Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - April 2015

This is my first time participating in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon and I'm beyond excited! It might be a little tough, because I have work 12:30-5:30 and then a party to go to in the evening, but I'm going to do everything in my power to read as much as I can! That includes shirking my duties while at work. Above is the stack of books I'll be reading from, excluding Ghost World (which I just grabbed) and a couple sci-fi/horror e-novellas.

I'll be posting updates here throughout the day and I'll also be on twitter. I know this event is about reading, buuuuuut I want to talk to everyone. So I'll probably spend a lot of time doing that. Let me know if you're participating! Now LET'S READ A BUNCH OF SHIT.

UPDATES

Hour 1
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Chicago, IL!

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Honestly I'm excited for all of them haha. Maybe Dept. of Speculation and Wallcreeper if I really have to choose.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Oreooooosssss.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Oh jeez, uhhh. It is too early for this. I'm a book blogger who really likes weird books!  I'm about to be graduating from film school in a few weeks here, so I should REALLY be doing other things. I am just really good about prioritizing books even when I shouldn't.

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?
This is my first readathon! I know I should be excited for the books, which I am, but I'm especially excited to meet a bunch of new bookish people!
 
Hour 4
Well, it's 10 am and hour 4 just began. I finally finished my first book of the day: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. It was only 129 pages, but it was SO POWERFUL. I definitely cried. Wow, what a great start to the day. Something I've learned: I am SUPER fidgety when I read. I need to figure out something to do with my hand that isn't holding the book while I read. I also get very distracted by the internet. Not sure what I'll read next. Either The Wallcreeper or Dept. of Speculation. For now I'm going to go do a mini challenge! My next update will be from work in a couple hours.
  
Hour 7

It's 1:21pm now. I'm only 50 pages into The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink. To be fair, I had to take a shower (equally important, but it seems somehow less relevant to my life today), get ready to leave for work, then get my ass to work, then be at work for a bit. Things have kind of died down here, so I'm back to reading nonstop. Shirking my responsibilities and whatnot. I've probably read a total of 3-4 hours so far. If that. Hard to tell. BUT I've managed to participate in every mini-challenge, which is kind of crazy. Ok, back to reading this very funny, strange book. 



Hour 11
Holy shit, how is the time flying by this quickly?? It's 5:04pm, so hour 11 just started. I finished The Wallcreeper moments ago. I probably have been reading for almost 3 hours straight. I'm finding out that I am NOT a fast reader when compared to other book bloggers haha. I kind of have mixed feelings, but it was so well written and funny. I really liked it a lot. Now I've moved onto a graphic novel, because my next novel pick was about ANOTHER unhappy housewife. I need a break! Luckily work has been completely dead, so reading as much as I have been hasn't gotten me yelled at.

Hour 12 - Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now?
The graphic novel, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes. I haven't made any progress since hour 11, because I had to close up at work then my ride back home with a coworker took 45 minutes! Didn't want to be rude and read... 
2. How many books have you read so far?
Two! 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. Maybe Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, because it seems like a good time. I'm trying not to be TOO over ambitious! I have to leave for a party in 3-4 hours. UGH I wish I could just stay and read. 
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Lots, yes! Having to work today didn't help, despite it not being too busy. Getting ready and commuting and talking to people cut a lot into reading time. 
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? 
How many people are involved! It's amazing! But also my capacity to sit still and read for prolonged periods of time haha. I didn't expect that. I'm not going to get as much done as I hoped, but how much progress I've made is still pretty crazy to me. 

Hour 15

This is probably going to be my last post for a while, guys. So far I've finished 3 books. Ghost World was so great. I've moved onto Dept. of Speculation, which I've been meaning to read forever. I'm really hoping I finish this one tonight so I get 4 books done. It's 9pm here and I have to leave for the party at like 9:30 or so. I'm kind of bummed, but it's fine. I'll be reading on the bus over. I might read a little horror e-novella on my phone while drunk at the party. I may not even get drunk. WHO KNOWS. But I won't be back home for a long while. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to stay up the whole 24 hours in my drunken stupor! Good luck out there, guys. Make me proud.

Hour 23

Oh my. It's 5 am. I am home now from a very strange party. I didn't have time to smash any appliances, but I watched my friends sledgehammer some tvs. I also did not have the patience to wait in line to have my fortune told. And somehow I didn't pick up any of the free margaritas?? Now I'm wondering if I actually went to this party at all. Ok, I did. It was pretty good. I did not really get drunk, but I did get mad sleepy. I read a little more of Dept. of Speculation on the bus and I intend to fall asleep with it in my arms now. But, if we are ignoring the few pages I'll read before my drool wipes all traces of ink away, here are my final stats:

BOOKS: 3 and a little bit of a 4th!
PAGES: 439
HOURS READ: Almost impossible to figure out, but close to 7-9

Thanks so much for reading along as I participated in my first ever readathon! I didn't have any set goals for myself, but I'm very pleased with the amount I was able to read considering how I didn't have that much time alone in my house. AND almost staying up the whole time is pretty cool, despite how bad at reading I am right now. Can't wait for the next one! 
    
