Easter Read-a-thon - Easter Sunday & Easter Monday update

We have reached the end of the Easter Read-a-thon and I feel a little sad.

As I mentioned in my first post above, sometimes I feel guilty for reading. And I know that's silly but in this day and age where there's more of a constant pressure to be 'switched on' and 'doing' in some way, reading feels like the ultimate luxury.

The Read-a-thon has in a way given me permission to sit back and relax and do the thing that I like doing.

I know there'll be people out there shaking their heads in bemusement at that notion but that is how it is for me and I've enjoyed it.

So Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

Much like my Thursday-Saturday update, I enlisted the help of my trusty camera to record the moments I had to myself to have a little read.

Easter Sunday saw me having a little read of Toby's Room by Pat Barker at the dining room table with the tulips and my chocolate Easter bunny. The reason for this? My brother-in-law enjoys watching all TV at approximately 12 billion decibels and it literally hurts my ears.

I also gave blood on Easter Sunday, which seems like a strange day to hold a donating session but I don't make the rules. I hopped on to my bed and managed to read a couple of pages until I was done - I'm a fast donater which doesn't leave much time for reading. I also thought it best not to take a picture of my book with the needle in my arm so as not to offend the squeamish - you'll have to take my word for it that there was a needle in my left arm!

 The only downside of giving blood for me (and for those how haven't donated before let me stress that everyone reacts differently and this isn't necessarily what will happen to you) is that it really wipes me out. I am knackered for the rest of the day until I've had a good night's sleep so I had to retire to bed fairly early doors on Easter Sunday night where I grabbed the opportunity to finally finish Toby's Room.

 Easter Monday saw the beginning of a new book and I have made a long overdue to Stephen King who I love but have not read enough of lately. The last few books I've read of his have been his latest ones so I've made a return to some of his earlier work and I'm giving Needful Things a bit of a bash.

The Person and I were making a return to Preston, plus it was my nephew's 13th birthday on Easter Monday so there wasn't a lot of time for reading in the morning. But it did mean that I managed to squeeze in some lovely train reading which is one of my favourites.

And then I was home and reunited with my favourite crochet blanket and I did a little more reading...

And that brought the Easter Read-a-thon to an end.

As predicted it wasn't a massive headcount in terms of books - I managed to get two finished and have made a dent in my third which is alright by me. I had an Easter weekend of family and boyfriend to fit in around my reading.

But this Read-a-thon wasn't really about that for me. It was more about giving myself permission to relax and re-discovering what it felt like to settle down and reading a book just for the love of reading, instead of cramming it into the hour before I fall asleep.

And that has made it all worth it.

(A review post of the books I read would be lovely wouldn't it? Maybe I'll do one in a few posts time. Or maybe I won't. Who knows?!)