24 Hour Readathon – Goals

It’s that time!!!! Time for the semi-annual Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon!!!! Check back on Saturday, April 6th to see my progress. This is officially my 6th time participating. Here are some questions to help me prep and set goals for this round.

Are you participating for the whole 24 hours? I really wish I could participate for the whole 24 hours. Unfortunately, I will be hosting a garage sale that morning as part of our community yard sale. It is my opportunity to Marie Kondo my house, so I can’t pass this up. I am hoping to still read during slow moments or have the Harry Potter Book 4 audiobook blaring on our outdoor speakers. I also don’t believe that I’ll be able to stay up all night as I will have a late night on Friday. We are taking my mother-in-law to: A Night with Margaret Atwood. Super excited for this! So I believe my ultimate goal will be to read for: 15 hours.

What is on your TBR pile for the Readathon? I always make sure I have a lot of options, because I never know what I’ll be in the mood for. Here are the books I believe I will finish:

Here are some other books I may start or continue reading:

What snacks am I looking forward to? Since I’m going to have an early morning with last minute prepping for the garage sale, I plan on making a 6am run to Billy’s Donuts. It is a donut shop that just opened up in my neighborhood, so I am happy to finally support a new business, which in turn will support my readathon goals (or at least my hunger). I am always up for donuts and kolaches!

My Readathon TBR Pile

Anyone else participating in the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon? If so, what will you be reading and snacking on? Also, I’ll be happy to cheer you on if you are participating.

HAPPY READING!!!

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Completed My 2nd 24-Hour Readathon!

HOORAY! I made it to the end of another wonderful 24-Hour Readathon! My husband helped me celebrate by preparing this feast on our gorgeous balcony – complete with a bottle of Prosecco! Salute!

When I did this Readathon last October for the first time, I realized that I was grossly unprepared. I didn’t really think through book selections or prepare snacks in advance. There is nothing like needing a good snack at 4am, only to realize that there is absolutely no food in the house. This Readathon, I was much more prepared. I had my reading station prepped in advance with lots of books to choose from and plenty of snacks to get me through.

I am grateful for everyone of the readathoners that sent me messages of encouragement. It is always nice to feel like you are not alone during the most difficult hours. The hourly postings were also well done.

While I was more prepared with snacks this year, I noticed some many people with book-related gear and accessories. Some of these items were fantastic! Loved it! I feel I need more items like this for next time.

My favorite moment of the Readathon was when I made a comment on Twitter about my husband stealing one of my snacks that I prepared in advance. A fellow readathoner replied, “what a crime! Tell him to keep his grimy hands off!” Both he and I enjoyed response immensely, and he didn’t steal anymore of my snacks for the remainder of the Readathon.

Here are my responses to the final survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 15 was where I started to fade. That was also 4am my time, so I am normally not awake at that point anyway.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? If you want some enjoyable short books, you could read anything by Roald Dahl. I have enjoyed some more recent bestsellers like The Martian by Andy Weir, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (read during this readathon).
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season? I felt that the mini-challenges this time were a bit more time consuming that last year. I don’t want to spend all my time doing the challenges when there is reading to be done.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I felt that I had a lot of support this year – cheerleaders encouraging me during the hardest hours. I also loved all the posts prior to the readathon to help us prepare and get excited for this event.
5. How many books did you read? I finished 3 books.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, After the Fall by Arthur Miller and Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I enjoyed Big Little Lies a lot more than expected. There was a twist at every corner that kept me very interested through the end. When I finished I had that moment of sadness that I would never experience reading that for the first time ever again.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I enjoyed After the Fall the least, but I still enjoyed it. Arthur Miller plays can be hard to really get into. I normally don’t really start enjoying them until at least halfway through. 
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely participate again. Now that I have improved some of my own failings from the first time (last year), I would like to maybe be a cheerleader the next time. The support I got from fellow readathoners was fantastic!

See you next time!!!

 

24-hour Readathon for the 2nd time!

I participated in Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon last October and loved every minute of it, even the late hours when I was super tired. Since it was my first readathon I was a bit unprepared for things, so I am making up for it this time. Here is a picture of the reading station I have prepared for myself before the readathon was to begin.

I now have a station prepared with lots of book choices that I can choose from depending on my mood. May I recommend not reading a horror novel at 4am? That was one of my rookie mistakes last year. I creeped myself out. I also have prepared some snacks that I can just grab when I get hungry. I have candy on the reading station, but also fruit and other snacks already prepared in the kitchen. There isn’t a lot of time to worry about food, so being prepared with that in advance is a good plan. I am excited to use this readathon to have some quality time with lots of different literary characters.

 

HAPPY READING!!!!