RAT: This Is the End, My Friend

Title of book(s) read since last update: Food Network magazine
Number of books read since you started: two and part of a third
Pages read since last update: 46
Running total of pages read since you started: 531
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  60 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 895 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water; more Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more jelly beans; yet more water; 3 slices of cheese pizza for dinner; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins; Diet Mt. Dew; more water

It was a less successful Read-a-Thon for me this time around, but the good thing about the Read-a-Thon is...there's always the next one.  I wish I hadn't gone out the night before, but what can you do?  Life doesn't stop for the Read-a-Thon, unfortunately.

I took a huge break in there and went to sleep, but I got up a bit after 7 am and finished strong!  (This is my secret RAT strategy...wake up early on day 2 and power through to the end.)  Now I guess it's back to real life until October.  Sigh.

RAT: Hour 17

Title of book(s) read since last update: Food Network magazine
Number of books read since you started: two and part of a third
Pages read since last update: 26
Running total of pages read since you started: 485
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  105 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 835 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water; more Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more jelly beans; yet more water; 3 slices of cheese pizza for dinner; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins; Diet Mt. Dew

I'm starting to slow down and get tired.  I want to try to finish out the next two hours, but I'm not sure I will be able to.  The Diet Mt. Dew is helping, though.  Good luck pulling through the late hours!!!

RAT: Entering Hour 15

I can't believe we're into Hour 15.  How time has flown today!

Title of book(s) read since last update: Food Network magazine
Number of books read since you started: two and part of a third
Pages read since last update: 108
Running total of pages read since you started: 459
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  110 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 730 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water; more Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more jelly beans; yet more water; 3 slices of cheese pizza for dinner; more water;

I was pretty focused over the last couple of hours, but I'm starting to get tired.  Gonna go pop a Diet Mt. Dew to see if a caffeine rush helps.  Good reading to you all!

ETA:  I am apparently not able to keep track of the time.  This was Hour 15, not Hour 13!

RAT: Hour 13

Title of book(s) read since last update: Every Day with Rachael Ray (magazine)
Number of books read since you started: two
Pages read since last update: 70
Running total of pages read since you started: 351
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  115 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 620 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water; more Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more jelly beans; yet more water; 3 slices of cheese pizza for dinner; more water;

I did a lot better on my reading in the last couple of hours.  I just finished my Rachael Ray magazine, and now I'm on to my Food Network magazine.  If I finish that, I have Wuthering Heights waiting for me.  I haven't read it since high school, and I remember next to nothing about it, so that should be an interesting read!  Keep up the good reading, everyone!

RAT: Hour 11 Already?!

Title of book(s) read since last update: Every Day with Rachael Ray (magazine)
Number of books read since you started: one and part of a second
Pages read since last update: 39
Running total of pages read since you started: 281
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  110 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 505 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water; more Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more jelly beans; yet more water;

I'm reading a lot slower now...maybe because it's the magazine, and not a novel.  I don't know.  But I'm still going strong, despite being tired.  At least I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow morning, so I can sleep as late as I want!  Happy reading, everyone!

RAT: Going into Hour 9

Title of book(s) read since last update:  Every Day with Rachael Ray (magazine)
Number of books read since you started: one and part of a second
Pages read since last update: 35
Running total of pages read since you started: 242
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  90 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 395 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots; more water;

I probably didn't read the whole 90 minutes this past couple hours.  Spent some time with the hubby and watching some Arrested Development to keep away the zzzzz's.  Now back to the serious reading!  Enjoying my magazine right now.  Soon I'll get back to the books, though.

Review: The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross

This book was given to me by my mother-in-law. She was getting rid of a bunch of books that she had read, but I couldn't let them pass through our house without reading them myself (it's a terrible addiction, this need to read everything in the world).

I've never read anything by Andrew Gross. He's written a couple of books with James Patterson, but I haven't read any of those, either. So I didn't know quite what to expect going in to this novel. I knew it was about the Witness Protection Program, but that was about it. Kate Raab's father was a gold merchant, a good man, and a great father. But now the government was coming after him, accusing him of selling gold to the Columbians, financing a drug cartel. Kate can't believe it - her whole world, everything she knew about her father, was crashing down around her. Her father agrees to testify against the cartel and the family is placed in WITSEC - the Witness Protection Program. Kate refuses to go into hiding. She marries her longtime sweetheart, Greg Herrera, and says goodbye to her family, possibly forever. What she discovers after that changes her life forever.

