Sunday Evening, 9:03 p.m. Finished School for Dangerous Girls after reading it while cooking dinner and walking around the neighborhood.  (I’m not sure what my fellow residents think of me.  I was thinking next time I should wear my Ask a Librarian T-Shirt.)   This book definitely picks up steam, and it it is almost scary because some of it could happen.  Great to pair with something like Lord of the Flies.  Also dipped into Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody German.  I couldn’t let the last hour and a half of my challenge go to waste!  I will post a wrap up/summary post soon, I promise, but first I have to tend to the ironing.  (All of these blog updates make me sound terribly domestic which I guess I am.)  Total time spent on the challenge is 24 hours and 15 minutes, 21 hours and 15 minutes reading, 3 hours blogging and connecting online.

Sunday Afternoon, 3:30 p. m. After a great lunch of salmon, asparagus and chocolate pie, settled down for more reading.  The pouring rain seemed to fit somehow, even if it ruined my plans to go read by the pool.  Just finished Forest Born by Shannon Hale.  389 pages and all I can think is that I want to run out and get all the other Bayern books and read them RIGHT NOW!  Hale really gets inside her female characters and understands their being.  And the fantasy elements are just an added bonus almost.  It sometimes seems they are necessary to the story, which I suppose in the best fantasies they are.  Total time is now up to 19 hours and 25 minutes.  (I was going to add another hour for twittering and blogging, but realized I had mistakenly counted a second audiobook in my time from yesterday, so adding the one and subtracting the other evens things out.)

Sunday Morning, 10:55 a. m. Read Forest Born by Shannon Hale for about an hour.  I am about 100 pages in, and I remember how much I like The Goose Girl, and wonder why I never sought out Enna Burning and River Secrets?  Had some chores to do:  sweeping out the garage, cleaning up the kitchen, so I spent an hour and a half finishing the audiobook of Mozart’s Ghost by Julia Cameron.  Completely satisfying as a romance and a tale about young people living in New York.  If more paranormals were like this one, I would be a bigger fan.  Total time now spent on the challenge 16 hours and 25 minutes.

Sunday Morning, 8:10 a. m. Just finished Envy by Godbersen and again, she has written an epic addition to the series that leaves me wishing the next entry was already written so I could pick it up and start where Envy left off.  Especially in this volume, I could really see this making a great tv show, although I can’t figure out that anyone would think it would be a success.  Total time is now 14 hours and 55 minutes.  I am down to less than 13 hours in my 48 hour challenge.

Saturday Evening, 11:44 p. m. 322 pages into Envy.  Unfortunately the second wind never showed up.  I am off to bed, and will pick up reading again in the morning.  Total time is now 14 hours and 15 minutes.

Saturday Evening, 10:58 p. m. 248 pages into Envy by Godbersen.  Taking a snack break, wondering if I can push past the tired feeling and read a few hours more.  My dh I think just thinks this is all a little strange…Now up to 13 hours and 45 minutes.

Saturday Evening, 9:36 p. m. 141 pages into Envy by Godbersen and loving it just as much as the other Luxe novels.  Glad that there will be a sequel.  I am enjoying reading about the group’s trip to Florida, since that is the part of the world where I live now and funny enough (to me, anyway) this part of Florida is still like that.  There is a Season complete with wealthy people from the North…Total time is 12 hours and 45 minutes.  (10 hours and 45 minutes reading, 2 hours twittering and blogging.)

Saturday Evening, 7:55 p. m. Finished my glass of wine, and put on my tennis shoes to walk around the neighborhood and read at the same time.  (Haven’t done that in a long time.)  Finished reading Breathless by Warman, all 316 pages.  People are going to compare it to Looking for Alaska, but I liked it better, perhaps because it felt much more intimate, the main character was really the focus and has a lot going on in her world.     Total time is up to 10 hours and 25 minutes.  Off to take a quick shower and back for more coffee and ready.  Up next?  Envy by Godbersen.

Saturday Afternoon, 5 :10 p. m. Another 45 minutes of reading, done.  Now on page 162 of Breathless by Jessica Warman, and have to say it is VERY hard to put down at this point as something important and meaningful just happened.  But the house smells incredible, and I am thinking about getting a pot of coffee ready to brew because I want to stay up and read read read.  Plus coffee and pie were made for each other, right? Total time spent on challenge is 9 hours, 25 minutes.

