Here is the post read-a-thon questionnaire,

Here are the post-event survey questions:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Anything after 11pm. I went to bed at 12...

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Hard to say. It depends the individual readers interests

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Was fun and worked well.

5. How many books did you read? Finished one I was already reading. Completed 3 new ones and started another.

6. What were the names of the books you read? Gulag Archipelago, Volume III by Alexander Solzhentisyn, The Cherokees by Grace Steele Woodward, The Road to Sundance, My Journey into Native Spirituality by Manny Twofeathers, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway and started And Custer Died for Your Sins, an Indian Manifesto by Vina Delora, JR.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Gulag Archipelago, Volume III

8. Which did you enjoy least?

The Road to Sundance, My Journey into Native Spirituality by Manny Twofeathers

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Definitely will.

-Richard

Well, it's time for me to stop. I need to get ready to go and work an adoptathon for Snowflake Animal Rescue. This has been fun and has allowed me the rare luxury of not thinking about "life". I am looking forward to doing it again.

My Summary:

Read for Approximately 13 1/2 hours.
Finished 1 book I was already reading , started and finished 3 and am 151 pages into the latest one.
I have read 1007 pages.

-Richard

Is I start what will be undoubtedly be my last book of the 24hr read-a-thon it is interesting what my main theme was. The American Indian. This was not deliberate as, like I mentioned in my first post, I read the books in the order that I bought them so it just happens that three of the five are about that subject. It is something that is near and dear to my heart as my wife is 50% Indian and the vast majority of that Cherokee. I want to learn as much as possible about the subject, including one day the languaue. The way these people were made to suffer and still do make me very, very, angry and ashamed. Why ashamed? Because I am 7/8th English and it was originally the English, or British immigrants that started and encouraged this genocide. Even today, they are still discriminated against, a vast majority are under the poverty line and have numerous problems. Where are the National media and Politicians fighting for them? I could go on and on, but, as I want to keep reading I will close it this for now with one last comment. I am glad I married my wife, not just because I fell in love with her and love her very, very, much, but, also for the things she had taught me and I have gained. One being the Indian heritage the she and her family have.

-Richard

Next up - "And Custer Died for Your Sins, an Indian Manifesto" written by Vine Deloria, Jr. It has 272 pages.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Sun Also Rises" written by Ernest Hemingway. The journey taken in this book reminded me of a similar one I took in 1989 traveling to Pamplona, Spain on train via Biarritz, Bayonne, Hendaye etc...and also visiting San Sebastian. I, however, did not go to the running of the bulls or a bull-fight I am very happy to say.

-Richard

G'morning...up and running again.....

Congrats to all who stayed up all night, very impressive,

-Richard

It's almost midnight eastern and I'm not as young as I used to be and with a busy day tomorrow it's time to hit the sack. I am planning on getting up at 6am to resume...

So far I have finished the book I was reading, finished two others and just started another..for a total of 633 pages.

I will read one more chapter before turning off the light.

G'night.

-Richard

Next up - "The Sun Also Rises" written by Ernest Hemmingway. It has 247 pages

-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Road To The Sundance, My Journey into Native Spirituality" written by Manny Twofeathers.

-Richard

8 Hours update....

I took an hour and half of doing something for the animal rescue we volunteer with between 6 and 7:30. I have now read 410 pages.

-Richard

Next up - "The Road to Sundance, My Journey into Native Spirituality" written by Manny Twofeathers. It has 227 pages. But first...I need to run an errand.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Cherokees" written by Grace Steele Woodward.

-Richard

Update after 4 hours.

I am up to page 173 of my current book, which means I have read 230 pages so far.

-Richard

Next book up: "The Cherokees" written by Grace Steele Woodward. This book has 325 pages.

-Richard

I finished reading (at 12:52pm):

"The Gulag Archipelago: Volume III" written by Alexansandr Solzhenitsyn. This Volume contained parts V - VII of his work. I would recommend this complete series to anyone.

-Richard

So, I am about to start this 24 hour read-a-thon and after the end of a very stressful quarter at work it's probably perfect timing.

My plan is to essentially keep reading as I always do. I am very anal and read books in a set order as to when I get them. I don't look ahead so do not know whats coming up, but, also do not deviate (unless I am traveling when I do not take hard backs so go to the next paper back book on the list). I am interested in how much I will actually read, as I am quite a quick reader and average over 50 pages an hour. I will post when I finish reading a book.

I will be starting the the current book that I am reading, Park III of Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago which I have nearly finished. I am currently at page 472 out of 529.

-Richard

I Finished Reading:

"The Regime", a prologue to the Left Behind series of books. It was written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

-Richard

Jenn and I are both participating in a 24 hour Read-a-thon on Saturday. I won't get to 24 hours, but, I will do as long as possible. The idea is post updates on your blog as you go so watch out!!



-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios" a book of four short stories: "The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios", "The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin by the American Composer John Morton", "Manners of Dying" and "The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company" Mirrors to Last till Kingdom Come". They were written by Yann Martel.

I am not really a big fan of short stories, but, I thoroughly enjoyed this short book.

