Hour 17 – Books For Your Ears

Hey there, how is it going? This Janani from The Shrinkette, taking you through the next few hours of the ‘thon. It’s about 11 PM Central, and we’re 17 hours into this shindig. Hope everyone that’s awake took a few minutes to move and stretch in the last hour!

Let’s talk audiobooks friends. First things first, all books are “real”, yes, including audiobooks. Now that’s out of the way, can we talk about how great they are? They’re great for my long daily commutes to-and-back-from work, keep me company when I’m doing chores around the house, and are especially handy when I’m doing a readathon and need to rest my eyes for a bit.

Added bonus: Ignoring everybody.

I particularly enjoy listening to nonfiction on audio, BUT today I’ve got an exciting mix of fiction and nonfiction to choose from: Becoming by Michelle Obama, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett, Things You Save In A Fire by Katherine Center, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, to name a few. Hopefully, I get to listen to at least one of them over the course of the day.

So fellow audiobook readers, let me know in the comments if you’re listening to anything good. Remember, all reading formats are valid, so do whatever works for you. I’ll be around for the next couple hours on here, you can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy doing what I do best—yelling about books.

Happy reading!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 16 – Let’s get moving!

Hello readathoners, it’s still Valentina from 100-books-a-year. (you can also find me tweeting @ValeGeneva) 

Why 100 non-fiction books? A friend once joked that as fast reader, and I am, I could at least make my skill usefulI by reviewing all I read, so that they don’t have to. Here I am. A brand new book blogger! 

Anyhow, how are you feeling?

I have been reading all day yesterday and since I just woke up one hour ago today, I feel the need for a good stretch. You might use one too. 

I am a runner, and I have just started practising Yoga, but I also like to dance around the house blasting music (definitely not at 6 o’clock in the morning), or clean the house and the garden when I have accumulated rage to get rid of. 

What’s your favorite physical activity? 

What music do you play?

After reading only non fiction for the last 4 months, and non stop today, I really wish I could go and clean up something. I realized that I desperately need to mix up my book selection, and add some lighter books in my list, otherwise in another 8 months, I will be completely disillusioned with humanity. 

I ‘could’ also pick up a really good novel, but it’s hard enough to reach 100 books without detours … and I don’t trust myself not to run to the bookstore and never turn back. 

What do you usually read? 

What is your favorite ‘light and funny’ non-fiction author? 

Help a fellow reader! 

I wish you all a great continuation of the Red-a-thon! I am going to get moving and walk to breakfast!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 15 – Wake up and smell the coffe (if you are in Europe)

How are you all doing? Are you energized? Sleepy? Caffeinated? 

I am Valentina, your co-host for the next 2 hours. Are you wondering ‘how can she be so perky after 15 hours of reading ?’ You are not the only one. I am asking this to myself. 

The truth is, I live in Switzerland, and it’s 5 o’clock in the morning here, I just woke up from a nap and I am drinking 2 coffees at once (head over to twitter for photographic evidence). 
In my daily life, I am a mom and I work full time (and I volunteer). This is my first readathon, and so far, I’ve been living my dream. Coffee, tea, snacks, no household chores and reading as much as I want! I wish this  existed when I was younger, I could have just told my mom to let me read at three o’clock in the morning, (‘it’s a read-a-thon’) instead of sneaking under the blankets with my pocket lamp, after lights out. 

(Hi Mom! Sorry Mom!) 

As I am staying away from novels and fiction this year ( curious? Come back in one hour for the next post or check out  100-books-a-year,) finding enough interesting non fiction books to read was a challenge. Twitter came to my rescue, and suggested non-fiction graphic novels, and my life will never be the same (and neither will my wallet). 

Are you also fans? 

Which ones are your favorites?

Did you also read under the covers? 

After spending the whole afternoon and evening in-door yesterday, I have decided to go out (just as soon as the rest of civilization is awake) and walk to the nearest breakfast caffe’, and spoil myself. What about you?

Where have you been reading today? 

If this is also your first Read-a-thon, what was the part you most enjoy?

Link up below!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 14 – Where are you at?

Hi all, Paula here again. I’m joining you from my home on the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest Coast of Washington State, USA. Reading from my comfy spot on the couch with November the cat and Bogart the dog. Where are you reading at right now? Are you alone, with family, friends or pets? Do you prefer solitude when you read or are you one of those people who can read in a crowd?

Everyone is different, I know. Personally, I can read anywhere, as long as folks around me recognize that I’m reading and don’t try to talk to me. I am developing what I call my “Resting Book Face”. As the daughter of a polite mother, I try really, really hard not to roll my eyes and frown if someone interrupts my reading, but I’m not always successful.

How are you holding up? Hour 14 already? Stand up and stretch, walk around a little, pat yourself on the back and get back to it. Book Lovers Unite, you’ve all got this.

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 13 Halfway Done!

Hooray for you and welcome to hour 13. You passed the halfway point of the Readathon and are ready to push on through the final 12. Whoot – Whoot.

I’m Paula, your host for the next couple hours. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a pot of tea, some snacks and to fall back into the world of my book.

My question is, have you ever read a book with a world you just yearned to be in? Do you prefer a fictional world like Narnia, or something real, like Jane Austen’s Britain? Leave a comment below with a book world you could see yourself entering and I will randomly choose a winner at the end of hour 14.

