Airman

by Eoin Colfer

After a very, very long break, I'm finally back to posting reviews.

Wow! All I can say is "wow" after reading Eoin Colfer's Airman. This book is amazing and is perfect for adventure, romance, action, and history lovers.

Airman is a book set on the Saltee Islands about a boy named Conor Broekhart who is destined is to fly. As a friend to King Nicholas's daughter, Isabella, Conor spends his childhood playing with Isabella and studying with his tutor, Victor Vigney, on fencing and building flying contraptions. When he discovers a plot to kill the king, the murderer, Marshall Bonvilain, blames Conor instead, and Conor gets put in the Saltee Island Prison. He ends up being cellmates with Linus Wynter, a blind composer and musician, and joins a tough gang called the Battering Rams. Will he ever escape? Is Conor going to die? Will he save Isabella and his parents from poisoning from Bonvilain? Those were the questions circling through my head while reading Airman.

The author describes the living conditions in the prison on Little Saltee Island so well, I felt I was actually a prisoner myself. Eoin Colfer hooks you into the book right away, and I couldn't put down the book for hours!

Reviewed by Kate

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: The End

Kate slept through the final 10 hours of the Read-a-Thon, but I managed a final hour this morning. Kate did get up in time for us to read one last book together before 8am EDT, a 4-page story written on Storybird by my nephew Oliver and his friends. What a great way to finish off the read-a-thon!

Our final statistics are below.

Paulina's stats:

Partially finished: The Murder Stone by Louise Penny and Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay (audiobook)
Finished: Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell, Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park (started prior to Read-a-Thon), and my nephew's book.
Total hours read: 7.5 hrs + 2 hr audiobook
Total pages read (not counting audiobooks): 474
Mini-challenges done: Hour 1 meme, Hour 2 Back-in-the-Day Children's Book Challenge, Hour 4 Indie Pride Challenge, Hour 11 Attempting Audiobooks Challenge, Hour 12 meme

Kate's stats:

Partially finished: The Borrowers by Mary Norton, Alexander the Great by Penny Worms
Finished: The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur, The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur, Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park (started prior to Read-a-Thon), and her cousin's book.
Total hours read: 4.5 hrs + 1 hr audiobook
Total pages read (not counting audiobooks): 384

I read (or listened to audiobooks) a total of 9.5 hours this year, which was the exact same total as last year. However, I did (at least) an hour of cheerleading this time, so my overall participation increased. Kate didn't meet her goal of finishing her research reading, but I didn't really expect her to. (That's based on my own experience. How many times have I put aside the research/work reading for a good mystery?) Still, she managed 5.5 hours of reading (including audiobook time). Together, we read for 15 hours, so we'll be donating $30 to UNICEF.

Many thanks to the organizers of the event and mini-challenges, as well as to the cheerleaders and other readers who visiting my blog during the event! I'm looking forward to doing this again next year.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update #4

It's hour 16 now and it's bedtime for me. Kate went off to bed two hours ago. I finished Under This Unbroken Sky, and Kate finished her second book, The Secret of the Stuttering Parrot, another Three Investigators mystery. She ended the night by reading with her Dad a few pages from Saturday Evening Pearls (A Pearls Before Swine collection) by Stephan Pastis.

Kate and I had an hour left on an audiobook that we've been listening to together over the week, and we finished it off earlier in the afternoon. This was Storm Warning, the 9th book in the 39 Clues series, written by Linda Sue Park, and superbly narrated by David Pittu. We had commented on this in the Hour 11 Attempting Audiobook challenge.

Paulina's stats:

Currently reading: The Murder Stone by Louise Penny and Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay (audiobook)
Finished: Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell and Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park (started prior to Read-a-Thon)
Total hours read: 6.5 hrs + 2 hr audiobook
Total pages read (not counting audiobooks): 410
Mini-challenges done: Hour 1 meme, Hour 2 Back-in-the-Day Children's Book Challenge, Hour 4 Indie Pride Challenge, Hour 11 Attempting Audiobooks Challenge, Hour 12 meme

Kate's stats:

Finished: The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur, The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur, Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park (started prior to Read-a-Thon)
Total hours read: 4.5 hrs + 1 hr audiobook
Total pages read (not counting audiobooks): 380

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update #3

It's almost the end of hour 13, and I'll do the update by answering the questions for the hour 12 mid-event meme.

1. What are you reading right now?
I'm reading The Murder Stone by Louise Penny and Kate is reading The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot (a Three Investigators mystery) by Robert Arthur.

2. How many books have you read so far?
I've almost finished my first but decided to take a break and move onto another one for a while. Kate has finished one. We both finished listening to an audiobook (39 Clues #9: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park) that we had started before the read-a-thon.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I'd been looking forward to reading the Louise Penny book (the fourth in the Inspector Gamache series) for a while now, so I hope I can get through a good part of it before I fall asleep. Kate's bedtime is coming up soon, so she won't be able to look forward to reading any more in the second half, but maybe she will squeeze in a bit more in the morning if she gets up early enough.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
I did as much housework as I could the night before, and I warned the rest of my family that Kate and I will be ignoring them and all other responsibilities for the day!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Compared to last year, when I had to rush to Montreal on the morning of the read-a-thon for a family emergency, today's interruptions were very minor ones.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
The number of people participating is surprising and wonderful!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It's terrific as it is.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
I signed up for an hour of cheerleading but might consider doing more next year. It's great fun to visit all the blogs. It's also been great having Kate read along with me this year, and next year, I'll try to get more family members involved. (No one else is as addicted to reading as the two of us, though.)

