Dewey’s Read-a-thon

From 8am this morning to 8am tomorrow, people all around the world (and the web) will be reading. Here is the website where you can get more info about this challenge. I’m not sure I’m hardcore enough to last all 24 hours, but I do hope to spend most of the day reading and surpass 1,000 pages. I have a stack full of books from the library and fridge full of yummy snacks I made yesterday – so I’m ready for a pretty amazing day.

The Morning After 

I tried to read another book, but fell asleep very soon after that last post. Overall, I’m super proud of myself for another great read-a-thon. In about 20 hours, I read six new books and 1393 pages – far surpassing my goal. But more importantly I had a great day with my book and my mom, and I met so many new awesome book bloggers! Even if you can’t make it all 24 hours, I can’t recommend this event enough. Hope to be doing it again in October when I lived in New York (what? still getting used to that!).

4:30 AM Sixth Book Finished … but now I think I really need to go to bed. 

Against, all the odds I finished Deenie by Judy Blume. To be fair it is meant for middle schoolers and less than 150 pages. All I can say is that it made me so glad I didn’t have to wear a back brace growing up. I’ve been reading for over 20 hours now, and part of me wants to try to make it to 24 … but I’ve literally never stayed up all night for anything. And I am starting to get really loopy. So it is probably time for me to go to sleep. But it’s been fun! I’m glad I snuck one more book into the challenge.

3:15 AM Fifth Book Finished !!! 

My fifth and probably final book, was Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I pretty much knew I was going to love this book (I like both authors separately, but their past collaborations have really knocked my socks off) and I did like it. A lot. It made me kind of excited that I will be living in New York in the not so distant future. I’m glad I made it to hour 20 and to the end of book five. I’m going to brush my teeth and hop into bed. I’m not feeling the tiredest ever, so maybe I will get another book under my belt…but let’s face it, probably not. I will probably fall asleep approximately eight minutes after I get under the covers. Which isn’t enough time to read most books. But I guess you never know. I will will update you if I persevere, and if not I will write a quick wrap up when I wake up. Thanks to everyone I’ve chatted with on their blogs and twitter. What an awesome way to spend the last twenty hours together!

1:50 AM Fourth Book Finished 

I’m out of the bath and have successfully finished Call Me Zelda, by Erika Robuck. As you can probably tell from the title, it is historical fiction about Zelda Fitzgerald. It’s told from the perspective of her psychiatric nurse and eventual friend, a made up character with a history and story line her own. I’m pretty intrigued by all things Zelda Fitzgerald so this definitely held my interest. Robuck definitely has some interesting things to say about what it means to be a writer, a creator, and an artist. It was funny reading this book after The Wife – which also centers around a marriage where the man is the successful writer. I don’t know. Historical fiction isn’t my main thing anymore, but overall I thought this was quite good. Sorry if I’m not all that coherent. We are in hour eighteen (where I ended up stopping last time) and I will admit that I am getting sleepy. I have passed my goal of 1,000 pages, but I’m hoping not to stop reading until I at least finish Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares. I might have to find an uncomfortable spot to read in order to stay up though.

11:02 PM Hour Sixteen Update 

Mom has gone to bed. She made it through most of the day and through two books: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, by Jenny Han and The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson. Two of my favorites! I’m about a hundred pages into two different books and still going strong, but we’ll see how long that lasts. I’m about to hop into a bubble bath for a change of scenery (and because there is very little that I like more than reading in a hot bubble bath). Before I go here is another mini challenge:

Name in Titles Challenge hosted by The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog

Also participated in the hour 16 mini challenge, hosted by The Bibliophibian.

7:55 Mid Event Survey 

1. What are you reading right now? Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn.
2. How many books have you read so far? Three. 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I think my last book of the challenge is going to be Deenie, by Judy Blume – one of the few Judy Blume books I didn’t read as a child. 
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I’ve turned down someone for plans, also I made lots of food so I wouldn’t have to stop an cook. 
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? No big interruptions. I did get antsy and take a short walk with my mom. 
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How fast it goes by.   7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, it is already so fun as is! 
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I don’t think I would do that much differently. Maybe I would pick a nonfiction book just to shake things up.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Not yet, but I know that it’s coming. 
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? It’s been so nice choosing short books and having my mom do the challenge with me. What a fun day! 