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 12 – Plot-driven versus Character-driven Books

Hi there,

This is Juli again from ich lese. I thought we could talk about plot-driven versus character-driven books during this hour. Simply as that, do you have a preference? I am a huge mood reader, and while I generally prefer character-driven or language-based stories, I have a real craving for a page-turner once in a while, especially in the winter months or during vacation. 

I know, ideally, we have a bit of both, but for this argument, let’s just assume you have to choose one over the other. Give me your thoughts in the comments below! And also give me your examples! This girl needs more books on her TBR 😉

ich lese

 

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
2. How many books have you read so far?
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

Link up below or leave a comment!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 11 – The Elusive Graphic Novel

Hi bookish friends,

This is Juli from ich lese where I discuss my literary shenanigans and present you with very opinionated reviews. You can also find me on Twitter @evilbibliotaph – equally opinionated but less frequented (something I should probably change). I’ll be joining you guys here on Dewey’s blog and on the official Dewey’s Twitter account for the next two hours. 

One thing I’ve been wondering about, and what was recently posed as a question to me by a friend, …. what in the world is the difference between a comic and a graphic novel?! Gut-feeling-wise (that’s probably not a word, but whatever), I always thought of graphic novels as self-contained stories with illustrations as opposed to comics, which are released periodically and have continuing plots. Yet, when I researched the topic with the help of my trusty friend Google, I found an article that mentioned that Watchmen was originally a comic released sequentially over some time and later published as one bound piece of work, thus switching from comic to graphic novel. So, what gives? Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Series, for example, lives in my mind as a series of graphic novels but really might be a comic compilation? 

Another article proposed that the term graphic novel was only coined to indicate that reading comics is READING trying to help comic enthusiasts to be accepted in literary communities as readers and I gotta be honest I hear a lot about graphic novels on Goodreads for example but never anything about comics, so maybe that article is correct. 

What do you guys think??? I personally believe reading is reading and think that comics are just as valuable as classic fat tomes. Especially during our 24hr readathon, I encounter a lot of people who read graphic novels (or maybe they are actually comics – who really knows the true definition anymore) and I am one of them. I truly enjoy diving into this illustrated world as it adds a new dimension to my reading experience. 

Let me know what y’all think in the comments below.

Cheers,

ich lese

 

 

 

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 10 – Reading Buddies

Hi, welcome to hour 10!!!

I’m Ellie, you can find me at @ermreading on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube!

One of my favourite things about the bookish community is that we’ve turned the solitary act of reading into, well, community! We have readathons, buddy reading and we’re interacting and meeting new readers all the time.

I love reading with my friends or my faithful reading companion, who’s even with me as I’m writing this, my adorable cat Bae, although she does try and knock books out of my hands when she wants attention!

I was wondering if any of you have a reading buddy with you this time around? Are they a pet? a friend? a family member? buddy reading online? or are you reading solo? Let me know in the comments or over on twitter.

If you’re a solo reader who wants some digital company, you can find me over on the @readathon twitter for the next hour and on my own, @ermreading, for the rest of the readathon. You can also chat to and cheer on your fellow readers on the #readathon twitter or any place people are posting their updates ^_^

Keep happy, keep reading, keep motivated!!!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 9 – Readathon Self Care

Hi, I’m Ellie, you can find me at @ermreading on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube

Readathons can sometimes be a stressful time but here at Dewey’s, we don’t want you to stress out, we want you to have fun, look after yourself and enjoy reading. So I’ve put together some self care tips for 24 hour readathons to help you look after yourself and stay motivated!

Take breaks
You don’t have to read for every minute of the 24 hours, take a moment to relax, have a drink, look at social media or just sit back and rest.

Don’t compare yourself to others
The downfall of many a reader’s motivation can be seeing other people reading more than them. Don’t compare your reading to others, read at your own speed.

Switch books or mediums
This may not work for everyone or every book but for me, switching between books and formats helps keep me motivated to read.

Set yourself mini goals and celebrate when you achieve them
These can help you feel productive, motivated and successful throughout the day, plus you get to reward yourself!

Stay hydrated
Make sure you’re drinking enough water to help your brain ingest all the new material you’re reading and absorbing.

If you can, go outside
Some fresh air will do you good and keep your mental energy up to keep going!

Sleep if you need to
It’s okay if you can’t stay awake reading for a full 24 hours, if you need to sleep, look after your body and get some sleep

I hope you’re enjoying the readathon so far and these tips are helpful to you for the rest of it. I’ll be over on @readathon’s Twitter for the next two hours and then my own, @ermreading, after that if you want to come chat to me!

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!

Hour 8 – Time to Power Up!

Hey there readathon warriors! Naomi (@bookladyreads) here, and I’m back for hour 8. Man, we are killing it, aren’t we? Eight hours is a long time to be reading fairly consistently. You may find yourself getting a little sleepy and need a little pick me up.

via GIPHY

This is the perfect time to take a break to get a snack and a drink. I love eating snacks and drinking coffee (hot or cold) while reading. Cashews and almonds are my daily go-to reading snack, but I also love a good bag of kettle-cooked chips, and if I’m feeling super naughty…… OREO DOUBLE STUFFED COOKIES!!!!! These cookies are like a gift to the universe. My drink of choice is coffee. Either coffee I brew myself at home or Starbucks. I don’t know about you, but my current drink addiction is that Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew.

via GIPHY

What is your snack and drink situation today? What snacks and drinks do you prefer to help power you through a readathon?

via GIPHY

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the mini-challenges ANY TIME YOU WANT! 

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #readathon on all your social channels!