:30)

• Although my son highly recommended The Eye of the Warlock, I never really got into it, which is why it languished half-read on my shelves for almost a year. I did like what P.W. Catanese did with mixing various fairy tales, and how he moved Hansel and Gretel down a generation.
• Redshirts had been on my TBR list for several years, so I was delighted to find it on the hot-picks shelves of the library. Many of the twists had been spoiled for me, but I still liked Scalzi's trademark dialogue and willingness to think through his premise. The three final codas brought up the tone of the book a few notches; I think it's the first time I've ever enjoyed a story written in second person.
• Read Redskin and Cowboy, starting at page 67. 3 hours.
• I'm trying to spend some blogging time visiting pages, but my internet thinks I should go back to reading. So I'll leave my laptop up until this page updates and then close it and read faster.

Update (Friday, 10:30)

• Finished Redskin and Cowboy (384 pp).  I spent a summer vacation devouring a long pile of G.A. Henty stories back about thirty-odd years ago, so I knew what to expect when I found this copy. Daring young man who grows up to be especially big and strong (and handsome) -- check. Rotten no-good Comanches and Mexicans, complete with a variety of ethnic slurs for each -- check. Experienced guy who tags along to show our hero the ropes -- check. Strange coincidences that tie all the pieces together at the end -- check. I enjoyed it and might offer it to my aunt to help complete her collection.
• Started Ender's World, a collection of essays about Ender's Game as a change of pace.

Update (Saturday, 12:15) 8 hours 30 minutes

• Still reading Ender's World, but going to sleep now.

Update (Saturday, 9:00) 9 Hours 30 minutes

• Woke up at 8 or so to continue reading (only an hours or so later than planned)
• Finished Ender's World (284 pp), which was a collection of essays about Ender's Game from writers, teachers, military officers, and other interested parties. Nothing earth shattering, but a fun collection, and it reminded me of the other aspects of the book -- last time I read it I focused as a parent on the treatment of the kids.
• Started And All the Stars, a YA Cybils pick.

Update (Saturday, 4:00 PM) 15 hours

• Reading And All the Stars -- small font means this is a long book
• Listened to Three Bedrooms, One Corpse for 60 minutes
• Also took a break for a friend's birthday party (and, before that, for a shower)

Update (Saturday, 9:45, 19 hours, 30 minutes)

• Finished And All the Stars, 198 pp, which I enjoyed a lot and will pass along to my 8th grader. I liked the Australian setting and the team work of the kids fighting the alien invasion. The final twists were well done.
• Read Delusions in Death, 355pp,  in about four hours. I keep meaning to use the lap function on my iphone's stopwatch to track each book but I also keep forgetting to push the button so it's not very accurate. Anyway, this one was a standard if gruesome in Death book, with two mass murders rather than a long string of icky single deaths, but not much character development. All the side characters are in stable places -- maybe she needs McNab to lose a leg or something.
• I think I'll do Big Bad Ironclad while figuring out what I want to read next.

Update (Saturday, 10:45, 20 hours, 30 minutes)

• Finished Big Bad Iron Clad, 127pp,  a fun and hopefully informative comic book about Civil War history, told as a Schezerharzie-style story from spy Nathan Hale postponing his hanging. I enjoyed it, and my eighth grader liked it enough to immediately request the other book in the series.
• Poked around on the Internet and left a few comments on blogs, but connection problems make that a bit less fun.
• I think I'll read some more in Shadow's Claim (starting on page 26) but won't commit to finishing it. I'll just go where my fancy takes me until I get sleepy.

Update (Sunday, 5:00, 22 hours)

• Well, I fell asleep around midnight but just woke up thanks to the sprinkler system
• I got tired of Shadow's Claim so I started Throne of the Crescent Moon as well; I'll alternate those unless I also pick up a third book

Update (Sunday, 11:30, 25 Hours)

• Dang, I fell asleep again, and then I kept dreaming I was reading. Now the plot of Throne of the Crescent Moon is all confused. I'll go back to Shadow's Claim which doesn't really try to be consistent anyway. And now I won't make my 30 hour goal. Humph.

Update (Sunday, 3:30, 29 hours) Finish Line

• I finished Shadow's Claim, 481 pp, which was silly but entertaining. There was a happy ending! And lots of sex! With orgasms, even.
• I came really close to finishing Throne of the Crescent Moon but ended up 34 pages short. Only 333 pages done. 
• Total books read: 8, 7 finished.
• Total pages: 2462

This year I did something very unusual for me -- I read a single book at a time, with only a few exceptions. I think that helped keep up my page count. I managed to visit a few other blogs, but my internet has been troublesome lately so that discouraged much socializing. I also listened to about an hour of an audio book, but I don't think that counts towards my page count. Thanks again to Ms Yingling for hosting this year! I'll go sign up on the Finish Line.