Hour 24 – We are the Champions… of the Readathon

Edited to Add: I’ve seen in the few responses that we’ve gotten so far that you would like the mini-challenges to be hourly again. In order for that to happen, we need more people to volunteer to host them. If we don’t get enough volunteers then there is no way that there can be hourly mini-challenges, unfortunately. So please, really do seriously consider volunteering to help out and host one next time around. We all love them. But without your help… it just isn’t possible. Thank you – Kate

This is it. It’s the end. 60 more minutes of reading. Can you believe it? I can’t. I spend 6 months waiting for this event to come and then in the blink of an eye, its all over and done with.

But we did it, you guys! Whether you read 1500 pages or you read 15 pages, you still participated in it. And that is something worthy of celebrating! Did you participate with loved ones or were you a solo reader. This year one of the most awesome things happened… I got my grandfather to participate. He is so amazing. He sent me messages throughout the day updating me on his progress. He read Genesis, Song of Solomon (told me he needed some romance), Ruth, Romans, Lamentations, and Chicken Soup for the Grandparents Soul. He told me he wasn’t going to do it all night because he has to get sleep before church. But I am still super blown away and impressed that he participated. My mom and aunt read some as did at least one of my younger sisters. And my boyfriend has been sitting next to me reading news stories while I participate (which I totally think counts). So I’m lucky to be surrounded my so many people I love who participated in their own ways. What about you all? I’d love to read your stories.

My final shout out and thanks goes to you the readers. Without you, there really wouldn’t be a 24 hour readathon. At least not the way that it is now. Sure, we might some nights pull an all-nighter, trying to finish an amazing story. But would we have done it in such a book loving community? Probably not. It’s your guys support and comments that keeps this event happening year after year. So thank you so much.

Now, as per my tradition, it is time we cross that finish line in style, celebrating as the CHAMPIONS that we are.

Go out there and crush that final hour! Hope to see you all again come October! It’s been a joy and honor and privilege to spend these last four hours with you.

Closing Survey!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read!
3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners?
4. What’s a really rad thing we could do during the next Read-a-thon that would make you smile?
5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep?

Prize Winners!

In Libris Veritas

Berls SC

Koboriichan

Read_Write_and_Hakuna_Matata

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 23 – Dance the Night Away

If last hours tip to do some crafts didn’t help you get your energy back perhaps what you need to do is get up and dance a bit to get some energy back in your body. Here is a video I found on YouTube that has the Top 10 Dance Songs of All Time. Now, I’m not sure I agree with all of these, but I did find myself dancing in my seat a bit.

I hope that helped you to get a bit of energy. I know that it is getting rough at this point. We’ve been at it for 22 hours and our beds and sleep is calling to us. But just try to fight it a little bit longer. We’re so close to the end of the event and it will be all worth it in the end.

A special thanks, this hour, to Andi and Heather, our fearless leaders. This is something that they organize and put together for us every April and October because of their shared passion and love of reading and the readathon. They aren’t paid to do this. They have very busy / demanding jobs of their own. So I just wanted to personally thank them for the time they took away from their family and jobs and lives to spend organizing an event that we all know and love. Without you, there would be no Dewey’s 24 hour readathon.

Two more hours, folks. It is crunch time! Let’s try to get some more reading in. And don’t forget to log your pages into the database!

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 22 – Trick to Make it Through the Night

Do you craft? Now you might be thinking “Kate, what does that have to do with readathon?” And that is a valid question.

I am an avid crafter. Cross stitching is my main vice. But I crochet and quilt as well. It’s my passion.

And within the last year, I’ve timed myself and I discovered that I am FOUR times faster at my crafting when I am listening to an audiobook that when I am watching tv. Now this might seem intuitive to many of you. But to me, it was revolutionary and eye opening. For example, last year I came just shy of reading 100 books in the year. This year, I am already at 50 books read. Or should I say audiobooks listened to.

When I craft while listening to audiobooks, I am able to dedicate a portion of my mind to just the book. Keeping my hands busy also keeps my mind focused. And for me, this is invaluable during readathon. Towards the end (like we are now), when my brain is fried and I’m not sure I can focus and keep going anymore, pulling out one of my craft projects just helps me keep going and helps keep the tiredness at bay.

So, if you feel yourself starting to fade, try pulling out a craft project of some sort, switch on an audiobook, and see if that helps at all. It might just keep you going until the bitter end. And you may just develop another hobby (PS – any craft will do. Knitting, coloring, lego building, wood carving, looming, etc)

This hours shout out and thank you goes to everyone who volunteered to host a mini-challenge or help out in some way. You are part of what makes this event so special and so fun. So thank you for doing that. Thank you to everyone who volunteered a prize. That is so incredibly kind and generous of you and we are so thankful to you.

Three more hours of reading! We can do this!!!

Prize Winners!