-Richard

The Presentation

Waiting....
Butterflies in my stomach
Thoughts running through my head
I hope it comes out right
I hope it all makes sense.
Waiting....
I've got to be positive
Even though I don't believe all I say.
It's like a Jew preaching Jesus
Or a Spurs fan praising Arsenal.
Waiting...
He'll be here soon
And in five minutes gone.
All this for five minutes
You'd think he was important.
Waiting...
I wonder what it feels like
People creeping around
Saying what he'd like to hear
He must know it's all a front.
Waiting...
Why am I sitting he worrying?
After all he's just a man
Like me a millions of others
He'll one day return to dust.
Waiting....

16th April 1996 - North Acton, London, England.

-Richard

The next cat we fostered was Elton, a big, handsome, boy. He was only with us a week coming to us the week of April 18th 2006 and being adopted out a week later the first time someone saw him.

-Richard

A couple of weeks ago Jenn's friend from Houston game to visit for a week. We planned on going up to Washington D.C. to watch a football game between D.C. United and Houston Dynamo. Then the rains came and came and came to make the pitch unplayable causing the game to be abandoned after 15 mins. I have never seen anything like it at a football game.

We spent the night just south of Richmond, Virginia to break up the trip home. Before we left we went downtown Richmond to an English Pub called Penny Lane. In the bar they had a display of Football Club scarfs from around the world and to my amazement there was one there from Hartlepool United. I would never expected that. After, a cottage pie we headed back home.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"Live and Remember" written by Velentin Rasputin.

-Richard

When I was flying home I was thinking about other football (Soccer) teams that I liked from different leagues. I goes without saying the first three. These are the only teams that I am a fan off and probably in this order, but, the first two are possibly interchangeable.
Hartlepool United (England League 1)
San Jose Earthquakes (USA - MLS)
Carolina RailHawks (USA - USL1).

The teams below are the ones that I would consider my favourites, but, under no circumstances do I consider myself a fan of these teams.

English Premier League - Middlesbrough (the nearest team to Hartlepool and there is a historical link between the two teams)
The Championship - QPR. (The only London team I like. The reason is I used to work 10 minutes from their ground so went to a lot of games.)
League Two - Wycombe Wanderers and Bradford City ( I used to live in these towns).
Scotland - Berwick Rangers (A North-East English team)
Germany - Bayern Munich (I went to see the old Olympic Stadium once)
France - Caen (family reasons - where my great-uncle was killed in WWII)
Spain - Atletico Osasuna (I had a great vacation in Pamplona and made friends with a lot of their fans)
Italy - AC Milan (English Roots)
Russia - Zenit Sankt-Peterburg (One of my favourite cities and I have one of their scarfs someone gave me when I was there)
Australia - Melbourne Victory ( A good friend of mine is a big fan).

I think thats it....

-Richard

I have just got back from another work trip. This time I went to a new State, Vermont.

Flying up via Newark, NJ, I got a fantastic view of New York City in the distance including the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. Also we flew right over Giants Stadium where I could clearly see the new stadium being built and the grass being removed from the field after the USA vs Argentina Football Game on Sunday.

This means that I have now been to: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 35 out of the 50 States. I have also been to Washington DC and Puerto Rico.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Wailing Wind" written by Tony Hillerman.

"The Gulag Archipelago Two", parts III and IV of Alexsandr Solyzenitsyn's mammoth work on the Soviet camp system.

The last track I listened two on my IPOD was the 2nd Movement, Manny's Gym from John Adam's Century Rolls. This is the 5th track.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"Young Russia - The Genesis of Russian Radicalism in the 1860's" written by Abbott Gleason.

"The First Eagle" written by Tony Hillerman

The last track I listened to on my IPOD was "You're Only Human (Second Wind) by Billy Joel. It was track # 1546.

-Richard

The Twelve Hour Shift

One hour to go.
My legs ache
My eyes feel like lead
My brain refuses to work
(Although that's not strange).
One hour to go.
To join the traffic queues
Piled up with no where to go
Listening to the radio
Staring into space.
One hour to go.
No time to eat
Take a shower, then bed
To get up and start again.
One hour to go.

15th April 1996 - North Acton, London, England.

-Richard

The next cat we fostered was Curious George. He was the brother of Cherub (Cherub was the last foster cat we fostered. Unfortunately about month or so ago he was returned because we was playing to "roughly" with the people baby. He is back with us and looking for a new home). Curious George came into the week of April 4th 2006. He was with us only for about a month before finding a good home, the week of May rd 2006.

We also received some sad news this week. Sawyer, who we had fostered, only for a week in 2005 and was adopted out died. After leaving us he went to another foster home (so we could foster Olivia ). He got adopted out to a great home and despite having FIV and hearworms lived a happy three years. The lady who adopted him sent us an e-mail this week with the sad news.

The last track I listened to on my IPOD was "The Winner Takes it All" by Abba. This is track # 1529.

-Richard

Yesterday was Jenn and I's eleventh wedding anniversary. We've gone a long way in eleven years, traveled to many places both Literally and Metaphorically. The result? We're still very happy together and still in love. We spend the day, first watching the debate at the DNC meeting about Florida and Michigan then went to a couple of movies and an early dinner. On the way home we stopped at Taco Bell for our "traditional" anniversary Taco Bell. Then when we got home we watched a soccer game and despite the result (a San Jose loss 3-1) it capped a perfect day. A day that is us. Things we enjoy, but, more importantly, we enjoy doing things together more than ever.

-Richard