Bookmarked: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

This made me laugh this morning.

“I am so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis.”

-p. 31, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

 

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Ah, my readathon book. I didn’t actually finish this during the readathon, I read the last 40 pages a few hours after the readathon was over but anyway. I liked this out-of -the-ordinary, little love story, I thought the book was utterly charming.

This book is about family and tradition, and love at perhaps a latter time in life than is common in books and movies. I think this makes it quite special. I can’t think of another book I’ve read with a similar topic. The fact that it’s set in a small English village alone was enough to win me over. Major Pettigrew, the hero, is adorable, a proper gentleman, with impeccable manners, very considerate and caring. And, just like the general feel of this novel, so characteristically English. This is a book where people boil the kettle and have tea on every other page. The plot did have some cheesy twists, but overall it’s a very well written and enjoyable book.

Thoughts on the Readathon

You know, I really love the Readathon, however I think I don’t actually like reading books this fast.

I prefer spending a few days with a book, reading a bit every day.  I’ve realised that reading quickly, trying to read as many pages as I can in a day, stresses me out and I don’t enjoy the book as much. Also, I’ve noticed that I have trouble remembering a lot about a book if I didn’t spend a lot of time with it.

I understand that there is a big sense of achievement in reading so many pages in one day (some amazing readathoners read more than 1000 pages which just blows my mind). But we all read books because we enjoy to, and it would be silly to let stressing over stats and numbers take that enjoyment away. So, I think for the future readathons, I’ll stick to cheerleading and maybe hosting giveaways and challenges instead.