Marleen's second blog

Well, for some reason my trying to post a link to my personal blog didn't work, so here is my entry there as copied. For my comments on the books I've read you'll have to go to my own blog though:

My answers to Kathrin's questions about this Read-A-Thon:

Tell us more about your mystery/thriller reading habit
I'm not sure whether it is a habit or an addiction, but I tend to read mysteries and thrillers more than any other genre, although I do read most other genres as well. I usually read other genres when I need a little break from the murder and mayhem, and tend to return to the mysteries after only one visit to a more sedate genre.
When did you start reading this genre?
I'm not entirely sure but probably when I was about 8 years old.

What was your first experience with the genre? The ever popular Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie? Or someone completely different?
For me it all started with the mysteries written by Enid Blyton; The Famous Five and the Secret Seven and series like that. In my early teens I then switched to Agatha Christie, and after that there was really never a time when I didn't read mysteries.

How did you discover it?
Again, I'm not entirely sure, but I probably stumbled upon Enid Blyton's books in the library, which is where I made most of my reading discoveries.

Do you exclusively read mysteries and thrillers or do you mix it with other genres? If you switch genres, which other genres do you read?
Like I said before, I tend to read almost all genres available. However, most of my reading time is spend on mysteries and thrillers I will read almost anything with words in it, provided it comes with a good story, characters I can believe in and is well written.

So, if you haven't already posted about it, tell us how the read-a-thon went for you. Please leave a link to your post here in the comment section!

Did you finish a book?
I finished two books and read a total of about 600 pages. It really helped that both the books I read were so captivating that I would have found it next to impossible to put them down even if I hadn't taken part in this Read-A-Thon. But having the event as an excuse to just keep on reading did help enormously.

If so, what did you finish?
SEEKING THE DEAD by Kate Ellis
THE SCARECROW by Michael Connelly

How many pages did you read?
Oops, I keep on having to repeat myself; about 600 pages, give or take a few.

How did the reading go for you?
It had more interruptions than I would have liked, but it's just not possible to stop life altogether. I mean when a cousin shows up for a quick visit, you can't just ignore him. And although I did bring a book and read most of the time, I couldn't pull out of a family get-together where the others were playing cards either. On the other hand, I had managed to get all my normal Sunday chores out of the way on Friday and Saturday, so that probably balanced out with the interruptions.

Would you join in for another read-a-thon later this year?
Absolutely; it's great to have this as an excuse to spend the day reading without feeling guilty about not doing anything else. I wouldn't get away with it too often, but a few times a year would be acceptable to those around me and very enjoyable for me.

What else do you think about the read-a-thon?
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was afraid that "having" to read would take away part of the pleasure, but quite the opposite was the case. Telling people to leave me alone to read because I had committed to it was a great experience, especially because everybody just accepted it.