Sunday Salon and Dewey 24 Hour Readathon Finale

Weather: Rain, thunder/lightning, hail.

Dewey 24 Hour Readathon (Modified): This weekend I participated in the readathon which was designed to take place in an actual 24 hour period. I decided to modify the plan and attempt to read for 24 hours over the whole weekend, Friday afternoon to Sunday night. It is currently 8:30 PM and if my calculations are correct I spent 21 1/2 hours actually reading or listening to an audiobook, a personal record. (And there are still a few hours in the day, so I may squeeze in another hour.)

My readathon details:
1. Hours spent reading: 21.5 to 22 hrs.
2. Books completed:

• The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters (YA, print)
• The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork. (YA, audio)
• Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins. (Poetry)
• All the Things We Never Knew: Chasing the Chaos of Mental Illness by Sheila Hamilton. (Nonfiction, memoir)
• Blizzard: The Storm that Changed America by Jim Murphy. (Junior, nonfiction)
• Jackaby by William Ritter. (YA, print)

3. Books started and my progress:

• Lit Up: One Reporter, Three Schools, Twenty-Four Books That Can Change Lives by David Denby, page 48, 16%.
• Golden Boys by Sonya Harnett, audiobook, track 13 of 31

4. Books I decided to abandon:

• Vanishing Grace by Philip Yancey. I've been working on this book for eight months. After reading an additional 30 pages or so this weekend I decided I am just not "into" it right now and will give myself permission to stop.
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. After reading two pages I made the decision to set this one aside. I will try it later in audiobooks.

5. My thoughts:
     After this weekend I realized something about myself, I don't usually dedicate long periods of time to reading. For someone who thinks of herself as a reader, isn't it odd it took so long to gain this insight?

Billy Collins and Aimee Mann: Poetry and Music at the Broadway Center in Tacoma on Friday night. Pinch me. I love Billy Collins poetry. It was a perfect event for me this National Poetry Month. In preparation for the event I read his poetry collection Ballistics.

Faith in Action Weekend: In addition to the readathon, this weekend was our church's Faith in Action weekend where members fan out in the community to volunteer our services. I spent Saturday at the local Food Bank repackaging food. Sunday Carly and I worked on the Days for Girls project which is a sewing project to build kits for personal hygiene products for girls in impoverished areas of the world. We ended the day at a community meal and celebration. This is why I couldn't do the readathan all-day Saturday.

Next readathon is in October. Want to join me?