Post Event Meme, pledge totals, and after pictures.

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?   Because I didn't absolutely insist I stay awake this year, I didn't really feel daunted.  But I think Hour 20 would have been where I really started struggling. Well,and the first hour or two where I felt like I was reading so slowly and am still not sure why...
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? hmmmm....  Fiona and I both read The Monogram Murders and loved it. I could see re-reading the Harry Potter series to be compelling.
3. How many books did you read? I read two and started a third. Fiona read eight and started a ninth.
4. What were the names of the books you read? Me:  The Monogram Murders, To Kill a Mockingbird, started Bad Feminist.  Fio: Coraline, The Diamond of Drury Lane, The Clockwork Scarab, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Dawn of the Living Fashion Victims, The Iron Trial, started Two-Minute Mysteries Collection.
5. Which book did you enjoy most?  I honestly have enjoyed all the reading I've done, but it was so much fun to read The Monogram Murders -- how lovely to have a new Poirot. I know Fiona felt the same about that one, but she also said that The Iron Trial may be her new favorite book!
6. Which did you enjoy least? Well, we each had a library book in our stack that we chose not to read -- to be fair to the books, we didn't even really start them, just read book flaps.Mine was Accidents of Marriage (decided now was not the time for reading about an abusive marriage) and Fiona's was Lockwood& Co: The Screaming Staircase.  Not sure why it didn't appeal to her and we'll see if she tries it out in the next few days or puts it back in the library bag.
7. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Oh so very likely.  :)  I think I'll stay a reader only again for this next time, though it's possible Fiona will have an idea fora mini-challenge.

So,pledges!!

$1/book for both of us from Eran = $10  PAID (he rounded up to $40)  :)
$1/book for both of us from Pearlie=$10
$2/book for Fiona from Adelita=$16
$1/book for Fiona from her dad =  $8
 $1/book for both of us from Sara   = $10

Woo hoo!!  We'll have $84 to give to Fiona's classroom once all the pledges are in. And actually, Tamie wrote me on gmail chat yesterday and said she hasn't  read my blog yet but that she would like to donate $40 to the cause.  $124  --  I think they'll be surprised.  :) 

You have several options for how to send your pledge -- You can send it me and Fiona and I will take it in to school once all pledges that are coming in that way have been received.   You can donate directly to the school online here.  And of course, local people, we can use this as an excuse to get together if you like. 

Please let me know if you need more information from me about how to get these pledges to Fiona's classroom!

And I suppose you can't post before pictures without posting after pictures, right? And then a nice bath. With my book, of course.

Hour 13 Mini Challenge -- Mo Willems Cosplay

Find an explanation of the challenge here.

We are big Piggy and Elephant fans around here and when Fiona read about this challenge, she decided to be Piggy in I Am Invited to a Party! (where it ends up being a fancy dress pool costume party)  She has even added pig ears to her crown.

Her (unprompted) feelings about her costume? "I wanna dress like this all.the.time. It's pretty rockin'.  I mean, if I dressed like this all the time I'd probably cut the wings, you know, but other than that it's pretty cool."

Hour 5 Mini-Challenge Book Staging

We are having so much fun!  I"m not sure why I"m going so slow, but my book is great.  Fiona is on her 4th book, and she loved the idea for this challenge.

Mini-challenge here.

Fiona's current read (a book that my mother received from my great-grandparents Christmas 1965) --  Fairytales with a fairy. 

Hour 3 Goofy Fiona

Fiona was more than happy to participate in this challenge -- to take a picture of yourself in a weird reading position. (see below)

My reading is going a little bit slower than I imagined it would ( page 79 of The Monogram Murders) but man am I enjoying it. Hooray for a new Agatha Christie!  Fiona is on her second book, The Iron Trial.

Hour 2 #TeamCSLewis

This was such a perfect mini-challenge for me, since I have a quote from my first read that I really wanted to share.  (see end of post.)  The main jist of the challenge is that one of  Trollope's characters has a quote about loving coffee, and of course C.S. Lewis is the one who had the quote about how a cup of tea can never be large enough and a book can never be long enough to suit him. In both respects, I am definitely Team CS Lewis.  

So far today, I've been drinking a masala chai (hot) from Tea for Ewe and Fiona has been drinking Ripe & Ready (cold) from Birds & Bees Teas.  On the right, you can see a bit of my bright yellow mug -- the smallest I think a mug should be. ;)  See below for the perfect  accompanying quote for this challenge.  (Also, Fiona has finished her first book.)

"All you that drinks coffee when you could be drinking tea want your brains looking at, if you ask me."

p. 10, The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

A Before Picture and Pledge Updates

Here we go!

 And here is an update on our pledges. It's so cool to have so many, so motivating!

 So far we have:

$1/book for both of us from Eran
$1/book for both of us from Pearlie
$2/book for Fiona from Adelita
$1/book for Fiona from her dad  
$1/book for both of us from Sara  

And just a reminder for those who wanted to pledge but haven't yet: 

If you'd like to support us in this endeavor, we are collecting pledges! All pledges will go directly to Fiona's classroom at Compass Montessori. This is her second year in the Fire Room and it has been a lovely place for her. We appreciate her teachers, Ms. Abby & Ms. Maya, so much and would love to give them a little bit of money for some classroom needs and wants.

Some possible options for you: * pledge by minutes read (e.g. a quarter for each minute read) * pledge by books read (e.g. $10 for each book completed during the challenge) * pledge by pages read (e.g. a dime for each page read) You can make a pledge for Fiona's reading, my reading, or both of us.  

We'll take pledges until 6 p.m. today.

My stack for the Read-A-Thon! There is some great stuff in here!

Fiona's preliminary choices for the Read-A-Thon!

This is Fiona on her first day of school, 2014. 

And this is her tentative stack of books for the Read-A-Thon on Saturday.  Many re-reads, and a few that are brand-new to her.   She reserves the right to read outside of this stack, as the fancy strikes her.


Pictures of my own book stack will come later this week.