Book Chase

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Hours 17-24


My nap turned into a full night’s sleep when the alarm failed to wake me.  I vaguely remember turning it off so it’s my fault.  I did read another handful of pages in the new Bill Bryson book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, so my final, rather pathetic stats are:

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Hour 16

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Hours 14-15


I finished Dark Road to Darjeeling and I’m pawing through the stack as Hour 16 begins in search of something that will keep me awake for a while longer.

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We are 13 full hours into this thing and I can’t believe how few minutes I’ve actually read during those hours.  I have managed to meet all of my Saturday obligations finally, so perhaps I’ll get to do some concentrated reading before the crash that is likely to claim me later tonight.

The last two hours have largely been taken up with getting dinner on the table and my youngest grandson ready for bed.  My reading was limited but the totals now look like this:

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Hours 4 and 5 were spent at the football game (an 18-7 loss to a group of huge 9-year-olds) but I’m back at least for a while.

During the first three hours I managed 128 actual reading minutes for a total of 98 pages of Deanna Raybourn’s new Lady Julia Grey novel,  Dark Road to Darjeeling.  This one is set in India as Lady Grey and her new husband investigate what they suspect is the murder of a tea plantation owner…lots of folks have reason to want this man dead, it seems.

Slow start on the read-a-thon…hoping to pick up the pace later today although I suspect more demands on my time that will likely force me to leave the house again.

Now, it’s on to Hour 6…
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I’ve decided to participate in Dewey’s Read-a-thon even though I have a couple of obligations later this morning that will see me leaving the house for three hours or so.  One of my grandsons has a peewee football game scheduled for 10:30 and I’m looking forward to seeing how his 4-1 team does today.  Then I’ve got to deliver my granddaughter to my wife so they can leave for a scheduled appointment of their own.  I think the break will re-energize me, however, and I’m not too concerned about losing that much time.

I see that Hour 1 requires a meme, so here goes:

Three facts about me:


I have worked in the oil industry (in several countries) for almost four decades.

I am a sports enthusiast, particularly supporting Houston’s local teams, both professional and amateur.

I love roots music of all types: blues, bluegrass, country, mountain and pop.


How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?


I have ten in the pile but will most likely only read from 4 or 5 of them, depending on my mood and how often I feel that I need a change of pace.

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)?


Not really.  I would like to do better than I did on my last go at a read-a-thon and, since I did so poorly, that shouldn’t be too difficult.  I think I will concentrate on reading minutes and number of pages since I’m a statistical nut but I’ll play it all by ear, for the most part.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?


As I said, this is only my second read-a-thon – but I did learn something from my first one.  Don’t take it all too seriously; have fun with it, instead.  If you need a break or some sleep, do it.  I came into the first one already tired, pushed myself to stay awake, and then was so exhausted that I slept through the last few hours (the best part of the whole experience comes at the end, I suspect).

I’m going to do it differently this time, even taking a morning break for that football game I mentioned.

Anyway, here we go.  Have fun, all.