Hour 24 – Celebrate!

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How do you feel??

A) like you scaled Mt. Everest– quick someone take a picture!!? or

B) like you’re a drained AA battery?

Everyone approaches the readathon differently, and I’m starting to learn that life has to get in the way, so this wasn’t the go-for-gold kind of readathon but an I’ll-read-as-much-as-I-possibly-can. And the benchmarks along the way are what we can celebrate. This book community is to be applauded for their tireless preparation (here’s looking at you hosts!), the pre-readathoners, and readathoners themselves. Plus the every day readers.

I hope you made a connection or two along this twenty-four hour journey. You might have found a new bookish friend on Twitter or a reading twin on Goodreads. If not a person, maybe someone shared your next great read and a recipe to try (thanks BINGO board square).

Regardless of how much you read- be it pages or books- you are to be applauded for being here. For showing up. For reading. For snacking while reading. We are a community of readers. It’s our identity. Tattoos. Sagging bookshelves. Swag. It represents us.

Congratulations, friends!

*****

Find me on Instagram or my blog!

Mini-Challenge:

Closing Survey

1. How would you assess your reading overall?
2. Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it?
3. What was your favorite snack?
4. Wanna volunteer for our next event? Stay tuned for the recap post!

Link up below or leave a comment!

Twitter Party – Hosted by Alisha

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 23 – Our cheerleaders

We know we are each others cheerleaders throughout this 24-hour readathon, but who do you have close to you? Including the furry, scaly, or stuffed kind too.

My dad wasn’t a book reader, instead he was a magazine and newspaper guy, but he was a learner. Every day it was understanding something new and asking plenty of questions about anything. As he’s gotten older, he’s reading more books in addition to his traditional items and he’s a big fan of a good conspiracy theory.

My mom was the bodice-ripper romance novel reader. She always had a bookshelf downstairs and picked them up at garage sales as I was growing up.

My brothers- one was a reader of the science fiction variety, the other one preferred to be outdoors and barely read what he was asked to in school, let alone on his own.

This was what surrounded me growing up. It was more about ways to learn which included books rather than daily and weekly trips to the library and massive bookshelves at home. But there were plenty of visits to the library and bookshelves nonetheless. I became a reader and a writer because I liked what I explored in those mediums and here I am decades later. This includes acting as my two boys’ and husband’s cheerleader. They’re audiobook listeners including mysteries and nonfiction. Plus what middle school boy doesn’t have an obsession with Dog Man, Hilo, and Harry Potter? In turn, they can always be counted on to leave me alone (especially during readathons) but check in on my progress, and usually for an hour or two, will participate themselves.

And as long as our 130-pound dog can be underfoot, he doesn’t really care what we’re doing, but he’s okay if I have my headphones on when I’m walking him because he knows I’m reading. He’s a good dog like that.

We make time for reading. Before bed. If it’s a casual weekday or weekend, it definitely happens at the table while eating. We go to the library… often. We know our indie bookstore sellers by name.

Think about who surrounded you growing up. Did they provide support for your reading or have you come into reading later in life and was lured in by another reader who provided the support and recommendations that you needed? Who surrounds you now to cheer you on?

Maybe when the clock strikes hour twenty-four, you can put down your book and say thank you to those cheerleaders in your life.

*****

Find me on Instagram and over at my blog, Readers Be Advised.

Mini-Challenge:

Reading Around the World hosted by Kate on the Goodreads Group

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 22 – You’re Almost There! – Rachel Noel

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Holy wah, it’s Hour 22! Look at how far you’ve made it! Whether you’ve been awake and reading this whole time, took some naps, or kept your sleep schedule, thank you for participating as much as you have!

