%20(1).png)
Nearly 20 weeks ago, on March 15, I invited my fellow Austenesque readers to join in a read-a-thon. My hope was to create a diversion from the news of the worldwide pandemic that is COVID19. We had 163 join the Facebook group with 47 of you as participants. Along the way, prizes were awarded for various benchmarks to readers from my small business The Quill Ink, Meredith at Austenesque Reviews, author Karen M Cox, author Melanie Rachel, and Rita at From Pemberley to Milton. The event was scheduled to end April 30 but when the pandemic continued—and after reader Michelle Brown David won the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card, silly notecards & Austenesque mug for having read 88 books—I decided why not continue on to July 30.
I am also delighted to share:
47 participants
1105 books read
18 participants listed only 1, 2, or 3 books read!
15 read between 4-20 books
4 read between 21-50 books
5 read between 51-100 books
Ginna Hoppes said she read 134 books!
Michelle Brown David said she read 267!
1105 books read in all, yet I suspect that there were many more as not everyone listed all their books (especially given that the books needed to be 125 pages or more, published for sale, and Austen-inspired only.)
And here we are, on the last day of July. The last giveaway of an Austenesque baby-sized blanket, started on July 4 and ran through July 30, had only 14 participants with two readers choosing to abstain from the drawing. The winner, from the drawing I did in my flower garden, is Michele Brown David, with her 51 entries from July 4-July 30.
Thank you all for participating these last few months during these strange days! Hopefully, you are well and enjoyed this Austenesque Read-a-thon. Happy reading!
