RAT: Inside Hour Six

Well, I had a slight setback during the last two hours...my lunch made me sick to my stomach. HOWEVER! I have persevered, I'm feeling a lot better, and I actually still managed to get a great deal of reading done.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 34
Running total of pages read since you started: 165
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 96 minutes (not all of this was reading...I did lie down and close my eyes for a while)
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 291 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach

RAT: Inside Hour Four

Well, we've been reading now for almost four hours. It's going well. The air conditioning is on now, the cats have fallen asleep in the puddles of sunlight coming in through the slider, and Ricky and I are deep into our respective reads.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 59
Running total of pages read since you started: 131
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 90 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 195 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge
Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water

Hour Three Now

Okay, now I'm inside Hour Three. We're going to have to turn on the air here, as it's getting muggy! The blog is giving me some shit and I'm starting to get irritated, but here's my progress so far...

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 72
Running total of pages read since you started: 72
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 105 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 105 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme, Where in the World Are You Reading From?
Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans

RAT: Hour One Meme

1)Where are you reading from today? South Florida - in my living room and bedroom. 2)Three random facts about me… a) I'm married. b) I've lived in my house for about a year and a half. c) I love to eat. 3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? I have the book I'm currently reading, two magazines, and about six other books. I doubt I'll even finish my current read, but you never know! 4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? I'd like to read more pages than I did last time (732, I believe) and stay up longer too. 5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? Take liberal breaks. Read shorter things in between the longer things (I like magazines and short stories) to break it up.

T Minus 30 Minutes and Counting

Ricky and I are up and at it. I'm drinking a Diet Mt. Dew, as usual, and he is making coffee. It's a nice morning here in South Florida, and we have the slider open, but I'm pretty sure we'll have to turn on the air before long. It's supposed to get into the mid-80's here today. My current read is Diana Gabaldon's Voyager, which is a re-read for me. For anyone who hasn't been following my blog, I'm re-reading all the books in the series to bring myself back up to speed for the newest published volume, An Echo in the Bone. Ricky will be reading some memoirs of famous folks with MS (his reading has been very MS-centric lately), but I'm sure he has some fiction set aside, too, for when the memoirs get too heavy.

So. We're ready and set to go. Everyone have a great morning and enjoy your reading!

Read-a-Thon Starts Tomorrow

Sooo excited for the Read-a-Thon tomorrow! This event is my favorite in Blogland and I have participated in all of the RAT's that have been held since I started blogging. I have my snacks laid in and books picked out (well, really only one book...my current read is a chunkster, but I'm looking forward to it and hope to finish it tomorrow). The hubby is also participating this time, which has never happened before...check out his blog, too! We'll be reading together all day long, just us and the cats...no interruptions, no TV (hopefully), no responsibilities...YAY! If you're reading for the Read-a-Thon, too, have fun and I hope to see you around the blogosphere tomorrow!

Review: Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna

Joanna Kavenna won the Orange Prize for New Writing for this book. I have to be honest: I didn't care for it at all. It's about Rosa Lane, a 35-year-old journalist who, after the death of her mother, quits her job, gets dumped by her boyfriend, and overdrafts her bank account, all in the name of a mid-life crisis. Rosa is pathetic. She finds herself inert, unable to take action, mindlessly writing the same to-do list over and over. I just wanted her to DO something, to quit procrastinating, quit thinking about it. And her descent into madness is frightening and depressing to watch.

The book isn't very long, but it took me almost a month to finish it, because when I put it down, I found myself dreading picking it back up. It was just too sad for me. And, really, Rosa was too frustrating to me, as I am a person of action. I prefer to tackle problems head-on and find a solution, rather than sitting around, moping about it. However, it may also be that her situation hit a little too close to home. When my husband was diagnosed with MS last year, I suffered through my own depression for several months, in which I found myself unable to even open the mail on a daily basis. Worry about our finances, now that he wasn't working and the medical bills were piling up, seemed to be all I could think about. Now, unlike Rosa, I did eventually take action...I got a second job, began working extra hours at my current job, did whatever I could do to keep the finances stable. And maybe that is my frustration with Rosa: even during the worst period of my life, when I wondered some days if I could even get out of bed, I still took control of the situation, instead of letting it take control of me. And I wanted Rosa to do that: to grow a backbone, let go of Liam (her ex), talk to someone about her mother's death, find a job, find a place to stay, pay down her debt...and she just didn't.

Overall, two out of five Whatevers. I wish I could rate it higher, because the writing was lovely, but I just. didn't. like it. Perhaps it was simply the wrong time for me to read it. Recommended for those who like glimpses of insanity, and literary, philosophical reads.

Edited to add: I bought this book.

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