Sunday, 29 July 2012

Olympics readathon

Who saw the Olympics opening ceremony Friday night? From the sublime to the ridiculous, I thought it celebrated all the best parts of Britishness: its music, history, sport (of course) children's literature (at which we excel!) and above all, our ability to laugh at ourselves. The highlight of the evening, for me, had to be Her Majesty the Queen participating in a sketch with James Bond and appearing to parachute into the stadium. The Duke of Edinburgh did not parachute. I suppose at over ninety years old, it might be considered a bit dangerous for him... For the Queen, a sprightly eighty-six, it was just part of the job. Bless you, Ma'am, for being such a good sport!



Quite by chance, my two-week summer holiday takes place over the entire duration of the London Games, but I'll let you into a secret: I have zero interest in sport, even the Olympics, even on home soil. Skimming through the next week's TV mag I realised just how much TV coverage the Games were going to get - TV is cancelled! (I exaggerate a little.) So I took very little persuading to sign up to Random House of Canada's Olympics Readathon while the rest of the world has their eyes on the Games. I'm late beginning, but aiming to read 1500 pages between now and Sunday 12th August.  (average: 100 pages per day.) I've been busy book-buying in the last couple of weeks, and want to get through:

A Storm of Swords (both volumes) - George R. R. Martin (both parts read)
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury (read)
Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters (read)
Little Brother - Cory Doctorow
Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld (read)
The Princess Bride - S. Morgenstern*/William Golding (currently rereading)


MY PROGRESS:

29th July - 168 pages
30th July - 137 pages
31st July - 176 pages
1st August - 220 pages
2nd August - 102 pages
3rd August - 188 pages
4th August - 154 pages
5th August - 136 pages
6th August - 110 pages
7th August - 42 pages
8th August - 242 pages and hit target of 1500 pages during the Olympics!
9th August - 146 pages
10th August - 45 pages
11th August - 254 pages
12th August - 66 pages

Total: 2186 pages and 5 2/3 books read.






*Yes, I am quite aware that the S. Morgenstern stuff is part of the story, thank you.

3 comments:

  1. I really loved the Opening Ceremonies too - very cute! I was especially a fan of the Mr. Bean skit. Good luck to you in your readathon!

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  2. YEEEES! Hehe, I'm the same - pretty much zero interest in the Limpicks. I might occasionally watch the diving (just so I can go 'ooooh!' and secretly hope someone will do a belly flop) but that's it. TOTALLY agree with the James Bond highlight though. The moment the whole of Britain just went 'Damn, your Majesty, that was very cool!' :)

    Sooooo... read-a-thon, huh? Hehe, I knew you'd crumble like a digestive biscuit in the end! Very much looking forward to catching up with your reading - I still haven't started the Martin books, I loved Tipping the Velvet, and I've had Prep around here somewhere for about six years now! I don't have loads of time off, but I DO have three days off together this week while town shuts down for its country show thingy, so I'm loading up on junk food and caffeine ready! :)

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  3. Yep, Mr Bean was great too - I loved how we got something as majestic as "Chariots of Fire," and had Mr Bean pratting around all through it. I just love how we as a nation don't take ourselves too seriously. It's more fun that way!

    Ellie - I didn't take much persuading. I remember your review of "Velvet" - it's the only Sarah Waters book I haven't read yet, but she's such a good writer and storyteller. I loved "Fingersmith." Took my book to the beach today - has to be done when you live on the Isle of Wight and have bus passes to use up. After the weather we've had, if there's a hint of blue sky, I'm outdoors.

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