If you find yourself needing some encouragement, let us know! We’re happy to help remind you to:

1) Drink water
2) Stretch your legs, walk around a bit
3) Put down a book if you’re not enjoying it
4) Eat some food
5) Pick up another book
6) If you can’t find another book you want to read, go ahead and buy another. You deserve it.*

_{*Read-A-Thon is not responsible for you spending your entire paycheck on books. No matter how much fun book shopping is.}

I really hope you’ve had fun these past 24 hours and I’m looking forward to seeing you all next time. We’re almost to the finish line! Just remember:

Mini-Challenge:

Mad Libs hosted by Emmie on the Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon Official Facebook Group

Twitter Party – Hosted by Nicole

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 21 – Reading and Baking – Rachel Noel

I’ve been participating in the 24-hour Read-A-Thon for at least 8 years and for every Read-A-Thon, I always bake up a little special something for my snacking. The first couple of years I made homemade hot pockets; carbs, protein, etc. to keep the body going. After that I started making cheesecakes for the sugar rush. Now I’m making granola bars and rye bread. Can you tell I’m getting a bit old? 😉

But one of the things I love about baking is how well it can mix with reading. Sometimes the recipes are too involved and you have put on an audiobook, but others are more relaxed and you can get in some reading. Seriously, today’s rye bread recipe requires the dough to sit overnight. I can get in so much reading during that time! And if I decide I want to do something fancy, maybe decorate some cookies, I can put on an audiobook and just relax.

But this has me wondering: do you mix your hobbies? Do you sometimes use one hobby as an excuse for another (i.e. “I need to crochet so I’ll put on an audiobook”). Are you doing any non-reading hobbies today?

Mini-Challenge:

Munchies Photo Challenge hosted by Kristen

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 20 – Move your bo(o)d(t)y

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We have been reading for 20 hours. Well most of us probably haven’t actually been reading for that long straight. But if you have, ALL the power to you. I will probably have slept at least 5 hours because I don’t think messing up my sleep schedule completely is a reasonable idea for me. How about you? Did you sleep? Are you planning to?

But back to the reading for 20 hours… I know there have already been some posts on moving. Walks, dance parties etc.

What I (would) like to focus on is some stretching. I might even do a little live session over on Twitter. We’ll see. But let’s also do it on here. I am recycling my mini challenge from the last round of Dewey’s.

This challenge is called bake and stretch. So we'll be making a mug brownie and stretching our bodies a bit.

As for the ingredients I think most people will have these things at home. If not, feel free to just get a snack and stretch with us. If stretching isn’t your cup of tea, also totally fine. We’ll need flour, sugar, cocoa, water, oil and vanilla.

step 1: Add 4 tsp flour to your microwave-safe cup

stretch 1: alternately raise your hands over your head and stretch your sides

step 2: Add 4 tsp. sugar

stretch 2: try to touch your toes. Don't worry if you can't reach them, I can't either most of the times.

step 3: Add 2 tsp. cocoa

stretch 3: stretch your hips from side to side

step 4: add 2 tsp water and 2 tsp oil

stretch 4: cross your fingers behind your back and raise your hands

step 5: add 1/4 tsp. vanilla and mix
microwave for 30 seconds

repeat your favorite stretch

And we're done. Have a great hour reading on. 🙂

Mini-Challenge:

Taste the Rainbow hosted by Nicole on her Twitter Page

Twitter Party – Hosted by Rachel Noel

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 19 – (Don’t) Give Up – on pressure

Hi,

My name is Flavia and I am a reader from Germany. This year marks my 5th anniversary of participating in the Dewey’s 24-hour readathon.

The first time I participated it was quite last minute and I didn’t really expect much.

As I’ve participated more and more and had more “successes” I started to put more pressure on myself. To accomplish more and be better.

But that is not always possible. You might not sleep well the night before the readathon. You might have had a stressful week and just not have the power to really read much this weekend. Your mental or physical health might not be as good as you had hoped. Maybe something came up.

And if you are like me that might be frustrating. And to be honest I don’t have the patented recipe to deal with that frustration. But I do encourage you to change your perspective if you are in a situation like that. What can you do to feel better now?

And that might just be to give up and ditch this readathon!

To be honest I did briefly consider that in the course of today since I felt disappointed in myself. But then I really got into another book and now I’m over 200 pages into that (I’m writing this in hour 11).

