Read-a-thon Post 7

My last read-a-thon post. In the last hour, I finished Halting State (and the author interview) and managed to start, and finish, The Iron Man in the last 20 mins! I'd hoped to also fit in its sequel, The Iron Woman but didn't quite manage it too.

I've just added £4 to my Year of Readers fundraising page for Book Aid as the additional contribution for those two books - I'd really hoped to do much better than 450 pages and I suspect that going to sleep for 10 hours of the 24 didn't really help my cause! Whilst it's great fun taking part in mini-challenges and visiting other participants to see how they are getting on, it did have a really big impact on my actual reading time so perhaps I should have been a cheerleader this time around.

I'll finish off with the last hour challengebefore I take the dogs out for a walk in the lovely sunshine:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The first hour I took part - I was late starting and was worried I wouldn't catch up and then spent an hour or so visiting other people and doing challenges rather than reading my book so I then felt even worse!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I've learned that I should have sought out and read more Young Adult fiction as several people looked like they were really enjoying that genre and it'd be relatively easy to read when tired. I think I should have also probably lined up a couple of (short) graphic novels as well as some low-thought/high-value "easy" fiction like something by Georgette Heyer or similar. Next time!
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. I really enjoyed myself!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? There was a great feeling of team spirit that made it a real pleasure to take part.
5. How many books did you read? Only two.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Halting State by Charles Stross & The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Halting State! Great fun and I will post separately about it later.
8. Which did you enjoy least? It seems hardly fair to pick on The Iron Man as it was the only other book I read and the prose it gorgeous.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I was not a Cheerleader but I'd say that I thought they did a great job! I've been visited, and encouraged, by some lovely people and those on twitter were really prolific!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'll definitely participate. I'd like to be a more organised reader who has not just got back from holiday with dodgy sleep patterns and I'd also like to be a cheerleader and sponsor a bookish prize.