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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

Readathon: Meme and Mini-challenge thread


This is where I'll keep track of the challenges I participate in. I want to keep a single post so that it's easier for me to update, and not overwhelming to my readers with many posts to read. If you were looking for my progress thread, click here.

Hour 13:
Hosted at Sheery's Place, this game asks you to unscramble some titles. I totally enjoyed this game! So my answers are:

1. Firefly Lane
2. East of Eden
3. Water for Elephants
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. The Great Gatsby
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
7. The Art of Caring in the Rain
8. The Time Traveler's Wife
9. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
11. A Wrinkle in Time
12. The Polar Express
13. Love Walked In
14. Where the Wild Things Are
15. The Shining
16. Goodnight Moon
17. Interview With a Vampire
18. The Secret Life of Bees
19. The Search
20. The Help

Hour 12:
Hosted at Dewey's Readathon, this is a mid-event meme with some good questions:

What are you reading right now?
I just put down Russell Wiley is Out to Lunch and am going back to The Passage.
How many books have you read so far?
I haven't really been reading much, so it's just been these two books.
What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Now I plan to move on to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Nothing better than a Potter book to get through a night.
Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
I stay alone plus no work on Saturday, so I didn't have to make any arrangements. :)
Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not interruptions, per se. But plenty of distractions. ;-) I didn't immediately deal with them because it took a while for me to realize that I am distracted, LOL!
What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
I was actually expecting myself to feel frustrated with myself because of my slow reading pace, but so far it has been a great experience, and I'm not worrying at all. I just love it that I'm getting so much time to read after the huge month-long rut I had recently.
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I really can't imagine any, maybe make it 48 hours? LOL, just kidding! :)
What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
This time, I spent a lot of time typing up posts - both updates and mini-challenges. That has been my biggest distraction so far. While I enjoyed doing the mini-challenges so much, next time, I need to look at them in advance and plan which ones I need to do, or do the challenges only once in 2-2.5 hours or so, so that I can get more reading time.
Are you getting tired yet?
I've been going 12 hours so far (with plenty of interruptions), and I'm yet to get tired. I'll probably have some coffee/tea after a while and carry on for a few more hours. Let's see how long it lasts!
Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
This time, I decided to keep just one post running for challenges and one for updates. This is working really well for me because updating is so much faster (I just have to add a few lines to each), plus it won't overwhelm anyone else not in the readathon and who'll probably check the feeds tomorrow or on Monday.

Hour 10:
Hosted at Lynne's Book Reviews, this twin challenge asks to post pictures of your pet and tell the name of your favorite animal book. I don't have pets, but my cousin has a Yorkie named Sprinkles - who I love so much! So I'll put up his picture.



Isn't he cute? Even with the stylish err... pink glasses? I love him and miss him so much!

For the second part of this challenge, I'm going to say that I love Winnie the Pooh! (I've reached the stage where Winnie no longer strikes me as being an animal!), here's my senselessly-concocted sentence, lol!

Witty Winnie winked wickedly when Wolf was welted.

Hour 6:
Hosted at The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, this challenge asks to share a few sites from a book that figuratively took you on a trot through a new place.

The book that comes to my mind is Moloka'i. Contrary to most books that usually introduce you to the positive side of a whole new place or culture, Moloka'i is actually an island in Hawaii where victims of leprosy were sent (ultimately to die). The reason this place struck so much with me was because of all the positive things it meant, albeit in a crooked sense. For those who don't know, Moloka'i is the story of Rachel Kalama, who is sent to the island when she contracts leprosy. At seven years of age. She, (and I, as well) expect to hate the island. But during the next several years, we see a side of the island that is optimistic and shaped by the triumph of the human spirit.

Reading this book made me visit Hawaii so much. The culture, the names, the people, the sea and their love for it, and the places described only made me sad that I haven't been to this beautiful place yet. There are not so many pictures online from this island, but those that are there are truly beautiful. I didn't want to paste all here because many are copyright-protected. So instead, here's one picture.


(Photo credit)

Hour 5:
Hosted at My Reading Room, this challenge asks for a picture of books, and since I had just recently uploaded a picture of my bookshelf, I figured that I can't pass this one up!



Hour 4:
Hosted at Indiependent Books, this challenge asks for a picture of an indie book we are reading. And how lucky for me, because I have 2-3 indie books in my pile for the day. The one whose picture I am including is Russell Wiley is Out to Lunch by Richard Hine.



Hour 3:
Hosted at Estella's Revenge, this challenge asks for a six word celebration of Dewey's Readathon. I took a long time on this, but had loads of fun inventing so many 6-word description of what the readathon is all about. In the end, this is what I settled on (complete with a sign, lol):


Hour 1:
Hosted at Dewey's Readathon, the hour 1 meme asks the following traditional breakfast questions, over a delicious cup of coffee.

Where are you reading from today?
Lynchburg, Virginia!
3 facts about me …
How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I have 5 books here right now. I took the ones I really want to read though I know that through the day I will be picking more books from my shelf.
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)?
I don't have any goal other than just to enjoy my reading. I just came off a wicked slump a couple of weeks ago, so I really just want to enjoy my reading, which I've missed for quite a while.
If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
I'm not a veteran read-a-thoner, but this is my third read-a-thon. I'll just tell everyone not to make the same mistake I did the first time around - don't focus too hard on the number of pages or books you are reading. Each book is different just as each reader is. So just relish the whole reading experience, eat healthy snacks (you don't want your scales betraying you tomorrow), drink tea instead of coffee (esp green tea), and enjoy!
Have Fun!

Comments

Great advice. I try not to get hooked on number of pages read either or I'll just berate myself all day. Enjoy your day of reading!
Mystica said…
Relax and enjoy the reading! best of luck with finishing all what you set out to do.
Tales of Whimsy said…
You can do it! *cheer cheer*
Natalie W said…
Your doing great! Love your list of books. Hope your enjoying them and happy reading!
Natalie :0)
Lisa said…
Sounds like you're doing great! I haven't taken any time to do any memes or challenges--I've had a hard enough time getting my family to leave me alone so that I could read!
Marg said…
I need to read Molokai! I have had it on my TBR list for years!

Thanks so much for particpating in my mini-challenge!