My Brain on Books XXIII (#reversereadathon)

I am reading for The Office of Letters and Lights the folks who bring us NaNoWriMo today as I love what they are doing for literacy with their Young Writer's Programs and because I've participated in NaNo every year since 2004.  I have been blessed to have it in my life and would like to give something back if only kudos and link love.  I'm putting this plug at the top in hopes some who stop by will check out their site and see all the great things they do to foster love of reading and writing and story in kids. 

This post will be organized like a blog inside a blog with recent updates stacked atop previous ones. I may be posting some updates on Twitter @Joystory and the Joystory fb fanpage. But this is where I do anything more than a line or two.  Including mini-challenges that don't require a separate post..   

3:33PM- Riding out the end with The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.  Might even finish it or at least come close.  This is another Primereads borrow.

2:22PM- Set aside ONE Thing and switched to  Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon (Audio via BARD )  . Had wanted to stick with ONE Thing via text-to-speech function on kindle but it stopped functioning when I tucked the device into the holster to walk around with it and I needed to fix my lunch so I called up my BARD library and selected the Weldon.  Reading about reading and why it matters couldn't be a better thon choice right? 

After I ate tho, I started reading Orwell's 1984 on Kindle.  Another Primereading borrow.  This is a re-read but the last time I read it was in high-school and that was decades ago.  And I've been seeing a lot of reference to in commentary on current events so I've had in mind to read it again for some time.  In fact I had borrowed it via Primereads in 2016.  One of the goals I set for thon late yesterday was to spend time with as many of those borrows as possible so I can have them back at the top of my currently reading list and get some of them finished soon as I have come across others I'd like to borrow but have maxed out the limit which I think is ten.

1:11PM- Finished the Mueller Report and am returning to ONE Thing.

11:22AM- Must confess I had a nap attack at dawn had to lay down and sleep until 11.  Am going to return to the Mueller Report and finish it while I eat and tank up on coffee.

2:22AM-  Set aside the Mueller Report with a couple hours left to pick up The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
by Gary Keller.This is another via Amazon Primereading.  The advice imparted by Keller is something I need to take to heart.  Success is rooted in narrowing focus to ONE thing. My inability to do this is why I have over two dozen WIP in several endeavors.  Creative writing, fiber arts, research among them.  Two dozen would be as a raindrop in swimming pool in my TBR list.

11:55PM- Listening to The Mueller Report on YouTube at 1.75% speed.  Sometimes a full 2X as this is not my first time through plus I had started out reading with my eyes via PDF the week it was released.

9:11PM- Have reached chapter 71 and 65% according to Kindle..  Am reading this thanks to Amazon Primereading which allows you to borrow select items for free (well considering the annual cost of Prime 'free' is a relative term.

I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading this.  It has been on my TBR list ever since the first time I checked out a tree copy from a brick and mortar library during the Bush administration--several times.  It is just the kind of story with just the kind of themes I'm most attracted to.

It's a coming of age story with spiritual themes and a page turning adventure with heart-in-throat scenes.  Pi Patel age sixteen, son of a zookeeper, is emigrating from India to Canada with his family and what is left of the zoo population they are escorting to new homes.  The cargo ship they are traveling on sinks and Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a wounded zebra an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger.  Some of the most heart-in-throat scenes so far are those depicting what happens to bring the passenger count down to two--Pi and Richard Parker the Tiger.

In the years before their departure from India Pi had been exploring spiritual paths and could not settle on one so had become a serious practitioner of several including Catholicism, Hinduism and Islam.  He had studied under prominent spiritual leaders from each tradition.  These lessons and practices stand him in good stead as he struggles to keep both himself and Richard Parker alive for the more than 200 days they are adrift on the Pacific Ocean.

Why would he make keeping the tiger alive on a par with keeping himself alive?  Well that is a question that would take the whole book to answer.



4:44PM - 1)What fine part of the world are you reading from today? And what time is it where you are?
Longview, Washington USA situated in the V formed by the Cowlitz and Columbia Rivers.  Across the the majestic Columbia river from Raineer, Oregon..  On the north side of the majestic Columbia River approximately 50 miles from the coast and 25 miles from Portland, Oregon as the crow flies but drives about double that..

At my Mom's house.  The house I lived in from age 18 to 21 (or 1975-78) and again since January 2013.  See earliest posts under the label Lifequake for explanation.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

For Fiction: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
For Non Fiction: The Mueller Report

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

spicy hot chocolate with a little piece of very dark chocolate

4) Do you have a #reversereadathon plan of attack?

mostly  as always I'm looking forward to free range reading.  The most important part of my plan for this thon is to not have a plan.  That's basically been my thon plan every time for several years now.  It much more fun that way.  Less stress.

also to follow advice i give to thon newbies and vets alike: Stay hydrated!

Get up and move once an hour.  You can read while you pace you know.  i like to stand on my mini-tramp with a ebook or audio book to encourage bloodflow in my legs and brain.

Blink.  Seriously.  Dry eyeballs can't see.  And the hands rubbing them can't hold books

5) Are you doing the readathon solo or with others?

i'm solo

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