Another option is to just change your focus. Focus on self care, Focus on quality time with your partner/fam/animal, Focus on bingeing “Shadow and Bone”.

We are living through the apocalypse. Don’t beat yourself up and if you need someone to hype you up, comment here or join me on twitter for some sprints and fun 🙂

Mini-Challenge:

Draw Book Cover Blind hosted by Marta on her Twitter account

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 18 – Inspired by a past readathon?

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Hi lovelies,

This is Juli (ichlese) again, … spending another hour with y’all. One of my favorite things to do is “spy” on other reader’s TBRs, their snack piles, and their readathon habits. I feel so inspired by everyone here and have incorporated countless book recommendations into my reading lists, looked up yummy recipes for things I saw someone eat, or got motivated to build a pillow fort because someone had talked about doing that.

So, I am here to see if you have taken on anything you’ve heard about or seen during a past readathon? Leave your answers in the comments!

Happy reading,

Juli

Mini-Challenge:

9 Word Story hosted by Rachael Your objective, if you choose to accept it, is to write a story only using 9 words. Complete this mission on Twitter using #ReadathonNineWordStory and good luck. #readathon

Twitter Party – Hosted by Bernadette

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 17 – Escape from reality and live in your book’s setting!

Hi bookworms,

This is Juli (ichlese) and in my time zone we are officially starting Sunday! I am sure everyone has been hitting the pages and I hope you found time to snack some and move around as well. I know I need to be reminded to stretch occasionally!

Get up and move!

Now that we have that out of the way …… let’s talk about your book’s setting. If you could be pulled into your current read:

This is what I imagine happens when we use portals!

1. Where would you live? Describe your world!
2. Who would you be? For example, what’s your occupation? Do you have magical powers? Also, are you the protagonist or an interesting sidekick? What do you look like?
3. And what do you think about that? Do you like who you are in this fictional setting?

I am currently reading Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez. Honestly, I would probably be one of many of Vanessa’s YouTube fans hoping she’ll update her channel soon so I can see what beautiful place she is visiting next. I vicariously live through other people’s travel adventures already so I probably would do the same in a fictional world. Overall, I think I wouldn’t be very different from me IRL. I imagine I would still be somewhat introverted hiding behind my computer screen. I’d like to think though that I would have much better fashion sense and maybe that I would be a photographer hoping to get my big break and travel the world to take pictures.

Leave your answers in the comments!

Happy reading,

Juli

Mini-Challenge:

Fake Readathon Facts hosted by Rachael – What are some unknown facts that only happen during the #readathon? Put your investigative cap on and post your most outlandish findings on Twitter using #fakereadathonfacts. 

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 16 – Keep up the reading we can do this!!! Bernadette !!! Jump and exercise your mind!!

This is Bernadette again

I’m also the host next hour!! I been participating in the Dewey 24 hr Readathon for like Eight years and volunteering in the Readathon for three years

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This the day I want to see pictures of the books your reading

It’s amazing that we come together and read as a whole community and be as one.

If y’all want to do my challenge on Twitter go to http://www.twitter.com\Bernadette1985

Do y’all readers mediate? Or keep focus?

Exercise is good for your mind health?

Keep on reading 📖

Mini-Challenge:

I’m currently reading A serial killer Daughter

Bookish Brain Break hosted by Amanda on the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon Facebook Page

Twitter Party – Hosted by Whitney

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Hour 15 – Let’s listen to music while reading?😘😘📖

Hi readers

My name is Bernadette and I’m going to be your co-host for two and 1/2 hours. Let’s jam it.. I love jamming to music 🎶 even if I’m not reading or studying!!

What is your favorite music to listen to while your reading?

Mini-Challenge: I have a Twitter mini challenge later on

The challenge is going to be very fun

Enter your finished books into the DATABASE here!

Check out the Bingo Board!

Cheer your fellow readers!

Join our Goodreads or Facebook or Reddit groups!

Watch for posts and stories on our Instagram!

Tag your posts with #Readathon on all your social channels

Consequences! hosted by Whitney on her Twitter page

What’s your favorite book series?

That’s the book I’m currently reading