Dewey 24 Hour Readathon Weekend

This weekend I signed up for the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon, and managed to read for about 21 hours of it, with a few interruptions for walking around, cheering on everyone else, and breathing. My goal was to finish some of the books I've been carrying around since this summer, and to get my currently-reading stack under 20.

Mission accomplished! Of course, I've only read about 100 pages since Saturday, so now I'm falling behind again, but I just need a few hours a day of concentration. I had fun pushing myself to finish things, and my kids had fun slacking off. Sunday I managed to get out of the house to do some long overdue grocery shopping and to enjoy the beautiful weather and the return of my traveling niece.

I'm off to sign up to see what everyone else is reading lately at bookjourney's and Teach Mentor Texts lists. Six of these books were finishing on Saturday during the read-a-thon.

• Protector, C.J. Cherryh. This series is getting very top-heavy, so wheels spin for the first hundred or so pages, but once past that the plot is fast and furious. The stilted language of the aliens tired me out so I didn't quite finish it on Saturday.
• The Son of Neptune, Rick Riordan. They got to Alaska! Although the Amazons were my favorite part.
• Cathedral of the Wild, Boyd Varty. Touching memoir of growing up interacting with animals at a safari park, only to almost succumb to demons within.
• Always, Abigail, Nancy Cavanaugh. A cautionary tale of a sixth grader attracted to the mean girls who almost can't bring herself to make friends with actual nice people.
• "The President Has Been Shot!", James L. Swanson. Taut description of JFK's assassination, a worthy finalist for the YA nonfiction Cybils .
• Templar, Jordan Mechner. Another Cybils, this time YA graphic novel. Interesting history that I didn't know much about.
• Divergent, Veronica Roth. Better than I expected -- and now I can get the movie!
• The Whispering Skull, Jonathan Stroud. I'm struggling a bit with this series, because I keep wishing for the narrator to be as awesome as her boss.
• Imprisoned, Martin W. Sandler. Another Cybils history book, which taught me things I didn't know about the Japanese internment.

What am I currently reading? Only 19 books! My currently reading list is now on up-to-date on GOODREADS.

• Pleasure Unbound, Larissa Ione. Very old Vaginal Fantasy pick. I think.
• Drink, Slay, Love, Sarah Durst. I believe this takes place in Connecticut.
• The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander. NOOK. Distressing account of the evils and racism of our drug policy.
• Thorn Fall, Lindsay Buroker. NOOK. Buroker does great action scenes, and so far I like the characters and the peril.
• Codex Born, Jim C. Hines. Second book in a series where magicians get their power from books, so it's hard to see how it can possibly go wrong. I liked the first one, so I bought this one.
• Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean. From my shelves.
• A Matter for Men, David Gerrold. No change.
• Anna of Byzantium, Tracy Barett. No change.
• Magic City: Recent Spells, Paula Guran, ed. It has returned to me!
• About That Night, Norah McClintock.  No change. 
• Rogue, Michael Z. Williamson. I don't really pay attention to their techniques, but I like the action.
• Wildflower, Alecia Whitaker. She chooses a record company -- fame is starting.
• Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. No change.
• Yonder Comes the Other End of Time, Suzette Elgin. No change. 
• Shards of Time, Lynn Flewelling. 
• Tinker, Wen Spencer. I do enjoy this book. Windwolf saves her from a bad date. 
• Inkheart, Cornelia Funke. No change.

Reading intermittently, and deliberately slowly. These never change much:

• The Jury, Stephen Adler. Now an example of a bad jury. 
• Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vacca. How a phonics classroom operates. 
• Nerds, Michael Buckley. Our hero discovers that the kids he bullied don't like him.
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. Not much happens in a small town
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Bringing idiots along to a delicate negotiation is not a good idea.

What's up next?  Still starting a book every other day, until I get this library backlog under control. Actually, I suspect I'll have to send some books back unread even at this pace. At least I only got one new book last week:

Monday: 
Tuesday: Fangirl
Wednesday: 
Thursday: Touch Blue
Friday: 
Saturday: Uzamaki
Sunday:

NOOK books:

2014 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils: 62/77. I have left all the long books for last.
2. Where Am I Reading? 3451. Alaska! Now I need an Arkansas book. And Maryland.
3. Alphabetically Inclined: 19/26. Only books from my shelves count, and all my library books are due! Still need EIJ V XYZ.
4. What's In a Name?: 7/7. Still have to review everything. Ha!
5. Book Bingo: Fifteen boxes into square 2.
6. Gentle Spectrum Challenge complete!.
7. Small Fry Safari: 8/8. All done! Except for the reviewing...
8. PoC Speculative Fiction: 22/5: Son of Neptune has to PoC main characters.
9. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled.
10. Reading My Library: Library temporarily closed, so on hiatus.