Read-A-Thon Mini-Challenges

Hour 2:

What have you surrounded yourself with for these early hours of the challenge besides your books? I have water, snacks, a pillow and my iPod.


Hour 5:

- Feed Me Seymour Challenge:

While I was reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, there was a passage were Percy, the lead character, eats a cheeseburger.

Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes and XXL servings of french fries.
I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.


- Book, Score, Soundtrack Challenge:
On chapter 7 of the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Percy is trying to adjust to his new life and his new home at Camp Half-Blood. He meets a lot of new people who are like him, and he tries to find a sense of belonging. The song that I think fits this chapter is Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park.


Hour 7:

- Pantyworthy Challenge:

What makes an author pantyworthy? I think if a writer achieves the right balance between action, romance, mystery and fantasy, they would be pantyworthy. Also, authors who end their books with cliffhangers but at the same time make you feel satisfied with the story. Favourite pantyworthy authors? Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher and Nalini Singh.


Hour 9:

- Soundtrack Songs Challenge:

The song that I would pick for The Lightning Thief would be Time Is Running Out by Muse because in the book Percy has a limited time to fix everything so he can stop a war, and he has to fight temptation, pain and despair to win.


Hour 11:

- Get Up and Move Challenge:

What I did was dance a little, especially to the song I Want You To Want Me. I have it stuck in my head and I can't stop replaying it!


- If The Cover Fits Challenge:

Disturbing Cover

Vibrant Cover

Beautiful Cover

Scary Cover

Moving Cover

Hour 12:

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now? His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

2. How many books have you read so far? 1 complete, another one that I didn't finish.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? The Lovely Bones

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? No

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Sometimes interruptions are needed.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? That there's a lot of participants.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? You should ask me that when my head is clear of dragons and magic.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I would sleep better the night before.

9. Are you getting tired yet? Yes, but I'm going to try to make it.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? I have been doing music breaks, so my mind stays fresh.

Hour 13:


- Romancing Your Friendship Challenge:

My favourite book in which friends realize that are in love with each other is Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This book is funny and romantic. Annabelle and Heath don't really like each other at the beginning, then they decide that they are going to have a business relationship and then they become friends. It was nice seeing all the stages of their relationship through the book.

Annabelle is tired of being the lone failure in a family of overachievers. She's endured dead-end jobs and a broken engagement. Even her hair's a mess! But that's going to change now that she's taken over her late grandmother's matchmaking business. All Annabelle has to do is land the Windy City's hottest bachelor as her client, and she'll be the most sought-after matchmaker in town. Nothing is going to stand in her way -- not the drunk lying comatose under her car, not her family's disapproval, and certainly not the lingering effects of a broken heart.

With his money green eyes and calculated charm, Heath Champion is the best sports agent in the country. He's wealthy, driven, and gorgeous, so why does he need a matchmaker, especially a red-haired screw-up like Annabelle Granger? True, she's entertaining, and she does have a certain quirky appeal. But Heath is searching for the ultimate symbol of his success -- the perfect wife. And to make an extraordinary match, he needs an extraordinary matchmaker, right?

Thin, rich, utterly fabulous Portia Powers has spent her career making matches for everyone but herself. Her take-no-prisoners attitude has built Power Matches into the top matchmaking agency in Chicago. So what if she has more enemies than friends and she's one breath away from a nervous breakdown? Neither an upstart like Annabelle Granger nor Heath Champion's menacing, but oddly intriguing, bodyguard, will keep her from getting what she wants -- a Power Match for Heath ... the city's very own Jerry Maguire.

Soon everyone in Chicago has a stake in the outcome, right down to Annabelle's overprotective book club. When the matchmaker promises she'll do anything to keep her star client happy ... does she mean anything? If Annabelle isn't careful, she just might find herself going heart-to-heart with the toughest negotiator in town -- a man who's beginning to ask himself: Exactly how perfect does perfect have to be?

Hour 14:


- Bookish Movies Challenge:

My favourite book right now is Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. 'm not sure if I would like it to be a movie, but if they made one, I would love to see Ryan Reynolds take the part of Samuel Cornick. Samuel is a werewolf doctor who wants to be with Mercy Thompson, the protagonist of the series, be he has competition on Adam Haupman, the Alpha of the territory in which Mercy lives. For me, he resembles Samuel physically, and as I said before, Sam is a werewolf, so there would be some scenes in which he would have to be shirtless, and who doesn't like Ryan Reynolds without a shirt?


Hour 16:


- Title Teasers Challenge:

1./ The Dark Divine
2./ An Irish Country Girl
3./ The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
4./ Necessary Heartbreak
5./ She's So Dead to Us
6./ Fireworks Over Toccoa
7./ Beautiful Dead
8./ Scones & Sensibility
9./ All Unquiet Things
10./ Beautiful Creatures
11./ Perchance to Dream
12./ The Dead-Tossed Waves
13./ I Kissed a Zombie and I liked It
14./ Prophecy of the Sisters
15./ Very LeFreak
16./ The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
17./ Marriage and Other Acts of Charity
18./ Making Toast
19./ White Cat
20./ Letters to My Father


Hour 17:


- Early Favourites Challenge:

The first book I remember loving is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That book is the one that made me such an avid reader and is also the one that let me set loose my imagination.


- Get The Heck Out of Here Challenge:

1. I made sure nobody disturbed me (no cell phone, no twitter) and had a lot of snacks.
2. The most effective were the snacks. I could read while I ate!
3. I would sleep more the previous day.