Mid-way through the Read-A-Thon!

I finished Mockingjay, wrote a little review to be posted at a later date, and moved on to My Ántonia by Willa Cather. It's a short little novella, set in Nebraska in the early 1900s. And it's wonderful.

I love Willa Cather. She could write about a tractor and I would beg her to never let the passage end. I often find myself glancing up from a passage to mouth WILLA CATHER! with ecstatic joy. Her writing is sheer prose, sheer poetry, even as she details simple things like work in the fields or winter food intake. I have never seen another author so in love with nature (save maybe Thoreau or Emerson, but they're rather obvious about it). Cather's writing is the purity of nature, and this novel in particular makes me want to travel to Nebraska right this instant to see the red fields she so beautifully describes.

Anyway, on to the Mid-Event survey!

1. What are you reading right now?

My Ántonia by Willa Cather

2. How many books have you read so far?

This is still my second!

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

Oh, Willa Cather's writing is so lovely that this novella could last the rest of my life, and I'd be content.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

No, luckily my life has been quiet as of late (:

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

I was reading in the common room when a boy I've spoken with twice in my life approached me, said hello, made awkward chit-chat, and hugged me goodbye. It was very awkward, as I had been curled into a chair. I also do not know this boy. Why is he hugging me! Luckily he visited for only a short while, so my reading wasn't interrupted for long.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How creative the mini-challenges are! I was expecting simply anagrams and word puzzles.

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

More readers! Let's do it!

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

Wake up on time, er. I now have to go a couple hours over to still make the twenty-four hours! And make sure to stock up on snacks beforehand.

9. Are you getting tired yet?

Unfortunately, yes.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

Tea!