Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

A couple of days ago, a link to Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon popped up in my Facebook feed, providing a happy distraction from all of the horrifying political news. I can't believe I never heard of this event before, as it's been going on twice a year since 2007. I would have had a blast with this when I was still teaching English. On the upside, now that I'm no longer under the constant pressure of being a teacher, taking 24 hours out of my life to do nothing but read and talk about books is easy and natural. My husband hasn't officially joined the festivities, but he baked some cookies to make sure I won't run out of snacks and has said he "might pick up a book for a while" tomorrow. The more excited I am about it, the more willing he is to see what all the fuss is about.

Go to the official website or this concise and comprehensive post for full details, but here it is in a nutshell: Try to read as much as you can in 24 hours.

Participants also track and discuss their reading across a wide variety of social media platforms. Look for #readathon wherever you hang out online. In order to focus primarily on reading, I'll be most active before and after the readathon itself, though I'm sure I won't be able to resist occasional updates. I'm already not reading nearly as much as I'd like to, so MORE distraction isn't what I need.

This challenge on Instagram looks fun (and there are bookish prizes).

I've seen a lot of people looking at this as an all-or-nothing proposition, but you can still participate if you have work or family obligations. Even with the best of intentions, most people aren't going to read during ALL of the 24 hours. Any reading we do during the readathon, especially if it is over and above our usual reading routine, can be counted as a win.

So, stretch out, grab a great read and a snack, and join a vibrant community of readers. Just for the fun of it.

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Hourly Updates

(NO GUARANTEE THAT THESE WILL ACTUALLY BE UPDATED HOURLY)

 5:00 AM  -  6:00 AM: Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech (152 pages - #1 done)

 6:00 AM  -  7:00 AM: Stickman Odyssey by Christopher Ford (200 pages - #2 done) 

 7:00 AM  -  8:00 AM: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (40 pages - in progress); The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (26 pages - in progress)

 8:00 AM  -  9:00 AM: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (86 pages - #3 done); The Buried Giant (24 pages - in progress)

 9:00 AM  - 10:00 AM: The Buried Giant (34 pages - in progress)

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: The Tale of Despereaux - The Graphic Novel (126 pages - #4 done) 

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: The Buried Giant (52 pages - in progress) 

12:00 PM -  1:00 PM: People of the Book (33 pages - in progress)

 1:00 PM  -  2:00 PM: As the World Burns by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan (220 pages - #5 done) 

 2:00 PM  -  3:00 PM: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (62 pages - in progress) 

 3:00 PM  -  4:00 PM: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (54 pages - #6 done) 

 4:00 PM  -  5:00 PM: Green Witch by Alice Hoffman (81 pages - in progress)

 5:00 PM  -  6:00 PM: Green Witch by Alice Hoffman (54 pages - #7 done); People of the Book (44 pages - in progress)

 6:00 PM  -  7:00 PM: Dinner with hubby and back at it! The Buried Giant (15 pages - in progress) 

 7:00 PM  -  8:00 PM: The Buried Giant (35 pages - in progress) 

 8:00 PM  -  9:00 PM: The Buried Giant (30 pages - in progress)

 9:00 PM  -  10:00 PM: People of the Book (71 pages - in progress)

10:00 PM -  11:00 PM: People of the Book (14 pages - in progress); The Buried Giant (16 pages - in progress)

11:00 PM -  12:00 AM: People of the Book (30 pages - in progress)

12:00 AM -  1:00 AM: The Buried Giant (30 pages - in progress)

 1:00 AM  -  2:00 AM: The Buried Giant (18 pages - #8 done); March, Book 1 by John Lewis (121 pages - #9 done)

 2:00 AM  -  3:00 AM: March, Book 2 by John Lewis (192 pages - #10 done) 

 3:00 AM  -  4:00 AM: March, Book 3 by John Lewis (200 pages - in progress)

 4:00 AM  -  5:00 AM: March, Book 3 by John Lewis (56 pages - #11 done); The Wide-Awake Princess (14 pages - in progress)

READATHON COMPLETE 

Books in the stack (11) are finished and the two in front are in process. I had to end with The Wide-Awake Princess!

My final stats from Bookout don't quite match with my running page totals, but I'm an English major. You do the math. I only remembered to start using the app later in the day, after seeing several cool infographics that other users had posted. So there's that.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first readathon and will look forward to participating in many more. Happy reading, everyone!