Hello, bookfrnds! This is my fifth time participating in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon and I'm as excited as ever. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out that link to sign up. It's exactly what it sounds like - you try to read for 24 hours. And there are prizes!
I work for approximately 4 hours today, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm co-hosting the readathon for a second time now, so be sure to say hi on the Readathon Twitter between 5 pm and 7 pm central time. Also look out for my posts on the Readathon blog! Oh! And I'm hosting a mini-challenge here on the blog at 9 am central time. Get in on it, it'll be fun, I promise!!
I'll keep my list of books finished here:
The Fishermen by Chigozie ObiomaWaking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Most of my real-time, v exciting updates will be posted on twitter, instagram, and you can now find me on Litsy as OutlandishLit! But I'll be using this post every few hours to update as well. Let me know if you're participating!
UPDATES
Hour 0
1 // What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
2 // Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer!!! Also tbh some nonfiction books about gardening, because I have SO MUCH to learn.
3 // Which snack are you most looking forward to?
God, I never do enough snack prep. I have like 5 stroopwaffels left, but that's kind of all. I have some banana chips too.
4 // Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a spooky gal who likes to read weird books. I'm a bookseller and I'm now training to be a used book buyer at Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis. I like forests, intersectional feminism, horror movies, reality tv, propagating succulents, crafting pretty things, studying Japanese, and traveling.
5 // If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I really would like to challenge myself to read 1,000 pages. I'm normally super low key and don't like putting any pressure on myself. But like... 1,000 would be cool haha. I know that's nothing for a lot of readathoners, but I'm bad at focusing. I'd ALSO like if some of my friends stopped by my place for ~communal reading~ but I haven't officially organized anything sooooo.
Hour 8
Well, because I had work in the morning I've only been reading for two hours now. But that's better than nothing!!
I've been spending most of my time listening to an audiobook: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma. It was very necessary as I was getting ready for work in the morning then sorting out my life when I got home from work. I started reading Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel, the sequel to Sleeping Giants, because I felt like I wanted to stop listening to things and hold a book. I got 30 pages in and am having fun reading it so far, but my eyes are already tired from work and waking up so early. Back to the audio book now and closing my eyes for a bit.
Hour 12
1. What are you reading right now?
Still listening to The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
2. How many books have you read so far?
0! haha
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I'd like to check out The Goddesses
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Wooooork and other things. I kind of just had to do those things.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
How I'm so amazing at not focusing!!
Hour 18
I finished my first book during hour 17!! It was the audiobook of The Fishermen. I really liked the narration, but, I don't know, I just didn't love this book. Everybody else was obsessed with it when it came out and I thought it was fine. I'm just not sure what I missed.
I'm halfway through Waking Gods right now and I think I can finish it before I head to bed (I must, because I work tomorrow morning). It is just a breeze to read. Did I want to read more than this? Yes. Did work actually take 5 hours and was I super tired after? Also yes. So no hard feelings, me. I'm settling in with my chai tea now and I hope everyone has a great late evening/early morning of reading!
Hour 24
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 9 or 10, because I was asleep af.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?
The Themis Files trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel is perfect for readathon. Most of it is written in interview format, so it's super fast to read. And it's ACTION PACKED.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?
72 hour readathon
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The youtube video I found with noises of being on a train haha
5. How many books did you read?
2! And they were both like 300 pages, proud of me.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
The Fishermen, Waking Gods
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Waking Gods!! It was just a lot of fun. V good for what it was.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The Fishermen. I'm not sure why there was SO MUCH crazy hype. It was good, but I wasn't blown away.
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
~forever co-host~
TOTAL BOOKS READ: 2
TOTAL PAGES READ: 584
TOTAL HOURS READ: 12 hours