END OF EVENT SURVEY
1.Which hour was most daunting for you?
Probably Hour 9, because I felt like I would never finish The Wallcreeper or Hour 23 when I really just wanted to sleep.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes and/or The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka! Or, I didn't read this during readathon, but I know Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer would be perfect.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Noooope, I thought it was pretty solid haha.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
All of the different twitter hosts were great. And all of the mini-challenges.
5. How many books did you read?
3! And a little bit of another! (it counts)
6. What were the names of the books you read?
The Buddha in the Attic, The Wallcreeper, and Ghost World.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Oh, god. I don't know, I loved them all. Maybe Ghost World, just because reading a graphic novel was a delight. And it actually mimicked me and my life and my relationships.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
Maybe The Wallcreeper only because it was weird and I had to think about it. But it was still really good! Just not easy to get through necessarily.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn't, but maybe I will be next time.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
100%. I want to do everything! I had such a great time.

 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? [April 20, 2015]

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey!

This was both a great and a horrible week. My boyfriend came from out of town to visit me for a number of days, which was a blast. It felt like summer outside. I took him clubbing for the first time, which was both fun and hilarious. I was just overjoyed to see him.

But also my computer broke. I have a lot of stuff to get done for school as I get closer to graduation, and suddenly my laptop can't handle using the one computer program I need. COOL. And I thought I fixed my PC up to do the work, but it blue screens whenever I try to render my 3D stuff. COOLER. Ugh.

On a high note again, I've spent a lot of time with friends and coworkers. AND I went to the Chicago Reader Book Swap, which was both a mob scene and awesome. You brought up to 15 books and could take up to 15 books. Here's what I got in a low quality, cheapest-smartphone-I-could-get photo:

The illegible top pile of books are: A Raisin in the Sun, Faces in the Crowd, In the Lake of the Woods, and Epitaph.

This week I read:

 

• The Last Flight of Poxl West by Daniel Torday - This book had a lot of promise and did have a great twist ending. It let me down in a couple ways, but I'm glad I read it. If you like books within books, check out my review.
  

Currently Reading (the same things as last week!): 

 

Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin is actually the exact book I need to be reading right now. Lately, I've been reeeeally anxious about graduating. I've been dealing with a lot of "am I making the right choice?" feelings in regards to what I will "do" in the future. I'm really burnt out on what I have been doing and a lot of my passion for it is gone. And that's exactly where MacLaughlin starts in her journalism career at the beginning of the book. Even though it's scary, she quits because she knows she needs to try something new. And it's making me feel liberated just watching her path into carpentry, something she's never done before.





My coworker has been kicked out of the three-person book club a total of 5 times now, so it is a two-person book club again. She just hasn't had time to read. Anyway, my boss and I are drawing out the ending of this book. I'm so into it. It's dark and the characters are fascinating and the writing is beautiful and UGH. I don't want it to end. And I also don't know how it's going to end. But I'm excited to find out when I finish on Wednesday.

What are you reading this week?

 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? [April 13, 2015]

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey!

It was a preeeetty good week. I'm kind of caught up in homework, 32 days before graduation. I met internet friend I made through National Novel Writing Month and we had wonderful bookstore times. I've been going out with other friends. Work is fun. Living the ~dream~. OH and I didn't get to go to AWP in Minneapolis, but my mom went. And she got me both Roxane Gay AND Karen Russell's autographs!!

I made my mom tell Karen Russell that Swamplandia! made me fall in love with books again, which she was very touched by. But then she told her something that I said IN CONFIDENCE. My mom let her know that she was, I quote, "the word goddess of my life." Russell said she had never gotten that one before and that she should probably update her CV.

This week I read:

 

• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - I really liked this one at first. And throughout most of it. I thought it was really leading up to something amazing, but I was kind of disappointed by the end of it.
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - Oh. My. God. I'm still grieving this book. I was actually weeping as I finished it at 2:30 am. Somebody send help.

Currently Reading: 

 

I figured a nice, 200-page nonfiction book might be a good book to follow A Little Life. Mostly because I don't really have any raucously funny books on hand. Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin is a recent release about a journalist who finds a Craigslist ad to learn how to be a carpenter. She drops her old job and starts learning how to work with her hands.








The next and last three-person book club choice is Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, which I got to pick. Hopefully I don't let anybody down with my story of a woman sentenced to death in 1829 in Iceland. But, like, it sounds sooooo good, how could it?

What are you reading this week?