Minithon 2018

It is back and it is smaller than ever. The Minithon! Alice is our brave leader and I am so excited to minithon. A time to read mini books and eat mini snacks for a mini amount of time. What counts as mini? Anything can be mini if you say it is. Will I say "mini" until it reaches semantic satiation and no longer holds any meaning? POSSIBLY.

Minithon means we read and snack for eight hours (from 9 am til 6 pm here in mountain time) and we talk about it. It is a joyous occasion and I love it. I won't be joining right at nine because I have a garden plant swap to attend but you can be sure I will be reading and snacking as the day goes on.

Here's what I'm reading today:

• The Little Sister / Raymond Chandler - "little" sister? More like MINI sister. 
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet / Becky Chambers - "small" angry planet? More like MINI angry planet, AM I RIGHT
• The Martian / Andy Weir - uhhh, he had to eat only a mini amount of food every day? 
• Get Well Soon / Jennifer Wright - what makes it mini? It's about plagues and epidemics, and viruses and bacteria are VERY SMALL. 

The first order of the day will be to purchase mini snacks for me to consume. Want miniature updates?? WATCH THIS SPACE and also watch my twitter: @olyvianne

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Here is an update, which in the true spirit of the Minithon, is a couple days post-thon. It was a good day! Did a lot of snacking and tweeting, and a fair amount of reading. Here's what I read!

• Two chapters of Get Well Soon, the chapter on the black plague was particularly good.
• Thirteen chapters of The Martian, which is fun and goes by quickly. 

Josh joined in on the reading and got about halfway through Ninefox Gambit, and finished it yesterday. We ate mini croissants, hashbrowns, chips and salsa, and had some nice hot beverages. It was a good, quiet day. 

Fin: The Minithon

   Minithon is a wrap and my accomplishments were suitably small. Here's what I did:

• Listened to two parts out of twelve of The Amber Spyglass and was somewhat confused, since I don't remember the two previous books being quite as thoroughly soaked in anti-God vitriol. 
• Read one short story out of Vampires in the Lemon Grove and was hella spooked. (It's called Proving Up and y'all should read it asap)
• Did a bunch of laundry.
• Made and consumed (very tasty) mini-muffins.
• Mourned the failure of my mini croissants, which turned out not only to be kind of gross but also NORMAL SIZED, an offense I canna forgive.
• Read a whopping two pages out of Why Humans Like to Cry, high-five, self.
• Had an unexpected visit by some out-of-town friends and their adorable dog.

   All in all, I'm calling this minithon a roaring success. Reading for 24 hours straight? Cray. Reading and snacking for 8 hours with many breaks for twitter? Yes please. Here's to next time!

OMGOSH IT'S MINITHON TIME

   Will I participate in this season's eight hour mini opus of mini foods and mini books? YES I THINK I WILL. I have a clear Saturday and it looks like it's going to be about 11 degrees and raining so really, what better to do with my time than eat tiny croissants and read? The lovely Tika at Reading the Bricks is hosting and everything is awesome.

   And now to the most important part of the day: the snacks. I have the aforementioned croissants, along with, of course, mini coffee. I can see baby carrots in my future, as well as a smoothie which is mini because it is a mixture of very small bits of fruit. Also, obviously, there will be crackers and cheese. Maybe crackers with cheese melted onto them! OMGOSH. The miniest of pizzas!

I will savor my snacks

   But what books will I be delving into? Let me tell you:

• Vampires in the Lemon Grove / Karen Russell

   A book of short stories that I have been in the middle of for way too long, which I intend to read at least one story out of, maybe less, who knows, it's minithon day. Mini justification? SHORT STORIES, don't even have to reach for it. Boo-yeah. 

• Why Humans Like to Cry / Michael R. Trimble

   I have this book from the library and I have high hopes for it. Maybe too high. TELL ME WHY I CRY, MICHAEL R TRIMBLE. Mini justification: tears are mini amounts of water.

• The Amber Spyglass / Philip Pullman

   Audiobooks! I love 'em. I absolutely need to finally finish reading this series, it is a crying shame that I haven't yet. Once in library school we had to do a presentation "creatively" (our instructor gave us the WORST assignment descriptions) and one of my pals who we (lovingly) described as "Jon the smarmy bastard" decided that it was his duty to dress up as Lyra, bring a stuffie to school, and do his presentation AS LYRA it was amazing. Mini justification: audiobooks take a mini amount of effort to read! Children are teacup humans! I'm sure Pantalaimon turned into a moth or something at some point (it's been awhile since I read the first two)! 

   I also have episodes of Elementary to watch in case the reading gets to be just too much, and a great deal of tea, and OH, the naps I might have. The day is just BURSTING with possibilities. Also! My twitter handle is @olyvianne. I'm stoked to minithon with you, you beautiful sunbeams.

Mini Wrap Uuuuuup! Word.

   And it's over! Oh boy, that was DELIGHTFUL. I am quite glad I took part. What mini things did I accomplish? Here's a list:

• Drank (too much) mini coffee
• Ate mini pizza
• Finished Homage to Catalonia / George Orwell, everyone read this book ASAP, I'm not kidding, it is so good
• Bummed around on the twitter
• Picked up The Pearl and put it down again a few times
• Read a bunch o' blogs! Said hello! You are all super charming!
• Listened to a whole bunch of Inkheart
• Went to an appointment which I was early for, SLAMMED my way through The Pearl. 

   At one point I took a break from painting my nails and listening to Inkheart to eat ice cream and  watch Inkheart, I think it's safe to say that I get Minithon. Also: how did I forget that Inkheart has everyone  in it? Brendan Fraser? Check. Paul Bettany? Check. HELEN MIRREN? ALSO CHECK.

   I really am charmed by you all, today has been a lovely day. Thanks so much, Tika, for hosting it and being so welcoming!

Minithon

   It is 10:00 here in Alberta, and I am joining this readathon a wee bit late. One might say that my tardiness is MINI. Keeping with the theme! I have also just pulled my MINI pizza out of the oven and am drinking an espresso which one might call a MINI coffee and I'm not sure why I keep putting "mini" in all caps. So far those are all the miniature foods I have, but I have to go out later today mid-thon and who knows, some teeny foods might find their way into my home and heart (stomach) after all.

    The reading!

Did you know that George Orwell got shot in the neck? WELL HE DID.

   Admittedly, Homage to Catalonia is mini in neither concept nor execution, but I only have one chapter left, ergo: so mini. As a side note, OMGosh read this book it is amazing. 

Coins are mini? Pearls are mini? Fairies are mini? Lizards? Mini?

  ALSO not very mini, BUT it features Meggie who is 12, she's a veritable teacup human and is therefore mini. It's about the power of reading and when you read you are looking at words on a page and they are small? What? It also prominently features Dad/Daughter Feelings and the movie stars none other than Brendan Fraser sooooo...I love it. It also reminds me that the amount of books I will read in my lifetime is mini in comparison to the amount of books there are in the world. Depressing.

ACTUALLY MINI!

   I don't even need to reach for this one! 87 pages, baby. I read Steinbeck's short books in an attempt to assuage my guilt over not having read East of Eden.

   I also have several articles for my Contemporary Feminist Theory class and a few days from my One Year Bible which I am sadly behind in to read, so the mini readings are waaaaay more bountiful than the mini snacks. So much reading! I already feel the need for more espresso and/or a nap. Let the reading/tweeting/snacking begin! Oh! And! My twitter handle is @olyvianne

Keepin' It Mini

   OMGosh, a mini readathon, I will FIT IT IN this Saturday. Excited!