Read-a-Thon Update #7: Two Mini-Challenges

The Return of the King just keeps getting better and better. Uh-oh, the Black Gate of Mordor is about to open. Crap crap crap. They are so screwed. Or are they?

But I take a break from my reading for the following mini-challenge from Michelle:

In this mini-challenge, I'm asking you to tell me about the first book you remember loving. I'm talking, soul-searing, blood-boiling, can't-get-enough-of-it love. This book doesn't have to be from your childhood but it can be.

Just write up a quick post telling me what the first book you absolutely loved was and why you loved it. If you want to include some stories about your history with this book, please do!

When I was nine years old and going into fourth grade, my family went on vacation and our next-door neighbor, who knew I liked to read, lent me a book. It was Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe together in one volume. The Verne I barely remember now but Robinson Crusoe I absolutely adored. It was the complete book, including Crusoe and Friday's adventures after their rescue from the island.

It was the first real classic I ever read. I had read great children's stories such as Charlotte's Web and A Wrinkle in Time, but this was a real book. That part toward the end where Friday is killed was the first time I ever felt real grief at the demise of a fictional character. Robinson Crusoe was like a revelation. I had no idea books could be this great.

It seems so silly now. Compared to other classics I've read since then, the prose and structure of Robinson Crusoe is so clumsy and amateur. But it was the first of its kind and it still lives in the imaginations of millions of readers, and probably will for centuries to come.

---

And now from Jennifer we have the Get the Heck Out of Here! mini-challenge, or How I Prepared for the Read-a-Thon:

This mini challenge is all about getting ready for today. If you’re participating, you can easily be successful. I know that it’s been a long day at this point. Easy is good, right?

What steps did you take to ensure you’d be able to read as much as possible today?

Nothing, really. Just picked up two books I needed to get read as soon as possible and started reading them. I had a two-hour nap around 3:30 and four cups of coffee at 8.

Of those steps, which proved to be the most beneficial to your day?

Probably the nap. I had nighttime coffee for the last two read-a-thons too but still clonked out at 1 am. But it's 12:30 and I'm not tired!

Is there anything you might do differently next time?

Try to actually start on time! Although I was only a half-hour late, which is better than one full hour, as was the case with the last two read-a-thons (the October Dewey and the December one).