Saturday Afternoon, 4:25 p.m. Have polished 5 pairs of dh’s giant shoes.  Neither he nor I can remember when they were last polished.  (A year and a half ago?  Don’t tell my father-in-law!)  Great for listening to more of Mozart’s Ghost though! Can’t figure out why this book was not a bestseller.  In addition to being a great teen cross over, it reminds me of a younger edgier version of the television show Medium.  Added another hour to my reading total!  Then a shower and starting dinner–roast chicken and carrots, salad and mashed potatoes.  Pie for dessert!  But while the chicken roasts, back to the reading.  Breathless is calling my name.  Total time is now 8 hours and 40 minutes.

Saturday Afternoon, 2:15 p.m. 15 more minutes of Case Histories in the car plus an hour and 15 minutes of Mozart’s Ghost while cooking the chocolate meringue pie.  (I think the corn starch clumped up a lot, and not sure about the meringue.  I KNOW the chocolate is good!)  Mozart’s Ghost is getting more interesting, as Mozart is showing up more often and the romance progresses.  Total time spent reading, blogging, and connecting is up to 7 hours and 40 minutes.

Saturday Morning, 11:30 a.m. Read for an hour after breakfast, 84 pages of Breathless by Jessica Warman.  I left to run errands, post office, Target and Publix.  In the car I have been listening to Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, which I am really enjoying.  (Again reminds me that genre fiction gets NO respect.)  On my mp3 player is Mozart’s Ghost by Julia Cameron.  I usually only listen on my player when I am exercising, but as part of the challenge have allowed myself to listen to add to my time!  I racked up another 2 hours and 10 minutes with audio.  That brings my total to 5 hours and ten minutes reading, plus about an hour blogging and connecting with others, for total of 6 hours and 10 minutes.  More to come after lunch!

Friday Evening, 11:05 p.m. Must be getting old, 2 hours into the 48 hour book challenge and me and my tired eyes are headed to bed.  I did finish reading The Sweetheart of Prosper County which I enjoyed VERY much.  It reminded me of the town we lived in when I was young, Swansea, South Carolina.

Friday Evening, 8:40 p.m. Am so excited, have seen so much chatter about the 48 hour book challenge, that I am going to start tonight!  I have made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the toilets, and mopped the floors.  I also made chocolate chip cookies and put together a grocery list.  So I figured I would start the clock at 8:30 p.m.  but remembered the Twenty Boy Summer Tweet Party is tonight, so stopping there first.  The reading clock will begin at 9:00 p.m.

Friday Morning–I will be participating in the Fourth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge.   The challenge has started, but I am choosing to  read Saturday and Sunday, since I have to work today.  The rules are here, and the basic idea is to read as long as you can stand it and then share what you are reading with others, whether on facebook, twitter, your blog, etc.  There is a list of prizes too, but for me, it is about the challenge to see how little sleep I can give up!

A second goal is to connect with more blogs and bloggers who read and review books.  The twitter hash tag for the challenge is #48hbc, if anyone else wants to follow along, and should be updates from various readers at the Mother Reader blog.

The contest is now over.  Thanks to all who entered.  I enjoyed reading your comments.  Beth and Candice, please e-mail your mailing address to susan at readspace dot com

#21 Beth Dailey

The best summer ever? Lots of time to enjoy my passions of reading and floating in the pool, celebrating events (and non-events) with friends. Visting my family. Watching my flowers grow. Celebrating another summer has come.

#34 Candice M.

Thanks so much for your generous giveaway! Being able to buy a place with central air conditioning would make this the best summer ever! It gets HOT HOT HOT out in the San Fernando Valley!!!

Thanks to the generous people at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers I have not one, but two advanced copies of a recent favorite to give away: Twenty Boy Summer.  To make things interesting, I will also throw in another recent book from my stash.  In the book, Frankie and Anna vow to have the Absolutely Best Summer Ever!  To enter to win, leave a comment below telling me what would make this summer the best ever.  Winners will be randomly selected from all comments, and you have till Wednesday, June 3 at 6:00 p.m. (EST) to leave a comment and be eligible for the drawing.

You can see a video of Sarah Ockler talking about her book, or check out her personal site for more about the book, other debut authors, and a ton of other contests.