CatchMyBookBreath

Books and Needlepoint

The One and Only Marfalfa

Participate in our Mini-Challenges AN

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 21 – The End is Nigh

Hello Readathoners! Anyone who has been doing these readathons for a while know that when I show up as the co-host, we are in the final stretch. I’ve been co-hosting the final hours of the readathon since April 2012. So that is 6 years (or 12 readathons) now. So, hello my lovelies! We are nearing the end.

Let me start out with telling you a bit about myself. I am 29 and live in beautiful Northern California. I am currently in a major cozy mystery binge, but my favorite genre is Fantasy. My favorite author is Brandon Sanderson and I will read anything he writes <3. This is the first readathon in YEARS where I don’t have several exotic cheeses and a wonderful crockpot soup to munch on, so I have to admit that I am a bit out of my element. This is also the first readathon that I haven’t used my blog (that I only dust of for readathons). Anyone else trying different things this time around? Anything work well for you all? I want my soup back!

In addition to co-hosting these final hours, I am also the moderator of the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon Goodreads Group. Gabby (my fellow moderator) and I have been hosting a fun Scavenger Hunt this year. It is a group effort. So if you’re needing a small break from reading, why don’t you take a look over there and see if you can fit in any of the books that you’ve read. It is a lot of fun!

Before I let you all go for the rest of the hour, I want to take a moment to thank all of my fellow co-hosts who have taken some time out of their readathons to host a few hours. I want to extend this thanks to my group of co-moderators on the Goodreads page who spend an hour engaging with fellow readers. I really don’t know what we would do without you. 🙂

Now back to the books!

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 20 – Pass the Coffee

Before Kate takes over for the final stretch of the readathon, we have one more hour of caffeine-driven late-night decisions! For me, this means drinking coffee in the wee hours of the morning and listening to  the Hamilton soundtrack for the umpteenth time. How are YOU all doing?

With five hours or so left, there’s still time to get in another book, or just finish that tome you started in hour one (like when I participated in my first-ever readathon and decided to read The Sympathizer—can’t really recommend that life choice. Great book, but man, it’s long). What have you read so far? Have there been any challenges you didn’t anticipate? And, perhaps most importantly, did you expect to still be awake right now?!

Stay strong, readathoners! Just a few more hours left. Thanks for joining me for these couple of hours. You can find me on Reading Women‘s social media, @thereadingwomen, or my own, @kdwinchester. Happy Reading!

Prize Winners!

Imane

Petra Otten

You and a Book

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 19 – Late Night Reading Adventures

Hello, night owls! Welcome to late night reading adventures with Kendra from the Reading Women podcast! It’s 2am here on the east coast, and all I can think about is the life lesson Ted Mosby taught us in How I Met Your Mother:

Now, I don’t want to disagree with Ted’s abundance of life wisdom (ha!), but he obviously never participated in a 24-hour readathon! We’re just a bunch of readers hopped up on sugar and caffeine, sitting at home alone with an internet connection. What could go wrong?

I’ll be over on Twitter seeing what after-2am shenanigans I can get up to. If you want a break, come on over and join the fun. Otherwise, I wish you the best with your reading and attempts to stay awake. I’m sure everyone is hanging in there. . . . No, wait. We have a casualty. Looks like Dylan didn’t make it through the night. Sleep well, young reader. You gave it a good go.

Stay strong, readathoners! Almost to the home stretch!

Prize Winners!

Imperfect Happiness

Melissa Firman

Erratic Project Junkie

Dionisia

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!

Hour 18 – Robots vs. Fairies

Aw. It’s my last hour as a co-host! I’ll be passing on the reins to the lovely and talented Kendra after this. Please be as nice to her as you have been to me. Who am I kidding? Of course you will be. You’re awesome!

I recently finished the anthology Robots vs. Fairies where authors presented their stories about either robots or fairies and declared themselves either Team Robot or Team Fairy, well, in terms of which they would prefer to become our benevolent overlords. I know, in my heart of hearts, I will always be Team Robot. When I mentioned this to my husband he declared himself Team Fairy and I was surprised! But, we both agreed, it would be an awesome fight to watch.

Now I’m very curious, are you Team Robot or Team Fairy? Which would you rather have as an overlord? Which do you think actually could become our overlords! Which would win in a fight? And if you’re under duress from either side, please blink three times and we’ll send rescue!

It has been such a delight to be your co-host for these three hours. I’ve been enjoying the twitter chats and the cheering. Don’t forget to check our Master Mini-Challenges list full of wonderfully different ways to engage with the Read-A-Thon (I’ve got one on there, so I’m a little partial). You’ve been a delightful audience and I’ve been happy to discuss with you the important topics in life: reading, reading and more reading.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take a nap at the end of this hour.

Participate in our Mini-Challenges ANY TIME! They are located HERE, and they are all open for the entire 24 hours of the event! 

If you see your name announced as an hourly prize winner, visit the PRIZES page to claim.

Enter your finished books into the 1 MILLION PAGES DATABASE!