Readathon: Hour 20

I can't quite believe I have been up for almost 20 hours! In 4 hours it will all be over and I can get some kip.

I finished Red Dust Road, a touching memoir by the writer Jackie Kay. This is probably one of my favourite reads of this readathon. Kay raises so many questions about identity, culture and how that all adds up to create an individual. I'm also cheered by some of her references to archives on her searches. The archivist she meets at Aberdeen University Archives tells her that they are "afraid of pens and bottled water." I may consider incorporating that into my day job when I have to tell researchers to hand over their contraband ink.

The next book I picked up was The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penny. Some of the reviews described it as a 'real page turner' and I felt that would hurry me along. I did toy with picking up The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Unfortunately I did not realise that it clocks it at over 600 pages and the typeface is microscopic. Lesson learned for the next readathon: do not choose books that are over 400 pages withs small letters.

For the remainder of the readathon, I have retreated back to Him Indoors's study. He's finished work for the day and it seems unfair to expect him to sit in silence in the living room whilst I read. The study is quite cosy and it seems a fine place to spend the last four hours of my first readathon.

Soon I'm going to tuck into vegan sushi, curtsey of cutely named Jo Sushi and polish off some more beer.