Cat Thursday - Excuse me while I overthink this

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

I snapped this one of Arya last night. She's getting pretty famous for sitting like this. lol

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Dewey's Reverse Readathon - Reading Plans/Updates

Frankly, I love the reverse readathon because it starts at night. I'm a night owl by nature. Definitely not a morning person. 

My reading plans...books in the image below. The writing group I'm a member of (Heart Breathings) is having an online writing retreat this weekend so I may join in on some sprints. 

Stealing an update template (idea) from Melissa at Must Read Faster, but I'm terrible at updating. We'll see how it goes.

All my progress below and here's the...

Closing Survey

1. How many books did you read during this readathon? Did you have any favorites?

Less than one 😒
2. How many books did you finish?

Big. Fat. Zero.
3. Did you accomplish your goals for this readathon?

Nope. This is a promising survey...
4. How did your snacks and meals work out? Are there things you would change about the food and beverages side of your readathon for next time?

I just ate what I usually do. I'm boring.
5. Did you enjoy this readathon? What was the most successful part of your readathon? What would you change for next time?

Even though my performance is usually less than stellar, I always enjoy the readathons. Of course, I would change not reading a lot. lol
6. Will you be continuing your readathon reading past the end of our official readathon?

I want to at least finish Dracul tonight, and then get started on the others. 

Block 1 8pm-10pm

Book:
Pages:
Notes: family crisis so no reading was done. 😟

Block 2 10pm-12am

Book: Dracul by Dacre Stoker
Pages: 30
Notes: I'm a slow reader.

Block 3 12am-2am

Book:

Pages:

Notes: Had to work

Block 4 2am-4am

Book: Dracul

Pages: 49

Notes: Probably going to go to bed during the next block. Will pick up again in the morning.

Block 5 4am-6am

Book: Dracul    

Pages: 14

Notes: I made it less than 30 minutes in. Had to go to bed.

Block 6 6am-8am

Book:

Pages:

Notes:

Block 7 8am-10am

Book:

Pages:

Notes:

Block 8 10am-12pm

Book: Dracul

Pages: 18

Notes: only read from 11-12

Block 9 12pm-2pm

Book: Dracul

Pages: 9

Notes: took a nap. My readathon game is weak. lol

Block 10 2pm-4pm

Book: Dracul

Pages: 36

Notes: another nap. I really wish I could stop falling asleep when I'm reading.

Block 11 4pm-6pm

Book: Dracul

Pages: 25

Notes: I only read between 5-6

Final Block 12 6pm-8pm

Book: Dracul

Pages: 32

Notes: like I said earlier, my readathon game is weak. lol

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Cat Thursday - Nicknames and Endearments

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

For some reason, our black cat, Merida has a lot of nicknames. Mergis, Merry, Mare, Mergia, Deet Dot (you'll have to ask my son about that last one). Our other cat, Arya has a few. Argis, Argia, Arrie, Beep Bop (hey, I had to give her a similar one to Merida's. lol). 

How about you? Do your cats have any nicknames?

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Cat Thursday: Authors and Cats (121) - Patricia Highsmith

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come acros s, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

The second Cat Thursday of each month is Authors and Cats Thursday. Each time I will feature an author, pictured with their/a cat(s), or guest posts by cat loving authors who also (sometimes) write about cats.

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.

She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.

Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.

Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.

In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.

Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan , plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.

She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."

She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.

Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010

(Goodreads)

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Cat Thursday - A Miscellany (4)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

Yep, here I am...late again. Hey, at least it's still Thursday. Last time I didn't realize I had forgotten until Friday. Doh! There is now a recurring event in my calendar with a reminder set for midnight. I mean, this is bordering on ridiculous! Sorry about that. Enjoy the show!

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