"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, April 24, 2016

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?

3 comments:

  1. I thought it would be 24 hours of reading Dewey and educational theory. Hahaha!

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    Replies
    1. Lit Up: One Reporter, Three Schools, Twenty-Four Books That Can Change Lives by David Denby this is the only one that felt like a teacher book and I haven't finished it yet, though I plan to.

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  2. Oh, yeah, I am WAY behind this week! ha ha Your Sunday post sat open in my browser for the whole week. It's been a rough one!

    What a great idea to aim to read 24 hours over the entire weekend! I can't skimp on sleep or proper meals, so that would work well for me. Though, after taking Saturday completely "off", I had a lot piled up to get done on Sunday!

    You read a LOT - way to go! I have The Memory of Light waiting on audio - hope to get to it soon. And I read a review of Lit Up - it sounds great.

    Glad you had a good weekend and a successful readathon!

    Sue

    Book By Book

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