The Finish Line

So, I read five complete books and a little more than a half of a sixth book. In all I read for 25 hours and 5 minutes. I also spent 1 hour and 30 minutes blogging/updating goodreads. For a grand total of 26 hours and 35 minutes, which is a only55.3% of the 48 hours. Honestly I am a little disappointed with my final number. I certainly slept way more than I needed to this weekend. I also feel that if the challenge could have begun in the middle of the week instead of the weekend I could have done significantly better, that or I could have just told my friends I couldn't go out Friday night because I was reading...

Anyway after finishing The Fire-Eaters and updating the blog I jumped into Andrew Clements' Things Not Seen. I really didn't not know what to expect from this one. I have of course read Frindle and I think one of younger Clements title but Things Not Seen is aimed toward an older audience than most of Clements books. I liked the premise here, a teenage boy wakes up one morning to find that he has gone invisible. I liked the characters and thought the story was very well plotted. The writing kept the story moving a a brisk pace and overall I really enjoyed the ride. I am much too exhausted to say much more other than that.

I started but unfortunately did not finish The Snark Boys & The Avocado of Death by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. I am a late comer to Pinkwater's stuff but would consider myself a big big fan. Loved Lizard Music, loved Wingman and had so much fun reading The Hoboken Chicken Emergency to my third graders last year. Of course his true masterpiece is The Big Orange Splot which some how I had never encountered until it showed up in Fuse#8's picture book poll last year. My students absolutely love it. We also have a special affinity towards Uncle Melvin, an unfortunately out of print picture book about a boy who spends his days cared for by his crazy (like straight from the looney bin crazy) uncle.

Anyway The Snark Boys & The Avocado of Death does not disappoint. The openning pages had me laughing out loud. I especially loved the antisemitic English teacher who freaks out each year when all her students, Jewish or not, who show up the first day of class with a Star of David around their necks. Also love the Snark movie theater which shows the most eclectic double features 24 hours a day. Great films and awful ones are mentioned throughout and all I could think about was how sad it is that cable TV killed the repertory business. At one point a character disses Visconti, well disses La terra trema at least, and this is not cool at all. I wanted to scream at her "How would any one in their right mind miss a Visconti marathon, even if you sleep through La terra trema there's still Senso and The Leopard!!!! Who misses two of the most beautiful color films ever made (Powell & Pressburger exclued of course)??? Seriously I was yelling at the book at 7:00 this morning. Still have 45 pages left so I don't know what's going to happen but like all the Pinkwater I've encountered its a laugh a minute and the plot of secondary at best. I can't wait to get some sleep and finish it!

Nitty gritty details.

Like I said above I read 5 (almost 6 books) and read & blogged for 26 hours and 35 minutes.

Complete book list: The Cardturner, Keeper, As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth, The Fire-Eaters, Things Not Seen, and 1/2 of The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death.

Total page count is 1666 pages or 1.045 pages a minute. I guess I'm a slow reader.

Okay now it's time to get some sleep, or maybe finish the Pinkwater first...