Made it - with 20 minutes to spare!

Celebrations are in order....I have finally completed my reading for the MS Readathon! 

Clocking out at 11.40pm, 30 September, I closed the cover on my last book and promptly rejoiced by spreading the news on social media. Alas, no one was awake but that did not diminish my happy thoughts! 

This has been a most interesting experience. I have never been one for lists and timeframes when it comes to recreational reading. The closest form of restriction is when:
a) my library book is about to expire or,
b) book club is meeting tomorrow and I still have 200 pages of our group read book to go. 
Then it's frantic reading time but often only for a night or two! 
For the MS Readathon, we had to read according to all the letters of our cause.  Though I had mostly stuck to the books I nominated, based on my allocated letters, there were some minor changes, but I am still rather chuffed at completing 13 fairly different books spanning several eras, genres, and styles.

This event took 3 months to complete so a marathon it was indeed. And like all marathons, pacing was important. I started slow, but with great heft. Warming up in a light trot (The Importance of Emma), it was then an uphill climb all the way (Anna Karenina and Moby Dick). The load of these great classics were upon me when I sought relief through Love Letters of Great Men. Once refreshed, I was ready for another long haul of BIG IDEAS: war (The Iliad), religion (Eifelheim), Truth and fate (The Odyssey).  Such a journey to Novel Destinations could only end in the stars (Shards of Honor) before I returned to solid Earth with a thud, flying bullets and a mad dash to the end (A Farewell to Arms, The Lady in the Lake, and Red Harvest). Unlike Pheidippides, I did not collapse in exhaustion, although I did need (and got!) a very good night's rest.

A good cause deserves great effort and this was not lacking in any of the team members. Check out their achievements on our facebook page. But most of all, it deserves great heart and partnership with our sponsors. Whilst the reading has ended, there is still more to do. In the next few weeks, we will be posting up more reviews of our readathon books. To complete the readathon, we now ask our wonderful sponsors to donate and show their support for people with MS by giving generously. And yes, this is a shameless and blatant request for money.

You can donate by clicking here: 

 Thank you for your support and encouraging words throughout the readathon!