9. Are you getting tired yet?
Yes, but I will try to persevere for another couple of hours. A glass of wine is making the experience more enjoyable but is not doing much to increase my energy level.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well.
Don't worry about pages read or books completed and just enjoy the hours of reading!

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update #2

We're just starting hour 8 now.

As well as reading on my couch, I went for an hour-long run in beautiful weather, while listening to Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay on my iPod.

For the Hour 2 Back-in-the-Day Children's Book Challenge, I wrote that the Anne of Green Gables series and the Little House series were my favourite childhood books. Kate's favourite is the Percy Jackson series.

For the Hour 4 Indie Pride Challenge, I posted a photo of Lesley Crewe's novel, Her Mother's Daughter, published by Nimbus Publishing, based in Atlantic Canada. I'm about half-way through this novel and hope to read more of it later today.

Paulina's stats:

Currently reading: Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell and Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay (audiobook)
Total hours read: 3hrs + 1 hr audiobook
Total pages read: 175
Mini-challenges done: Hour 1 meme, Hour 2 Back-in-the-Day Children's Book Challenge, Hour 4 Indie Pride Challenge.

Kate's stats:

Currently reading: The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur and The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Finished: The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur
Total hours read: 3
Total pages read: 260

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Update #1

I'll start off with the Hour 1 meme from the Read-a-Thon blog:

Where are you reading from today?
Kate and I are doing most of our reading on our comfy couches in our living room, in Ontario, Canada!

3 facts about me …
I knit ... a lot. I've also posted some free designs on Ravelry here.
I used to play Scrabble competitively.
I make lists compulsively.

... and 3 facts about Kate ...
She plays violin, piano and guitar.
Her favourite food is Nutella.
Her favourite colour is purple.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
Way too many. I have about 10 novels to choose from, though I expect to get through only a few of them. Kate has a stack of books for her research projects and another 5 or 6 fun books to choose from.

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)?
Last year, I managed 9.5 hours. I'll be happy if I can exceed that number this year. I also hope to visit all the blogs on my cheerleading list. Kate's goal is to finish her reading for her research projects.

Advice for those new to read-a-thons.
Alternate between heavy and light reading. Listen to audiobooks when your eyes get tired or when doing housework (though it is better to avoid housework altogether if you can).

Current progress:
I've read for an hour-and-a-half and I'm almost 100 pages into Under This Unbroken Sky. Kate has read for an hour. She is reading (and making notes on) Alexander the Great by Penny Worms and she has started The Borrowers.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

It's 8am EDT, and we're ready to start Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-Thon! I'm planning to start with Shandi Mitchell's Under This Unbroken Sky and then move onto something lighter after an hour or two. Kate will be reading The Secret of Terror Castle (an old Three Investigators mystery) and books for her research project on Alexander the Great.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

It's time again for Dewey's Read-a-thon! On Saturday, October 9, Kate and I will attempt to read for as many hours as we can in the 24-hour period starting 8am EDT. We will donate a toonie to UNICEF for every hour that either of us reads.

My first attempt last year resulted in 9.5 hours of reading. Most of that was done on the train to Montreal and in the ICU visiting my Mom, who was seriously ill at the time. I am happy to report that she has now fully recovered and is in good health, so this time, I can read under more pleasant conditions.

I have a pile of mystery/thriller and YA books (always good for these intensive reading sessions) ready. Kate has had a very busy school year so far (that's why she's been rather quiet on this blog but she promises to write some reviews soon). She plans to kill two birds with one stone by reading books for an upcoming research project and for her classroom book-club.

If you have nothing to do on Saturday, or if whatever you need to do is less appealing than spending the entire day reading, then please join us! You can sign up as a reader and/or as a cheerleader. Cheerleading involves visiting other readers' blogs and leaving encouraging comments. It's a great way to discover new book blogs and get book recommendations.

City Lights Bookstore

Todd and I were in San Francisco for a brief vacation, and I discovered the historic City Lights bookstore. City Lights is also a publisher and it was here that the Beat movement flourished. Among its publications are works by Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

The bookstore is in a building as unique as its history. Located at the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown, the building is triangular in shape and features a large Zapatista mural on one side. Inside, it has what I'd expect from a good independent bookstore: thoughtful staff recommendations, an eclectic mix of books on a variety of subjects and a feeling of being totally surrounded by many, many books. While it is refreshing to walk through a spacious and orderly Chapters or Borders store, there's nothing like going into a place where books are jammed into every square inch possible, and there's something interesting and perhaps unexpected to catch your eye every time you turn around.

I was tempted to pick up some beat poetry but I ended up getting a mystery novel by Arnaldur Indridason, set in Iceland. The latter is more my style, but I left the building with a greater appreciation of what this bookseller/publisher had contributed to American literature.