Readathon: Hour 16

The afternoon has been full of stops and starts. I finished Woman on the Edge of Time and felt rather disturbed by it. The book was originally published in 1976 in the US. The Women's Press published this book in the UK and it's easy to see why. Piercy covers issues such as domestic abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, prostitution, racism,  women within the psychiatric care system, gender boundaries and motherhood. I've made some notes and I'll write a more detailed review after the readathon has finished.

At 13:00 GMT, the readathon kicked off in the US which has resulted in more traffic on the Twitter #readathon. Mini challenges have also popped up on the official readathon blog. None have ticked my fancy so far but there's still 7 hours left to go. I read this great blog post from Irish/Gail about surviving your first readathon. Sadly I forgot stock up on snacks but Him Indoors kindly went on a snack run for me. I now have vegan sushi and Kettle crisps to look forward to later. 

I have been having Twitter chats with AlexInLeeds, a readathon veteran. Do pop over and have a look at her posts.

I'm hurtling through my fourth read, Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay. It's a humorous and touching account of Kay tracing her biological parents. Kay was born in Scotland and adopted by the Kay family: Communists living in Bishopbriggs which is just outside Glasgow. The Kays beliefs meant it was difficult for them to adopt children. Many adoption agencies in Glasgow in the 1950s and 1960s were run by religious organisations. Prospective parents were expected to provide proof that they attended church on a regular basis. I have so much admiration for John and Ellen Kay for refusing to compromise their beliefs. Kay's mother remembers taking Jackie and her brother Maxie, also adopted and from an African background, to Mull and being asked if the children knew any English. Ellen's response was 'Bloody cheek seeing as half of them still spoke Gaelic and not a word of English!'

On a side note, it's 16 hours in and I'm only on my second cup of coffee. However I'm suspecting the two hour nap I had earlier this morning helped!