Ex Libris Bitsy

I haven’t participated in Dewey’s Read-a-Thon since… October 2010! Last April I was in the middle of a move during the read-a-thon and last October I had signed up for an awesome indie bookstore cruise to get acquainted with some of the great indies in my new home town. I am so glad to be back though, it’s been a while and I’m looking forward to this!

I’m actually in Illinois visiting in-laws now. I’m planning to start my read-a-thon here and read to my husband on the hour plus drive home and hopefully continue the read-a-thon in my comfy library that I have missed this week.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to start the read-a-thon so I packed a whole bunch of high interest books, truth be told it was half my suitcase. At least!

• Pride and Prejudice (The Annotated Edition) by Jane Austen
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman
• The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
• The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
• Wither by Lauren Destefano
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

I also have some e-books I’m looking forward to reading once I am reunited with my Nook. Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse, Divergent, and of course finishing up The Snow Child.

Plus I am really looking forward to my manga of this read-a-thon: Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in a 24 hour read-a-thon and I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks. I hope everyone has a blast today, I know I will! Read on.

I have not managed to get any reading in yet this read-a-thon, but I am up and dressed and have started in on a cup of tea. I just know better than letting mini-challenges slip past otherwise I will never get caught up!

Introductory Meme

Currently in souther Illinois, later this afternoon will be back in St Louis, Missouri!

It’s a three way tie between: Scarlet a book about a girl disguised as a boy serving with Robin Hood and his men. Divergent a dystopian set in the last city I lived in, Chicago. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse a fantastic looking short story collection of post apocalyptic stories, one of them written by George R.R. Martin. I’m really looking forward to all of them!

Looking forward to polishing off the last of my Easter candy, to be honest. We made so many sweets for Easter that it’s taking us a while to get through all of the snacks and candy and cookies and…

I have two younger brothers who both out weigh me (two times and three times by body weight, respectively) and are each much taller than me (a foot taller and a foot and a half taller, respectively). They know better than to mess with me though, I’m still the big sister, even though people look at me funny when I gesture up at them and introduce them as my “little” brothers.

Normally I start off with several manga to get a few books under my belt and feel accomplished early on. I can’t do that this time as the books are back in St. Louis so I’m winging it this time and am just going to pick whatever and see how far I can get.

Six hours in and I’ve made a good dent in Scarlet. We are now packing up and I am going to read The Book Thief to my husband on the way home. Looking forward to picking up the manga Neon Genesis: Evangelion as soon as I get there! It will be nice to be home again after the week away.

Reading in Translation

When I was younger it would definitely have been the Bible, because I know a lot was lost in translation there. But now my views on faith have changed and I would have to say I am far more curious about The Arabian Nights originally One Thousand and One Nights. Yes, I even want to sit down and read the entire collection. One of my life goals is to read them all in English some day. Far more possible now that I have an e-reader!

I’m not sure there is an original cover of this manuscript but here is a scan of some of the pages from a manuscript of it, from the wikipedia page:

It’s not the complete set but here is a version I would like to own as well as having the whole thing digitally:

وَلَقـدْ نَدِمْـتُ عَلى تَفَرُّقِ شَمْــلِنا :: دَهْـرَاً وّفاضَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْ أَجْفـاني
وَنَـذَرْتُ إِنْ عـادَ الزَّمـانُ يَلُمـُّـنا :: لا عُــدْتُ أَذْكُــرُ فُرْقًــةً بِلِســاني
هَجَــمَ السُّــرورُ عَلَــيَّ حَتَّـى أَنَّهُ :: مِـنْ فَــرَطِ مـا سَــرَّني أَبْكــــاني
يا عَيْـنُ صـارَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْكِ سِجْيَةً :: تَبْكيــنَ مِـنْ فَـــرَحٍ وَأَحْزانـــــي

In English it reads:

And I have regretted the separation of our companionship :: An eon, and tears flooded my eyes
And I’ve sworn if time brought us back together :: I’ll never utter any separation with my tongue
Joy conquered me to the point of :: which it made me happy that I cried
Oh eye, the tears out of you became a principle :: You cry out of joy and out of sadness

Book Puzzle

Include a series of images that creates a book title when taken together.