6:30 PM Third Book Finished and More Mini Challenges 

I know I’ve said this every read-a-thon, but I’m shocked at how fast the day has gone by. Other than taking breaks to blog and check other people’s blogs, I’ve just been reading. And it still basically feels like the morning. Except that I’ve read three books today. My third book was TTYL, by Lauren Myracle. This one has also appeared on a lot of banned books lists, and once again that felt crazy to me. I thought it would go really quickly because it is told all through instant messages (remember those?), but the change in format actually made me read slower and pay more attention. Overall, I liked the book. It was about tenth grade girls and published in the year I was in the tenth grade, so I felt like I caught all the references. Reading a book entirely in IMs though made me miss having an interior look at the characters. It felt so real and true to that age though. The writing was so good it almost felt voyeuristic.

On to some mini-challenges to make up for my relative lack of participation so far.

For the Hour 11 Mini Challenge The Blue Stocking Society challenged participants to figure out what the edition was of the book they were reading. I’m not sure I’m doing this right, but based on the picture below I’m guessing my copy of TTYL is a 28th edition. Does that make sense?

For the Hour 10 Mini Challenge hosted by The Book Monsters I’m supposed to pose a shelfie. I’m feeling like too much of a scraggle muffin to post a pic of myself right now, but here is a shot of my too read shelf – which is getting much smaller today!

The idea for the Hour 9 Mini Challenge, hosted by A Girl That Likes Books is to discuss a recipe of lots of recipes that you could make that would be in the theme of one of the books you read today. Since, much of The Wife, by Meg Wolitzer took place in Helsinki I think any of these Finnish recipes would work for a meal based on the book. I’m especially interested in the potato flatbread and carrot casserole … and gingerbread cookies, obviously.

2:45 PM Second Book Finished and Hour Seven Mini Challenge

I finished The Wife, by Meg Wolitzer. I started out a little cool towards this book, but definitely warmed up to it as I kept reading. The writing was fantastic, but it was one of those books that made me feel like it is impossible to grow up and not be disappointed by your life. Which might be true, but isn’t the most fun feeling to have at 26 or maybe ever. A large portion is set at Smith College, which I always love. It was nice to read about the main character’s dorm, but know exactly what the dining hall in it looked like or understand exactly where in the library her carrell is. Also there is a twist at the end, that isn’t that surprising, but somehow manages to still be compelling.

For the Hour Seven Mini Challenge, hosted by Estella’s Revenge, we are supposed to compose a six word celebration of the read-a-thon. Here’s mine: Books, books, snacks, then more books. 

Back to reading!

1:35 PM – Hour Six Mini Challenge 

I’m working my way through The Wife, by Meg Wolitzer, but wanted to take a break so here is my hour six mini challenge. I’ve been asked by Lisa from Lisa’s World of Books to share some of my best reads from the year. I decided to pick books I’ve read in 2014 (so far). Here we go:

• Best Book of 2014: MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood
• Best YA Book of 2014: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, by Jenny Han
• Best Storyline of 2014: Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

10:30 AM – First Book Finished 

I’ve been reading for the last two and half hours and already finished my first book, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, and let me tell you the book definitely lives up to the hype. It was powerful, hard to read at times, but strangely relatable (even though I am lucky enough never to have been in the same position as Melinda). I highly recommend it to everyone. I’m going to go check out my stack of books and decide what to read next. Maybe something a little more cheerful for variety, but first I’m going to grab one of the apple sauce muffins I made yesterday. Yum!

8:00 AM Hour One Kick Me Off Meme 

I am awake and ready to start reading!

1) I am reading from Annapolis, Maryland today. 
2) I’m really looking forward to Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Also, TTYL, by Lauren Myracle. 
3) I made some pita chips and red lentil humus, I’m excited about noming on.  
4) I like to write young adult books, as of this week I am a future MFA student, and I like to read almost everything that isn’t too serious or too scary. 
5) This is my third read-a-thon ! The main differences are the timezone (I lived in California for the last two read-a-thons), that my mom is participating with me, and that I finally caught on and picked some shorter books to read. Bring on the fun!