The story was great. It was your typical thriller, cliffhangers at the end of most chapters, lots of death and destruction, and a heroine that you could truly get behind. But the writing. Ohhhh, the writing. It felt like something I read as a teenager, one of those schlocky Sweet Valley High books, or some other formulaic series book. Sentence fragments. And the ITALICS. Everywhere, even where they didn't make sense. I'm fine with them when they denote someone's thoughts, or when they are really necessary, but on every page of the book? What was it that Mr. Carpenter said to Emily Starr as he was dying? "Beware - of - italics!" Oh my God, yes. Mr. Gross, beware of italics.

Three out of five Whatevers. Only saved from being a two by the fact that I got wrapped up in the storyline. Had the story sucked, the writing would not have saved it. Sadly, I can't really recommend this, except possibly if you are stranded on a desert island and this is the only book available to you to read.

2013-4

RAT: Into Hour 7

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross
Number of books read since you started: one
Pages read since last update: 63
Running total of pages read since you started: 207
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  85 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started:  305 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water; T.G.I. Friday's Buffalo Chicken Bites; carrots;

I finished my first book!  Truth be told, I'd already started it before today, but still...yay!  Now I'm going to read a magazine, my go-to Read-a-Thon secret.  It helps break up the monotony of reading books.  Hope everyone is getting some great reading in today!!!

RAT: Entering Hour 5

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 52
Running total of pages read since you started: 144
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  100 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 220 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Opening Meme
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread; jelly beans; Loaded Baked Potato Pringles; more water;

RAT: Opening Event Meme

Okay, I can't resist.  This is a classic.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Sunny South Florida
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Pirate King by Laurie R. King - hope I get to it!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  As always, my TGI Friday's potato skins...or else the pizza we're going to order for dinner...or maybe the wings...or the candy...it's all about being BAD on Read-a-Thon day.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  We just moved into a new house at the beginning of the month, so this is a new location for the Read-a-Thon...my third residence since I started Read-a-Thon-ing.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  Read more from my bed.  Maybe take a nap to fuel me for later.

RAT: Heading into Hour Three

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 92
Running total of pages read since you started: 92
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 120 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 120 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: None
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: bottle of water; Special K Sausage, Egg and Cheese Flatbread;

I'm not doing any mini-challenges right now.  I'll check them out, but I think I'd rather spend more time actually reading this RAT.  I'm probably going to do less blog-visiting, too.

Although I'd planned to do the RAT since I found out what day it was going to be, I completely forgot to sign up until this morning!  Oh well, my name's in there now.  Hope everyone out there is having a good time reading today!!!

Read-a-Thon!

Ugh, Blogger is giving me crap today, of all days!  For some reason, my initial post didn't publish.

I'm reading in my tenth Read-a-Thon - I've been doing this since 2008...kind of hard to believe.  But, as always, it's my favorite time of year!  I'm a bit hungover and tired this time around, from a Girls' Night In last night, so I don't expect stellar results, but I'm going to see how long I can stick it out.

I'll post my stats shortly.

Review: The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

I purchased this book from Amazon for my Kindle. I read this book in the middle of our move, about three weeks ago. And, in the midst of all the chaos and disorganization, it was a wonderful way to escape. I couldn't put it down, quite honestly.

The book picks up where the last volume left off - Holmes and Russell have just saved Holmes' son, Damian Adler's life. They left the madman who was trying to assassinate him dead among the standing stones. Except he's not really dead. And the police still have warrants out for the arrests of Holmes, Russell, and Adler. So there's a lot of skulking around London and the Scottish countryside, coupled with some truly terrifying moments (Russell's plane crash in the middle of a forest), while racing to discover who is behind the murder of Adler's wife, and the attempt his life and his daughter's.

Awesome book. Absolutely awesome. I'm so glad I still have several volumes left in this series. Maybe it was just the right book at the right time, but I'm giving it five out of five Whatevers. Wouldn't change a thing about it.

2013-3