I decided to go with an easy one.

Turn to a Page

Turn to page 32 of your current read and finish the sentence below with an action from it.

From Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Okay! I am home again! I am also very glad I have a wonderful husband who did most of the unpacking while I curled up with a manga, seriously he is such a wonderful man.

I have finished two books so far in this read-a-thon! The first two books in the manga Neon Genesis Evangelion have now bit the dust. Not sure what I’m going to pick up next yet.

Your Favorite Trouble Maker

I have to say at the word “anti-hero” my mind immediately goes to Severus Snape. He was definitely the first bad guy character I’ve ever read that I started rooting for fairly early in the series. Well, rooting for period to be honest. I’m a bit of a goody two shoes like that.

Snape kept trying to do the right things when young but fell into rough crowds and became the subject of bullying that led him to make some pretty stupid choices. He keeps trying to make up for his mistakes in life but the path he leads takes him to some dark places and has him committing some very dark deeds for an ultimate good cause. Yeah, Snape is definitely my favorite anti-hero.

I managed to get 1/3rd of the way through Scarlet and I think I’m ready to mix it up with some more of my current manga Neon Genesis: Evangelion followed by some short stories from Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. That ought to keep me up at night!

Mid-Event Survey

I had a bit of a headache from looking at my e-reader screen for hours but I switched to a paper book for a bit (and took some aspirin) and now I’m ready to go back to the e-reader again!

Two books so far, volumes 1 and 2 of Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

To be honest I don’t know where either this manga series or the novel I’m reading is going just yet. So I can’t commit to either one yet.

Easter candy and egg salad sandwiches, yum!

I’d love to give some shout outs to the cheerleaders who have been so awesome to me during this read-a-thon! I am so grateful that all of you have dropped by to cheer me on, thank you!

• Lisa from When She Reads
• Janel from Bibliophibian
• Preet from A Written Rhapsody
• Maree from Just Add Books
• Megan from Leafing Through Life

I have just finished my fourth book of the read-a-thon and am not sure if I want to switch to short stories, continue with the manga, or call it a night. After a week away from home and poor sleep, not to mention a day with packing, traveling, and unpacking in it, I’m actually pretty beat. On the other hand there are only five hours left…

Theme Songs

So I actually create entire Pandora stations around my reads fairly often and I have a great Science Fiction channel I created and have been listening to while reading the sci-fi manga Neon Genesis: Evangelion. My reading music has to be instrumental mood music with no words, otherwise the words in the song get in the way of the words I’m reading.

So check out my Sci-Fi Reading Music station on Pandora. A lot of the music has matched up pretty well with what I have been reading and has really been adding great mood music to the scenes making them a bit more intense and interesting. Handy now that it is getting to the point in the read-a-thon where I am having problems seeing straight.

I am done! I have finished four books! I have made a great dent in three others! I am also very, very tired still and it’s noon the next day! I went straight to sleep as soon as the clock hit seven. I was just so completely tired. So here I am writing my wrap-up and, frankly, ready for another cup of tea.

End of Event Meme

The last two nearly checked me out completely. I was so tired and the hours felt so much longer. I swear I lived lifetimes in the last four hours where the first twelve flew past like they were nothing.

I highly recommend reading mangas during the small hours of a read-a-thon. I also highly recommend music reading stations with creepy/loud/dramatic music to get your blood flowing.

Go through and update all your pages some time in July with dates and information for the next read-a-thon. Some of your pages haven’t been updated since the last one or before. Also creating events for it on facebook would be cool, haven’t done that in years.

I loved chatting on twitter more this year in times past. It was fun to be with people while reading in that way. Especially because in the small hours it tends to get lonely.

I read only four this year.

Neon Genesis: Evangelion Volumes 1-4

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

I’m a little worried about Scarlet I have to see what direction the book is going to go.

N/A

I would love to participate in October. Looking forward to it already.