24 Hour Read-a-thon: Hour 3

This hour
Book read: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 54
Time spent reading: 49 minutes
Food and drink consumed: water

Total
Books read: Penny Arcade, Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 181
Time spent reading: 2 hours 35 minutes

24 Hour Read-a-thon: Hour 2

This hour
Book read: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 60
Time spent reading: 46 minutes
Food and drink consumed: Trader Joe's Ridge Cut Red Bliss Potato chips

Total
Books read: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 127
Time spent reading: 1 hour 46 minutes

Mini-Challenge
Check out a web comic for at least 10 minutes
Nymeth's challenge included links to a bunch of different web comics, including Penny Arcade. I have a couple of friends who read that quite often, so I thought I'd give it a try. Overall, very amusing, but I'm not sure I'm geeky enough for it (don't get me wrong, I'm very geeky...). This was my favorite out of what I read, because a friend keeps trying to get me to read the series, and I keep saying "but the first one is boring..."

My favorite web comic? xkcd

24 Hour Read-a-thon: Hour 1

This hour
Book read: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 67
Time spent reading: 60 minutes
Food and drink consumed: Ice coffee

Total
Books read: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Pages read: 67
Time spent reading: 60 minutes

Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
Where are you reading from today? Brookline, Massachusetts. It's rainy and gross, so a perfect day to stay inside, curled up with a good book.

3 facts about me …
-I'm new to this whole book blogging thing... I'm much more comfortable writing about food, as I've been blogging on that topic for over a year.
-I'm in library school right now, focusing on archives, and in the grand scheme of things, I'd love to work in an archaeology archives some day.
-I've written two novels (both awful), and I'm looking forward to working on some other ideas I've got, because they've got to be better than what I've already done ;)

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
Too many. My friends have been acting as my pushers for the past couple of weeks (I've been doing the same for them, though), so there's plenty on hand. In fact, I'm probably going to have a hard time deciding what to read next.

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)?
My goal is to read a variety of different books - at least one popular lit, one kid/YA, one memoir, one graphic novel... vary it up.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!!!! (I mean, read...)

Well, it's time! Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon starts now. My friends (hi, guys) think I'm a little crazy (ok, more than a little), but I'm really looking forward to it. I love reading, and I love exploring new blogs and meeting other bloggers, so this is going to be a good time.

I'm starting off with Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Snuff. I love his writing, although my favorites (Haunted and Rant) have received quite a bit of critisism (especially Haunted, which I think is much more fully realized than most people think).

And for the rest of the day? Well, my To-Be-Read pile has always been large, but my friends have been plying me with books in preparation for this, so I have more on hand than I can handle. Popular literature, graphic novels, chick lit, food writing, fantasy, sci-fi, YA, and whatever else falls on my plate.

And since my first blog is about food, I had to cook up some exciting stuff to have on hand. Most notably, I made some tasty strawberry lemon bars for that much-needed sugar high, and I've also got lots of iced tea and awesome iced coffee on hand. Oh, and a yummy, fresh pasta salad and chocolate.

All right, enough typing. Time to read...

Eclipse

I finished Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, a while ago and just forgot to post. I have to say, I was quite happy with this book, as it was much more exciting than New Moon. That's not to say that Bella wasn't whiny or didn't pass out randomly... Rather, I enjoyed the love triangle more having all three people in the same place, and I liked the uneasy truce that Edward and Jacob come to in order to protect Bella.

**Here be spoilers**

I found the battle with Victoria and her babies very exciting, and learning the details of the main battle in the field only after the fact made it seem more intense.

One thing that bothered me, though, was the last chapter told in Jacob's POV. I can understand wanting to show his emotions over the impending wedding, but to go three whole books with Bella and then suddenly be with Jacob really threw me for a loop...

**There be spoilers**

And I'm still on Team Edward... although, after Jacob acting as a warming blanket in the tent, I'm beginning to see the light on the whole Team Jacob thing...

Pomegranate Roads

I'm a huge fan of pomegranates (a passion that predates the whole Pom hoopla) and I often run Amazon searches just to see what will come up. While running one of these searches, I came up with Pomegranate Roads, A Soviet Botanist's Exile from Eden, by Gregory M. Levin. Levin is a punicologist, or pomegranate specialist, who spent over 40 years at Garrigala, the Soviet botany research station in Turkmenistan. During his time there, he traveled widely and collected over a thousand different pomegranate varieties. Sadly, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Levin was forced to emmigrate, leaving his pomegranate collection to fate.

This book chronicles Levin's research, including many expeditions in search for more plants. Some portions of the book read like an adventure tale, with him surviving car wrecks and treacherous journeys. Other portions, where he focuses on people he worked with over the years, can be a little tedious, although it is sweet that he is paying homage to his colleagues. And as always, I wanted to know more about the mythology behind the pomegranate (although I was happy to read that both Levin and publisher Barbara Baer share my thoughts that the pomegranate was the "apple" that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden).

This is, overall, a fast and enjoyable read. If nothing else, it made me want to live in California so I could have my own pomegranate tree, something that won't happen here in Boston.

To hear an interview with publisher Barbara Baer, visit the Pomegranate Roads website.

The Lace Reader

I managed to snag an advanced copy of The Lace Reader from a blog at my favorite local bookstore, Brookline Booksmith. I'm always up for a book that takes place in Massachusetts, and the Gothic nature of the story sounded fascinating. I have to say, I wasn't let down by this book at all.

Towner Whitney comes from an established Salem family - the men were traders and merchants and pirates. And the women? Psychics and readers - especially lace readers. Towner comes back to Salem after the disappearance of her great-aunt, Eva, who gave lace readings to locals and tourists alike in her tea room. Towner's mother, May, always an eccentric, takes in abused women and children and teaches them to make lace. But Towner herself has been avoiding lace since her twin sister committed suicide as a teen after a lace reading.

The book is itself a piece of finely crafted lace - read it patiently and all of its secrets will appear in time. Keep in mind that Towner's first paragraph includes the line "Never believe me. I lie all the time." Bit by bit, the details behind Towner's past materialize, knitting a web of overlapping truths and lies, light and darkness, as she herself comes to terms with what has happened to her.

Not only did I love the atmosphere and the story, but I fell in love with the lace as well. This book made me want to take up lace-making, and I've tried my hand at coffee reading, so why not lace reading as well?

Also check out the website for the book, which includes the first few chapters to read, tips of reading lace, and a great map of Salem which includes spots in the book.